Daniel Orr's Blog, page 113

December 14, 1960 – The UN General Assembly passes Resolution 1514 (XV) titled “Declaration of the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples”

On December 14, 1960, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed Resolution 1514 (XV) titled “Declaration of the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples”, which established decolonization as a fundamental principle of the UN.  Five days later, on December 19, the UN released UNGA Resolution 1573 that recognized the right of self-determination of the Algerian people.

On January 8, 1961, in a referendum held in France and Algeria, 75% of the voters agreed that Algeria must be allowed self-determination.  The
French government then began to hold secret peace negotiations with the FLN.  In April 1961, four retired French Army officers (Generals Salan, Challe, André Zeller, and Edmond Jouhaud, and assisted by radical elements of the pied-noir community) led the French command in Algiers in a military uprising that deposed the civilian government of the city and set up a four-man “Directorate”.  The rebellion, variously known as the 1961 Algiers Putsch (French: Putsch d’Alger) or Generals’ Putsch (French: Putsch des Généraux), was a coup to be carried out in two phases: taking over authority in Algeria with the
defeat of the FLN and establishment of a civilian government; and overthrowing de Gaulle in Paris by rebelling paratroopers based near the French capital.

Algerian War of Independence.

(Taken from Algerian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

De Gaulle invoked the constitution’s provision that gave him emergency powers, declared a state of emergency in Algeria, and in a nationwide broadcast on April 23, appealed to the French Army and civilian population to remain loyal to his government.  The
French Air Force flew the empty air transports from Algeria to southern France to prevent them from being used by rebel forces to invade France, while the French commands in Oran and Constantine heeded de Gaulle’s appeal and did not join the rebellion.  Devoid of external support, the Algiers uprising collapsed, with Generals Challe and Zeller being arrested and later imprisoned by military authorities, together with hundreds of other mutineering officers, while Generals Salan and Jouhaud went into hiding to continue the struggle with the pieds-noirs against Algerian independence.

On April 28, 1961, in the midst of the uprising, French military authorities test-fired France’s first atomic bomb in the Sahara Desert, moving forward the date of the detonation ostensibly to prevent the
nuclear weapon from falling into the hands of the rebel troops.  The attempted coup dealt a serious blow to French Algeria, as de Gaulle increased efforts to end the war with the Algerian nationalists.

In May 1961, the French government and the GPRA (the FLN’s government-in-exile) held peace talks at Évian, France, which proved contentious and difficult.  But on March 18, 1962, the two sides signed an agreement called the Évian Accords, which included a ceasefire (that came into effect the following day) and a release of war prisoners; the agreement’s major stipulations were: French
recognition of a sovereign Algeria; independent Algeria’s guaranteeing the protection of the pied-noir community; and Algeria allowing French military
bases to continue in its territory, as well as establishing privileged Algerian-French economic and trade relations, particularly in the development of Algeria’s nascent oil industry.

In a referendum held in France on April 8, 1962, over 90% of the French people approved of the Évian Accords; the same referendum held in Algeria on July 1, 1962 resulted in nearly six million voting in favor of the agreement while only 16,000 opposed it (by this time, most of the one million pieds-noirs had or were in the process of leaving Algeria or simply recognized
the futility of their lost cause, thus the extraordinarily low number of “no” votes).

However, pied-noir hardliners and pro-French Algeria military officers still were determined to derail the political process, forming one year earlier (in January 1961) the “Organization of the Secret Army” (OAS; French: Organisation de l’armée secrète) led by General Salan, in a (futile) attempt to stop the 1961 referendum to determine Algerian self determination.  Organized specifically as a terror militia, the OAS had begun to carry out violent
militant acts in 1961, which dramatically escalated in the four months between the signing of the Évian Accords and the referendum on Algerian independence.  The group hoped that its terror campaign would provoke the FLN to retaliate, which would jeopardize the ceasefire between the government and the FLN, and possibly lead to a resumption of the war.  At their peak in March 1962,
OAS operatives set off 120 bombs a day in Algiers,
targeting French military and police, FLN, and Muslim civilians – thus, the war had an ironic twist, as France and the FLN now were on the same side of the
conflict against the pieds-noirs.

The French Army and OAS even directly engaged each other – in the Battle of Bab el-Oued, where French security forces succeeded in seizing the OAS stronghold of Bab el-Oued, a neighborhood in Algiers, with combined casualties totaling 54 dead and 140 injured.  The OAS also targeted prominent Algerian Muslims with assassinations but its main target was
de Gaulle, who escaped many attempts on his life.  The most dramatic of the assassination attacks on de Gaulle took place in a Paris suburb where a group of gunmen led by Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry, a French
military officer, opened fire on the presidential car with bullets from the assailants’ semi-automatic rifles barely missing the president.  Bastien-Thiry, who was not an OAS member, was arrested, put on trial, and later executed by firing squad.

In the end, the OAS plan to provoke the FLN into launching retaliation did not succeed, as the Algerian revolutionaries adhered to the ceasefire.  On June 17, 1962, the OAS the FLN agreed to a ceasefire.  The
eight-year war was over.  Some 350,000 to as high as one million people died in the war; about two million Algerian Muslims were displaced from their homes, being forced by the French Army to relocate to guarded camps.

December 13, 1942 – World War II: The second day of Operation Winter Storm, the German attempt to relieve the trapped forces at Stalingrad

In early December 1942, General Erich von Manstein, commander of the newly formed German Army Group Don, which was tasked with securing the gap between German Army Groups A and B, was ready to launch a relief operation to Stalingrad.  Began on December 12 under Operation Winter
Storm, German Army Group Don succeeded in punching a hold in the Soviet ring and advanced rapidly, pushing aside surprised Red Army units, and came to within 30 miles of Stalingrad on December 19.  Through an officer that was sent to Stalingrad,
General Manstein asked General Paulus to make a break out towards Army Group Don; he also sent communication to Hitler to allow the trapped forces to break out.  Hitler and General Paulus both refused.  General Paulus cited the lack of trucks and fuel and the poor state of his troops to attempt a break out, and that his continued hold on Stalingrad would tie down large numbers of Soviet forces which would allow German Army Group A to retreat from the Caucasus.

On December 23, 1942, Manstein canceled the relief operation and withdrew his forces behind German lines, forced to do so by the threat of being encircled by Soviet forces that meanwhile had launched Operation Little Saturn.  Operation Little Saturn was a modification of the more ambitious Operation Saturn, which aimed to trap German Army Group A in the Caucasus, but was rapidly readjusted to counter General Manstein’s surprise offensive to Stalingrad.  But Operation Little Saturn, the Soviet
encirclement of Stalingrad, and the trapped Axis forces so unnerved Hitler that on his orders, German Army Group A hastily withdrew from the Caucasus in late December 1942.  German 17th Army would continue to hold onto the Taman Peninsula in the Black Sea coast, and planned to use this as a jump-off point for a possible future second attempt to invade the Caucasus.

Case Blue.

(Taken from Battle of Stalingrad – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

Meanwhile to the north, German Army Group B, tasked with capturing Stalingrad and securing the Volga, began its advance to the Don River on July 23, 1942.  The German advance was stalled by fierce
resistance, as the delays of the previous weeks had allowed the Soviets to fortify their defenses.  By then, the German intent was clear to Stalin and the Soviet High Command, which then reorganized Red Army forces in the Stalingrad sector and rushed reinforcements to the defense of the Don.  Not only was German Army Group B delayed by the Soviets that had began to launch counter-attacks in the Axis’ northern flank (which were held by Italian and Hungarian armies), but also by over-extended supply lines and poor road conditions.

On August 10, 1942, German 6th Army had moved to the west bank of the Don, although strong Soviet resistance persisted in the north.  On August 22, German forces established bridgeheads across the Don, which was crossed the next day, with panzers and mobile spearheads advancing across the remaining 36 miles of flat plains to Stalingrad.  On
August 23, German 14th Panzer Division reached the Volga River north of Stalingrad and fought off Soviet counter-attacks, while the Luftwaffe began a bombing blitz of the city that would continue through to the height of the battle, when most of the buildings would be destroyed and the city turned to rubble.

On August 29, 1942, two Soviet armies (the 62nd and 64th) barely escaped being encircled by the German 4th Panzer Army and armored units of German 6th Army, both escaping to Stalingrad and ensuring that the battle for the city would be long, bloody, and difficult.

On September 12, 1942, German forces entered Stalingrad, starting what would be a four-month long
battle.  From mid-September to early November, the Germans, confident of victory, launched three major attacks to overwhelm all resistance, which gradually pushed back the Soviets east toward the banks of the Volga.

By contrast, the Soviets suffered from low morale, but were compelled to fight, since they had no option to retreat beyond the Volga because of Stalin’s “Not one step back!” order.  Stalin also (initially) refused to allow civilians to be evacuated, stating that “soldiers fight better for an alive city than for a dead one”.  He would later allow civilian evacuation after being advised by his top generals.

Soviet artillery from across the Volga and cross-river attempts to bring in Red Army reinforcements were suppressed by the Luftwaffe, which controlled the sky over the battlefield.  Even then, Soviet troops and supplies continued to reach Stalingrad, enough to keep up resistance.  The ruins of the city turned into a great defensive asset, as Soviet troops cleverly used the rubble and battered buildings as concealed strong points, traps, and killing zones.  To negate the Germans’ air superiority, Red Army units were ordered to keep the fighting lines close to the Germans, to deter the Luftwaffe from attacking and inadvertently causing friendly fire casualties to its own forces.

The battle for Stalingrad turned into one of history’s fiercest, harshest, and bloodiest struggles for
survival, the intense close-quarter combat being fought building-to-building and floor-to-floor, and in cellars and basements, and even in the sewers.  Surprise encounters in such close distances sometimes turned into hand-to-hand combat using knives and bayonets.

By mid-November 1942, the Germans controlled 90% of the city, and had pushed back the Soviets to a small pocket with four shallow bridgeheads some 200 yards from the Volga.  By then, most of German 6th Army was locked in combat in the city, while its outer flanks had become dangerously vulnerable, as they were protected only by the weak armies of its Axis
partners, the Romanians, Italians, and Hungarians.  Two weeks earlier, Hitler, believing Stalingrad’s capture was assured, redeployed a large part of the Luftwaffe to the fighting in North Africa.

Unbeknown to the Germans, in the previous months, the Soviet High Command had been sending large numbers of Red Army formations to the north
and southeast of Stalingrad.  While only intending to use these units in sporadic counter-attacks in support of Stalingrad, by November 1942, Stalin and his top generals had reorganized these forces for a major counter-offensive codenamed Operation Uranus involving an enormous force of 1.1 million troops,
1,000 tanks, 14,000 artillery pieces, and 1,300 planes, aimed at cutting off and encircling German 6th Army and units of 7th Panzer Army in Stalingrad.  German intelligence had detected the Soviet buildup, but Hitler ignored the warning of his general staff, as by now he was firmly set on taking Stalingrad at all costs.

On November 19, 1942, the Soviet High Command launched Operation Uranus, a double envelopment maneuver, with the Soviet Southwestern Front attacking the Axis northern flank held by the Romanian 3rd Army.  The next day, the Soviet Stalingrad Front thrust from the south of the Axis flank, with the brunt of the attack falling on Romanian 4th Army. The two Romanian Armies, lacking sufficient anti-tank weapons and supported only with 100 obsolete tanks, were overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and on November 22, the two arms of the Soviet pincers linked up at Kalach.  German 6th Army, elements of 4th Panzer Army, and remnants of the Romanian armies, comprising some 250,000-300,000 troops, were trapped in a giant pocket in Stalingrad.

The German High Command asked Hitler to allow the trapped forces to make a break out, which was refused.  Also on many occasions, General Friedrich Paulus, commander of German 6th Army, made similar appeals to Hitler, but was turned down.  Instead, on November 24, 1942, Hitler advised
General Paulus to hold his position at Stalingrad
until reinforcements could be sent or a new German offensive could break the encirclement.  In the meantime, the trapped forces would be supplied from the air.  Hitler had been assured by Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering that the 700 tons/day required at Stalingrad could be delivered with German transport planes.  However, the Luftwaffe was unable to deliver the needed amount, despite the addition of more transports for the operation, and the trapped forces in Stalingrad soon experienced dwindling supplies of food, medical supplies, and ammunition.  With the onset of winter and the temperature dropping to –30°C (–22°F), an increasing number of Axis troops, yet without adequate winter clothing, suffered from frostbite.  At this time also, the Soviet air force had began to achieve technological and combat parity
with the Luftwaffe, challenging it for control of the skies and shooting down increasing numbers of German planes.

Meanwhile, the Red Army strengthened the cordon around Stalingrad, and launched a series of attacks that slowly pushed the trapped forces to an ever-shrinking perimeter in an area just west of Stalingrad.

In early December 1942, General Erich von Manstein, commander of the newly formed German Army Group Don, which was tasked with securing the gap between German Army Groups A and B, was ready to launch a relief operation to Stalingrad.  Began on December 12 under Operation Winter
Storm, German Army Group Don succeeded in punching a hold in the Soviet ring and advanced rapidly, pushing aside surprised Red Army units, and came to within 30 miles of Stalingrad on December 19.  Through an officer that was sent to Stalingrad,
General Manstein asked General Paulus to make a break out towards Army Group Don; he also sent communication to Hitler to allow the trapped forces to break out.  Hitler and General Paulus both refused.  General Paulus cited the lack of trucks and
fuel and the poor state of his troops to attempt a break out, and that his continued hold on Stalingrad would tie down large numbers of Soviet forces
which would allow German Army Group A to retreat from the Caucasus.

On December 23, 1942, Manstein canceled the relief operation and withdrew his forces behind German lines, forced to do so by the threat of
being encircled by Soviet forces that meanwhile had launched Operation Little Saturn.  Operation Little Saturn was a modification of the more ambitious Operation Saturn, which aimed to trap German
Army Group A in the Caucasus, but was rapidly readjusted to counter General Manstein’s surprise offensive to Stalingrad.  But Operation Little Saturn, the Soviet encirclement of Stalingrad, and the trapped Axis forces so unnerved Hitler that
on his orders, German Army Group A hastily withdrew from the Caucasus in late December 1942.  German 17th Army would continue to hold onto the Taman Peninsula in the Black Sea coast, and planned to use this as a jump-off point for a possible future second attempt to invade the Caucasus.

Meanwhile in Stalingrad, by early January 1943, the situation for the trapped German forces grew desperate.  On January 10, the Red Army launched a major attack to finally eliminate the Stalingrad
pocket after its demand to surrender was rejected by General Paulus.  On January 25, the Soviets captured the last German airfield at Stalingrad, and despite the
Luftwaffe now resorting to air-dropping supplies, the trapped forces ran low on food and ammunition.

With the battle for Stalingrad lost, on January 31, 1943, Hitler promoted General Paulus to the rank of Field Marshal, hinting that the latter should take his own life rather than be captured.  Instead, on February 2, General Paulus surrendered to the Red Army, along with his trapped forces, which by now numbered only 110,000 troops.  Casualties on both sides in the battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest in history, are staggering, with the Axis losing 850,000 troops, 500 tanks, 6,000 artillery pieces, and 900 planes; and the Soviets losing 1.1 million troops, 4,300 tanks, 15,000 artillery pieces, and 2,800 planes.  The German debacle at Stalingrad and withdrawal from the Caucasus effectively ended Case Blue, and like Operation Barbarossa in the previous year, resulted in another German failure.

On December 12, 1915 – President Yuan Shikai of China announces his plan to restore the monarchy with himself as “Emperor of the Chinese Empire”

In late 1915, Yuan Shikai, President of the Republic of China, made plans to return the country to a monarchy.  He reasoned that the 1911 Revolution that had toppled the Qing dynasty, and the ensuing republican government, were divisive,
transitory phases, and that only a monarchy could restore order and unity to the nation.  In November 1915, a “Representative Assembly” was formed to study the matter, which subsequently issued many
petitions to Yuan to become emperor.  After pretending to refuse these petitions, on December 12, 1915, Yuan accepted, and named himself “Emperor of the Chinese Empire”.  Yuan’s reign, as well as the country’s return to a monarchy as the “Empire of China”, was set to commence officially on
January 1, 1916, when Yuan would perform the accession rites.

(Taken from China (1911-1928): Xinhai Revolution, Fragmentation, and Struggle for Reunification – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Yuan Shikai in Power

From the outset, tensions existed between the pro-Sun groups, led by the Tongmenhui, and President Yuan and his supporters.  To counter Yuan’s power base which was in the north, on February 14, 1912, the provisional Senate voted to make Nanjing the capital of the republic.  However, two weeks later, mutinous Beiyang Army units rioted in Beijing.  Yuan, who most likely masterminded the disturbance, announced that he would remain in Beijing to guard against future unrest.  The provisional Senate thus reconvened, and in another vote taken in April 1912, named Beijing as the capital of the republic.

President Yuan soon gained full control of government, and appeared intent on extending his powers.  To counter Yuan and also prepare for the upcoming parliamentary elections, in August 1912, Sun’s supporters formed the Kuomintang (KMT,
English: Chinese Nationalist Party), merging the Tongmenhui and five smaller organizations.  In National Assembly elections held in December 1912-January 1913, the KMT won a decisive victory, taking the most number of seats in both legislative houses over its rivals, including the pro-Yuan Republican Party.

Song Jiaoren, a leading KMT politician who had campaigned strongly against Yuan and had vowed to reduce Yuan’s powers through legislation, appeared headed to become Prime Minister, and thus would form a new Cabinet.  But in March 1913, he was
assassinated, perhaps under Yuan’s orders.  When the newly elected National Assembly convened, the KMT-dominated legislature moved to enact measures to curb Yuan’s powers, and prepared to formulate a permanent constitution and hold national elections for the presidency.  Yuan now moved to destroy the political opposition, while his opponents in the south grew more militant – as a result, China began to fracture politically.

In July 1913, many southern provinces rose up in rebellion (sometimes called Sun Yat-sen’s “Second Revolution”), this time against Yuan.  The Beiyang government (as the government in Beijing was called during the period 1912-1927) was militarily prepared, as Yuan had recently received a foreign loan which he used to build up his Beiyang Army.  In September 1913, Yuan’s forces crushed the rebellion, and captured the insurgent strongholds in Nanchang and Nanjing, and forced Sun and other KMT leaders to flee into exile abroad.

In October 1913, the now intimidated National Assembly elected Yuan as president of the republic for a five-year term.  Yuan proceeded to break up all political opposition, first removing, coercing, or bribing KMT provincial officials.  Then in November 1913, he dissolved the KMT and expelled KMT legislators from the National Assembly.  As these expulsions caused the legislature to fail to reach a quorum to reconvene, in January 1914, Yuan dissolved the National Assembly altogether.  In its
place, Yuan formed a quasi-legislative body of 66 of his supporters, who drew up and passed a “constitutional compact”, a new charter which replaced the 1912 provisional constitution, and which gave Yuan unlimited powers in political, military, foreign affairs, and financial policy decisions.  In December 1914, Yuan’s presidential tenure was extended to ten years, with no terms limits –Yuan now ruled as a dictator.

Then in late 1915, Yuan made plans to return the country to a monarchy.  He reasoned that the 1911
Revolution that had toppled the Qing dynasty, and the ensuing republican government, were divisive, transitory phases, and that only a monarchy could
restore order and unity to the nation.  In November 1915, a “Representative Assembly” was formed to study the matter, which subsequently issued many petitions to Yuan to become emperor.  After pretending to refuse these petitions, on December 12, 1915, Yuan accepted, and named himself
“Emperor of the Chinese Empire”.  Yuan’s reign, as well as the country’s return to a monarchy as the “Empire of China”, was set to commence officially on January 1, 1916, when Yuan would perform the
accession rites.

Widespread protests broke out across much of China.  Having experienced great repression under the Qing dynasty, the Chinese people vehemently opposed the return to a monarchy.  On December 25, 1915, the military governor of Yunnan Province declared his province’s secession from the Beiyang government, and prepared for war.  In rapid order, other provinces also seceded, including Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Shandong, Hunan, Shanxi,
Jiangxi, and Jiangsu.  The decisive showdown between Yuan’s army and forces of the rebelling
provinces took place in Sichuan Province, where rebel forces (under Yunnan Province’s National Protection Army) dealt Yuan’s army a decisive defeat.  During the fighting, Beiyang generals, who also opposed Yuan’s imperial ambitions, did not exert great effort to defeat the rebel forces.  In fact, Beiyang Army
commanders had already stopped supporting Yuan. 
Furthermore, while the foreign powers recognized the Beiyang regime as the official government over China, Yuan’s planned monarchy received virtually no international support.  Isolated and forced to postpone his accession rites, Yuan finally abandoned his imperial designs on March 22, 1916.  His political foes then also pressed him to step down as president of the republic.  Yuan died three months later, in June 1916, with his crumbling government already unable to hold onto much of the country.

Major warlord cliques during China’s period of fragmentation.

Fragmentation,
Warlordism, and Struggle for Reunification

After Yuan’s death, China fragmented politically, and entered into a long period of warlordism.  Provinces and regions fell under the control of a military strongman, called a warlord, who ruled virtually independent of, or were only nominally subservient to the Beiyang government.  China’s central government in Beijing practically ceased to exist.

The origin of warlordism can be traced to the Qing’s military reforms, which focused on strengthening provincial armies (rather than on
building up a single centralized national army), and the period of Yuan’s consolidation of power.  Yuan had given the local civilian governments the power over the military, thereby producing civilian-military administrators.

Hundreds of warlords appeared across China.  They had varying strengths and control over local, provincial, or regional jurisdictions.  Individual warlords, even the most powerful, did not have enough power to defeat all the other warlords, and achieve their ultimate goal of reunifying China.  Consequently, warlords often banded together
to form regional cliques.  Dozens of such cliques formed and ruled vast regions.

Even then, all the warlords acknowledged that whoever of them controlled Beijing had the greatest authority.  This was so for a number of reasons: the Beiyang government continued to be recognized by
the foreign powers as the legitimate authority in China, it could apply for foreign loans, and it collected customs duties.

The Beiyang Army itself also fragmented into three competing warlord cliques: Anhui clique, Zhili clique, and Fengtian clique.  These three cliques became the most powerful of the warlord groups, and
subsequently vied with each other for control of Beijing, either through political maneuverings or outright warfare.  This period of internecine strife in China is known as the Warlord Era, spanning the years 1916-1928.

December 11, 1981 – Salvadoran Civil War: Salvadoran forces perpetrate the El Mozote Massacre

A Salvadoran military unit, the Atlacatl Battalion, whose commanders were trained in the U.S. Army-run School of the Americas, was particularly feared by the rural population during the Salvadoran Civil War (1979-1992).  In December 1981, in a major ground sweep in rebel-held areas in Morazán Province, the Atlacatl Battalion became involved in the so-called El Mozote Massacre, which took place in December 11, 1981, where some 700 to 900 residents were killed.  These soldiers are also believed to have carried out the El Calabozo Massacre, which took place on August 21-22, 1982, where, on the bank of the Amatitán River, located in San Vicente Province, some 200 fleeing civilians were shot and killed.  The killings were prompted by the perception that these civilians were members of or actively supported the insurgency.

Map showing location of El Salvador in Central America.

(Taken from Salvadoran Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – 26 Wars in the Americas and the Caribbean)

Background

During the 1970s, El Salvador experienced great social unrest as a result of a number of factors: an unstable political climate, economic problems, an entrenched system of economic and social inequalities, and a growing population competing for an increasingly limited amount of resources.  The
long-repressed lower social classes, which form the vast majority of the population, had become radicalized, and advocated both militant and violent
methods of expression.  In turn, the government imposed harsh measures against threats to its authority.

At the heart of the conflict was the country’s economically polarized social classes, the unequal distribution of wealth, resources, and power between the small Spanish-descended elite and the vast majority of Amerindian and mestizo (mixed American-European descendants) populations. Since the colonial era when the Spanish Crown gave out vast tracts of lands to personal favorites through royal patents, just 2% of the population (the so-called “Fourteen Families”) owned 60% of all arable land, which subsequently was converted to latifundia, i.e. vast plantations that produced coffee beans, and later, sugarcane and cotton, for the lucrative export market.  Some 60% of the rural population did not own land, and of those who did, 95% of them owned farmlands too small to subsist on.

Apart from controlling the economy, the biggest landowners held a monopoly on the governmental, political and military infrastructures of the country.  Government policies favored the oligarchy and thus widened the economic gap, limiting available resources and opportunities to the lower classes, and relegating the vast majority to become (exploited) plantation farm hands in the primarily agricultural economy that existed for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In 1932, peasants in the western provinces, supported by the nascent Salvadoran Communist Party, rose up in rebellion because of economic
hardships caused by the ongoing Great Depression.  Government forces put down the rebellion and then carried out a campaign of extermination against the Pipil indigenous population, whom they believed were communists who had supported the uprising
that was aimed at overthrowing the government. 
Some 30,000 Pipil civilians were killed in the military repression.

For nearly five decades thereafter (1932-1979), the country was ruled by a long line of military leaders (under a façade of democracy), including one military-controlled civilian government.  The military’s hard-line rule suppressed dissent and promoted the interests of the upper class.  But in 1959, Fidel Castro’s communist victory in the Cuban Revolution profoundly altered the political and security paradigm
in the Western Hemisphere, and challenged for the first time United States hegemony and the region’s democratic, economic, and social institutions.  Consequently, revolutionary groups sprung up all across Latin America to initiate armed struggles aimed at toppling democratic and military governments, and then setting up communist regimes.

In El Salvador, the local Communist Party was revitalized after a long hiatus; in 1970, dissenting elements that advocated armed revolution broke away from the party and reorganized as the Popular Liberation Forces “Farabundo Marti” (FPL; Spanish: Fuerzas Populares de Liberación “Farabundo Martí”), an armed group that carried out a rural-based
guerilla war against the government.  Other communist insurgent groups soon formed as well, including the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP; Spanish: Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo), formed in 1972, and the National Resistance (RN; Spanish: La Resistencia Nacional), formed in 1975.

Revolutionary activity at this time did not seriously threaten the government; the focus of leftist radicalism was on “mobilizing the masses”, where clandestine Marxist-leftist groups organized or formed alliances with Salvadoran Communist Party-affiliated peasant groups, labor unions, and student movements that carried out labor strikes, street protests, and media campaigns in San Salvador, the country’s capital, that called for reforms and better working and living conditions, as well as create a climate that would encourage a general uprising.  These clandestine groups often had an armed wing that conducted terror activities against conservative groups (landowners, businessmen, military officers,
right-wing politicians, etc.), targeting them with assassinations, kidnappings, and extortions.  Worth noting is that while these clandestine groups derived much of their support from the “masses”, they also received substantial financial backing from secret sympathizers from the upper classes, even some among the wealthiest.

In the 1960s, a middle-ground political force emerged, the Christian Democratic Party, which was led by middle-class professionals who rejected left-wing and right-wing politics and advocated a moderate, centrist line that they believed led to political stability and greater economic parity,
conditions that were favorable to the growth of the country’s middle class.  These political centrists, led by José Napoleón Duarte, initially had little support but soon expanded to become a major political force by the early 1970s.  In presidential elections held in February 1972, Duarte won the popular vote, but the
government used fraud that allowed the candidate who was a military officer to win.  In the highly charged, unstable climate of the Cold War, the right-wing government viewed politics of moderation as threatening and even communist-leaning.

The Salvadoran insurgency received a great boost when in July 1979, Sandinista communist rebels in nearby Nicaragua deposed pro-U.S. dictator Anastacio Somoza.  In El Salvador, now ruled by General Carlos Humberto Romero, an increase in urban violence and rural insurgent action took place in the period leading up to the Marxist victory in Nicaragua.  In response, the Salvadoran government
intensified repressive measures in urban areas and military operations in the countryside.  In towns and cities, the government’s internal  security forces
(National Guard, National Police, and Treasury Police) organized “death squads” to kill leaders of peasant, labor, and student organizations, leftist politicians, academics, journalists, and many others whom they regarded as communists.  Hundreds were arrested and jailed, tortured, and executed or “disappeared”.

In October 1979, a group of army officers, alarmed that the increasing violence was creating conditions favorable to a communist take-over
similar to that which occurred in Nicaragua, carried out a coup that deposed General Romero.  A five-member civilian and military junta, called the Revolutionary Junta Government (JRG; Spanish: Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno) was formed to rule the country until such that time that elections could be held.  In March 1980, after some restructuring, Duarte joined the junta and eventually took over its leadership to become the country’s de facto head of state.  The junta was openly supported by the United States, which viewed Duarte’s centrist politics as the best chance to preserve democracy in El Salvador.

However, neither the coup nor the junta altered the power structures, and the military continued to wield full (albeit covert) authority over state matters.  The junta implemented agrarian reform and nationalized some key industries, but these programs were strongly opposed by the oligarchy.  Militias and “death squads” that the junta ordered the military to
disband simply were replaced with other armed groups.  The years 1980 and 1981 saw a great increase in the military’s suppression of dissent.

December 11, 1981 – Salvadoran Civil War: Salvadoran forces commit the El Mozote Massacre

A Salvadoran military unit, the Atlacatl Battalion, whose commanders were trained in the U.S. Army-run School of the Americas, was particularly feared by the rural population during the Salvadoran Civil War (1979-1992).  In December 1981, in a major ground sweep in rebel-held areas in Morazan Province, the Atlacatl Battalion became involved in the so-called El Mozote Massacre, which took place in December 11, 1981, where some 700 to 900 residents were killed.  These soldiers are also believed to have carried out the El Calabozo Massacre, which took place on August 21-22, 1982, where, on the bank of the Amatitán River, located in San Vicente Province, some 200 fleeing civilians were shot and killed.  The killings were prompted by the perception that these civilians were members of or actively supported the insurgency.

Map showing location of El Salvador in Central America.

(Taken from Salvadoran Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – 26 Wars in the Americas and the Caribbean)

Background

During the 1970s, El Salvador experienced great social unrest as a result of a number of factors: an unstable political climate, economic problems, an entrenched system of economic and social inequalities, and a growing population competing for an increasingly limited amount of resources.  The
long-repressed lower social classes, which form the vast majority of the population, had become radicalized, and advocated both militant and violent
methods of expression.  In turn, the government imposed harsh measures against threats to its authority.

At the heart of the conflict was the country’s economically polarized social classes, the unequal distribution of wealth, resources, and power between the small Spanish-descended elite and the vast majority of Amerindian and mestizo (mixed American-European descendants) populations. Since the colonial era when the Spanish Crown gave out vast tracts of lands to personal favorites through royal patents, just 2% of the population (the so-called “Fourteen Families”) owned 60% of all arable land, which subsequently was converted to latifundia, i.e. vast plantations that produced coffee beans, and later, sugarcane and cotton, for the lucrative export market.  Some 60% of the rural population did not own land, and of those who did, 95% of them owned farmlands too small to subsist on.

Apart from controlling the economy, the biggest landowners held a monopoly on the governmental, political and military infrastructures of the country.  Government policies favored the oligarchy and thus widened the economic gap, limiting available resources and opportunities to the lower classes, and relegating the vast majority to become (exploited) plantation farm hands in the primarily agricultural economy that existed for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In 1932, peasants in the western provinces, supported by the nascent Salvadoran Communist Party, rose up in rebellion because of economic
hardships caused by the ongoing Great Depression.  Government forces put down the rebellion and then carried out a campaign of extermination against the Pipil indigenous population, whom they believed were communists who had supported the uprising
that was aimed at overthrowing the government. 
Some 30,000 Pipil civilians were killed in the military repression.

For nearly five decades thereafter (1932-1979), the country was ruled by a long line of military leaders (under a façade of democracy), including one military-controlled civilian government.  The military’s hard-line rule suppressed dissent and promoted the interests of the upper class.  But in 1959, Fidel Castro’s communist victory in the Cuban Revolution profoundly altered the political and security paradigm
in the Western Hemisphere, and challenged for the first time United States hegemony and the region’s democratic, economic, and social institutions.  Consequently, revolutionary groups sprung up
all across Latin America to initiate armed struggles aimed at toppling democratic and military governments, and then setting up communist regimes.

In El Salvador, the local Communist Party was revitalized after a long hiatus; in 1970, dissenting elements that advocated armed revolution broke away from the party and reorganized as the Popular Liberation Forces “Farabundo Marti” (FPL; Spanish: Fuerzas Populares de Liberación “Farabundo Martí”), an armed group that carried out a rural-based
guerilla war against the government.  Other communist insurgent groups soon formed as well, including the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP; Spanish: Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo),
formed in 1972, and the National Resistance (RN; Spanish: La Resistencia Nacional), formed in 1975.

Revolutionary activity at this time did not seriously threaten the government; the focus of leftist radicalism was on “mobilizing the masses”, where clandestine Marxist-leftist groups organized or formed alliances with Salvadoran Communist Party-affiliated peasant groups, labor unions, and student movements that carried out labor strikes, street protests, and media campaigns in San Salvador, the country’s capital, that called for reforms and better working and living conditions, as well as create a climate that would encourage a general uprising.  These clandestine groups often had an armed wing that conducted terror activities against conservative groups (landowners, businessmen, military officers,
right-wing politicians, etc.), targeting them with assassinations, kidnappings, and extortions.  Worth noting is that while these clandestine groups derived much of their support from the “masses”, they also received substantial financial backing from secret sympathizers from the upper classes, even some among the wealthiest.

In the 1960s, a middle-ground political force emerged, the Christian Democratic Party, which was led by middle-class professionals who rejected left-wing and right-wing politics and advocated a moderate, centrist line that they believed led to political stability and greater economic parity,
conditions that were favorable to the growth of the country’s middle class.  These political centrists, led by José Napoleón Duarte, initially had little support but soon expanded to become a major political force by the early 1970s.  In presidential elections held in February 1972, Duarte won the popular vote, but the
government used fraud that allowed the candidate who was a military officer to win.  In the highly charged, unstable climate of the Cold War, the right-wing government viewed politics of moderation as threatening and even communist-leaning.

The Salvadoran insurgency received a great boost when in July 1979, Sandinista communist rebels in nearby Nicaragua deposed pro-U.S. dictator Anastacio Somoza.  In El Salvador, now ruled by General Carlos Humberto Romero, an increase in urban violence and rural insurgent action took
place in the period leading up to the Marxist victory in Nicaragua.  In response, the Salvadoran government intensified repressive measures in urban areas and military operations in the countryside.  In towns and cities, the government’s internal  security forces (National Guard, National Police, and Treasury Police) organized “death squads” to kill leaders of peasant, labor, and student organizations, leftist
politicians, academics, journalists, and many others whom they regarded as communists.  Hundreds were arrested and jailed, tortured, and executed or “disappeared”.

In October 1979, a group of army officers, alarmed that the increasing violence was creating conditions favorable to a communist take-over
similar to that which occurred in Nicaragua, carried out a coup that deposed General Romero.  A five-member civilian and military junta, called the Revolutionary Junta Government (JRG; Spanish: Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno) was formed to rule the country until such that time that elections could be held.  In March 1980, after some restructuring, Duarte joined the junta and eventually took over its leadership to become the country’s de facto head of state.  The junta was openly supported by the United States, which viewed Duarte’s centrist politics as the best chance to preserve democracy in El Salvador.

However, neither the coup nor the junta altered the power structures, and the military continued to wield full (albeit covert) authority over state matters.  The junta implemented agrarian reform and nationalized some key industries, but these programs were strongly opposed by the oligarchy.  Militias and “death squads” that the junta ordered the military to
disband simply were replaced with other armed groups.  The years 1980 and 1981 saw a great increase in the military’s suppression of dissent.

December 10, 1963 – Zanzibar gains its independence; a violent revolution begins one month later

On January 12, 1964, Zanzibar, a country of small islands located just east of the African mainland experienced an armed revolution that overthrew the ruling parliamentary monarchy and established a socialist government.  The revolution took place just over a month after December 10, 1963, when Britain ended its protectorate and granted Zanzibar full
independence under Zanzibari Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.  Sultan Abdullah’s family had ruled pre-British Zanzibar through a long line of dynastic succession dating back to 1698.

Location of Zanzibar shown.

(Taken from Zanzibar Revolution – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Background

In July 1963, legislative elections in Zanzibar had given the Arab Zanzibari political coalition, led by the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP), a majority in parliament.  The main opposition party, the black
African-dominated Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) had won fewer seats in the elections, despite garnering 54% of the popular vote.  The ASP had accused the government of carrying out electoral fraud to ensure the ZNP’s victory.  As a result, violence broke out that caused a number of civilian deaths.

Zanzibari society was religiously homogenous, with 99% of the population belonging to the Islamic faith.  The country had three major ethnic groups: black Africans and mixed African-Persians (called Shirazi), both groups numbering 230,000 persons and
comprising 76% of the population; ethnic Arabs at 50,000 or 17% of the population, and ethnic Indians at 20,000 or 6% of the population.

Traditionally, Zanzibar was stratified into three economic groups: ethnic Arabs, who owned vast tracts of agricultural lands; ethnic Indians, who dominated the business sector as traders and merchants; and the indigenous Africans, who comprised the great majority of the laborers and farm workers.  However, many exceptions had developed over time, e.g. the majority of new Arab immigrants to Zanzibar were poor, and some black Zanzibaris became wealthy landowners.

A few weeks after Zanzibar gained its independence, rumors arose that the outlawed communist Umma Party was planning to overthrow the government and was secretly bringing in weapons
to the island.  The Zanzibari sultan asked Britain for military assistance, but the British government, which had already withdrawn British troops from Zanzibar,
denied the request.  Zanzibar’s defense thus was left to the island’s small police force.

Revolution

Early in the morning of January 12, 1964, in Zanzibar’s main island of Unguja (also more commonly called Zanzibar, Map 20), hundreds of fanatical fighters belonging to the Afro-Shirazi Youth led by John Okello, attacked police stations and seized armories outside Zanzibar’s capital of Stone Town.  Now possessing firearms, the rebels proceeded to Stone Town, where they overwhelmed more police units and took control of government
buildings, public utilities, and the city’s radio station.  Within a few hours, the rebellion had gained the support of the vast majority of the general population.  Scores of local civilians took up arms and joined the rebels in defeating the remaining government forces.  Just nine hours after the uprising began, the rebels had gained full control of the capital.  Zanzibar’s government collapsed, and the sultan and his Cabinet fled into exile abroad.

Okello called on the ASP’s leader, Abeid Karume, to form a new government.  The ASP and the Umma
Party formed a ruling revolutionary council that was led by Karume, who also became Zanzibar’s first president.  Karume’s government renamed the country the “People’s Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba”, and abolished the Zanzibar Sultanate and banned the deposed Sultan Abdullah from returning.  Free politics ceased as the state-run ASP became the sole legal party that was allowed to operate.

A complete overhaul of Zanzibari society took place with the government’s implementation of sweeping social and economic reforms.  Lands owned by ethnic Arabs were seized as were businesses owned by ethnic Indians.  The seized assets were handed out to black Zanzibaris.  Virtually overnight, Arab and Indian domination of Zanzibari society vanished completely.

After the rebels had seized Stone Town’s
radio station at the height of the revolution, Okello went on the air and broadcast inflammatory speeches urging the civilian population to carry out violence.  Okello claimed to hold the military rank of a “Field Marshall” and greatly exaggerated his feats in the
revolution as they were transpiring.

As a consequence of Okello’s broadcasts, in the days that followed, the Zanzibari countryside became scenes of violence as armed bands descended on Arab and Indian settlements and killed whole families, destroyed houses, and seized lands and properties. 
Dramatic scenes of this event were captured in the documentary Africa Addio, produced by an Italian film crew that was coincidentally working in Zanzibar at that time.  Filmed from an aircraft in flight, the documentary shows scenes of many dead people on the ground, piled up dead bodies at the back of dump trucks traveling down the road, long lines of people
being led away by armed guards, and people attempting to flee the island aboard packed dinghies.  The human death toll from the violence has not been determined exactly, and is given by various sources as from a few thousands to several thousands.

December 9, 1987 – The start of the First Intifada in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

On December 6, 1987, an Israeli citizen was murdered in Gaza.  Two days later, four Palestinian residents of the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza were killed in a road accident by a truck belonging to the Israeli Army.  Many residents of the Jabaliya camp took to the streets in protest, believing that the four Palestinians were killed deliberately in reprisal for the Gaza murder.  Israeli security forces moved in to disperse the crowd, but in the process, opened fire and killed a protester.  Demonstrations then broke out in other refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank, triggering a full-blown uprising.

Map showing location of Gaza and West Bank.

The 1987 Palestinian uprising is more commonly known as the First Intifada, where the word “intifada” is Arabic that means “to shake off”, and has come to denote an uprising or rebellion.  The 1987 Intifada initially took the form of spontaneous, disorganized street rallies and demonstrations consisting of tens
of thousands of Palestinians who incited anarchy and clashed with Israeli security forces.  Youths and minors often formed the front lines, leading Israeli authorities to accuse the Palestinians of using the children as “human shields”.  The protesters lobbied stones and Molotov cocktails (home-made incendiary bombs) at the police, burned tires, and set up road blocks and barricades.  Militancy increased when the
protesters began using firearms and grenades as weapons.  Other Palestinians supported the intifada
through non-violent means, such as not paying taxes, boycotting Israeli products, and undertaking other forms of civil disobedience.

The depth and speed of the intifada surprised Israeli authorities, who believed that the actions were being planned and carried out by the PLO.  In fact, each local protest action was organized by community leaders in response to and in support of
other uprisings that were already taking place, creating a snowball effect.  Eventually, however, the
intifada came under the centralized command of the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU), an alliance of PLO factions in the occupied territories, which began to carry out more organized militant actions.  Two other Palestinian armed groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, also rose to prominence during the intifada and emerged as the political and military rivals to the PLO.

(Taken from Palestinian Uprising of 1987 – 1993 – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background

As a consequence of the 1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs lost their homes and became refugees.  Most of them eventually settled in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.  The Palestinian Jews emerged victorious, in the process establishing the state of Israel.  Then with the Israeli Army’s victory in the Six-Day War in 1967 (separate article), the Israelis gained control of Gaza, the West Bank, and East
Jerusalem.  Israel imposed militarized authority over the “occupied territories” (as the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem were called collectively) as a means to deter opposition.  Check points and road blocks were raised, searches and arrests conducted, and civilian movement curtailed and monitored.  Perceived enemies were eliminated, imprisoned, or deported.  Furthermore, the Israeli government encouraged its citizens to migrate to the occupied territories, where Israeli housing settlements soon began to emerge.

The Palestinians greatly resented the presence of the Israelis, whom they regarded as a foreign force occupying Palestinian land.  Furthermore, as the Israeli authority became established and greater numbers of Israeli settlements were being built, the Palestinians believed that their lands eventually would be integrated into Israel.  The Israeli occupation was also perceived as a serious blow to the Palestinian people’s aspirations for establishing a
Palestinian state.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization, or PLO, a political and armed movement, was formed in 1964 and was headed by Chairman Yasser Arafat to lead the Palestinians’ struggle for independence.  However, the PLO experienced many setbacks,
not only in the hands of Israel but also by the Arab countries to which the Palestinians had turned for
support.  In 1970, the PLO was expelled from Jordan and thereafter moved to Lebanon where, in 1982, it also was forced to leave.  Subsequently, the PLO moved its headquarters to Tunisia, whose distant location prevented the Palestinian leadership from exercising direct control and influence over the affairs of Palestinians in the occupied territories.  The PLO itself was wracked by internal dissent among some factions that opposed Arafat, who had cast aside his
hard-line stance against Israel and adopted a more conciliatory approach.

Furthermore, later developments in the Middle
East boded ill for the Palestinians.  Egypt, the militarily strongest Arab country and a main supporter of the PLO, had signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and ceased its claim to the Gaza Strip.  Jordan had not only expelled the PLO but had relinquished its claim to the West Bank and consequently stripped the Palestinian residents there of Jordanian citizenship.  Syria, another major backer of the PLO, had a falling out with Arafat during the 1982 Lebanon War and began to support a rival PLO faction that ultimately forced Arafat and his Fatah faction to leave Lebanon a second time.  For so long, the Arab
countries’ regional security concerns centered on the Palestinians’ struggle for statehood.  In the 1980s, however, much of the concentration was on the Iran-Iraq War, relegating the Palestinian issue to a lesser focus.  Palestinians believed that many Arab countries, because of the Arab military defeats to the
Israelis, generally had abandoned active support for the Palestinians’ nationalist aspirations.

The Palestinians’ frustrations were compounded by dire economic circumstances in the West Bank and Gaza.  Nearly half of all Palestinians were poor and lived in refugee camps in cramped, squalid, and poorly serviced conditions.  Unemployment was high and so was the Palestinians’ birth rate, leading to more people competing for limited opportunities and resources.

Ever since the Israelis took over the occupied territories, tensions between Israelis and Palestinians persisted, which often erupted in violence.  Then during the second half of 1987, these tensions rose dramatically, ultimately leading to a major Palestinian uprising that was triggered by the following events.

December 8, 1936 – Anastacio Somoza is elected president of Nicaragua, starting a dictatorship and dynastic reign lasting over four decades

On December 8, 1936, Anastacio Somoza was elected president of Nicaragua, winning an implausible 99.83% of the votes. Somoza then ruled the country as a dictator or through figureheads under his control, and gained all aspects of government. Over time, he accumulated massive wealth and owned the biggest landholdings in the country.  His many personal and family businesses extended into the shipping and airlines industries, agricultural plantations and cattle ranches, sugar mills, and wine manufacturing.  President Somoza took bribes from foreign corporations which he had granted mining concessions in the country, and also benefited from local illicit operations such as unregistered gambling, organized prostitution, and illegal wine production.

Nicaragua in Central America.

President Somoza suppressed all forms of opposition with the use of the National Guard, Nicaragua’s police force, which had turned the country into a militarized state.  President Somoza was staunchly anti-communist and received strong military and financial support from the United States, which was willing to take Nicaragua’s repressive government as an ally in the ongoing Cold War.

Somoza’s rise to power began in 1933 as Director of the National Guard. He had ordered the assassination of left-wing nationalist Augusto Sandino who had waged a long guerrilla war against the Nicaraguan government, and United States Marines which had occupied the country since 1912. Thereafter, Somoza’s power and influence grew, leading to his deposing President Juan Batista Sacasa in June 1936 and installing a puppet head of state leading up to his own election as president in December 1936.

(Taken from United States Occupation of Nicaragua, 1912- 1933 – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 1)

Background

In many instances, Nicaragua’s political troubles prompted American intervention, such as those that occurred in 1847, 1894, 1896, 1898, and 1899, when U.S. forces were landed in that Central American country.  These occupations were brief, with American troops withdrawing once order had been restored, although U.S. Navy ships kept a permanent watch throughout the Central American coastline. 
The officially stated reasons given by the United
States for intervening in Nicaragua was to protect American lives and American commercial interests in Central America.  In some cases, however, the Americans wanted to give a decided advantage
to one side of Nicaragua’s political conflict.

In 1912, the United States again intervened in Nicaragua, starting an occupation of the country that would last for over two decades and would leave a deep impact on the local population.  The origin of the 1912 American occupation traces back to the early 1900s when Nicaragua, then led by the Liberals, offered the construction of the Nicaragua Canal to Germany and Japan.  The Nicaragua Canal was planned to be a shipping waterway that connects the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean through the Caribbean Sea.

The Liberals wanted less American involvement in Nicaragua’s internal affairs and therefore offered the waterway’s construction to other countries.  Furthermore, the United States had decided to forgo its original plan to build the Nicaragua Canal in favor of completing the partly-finished Panama Canal (which had been abandoned by a French construction firm).

For the United States, however, the idea of another foreign power in the Western Hemisphere was anathema, as the U.S. government believed it had the exclusive rights to the region.  The American policy of exclusivity in the Western Hemisphere was known as the Monroe Doctrine, set forth in 1823 by
former U.S. president James Monroe.  Furthermore, the United States believed that Nicaragua had ambitions in Central America and therefore viewed that country as a potential source of a wider conflict.  U.S.-Nicaraguan relations deteriorated when two American saboteurs were executed by the Nicaraguan government.  Consequently, the
United States broke off diplomatic relations with Nicaragua.

In October 1909, Nicaraguan Conservatives, backed by some Liberals, carried out a rebellion against the government.  The United States threw its support behind the rebels.  Then when the rebellion spread, the United States sent warships to Nicaragua
and subsequently, in December 1909, landed troops in Corinto and Bluefields (Map 23).  More American forces arrived in May 1910.

In August 1910, Nicaragua’s ruling government
collapsed, replaced by a U.S.-friendly administration consisting of Conservatives and Liberals.  The United States bought out Nicaragua’s large foreign debt that had accumulated during the long period of instability.  Consequently, Nicaragua owed the United States the amount of that debt, while the Americans’ stake was raised in that troubled country.

Then in 1912, Nicaragua’s ruling coalition broke
down, sparking a civil war between the government and another alliance of Liberals and Conservatives.  As the rebels gained ground and began to threaten Managua, Nicaragua’s capital, the United States
landed troops in Corinto, Bluefields, and San Juan del Sur.  At its peak, the U.S. troop deployment in Nicaragua totaled over 2,300 soldiers.  Within a
month of the deployment, in October 1912, the American troops, supported by Nicaraguan government forces, had defeated the rebels.

The United States tightened its control of Nicaragua in August 1914 when both countries signed an agreement whereby the Americans gained exclusive rights to construct the Nicaragua Canal,
as well as to establish military bases to protect it.  The U.S.-Nicaragua treaty mostly served as a deterrent against other foreign involvement in Nicaragua,
since by this time, the Americans already were operating the Panama Canal nearby.

The U.S. Army’s presence in Nicaragua from 1912 to 1925 brought peace in that Central American country.  At the Nicaraguan government’s request, the U.S. Army helped to organize Nicaragua’s armed forces and police forces (collectively called the National Guard) to eliminate the many private militias and other armed groups that local politicians were using to advance their personal interests.  After the National Guard was formed, the United States withdrew its forces from Nicaragua.  Nine months later, however, in-fighting among Conservatives led to the overthrow of the incumbent president, again prompting the United States to redeploy its military forces in Nicaragua to stop the disturbance from spreading.

Peace and order was restored once more, and a new Conservative government came to power.  The
Conservatives’ authority was challenged by the Liberals, however, who formed their own government.  Fighting soon broke out between the rival political parties, which rapidly escalated into a
civil war.  Once more, the United States intervened and restored peace after threatening to use military force against the Liberals.  In the peace treaty that
followed, the Conservatives and Liberals agreed to two stipulations: that the Conservative government would complete its term of office before new elections were held; and that all remaining private militias and armed groups would be disbanded and subsequently incorporated into the government forces to form an expanded, non-partisan National Guard.

December 7, 1939 – World War II: Finnish forces ambush a Soviet battalion

Under the night darkness on December 7, 1939, Finnish ski troops ambushed a bivouacked Soviet battalion, killing all the soldiers.  The next day, the Finns again swept down on and annihilated another camped Russian unit.  More attacks continued in the next several days, and Soviet reconnaissance planes were unable to spot the Finnish units concealed in the snow-covered forests.  In these battles, Soviet
casualties totaled 4,000 killed and 5,000 wounded against some 2,000 Finnish soldiers killed.

Finland and nearby countries.

In similar circumstances, in the Battle of the Mottis, Finnish ski units succeeded in cutting communication and supply lines among individual units of the Soviet 168th Division that were spread out along the northern shore of Lake Ladoga.  The Finns attacked individual Russian pockets (called “mottis” by the Finns) in a mobile siege strategy.  Faced with disaster by a severed supply line, in mid-January 1940, the Russians tried to break out by attacking in force, only to be cut down by heavy Finnish machinegun fire.  Some 3,000 Russians were killed, while 8 of the 11 mottis were overwhelmed.

(Taken from Winter War – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

Background

In 1932, Finland also signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, which was extended to ten years in 1934.  Even so, relations between Finland
and the Soviet Union remained detached, even guarded, not least because of ideological differences and the lingering suspicion generated by the Finnish
Civil War where the Soviets had supported the Red Guards, and Germany the White Guards.  Finland
distrusted the Soviets, particularly since the latter harbored and supported the exiled Finnish communist movement, while the Soviet Union regarded the ruling right-wing conservative Finnish
government as fascist and reactionary.

While officially neutral, Finland appeared to be pro-German, because of German assistance during the Finnish Civil War, which raised Soviet suspicions.  Soviet mistrust was furthered by a number of events: in 1937, when a German naval flotilla arrived in Helsinki, in 1938, when Finland held celebrations honoring German support during the civil war, and in 1939, when Franz Halder, the German Army chief of
staff, arrived in Helsinki.

Soviet pressure on Finland for territorial concessions had begun in April 1938, the secret negotiations continuing intermittently until the summer of 1939, with no agreement being reached because of strong Finnish opposition.  In June 1939,
following the visit of high-level German military officials to Finland, Stalin was convinced that not only was a Soviet-German war imminent, but that German
forces would use Finland as a springboard to attack the Soviet Union.

But the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact quelled Stalin’s concerns and seemingly gave assurance that the Germans would not interfere in Finland.  Thus, the Soviets increased their pressure on the Finnish government, in October 1939 releasing the following demands: that the Finnish-Soviet border along the Karelian Isthmus be moved west to a point 20 miles east of Viipuri; that Finnish fortifications in the Karelian Isthmus be dismantled; that Finland cede to the Soviet Union the islands in the Gulf of Finland, the Kalastajansaarento (Rybachi) Peninsula in the Barents Sea, and the Salla area; and that Hanko be leased for 30 years to the Soviet Union, where a
Russian military base would be built.  In return, the Soviets would cede to Finland Repola and Porajarvi from Eastern Karelia, a territory whose size of 3,400 square kilometers was twice as large as those demanded from Finland.

For Stalin, the Soviet-Finnish negotiations must address the security guarantees for Leningrad,
since the city was located just 20 miles from the Finnish border and within firing range of Finnish heavy artillery.  Stalin wanted to adjust the border here further to the west into Finland, with the ceded territory serving as a buffer zone between the two nations.  However, the Finnish government saw these
territorial demands as the first step to an eventual Soviet take-over of Finland.  On October 6 and 10, the Finnish government issued a call-up of reserves and effectively conducted a general mobilization,
fearing that the Soviet demands would be tantamount to Finland meeting the same
fate as the Balkan States.  The negotiations, though conducted openly, were characterized by great mutual distrust: the Finns believing that the Soviet offer was merely a first step to gobble up Finland, and the Soviets who believed that Finland would side with Germany in a future war.

The Finns presented a counter-offer, agreeing to cede territory in the Karelian Isthmus that would double the distance of the Finnish border to Leningrad.  But by then, Stalin was in no mood for more talks and was determined to use armed force, deciding that the Finns were negotiating in bad faith.

December 6, 1987 – Palestinian Uprising of 1987 – 1993: An Israeli citizen is murdered in Gaza; two days later , two Palestinians are killed

On December 6, 1987, an Israeli citizen was murdered in Gaza.  Two days later, four Palestinian residents of the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza were killed in a road accident by a truck belonging to the Israeli Army.  Many residents of the Jabaliya camp took to the streets in protest, believing that the four Palestinians were killed deliberately in reprisal for the Gaza murder.  Israeli security forces moved in to disperse the crowd, but in the process, opened fire and killed a protester.  Demonstrations then broke out in other refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank, triggering a full-blown uprising.

Map showing location of Gaza and the West Bank.

The 1987 Palestinian uprising is more commonly known as the First Intifada, where the word “intifada” is Arabic that means “to shake off”, and has come to denote an uprising or rebellion.  The 1987 Intifada initially took the form of spontaneous, disorganized street rallies and demonstrations consisting of tens
of thousands of Palestinians who incited anarchy and clashed with Israeli security forces.  Youths and minors often formed the front lines, leading Israeli authorities to accuse the Palestinians of using the children as “human shields”.  The protesters lobbied stones and Molotov cocktails (home-made incendiary bombs) at the police, burned tires, and set up road blocks and barricades.  Militancy increased when the
protesters began using firearms and grenades as weapons.  Other Palestinians supported the intifada
through non-violent means, such as not paying taxes, boycotting Israeli products, and undertaking other forms of civil disobedience.

The depth and speed of the intifada surprised Israeli authorities, who believed that the actions were being planned and carried out by the PLO.  In fact, each local protest action was organized by community leaders in response to and in support of
other uprisings that were already taking place, creating a snowball effect.  Eventually, however, the intifada came under the centralized command of the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU), an alliance of PLO factions in the occupied territories, which began to carry out more organized militant actions.  Two other Palestinian armed groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, also rose to prominence during the intifada and emerged as the political and military rivals to the PLO.

(Taken from Palestinian Uprising of 1987 – 1993 – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background

As a consequence of the 1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs lost their homes and became refugees.  Most of them eventually settled in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.  The Palestinian Jews emerged victorious, in the process establishing the state of Israel.  Then with the Israeli Army’s victory in the Six-Day War in 1967 (separate article), the Israelis gained control of Gaza, the West Bank, and East
Jerusalem.  Israel imposed militarized authority over the “occupied territories” (as the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem were called collectively) as a means to deter opposition.  Check points and road blocks were raised, searches and arrests conducted, and civilian movement curtailed and monitored.  Perceived enemies were eliminated, imprisoned, or deported.  Furthermore, the Israeli government encouraged its citizens to migrate to the occupied territories, where Israeli housing settlements soon began to emerge.

The Palestinians greatly resented the presence of the Israelis, whom they regarded as a foreign force occupying Palestinian land.  Furthermore, as the Israeli authority became established and greater numbers of Israeli settlements were being built, the Palestinians believed that their lands eventually would be integrated into Israel.  The Israeli occupation was also perceived as a serious blow to the Palestinian people’s aspirations for establishing a
Palestinian state.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization, or PLO, a political and armed movement, was formed in 1964 and was headed by Chairman Yasser Arafat to lead the Palestinians’ struggle for independence.  However, the PLO experienced many setbacks,
not only in the hands of Israel but also by the Arab countries to which the Palestinians had turned for
support.  In 1970, the PLO was expelled from Jordan and thereafter moved to Lebanon where, in 1982, it also was forced to leave.  Subsequently, the PLO moved its headquarters to Tunisia, whose distant location prevented the Palestinian leadership from exercising direct control and influence over the affairs of Palestinians in the occupied territories.  The PLO itself was wracked by internal dissent among some factions that opposed Arafat, who had cast aside
his hard-line stance against Israel and adopted a more conciliatory approach.

Furthermore, later developments in the Middle
East boded ill for the Palestinians.  Egypt, the militarily strongest Arab country and a main supporter of the PLO, had signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and ceased its claim to the Gaza Strip.  Jordan had not only expelled the PLO but had relinquished its claim to the West Bank and consequently stripped the Palestinian residents there of Jordanian citizenship.  Syria, another major backer of the PLO, had a falling out with Arafat during the 1982 Lebanon War and began to support a rival PLO faction that ultimately forced Arafat and his Fatah faction to leave Lebanon a second time.  For so long, the Arab countries’ regional security concerns centered on the Palestinians’ struggle for statehood.  In the 1980s, however, much of the concentration was on the Iran-Iraq War, relegating the Palestinian issue to a lesser focus.  Palestinians believed that many Arab countries, because of the Arab military defeats to the
Israelis, generally had abandoned active support for the Palestinians’ nationalist aspirations.

The Palestinians’ frustrations were compounded by dire economic circumstances in the West Bank and Gaza.  Nearly half of all Palestinians were poor and lived in refugee camps in cramped, squalid, and poorly serviced conditions.  Unemployment was high and so was the Palestinians’ birth rate, leading to more people competing for limited opportunities and resources.

Ever since the Israelis took over the occupied territories, tensions between Israelis and Palestinians persisted, which often erupted in violence.  Then during the second half of 1987, these tensions rose dramatically, ultimately leading to a major Palestinian uprising that was triggered by the following events.