Daniel Orr's Blog, page 124

August 28, 1990 – Gulf War: Iraq annexes Kuwait as its 19th province

On August 4, 1990, Saddam appointed a 9-member military
junta composed of Kuwaiti Army officers headed by Colonel Alaa Hussein Ali, to
lead the “Provisional Government of Free Kuwait”.  Then on August 7, Kuwait
was declared a republic (“Republic
of Kuwait”).  The next day, however, the Iraqi government
announced the political and territorial merger of Iraq
and Kuwait.  Three weeks later, on August 28, Iraq
declared a Kuwait Governorate, Iraq’s 19th province, under Governor Ali Hassan
al-Majid, Saddam’s first cousin (and also better known as heading the al-Anfal
campaign (1986-1989), where Iraqi forces violently quelled an uprising by Iraqi
Kurds during the Iran-Iraq War).

A few hours into the Iraqi invasion, the Kuwaiti government had appealed to the international community for assistance.  In a number of resolutions, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemned the invasion, demanded that Saddam withdraw his forces, and imposed economic sanctions on Iraq.  The Arab League, the regional body in which Iraq was a member, also condemned Iraq’s aggression.  On the invitation of Saudi King Fahd who felt that his country would be invaded next, the United States sent troops to Saudi Arabia.  The international community, and particularly the U.S. government, entered into negotiations with Iraq regarding the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait.  These talks subsequently broke down, leading to the Gulf War, where U.S.-led coalition forces attacked Kuwait to drive out the Iraqi Army.

(Taken from Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background On June 19, 1961, Kuwait gained its independence from Britain.  In 1963, Iraq, which by this time had become a republic and was presently governed by a military government under General Abd al-Karim Qasim, pursued its claim of ownership to Kuwait based on historical grounds, and threatened to invade.  Swift intervention by Britain and Arab countries, which sent military units to defend Kuwait, forced Iraq to back down.  Then in 1963, Iraq appeared to acquiesce, declaring that it recognized Kuwait.  But tensions remained throughout the 1960s and 1970s, which sometimes broke out into border clashes that included a more significant incident where Iraqi forces attacked and seized control of the Al-Samitah border outpost in Kuwait.  Subsequent mediation efforts by Saudi Arabia succeeded in persuading Iraq to withdraw from occupied Kuwaiti territory.

Meanwhile, Iraq also had a long-standing border dispute with Iran, its eastern neighbor, which broke out in September 1980 into total war (the Iran-Iraq War, separate article) following the success of the Iranian Revolution that transformed Iran into a fundamentalist Islamic state.  Iran’s new Islamic government then called for the overthrow of “un-Islamic” Arab monarchies, alarming Gulf state monarchical governments including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, which gave large financial assistance in the form of loans to Iraq.  By this time, Iraq was ruled by Saddam Hussein.  Iraq-Kuwait relations improved dramatically, and Kuwait’s $14 billion loan to Iraq allowed the Iraqi Army to reverse its losses against Iran and take the initiative.

By the war’s end in August 1988, Iraq was in deep financial crisis,
with its oil industry severely affected by the widespread destruction of oil
infrastructures.  Before the war, Iraq was awash
in cash, holding some $35 billion in foreign reserves, but by 1988, was mired
in $80 billion in foreign debt to various Western and Arab countries.  Then in negotiations with its Arab creditors,
the Iraqi government declared that its loans must be written off on the grounds
that Iraq singlehandedly
stopped Iran’s hegemonic
ambitions and thus prevented the overthrow of the various Arab governments in
the Middle East.  Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s Foreign Minister, remarked thus, “How can
these amounts be regarded as Iraqi debts to its Arab brothers when Iraq made
sacrifices that are many times more than those debts in terms of Iraqi
resources during the grinding war and offered rivers of blood of its youth in
defense of the (Arab) nation’s soil, dignity, honor, and wealth?”

Furthermore, Kuwait
exceeded its oil production quota imposed by the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), causing a glut in the international market and
driving down oil prices.  The Iraqi
government complained that the low world prices meant lesser revenues, and
therefore lower capacity for Iraq
to repay its loans and restore its war-damaged oil infrastructures that were
needed to rebuild the country.

Another source of dispute was the Rumalia oil field, located
between Kuwait and Iraq and inside both countries’ territories, in
which Iraq accused Kuwait of using an oil extraction technique
known as slant drilling in order to pump out oil inside Iraq.  The Iraqi government demanded payment for the
“stolen” oil.  Kuwait vehemently denied the
accusation.

With economic troubles mounting, Saddam began to believe
that a conspiracy stirred up by neighboring countries was aimed at undermining
his country.  Consequently, the Iraqi
leader turned his appeals for financial reprieve into open threats, at one
point remarking (in reference to Iraq’s request for more loans),
“Let the Gulf regimes know, that if they will not give this money to me, I will
know how to get it.”

On July 16, 1990, on Saddam’s orders, units of the
Republican Guard, Iraq’s
elite force, deployed along the border with Kuwait.  By the following day, the arrival of more
units increased Iraqi strength to 10,000 troops and 300 tanks.  And by July 25, Iraq had massed some 30,000 troops
(in four divisions) and over 800 tanks along two fronts on the border.

United States
intelligence detected this military movement, which later was disseminated by
the U.S.
media.  On July 25, 1990 April Glaspie,
the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq,
in a meeting with Saddam, indicated that the U.S. government was aware of the
Iraqi military’s deployment and that this was a cause for concern.  However, Ambassador Glaspie also said the United States has “no opinion on Arab-Arab
conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait”,
a remark that has since generated controversy among political analysts, one
point being that the United States
would not intervene militarily if war broke out between fellow Arab Iraq and Kuwait.

During the closing week of July 1990, with mediation efforts
by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Kuwaiti and Iraqi representatives held
talks in Riyadh and Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, which also
failed to reach a settlement despite Kuwait
agreeing to pay $9 billion of the Iraqi government’s demand of $10 billion for Iraq’s
purported revenue losses in the Rumalia oil field.

August 27, 1928 – Interwar period: Fifteen countries sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounces war as an instrument of foreign policy

On August 27, 1928, fifteen countries signed the agreement known as the “General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy”, more commonly known as the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Its secondary name stems from its authors, U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand. The instrument, first agreed to in August 1928 by the United States, France, and Germany, was joined within a year by 62 countries, including Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Soviet Union, and China. The instrument’s objective was for signatory states not to use war to resolve “disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them”, and states that fail to adhere would be “denied of the benefits furnished by the treaty”.  The pact went into effect on July 24, 1929.

The Kellogg-Brian Pact failed in its objective: militarism grew in the 1930s, leading to the outbreak of World War II toward the close of the decade.

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

Post-World War I Pacifism Because World War I had caused considerable toll on lives and brought enormous political, economic, and social troubles, a genuine desire for lasting peace prevailed in post-war Europe, and it was hoped that the last war would be “the war that ended all wars”.  By the mid-1920s, most European countries, especially in the West, had completed reconstruction and were on the road to prosperity, and pursued a policy of openness and collective security.  This pacifism led to the formation in January 1920 of the League of Nations (LN), an international organization which had membership of most of the countries existing at that time, including most major Western Powers (excluding the United States).  The League had the following aims: to maintain world peace through collective security, encourage general disarmament, and mediate and arbitrate disputes between member states.  In the pacifism of the 1920s, the League resolved a number of conflicts (and had some failures as well), and by mid-decade, the major powers sought the League as a forum to engage in diplomacy, arbitration, and disarmament.

In September 1926, Germany ended its diplomatic near-isolation with its admittance to the League of Nations.  This came about with the signing in December 1926 of the Locarno Treaties (in Locarno, Switzerland), which settled the common borders of Germany, France, and Belgium.  These countries pledged not to attack each other, with a guarantee made by Britain and Italy to come to the aid of a party that was attacked by the other.  Future disputes were to be resolved through arbitration.  The Locarno Treaties also dealt with Germany’s eastern frontier with Poland and Czechoslovakia,
and although their common borders were not fixed, the parties agreed that future disputes would be settled through arbitration.  The Treaties were seen as a high point in international diplomacy, and ushered in a climate of peace in Western Europe for the rest of the 1920s.  A popular optimism, called “the spirit of Locarno”, gave hope that all future disputes could be settled through peaceful means.

In June 1930, the last French troops withdrew from the Rhineland, ending the Allied occupation five years earlier than the original fifteen-year schedule.  And in March 1935, the League of Nations returned the Saar region to Germany following a referendum where over 90% of Saar residents voted to be reintegrated with Germany.

In August 1938, at the urging of the United States and France, the Kellogg-Briand Pact  (officially titled “General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy”) was signed, which
encouraged all countries to renounce war and implement a pacifist foreign policy.  Within a year, 62 countries signed the Pact, including Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Soviet Union, and China.  In February 1929, the Soviet Union, a signatory and keen advocate of the Pact, initiated a similar agreement, called the Litvinov Protocol, with its Eastern European neighbors, which emphasized the immediate implementation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact among themselves.  Pacifism in the interwar period also manifested in the collective efforts by the major powers to limit their weapons.  In February 1922, the five naval powers: United States, Britain, France, Italy,
and Japan signed the Washington Naval Treaty, which restricted construction of the larger classes of warships.  In April 1930, these countries signed the London Naval Treaty, which modified a number of
clauses in the Washington treaty but also regulated naval construction.  A further attempt at naval regulation was made in March 1936, which was
signed only by the United States, Britain, and France, since by this time, the previous other signatories, Italy and Japan, were pursuing expansionist policies that required greater naval power.

An effort by the League of Nations and non-League member United States to achieve general disarmament in the international community led to the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva in 1932-1934, attended by sixty countries.  The talks
bogged down from a number of issues, the most dominant relating to the disagreement between Germany and France, with the Germans insisting on being allowed weapons equality with the great powers (or that they disarm to the level of the Treaty of Versailles, i.e. to Germany’s current military
strength), and the French resisting increased German power for fear of a resurgent Germany and a repeat of World War I, which had caused heavy French
losses.  Germany, now led by Adolf Hitler (starting in January 1933), pulled out of the World Disarmament Conference, and in October 1933, withdrew from the League of Nations.  The Geneva disarmament conference thus ended in failure.

August 26, 1922 – Turkish War of Independence: The Turkish Army launches the “Great Offensive” to expel Greek forces from Western Anatolia

On August 26, 1922, the Turkish Army launched its long awaited
counter-attack against the Greek forces. Holding a 3:1 numerical and
considerable material advantage, the Turkish forces easily overpowered and
expelled the Greek Army from Anatolia. On
September 9, the Turkish Army reached the Aegean cost with the recapture of Smyrna (present-day Izmir).
On September 18, Erdek and Biga were taken, which ended the fighting. By then,
Greek forces had ceased to be an effective fighting unit, and demoralization and
dissension had forced a hasty, disorganized retreat. In the aftermath, the
Greeks withdrew from western Anatolia.

Partition of Anatolia as stipulated in the Treaty of Sevres.

The Greco-Turkish War formed one part of the Turkish War of
Independence.

(Taken from Turkish War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Rise of the Turkish Independence Movement
Under the armistice agreement, the Ottoman government was required to disarm
and demobilize its armed forces.  On
April 30, 1919, Mustafa Kemal, a general in the Ottoman Army, was appointed as
the Inspector-General of the Ottoman Ninth Army in Anatolia,
with the task of demobilizing the remaining forces in the interior.  Kemal was a nationalist who opposed the
Allied occupation, and upon arriving in Samsun
on May 19, 1919, he and other like-minded colleagues set up what became the
Turkish Nationalist Movement.

Contact was made with other nationalist politicians and
military officers, and alliances were formed with other nationalist
organizations in Anatolia.  Military units that were not yet demobilized,
as well as the various armed bands and militias, were instructed to resist the
occupation forces.  These various
nationalist groups ultimately would merge to form the nationalists’ “National
Army” in the coming war.  Weapons and
ammunitions were stockpiled, and those previously surrendered were secretly
taken back and turned over to the nationalists.

On June 21, 1919, Kemal issued the Amasya Circular, which
declared among other things, that the unity and independence of the Turkish
state were in danger, that the Ottoman government was incapable of defending
the country, and that a national effort was needed to secure the state’s
integrity.  As a result of this circular,
Turkish nationalists met twice: at the Erzerum Congress (July-August 1991) by
regional leaders of the eastern provinces, and at the Sivas Congress (September
1919) of nationalist leaders from across Anatolia.  Two important decisions emerged from these
meetings: the National Pact and the “Representative Committee”.

The National Pact set forth the guidelines for the Turkish
state, including what constituted the “homeland of the Turkish nation”, and
that the “country should be independent and free, all restrictions on
political, judicial, and financial developments will be removed”.  The “Representative Committee” was the
precursor of a quasi-government that ultimately took shape on May 3, 1920 as
the Turkish Provisional Government based in Ankara
(in central Anatolia), founded and led by
Kemal.

Kemal and his Representative Committee “government”
challenged the continued legitimacy of the national government, declaring that Constantinople was ruled by the Allied Powers from whom
the Sultan had to be liberated.  However,
the Sultan condemned Kemal and the nationalists, since both the latter effectively
had established a second government that was a rival to that in Constantinople.

In July 1919, Kemal received an order from the national
authorities to return to Constantinople.  Fearing for his safety, he remained in Ankara; consequently, he
ceased all official duties with the Ottoman Army.  The Ottoman government then laid down treason
charges against Kemal and other nationalist leaders; tried in absentia, he was
declared guilty on May 11, 1920 and sentenced to death.

Initially, British authorities played down the threat posed
by the Turkish nationalists.  Then when
the Ottoman parliament in Constantinople
declared its support for the nationalists’ National Pact and the integrity of
the Turkish state, the British violently closed down the legislature, an action
that inflicted many civilian casualties. 
The next month, the Sultan affirmed the dissolution of the Ottoman
parliament.

Many parliamentarians were arrested, but many others escaped
capture and fled to Ankara
to join the nationalists.  On April 23,
1920, a new parliament called the Grand National Assembly convened in Ankara, which elected
Kemal as its first president.

British authorities soon realized that the nationalist
movement threatened the Allied plans on the Ottoman Empire.  From civilian volunteers and units of the
Sultan’s Caliphate Army, the British organized a militia, which was tasked to
defeat the nationalist forces in Anatolia.  Clashes soon broke out, with the most intense
taking place in June 1920 in and around Izmit, where Ottoman and British forces
defeated the nationalists.  Defections
were widespread among the Sultan’s forces, however, forcing the British to
disband the militia.

The British then considered using their own troops, but
backed down knowing that the British public would oppose Britain being involved in another
war, especially one coming right after World War I.  The British soon found another ally to fight
the war against the nationalists – Greece.  On June 10, 1920, the Allies presented the
Treaty of Sevres to the Sultan.  The
treaty was signed by the Ottoman government but was not ratified, since war
already had broken out.

In the coming war, Kemal crucially gained the support of the
newly established Soviet Union, particularly in the Caucasus
where for centuries, the Russians and Ottomans had fought for domination.  This Soviet-Turkish alliance resulted from
both sides’ condemnation of the Allied intervention in their local affairs,
i.e. the British and French enforcing the Treaty of Sevres on the Ottoman Empire, and the Allies’ open support for
anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian Civil War.

August 25, 1991 – Croatian War of Independence: The start of the 87-day Battle of Vukovar

On August 25, 1991, some 36,000 troops of the Yugoslav Army, aided by Serb paramilitaries, launched an attack against the lightly-armed 1,800 Croatian National Guard fighters in Vukovar in eastern Croatia. Supported by air, armored, and artillery units, the Yugoslav-Serb forces broke through on November 18, 1991 after an 87-day siege and offensive. Vukovar was subjected to intense shell and rocket bombardment and was completely destroyed. For the Yugoslav Army, the battle was won at great cost, with 1,100 killed and 2,500 wounded, and the loss of 110 tanks and armoured vehicles and 3 planes. Croatian casualties were 900 killed and 800 wounded. Some 1,100 civilians also perished.

In the aftermath, several hundred Croatian soldiers and civilians were executed, and 20,000 residents comprising the non-Serb population were expelled from the town. Vukovar was thereafter annexed into the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina.

Yugoslavia

(Taken from Croatian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background By the late 1980s, Yugoslavia was faced with a major political crisis, as separatist aspirations among its ethnic populations threatened to undermine the country’s integrity (see “Yugoslavia”, separate article).  Nationalism particularly was strong in Croatia and Slovenia, the two westernmost and wealthiest Yugoslav republics.  In January 1990, delegates from Slovenia and Croatia walked out from an assembly of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the country’s communist party, over disagreements with their Serbian counterparts regarding proposed reforms to the party and the central government.  Then in the first multi-party elections in Croatia held in April and May 1990, Franjo Tudjman became president after running a campaign that promised greater autonomy for Croatia and a reduced political union with Yugoslavia.

Ethnic Croatians, who comprised 78% of Croatia’s population, overwhelmingly supported Tudjman, because they were concerned that Yugoslavia’s
national government gradually had fallen under the control of Serbia, Yugoslavia’s largest and most
powerful republic, and led by hard-line President Slobodan Milosevic.  In May 1990, a new Croatian Parliament was formed and subsequently prepared a new constitution.  The constitution was subsequently passed in December 1990.  Then in a referendum held in May 1991 with Croatian Serbs refusing to participate, Croatians voted overwhelmingly in support of independence.  On June 25, 1991, Croatia,
together with Slovenia, declared independence.

Croatian Serbs (ethnic Serbs who are native to Croatia) numbered nearly 600,000, or 12% of Croatia’s total population, and formed the second largest ethnic group in the republic.  As Croatia
increasingly drifted toward political separation from Yugoslavia, the Croatian Serbs became alarmed at the thought that the new Croatian government would carry out persecutions, even a genocidal pogrom against Serbs, just as the pro-Nazi ultra-nationalist Croatian Ustashe government had done to the Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies during World War II.  As a result, Croatian Serbs began to militarize, with the formation of militias as well as the arrival of armed groups from Serbia.

Croatian Serbs formed a population majority in south-west Croatia (northern Dalmatian and Lika).  There, in February 1990, they formed the Serb Democratic Party, which aimed for the political and territorial integration of Serb-dominated lands in Croatia with Serbia and Yugoslavia.  They declared that if Croatia wanted to secede from Yugoslavia, they, in turn, should be allowed to separate from Croatia.  Serbs also interpreted the change in their
status in the new Croatian constitution as diminishing their civil rights.  In turn, the Croatian government opposed the Croatian Serb secession and was determined to keep the republic’s territorial integrity.

In July 1990, a Croatian Serb Assembly was formed that called for Serbian sovereignty and autonomy.  In December, Croatian Serbs established the SAO Krajina (SAO is the acronym for Serbian Autonomous Oblast) as a separate government from Croatia in the regions of northern Dalmatia and Lika. 
Croatian Serbs formed a majority population in two other regions in Croatia, which they also transformed into separate political administrations called SAO Western Slavonia, and SAO Eastern Slavonia (officially SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western
Syrmia).  (Map 17 shows locations in Croatia
where ethnic Serbs formed a majority population.) In a referendum held in August 1990 in SAO Krajina, Croatian Serbs voted overwhelmingly (99.7%) for
Serbian “sovereignty and autonomy”.  Then after a second referendum held in March 1991 where Croatian Serbs voted unanimously (99.8%) to merge SAO Krajina with Serbia, the Krajina government
declared that “… SAO Krajina is a constitutive part of he unified state territory of the Republic of Serbia”.

August 24, 1941 – World War II: Hitler orders the discontinuation of the T4 euthanasia program for the mentally and physically ill

On August 24, 1941, Adolf Hitler ordered the cessation of the T4 euthanasia program for the mentally and physically ill in response to protests in Germany led by the Bishop of Munster, Clemens von Galen. Pope Pius XII had earlier denounced the program, stating in December 1940 that it violated Divine Law and that the “killing of an innocent person because of mental or physical defects is not allowed”. Despite the official cessation in August 1941, the program continued to be performed until Germany’s defeat in 1945. Its implementation had begun in September 1939.

T4 (later given the name “Aktion T4” after the war) was Nazi Germany’s program of mass killing the severely mentally and physically ill people in psychiatric hospitals in Germany and occupied territories, Austria, Poland, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (present-day Czech Republic). The reasons for its implementation were eugenics, reduce suffering, racial purification, and cost savings for the government.

In the latter stages, patients were killed en masse with cyanide poison in gas chambers.

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

Genocide and slave labor

Because of the failure of Operation Barbarossa and succeeding campaigns, Germany was unable to implement the planned mass-scale transfer of targeted populations to the Russian interior.  Elimination of the undesired populations began almost immediately following the outbreak of war, with the conquest of Poland.  The killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians occurred in hundreds of incidents of massacres and mass shootings in towns and villages, reprisals against attacks on German troops, scorched earth operations, civilians trapped in the cross-fire, concentration camps, etc.

By far, the most famous extermination program was the Holocaust, where six million Jews, or 60% of the nine million pre-war European Jewish population, were killed in the period 1941-1945.  German anti-Jewish policies began in the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and violent repression of Jews increased at the
outbreak of war.  Jews were rounded up and confined to guarded ghettos, and then sent by freight trains to
concentration and labor camps.  By mid-1942, under the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” decree, Jews were transported to extermination camps, where they were killed in gas chambers.  Some 90% of Holocaust victims were Jews.  Other similar exterminations and repressions were carried out against ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, and other Slavs and Romani (gypsies), as well as communists and other political enemies, homosexuals, Freemasons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.  In Germany itself, a clandestine program implemented by German public health authorities under Hitler’s orders, killed tens of thousands of mentally and physically disabled patients, purportedly under euthanasia (“mercy killing”) procedures, which actually involved sending patients to gas chambers, applying lethal doses of medication, and through starvation.

Some 12-15 million slave laborers, mostly civilians from captured territories in Eastern Europe, were rounded up to work in Germany, particularly in munitions factories and agriculture, to ease German labor shortage caused by the millions of German men fighting in the various fronts and also because Nazi policy discouraged German women from working in
industry.  Some 5.7 million Soviet POWs also were used as slave labor.  As well, two million French Army prisoners were sent to labor camps in Germany, mainly to prevent the formation of organized resistance in France and for them to serve as hostages to ensure continued compliance by the Vichy government.  Some 600,000 French civilians also were conscripted or volunteered to work in German plants.  Living and working conditions for the slave laborers were extremely dire, particularly for those from Eastern Europe.  Some 60% (3.6 million of the 5.7 million) of Soviet POWs died in captivity from various causes: summary executions, physical abuse, diseases, starvation diets, extreme work, etc.

August 23, 1939 – Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty; World War II begins just over a week later

On August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the “Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, where both sides agreed not attack the other or be alliance to or assist the enemy of either side. The treaty became known in the West as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, so named for the foreign ministers Vyacheslav Molotov of the Soviet Union and Joachim von Ribbentrop of Germany.

The treaty included a secret protocol that delineated each side’s spheres of influence in the regions between them: Poland, Romania, the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Finland. The non-aggression treaty was made public, but the secret protocol became known only at the end of World War II from the German copy of the document found in Nazi archives. The treaty ended when Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.

The treaty allowed Germany free rein to attack Poland on September 1, 1939, launching what would unexpectedly become the global World War II.

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

Background to the German Invasion of Poland Britain and France, which had pursued appeasement toward Hitler, had become wary after the German occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia, which had a non-ethnic German majority population, which was in contrast to what Hitler had said that he only wanted returned those German-populated territories.  Britain and France were now determined to resist Germany diplomatically and resolve the crisis through firm negotiations.  On March 31, 1939, Britain and France announced that they would “guarantee Polish independence” in case of foreign aggression.  Since 1921, as per the Franco-Polish Military Alliance, France had pledged military assistance to Poland if that latter was attacked.

In fact, Hitler’s intentions on Poland was not only the return of lost German territories, but the elimination of the Polish state and annexation of Poland as part of Lebensraum (“living space”), German expansion into Eastern Europe and Russia.  Lebensraum called for the eradication of the native populations in these conquered areas.  For Poland specifically, on August 22, 1939 in the lead-up to the German invasion, Hitler had said that “the object of
the war is … to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language.  Only in this way can we obtain the living space we need.”  In April 1939, Hitler instructed the German military High Command to begin preparations for an invasion of Poland, to be launched later in the summer.  By May 1939, the German military had drawn up the invasion plan.

In May 1939, Britain and France held high-level
talks with the Soviet Union regarding forming a tripartite military alliance against Germany, especially
in light of the possible German invasion of Poland.  These talks stalled, because Poland refused to allow Soviet forces into its territory in case Germany attacked.  Unbeknown to Britain and France, the Soviet Union and Germany were also conducting (secret) separate talks regarding bilateral political,
military, and economic concerns, which on August 23, 1939, led to the signing of a non-aggression treaty.  This treaty, which was broadcast to the world and widely known as the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact (named after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop), brought a radical shift to the European power balance, as Germany was now free to invade Poland without fear of Soviet reprisal.  The pact also included a secret protocol where Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania were divided into German and Soviet spheres of influence.

One day earlier, August 22, with the non aggression treaty virtually assured, Hitler set the invasion date of Poland for August 26, 1939.  On August 25, Hitler told the British ambassador that Britain must agree to the German demands on Poland, as the non-aggression pact freed Germany from facing a two-front war with major powers.  But on that same day, Britain and Poland signed a mutual defense pact, which contained a secret clause where the British promised military assistance if Poland was attacked by Germany.  This agreement, as well as British overtures that Britain and Poland were willing to restart the stalled talks with Germany, forced Hitler to abort the invasion set for the next day.

August 22, 1910 – Japan annexes Korea

On August 22, 1910, Japan annexed Korea
with the signing of the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty. The annexation was the culmination of Japan’s gradual domination over Korea over the years following a bilateral treaty in 1905 where Korea became a protectorate of Japan, and another treaty in 1907 where Korea ceded administration of its internal affairs to Japan.

The 1910 annexation became effective on August 29, which included the first article: “His Majesty the Emperor of Korea makes the complete and permanent cession to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of all rights of sovereignty over the whole of Korea”.  The Korean crown later denounced the treaty, saying it had been signed under duress.

The annexation came following Japan’s victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War for control of Korea and southern Manchuria.

(Taken from Wars of the 20th Century -Twenty Wars in Asia)

Aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War Despite its defeat, Russia continued to be regarded as a major European power.  Russia’s greatest loss was its prestige, as it had been humiliated by a tiny Asian nation, and one that had only recently modernized.  The Russian monarchy was weakened politically by the war and from the internal unrest in 1905, but survived twelve more years in power.  In March 1917, following another revolution amid the Russian defeats in ongoing World War I, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate the throne, and the Russian monarchy came to an end.

In Japan, the immediate effect of the war was outrage and frustration by the Japanese people, who believed that their nation had been deprived of greater benefits from the war, particularly war reparation and more territory.  Protest demonstrations broke out in the cities, which sometimes degenerated into violence and riots.  People were angry at their own government for
agreeing to the treaty, and also at U.S. President Roosevelt, whom they accused of siding with the Russians during the negotiations.

However, for Japan, the long-term effects of the war were much more favorable, as it became the
supreme power in East Asia, and its status as an equal of the major European powers was strengthened.  In August 1910, Japan abrogated Korea’s nominal
independence (long recognized by the major powers) and annexed Korea, generating no response from the European powers.  Japan then continued to expand
militarily.

Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War also dashed the then prevailing notion that Caucasians were military superior to Asians.  Japan’s feat also
gave hope to the colonized peoples of Southeast Asia
(e.g. Vietnamese, Indonesians, Filipinos, etc) who were aspiring for independence from their European and American colonial masters.

August 20, 1988 – Iran and Iraq agree to a ceasefire after eight years of fighting

On July 20, 1988, the UN Security Council issued Resolution 598 that called for a ceasefire and, among other stipulations, ordered that Iran and Iraq withdraw their forces to international borders (i.e. their pre-war borders).  Both sides agreed to the ceasefire, which came into effect on August 20, 1988, marking the end of the war.  Two weeks later, the United Nations Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group (UNIIMOG), a UN multi-national peacekeeping force, arrived to enforce the ceasefire agreement.

Casualty estimates in the Iran-Iraq war vary widely among different sources, but a total of one million to perhaps twice that number may have perished in the conflict.  Some 300,000 civilians were killed, with Iraqi Kurds suffering the most, accounting
for 60% of that number.  Some later historians of the war have offered lower total casualty figures.

(Taken from Iran-Iraq War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Aftermath At the close of the war, Iraq intensified its military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, and in a swift and ruthless campaign that involved some 200,000 Iraqi troops, inflicted tens of thousands of deaths among Iraqi Kurds, depopulated and destroyed villages, and by September 1988, had put an end to the Kurdish rebellion.

Both Iraq and Iran declared victory in the war, and each had some merit to its respective claim: Iraq had gained the upper hand by the latter stages, while Iran,
despite having much fewer weapons, had fought remarkably well and held the initiative for much of the war.  However, the war essentially ended in a stalemate, as no political or territorial gains had been achieved by either side.  Moreover, both countries failed to achieve their primary objectives in the war, with Iraq unable to annex oil-rich Khuzestan and Iran
failing to overthrow Saddam and turning Iraq into an Islamic state.

Politically, the two countries were strengthened by the war.  Saddam had officially become president in 1979, just one year before the start of the war (although he had been the behind-the-scenes strongman and de facto head of the regime for many
years), but the war allowed him to consolidate power and rule as a dictator with overwhelming popular support.  In Iran, the war likewise united Iranians to religious-nationalist fervor, allowing the Islamic government to eliminate the (secular) opposition and consolidate power.  Ayatollah Khomeini passed away in June 1989 and was succeeded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who together with incoming President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, somewhat toned down Iran’s hard-line Islamic stance and adopted a more nationalist policy.

Both sides’ economies were devastated (a combined $1.2 trillion was lost), as a large portion of their oil-producing infrastructures, the mainstay of their economies, had been destroyed and would take many years to rehabilitate and return to pre-war capacities.  However, Iraq suffered much greater financial vulnerability as it had become saddled with a large foreign loan (some $130 billion) to Arab and western countries in order to fund its army (by making large weapons purchases) which, by the end of the war, was the world’s fourth largest, boasting some 1.2 million soldiers, 4,500 tanks, 500 planes, and 4,000 artillery pieces.

Post-war tensions remained high, and both countries rebuilt their war arsenals with substantial weapons purchases, particularly from the Soviet Union and China.  Peace negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland to achieve a permanent settlement failed mainly because of the two sides’ rival claims to the Shatt al-Arab.

In August 1990, Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait
(Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, separate article), drawing international condemnation.  As relations became
strained with western powers, particularly the United
States and Britain, Saddam toned down his hard-line stance against Iran and accepted the Islamic state’s position on their territorial dispute.  Subsequently, Iran and Iraq signed a peace agreement that had the following important provisions: restoration of diplomatic relations, the midpoint of the Shatt al-Arab was their border, withdrawal of Iraqi troops from remaining territory in Iran, and exchange of prisoners of war.  Many of these provisions were carried out, and UNIIMOG ended its mission and departed in February 1991.  The final exchange of war prisoners took place in March 2003.

August 19, 1945 – First Indochina War: Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh followers take control of Hanoi

On August 19, 1945, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) took control of Hanoi in northern Vietnam. There, he announced the formation of a provisional government under a democratic republic comprising the whole of Vietnam. On September 2, 1945, he declared Vietnam’s independence.

This declaration of independence was culmination of the August Revolution, a nationalist struggle that began on August 14, 1945 aimed at preventing the return of French colonial rule in Vietnam. Within two weeks, the Viet Minh had taken control of most cities across the northern, central, and southern regions of Vietnam.

Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina.

(Taken from First Indochina War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Background

In May 1941, after a thirty-year absence from Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh returned and organized in northern Vietnam the “League for the Independence of Vietnam”, more commonly known as Viet Minh (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Độc Lập Đồng Minh Hội),
an ICP-led merger of Vietnamese nationalist movements, aimed at ending both French and Japanese rule.  Ho became the leader of the Vietnamese independence struggle, a position he would hold permanently until his death in 1969.

During World War II, the Viet Minh and Allied Powers formed a tactical alliance in their shared effort to defeat a common enemy.  In particular, Ho’s fledging small band of fighters liaisoned with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), furnishing the Americans with intelligence information on the Japanese, while the U.S. military provided the Vietnamese fighters with training, some weapons, and other military support.

By early 1945, World War II invariably had turned in favor of the Allies, with Germany verging on defeat and Japan becoming increasingly threatened by the Allied island-hopping Pacific campaign.  In March 1945, the Japanese military overthrew the French administration in Indochina, because of fears of
an Allied invasion of the region following the U.S.
recapture of the Philippines (October 1944–April 1945), and also because the Japanese began to distrust French loyalty following the end of Vichy France (November 1942) and the subsequent Allied
liberation of France (early 1945).  In place of the French administration, on March 11, 1945, Japanese authorities installed a Vietnamese government led by former emperor Bao Dai, and then proclaimed the
“independence” of Vietnam, an act that was largely dismissed as spurious by the Vietnamese people.

On August 14, 1945, Japan announced its acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, marking the end of the Asia-Pacific theatre of World War II (the European theater of World War II had ended earlier, on May 8, 1945).  The sudden Japanese capitulation left a power vacuum that was quickly filled by the Viet Minh, which in the preceding months, had secretly organized so-called “People’s
Revolutionary Committees” throughout much of the colony.  These “People’s Revolutionary Committees” now seized power and organized local administrations in many towns and cities, more
particularly in the northern and central regions, including the capital Hanoi.  This seizure of power, historically called the August Revolution, led to the abdication of ex-emperor Bao Dao and the collapse of his Japanese-sponsored government.

The August Revolution succeeded largely because the Viet Minh had gained much popular support following a severe famine that hit northern Vietnam in the summer of 1944 to 1945 (which caused some 400,000 to 2 million deaths).  During the famine, the
Viet Minh raided several Japanese and private grain warehouses.  On September 2, 1945 (the same day Japan surrendered to the Allies), Ho proclaimed the country’s independence as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), taking the position of President of a provisional government.

At this point, Ho sought U.S. diplomatic support for Vietnam’s independence, and incorporated part of the 1776 U.S. Declaration of Independence in his own proclamation of Vietnamese independence.  Ho also wrote several letters to U.S. President Harry Truman (which were unanswered), and met with U.S. State Department and OSS officials in Hanoi.  However, during the war-time Potsdam Conference (July 17 – August 2, 1945), the Allied Powers (including the Soviet Union) decided to allow France to restore colonial rule in Indochina, but that in the meantime that France was yet preparing to return, Vietnam was to be partitioned into two zones north and south of the 16th parallel, with Chinese Nationalist forces tasked to occupy the northern zone, and British forces (with some French units) tasked to enter the southern zone.

By mid-September 1945, Chinese and British forces had occupied their respective zones.  They
then completed their assigned tasks of accepting the surrender of, as well as disarming and repatriating the Japanese forces within their zones.  In Saigon, British forces disbanded the Vietnamese revolutionary government that had taken over the administration of the city.  This Vietnamese government in Saigon, called the “Provisional Executive Committee”, was a coalition of many organizations, including the religious groups Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, the organized crime syndicate Binh Xuyen, the communists, and nationalist organizations.  In Cochinchina and parts of Annam, unlike in Tonkin, the Viet Minh had only
established partial authority because of the presence of these many rival ideological movements.  But believing that nationalism was more important than ideology to achieve Vietnam’s independence, the Viet Minh was willing to work with other groups to form a
united front to oppose the return of French rule.

As a result of the British military actions in the southern zone, on September 17, 1945, the DRV in Hanoi launched a general strike in Saigon.  British authorities responded to the strikes by declaring martial law.  The British also released and armed some 1,400 French former prisoners of war; the latter then launched attacks on the Viet Minh, and seized key government infrastructures in the south.  On September 24, 1945, elements of the Binh Xuyen crime syndicate attacked and killed some 150 French
nationals, which provoked retaliatory actions by the French that led to increased fighting.  British and French forces soon dispersed the Viet Minh from Saigon.  The latter responded by sabotaging ports,
power plants, communication systems, and other government facilities.

By the third week of September 1945, much of southern Vietnam was controlled by the French, and the British ceded administration of the region to them.  In late October 1945, another British-led operation broke the remaining Viet Minh resistance in the south, and the Vietnamese revolutionaries retreated to the countryside where they engaged in guerilla warfare.  Also in October, some 35,000 French troops arrived in Saigon.  In March 1946, British forces departed from Indochina, ending their involvement in the region.

Meanwhile in the northern zone, some 200,000 Chinese occupation forces, led by the warlord General Lu Han, allowed Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh to continue exercising power in the north, on the condition that Ho include non-communists in the Viet Minh government.  To downplay his communist ties, in November 1945, Ho dissolved the ICP and called for Vietnamese nationalist unity.  In late 1945, a provisional coalition government was formed in the northern zone, comprising the Viet Minh and other nationalist organizations.  In January 1946, elections to the National Assembly were held in northern and central Vietnam, where the coalition parties agreed to a pre-set division of electoral seats.

August 18, 1965 – Vietnam War: U.S. Marines pre-empt a Viet Cong attack on Chu Lai Air Base

On August 18, 1965, U.S. Marines launched Operation Starlite aimed at pre-empting a Viet Cong attack on Chu Lai Air Base. With information provided by South Vietnamese military intelligence, the operation destroyed an insurgent camp on the Van Tuong peninsula in nearly one week of heavy fighting (August 18-24, 1965). The U.S. force consisted of 5,500 personnel, while the Viet Cong totaled 1,500. Casualties were: U.S. 45 killed, 200 wounded; Viet Cong – 600 killed, 42 captured.

(Taken from Vietnam War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Fighting along Vietnam’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

In the northern part of South Vietnam (which the
South Vietnamese government designated as I Corps Tactical Zone), U.S. Marines, who were based at Da Nang, Phu Bai, and Chu Lai, supplemented by South
Vietnamese forces, were tasked with defending the areas south of  the DMZ.  The U.S. Marines launched several search and destroy missions in the surrounding village areas (which were under the nominal control of the Viet Cong/NLF).  These operations yielded little results, as the Viet Cong refused to fight in the open, but retreated to the jungles, only to return after the Americans had departed.  Unable to locate the enemy, the U.S. Marines changed their strategy, and instead implemented a “hearts and minds” campaign
of providing social, medical, economic, and political programs, aimed at winning the support of the local population.  Ultimately, the “hearts and minds” program proved only partially successful, as Viet Cong influence in these agriculturally rich lowland coastal areas remained strong.  General Westmoreland also viewed these conciliatory efforts by the U.S. Marines as contrary to the American war strategy of seeking and destroying the Viet Cong.

By mid-1966, North Vietnamese infiltrations across the DMZ had increased considerably.  North Vietnam had timed these infiltrations to take advantage of the ongoing massive civilian unrest occurring in South Vietnam.  In response, the U.S. military launched offensives to counteract these infiltrations.  In August 1966, under Operation Starlite, U.S. Marines pre-empted a North Vietnamese planned assault on the U.S. Marine base at Chu Lai.  The North Vietnamese were forced to retreat to their side of the DMZ, where they regrouped and again crossed the DMZ into South Vietnam, which was met with U.S. Marines in Operation Prairie, which again forced the enemy to fall back across the DMZ.

Because of the increased North Vietnamese pressure, by mid-1966, the U.S. Marines had established a series of combat bases across and
adjacent to the DMZ; these bases included Khe Sanh, Dong Ha, Con Thien, and Gio Linh, all of which were supported by the artillery bases of Camp Carroll and
Rockpile (Figure 6).

In June 1966, North Vietnamese forces again attacked across the DMZ, but were repulsed by U.S. Marines, supported by South Vietnamese units and American air, artillery, and naval forces. 
U.S. forces then launched Operation Hastings, leading to three weeks of large battles near Dong Ha and ending with the North Vietnamese withdrawing back across the DMZ.  The year 1966 also saw
the United States greatly escalating the war, with U.S. deployment being increased over two-fold from the year before, from 184,000 in 1965 to 385,000
troops in 1966.  In 1967, U.S. deployment would top 485,000 and then peak in 1968 with 536,000 soldiers.

Throughout 1967, combat activity in the DMZ consisted of artillery duels, North Vietnamese infiltrations, and firefights along the border.  As the North Vietnamese actually used their side of the DMZ as a base to stage their infiltration attacks, in
May 1967, the U.S. Marines militarized the southern side of the DMZ, which sparked increased fighting inside the DMZ.  Also starting in September 1967 and continuing for many months, North Vietnamese artillery batteries pounded U.S Marine positions near the DMZ, which inflicted heavy casualties on American troops.  In response, U.S. aircraft launched bombing attacks on North Vietnamese positions across the DMZ.

In early 1967, North Vietnam began preparing for a massive offensive into South Vietnam.  This operation, which later came to be known as the Tet Offensive, would have far-reaching consequences on the outcome of the war.  The North Vietnamese plan to launch the Tet Offensive came about when political hardliners in Hanoi succeeded in sidelining
the moderates in government. As a result of the hardliners dictating government policies, in July 1967, hundreds of moderates, including government officials and military officers, were purged from the Hanoi government and the Vietnamese Communist
Party.

By fall of 1967, North Vietnamese military planners had set the date to launch the Tet Offensive on January 31, 1968.  In the invasion plan, the Viet Cong was to carry out the offensive, with North Vietnam only providing weapons and other material support.  The Tet Offensive, which was known in North Vietnam as “General Offensive, General Uprising”, called for the Viet Cong to launch
simultaneous attacks on many targets across South Vietnam, which would be accompanied with calls to the civilian population to launch a general uprising.  North Vietnam believed that a civilian uprising in the south would succeed because of President Thieu’s
unpopularity, as evidenced by the constant civil unrest and widespread criticism of government policies.  In this scenario, once President Thieu was overthrown, an NLF-led communist government would succeed in power, and pressure the United
States to end its involvement in South Vietnam.  Faced with the threat of international condemnation, the United States would be forced to acquiesce, and withdraw its forces from Vietnam.