Daniel Orr's Blog, page 20

June 18, 1900 – Boxer Rebellion: Empress Dowager Cixi of China orders her people to resist foreigners

Foreign spheres of influence in China in the early 1900s

The Boxer RebellionIn the late 19th century, a secret society called the ““Righteous andHarmonious Fists” (Yihequan) was formed in the drought-ravaged hinterlandregions of Shandongand Zhili provinces.  The sect formed inthe villages, had no central leadership, operated in groups of tens to severalhundreds of mostly young peasants, and held the belief that China’s problemswere a direct consequence of the presence of foreigners, who had brought intothe country their alien culture and religion (i.e. Christianity).

Sect members practiced martial arts and gymnastics, andperformed mass religious rituals, where they invoked Taoist and Buddhistspirits to take possession of their bodies. They also believed that these rituals would confer on them invincibilityto weapons strikes, including bullets. As the sect was anti-foreign and anti-Christian, it soon gained theattention of foreign Christian missionaries, who called the group and itsfollowers “Boxers” in reference to the group’s name and because it practicedmartial arts.

The Qing government, long wary of secret societies which historically had seditious motives, made efforts to suppress the Boxers. Because of government repression, the Boxers renamed their organization the  “Righteous and Harmonious Militia (Yihetuan)”, using the word “militia” to de-emphasize their origin as a secret society and give the movement a form of legitimacy.  Even then, the Qing government continued to view the Boxers with suspicion.

By May 1900, thousands of Boxers were occupying areas aroundBeijing,including the vital Beijing-Tianjin railway line.  They attacked villages, killed localofficials, and destroyed government infrastructures.  The violence alarmed the foreign diplomaticcommunity in Beijing.  The foreign diplomats, their staff, andfamilies in Beijinghad their offices and residences located at the Legation Quarter, located southof the city.  The Legation Quarterconsisted of diplomatic missions from eleven countries: Britain, France,Russia, United States, Germany,Austria-Hungary, Japan, Italy,Belgium, Netherlands, and Spain.

In May 1900, the foreign diplomats asked the Qing governmentthat foreign troops be allowed to be posted at the Legation Quarter, which wasdenied.  Instead, the Chinese governmentsent Chinese policemen to guard the legations. But the foreign envoys persisted in their request, and on May 30, 1900,the Chinese Foreign Ministry (Zongli Yamen) allowed a small number of foreigntroops to be sent to Beijing.

The next day (May 31), some 450 foreign sailors and Marineswere landed from ships from eight countries and sent by train from Taku to Beijing.  But as the situation in Beijingcontinued to deteriorate, the foreign diplomats felt that more foreign troopswere needed in Beijing.  On June 6, 1900, and again on June 8, theysent requests to the Zongli Yamen, with both being turned down.  A separate request by the German Minister,Clemens von Ketteler, to allow German troops to take control of the Beijing railway stationalso was turned down.  On June 10, 1900,the Chinese government barred the foreign legations from using the telegraphline that linked to Tianjin.  In one of the last transmissions from theLegation Quarter, British Minister Claude MacDonald asked British Vice-AdmiralEdward Seymour in Tianjin to send more troops,with the message, “Situation extremely grave; unless arrangements are made forimmediate advance to Beijing,it will be too late.”  And with thesubsequent severing of the telegraph line between Beijingand Kiachta (in Russia) onJune 17, 1900, for nearly two months thereafter, the Legation Quarter in Beijing would be cut offfrom the outside world.

On June 11, 1900, the Japanese diplomat, Sugiyama Akira, waskilled by Chinese troops in a Beijingstreet.  Then on June 12 or 13, twoBoxers entered the Legation Quarter and were confronted by Ketteler, the GermanMinister, who drove one away and captured the other; the latter soon was killedunder unclear circumstances.  Later thatday, thousands of Boxers stormed into Beijing and went on a rampage, killingChinese Christians, burning churches, destroying houses, and lootingproperties.  In the next few days,skirmishes broke out between foreign legation troops, and Boxers with thesupport of anti-foreigner government units. On June 15, 1900, British and German soldiers dispersed Boxers whoattacked a church, and rescued the trapped Christians inside; two days later(June 17), an armed clash broke out between German–British–Austro-Hungarianunits and Boxer–anti-foreigner government troops.

The Belgian legation was evacuated, as were those of Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands,and Italy,when they came under Boxer attack.  Bythis time, the Christian missions scattered across Beijing were evacuated, with their clergy andthousands of Chinese Christians taking shelter at the Legation Quarter.  Soon, the Legation Quarter was fortified,with soldiers and civilians building barricades, trenches, bunkers, andshelters in preparation for a Boxer attack. Ultimately, in the Legation Quarter were some 400 soldiers, 470civilians (including 149 women and 79 children), and 2,800 Chinese Christians,all of whom would be besieged in the fighting that followed.  At the Northern Cathedral (Beitang) locatedsome three miles from the Legation Quarter, some 40 French and Italiansoldiers, 30 foreign Catholic clergy, and 3,200 Chinese Christians also tookrefuge, turning the area into a defensive fortification which also would comeunder siege during the conflict.

Meanwhile in Taku, in response to British MinisterMacDonald’s plea for more troops to be sent to the Beijing foreign legations,on June 10, Vice-Admiral Seymour scrambled a 2,200-strong multinational forceof Navy and Marine units from Britain, Germany, Russia, France, the United States,Japan, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, which departed by train from Tianjin toBeijing.  On the first day, Seymour’s force traveled to within 40 miles of Beijing without meeting opposition, despite the presenceof Chinese Imperial forces (which had received no orders to resist Seymour’s passage) alongthe way.  Seymour’s force reached Langfang, where therail tracks had been destroyed by Boxers. Seymour’stroops dispersed the Boxers guarding the area, and work crews started repairwork on the rail tracks.  Seymour sent out ascouting team further on, which returned saying that more sections of therailroad at An Ting had also been destroyed. Seymour then sent a train back to Tianjin to get moresupplies, but the train soon returned, its crew saying that the rail track atYangcun was now destroyed.  Having tofight off a number of Boxer attacks, his provisions running low, realizing thefutility of continuing to Beijing, and nowfeeling trapped on both sides, Seymour called off the expedition and turned thetrains back, intending to return to Tianjin.

Elsewhere at this point, the Boxer crisis deteriorated evenfurther.  On June 15, 1900, at the YellowSea where Alliance ships were on high alert, andwere awaiting further developments, allied naval commanders became alarmed whenQing forces began fortifying the Taku Forts at the mouth of the Peiho River,as well as setting mines on the river and torpedo tubes at the forts.  For Alliancecommanders, these actions threatened to cut off allied communication and supplylines to Tianjin, threatening the foreignenclave at Tianjin and Legation Quarter at Beijing, as well as Seymour’sforce.  The foreign alliance had had nocommunication with the Seymourforce for several days.  Alliance commanders thenissued an ultimatum demanding that the Taku Forts be surrendered to them, whichthe Qing naval command rejected.  Earlyon June 17, 1900, fighting broke out at the Taku Forts, with Allianceforces (except the U.S.command, which chose not to participate) launching a naval and ground assaultthat seized control of the forts.

War For theChinese government, the Allied attack on the Taku Forts constituted an act ofwar.  The Qing then turned its positioninvariably on the side of the Boxers.  Upto this point, the Qing court was unsure about its position regarding theBoxers, and Empress Dowager Cixi vacillated between the two opposing factionsin her court: the ultra-conservatives who were pro-Boxer, and the reformistswho were pro-foreigner.  The dilemmafaced by the Qing government was that despite the Boxers’ professed loyalty tothe monarchy, they still could pose a threat to the monarchy, as all secretsocieties in the past had.  But if indeedthe Boxers were loyal, the Qing court could use their hatred of foreigners torid Chinaof foreign influences.  After the alliedaction on the Taku Forts, Empress Dowager Cixi took a firm stand in support ofthe Boxers, and ordered her armies to resist the foreigners.

On June 18, 1900, one day after the attack on the TakuForts, German soldiers at Langfang were attacked by the anti-foreign ChineseRear Army, more commonly known as “Gansu Braves”, which was composed of ChineseMuslims.  This attack by Chinese regulartroops further convinced Seymour to call off hisadvance to Beijing (Seymour had launched his expedition on thebelief that he would face only Boxers). Then finding that more sections of therail tracks had been destroyed at Yangcun, Seymour’sforce abandoned the trains there and proceeded to move by foot toward Tianjin.  At the Peiho River,they seized a number of Chinese river junks, which they used to carry theirwounded men, supplies, and heavy weapons. In the next several days, Seymour and his men faced numerous Boxerattacks, and also soon became low on food and ammunitions.  On June 23, they fortuitously came upon theweakly defended Xigu fort located six miles from Tianjin, which they seized and then tookrefuge in.  Subsequently, they wererescued on June 25, 1900 by an Alliance reliefforce sent from Tianjin.

Meanwhile in Beijing,the situation facing the foreigners and Chinese Christians in the LegationQuarter worsened.  On June 19, 1900, theQing government ordered the foreigners to leave Beijing within 24 hours under the protectionof Chinese troops.  Most of the foreignenvoys were ready to comply, but they requested an audience with the ZongliYamen for 9 AM the next day (June 20). When the proposed appointment passed with no reply from the Chinese, theGerman Minister Ketteler, who had opposed the Chinese ultimatum to leave Beijing, decided to go tothe Zongli Yamen to confront the Chinese officials.  Ketteler ignored the warnings of the otherforeign envoys not to do so.  On his waythere, Ketteler was shot and killed by a Chinese officer.  The other foreign envoys then convened anddecided to defy the Qing ultimatum and remain at the Legation Quarter.  They now distrusted the Qing government, andbelieved that their lives would be in danger if they left the Legation Quarter.

The next day, June 21, 1900, the Qing court issued a seriesof decrees which the foreign powers saw as a declaration of war againstthem.  In particular, the foreign powerswere rankled by certain hostile statements in the Qing decrees, including thelines, “We should fight this war in a big way… In province adjacent to Pekingand Shandong,hundreds of thousands of Boxers have gathered on [their] free will, even…boyswould take up weapons to safeguard the homeland. …it is not difficult to putout the foreigners’ fierce fire, to showcase the might of our nation. The royalcourt will generously reward those who fight bravely on the front line, [and]will also reward those who donate money in preparation of the war. The royalcourt will immediately execute traitors who escape from the battlefield oranyone who collaborates with the enemy”

As a result, a state of war existed, as Qing and Boxer forces laid siege to the Legation Quarter. (Excerpts taken from Wars of the 20th Century: Volume 5 – Twenty Wars in Asia.)

June 16, 1948 – Malayan Emergency: Three British plantation managers are killed by armed bands of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM)

On June 12, 1948, three European plantation managers were killed by armed militias of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).  British authorities declared a state of emergency throughout Malaya (now part of modern-day Malaysia), which essentially was a declaration of war against the CPM.  What ensued was a twelve-year conflict (1948-1960) that became known as the Malayan Emergency,  the British calling it an “emergency” so that business establishments that suffered material losses as a result of the fighting could make insurance claims, which the same would be refused by insurance companies if Malaya were placed under a state of war.

Background OnDecember 7, 1941, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,World War II broke out in the Asia-Pacific. Simultaneously, Japanlaunched an invasion of Southeast Asia.  In Malaya,the British government and the CPM formed a tactical alliance, with the Britishmilitary training over 150 CPM fighters who subsequently formed the core of theanti-Japanese resistance movement.  InEurope, Britain itself wasfighting for its own survival and consequently was unable to adequately defendMalaya and Singapore,which fell to the Japanese in January-February 1942.  Some 130,000 British and other allied troopswere taken prisoner.

However, several British soldiers in Malaya who escapedcapture retreated to the jungles (some 80% of Malayawas covered in dense mountainous rainforests) where they reorganized as ananti-Japanese resistance group that carried out guerilla operations against theJapanese occupation.  Similarly, the CPM,led by its British Army-trained fighters, fled to the jungles, and formed amilitia, the Malayan Peoples’ Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), which conductedguerilla warfare, attacking Japanese patrols and outposts and sabotagingmilitarily important infrastructures.

The MPAJA became a large, potent fighting force that spreadall across the Malayan Peninsula.  It achieved success primarily because it drewgreat support from the ethnic Chinese population, which was being subjected bythe Japanese to severe cruelty.  Duringthe war, tens of Chinese were killed by the Japanese, their properties andbusinesses seized, and hundreds of thousands of others forced to flee fromtheir homes.  By contrast, Malayans andethnic Indians were spared abuse, and Malays in particular were co-opted by theJapanese authorities into carrying out civilian, police and securityfunctions.  The Japanese also stoked thenationalist aspirations of Malays, promising them some form of Malayanself-rule.

The pro-British guerilla groups and the MPAJA were tacticalallies, but they generally operated separately of each other.  By late 1943, a firmer alliance wasestablished between them when the British military, using commandos whoinfiltrated Malaya and established contact with the MPAJA, promised to provideweapons to the Malayan communist guerillas in exchange for the MPAJA comingunder British military authority.  Thepromised weapons were delivered in 1945 as Japanese rule in Malayawas waning, and the MPAJA hid underground some of these arms shipments forfuture use.

On August 14, 1945, the Asia-Pacific theatre of World War IIended when Japanannounced its decision to surrender.  Aformal ceremony of surrender was made three weeks later, on September 2,1945.  In Malaya, the Japanese Armysurrendered to the returning British forces on September 4 (in Penang) andSeptember 13 (in Kuala Lumpur),1945.  On September 12, the Britishinstalled a military government, the British Military Administration (BMA), toreplace the pre-war civilian colonial government that had administered Malaya.  Britishauthorities were hard-pressed to restore normalcy in the immediate post-warperiod: the Malayan economy was devastated, the tin and rubber industries wereinoperational, and poverty and unemployment were rampant.  Agricultural infrastructures wereexport-oriented and not directed toward growing food for the local population,leading to widespread food shortages. Furthermore, banditry, criminality, and a general lawlessness ruled thecountryside.

The British recognized the MPAJA’s war-time efforts, leadingto joint celebratory parades and the British granting official status to theMalayan communists’ guerilla units. MPAJA fighters were paid a salary and given supplies andprovisions.  In the post-war period, theMPAJA exacted vengeance on war-time collaborators in the towns andvillages.  Also in response to theanarchic conditions, hard-line communist elements wanted to overthrow thecolonial government, but the MCP leadership decided to cooperate with theBritish, and acquiesced to an order by the British military to disband MPAJAguerilla units.  However, some MPAJAunits refused to disband, and although many weapons were turned in, many morewere hidden in homes or buried in the ground.

By 1947, the British were making progress in Malaya’s post-war reconstruction: infrastructures werebeing restored or rebuilt, and the peninsula’s vital tin and rubber industrieswere rehabilitated.  At this time, theCPM operated openly, tacitly tolerated by the British because of their war-timealliance.  In March 1947, the CPM cameunder the leadership of Chin Peng, a hard-line communist who increasedanti-British militant actions.  Operatingthrough the labor movement (which it controlled), the CPM organized strikes andlabor actions aimed at disrupting the Malayan economy, and destabilizingBritish rule by fomenting local unrest. In this way, it was hoped that a general uprising would follow, leadingto the end of British rule and its replacement with a CMP-led communistgovernment.  Under CPM instigation,hundreds of strikes were launched, and labor leaders and workers who refused toparticipate were killed.

War On June 12,1948, three European plantation managers were killed by armed bands, forcingBritish authorities to declare a state of emergency throughout Malaya, which essentially was a declaration of war on theCPM.  The British called the conflict,which lasted 12 years (1948-1960), an “emergency” so that businessestablishments that suffered material losses as a result of the fighting, couldmake insurance claims, which the same would be refused by insurance companiesif Malaya were placed under a state of war.

The state of emergency, which was applied first to Perak State (where the murders of the three plantation managers occurred) and then throughout Malaya in July 1948, gave the police authorization to arrest and hold anyone, without the need for the judicial process.  In this way, hundreds of CPM cadres were arrested and jailed, and the party itself was outlawed in July 1948.  The murders of the three plantation managers are disputed: British authorities blamed the CPM, while Chin Peng denied CPM involvement, arguing that the CPM itself was caught by surprise by the events and was unprepared for war, and that he himself barely avoided arrest in the intensive government crackdown that followed the killings. (Excerpts taken from Wars of the 20th Century: Volume 5 – Twenty Wars in Asia.)

June 14, 1940 – World War II: The Soviet Union delivers an ultimatum to Lithuania

On June 14, 1940, the Soviet government delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania to allow the entry of Soviet troops into Lithuanian territory and for Lithuania to form a new pro-Soviet government. Nine months earlier in October 1939, the two countries had signed the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty which allowed the stationing of 20,000 Soviet troops in a number of bases inside Lithuania.

With Soviet forces already present in the country, on June 15, the Lithuanian government acquiesced to the ultimatum and ended its country’s independence. The Soviets then took control of the country, installed a puppet regime, and held mock elections to the legislature. The new puppet legislature proclaimed the establishment of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and petitioned Moscow to be admitted into the Soviet Union. In August 1940, the Soviet government accepted the petition and incorporated Lithuania into the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union also signed similar mutual assistance agreements with the two other Baltic states, Estonia (September 28, 1939) and Latvia (October 5, 1939) which allowed Soviet forces to occupy strategic locations in these countries. Also in June 1940, Soviet forces occupied Estonia and Latvia; after socialist governments came to power in Soviet-controlled elections held in July 1940, Estonia and Latvia were likewise incorporated into the Soviet Union in August 1940. 

June 13, 1971 – Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers

On June 13, 1971, the New York Times published the first part of the top-secret document more commonly known as the Pentagon Papers.

The official title of the so-called Pentagon Papers was “Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force”, which was a top secret study conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1967-1969. The final report, contained in 47 volumes of over 7,000 pages of narratives and documents, detailed U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam since the end of World War II up until the presidencies of Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon.

The Pentagon Papers revealed that successive U.S. administrations of Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson had misled the American public regarding the extent of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In 1971, portions of the report were leaked to the New York Times, which then began publishing those portions. The U.S. government, now under President Richard Nixon, tried to restrict further publication, but was turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Subsequently, aside from the New York Times, the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and other newspapers published portions of the report. The revelation of the Pentagon Papers came at a time when public opposition and outrage to the Vietnam War was reaching the tipping point.

In Relation to the Vietnam War President Nixon had announced in a nationwide broadcast that he had committed U.S. ground troops to a planned military operation in Cambodia.  Within days, large demonstrations of up to 100,000 to 150,000 protesters broke out in American cities, with the unrest again centered in universities and colleges.  On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University, Ohio, National Guardsmen opened fire on a crowd of protesters, killing four people and wounding eight others.  This incident sparked even wider, increasingly militant and violent protests across the country.  Anti-war sentiment already was intense in the United States following news reports in November 1969 of what became known as the My Lai Massacre, where U.S. troops on a search and destroy mission descended on My Lai and My Khe villages and killed between 347 and 504 civilians, including women and children.

American public outrage further was fueled when in June1971, the New York Times beganpublishing the “Pentagon Papers” (officially titled: United States – Vietnam Relations,1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense), a highly classifiedstudy by the U.S. Department of Defense that was leaked to the press.  The Pentagon Papers showed that successivepast administrations, including those of Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, andKennedy, but especially of President Johnson, had many times misled theAmerican people regarding U.S.involvement in Vietnam.  President Nixon sought legal grounds to stopthe document’s publication for national security reasons, but the U.S. SupremeCourt subsequently decided in favor of the NewYork Times and publication continued, and which was also later taken up bythe Washington Post and othernewspapers.

June 12, 1999 – Kosovo War: UN peacekeepers enter Kosovo

On June 12, 1999, a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force (called KFor for Kosovo Force) entered war-torn Kosovo.  KFor was tasked by the UN Security Council to maintain the peace as a result of the Kosovo War. By this time, Kosovo was facing a serious humanitarian crisis, with nearly one million civilians displaced by the fighting.

The Kosovo War (February 1998-June 1999) was fought betweenthe Yugoslav Army and Albanian Serb militias against the Kosovo Liberation Army(KLA), a Kosovo Albanian rebel group. Subsequently, the KLA would gain airsupport from NATO and ground support from the Albanian Army.

At the outbreak of the war, Kosovo was an autonomous regionof Serbia.It had two main ethnic groups: the majority Albanians (comprising 77% of the population)who desired greater autonomy from Serbia,and Kosovo Serbs (15% of the population) who wanted more political integrationwith Serbia.

War In April 1996, the KLA, an extremist Albanian militia that sought to gain Kosovo’s independence by force, launched attacks against Serbian police units across Kosovo.  By March 1998, as the KLA had grown in strength and were intensifying its armed operations, the Yugoslav Army entered Kosovo.  Fighting occurred from March to September 1998, concentrated mostly in central-south Kosovo.  The Yugoslav Army was far superior in strength, forcing the KLA to resort to guerilla warfare, such as ambushing army and security patrols, and raiding isolated military outposts.  Through a tactical war of attrition, the KLA gained control of Decani, Malisevo, Orahovac, Drenica Valley, and northwest Pristina.

In September 1998, the Yugoslav Army and Kosovo Serb forceslaunched offensive operations in northern and central Kosovo, driving away theKLA from many areas.  These offensivesalso turned 200,000 civilians into refugees, prompting the United Nations tocall for a ceasefire and an end to the conflict.

With the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)threatening to intervene, Yugoslaviaagreed to a ceasefire in October 1998.  Amulti-national observer team then arrived in Kosovo to monitor theceasefire.  Fighting broke out inDecember 1998, however, which escalated in intensity early the next year,forcing the multi-national observer team to leave Kosovo in March 1999.

NATO became increasingly involved in the war – especiallyafter the discovery of the bodies of 45 executed Kosovo Albanian farmers – anddecided that direct military intervention was needed to end the war.  In March 1999, NATO presented to Yugoslavia aproposal to station 30,000 NATO soldiers in Kosovo to monitor and maintainpeace.  Furthermore, the NATO force wasto have free, unrestricted passage across Yugoslavia.  The Yugoslav government vehemently rejectedthe UN proposal, calling it a violation of Yugoslavia’s territorialsovereignty.  In turn, Yugoslaviaoffered its own peace proposal, which was also rejected by NATO.  The diplomatic impasse prompted NATO to beginmilitary action against Yugoslavia.

On March 23, 1999, using over one thousand planes, NATObegan launching massive air strikes against military installations andfacilities in Yugoslavia.  Later, NATO targeted Yugoslav Army units aswell.  NATO planes also attacked publicinfrastructures such as roads, railways, bridges, telecommunications systems,power stations, schools, and hospitals. Many unintended targets were hit as well, such as a convoy of KosovoAlbanian refugees, a Kosovo prison, a Serbian television facility, and theChinese Embassy in Belgrade.  The NATO air attacks against non-militarytargets drew widespread international condemnation.

In retaliation for the air strikes, the Yugoslav Army andKosovo Serb forces expelled Kosovo Albanians from their homes.  Within a few weeks, some 750,000 KosovoAlbanians had been forced to flee to neighboring Albania,Macedonia, and Montenegro.

On June 3, the government of Yugoslavia,persuaded by Russia,yielded to strong international pressure and agreed to accept NATO’s peaceproposal.  Thereafter, Yugoslav forceswithdrew from Kosovo.  NATO then endedits air strikes against Yugoslaviaand sent a peacekeeping force, under a UN mandate, to enter Kosovo.  Russia,which was Yugoslavia’sstaunchest supporter during the war, also deployed its own peacekeepers inKosovo to serve as a foil against the NATO troops.  NATO and Russian peacekeepers coordinatedtheir actions, however, to secure peace in Kosovo while avoiding unwantedconfrontations between them.

About 13,000 persons died in the Kosovo War.  Over one million civilians fled the fightingand became refuges, although most eventually returned to their homes after thewar.  Perhaps as many as 200,000 ethnicSerbs fled Kosovo in the years after the war. Yugoslavian and Kosovo Serbian political and military leaders, includingKLA members, have been charged with war crimes.

In February 2008, Kosovo Albanians declared Kosovo an independent country.  Serbia rejected Kosovo’s independence and has since maintained its claim to Kosovo as being an integral part of Serbian territory.  While the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries recognize Kosovo’s independence, many others do not.  Russia, in particular, insists that any proposed solution must be acceptable to both Serbia and Kosovo. (Excerpts taken from Wars of the 20th Century: Volume 1.)

June 11, 1937 – Interwar period: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin executes eight high-ranking Red Army officers in the Great Purge

On June 11, 1937, following a secret trial, eight senior Red Army officers were executed for purportedly conspiring against the regime of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. In the aftermath, a purge was carried out throughout the Red Army echelons, which resulted in 37,761 officers and commissars dismissed from the service, 10,868 arrested and 7,211 condemned for anti-Soviet crimes.

The suppression of the Red Army was only one aspect of the Great Purge, which included Communist Party and government officials, repression of wealthy landlords, widespread police surveillance, suspicion of saboteurs, counter-revolutionaries, imprisonment, and arbitrary executions. Between 1937-1938 which was the peak of the purge, between 700,000 and 1.2 million people were killed.

The purge of the Red Army affected 3 of the 5 Field Marshals , 13 of 15 Army commanders, 8 of 9 Admirals, 50 of 57 Army Corps commanders, and 154 of 186 divisional commanders; a total of 34,000 officers were sent to labor camps in Siberia or were executed. As a result of the sheer number affected, by 1939, very few in the Soviet High Command and newly appointed officers who had been promoted more for party loyalty than military competence, knew how to implement the Red Army’s Deep Battle in actual warfare. The Deep Battle concept was the main Soviet offensive strategy that envisioned coordinated use of massive land, sea, and air power to advance deep and quickly inside enemy territory to achieve complete tactical and strategic victory. 

June 10, 1935 – Chaco War: Bolivia and Paraguay sign a truce

On June 10, 1935, in a truce mediated by the Argentineangovernment, Paraguay and Boliviaagreed to end the Chaco War.

Background During the 1930s, Paraguay and Bolivia went to war for possession of the North Chaco, a dry, forbidding expanse of scrub and forest that lay between the two countries.  The North Chaco forms a part of the larger Gran Chaco Plains, a vast region that extends into northern Argentina, western Paraguay, eastern Bolivia, and a small section in western Brazil.

During the colonial era, the Gran Chaco Plains wasadministered by the Spanish government as a separate territory.  In the early 1800s, the Gran Chaco Plainsbecame disputed territory when the South American countries surrounding itgained their independences.  Thedelineation of the borders around the Gran Chaco Plains was not pursuedactively, however, because of the region’s harsh climate and the mistakenbelief that it contained few natural resources.

Through conquest from wars later in the 1800s, many areas ofthe Gran Chaco Plains were annexed by the victorious countries.  Eventually, what remained undecided was theNorth Chaco, the region straddling Paraguayand Bolivia and located westof the Paraguay River and north of the Pilcomayo River.

War Fighting brokeout in June 1932 with the Paraguayan forces soon taking the initiative. But byMarch 1935, their offensive had sputtered. Thereafter, the Paraguayan Armyrealized that while it had achieved its military objectives in the North Chaco,it could not go any further into Bolivia without incurring heavylosses.

While some politicians on both sides demanded for thecontinuation of the war, the governments of Paraguayand Boliviawere alarmed that the huge human and economic tolls were bringing theircountries to ruin.  War casualties hadreached 100,000 dead, with nearly 60% of that figure suffered by Bolivia.  On June 10, 1935, in a truce mediated by theArgentinean government, Paraguayand Boliviaagreed to end the war.

Aftermath The territorial issue of the North Chaco was brought before an arbitration panel consisting of members from South American countries.  In its decision, the arbitration panel awarded 75% of the North Chaco to Paraguay, and the rest (25%) to Bolivia.  The panel’s decision also stipulated that Paraguay must grant Bolivia access to the Paraguay River, as well as to specified ports and rail facilities inside Paraguay. (Excerpts taken from Wars of the 20th Century: Volume 1.)

June 9, 1967 – Six-Day War: Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria

On June 9, 1967, Israeli forces captured the Golan Heights from the Syrian Army during the Six-DayWar.

The Six-Day War pitted the state of Israel against the Arab countries of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Mounting tensions and occasional fighting had taken place in the period leading up to the war. On May 18, 1967, the Egyptian government expelled the UN peacekeepers from the Sinai, and then sent army units to the Egypt-Israel border, thereby militarizing the Sinai Peninsula.  A few days later, Egypt prevented Israel commercial vessels from entering the Straits of Tiran.  Israel had earlier warned that it would consider blocking its ships from the Tiran straits as a provocation for war. On May 28, 1967, Israel prepared for war with a call up of reservists.  Three days later, foreign embassies in Israel instructed their citizens to leave in anticipation for war.  On June 1, Israel finalized its war plans.  Then in a meeting held on June 4, Israel’s civilian and military leaders set the date for war for the following day, June 5.

The Six-Day War was fought in three sectors: the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights.

Golan Heights sector of the Six-Day War

Battle for the Golan Heights On June 5, Syria opened the northern sector of the war withits artillery batteries in the Golan Heightsshelling Israeli settlements in the plains below.  Syrian planes also attacked areas of Upper Galilee.  Onthe night of June 5, Israeli planes attacked Syrian airbases and destroyednearly half of all Syrian planes on the ground. The Syrian Air Force then moved its remaining planes farther away fromthe battle zones and ceased to be a factor for the rest of the war.  As in the other theaters of the war, Israelgained air domination on the Syrian front, which again proved decisive.

During the early stages of the war, Israel’s forces were concentrated in theEgyptian and Jordanian sectors; therefore, Israel’s strategy in the north wasmerely to hold on and defend territory with undermanned forces.  Syrian offensives, however, generally werelimited in strength and effectiveness.  OnJune 6, a Syrian infantry and armored attack on Tel Dan, Dan, and She’ar Yashovwas turned back by Israelair strikes and fierce local resistance. A large Syrian offensive into Galileewas aborted because of logistical and communications problems.

On June 9, as the victory over Egyptand Jordan became apparent, Israel’s military leaders approved the offensiveagainst Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.  Earlier, Syriaand Israel had accepted aUnited Nations Security Council resolution for a ceasefire, but Israeliauthorities decided to attack in order to eliminate the Syrian threat,particularly the artillery batteries, which had caused so much trouble to Israel’snorthern communities and was a major cause for the war.  The operation was feared to be costly,however, as the Golan Heights, at its steepest points in its northern section,was situated on a rocky escarpment 500 meters from Israel’s plains below.  Syrian defenses on the Golan Heights consisted of 40,000 troops and 250 tanks, and a series ofstrong fortifications of concrete bunkers, machine gun nests, pillboxes, andartillery emplacements.  The forwardapproaches were open fields laid with thousands of land mines.

On the morning of June 9, Israeli planes attacked Syrianpositions on the Golan Heights.  The air strikes continued for four hours, butfailed to cause significant damage to the defenses.  Towards the noon hour, Israel ground units went on theoffensive.  The Israel Army High Commanddecided to attack on the Golan Height’s northern section, which was thesteepest – but also the least defended, based on reconnaissanceinformation.  After sappers cleared landmines, armored bulldozers moved forward to create a road.  Following behind the construction crews andequipment were the battle tanks and other armored units.  The Israeli Army’s objective was the strategicallylocated Qala, whose capture would allow the Israelis access to the Masada/Quneitra Road,the main thoroughfare through the Golan Heights.  Qala’s capture also would permit the Israelisto attack other Syrian positions from the rear.

The Israeli advance was met with heavy fire from Syriandefenses atop the escarpment, which knocked out many bulldozers and tanks.  Some Israeli units also lost their way andended up in the direction of Za’ura. After five hours and sustaining considerable losses, the Israelisreached the top of the heights, helped considerably by cover from Israeliplanes.  To protect the flank of the Qalaoffensive, another infantry and armored thrust was made further north to attack13 Syrian positions at Tel Fakhir.  Afterseven hours and intense fighting that involved hand-to-hand combat, theIsraelis overran Syrian positions, with considerable losses on both sides.

The Israelis also launched operations in the southern Golan Heights, whose slopes were more gradual than in thenorthern section.  After several hours offighting, the Syrian southern defenses at Dardara and Tel Hilal collapsed.  By the evening of June 9, Israeli forces werepouring in across the length of the Golan Heights.  Considerable numbers of Israeli reinforcementsarrived from the Egyptian and Jordanian sectors, creating massive trafficcongestions in Israeli streets as soldiers and war equipment were being movedto northern Israel.  Fighting continued throughout the night asthe Israelis attempted to extend their lines.

Syrian fortifications throughout most of the Golan Heights remained intact despite the Israelibreakthrough.  On the morning of June 10,however, the Syrian government mistakenly announced that Quneitra, where theSyrian regional military headquarters was located, had fallen to theIsraelis.  Panic broke out in the Syriandefenses in the Golan Heights as soldiers and officers abandoned theirpositions and fled to Damascus, Syria’scapital.  As Israeli forces entered andoccupied Quneitra and other Syrian positions in the Golan Heights, they found considerable amounts of weapons, ammunitions,and military equipment that had been left behind by the Syrian Army.  By the evening of June 10, Israel gained control of the Golan Heights, as a UN ceasefire came into effect.  Because of the fighting, some 80,000 Syriancivilians were displaced.

Aftermath Israel achieved victory in one of the shortestwars in history, allowing it to expand its territory by three-fold; it hadgained control of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights.

June 8, 1928 – Chinese Civil War: Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces capture Peking (renamed Beijing) in the Northern Expedition

In July 1927, the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang launched the Second Northern Expedition, aimed at defeating the Beiyang government and other regional warlords and reunifying China under its control.  In the aftermath of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that ended 2,000 years of imperial rule, China had fragmented into many regional domains controlled by warlords. The onset of the Northern Expedition also marks the start of the Chinese Civil War (1927-1950).

The Kuomintang launched its military campaign along three fronts: the left-wing/Communist faction advanced westward toward Wuhan; a right-wing force headed east for Shanghai; and Chiang’s forces, at the center, advanced for Nanjing.  Ultimately, the three fronts achieved their military objectives.  Within six months, the Kuomintang had defeated 34 warlords along its path towards the central regions of China.

In Nanjing, Chiang began a violent purge of Communist elements of the Kuomintang.  During his military training in the Soviet Union, Chiang had determined that Communism, as well as democratic and other Western political ideologies were inapplicable to China.  Chiang was a social conservative who believed that Communism was incompatible with China’s traditional values.  His resolve to eliminate Communism reached the intensity of an obsession.

Chiang began his purge in Shanghai where his soldiers killed thousandsof unsuspecting Communist civilians who had filled the streets to welcome theKuomintang Army’s arrival.  Other purgessoon followed in Canton, Xiamen,Ningbo, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Changsha,where thousands of Communists also were killed.

The remaining Communists went into hiding, some in urbanareas, but the vast majority in the countryside, where they began working withand mobilizing the peasants and villagers. With the purges, the alliance between the Kuomintang and the CommunistParty of China ended.  The Soviet Union also stopped its support for Chiang.

In August 1927, in response to the purges, the Communists inNanchang brokeout in rebellion.  Chiang sent his forcesto Nanchang, where they easily quelled therebellion and forced the Communists to flee to the hinterlands of southern China.  Another Communist rebellion in Hunan led by Mao Zedong,then a regional commander, was put down as well.  Mao and his supporters were forced to retreatto the Jiangxicountryside.  There, they established theChinese SovietRepublic, a quasi-government thatformed subordinate administrative councils called “soviets” in other provinces,including Anhui, Fujian,Guangdong, Henan,Hubei, and Sichuan. Mao’s government gained widespread support from the local ruralpopulation.  Initially, its small militiawas limited to conducting hit-and-run guerilla warfare against governmentforces.  By mid-1932, however, Mao’smilitia, now known as the People’s Liberation Army, or colloquially, the RedArmy, had grown to 45,000 regulars and 200,000 auxiliaries.

Meanwhile, the left-wing Kuomintang faction, led by WangJingwei, established Wuhanas its capital, but the city soon was attacked by a warlord ally ofChiang.  Wang’s government collapsed,leaving Chiang as the undisputed leader of the Kuomintang.

The Nationalists (as Chiang’s army now was called) resumedtheir campaign toward northern China.  In June 1928, they captured Beijing,the capital of China’smost powerful warlord, who thereafter pledged allegiance to Chiang.  Beijing’scapture was significant, as the city was the symbolic and historical seat ofauthority in China.  This achievement legitimized Chiang’sgovernment, as it meant the complete – albeit symbolic – reunification of thecountry.  Chiang had achievedreunification through military victories, as well as by making alliances withmany warlords scattered throughout northern, central, and southern China.

Soon, Chiang’s government became recognized by manycountries around the world.  From hiscapital in Nanjing, Chiang began to rebuild Chinaalong the modern Western model.  However,his efforts would be fraught with difficulties and ultimately not be fulfilled.

Continuing Troubles InMay 1930, a territorial dispute in China’s Central Plains erupted intoa major war among regional warlords who had made alliances with theKuomintang.  Soon, Chiang’s governmentwas drawn into the war.  Over one millionsoldiers fought in the conflict that claimed high casualty rates on allsides.  Ultimately, Chiang succeeded inquelling the rebellion.  He realized,however, that Chinawas far from being reunited and that the warlords could pose a constant andserious threat to his authority.  Unknownto Chiang at that time, the real danger to his rule would be the Communists.

Chiang soon learned of the existence of the Chinese SovietRepublic in Jiangxi led by a regional warlord, MaoZedong. He sent his forces to attack Jiangxiand other Communist-held regions, starting the final phase of the Chinese CivilWar.

June 7, 1938 –Second Sino-Japanese War: Chinese Nationalist forces carry out the 1938 Yellow River Flood to halt the Japanese advance; some 500,000-600,000 Chinese civilians are killed

In July 1937, Japanese forces launched a pre-emptive, full-scale invasion of China, sparking the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese Army advanced rapidly into the heart of Chinese territory. By June 1938, the Japanese had taken control of all of North China. They also easily captured the coastal cities of China’s eastern provinces. The Nationalist strongholds of Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan also fell.

To stop the Japanese from advancing into western and southern China, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek ordered that the dikes of the Yellow River be destroyed.  On June 5-7, 1938, the dikes on the south bank were demolished, and flood waters spilled into and destroyed vast stretches of farmlands in Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu, . In the aftermath, the Nationalist government estimated that 800,000 people were killed while 10 million lost their homes. A 1994 study by the Red Chinese government placed the figures at 900,000 killed and 10 million displaced. Data from more recent studies put the estimate at 400,000-500,000 dead and 3-5 million displaced. The difficulty with ascertaining exact figures is that at the time of the flooding, local officials had already fled from the areas, leaving no government control. Because of the sheer numbers of deaths and displaced and the extensive destruction generated, the 1938 Yellow River Flood is regarded as the “largest act of environmental warfare in history”.

(taken from Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 1 )

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang committed major military blunders.  At Nanjing, for instance, he allowed his forces to be trapped and destroyed.  Consequently, the Japanese killed 200,000 civilians and soldiers in the city.  Then in a scorched earth strategy to delay the enemy’s advance, Chiang ordered the dams destroyed around Nanjing, which caused the Yellow River to flood and kill hundreds of thousands of people.  Furthermore, as the Nationalist forces retreated westward, they set fire to Changsha to prevent the city’s capture by the Japanese, but this resulted in the deaths of 20,000 residents and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more, who were not told of the plan.

The Chinese people’s confidence in their governmentplummeted, as it seemed to them that the Nationalist Army was incapable ofsaving the country.  At the same time,the Communists’ popularity soared because, unlike the Nationalists who usedcostly open warfare against the Japanese, the Red Army employed guerillatactics with great success against the mostly lightly defended enemy outpostsin remote areas.