Daniel Orr's Blog, page 25

April 1, 1939 – Spanish Civil War: General Franco declares victory

On March 28, the Nationalists entered Madrid, where large crowds welcomed them asliberators.  The Nationalist advanceacross eastern Spain to theMediterranean coast also met no opposition, with Jaen,Cuenca, Albacete,and Saguntobeing taken without incident.  As aresult of the Nationalist advance, some 50,000 Republican supporters fled tothe ports of Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena,and Gandia in the hope of escaping abroad. Fewer than 5,000 of these Republicans made it out of Spain.  By April 1, the Nationalists had captured theeastern coast, and thus controlled all of Spain.  The war was over.  About 500,000 persons lost their lives in thewar; this figure includes total combat-related deaths of soldiers andcivilians, and non-combat fatalities from various causes including summaryexecutions, starvation, and diseases.

(Taken from Spanish Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Aftermath Following thewar, General Franco established a right-wing, anti-communistdictatorial government centered on the Falange Party.  Socialists, communists, and anarchists, wereoutlawed, as were free-party politics. Political enemies were killed or jailed; perhaps as many as 200,000 losttheir lives in prison or through executions. The political autonomies of Basque and Catalonia were voided.  These regions’ culture, language, andidentity were suppressed, and a single Spanish national identity was enforced.

After World War II ended, Spainbecame politically and economically isolated from most of the internationalcommunity because of General Franco’s affiliation with the defeated fascistregimes of Germany and Italy.  Then with increasing tensions in the Cold Warbetween the United Statesand Soviet Union, the U.S.government became drawn to Spain’sstaunchly anti-communist stance and strategic location at the western end ofthe Mediterranean Sea.

In September 1953, Spainand the United Statesentered into a defense agreement known as the Pact of Madrid, where the U.S.government infused large amounts of military assistance to Spain’sdefense.  As a result, Spain’sdiplomatic isolation ended, and the country was admitted to the United Nationsin 1955.

Its economy devastated by the civil war, Spain experienced phenomenaleconomic growth during the period from 1959 to 1974 (known as the “SpanishMiracle”) when thegovernment passed reforms that opened up the financial and investmentsectors.  Spain’s totalitarian regime endedwith General Franco’s death in 1975; thereafter, the country transitioned to ademocratic parliamentary monarchy which it is today.

March 31, 1968 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not seek re-election

On March 31, 1968, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnsondelivered the speech, “Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam”, in a television addressto the nation. At the end of his speech, he announced, “I shall not seek, and Iwill not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”The address came shortly after the end of the Tet Offensive by North Vietnamand the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.

The Tet Offensive fatally damaged President Johnson’spolitical career.  Opposition within thepresident’s own Democratic Party came at a crucial time, as the presidentialelection was scheduled later that year, in November 1968.  Following a lackluster performance in the New Hampshire primary,President Johnson, in a nationwide broadcast, announced that he would not seekre-election as president.  In the samebroadcast, he suspended U.S.bombing of North Vietnam inall areas north of the 19th parallel as an incentive to North Vietnamto start peace talks.  The NorthVietnamese government responded positively, and in May 1968, peace talks openedin Paris.  Because the talks made little progress, onNovember 1, 1968, on President Johnson’s orders, aerial bombing of all NorthVietnam was stopped (ending the 3½-year-long bombing campaign of OperationRolling Thunder).

North Vietnam and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

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

In May and August 1968, the Viet Cong launched smaller“Mini-Tet” attacks as part of its ongoing “General Offensive, General Uprising”campaign.  South Vietnamese and Americanforces, now being more vigilant, parried these attacks.  Also in the immediate aftermath of the firstTet Offensive, the Viet Cong/NLF initially gained control of the rural areaswhich South Vietnamese forces had evacuated to defend the cities andtowns.  But in the post-Tet period,American and South Vietnamese large-scale search and destroy operationsregained control of the countryside.

Ultimately, the Tet Offensive was a military disaster forthe Viet Cong/NLF, as its military units were expelled from South Vietnamand forced into hiding in the Cambodian border regions.  As a result, the Viet Cong experienceddesertions, low morale, and difficulty to recruit new fighters.  The Viet Cong soon ceased to be a nativesouthern insurgency, as its ranks increasingly became filled by NorthVietnamese cadres.  In the end, the VietCong came under full control of North Vietnam.

For the United States, the Tet Offensive was a decisivemilitary victory, but one that soon turned into a moral defeat for the Americanpeople, and a political disaster for President Johnson.  During the early years of the war, PresidentJohnson had issued only carefully measured amounts of information to theAmerican public regarding the true military situation in Vietnam.  He continued to declare that U.S. war strategy in Vietnamremained the same, despite the fact that American military involvement in thewar was deepening and more and more troops were being sent to Vietnam.  Soon, the American mass media detected a“credibility gap” between the U.S.government official pronouncements and the reports coming from Vietnam.  In 1966, the first signs of American publicopposition became evident, which by 1967, grew into a more vocal and radicalprotest movement.

Key areas during the Vietnam War.

Initially, President Johnson’s increased involvement in Vietnam enjoyed overwhelming political support,as evidenced by the near unanimous passage of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,as well as the high popular support. Opinion polls at the time showed that 80% of Americans supported thewar.  But by 1967, surveys were showinggrowing opposition to the war.  Tocounter falling public support, and media reports that the war had reached astalemate, in the fall of 1967, the Johnson administration embarked on ahigh-profile propaganda campaign stating that the war was being won.  Government officials, includingVice-President Hubert Humphrey and the American ambassador to South Vietnam,issued glowing statements in support of the war.  High-ranking military officers also releaseddata showing that the enemy was suffering from high numbers of its soldierskilled, weapons lost, and bases and camps captured.  General Westmoreland also announced that the U.S. militaryhad “reached an important point when the end begins to come into view”,implying that American victory was imminent.

However, President Johnson’s attempts to win back publicsupport through propaganda backfired, as the Tet Offensive showed that not onlywas the Viet Cong far from being defeated, it had the strength to launch afull-scale offensive across South Vietnam. As a result, support for the anti-war movement in the United Statesincreased dramatically.  Hundreds ofthousands of people participated in protest marches and rallies.  These demonstrations sometimes deterioratedinto violent confrontations with security forces.  Anti-war sentiment particularly was strong amongcollege students, and universities and colleges became centers of unrest.  Active involvement came from many sectors,including women’s movements, social rights groups, African-Americans, and evenVietnam War veterans.

Tet also fatally damaged President Johnson’s politicalcareer.  Opposition within thepresident’s own Democratic Party came at a crucial time, as the presidentialelection was scheduled later that year, in November 1968.  Following a lackluster performance in the New Hampshire primary, PresidentJohnson, in a nationwide broadcast, announced that he would not seekre-election as president.  In the samebroadcast, he suspended U.S.bombing of North Vietnam inall areas north of the 19th parallel as an incentive to North Vietnamto start peace talks.  The NorthVietnamese government responded positively, and in May 1968, peace talks openedin Paris.  Because the talks made little progress, onNovember 1, 1968, on President Johnson’s orders, aerial bombing of all NorthVietnam was stopped (ending the 3½-year-long bombing campaign of OperationRolling Thunder).

Also in 1968, because of domestic pressures, the Johnsonadministration implemented a major shift in American involvement in the war:henceforth, the U.S. military would gradually disengage from the Vietnam War,and after a period of being built up, the South Vietnamese military would takeover the fighting (the process known as the “Vietnamization” of the war).  The South Vietnamese military buildup wasmeant to balance out the phased reduction of U.S. ground forces.  U.S.forces in Vietnam,which peaked in 1968 at 530,000 troops, would see a steady reduction insucceeding years: 1969 – 475,000; 1970 – 335,000; 1971-156,000; 1972 – 24,000;and 1973 – 50.  More than these numbersalone, the pull-out of American troops would have a decisive impact on theoutcome of the war.

In June 1968, General Creighton Abrams, who succeeded asover-all commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam (MACV), gradually shifted U.S.combat strategy away from search and destroy missions to “clear and hold” (i.e.to clear the insurgents from an area, which would then be held) operations, andimplemented a moderately successful “hearts and minds” campaign (under a newlyformed agency, the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support,CORDS) to gain the sympathy of the civilian population for the South Vietnamesegovernment.

In 1969, newly elected U.S.president, Richard Nixon, who took office in January of that year, continuedwith the previous government’s policy of American disengagement and phasedtroop withdrawal from Vietnam,while simultaneously expanding Vietnamization, with U.S. military advice and materialsupport.  He also was determined toachieve his election campaign promise of securing a peace settlement with North Vietnam under the Parispeace talks, ironically through the use of force, if North Vietnam refused to negotiate.

In February 1969, the Viet Cong again launched a large-scaleTet-like coordinated offensive across South Vietnam, attacking villages,towns, and cities, and American bases. Two weeks later, the Viet Cong launched another offensive.  Because of these attacks, in March 1968, onPresident Nixon’s orders, U.S.planes, including B-52 bombers, attacked Viet Cong/North Vietnamese bases in easternCambodia(along the Ho Chi Minh Trail).  Thisbombing campaign, codenamed Operation Menu, lasted 14 months (until May 1970),and segued into Operation Freedom Deal (May 1970-August 1973), with the lattertargeting a wider insurgent-held territory in eastern Cambodia.

March 30, 1945 –World War II: Soviet forces liberate Austria

The Germans hastened to construct defense lines in Austria, which officially was an integral partof Germanysince the Anschluss of 1938.  In lateMarch to early April 1945, Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front crossed the border from Hungary into Austria,meeting only light opposition in its advance toward Vienna. Only undermanned German forces defended the Austrian capital, which fellon April 13, 1945.  Although some fiercefighting occurred, Vienna was spared thewidespread destruction suffered by Budapestthrough the efforts of the anti-Nazi Austrian resistance movement, whichassisted the Red Army’s entry into the city. A provisional government for Austria was set up comprising acoalition of conservatives, democrats, socialists, and communists, which gainedthe approval of Stalin, who earlier had planned to install a pro-Sovietgovernment regime from exiled Austrian communists.  The Red Army continued advancing across otherparts of Austria,with the Germans still holding large sections of regions in the west and south.By early May 1945, French, British, and American troops had crossed into Austria from the west, which together with theSoviets, would lead to the four-power Allied occupation (as in post-war Germany) of Austria after the war.

The series of massive Soviet Counter-Offensives recaptured lost Soviet territory and then swept through Eastern and Central Europe into Germany.

(Taken from Soviet Counter-attack and Defeat of Germany – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

The Balkans andEastern and Central Europe With its advance into western Ukraine in April 1944,the Red Army, specifically the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts, including the 1stand 4th Ukrainian Fronts, was poised to advance into Eastern Europe and theBalkans to knock out Germany’s Axis allies from the war.  In May 1944, a Red Army offensive intoRomania was stopped by a German-Romanian combined force, but a subsequentoperation in August broke through, and the Soviets captured Targu Frumus andIasi (Jassy) on August 21 and Chisinau on August 24.  The Axis defeat was thorough: German 6thArmy, which had been reconstituted after its destruction in Stalingrad, wasagain encircled and destroyed, German 8th Army, severely mauled, withdrew toHungary, and the Romanian Army, severely lacking modern weapons, suffered heavycasualties.  On August 23, Michael I,King of Romania, deposed the pro-Nazi government of Prime Minister IonAntonescu and announced his acceptance of the armistice offered by Britain, theUnited States, and the Soviet Union.  Romania then switched sides to the Allies anddeclared war on Germany.  The Romanian government thereafter joined thewar against Germany, andallowed Soviet forces to pass through its territory to continue into Bulgaria in thesouth.

The rapid collapse of Axis forces in Romania led to political turmoil in Bulgaria.  On August 26, 1944, the Bulgarian governmentdeclared its neutrality in the war. Bulgarians were ethnic Slavs like the Russians, and Bulgaria did not send troops to attack theSoviet Union and in fact continued to maintain diplomatic ties with Moscow during thewar.  However, its government waspro-German and the country was an Axis partner. On September 2, a new Bulgarian government was formed comprising thepolitical opposition, which did not stop the Soviet Union from declaring war onBulgariathree days later.  On September 8, Sovietforces entered Bulgaria,meeting no resistance as the Bulgarian government stood down its army.  The next day, Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, was captured,and the Soviets lent their support behind the new Bulgarian governmentcomprising communist-led resistance fighters of the Fatherland Front.  Bulgariathen declared war on Germany,sending its forces in support of the Red Army’s continued advance to the west.

The Red Army now set its sights on Serbia, themain administrative region of pre-World War II Yugoslavia.  Yugoslavia itself had beendismembered by the occupying Axis powers. For Germany, the lossof Serbia would cut off itsforces’ main escape route from Greece.  As a result, the German High Commandallocated more troops to Serbiaand also ordered the evacuation of German forces from other Balkan regions.

Occupied Europe’s most effective resistance struggle waslocated in Yugoslavia.  By 1944, the communist Yugoslav Partisanmovement, led by Josip Broz Tito, controlled the mountain regions of Bosnia, Montenegro,and western Serbia.  In late September 1944, the Soviet 2nd and3rd Ukrainian Fronts, thrusting from Bulgariaand Romania, together withthe Bulgarian Army attacking from western Bulgaria,launched their offensive into Serbia.  The attack was aided by Yugoslav partisansthat launched coordinated offensives against the Axis as well as conductingsabotage actions on German communications and logistical lines – the combinedforces captured Serbia, mostimportantly the capital Belgrade,which fell on October 20, 1944.  Germanforces in the Balkans escaped via the more difficult routes through Bosnia and Croatia in October 1944.  For the remainder of the war, Yugoslavpartisans liberated the rest of Yugoslavia;the culmination of their long offensive was their defeat of the pro-NaziUstase-led fascist government in Croatiain April-May 1945, and then their advance to neighboring Slovenia.

The succession of Red Army victories in Eastern Europebrought great alarm to the pro-Nazi government in Hungary,which was Germany’slast European Axis partner.  Then when inlate September 1944, the Soviets crossed the borders from Romania and Serbiainto Hungary, Miklos Horthy,the Hungarian regent and head of state, announced in mid-October that hisgovernment had signed an armistice with the Soviet Union.  Hitler promptly forced Horthy, under threat,to revoke the armistice, and German troops quickly occupied the country.

The Soviet campaign in Hungary,which lasted six months, proved extremely brutal and difficult both for the RedArmy and German-Hungarian forces, with fierce fighting taking place in western Hungary as thenumerical weight of the Soviets forced back the Axis.  In October 1944, a major tank battle wasfought at Debrecen,where the panzers of German Army Group Fretter-Pico (named after GeneralMaximilian Fretter-Pico) beat back three Soviet tank corps of 2nd UkrainianFront.  But in late October, a powerfulSoviet offensive thrust all the way to the outskirts of Budapest, the Hungarian capital, by November7, 1944.

Two Soviet pincer arms then advanced west in a flankingmaneuver, encircling the city on December 23, 1944, and starting a 50-daysiege.  Fierce urban warfare then brokeout at Pest, the flat eastern section of the city, and then later across the Danube Riverat Buda, the western hilly section, where German-Hungarian forces soonretreated.  In January 1945, threeattempts by German armored units to relieve the trapped garrison failed, and onFebruary 13, 1945, Budapestfell to the Red Army.  The Soviets thencontinued their advance across Hungary.  In early March 1945, Hitler launchedOperation Spring Awakening, aimed at protecting the Lake Balaton oil fields insouthwestern Hungary, whichwas one of Germany’slast remaining sources of crude oil. Through intelligence gathering, the Soviets became aware of the plan,and foiled the offensive, and then counter-attacked, forcing the remainingGerman forces in Hungaryto withdraw across the Austrian border.

The Germans then hastened to construct defense lines in Austria, which officially was an integral partof Germanysince the Anschluss of 1938.  In earlyApril 1945, Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front crossed the border from Hungary into Austria,meeting only light opposition in its advance toward Vienna. Only undermanned German forces defended the Austrian capital, which fellon April 13, 1945.  Although some fiercefighting occurred, Vienna was spared thewidespread destruction suffered by Budapestthrough the efforts of the anti-Nazi Austrian resistance movement, whichassisted the Red Army’s entry into the city. A provisional government for Austria was set up comprising acoalition of conservatives, democrats, socialists, and communists, which gainedthe approval of Stalin, who earlier had planned to install a pro-Sovietgovernment regime from exiled Austrian communists.  The Red Army continued advancing across otherparts of Austria,with the Germans still holding large sections of regions in the west and south.By early May 1945, French, British, and American troops had crossed into Austria from the west, which together with theSoviets, would lead to the four-power Allied occupation (as in post-war Germany) of Austria after the war.

German-occupied Poland Operation Bagration’s conquest of Belarus in the summer of 1944 brought the RedArmy to the Vistula River and to within striking distance of Warsaw.  On August 1, 1944, the main Polish resistanceorganization, called the Home Army, in response to Soviet encouragement tostart armed action, launched an uprising against the German occupation forcesin Warsaw.  What ensued was a 63-day battle, which wasthe center of the much larger series of armed actions in other Polish citiesunder Operation Tempest, where the Germans crushed the uprising by October 1944in fierce house-to-house fighting in the Polish capital.  Material support for the Polish fighters wasin the form of a few supply drops by British and American planes, while Stalinstood down the Red Army that was positioned in the nearby Vistulabridgeheads.  The city of Warsaw, already heavilydamaged from the previous years’ fighting, was systematically razed to theground by the Germans in reprisal and in house-clearing operations.  By the end of the war, the Polish capital was85% destroyed and became one of the most heavily devastated cities of World WarII.

In early January 1945, the Red Army in the Vistula was readyto launch the conquest of German-occupied Poland.  Two Soviet Army Groups (the 1st Belorussianand 1st Ukrainian Fronts) were assembled, the combined strength comprising 2.2million troops, 7,000 tanks, 13,800 artillery pieces, 14,000 mortars, 4,900anti-tank guns, and 2,200 Katyusha multiple-rocket launchers, and 8,500 planes,to confront German Army Group A, which was greatly outnumbered with 450,000troops, 4,100 artillery pieces, and 1,100 tanks.  German intelligence had detected the Sovietbuildup, but Hitler dismissed this as “the greatest imposture since GenghisKhan”.  Hitler also rejected the requestsby his generals to reinforce Polandby abandoning the Courland Pocket.  Inthe lead-up to the fighting, some German military units withdrew fromindefensible areas. This German withdrawal triggered mass flight amongcivilians, and millions of ethnic Germans fled west to reach safety in centraland western Germany.  German officials also closed down theconcentration camps in Poland,and forced the prisoners there into death marches to Germany in the winter cold wherethousands perished.

On January 12, 1945, the Red Army finally launched itsgigantic operation, called the Vistula-Oder Offensive, which was nothing shortof a juggernaut.  Large areas fellquickly, including Warsaw on January 19 and Lodz on January 21.  In many areas, German units were encircledand destroyed, as Hitler forbade any retreat and ordered that the Wehrmachtmust fight to the death in these “fortresses”. Nevertheless, German forces at Krakowwithdrew just in time to avoid being surrounded and destroyed.  Within two weeks, the Soviets had advanced200 miles to the Oder River at the German border, placing them to withinonly 43 miles from Berlin.  The Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, comprisingthe northern thrust, also reached the Vistula Delta, cutting of East Prussia and the defending GermanArmy GroupCenter there, from Germany proper.

The Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front, whose diversion during theEast Prussian campaign delayed 1st Belorussian Front’s advance to Berlin, now continued to Pomerania, taking Danzig onMarch 28, 1945 and reaching Stettin on April26.

Meanwhile to the south, Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front thrustacross Silesiain two campaigns in February and March 1945, clearing the region of Germanforces, thereby securing the southern flank of 1st Belorussian Front.  A broad front was formed stretching fromPomerania to Silesia along the Oder and Neisserivers in preparation for the offensive on Berlin.

March 29, 1973 – Vietnam War: The last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam

By March 29, 1973, nearly all American and other allied troopshad departed, and only a small contingent of U.S. Marines and advisorsremained.  A peacekeeping force, calledthe International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), arrived in South Vietnam tomonitor and enforce the Accords’ provisions. But as large-scale fighting restarted soon thereafter, the ICCS becamepowerless and failed to achieve its objectives.

North Vietnam and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

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

In February-March 1971, about 17,000 troops of the SouthVietnamese Army, (some of whom were transported by U.S.helicopters in the largest air assault operation of the war), and supported by U.S. air and artillery firepower, launchedOperation Lam Son 719 into southeastern Laos.  At their furthest extent, the SouthVietnamese seized and briefly held Tchepone village, a strategic logistical hubof the Ho Chi Minh Trail located 25 miles west of the South Vietnamese border.  The main South Vietnamese column was stoppedby heavy enemy resistance and poor road conditions at A Luoi, some 15 milesfrom the border.  North Vietnameseforces, initially distracted by U.S.diversionary attacks elsewhere, soon assembled 50,000 troops against the SouthVietnamese, and counterattacked.  NorthVietnamese artillery particularly was devastating, knocking out several SouthVietnamese firebases, while intense anti-aircraft fire disrupted U.S. airtransport operations.  By early March1971, the attack was called off, and with the North Vietnamese intensifyingtheir artillery bombardment, the South Vietnamese withdrawal turned into achaotic retreat and a desperate struggle for survival.  The operation was a debacle, with the SouthVietnamese losing up to 8,000 soldiers killed, 60% of their tanks, 50% of theirarmored carriers, and dozens of artillery pieces; North Vietnamese casualtieswere 2,000 killed.  American planes weresent to destroy abandoned South Vietnamese armor, transports, and equipment toprevent their capture by the enemy.  U.S. air losseswere substantial: 84 planes destroyed and 430 damaged and 168 helicoptersdestroyed and 618 damaged.

Buoyed by this success, in March 1972, North Vietnam launched the Nguyen Hue Offensive(called the Easter Offensive in the West), its first full-scale offensive into South Vietnam,using 300,000 troops and 300 tanks and armored vehicles.  By this time, South Vietnamese forces carriedpractically all of the fighting, as fewer than 10,000 U.S. troops remained in South Vietnam,and who were soon scheduled to leave. North Vietnamese forces advanced along three fronts.  In the northern front, the North Vietnameseattacked through the DMZ, and captured the northern provinces, and threatened Hue and Da Nang.  In late June 1972, a South Vietnamesecounterattack, supported by U.S.air firepower, including B-52 bombers, recaptured most of the occupiedterritory, including Quang Tri, near the northern border.  In the Central Highlands front, the NorthVietnamese objective to advance right through to coastal Qui Nhon and split South Vietnamin two, failed to break through to Kontum and was pushed back.  In the southern front, North Vietnameseforces that advanced from the Cambodian border took Tay Ninh and Loc Ninh, butwere repulsed at An Loc because of strong South Vietnamese resistance andmassive U.S.air firepower.

To further break up the North Vietnamese offensive, in April1972, U.S. planes including B-52 bombers under Operation Freedom Train,launched bombing attacks mostly between the 17th and 19th parallels in NorthVietnam, targeting military installations, air defense systems, power plantsand industrial sites, supply depots, fuel storage facilities, and roads,bridges, and railroad tracks.  In May1972, the bombing attack was stepped up with Operation Linebacker, whereAmerican planes now attacked targets across North Vietnam.  A few days earlier, U.S. planes air-dropped thousands of naval minesoff the North Vietnamese coast, sealing off North Vietnam from sea traffic.

At the end of the Easter Offensive in October 1972, NorthVietnamese losses included up to 130,000 soldiers killed, missing, or woundedand 700 tanks destroyed.  However, NorthVietnamese forces succeeded in capturing and holding about 50% of the territoriesof South Vietnam’s northern provinces of Quang Tri, Thua Thien, Quang Nam, and QuangTin, as well as the western edges of II Corps and III Corps.  But the immense destruction caused by U.S. bombing in North Vietnam forced the latter to agree to make concessions atthe Paris peacetalks.

At the height of North Vietnam’sEaster Offensive, the Cold War took a dramatic turn when in February 1972,President Nixon visited Chinaand met with Chairman Mao Zedong.  Thenin May 1972, President Nixon also visited the Soviet Unionand met with General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet leaders.  A period of superpower détente followed.  Chinaand the Soviet Union, desiring to maintain their newly established friendlyrelations with the United States,aside from issuing diplomatic protests, were not overly provoked by the massiveU.S. bombing of North Vietnam.  Even then, the two communist powers stood bytheir North Vietnamese ally and continued to send large amounts of militarysupport.

Since it began in May 1968, the peace talks in Paris had made littleprogress.  Negotiations were held at themain conference hall.  However, sinceFebruary 1970, U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and NorthVietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho had been holding secret talks separate fromthe main negotiations.  These secrettalks achieved a breakthrough on October 17, 1972 (ten days after the U.S.bombings had forced North Vietnam to return to negotiations), when Kissingerannounced that “peace is at hand” and that a mutually agreed draft of a peaceagreement was to be signed on October 31, 1972.

However, South Vietnamese President Thieu, when presentedwith the peace proposal, refused to agree to it, and instead demanded 129changes to the draft agreement, including that the DMZ be recognized as theinternational border of a fully sovereign, independent South Vietnam, and that North Vietnam withdraw its forces from occupiedterritories in South Vietnam.  On November 1972, Kissinger presented Thowith a revised draft incorporating South Vietnam’s demands as well aschanges proposed by President Nixon. This time, the North Vietnamese government was infuriated and believedit had been deceived by Kissinger.  OnOctober 26, 1972, North Vietnam broadcast details of thedocument.  In December 1972, talksresumed which went nowhere, and soon broke down on December 14, 1972.

Also on December 14, 1972, the U.S.government issued a 72-hour ultimatum to North Vietnam to return tonegotiations.  On the same day, U.S. planesair-dropped naval mines off the North Vietnamese waters, again sealing off thecoast to sea traffic.  Then on PresidentNixon’s orders to use “maximum effort…maximum destruction”, on December 18-29,1972, U.S. B-52 bombers and other aircraft under Operation Linebacker II,launched massive bombing attacks on targets in North Vietnam, including Hanoiand Haiphong, hitting airfields, air defense systems, naval bases, and othermilitary facilities, industrial complexes and supply depots, and transportfacilities.  As many of the restrictionsfrom previous air campaigns were lifted, the round-the-clock bombing attacksdestroyed North Vietnam’swar-related logistical and support capabilities.  Several B-52s were shot down in the firstdays of the operation, but changes to attack methods and the use of electronicand mechanical countermeasures greatly reduced air losses.  By the end of the bombing campaign, fewtargets of military value remained in North Vietnam, enemy anti-aircraft guns had been silenced, and North Vietnamwas forced to return to negotiations.  OnJanuary 15, 1973, President Nixon ended the bombing operations.

One week later, on January 23, negotiations resumed, leadingfour days later, on January 27, 1973, to the signing by representatives fromNorth Vietnam, South Vietnam, the Viet Cong/NLF through its ProvisionalRevolutionary Government (PRG), and the United States of the Paris PeaceAccords (officially titled: “Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace inVietnam”), which (ostensibly) marked the end of the war.  The Accords stipulated a ceasefire; therelease and exchange of prisoners of war; the withdrawal of all American andother non-Vietnamese troops from Vietnam within 60 days; for South Vietnam: apolitical settlement between the government and the PRG to determine thecountry’s political future; and for Vietnam: a gradual, peaceful reunificationof North Vietnam and South Vietnam.  Asin the 1954 Geneva Accords (which ended the First Indochina War), the DMZ didnot constitute a political/territorial border. Furthermore, the 200,000 North Vietnamese troops occupying territoriesin South Vietnamwere allowed to remain in place.

To assuage South Vietnam’sconcerns regarding the last two points, on March 15, 1973, President Nixonassured President Thieu of direct U.S.military air intervention in case North Vietnam violated theAccords.  Furthermore, just before theAccords came into effect, the United Statesdelivered a large amount of military hardware and financial assistance to South Vietnam.

By March 29, 1973, nearly all American and other alliedtroops had departed, and only a small contingent of U.S. Marines and advisorsremained.  A peacekeeping force, calledthe International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), arrived in South Vietnamto monitor and enforce the Accords’ provisions. But as large-scale fighting restarted soon thereafter, the ICCS becamepowerless and failed to achieve its objectives.

For the United States, the Paris Peace Accords meant theend of the war, a view that was not shared by the other belligerents, asfighting resumed, with the ICCS recording 18,000 ceasefire violations betweenJanuary-July 1973.  President Nixon hadalso compelled President Thieu to agree to the Paris Peace Accords under threatthat the United States wouldend all military and financial aid to South Vietnam, and that the U.S.government would sign the Accords even without South Vietnam’s concurrence.  Ostensibly, President Nixon could fulfill hispromise of continuing to provide military support to South Vietnam, as he had beenre-elected in a landslide victory in the recently concluded November 1972presidential election. However, U.S. Congress, which was now dominated byanti-war legislators, did not bode well for South Vietnam.  In June 1973, U.S. Congress passed legislationthat prohibited U.S. combatactivities in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, without prior legislativeapproval.  Also that year, U.S. Congresscut military assistance to South Vietnam by 50%.  Despite the clear shift in U.S. policy, South Vietnam continued to believe the U.S. governmentwould keep its commitment to provide military assistance.

Then in October 1973, a four-fold increase in world oilprices led to a global recession following the Organization of PetroleumExporting Countries (OPEC) imposing an oil embargo in response to U.S. support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War.  South Vietnam’seconomy was already reeling because of the U.S.troop withdrawal (a vibrant local goods and services economy had existed inSaigon because of the presence of large numbers of American soldiers) andreduced U.S.assistance.  South Vietnam experienced soaringinflation, high unemployment, and a refugee problem, with hundreds of thousandsof people fleeing to the cities to escape the fighting in the countryside.

The economic downturn also destabilized the South Vietnameseforces, for although they possessed vast quantities of military hardware (forexample, having three times more artillery pieces and two times more tanks andarmor than North Vietnam), budget cuts, lack of spare parts, and fuel shortagesmeant that much of this equipment could not be used.  Later, even the number of bullets allotted tosoldiers was rationed.  Compoundingmatters were the endemic corruption, favoritism, ineptitude, and lethargyprevalent in the South Vietnamese government and military.

In the post-Accords period, South Vietnam was determined toregain control of lost territory, and in a number of offensives in 1973-1974,it succeeded in seizing some communist-held areas, but paid a high price inpersonnel and weaponry.  At the sametime, North Vietnamwas intent on achieving a complete military victory.  But since the North Vietnamese forces hadsuffered extensive losses in the previous years, the Hanoigovernment concentrated on first rebuilding its forces for a planned full-scaleoffensive of South Vietnam,planned for 1976.

In March 1974, North Vietnamlaunched a series of “strategic raids” from the captured territories that itheld in South Vietnam.  By November 1974, North Vietnam’s control hadextended eastward from the north nearly to the south of the country.  As well, North Vietnamese forces nowthreatened a number of coastal centers, including Da Nang,Quang Ngai, and Qui Nhon, as well as Saigon.  Expanding its occupied areas in South Vietnam also allowed North Vietnam to shift its logistical system(the Ho Chi Minh Trail) from eastern Laosand Cambodia to inside South Vietnamitself.  By October 1974, with major roadimprovements completed, the Trail system was a fully truckable highway fromnorth to south, and greater numbers of North Vietnamese units, weapons, andsupplies were being transported each month to South Vietnam.

March 28, 1951 – First Indochina War: French forces defeat the Viet Minh at the Battle of Mao Khe

In December 1950, French and allied forces came under the command of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, a highly respected veteran officer of World War II, whose arrival greatly raised troop morale.  To defend Hanoi, Haiphong, and the Red River Delta, he constructed an extensive network of fortifications (called the De Lattre Line, Figure 3) that covered 3,200 kilometers from the northern coast to the Chinese border and consisted of about 1,200 concrete fortifications, each armed with and supported by artillery, armored, and air units.

In 1951, the Viet Minh, believing that the French militarywas verging on defeat, launched several offensives on the De Lattre Line.  The first attack occurred in January 1951 atVinh Yen, where 20,000 Viet Minh troops advanced using human-waveassaults.  After initially gainingground, the attack was repulsed after four days of fighting by heavy Frenchartillery bombardments and air strikes. Then in March 1951, Viet Minh forces attacked lightly defended Mao Khetown in preparation to advancing toward Haiphong.  The Viet Minh succeeded in entering the town,where it engaged the small French garrison there in some intense streetfighting.  But the French sooncounter-attacked, and repulsed the Viet Minh after four days of fighting.  In May-June 1951, in fighting at Ninh Binh, NamDinh, Phu Ly, and Phat Diem, collectively known as the Battleof the Day River, French superior firepower beatback the numerically superior Viet Minh, the latter suffering 9,000 soldierskilled or wounded, and 1,000 captured.

The De Lattre Line, however, was not secure in all places,as Viet Minh infiltration teams entered through gaps betweenfortifications.  Some 30,000 Viet Minhcadres, including communist agitators, soon established Viet Minh influence in5,000 of the 7,000 villages in the Red River Delta area.  In November 1951, General de Lattre went onthe offensive, air-dropping commandos in Hoa Binh town, deep inside Viet Minhterritory.  The town was taken, but largenumbers of Viet Minh forces laid siege to the French commandos, cutting off theapproaches to Hoa Binh through the Black Riverand along Route Coloniale 6.  In lateFebruary 1952, French forces were forced to evacuate the town.

Present-day Vietnam in Southeast Asia.

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

Aftermath By the time of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, France knew that it could not win the war, and turned its attention on trying to work toward a political settlement and an honorable withdrawal from Indochina.  By February 1954, opinion polls at home showed that only 8% of the French population supported the war.  However, the Dien Bien Phu debacle dashed French hopes of negotiating under favorable withdrawal terms.  On May 8, 1954, one day after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, representatives from the major powers: United States, Soviet Union, Britain, China, and France, and the Indochina states: Cambodia, Laos, and the two rival Vietnamese states, Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and State of Vietnam, met at Geneva (the Geneva Conference) to negotiate a peace settlement for Indochina.  The Conference also was envisioned to resolve the crisis in the Korean Peninsula in the aftermath of the Korean War (separate article), where deliberations ended on June 15, 1954 without any settlements made.

On the Indochina issue, onJuly 21, 1954, a ceasefire and a “final declaration” were agreed to by theparties.  The ceasefire was agreed to byFrance and the DRV, which divided Vietnam into two zones at the 17thparallel, with the northern zone to be governed by the DRV and the southernzone to be governed by the State of Vietnam. The 17th parallel was intended to serve merely as a provisional militarydemarcation line, and not as a political or territorial boundary.      TheFrench and their allies in the northern zone departed and moved to the southernzone, while the Viet Minh in the southern zone departed and moved to thenorthern zone (although some southern Viet Minh remained in the south oninstructions from the DRV).  The 17thparallel was also a demilitarized zone (DMZ) of 6 miles, 3 miles on each sideof the line.

The ceasefire agreement provided for a period of 300 dayswhere Vietnamese civilians were free to move across the 17th parallel on eitherside of the line.  About one millionnortherners, predominantly Catholics but also including members of the upperclasses consisting of landowners, businessmen, academics, and anti-communistpoliticians, and the middle and lower classes, moved to the southern zone, thismass exodus was prompted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) andState of Vietnam in a massive propaganda campaign, as well as the peoples’fears of repression under a communist regime.

In August 1954, planes of the French Air Force and hundredsof ships of the French Navy and U.S. Navy (the latter under Operation Passageto Freedom) carried out the movement of Vietnamese civilians from north tosouth.  Some 100,000 southerners, mostlyViet Minh cadres and their families and supporters, moved to the northernzone.  A peacekeeping force, called theInternational Control Commission and comprising contingents from India, Canada,and Poland,was tasked with enforcing the ceasefire agreement.  Separate ceasefire agreements also weresigned for Laos and Cambodia.

Another agreement, titled the “Final Declaration of theGeneva Conference on the Problem of Restoring Peace in Indo-China, July 21,1954”, called for Vietnamese general elections to be held in July 1956, and thereunification of Vietnam.  France DRV, the Soviet Union, China, and Britain signed thisDeclaration.  Both the State of Vietnamand the United Statesdid not sign, the former outright rejecting the Declaration, and the lattertaking a hands-off stance, but promising not to oppose or jeopardize theDeclaration.

By the time of the Geneva Conference, the Viet Minhcontrolled a majority of Vietnam’sterritory and appeared ready to deal a final defeat on the demoralized Frenchforces.  The Viet Minh’s agreeing toapparently less favorable terms (relative to its commanding battlefieldposition) was brought about by the following factors: First, despite Dien BienPhu, French forces in Indochina were far from being defeated, and still held anoverwhelming numerical and firepower advantage over the Viet Minh; Second, theSoviet Union and China cautioned the Viet Minh that a continuation of the warmight prompt an escalation of American military involvement in support of theFrench; and Third, French Prime Minister Pierre Mendes-France had vowed to achievea ceasefire within thirty days or resign. The Soviet Union and China,fearing the collapse of the Mendes-France regime and its replacement by aright-wing government that would continue the war, pressed Ho to tone down VietMinh insistence of a unified Vietnamunder the DRV, and agree to a compromise.

The planned July 1956 reunification election failed tomaterialize because the parties could not agree on how it was to beimplemented.  The Viet Minh proposedforming “local commissions” to administer the elections, while the United States,seconded by the State of Vietnam, wanted the elections to be held under UnitedNations (UN) oversight.  The U.S.government’s greatest fear was a communist victory at the polls; U.S. PresidentEisenhower believed that “possibly 80%” of all Vietnamese would vote for Ho ifelections were held.  The State ofVietnam also opposed holding the reunification elections, stating that as ithad not signed the Geneva Accords, it was not bound to participate in thereunification elections; it also declared that under the repressive conditionsin the north under communist DRV, free elections could not be held there.  As a result, reunification elections were notheld, and Vietnamremained divided.

In the aftermath, both the DRV in the north (later commonlyknown as North Vietnam) and the State of Vietnam in the south (later as theRepublic of Vietnam, more commonly known as South Vietnam) became de factoseparate countries, both Cold War client states, with North Vietnam backed bythe Soviet Union, China, and other communist states, and South Vietnamsupported by the United States and other Western democracies.

In April 1956, Francepulled out its last troops from Vietnam;some two years earlier (June 1954), it had granted full independence to theState of Vietnam.  The year 1955 saw thepolitical consolidation and firming of Cold War alliances for both North Vietnam and South Vietnam.  In the north, Ho Chi Minh’s regime launchedrepressive land reform and rent reduction programs, where many tens ofthousands of landowners and property managers were executed, or imprisoned inlabor camps.  With the Soviet Union and China sending more weapons and advisors, North Vietnamfirmly fell within the communist sphere of influence.

In South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, whom Bao Dai appointed asPrime Minister in June 1954, also eliminated all political dissent starting in1955, particularly the organized crime syndicate Binh Xuyen in Saigon, and thereligious sects Hoa Hao and Cao Dai in the Mekong Delta, all of whichmaintained powerful armed groups.  InApril-May 1955, sections of central Saigonwere destroyed in street battles between government forces and the Binh Xuyenmilitia.

Then in October 1955, in a referendum held to determine theState of Vietnam’s political future, voters overwhelmingly supportedestablishing a republic as campaigned by Diem, and rejected the restoration ofthe monarchy as desired by Bao Dai. Widespread irregularities marred the referendum, with an implausible 98%of voters favoring Diem’s proposal.  OnOctober 23, 1955, Diem proclaimed the Republicof Vietnam (later commonly known as South Vietnam),with himself as its first president.  Itspredecessor, the State of Vietnam was dissolved, and Bao Dao fell from power.

In early 1956, Diem launched military offensives on the VietMinh and its supporters in the South Vietnamese countryside, leading tothousands being executed or imprisoned. Early on, militarily weak South Vietnamwas promised armed and financial support by the United States, which hoped to prop up the regime of PrimeMinister (later President) Diem, a devout Catholic and staunch anti-communist,as a bulwark against communism in Southeast Asia.

In January 1955, the first shipments of American weaponsarrived, followed shortly by U.S.military advisors, who were tasked to provide training to the South VietnameseArmy.  The U.S. government also endeavored toshore up the public image of the somewhat unknown Diem as a viable alternativeto the immensely popular Ho Chi Minh. However, the Diem regime was tainted by corruption and nepotism, andDiem himself ruled with autocratic powers, and implemented policies thatfavored the wealthy landowning class and Catholics at the expense of the lowerpeasant classes and Buddhists (the latter comprised 70% of the population).

By 1957, because of southern discontent with Diem’spolicies, a communist-influenced civilian uprising had grown in South Vietnam,with many acts of terrorism, including bombings and assassinations, takingplace.  Then in 1959, North Vietnam,frustrated at the failure of the reunification elections from taking place, andin response to the growing insurgency in the south, announced that it wasresuming the armed struggle (now against South Vietnam and the United States)in order to liberate the south and reunify Vietnam.  The stage was set for the cataclysmic SecondIndochina War, more popularly known as the Vietnam War. (Excerpts taken fromWars of the 20th Century – Volume 5: Twenty Wars in Asia.)

March 27, 1941 – World War II: Pro-Allied Yugoslav Air Force officers depose pro-German Prince Paul, prompting Hitler to invade Yugoslavia

Adolf Hitler exerted great effort to try and persuade the officially neutral but Allied-leaning government of Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisha Cvetkovic to join the Axis.  In a series of high-level meetings between the two countries which even included Hitler’s participation, the Germans offered sizable rewards to Yugoslavia for joining the Axis, including Greek territory that would include Salonica which would give Yugoslavia access to the Aegean Sea.  Talks went nowhere until Hitler met with Prince Paul on March 4, 1941, which led two weeks later to the Yugoslav government agreeing to join the Axis.  On March 25, 1941, Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact, motivated by a secret clause in the agreement that contained three stipulations: the Axis promised to respect Yugoslavian sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Yugoslavian military would not be required to assist the Axis, and Yugoslavia would not be required to allow Axis forces to pass through its territory.  But two days later, March 27, pro-Allied Yugoslav Army Force officers deposed the Yugoslav government and installed itself in a military regime, arrested Prince Paul, and named the 17-year old minor crown prince as King Peter II.  The new military government assured Germany that Yugoslavia wanted to maintain friendly ties between the two countries, albeit that it would not ratify the Tripartite Pact.  Anti-German mass demonstrations broke out in Belgrade and other Serbian cities.

As a result of the coup, a furious and humiliated Hitlerbelieved that Yugoslavia hadtaken a stand favoring the Allies, despite the new Yugoslav government’sconciliatory position toward Germany.  On March 27, 1941, just hours after the coup,Hitler convened the German military high command and stated his intention to“destroy Yugoslaviaas a military power and sovereign state”. He ordered the formulation of an invasion plan for Yugoslavia, which was to be carried out togetherwith the attack on Greece.  Despite the time constraint (the attack onGreece was set to be launched in ten days, April 6, 1941), the German militaryfinalized a lightning attack for Yugoslavia, code-named Operation 25, to beunder taken in coordination with the operation on Greece.

Hitler invited Bulgariato participate in the attack on Yugoslavia,but the Bulgarian government declined, citing the need to defend its borders.  As well, Hungarydemurred, as it had just recently signed a non-aggression pact with Yugoslavia, but it agreed to allow the Germaninvasion forces to mass in its southwestern border with Yugoslavia.  Romania was not asked to join theinvasion.

Mussolini, after conferring with Hitler, agreed toparticipate, and the Italian forces were to undertake the following:temporarily cease operations at the Albanian front; protect the flank of theGerman forces invading from Austriato Slovenia; seize Yugoslav territoriesalong the Adriatic coast; and link up with German forces for the invasion of Greece.

On April 3, 1941, Yugoslaviasent emissaries to Moscow to try and arrange amutual defense treaty with the Soviet Union.  Instead, on April 5, the Soviet governmentagreed only to a treaty of friendship and non-aggression with Yugoslavia,which did not promise Soviet protection in case of foreign aggression.  As a result, Hitler was free to invade Yugoslaviawithout fear of Soviet intervention.  OnApril 6, 1941, Germany and Italy launched the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece, discussed separately in thenext two chapters.

The Balkan region and nearby Italy, Austria (annexed by Germany), and Hungary.

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

The Balkan Campaign InAugust 1940, Hitler gave secret instructions to his military high command toprepare a plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union,to be launched in the spring of 1941.  InOctober 1940-January 1941, the Germans launched fierce air attacks on Britain, whichfailed to force the latter to capitulate as Hitler had hoped.  Hitler then suspended his planned invasion ofBritainand instead focused on other ways to bring it to its knees.  He turned to the Mediterranean Sea, whosecontrol by Germany and Italy would have the effect of cutting off Britain from its colonies in Africa and Asia viathe Suez Canal.  In this plan, German forces would captureGibraltar through Spain,thus sealing off the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, while the ItalianArmy in Libya would captureBritish-controlled Egypt aswell as the Suez Canal, sealing off the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.  German forces wouldjoin in the final stages of the Italian offensive.

As the German military formulated the invasion plan of theSoviet Union and the means to knock Britain out of the war, Hitler wasdetermined that no complications arose that would interfere with theseobjectives.  Foremost, Hitler had noappetite for turmoil to break out in southeastern Europe,especially the highly volatile Balkan region, the “powder keg” that had sparkedWorld War I.  Politically andstrategically, Hitler wanted stability in the Balkans to keep away the SovietUnion, with whom Germanyhad a tenuous non-aggression pact. Conflict in the Balkans would most likely prompt intervention by Russia, whichtraditionally held a strong influence there.

Hitler had long stated that he had no territorial ambitionson the Balkans.  Instead, Germany’s main interest there was purelyeconomic, as the Balkan countries were Germany’s biggest partners,supplying the latter with food and mineral resources.  But of the greatest importance to Hitler werethe Ploiesti oil fields in Romania, whichprovided the German military and industry with vital petroleum products.

Germanyand Italy mediated twoterritorial disputes involving Romaniaand its neighbors: on August 21, 1940, Romaniawas persuaded to cede Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria,and on August 30, 1940, it also relinquished one-third of Transylvania to Hungary.  A few weeks earlier, in late June-early July1940, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had used strong-arm tactics to force Romania to cede its northeastern regions ofBessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Hitler strove to convince Mussolini to stall thelatter’s territorial ambitions in the Balkans. Mussolini had long viewed that in the German-Italian partition ofEurope, southeastern Europe and the Balkansfell inside the Italian sphere of control. Italian forces had invaded Albaniain April 1939 (separate article), and after the fall of France in June 1940, Mussolini exerted pressureon Greece and Yugoslavia, andthreatened them with invasion.  At thattime, Hitler was able to convince Mussolini to suspend temporarily his Balkanambitions and instead focus Italian efforts on defeating the British in North Africa.

But on October 7, 1940, at the request of Romanian dictatorIon Antonescu, German forces entered Romaniato guard against a Soviet invasion; for Hitler, it was to protect the vital Ploiesti oil fields.  Mussolini was outraged by this German action,as he believed that Romaniafell inside his zone of control.  Alsofor Mussolini, Hitler’s move into Romania was only the latest in along list of stunts that had been made without previously consulting him, andone that had to be reciprocated, or as Mussolini put it, “to repay him [Hitler]with his own coin”.  Hitler had invaded Poland, Denmark,Norway, France, and the Low Countries without informing Mussolini beforehand.

On October 28, 1940, Mussolini, without notifying Hitler,launched the invasion of Greece(previous article), despite insufficient military preparation and against thecounsel of his top generals.  Theoperation was a disaster, as the motivated Greek Army threw back the Italiansto Albania,and then launched its own offensive.  Within three months, the Greeks occupied aquarter of Albanian territory.  Greece haddeclared its neutrality at the start of World War II.  But because of the Italian invasion, theGreek government turned to Britainfor assistance.  In early November 1940,British forces had arrived, and occupied two strategically important Greekislands, Crete and Limnos.

The unexpected Italian attack on Greece and likelihood of Britishintervention in the Balkans shocked Hitler, seeing that his efforts to try andmaintain peace in the region had failed. His prized Ploesti oil fields and the whole southeastern Europe were now vulnerable.  On November 4, 1940, Hitler decided to becomeinvolved in Greecein order to bail out his beleaguered ally Mussolini and to forestall theBritish.  On November 12, 1940, theGerman High Command issued Directive No. 18, which laid out the German plan tocontain the British in the Mediterranean: German forces would invade northern Greece and Gibraltar in January 1941, and thenassist the Italians in attacking Egypt in the fall of 1941.  However, Spain’spro-Axis dictator General Francisco Franco refused to allow German troops into Spain, forcing Germanyto suspend its invasion of Gibraltar.  On December 13, 1940, the German militaryissued Directive No. 20, which finalized the invasion of Greece undercodename Operation Marita.  In the finalplan, German forces in Bulgaria would open a second front in northeasternGreece and capture the whole Greek northern coast, link up with the Italians inthe northwest, and if necessary, push south toward Athens and seize the rest ofGreece.  Operation Marita was scheduledfor March 1941; however, delays would cause the invasion to be launched onemonth later.

For the invasion of Greece,Hitler considered it necessary to bring into the Axis fold the governments of Hungary, Romania,Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia,notwithstanding their stated neutrality at the start of the World War II.  With their cooperation, German forces wouldcross their territories through Central and Eastern Europe,as well as control their military-important infrastructures, such as airfieldsand communications systems.  Hungary, which had benefited territorially inthe German seizure of Czechoslovakiaand Axis arbitration of Transylvania, was drawn naturally to Germany.  On November 20, 1940, the Hungariangovernment joined the Tripartite Pact . Three days later, Romaniaalso joined the Pact, as Romanian leader Antonescu was motivated to do so byfear of a Soviet invasion.  In succeedingmonths, large numbers of German forces and weapons, passing through Hungary, would assemble in Romania, mainly for the planned invasion of the Soviet Union (whose operational plan would be finalizedin December 1940 under the top-secret Operation Barbarossa).

Bulgariabalked at joining the Pact and thus be openly associated with the Axis, andalso was concerned that participating in the invasion of Greece would leave its eastern border vulnerableto an attack by Turkey,which was allied with Greece.  The Bulgarians also were aware of a Sovietplan to capture Varna, Bulgaria’s Black sea port, which the Sovietswould use to seize control of the Turkish Straits, which was a source of along-standing dispute between the Soviet Union and Turkey. 

However, Hitler exerted strong diplomatic pressure on Bulgaria andalso promised to protect Bulgarian territorial integrity.  Bulgaria acquiesced and agreed toallow German troops to enter Bulgarian territory.  On February 28, 1941, German engineeringcrews bridged the Danube River at the Romanian-Bulgarian border, and the firstGerman units crossed into Bulgariaand continued to that country’s eastern border. The next day, March 1st, Bulgariajoined the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis.  On March 2, 1941, German forces involved inOperation Marita entered Bulgariaand proceeded south to the Bulgarian-Greek border.

To assure Turkey of German intentions, Hitler wrote to theTurkish government to explain that the German presence in Bulgaria was directed at Greece.  To further allay the Turks, German troopswere positioned far from the Turkish border. The Turkish government accepted the German clarification, and agreed tostand down its forces during the German attack on Greece.

Meanwhile, Greecewas aware of German plans, and in the previous months, held talks with Britain and Yugoslavia to formulate a commonstrategy against the anticipated German attack. The dilemma for Greece was that by March 1941, the greater part of itsmilitary forces were still tied down against the Italians in southern Albania,leaving insufficient units to defend the rest of the country’s northernborder.  At the request of the Greekgovernment, Britain and itsdominions, Australia and New Zealand, sent 58,000 troops to Greece; this force arrived in March 1941 anddeployed in Greece’snorth central border.

March 26, 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalist forces launch their offensive into central Spain

On March 26, 1939, Nationalist forces advanced into central Spain, meeting no resistance as the junta had ordered Republican soldiers to raise white flags and retreat from the frontlines. On March 28, the Nationalists entered Madrid, where large crowds welcomed them as liberators.  The Nationalists then continued across eastern Spain to the Mediterranean coast.

(Taken from Spanish Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

In December 1938, one month after the fighting in the Ebro ended, General Francisco Franco, leader of the Nationalist forces, was ready to advance into Catalonia, with Barcelona, the Republican government’s capital, as the ultimate objective.  The Nationalists assembled a force of 300,000 soldiers, 300 tanks, 1,400 artillery pieces, and 500 planes.  Meeting this were also about 300,000 Republican soldiers, but who were only poorly equipped with firearms, and supported by 40 tanks, 250 artillery pieces, and 100 planes.  Across Catalonia, the Republicans’ morale among soldiers and civilians was at its lowest, and the great majority wanted an end to the war.

Key areas during the Spanish Civil War.

On January 23, 1939, the Nationalists attacked Catalonia from the westand south.  After initially meetingstrong resistance, the offensive broke through and advanced all across thecountryside.  To take the pressure from Catalonia, in early January 1939, the Republicans openeda front in Extremadura, attacking northeast of Cordoba and gaining some territory.  Then, the Nationalists counter-attacked withsupporting air firepower, and threw back the Republicans.

By the third week of January 1939, the Nationalists hadreached the outskirts west and south of Barcelona.  The Republican government, led by PresidentManuel Azaña and Prime Minister Negrin, evacuated from the capital and flednorth to the Spanish-French border.  Some500,000 Republican soldiers and civilians joined the retreat, pursued by theNationalist Army.  Prime Minister Negrinappealed to General Franco for peace talks, but was rejected, as theNationalist leader wanted only unconditional surrender.  On January 26, Barcelona fell to the Nationalists.

In early February 1939, the retreating Republican Army andcivilians entered into France(the French government had reopened the border).  The refugees were gathered by Frenchauthorities and then interned in camps. After the war, some 200,000 refugees returned to Spain, while 300,000 eventually immigrated toother countries in Europe and the Americas.  On February 9, 1939, Nationalist forcesreached the Spanish-French border, which they closed down.  By this time, Catalonia was fully under the Nationalists’control.  Three weeks later, France and Britain recognized General Franco’sgovernment.

Prime Minister Negrin managed to fly back to RepublicanSpain to take over control of the remaining territories still held by theRepublicans.  By then, however, althoughthe Republicans still held about 30% of Spain, the war essentially wasover.  Negrin established hisheadquarters at Alicante,where he appointed communist officers to high-ranking military positions.  In Madrid,non-communist officers, concerned that the Republican government was becomingcommunist, launched a coup on March 5, 1939 that deposed Prime MinisterNegrin.  However, communist units of theRepublican Army opposed the coup, leading to the outbreak of fighting betweenpro-communist and anti-communist forces of the Republican Army.  After five days of clashes, anti-communistforces prevailed in Madrid.

After overthrowing the Republican regime, the coup leadersformed a military-civilian junta (called the National Council of Defense),which was made up of military officers, as well as socialist and anarchistleaders.  After fighting in Madrid ended, the juntatried to negotiate a peace treaty with General Franco, but the talksfailed.  On March 26, 1939, Nationalistforces advanced into central Spain,meeting no resistance as the junta had ordered Republican soldiers to raisewhite flags and retreat from the frontlines.

On March 28, the Nationalists entered Madrid, where large crowds welcomed them asliberators.  The Nationalist advanceacross eastern Spain to theMediterranean coast also met no opposition, with Jaen,Cuenca, Albacete,and Saguntobeing taken without incident.  As aresult of the Nationalist advance, some 50,000 Republican supporters fled tothe ports of Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena,and Gandia in the hope of escaping abroad. Fewer than 5,000 of these Republicans made it out of Spain.  By April 1, the Nationalists had captured theeastern coast, and thus controlled all of Spain.  The war was over.  About 500,000 persons lost their lives in thewar; this figure includes total combat-related deaths of soldiers andcivilians, and non-combat fatalities from various causes including summaryexecutions, starvation, and diseases.

Aftermath Followingthe war, General Franco established a right-wing, anti-communist dictatorialgovernment centered on the Falange Party. Socialists, communists, and anarchists, were outlawed, as werefree-party politics.  Political enemieswere killed or jailed; perhaps as many as 200,000 lost their lives in prison orthrough executions.  The politicalautonomies of Basque and Cataloniawere voided.  These regions’ culture,language, and identity were suppressed, and a single Spanish national identitywas enforced.

After World War II ended, Spainbecame politically and economically isolated from most of the internationalcommunity because of General Franco’s affiliation with the defeated fascistregimes of Germany and Italy.  Then with increasing tensions in the Cold Warbetween the United Statesand Soviet Union, the U.S.government became drawn to Spain’sstaunchly anti-communist stance and strategic location at the western end ofthe Mediterranean Sea.

In September 1953, Spainand the United Statesentered into a defense agreement known as the Pact of Madrid, where the U.S. government infused large amounts ofmilitary assistance to Spain’sdefense.  As a result, Spain’sdiplomatic isolation ended, and the country was admitted to the United Nationsin 1955.

Its economy devastated by the civil war, Spainexperienced phenomenal economic growth during the period from 1959 to 1974(known as the “Spanish Miracle”) when the government passed reforms that openedup the financial and investment sectors. Spain’stotalitarian regime ended with General Franco’s death in 1975; thereafter, thecountry transitioned to a democratic parliamentary monarchy which it is today.

March 25, 1971 – Pakistan jails Bangladeshi nationalist Mujibur Rahman, who while in prison, declares the independence of Bangladesh

In Dhaka, the EastPakistani capital, thousands of residents undertook mass demonstrations thatparalyzed commercial, public, and civilian functions.  On March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Armyarrested and jailed Mujibur Rahman, who then declared while in prison thesecession of East Pakistan from Pakistanand the founding of the independent state of Bangladesh.  Mujibur’s supporters aired the declaration ofindependence on broadcast radio throughout East Pakistan.

Bangladesh War of Independence and 1971 Indian-Pakistani War

(Taken from Bangladesh War of Independence and 1971 Indian-Pakistani War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Background TheBangladesh War of Independence began as a civilian uprising in East Pakistanthat escalated into a civil war between East Pakistan and West Pakistan.  Indiaintervened in the civil war, sparking the Indian-Pakistani War of 1971.  In the aftermath of the two wars, EastPakistan broke away from Pakistanand formed the new state of Bangladesh.

In 1947, the Indian subcontinent was partitioned (previousarticle) into two new countries (Map 13): the Hindu-majority India and thenearly exclusive Muslim Pakistan.  Muchof India was formed from thesubcontinent’s central and eastern regions, while Pakistancomprised two geographically separate regions that became West Pakistan(located in the northwest) and East Pakistan(located in the southeast).

From its inception, Pakistanexperienced a great disparity between West Pakistan and East Pakistan.  The nationalcapital was located in West Pakistan, fromwhere all major political and governmental decisions were made.  Military and foreign policies emanated fromthere as well.  West Pakistan also held a monopoly on the country’s financial,industrial, and social affairs.  Much ofthe country’s wealth entered, remained in, and was apportioned to theWest.  These factors resulted in WestPakistan being much wealthier than East Pakistan.  And all this despite East Pakistan having ahigher population than West Pakistan.

In the 1960s, East Pakistancalled for social and economic reforms and greater regional autonomy, but wasignored by the national government.  Thenin 1970, the Amawi League, East Pakistan’s main political party, won a stunninglandslide victory in the national elections, but was prevented from taking overthe government by the ruling civilian-military coalition regime, which fearedthat a new civilian government would reduce the military’s influence on thecountry’s political affairs.

Leaders from East Pakistan and West Pakistan tried to negotiate a solution to the political impasse,but failed to reach an agreement.  Havingbeen prevented from forming a new government, Mujibur Rahman, East Pakistan’s leader, called on East Pakistanis to carry out acts ofcivil disobedience.

In Dhaka, the EastPakistani capital, thousands of residents undertook mass demonstrations thatparalyzed commercial, public, and civilian functions.  On March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Armyarrested and jailed Mujibur, who then declared while in prison the secession ofEast Pakistan from Pakistanand the founding of the independent state of Bangladesh.  Mujibur’s supporters aired the declaration ofindependence on broadcast radio throughout East Pakistan.

East Pakistanis then organized the Mukti Bahini, a guerillamilitia whose ranks were filled by ethnic Bengali soldiers who had defectedfrom the Pakistani Army.  As armedclashes began to break out in Dhaka, the national government sent more troopsto East Pakistan.  Much of the fighting took place in April-May1971, where government forces prevailed, forcing the rebels to flee to theIndian states of West Bengal and Tripura.  The Pakistani Army then turned on thecivilian population to weed out nationalists and rebel supporters.  The soldiers targeted all sectors of society– the upper classes of the political, academic, and business elite, as well asthe lower classes consisting of urban and rural workers, farmers, andvillagers.  In the wave of violence andsuppression that took place, tens of thousands of East Pakistanis were killed,while some ten million civilians fled to the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam,Bihar, and Meghalaya.

As East Pakistani refugees flooded into India, theIndian government called on the United Nations (UN) to intervene, but receivedno satisfactory response.  As nearly 50%of the refugees were Hindus, to the Indian government, this meant that thecauses of the unrest in East Pakistan werereligious as well as political.  (Duringthe partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, a massive cross-bordermigration of Hindus and Muslims had taken place; by the 1970s, however, EastPakistan, still contained a significant 14% Hindu population.)

Since its independence, Indiahad fought two wars against Pakistanand faced the perennial threat of fighting against or being attackedsimultaneously from East Pakistan and West Pakistan.  Indiatherefore saw that the crisis in East Pakistan yielded one benefit – if thethreat from East Pakistan was eliminated, India would not have to face thethreat of a war on two fronts.  Thus,just two days into the uprising in East Pakistan,India began to secretlysupport the independence of Bangladesh.  The Indian Army covertly trained, armed, andfunded the East Pakistani rebels, which within a few months, grew to a force of100,000 fighters.

In May 1975, Indiafinalized preparations for an invasion of East Pakistan,but moved the date of the operation to later in the year when the Himalayanborder passes were inaccessible to a possible attack by the Chinese Army.  Indiahad been defeated by Chinain the 1962 Sino-Indian War, and thus was wary of Chinese intentions, more so sinceChina and Pakistan maintained friendly relations and bothconsidered Indiatheir common enemy.  As a result, India entered into a defense treaty with theSoviet Union that guaranteed Soviet intervention in case India wasattacked by a foreign power.

In late spring and summer of 1971, East Pakistani rebelsbased in West Bengal entered East Pakistan andcarried out guerilla attacks against the Pakistani Army.  These infiltration attacks includedsabotaging military installations and attacking patrols, outposts, and otherlightly defended army positions. Government forces threw back the attacks and sometimes entered into India inpursuit of the rebels.

By October 1971, the Indian Army became involved in thefighting, providing artillery support for rebel infiltrations and even openlyengaging the Pakistani Army in medium-scale ground and air battles along theborder areas near Garibpur and Boyra (Map 14).

March 24, 1976 – President Isabel Peron of Argentina is ousted in a military coup

On March 24, 1976, Argentinean President Isabel Peron wasoverthrown in a military coup. A military junta called “National ReorganizationProcess” gained control of government, ruling with autocratic powers in asuccession of right-wing, staunchly anti-communist administrations, until 1983.During this period, the juntas brought about the Dirty War, an anti-subversivemilitary campaign against perceived communist and leftist elements in society.

Argentina and nearby countries. During the Dirty War, the Argentine government used “dirty” methods in its anti-insurgency campaign to stamp out leftist and perceived communist elements in the country.

(Taken from Dirty War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 1)

Background TheDirty War refers to the Argentinean military government’s suppression ofleft-wing and perceived communist elements during the mid-1970s to the early1980s.  The “Dirty” in its name refers tothe violent, illicit methods used by the military to carry out thecampaign.  These “dirty” methods includedsummary executions, extrajudicial arrests and detentions, tortures, abductions,and rapes.  The military justified thesemethods on the grounds that their enemies were using terrorism and otherunderhanded actions against the civilian population and even against thegovernment itself.  The Argentineanauthorities also declared that drastic measures were needed as the country wasfalling into anarchy, a claim that was rejected by the politicalopposition.  What is undisputed, however,was the presence of widespread violence and considerable tensions leading up tothe Dirty War.

The origin of the Dirty War can be traced back to the riseof Juan Peron, Argentina’sextremely popular president during the 1940s to the 1950s, and his politics ofPeronism, a unique, all-inclusive nationalist ideology.  Peronism gained broad support from the commonpeople, workers, and peasants, as well as from the political left, moderates, andeven the far-right.  In 1955, however,President Peron was deposed in a military coup. Argentinathen came under military rule, and Peronism and Peronist parties were banned.

By the late 1960s, the remaining Peronist movements hadgiven way to various radical and communist armed groups that had sprung up as aresult of Fidel Castro’s communist victory in Cubaand the subsequent spread of Marxist ideology across Latin America.  In the early1970s, the Argentinean insurgents carried out attacks against civilian andmilitary targets.  Rebel actions includedassassinations, summary killings, abductions, bombings, and armed robberies.

Partly because of the increasing civil unrest as well as anailing economy, the Argentinean military government lifted the ban onPeronism.  Then in elections held in May1973, a left-wing Peronist political party came to power.  The new government freed political prisonersand enacted pro-leftist laws.  Theresurgent labor union staged job actions, causing many businesses to closedown.  Many foreign investors left thecountry after receiving threats on their lives, businesses, and properties.

With the ban on his return lifted, ex-President Peronreturned to Argentinain June 1973.  But what should have beencause for celebration instead generated a fatal split in Peronism.  Some two million Peronist supporters welcomedPeron on his arrival at the airport. When commotion broke out, however, Peron’s armed right-wing supportersfired on the left-wing Peronists in the crowd, killing 13 persons and woundingover 300 others.

The following month, the left-wing Peronist governmentstepped down, giving way to Peron to take up the presidency, since he had wonthe presidential election held a few months earlier.  President Peron’s vice-president was IsabelPeron, his wife, who won the vice-presidential race.  President Peron was supported by a broadpolitical coalition and a massive populist base that included leftist elements.  He cast his lot with his right-wingsupporters, however, and formed a government composed of the bureaucraticelite, as well as some moderates.

By May 1974, President Peron had purged his government andpolitical party of left-leaning politicians; his left-wing supporters at thelower echelons had been alienated as well. But already in failing health at age 78, President Peron’s final term inoffice lasted only ten months, as he passed away on June 1, 1974.

Isabel Peron, the vice-president, succeeded as Argentina’s newpresident.  Isabel’s politicalinexperience manifested, however, as she was incapable of confronting thecountry’s many problems.  High-rankinggovernment and military leaders interfered constantly in major governmentpolicy decisions, and Isabel was reduced to a figurehead president.

The growing influence of the military in Argentineanpolitics plunged the country deeper into the Dirty War, which actually hadbegun near the end of Juan Peron’s presidency. Extremist right-wing politicians close to Juan Peron had organized the“Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance” or “Triple A”, a clandestine state-run“death squad” that initially targeted union leaders, but expanded itsoperations to include all leftist elements, as well as political dissidents.

The Argentinean communists also militarized, terrorizingprivate businesses with bombings, arsons, and armed robberies, and kidnappingor killing businessmen, managers, and executives.  The insurgents also attacked police stationsand army outposts, causing hundreds of military and police casualties.

In 1975, the communist rebels gained a third section of Tucuman Provincein Argentina’snorthwest region (Map 26).  Thegovernment issued the so-called “Annihilation Decrees”, which authorized themilitary to crush the insurgency.  Thecountry was reconfigured into military zones, greatly reducing the civiliangovernment’s authority.

In March 1976, high-ranking military officers deposed IsabelPeron.  The military’s stated reason forthe coup was to prevent the communist take-over of the country.  Thereafter, a military junta came topower.  Argentina’s legislature wasabolished, while the judicial courts were restructured to suit the newmilitarized system.  The academic andintelligentsia were suppressed, as were labor and peoples’ assemblies.  The military government instituted harshmeasures to stamp out communist and leftist elements.  Also targeted by the military were oppositionpoliticians, journalists, writers, labor and student leaders, including theirsupporters and sympathizers.

The military operated with impunity, arbitrarily subjectingtheir suspected enemies to arrests, interrogations, tortures, andexecutions.  One infamous method ofexecution was the “death flight”, where prisoners were drugged, stripped naked,and held down with weights on their feet, and then boarded onto a plane andlater thrown out into the Atlantic Ocean.  Since death flights and other forms ofexecutions made certain that the bodies would not be found, the victims weresaid to have disappeared, striking great fear among the people.  Another atrocity was allowing capturedpregnant women to give birth and then killing them, with their babies given tothe care of and adopted by military or right-leaning couples.  The military and Triple A death squads carriedout these operations clandestinely during the Dirty War.

The military government’s anti-insurgency campaign was sofierce, sustained, and effective that by 1977, the leftist and communist groupshad practically ceased to exist. Hundreds of rebels, who had escaped to the nearby countries of Brazil, Uruguay,Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile,were arrested and returned to Argentina.  The United States provided technicalassistance to the integrated intelligence network of these countries within thescope of its larger struggle against communism in the Cold War.

The Argentinean government continued its draconian rule evenafter it had stamped out the insurgency. The Dirty War caused some 9,000 confirmed and up to 30,000 unconfirmedvictims from murders and forced disappearances. By 1982, however, the military’s anti-insurgency campaign, which hadfound wide popular support initially, was being criticized by the peoplebecause of high-level government corruption and a floundering national economy.

Seeking to revitalize its flagging image, the militarygovernment launched an invasion of the British-controlled Falkland Islands in an attempt to stir up nationalist sentiments andthereby regain the Argentinean people’s support.  The Argentinean forces briefly gained controlof the islands.  A British naval taskforce soon arrived, however, and recaptured the Falkland Islands, driving away and inflicting heavy casualties on theArgentinean forces.

Consequently, Argentina’s military governmentcollapsed, ending the country’s militarized climate.  Argentina then began to transitionto civilian rule under a democratic system. After the country held general elections in 1983, the new governmentthat came to power opened a commission to investigate the crimes committedduring the Dirty War.  Subsequently, anumber of perpetrators were brought to trial and convicted.  Some military units broke out in rebellion inprotest of the convictions, forcing the Argentinean government to pass new lawsthat reduced the military’s liability during the Dirty War.  In 1989, a broad amnesty was given to allpersons who had been involved, indicted, and even convicted of crimes duringthe Dirty War.

In June 2005, however, the Argentinean Supreme Courtoverturned the amnesty laws, allowing for the re-opening of criminal lawsuitsfor Dirty War crimes.  The fates of manypersons killed and disappeared, as well as the infants taken from theirmurdered mothers, remain unsolved and are subject to ongoing investigations.

March 23, 1901 – Philippine-American War: Revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo is captured

On March 23, 1901, U.S. Army-recruited Filipino soldiers andtheir American officers captured Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela; the Filipinoleader soon pledged allegiance to the United States and called on otherrevolutionaries to end hostilities and surrender.  However, the war continued, since Aguinaldohad previously set up a line of succession to the revolutionary leadership, apost that was filled after his capture by General Miguel Malvar, who operatedmainly in Batangas, and also in nearby provinces.

Key areas during the Philippine-American War.

The year 1901 saw the most intense phase of the U.S.reconcentrado policy implemented in many areas held by therevolutionaries.  In January of thatyear, interior villages in Marinduque were depopulated and their residentsmoved to coastal guarded camps before the U.S. Army launched inland operationsto flush out the insurgents.  Threemonths later, in April, U.S.forces carried out similar operations in Abra in northern Luzon.  Also in April, U.S.forces launched a scorched-earth sixty-mile wide destruction of villages andfarmlands in Panay Island from Iloiloin the south to Capiz in the north.  Thenin September, in the event known as the Balangiga Massacre, Filipino guerillasattacked an American garrison in Balangiga, Samar, killing nearly all the U.S.soldiers.  In reprisal, U.S. GeneralJacob Smith issued the following instructions to U.S. Marines who were taskedwith pacifying Samar, “I want noprisoners.  I wish you to kill and burn,the more you kill and the more you burn, the more you will please me…Theinterior of Samar must be made into a howling wilderness”.  The age limit specified was ten, i.e. allpersons above this age was to be killed.

The Philippines in Southeast Asia.

(Taken from Philippine-American War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background Throughoutthe Spanish colonial rule (which began in 1565) over much of the archipelagothat now comprises the country called the Philippines, the native inhabitantsof the islands often offered resistance and launched scores of mostly local orlimited-scope rebellions, all of which generally failed to have a marked orlong-lasting effect on Spain’s political and military control of thecolony.  Developments in the 19thcentury, however, sparked the emergence of a unified collective Filipinoconsciousness among the separate islands’ numerous and diverse ethnic groups,which soon led to the development of a nationalist vision for thearchipelago.  Among these developmentswere the opening in 1834 of Manila (as well as other ports in the Philippineislands) to world trade, the entry of foreign firms (e.g. British, American,French, Swiss, and German) to compete with the erstwhile Spanish-ownedcommercial and trade monopolies, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 thataccelerated European-Asian trade, and the 1868 Glorious Revolution in Spainthat established a progressive government which in turn appointed a liberal,democratic-minded Governor-General in the Philippines.

Traditional Philippine colonial society, which wasstratified into the peninsulares (Spanish nationals born in Spanish) andinsulares (Spanish nationals born in the Philippines) upper ruling classes, themestizo (descendants of Spanish-native unions) and pre-colonial native nobilitylower ruling classes, and the masses of indios (natives) lower classes(comprising peasants, and rural and urban laborers), was transformed during thesecond half of the 19th century with the rise of the middle class, whichconsisted of landed farmers, teachers, lawyers, physicians, and governmentworkers.  The members of this new socialclass, which emerged and benefited from the central government’s political andeconomic reforms, placed great emphasis on education and sent their childrenfor advanced schooling in Manila and even in Spain and other European cities,thereby producing a second generation of the enlightened (i.e. educated) middleclass, which was called the ilustrado class.

This ilustrado middle class, working together with politicalexiles from the islands, organized as the Propaganda Movement during the lastdecades of the 19th century and established its main base of activities inSpain, where progressive ideas were prevalent and generally tolerated, and notin their homeland, which although officially run by a civilian government underthe Governor-General, was highly influenced by the powerful Catholic religiousorders (Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans), which held the realpolitical power especially in the countryside where most of the nativesresided.  The Propaganda Movement pursuedits ideological views through the fine arts (painting, sculpture, etc.) andprint (most notably the newspaper La Solidaridad and Jose Rizal’s two scathingnovels against the Spanish colonial system in the Philippines).  Politically, the movement did not seekindependence and instead called on Spain to implement reformsincluding local representation in the Spanish parliament, civil and socialreforms, and the end of the religious orders’ political and social dominationof the colony.  However, Spain wasintransigent to change and by 1896, the Propaganda Movement had sputtered andeffectively ceased to exist.

In 1892, a reformist organization, La Liga Filipina (ThePhilippine League), was founded in Manila (by Rizal who had returned to thePhilippines) which, in its brief existence that was cut short by Spanishauthorities and Rizal’s arrest and deportation, was crucial to advancing thenationalist cause because it had members from the lower social classes whobecame exposed to liberal, progressive ideas. Then on La Liga Filipina’s dissolution, Andres Bonifacio, a Manilawarehouse worker, and his other associates from the lower classes, secretlyorganized the Katipunan (Filipino: Samahang Kataastaasan, KagalanggalangKatipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan; English: Supreme and Most Honorable Society ofthe Children of the Nation), a militant mass-based radical movement that advocatedthe establishment of an independent Philippine state through violent revolutionagainst Spain.

By 1896, the rebel movement numbered some 30,000 members,drawn mostly from the rural and urban lower class but also fromnationalist-minded middle class leaders, professionals, and even local publicofficials, with the latter group heading many of the insurgent organization’slocal and regional revolutionary councils. The movement spread throughout much of the archipelago with activerecruitment campaigns being carried out particularly in Manila’s nearbyprovinces including Manila (province), Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac,Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas, and also other parts of Luzon as well as theVisayan islands, and some Christian parts of Mindanao.

Spanish authorities soon learned of the clandestineorganization and conducted widespread arrests of suspected members, whichforced the as yet unprepared insurgents to commence hostilities with an attackon Manila inlate August 1896 in an attempt to overthrow the Spanish government.  The Spanish Army repulsed the attack andBonifacio and his insurgent forces fell back to the hills east of Manila where theyreorganized as a guerilla militia that engaged in hit-and-run warfare.  Provincial rebel commands also initiatedsimilar armed uprisings, which likewise were easily quelled by local SpanishArmy units, except in Cavitewhere the revolutionary leaders, most notably Emilio Aguinaldo (who later wouldplay a major role in the Philippine-American War), defeated and expelled theSpanish forces and gained control of much of the province.  Tensions soon developed between Bonifacio andAguinaldo, which led to a power struggle. By March 1897, Aguinaldo had emerged as the organization’s de factoleader, having executed his rival, although many provincial revolutionarycommands operated as virtually independent commands and others, particularly inthe Visayan islands, were distrustful of being ethnically dominated byrevolutionaries from Luzon in the post-warperiod.

By May 1897, with the arrival of reinforcements and weaponsfrom Spain, the Spanish Army launched a major offensive that gained backcontrol of Cavite and many other insurgent-occupied areas, and Aguinaldo wasforced to be constantly on the move until finding relatively safe refuge in themountains north of Manila where he carried out a guerilla struggle.  By this time, the Spanish authoritiesrealized the difficulty of capturing Aguinaldo and sought the mediation ofinfluential Filipinos and mestizos (some of whom had been involved with therebel movement but had since been won over to Spain with the offer ofamnesty).  After several months, inDecember 1897, these mediation efforts led to the signing by Filipino andSpanish representatives of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, a peace treaty that endedhostilities.

The peace treaty stipulated that in exchange for Aguinaldoand other revolutionary leaders ending the rebellion, surrendering apre-determined number of firearms, and going into voluntary exile abroad, Spainwould pay Aguinaldo and the revolutionary leadership a monetary indemnity (tobe paid in three installments).  The twosides did not fully comply with the treaty’s provisions, and much tension andmistrust persisted.  On December 23,1897, Aguinaldo and his party of revolutionaries did go to voluntary exile inHong Kong where they plotted to renew hostilities with a cache of newlyacquired weapons that were purchased using the indemnity money given by theSpanish government.  In the islands, theSpanish Army continued to face sporadic local armed resistance and thus failedto fully pacify the archipelago, and consequently also could not implementamnesty.

At this stage of political uncertainty, the Spanish-AmericanWar broke out on April 25, 1898, with hostilities centered mainly in Cuba, withthe United States taking the side of the Cuban revolutionaries who had beenengaged in a protracted independence war against colonial Spain for three years(since February 1895).  The United States then sent a naval squadron to the Philippines, and on May 1, 1898 at the Battle ofManila Bay, the U.S.ships, commanded by Commodore George Dewey, dealt a crushing defeat on theSpanish Navy.  Commodore Dewey thenimposed a naval blockade of Manila Bay while awaiting the formation in the United States of ground troops to carry out theland war against the Spanish Army in Manila andthe Philippines.

Meanwhile, U.S.consular officials in Singaporemet with Aguinaldo, these talks soon becoming a subject of great controversy,as the Filipino leader later asserted that these officials, ostensiblyrepresenting the U.S.government, promised him that in exchange for the Filipino revolutionaries’support to the United Statesin the war against Spain,the U.S.government would recognize Philippine independence.  However, the U.S.government declared that no such promise to Aguinaldo was made and that the U.S. consular officials were not in authority toenter into negotiations for and in behalf of the United States.

At any rate, the meetings brought about a tacit alliancebetween the Filipino revolutionaries and the United States, and a U.S.ship transported Aguinaldo and his party from Hong Kong to the Philippines, with the revolutionary leadersarriving in Manila on May 19, 1898 to restartthe uprising against Spain.  Aguinaldo’s return had a catalyzing effect,as the revolution, although not completely dying down during his absence, roseto such an intensity that within a short period, insurgent provincial commandshad seized control of much of the territories, including the provinces ofLaguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Tayabas, and Camarines.  By July 1898, the Filipino insurgentscontrolled much of the archipelago, except Manila, which was surrounded and placed undersiege by some 12,000 revolutionary troops. Sensing imminent victory, on June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo declared theindependence of the Philippines,which was followed six days later by the formation of a dictatorial government,with himself as the new country’s president. On June 23, he abolished the dictatorial government, instead creating arevolutionary government, also with himself as president.

Meanwhile, on June 30, 1898, the first of three batches of U.S. ground troops arrived and were landed in Cavite, south of Manila;by late July 1898, General Wesley Merritt, commander-in-chief of the PhilippineExpeditionary Forces, had arrived and the total U.S. Army troop strengthnumbered 12,000 soldiers.  Then as U.S. forces deployed closer to Manila, skirmishes began to break out, themost serious taking place on August 8, 1898 when eight American soldiers werekilled or wounded.  These incidentsprompted the U.S.military command to suspect that the Filipino revolutionaries were passing oninformation to Spanish authorities about the American troop movement,highlighting the increasingly deteriorating relations between the two nominalallies.

Meanwhile, the anticipated showdown between U.S. and Spanish forces in the Philippines did not materialize, as the Spanishcentral government in Madrid realized imminentdefeat in Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.  On August 12, 1898 inWashington, D.C.,the United States and Spain signed the “Protocol of Peace” that endedhostilities between the two countries; this agreement did not reach the Philippinesuntil August 16.  However, U.S. andSpanish authorities in Manila also entered into secret negotiations, which ledto the two sides agreeing to carry out a mock battle for control of Manila; theplan was aimed at preserving Spanish military honor that otherwise would betarnished if the Spanish Army surrendered without a fight, and the two sideswould be spared unnecessary loss of lives. More importantly for the two powers and in the context of regional andglobal rivalries (with the other European powers operating in theAsia-Pacific), Manila (and thus the Philippines) would be passed on from Spain to the United States, and without theparticipation of the Filipino revolutionaries. Without disclosing the plan, U.S.authorities warned Aguinaldo to keep his forces inside Filipino defensivelines, and faced the risk of meeting U.S. fire if they advanced.

As agreed, on August 13, 1898, Spanish and American forcescarried out the mock battle, which involved an assault by U.S. forces, some cursory exchange of gunfire,and a pre-determined signal to indicate that the Spanish Army was ready tosurrender and turn over Manilato the Americans.  The battle endedsuccessfully, with U.S.forces gaining control of the capital, although it was marred somewhat when, atthe start of the American offensive, Filipino troops also advanced from theirlines, prompting an exchange of gunfire between the two sides that claimed sixAmerican and forty-nine Spanish troop casualties.

In the aftermath, Filipino forces gained control of sectionsof Manila andAguinaldo insisted in joint Filipino-American occupation of the capital.  On August 17, 1898, U.S. President WilliamMcKinley informed General Elwell Otis that only U.S.forces were to occupy Manila, thus indicatingthe United States’ intentionto keep the Philippines.  A few days earlier, August 14, the UnitedStates established a military government in the islands, with General Merritttaking the position of (the first) military Governor.  U.S. authorities threatened the useof armed force against Aguinaldo if the Filipino units were not withdrawn fromthe capital; on September 15, 1898, the latter reluctantly withdrew his forcesto a defensive line extending across the perimeter of the capital.

In late September 1898, American and Spanish representativesmet in Paris tobegin work on a treaty to officially end the war, particularly with regards tothe future of Spanish territories involved in the conflict.  Negotiations were difficult with respect tothe Philippines, as the United States demanded possession of first onlyLuzon and later the whole archipelago, which Spain strongly opposed.  Finally, however, on December 10, 1898, thetwo countries signed the Treaty of Paris, where Spainceded Cuba, Puerto Rico,Guam, and the Philippines tothe United States; withregards to the Philippinesparticularly, the U.S.government paid Spainthe amount of U.S. $20 million for “Spanish improvements” made in the colony.

The treaty, which needed to be approved by the twocountries, experienced considerable opposition in the U.S. andSpanish legislatures.  On March 19, 1899,Spainratified the treaty with the intervention of the Spanish monarchy.  In the U.S. Senate, a vote on the treaty setfor February 6, 1899 appeared to just fall short of the two-thirds majorityneeded for approval.  However,developments in the Philippineswould influence the vote.

In early January 1899, U.S.ships trying to land American troops in Iloilo Citywere blocked by thousands of local Filipino troops.  From Malolos (where the Filipino centralgovernment was headquartered), Aguinaldo threatened to use force if theAmericans forced a landing.  In the midstof rising tensions, on January 4, 1899, President McKinley’s “Benevolent Assimilation”policy of American annexation of the islands was released, generating even morediscord.