Daniel Orr's Blog, page 31

March 29, 1973 – Vietnam War: The United States ends Operation Barrel Roll, the covert bombing operations in Laos

Innorthern Laos, the United Statesalso launched bombing attacks (Operation Barrel Roll) on NorthVietnamese-Pathet Lao forces, in support of its Royal Lao Army (RLA)and Hmong allies. In this sector where most of the ground fighting of the Laotian CivilWar took place, early in the war, Lao government forces launched a series ofoffensives, which generally were ineffective against the much more powerfulNorth Vietnamese Army.  In July 1966, theRLA formed a defensive perimeter along the Nam Bac Valley to protect Luang Prabang.  In January 1968, a powerful North Vietnamese-PathetLao offensive gained control of the valley, driving away and inflicting heavylosses on Lao government forces. Thereafter, the RLA ceased to be a major player for much of the rest ofthe war, with the bulk of its forces remaining in static defensive positions inthe populated areas of the lower Mekongregion.

Instead,during much of the civil war, the ground fighting on the Lao government sidewas borne by paramilitary forces of the highland-dwelling ethnic minorities,particularly the Hmong “Secret Army” of the CIA.  The Hmong irregulars were led by General VangPao, commander of Lao MilitaryRegion II in the northeast.  General VangPao led an army of 30,000 Hmong fighters.  Organized as a guerilla force, the Hmongoperated in the highland ridges, launching ambushes and intelligence gatheringoperations on the communist forces in the plains below.

(Taken from Laotian Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia – Vol. 5)

War In large part, theLaotian Civil War can be viewed as a direct result of the events taking placein neighboring Vietnam,first during the First Indochina War (1946-1954) and later during the VietnamWar (1955-1975).  In Vietnam during the First IndochinaWar, by the early 1950s, the French and Viet Minh forces had fought to a stalemate.  In April 1953, to break the deadlock and alsoto over-extend the French forces, the Viet Minh, comprising some 40,000fighters and supported by 2,000 Pathet Lao auxiliaries, invaded northeastern Laos, and seized control of most of the Houaphan Province and sections of Phongsali,Xiangkhoang, and Luang Prabang provinces.  The offensive consisted of the Viet Minhleading the advance.  Then when enemydefenses had nearly been broken, the Viet Minh would allow the Pathet Lao tomove in and clear the remaining resistance. In this way, the Viet Minh hoped to conceal its involvement in Laos,and portray the war there as being undertaken by the Lao revolutionariesthemselves.  By April 1953, the PathetLao, together with the Viet Minh, occupied eastern Laos.  Souphanouvong, the Pathet Lao leader, then set up his government in Houaphan Province.

In May 1954, French forceswere defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, forcing France to end its involvement in Indochina under the terms of the Geneva Accords, signedon July 21, 1954.  In the Geneva Accords,French Indochina was dissolved, and Vietnam, Cambodia,and Laosbecame independent states.  Earlier inOctober 1953, France hadalso granted Laosfull independence.  The Geneva Accordsalso stipulated that Laos(and Cambodia)were to remain neutral in regional military issues.  A peacekeeping force, the InternationalControl Commission (ICC), comprising representatives from India, Poland,and Canada,was tasked with enforcing the Geneva Accords. One day earlier, July 20, 1954, the terms for peace in Laos, called the“Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Laos” was signed, which providedfor a ceasefire, the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Laos (i.e. theFrench military and Viet Minh), and the assemblingof Pathet Lao forces in Houaphanand Phongsali, in the meantime that a political settlement was being workedout.  Subsequently, the Lao governmentand Pathet Lao formed a Joint Committee to negotiate the terms of the peaceagreement.

From 1954-1956, the two sidesmet in a series of talks, and a major source of contention was for control ofthe provinces of Houaphan and Phongsali. The Lao government wanted these provinces reintegrated with Laos,while the Pathet Lao insisted that itretain exclusive administrative control over them.  In August 1956, an agreement was reachedwhich contained the following provisions: 1. Houaphan and Phongsali would bereintegrated to Laos;2. a coalition government for Laos would be formed; 3. supplementary electionsto the National Assembly would be held in May 1958; and 4. two battalions(1,500 soldiers) of the Pathet Lao would be integrated into the Lao Royal Army.

In November 1957, (the first)Lao coalition government was formed, and Souphanouvong and other PathetLao leaders wereappointed to national-level positions. Also that month, Houaphan and Phongsali provinces were formally returnedto Lao government control.  Then in theMay 1958 National Assembly elections, the Lao Patriotic Front (LPF), the PathetLao’s political party, won a surprising 13 of the 21 contested seats.

Prime Minister SouvannaPhouma believed that thebest course for Laoswas taking the middle road and forming an inclusive coalition government.  However, by the second half of the 1950s,this neutralist approach was being undermined by the weight of regional andglobal power politics.  The Cold Warpolitics emerged in Asia, and the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as China,were vying for influence in Indochina.

More ominously for neutral Laos, the North Vietnamese Army (formerly theViet Minh militia) continuedto occupy the border regions in northeast Laos, in violation of the 1954Peace Accords.  In September 1954, theNorth Vietnamese formed Group 100, which was tasked by the Hanoi government to train and arm the PathetLao.  The Pathet Laocontinued to be mobilized in the northeast frontier, despite the agreement withthe government that two battalions of Pathet Lao troops would be integratedinto the Lao Royal Army.

North Vietnam viewed its continuedoccupation of Laos instrategic terms, since by December 1956, the Hanoi government began torealize that its reunification with South Vietnam was becomingunlikely.  North Vietnam therefore agreed to support the Viet Cong, a guerilla militiathat had began an insurgency war in South Vietnam.  By the terms of the 1954 Geneva Accords,North Vietnamese forces were not allowed to remain in Laos.

United States involvement inIndochina began in December 1950 when the U.S.government provided military support to France in the Indochina War.  By then, the Indochina War had turned from apurely colonial war to an emerging Cold War conflict.  Then after France’sdefeat and withdrawal from Indochina in 1954, U.S. President Dwight D.Eisenhower was determined toestablish an American military presence in the region to prevent Southeast Asia from falling to the Domino Theory, aconcept that conjectured that one Southeast Asian country after another wouldfall to communism, like a row of dominoes.

The 1954 Geneva Accords hadallowed the French to maintain a small military presence in Laos to provide training to the Laomilitary.  The United States considered thiseffort insufficient to totally defend the country from a communist take-over.  The Geneva Accords guaranteed Laos’ non-aligned status and also barred foreignpowers from establishing military bases in Laos.  The United States circumvented thesestipulations by forming (in December 1955) the Programs Evaluation Office (PEO).  The PEO was a covert military missiondisguised as a civilian aid agency.  Itwas tasked with arming, training, and funding the Lao Royal Army, as well asother local anti-communist forces, including the Hmong and other mountaintribes.

Lao right-wing politiciansalso were beneficiaries of U.S.support.  The PEO, based in Vientiane, was administered by U.S.military officers who wore civilian clothes and had their names deleted fromthe Department of Defense personnel rosters in order to conceal U.S. direct involvement in Laos.  During the course of the war, the U.S. government supplied Laos with large military andfinancial aid, and even paid the full cost of the Laotian military’s budgetaryrequirements, including the salaries of Lao officers and soldiers.

The large influx of U.S.funds led to corruption, particularly in the Lao military’s top echelons.  As well, it produced high inflation thatbrought negative consequences to the Lao general population.

Events in the late 1950swould lead to a resumption of the Laotian conflict.  In August 1958, the Lao National Assemblyousted Souvanna Phouma as Prime Ministerin a vote of no confidence.  In hisplace, the right-wing pro-U.S. government under new Prime Minister PhouiSananikone returned to power(he previously had served in this position in 1950-1951).  Phoui reversed the agreements made by hisneutralist predecessor.  In December1958, after suspending the constitution, Phoui suppressed the Pathet Lao, and purged Pathet Laosupporters from government office, and jailed Pathet Lao leaders, includingSouphanouvong.  Subsequently,Souphanouvong and his deputiesescaped from prison and returned to the rebel strongholds in the hinterlands ofthe Laotian northeast.  The two PathetLao battalions designated for integration with the Royal Lao Army also slippedaway and rejoined the main rebel forces in the jungles.  As a result, the (first) Lao coalitiongovernment broke down.

More crucially, in January1959, North Vietnam gave itsfull military support to the Viet Cong in South Vietnam and made plans to construct a supply route (laterknown as the Ho Chi Minh Trail) acrosssoutheastern Laos.  One month earlier (December 1958), NorthVietnamese forces seized sections of Xepon District in southeastern Laos.  In May 1959, North Vietnam formed Group 559 to construct the Ho Chi MinhTrail to South Vietnam.

In July 1959, hostilitiesrestarted between Lao government forces and the Pathet Lao, with fightingcentered in eastern Laos.  The North Vietnamese Army led the fightingfor the Pathet Lao, defeating the Lao Army and then allowing the Pathet Lao tooccupy the captured areas.  In this way,North Vietnamese-Pathet Lao territories widened.  North Vietnamese/Pathet Lao bases in thenortheast were used as a springboard to attack government forces, while rebelbases in the southeast were part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail network. In September 1959, North Vietnam replaced Group 100 with Group 959, whichit also tasked with arming and training the Pathet Lao.

Meanwhile in Vientiane, the Laogovernment’s political troubles continued. In December 1959, General Phoumi, the ultra-right wing Defense Minister,overthrew the Phoui government.  ButGeneral Phoumi’s attempts to influence the new king, Sisivang Vatthana (whosucceeded to the throne after King Sisivang Vong’s death in October 1959),failed when western diplomats, intervened, and prevailed upon the monarch notto appoint General Phoumi as Prime Minister. Instead, Prince Somsanit was named Prime Minister.  However, General Phoumi, who remained asDefense Minister, held the real power in the Lao government

Then in August 1960, Lao ArmyCaptain Kong Le, dismayed by the resumption of the war, seized control ofVientiane todepose the government.  Among Kong Le’s stated aims for the coup were to end the civil war andrestore Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma and his neutralistgovernment to power.  With the coupgaining strong popular support, the National Assembly ousted the Somsanitgovernment and restored the neutralist Souvanna Phouma as Prime Minister.

The political neutraliststhen offered reconciliation to the rightists, and on August 31, 1960, a newgovernment was formed with neutralist Souvanna Phouma (still) as PrimeMinister and right-wing general Phoumi as deputy Prime Minister.  The United States was skeptical,however, as the earlier neutralist-led coalition government had included thecommunist Pathet Lao.  Thailand, a U.S. ally, also was alarmed at theneutralists’ return to power.  The Thaigovernment thus imposed a trade blockade of Laos, causing food shortages,inflationary prices, and financial hardships to the Lao economy.

Then when in October 1960, neutralistPrime Minister Souvanna Phouma entered intonegotiations with the Pathet Lao, General Phoumi brokeoff with the neutralist government and joined forces with right-wing PrinceBoun Oum in southern Laos,forming the anti-communist “Revolutionary Committee”.  The United States and Thailand immediately switched theirsupport to this right-wing movement.

Meanwhile, the neutralist Laogovernment and communist Pathet Lao also reached an agreement, but now deprived ofU.S. military support, theybegan receiving weapons and supplies from the Soviet Union.  By this time, the Royal Lao Army was divided,with most units siding with the rightists and some units supporting theneutralists.  In November 1960, withsubstantial U.S.and Thai support, right-wing General Phoumi launched his offensive.  In the decisive Battle of Vientiane inmid-December 1960, rightist forces defeated Kong Le’s neutralists, forcing the neutralists to withdraw to thestrategic Plain of Jars (Figure 14), located 400kilometers northeast of the capital.  Onemonth earlier (November 1960), the Lao National Assembly ousted neutralist PrimeMinister Souvanna Phouma from office andnamed rightist Prince Boun Oum as the new Prime Minister (although GeneralPhoumi continued to hold the real power). But Souvanna Phouma, who had fled to Cambodia a few days before theBattle of Vientiane, remained defiant, insisting that he was the legitimatePrime Minister of Laos.

Following these events,fighting increased.  More Vietnamesetroops joined the fighting, which allowed the Pathet Lao to extend its areas of control.  The United States increased its support to the Boun Oum-Phoumirightist government, and also began sending military supplies to its “SecretArmy”, the 30,000-strong anti-communist Hmong guerillas, who graduallytook over much of the fighting in northeastern Laos.  A Central Intelligence Agency-owned airline, “Air America”, operating disguised as acivilian private enterprise, delivered weapons and supplies to remote Hmongoutposts deep inside communist-held territory.

In 1961, newly elected U.S.President John F. Kennedy dramaticallyreversed his predecessor’s hard-line position on Laos.  Initially, President Kennedy had studied hisoptions, and even considered sending combat troops to southern Laos,including nuclear weapons.  But followingthe failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba(April 1961), President Kennedy called for a negotiated settlement in Laos, which was welcomed by the Soviet Union and China.

In Laos, the local warring sidesinitially were opposed to negotiations. However, in May 1961, peace talks opened in Geneva, Switzerland,with the three sides of the conflict represented by the “three princes”:rightist Prince Boun Oum, neutralist Prince Souvanna Phouma, and leftist Prince Souphanouvong.  The Genevanegotiations, which lasted over a year (May 1961-July 1962), produced a settlement,the “International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos”, commonly called the1962 Geneva Accords, where the major powers (United States, Soviet Union, China, France, andBritain) as well as Laos’ neighbors (North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia,and Burma) agreed to respect the neutrality of Laos.

In June 1962, the three rivalLao factions also reached an internal settlement: the second Lao coalitiongovernment was formed, which consisted of neutralists, rightists, andleftists.  Neutralist Souvanna Phouma was named PrimeMinister, and rightist General Phoumi and leftist Souphanouvong were appointed asco-deputy Prime Ministers.

But once again, regionalevents, particularly the now raging Vietnam War, put great pressure on thealready fragile neutrality of Laosand the Lao coalition government.  By1963 in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong had gained the upper hand.  In the following years, the Viet Cong wouldnearly bring down the government of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.  North Vietnam,pursuing its objective of reuniting the two halves of Vietnam, increased military support to the VietCong via the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which made its occupation ofsoutheastern Laosabsolutely necessary.  In turn, the United States secretly provided militaryassistance to the Lao Royal Army and the anti-communist Hmong paramilitary, through a new covert agency, the“Requirements Office” of the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane.

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

In December 1950, French and allied forces came under thecommand of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, a highly respected veteranofficer of World War II, whose arrival greatly raised troop morale.  To defend Hanoi, Haiphong, and the Red RiverDelta, he constructed an extensive network of fortifications (called the DeLattre Line, Figure 3) that covered 3,200 kilometers from the northern coast tothe Chinese border and consisted of about 1,200 concrete fortifications, eacharmed 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 gaining ground,the attack was repulsed after four days of fighting by heavy French artillerybombardments and air strikes.  Then inMarch 1951, Viet Minh forces attacked lightly defended Mao Khe town inpreparation 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 late February1952, French forces were forced to evacuate the town.

(Taken from First Indochina War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol 5)

Aftermath of theFirst Indochina War By the time of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, France knewthat it could not win the war, and turned its attention on trying to worktoward a political settlement and an honorable withdrawal from Indochina.  ByFebruary 1954, opinion polls at home showed that only 8% of the Frenchpopulation supported the war.  However,the Dien Bien Phu debacle dashed French hopesof negotiating under favorable withdrawal terms.  On May 8, 1954, one day after the Frenchdefeat 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 apeace settlement for Indochina.  TheConference also was envisioned to resolve the crisis in the Korean Peninsulain the aftermath of the Korean War (separate article), where deliberationsended 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.      The French and their allies in thenorthern zone departed and moved to the southern zone, while the Viet Minh in thesouthern zone departed and moved to the northern zone (although some southernViet Minh remained in the south on instructions from the DRV).  The 17th parallel was also a demilitarizedzone (DMZ) of 6 miles, 3 miles on each side of 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 toachieve a ceasefire within thirty days or resign.  The Soviet Union and China, fearing the collapse of the Mendes-Franceregime and its replacement by a right-wing government that would continue thewar, pressed Ho to tone down Viet Minh insistence of a unified Vietnamunder the DRV, and agree to a compromise.

The planned July 1956 reunification election failed to materializebecause the parties could not agree on how it was to be implemented.  The Viet Minh proposed forming “localcommissions” to administer the elections, while the United States, seconded by theState of Vietnam, wanted the elections to be held under United Nations (UN)oversight.  The U.S. government’s greatest fear wasa communist victory at the polls; U.S. President Eisenhower believed that“possibly 80%” of all Vietnamese would vote for Ho if elections were held.  The State of Vietnam also opposed holding thereunification elections, stating that as it had not signed the Geneva Accords,it was not bound to participate in the reunification elections; it alsodeclared that under the repressive conditions in the north under communist DRV,free elections could not be held there. As a result, reunification elections were not held, 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.

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

Adolf Hitler exerted great effort to try and persuade theofficially neutral but Allied-leaning government of Yugoslav Prime MinisterDragisha Cvetkovic to join the Axis.  Ina series of high-level meetings between the two countries which even includedHitler’s participation, the Germans offered sizable rewards to Yugoslavia for joining the Axis, including Greekterritory that would include Salonica which would give Yugoslavia access to the Aegean Sea.  Talks went nowhereuntil Hitler met with Prince Paul on March 4, 1941, which led two weeks laterto the Yugoslav government agreeing to join the Axis.  On March 25, 1941, Yugoslaviasigned the Tripartite Pact, motivated by a secret clause in the agreement thatcontained three stipulations: the Axis promised to respect Yugoslaviansovereignty and territorial integrity, the Yugoslavian military would not berequired to assist the Axis, and Yugoslavia would not be required toallow Axis forces to pass through its territory.  But two days later, March 27, the pro-AlliedSerbian military high command deposed the Yugoslav government and installeditself in a military regime, arrested Prince Paul, and named the 17-year oldminor crown prince as King Peter II.  Thenew military government assured Germanythat Yugoslaviawanted to maintain friendly ties between the two countries, albeit that itwould 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 itsborders.  As well, Hungary demurred, as it had just recently signeda non-aggression pact with Yugoslavia,but it agreed to allow the German invasion forces to mass in its southwesternborder 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 Yugoslavterritories along the Adriatic coast; and link up with German forces for theinvasion 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 promiseSoviet 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.

(Taken from Balkan Campaign – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol 6)

Balkan CampaignIn August 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,which failed 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,which traditionally 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, which provided the Germanmilitary 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,and threatened them with invasion.  Atthat time, Hitler was able to convince Mussolini to suspend temporarily hisBalkan ambitions 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 a quarter of Albanianterritory.  Greece had declared its neutralityat the start of World War II.  Butbecause of the Italian invasion, the Greek 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 to containthe 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 under codename OperationMarita.  In the final plan, German forcesin Bulgaria would open a second front in northeastern Greece and capture thewhole Greek northern coast, link up with the Italians in the northwest, and ifnecessary, push south toward Athens and seize the rest of Greece.  Operation Marita was scheduled for March1941; however, delays would cause the invasion to be launched one month 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 Bulgariaand also 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, 1971 – Bangladesh War of Independence: Mujibur Rahman declares secession of East Pakistan and the founding 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, 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.

(Taken from Bangladesh War of Independence / Indian-Pakistani War of 1971 – Wars of the 20th Century – Vol. 3)

Background In 1947, the Indian subcontinent waspartitioned (previous article) intotwo new countries (Map 13): theHindu-majority Indiaand the nearly exclusive Muslim Pakistan. Much of India wasformed from the subcontinent’s central and eastern regions, while Pakistan comprised two geographically separateregions 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 national capital was located in West Pakistan, from where all major political andgovernmental decisions were made. Military and foreign policies emanated from there as well.  West Pakistanalso held a monopoly on the country’s financial, industrial, and socialaffairs.  Much of the country’s wealthentered, remained in, and was apportioned to the West.  These factors resulted in West Pakistan beingmuch 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 mainpolitical party, won a stunning landslide victory in the national elections,but was prevented from taking over the government by the rulingcivilian-military coalition regime, which feared that a new civilian governmentwould reduce the military’s influence on the country’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 guerilla militiawhose ranks were filled by ethnic Bengali soldiers who had defected from thePakistani Army.  As armed clashes beganto break out in Dhaka, the national government sent more troops to East Pakistan. Much of the fighting took place in April-May 1971, where governmentforces prevailed, forcing the rebels to flee to the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. The Pakistani Army then turned on the civilian population to weed outnationalists and rebel supporters.  Thesoldiers targeted all sectors of society – the upper classes of the political,academic, and business elite, as well as the lower classes consisting of urbanand rural workers, farmers, and villagers.  In the wave of violence and suppression thattook place, tens of thousands of East Pakistanis were killed, while some tenmillion civilians fled to the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura,Assam, Bihar,and Meghalaya.

As East Pakistani refugees flooded into India,the Indian government called on the United Nations (UN) to intervene, butreceived no satisfactory response.  Asnearly 50% of the refugees were Hindus, to the Indian government, this meantthat the causes of the unrest in East Pakistanwere religious as well as political. (During the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, a massivecross-border migration of Hindus and Muslims had taken place; by the 1970s,however, East Pakistan, 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 sosince China 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 was attacked by a foreignpower.

In late spring and summer of 1971, East Pakistanirebels based in West Bengal entered East Pakistanand carried 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 Indiain pursuit of the rebels.

By October 1971, the Indian Army became involved inthe fighting, providing artillery support for rebel infiltrations and evenopenly engaging the Pakistani Army in medium-scale ground and air battles alongthe border areas near Garibpur and Boyra (Map 14).

March 25, 1941 – World War II: Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers

Adolf Hitler exerted greateffort to try and persuade the officially neutral but Allied-leaning governmentof Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisha Cvetkovic to join the Axis.  In a series of high-level meetings betweenthe two countries which even included Hitler’s participation, the Germansoffered sizable rewards to Yugoslaviafor joining the Axis, including Greek territory that would include Salonicawhich would give Yugoslaviaaccess to the Aegean Sea.  Talks went nowhere until Hitler met withPrince Paul on March 4, 1941, which led two weeks later to the Yugoslavgovernment agreeing to join the Axis.  OnMarch 25, 1941, Yugoslaviasigned the Tripartite Pact, motivated by a secret clause in the agreement thatcontained three stipulations: the Axis promised to respect Yugoslaviansovereignty and territorial integrity, the Yugoslavian military would not berequired to assist the Axis, and Yugoslavia would not be required toallow Axis forces to pass through its territory.  But two days later, March 27, the pro-AlliedSerbian military high command deposed the Yugoslav government and installeditself in a military regime, arrested Prince Paul, and named the 17-year oldminor crown prince as King Peter II.  Thenew military government assured Germanythat Yugoslaviawanted to maintain friendly ties between the two countries, albeit that itwould not ratify the Tripartite Pact. Anti-German mass demonstrations broke out in Belgrade and other Serbian cities.

(Taken from The Balkan Campaign – Wars of the 20th Century –Vol. 6)

In August 1940, Hitler gavesecret instructions to his military high command to prepare a plan for theinvasion of the Soviet Union, to be launchedin the spring of 1941.  In October1940-January 1941, the Germans launched fierce air attacks on Britain, which failed to force thelatter to capitulate as Hitler had hoped. Hitler then suspended his planned invasion of Britain and instead focused onother ways to bring it to its knees.  Heturned to the Mediterranean Sea, whose control by Germanyand Italy would have theeffect of cutting off Britainfrom its colonies in Africa and Asia via the 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.

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

As the German militaryformulated the invasion plan of the Soviet Union and the means to knock Britainout of the war, Hitler was determined that no complications arose that wouldinterfere with these objectives. Foremost, Hitler had no appetite for turmoil to break out insoutheastern Europe, especially the highlyvolatile Balkan region, the “powder keg” that had sparked World War I.  Politically and strategically, Hitler wantedstability in the Balkans to keep away the Soviet Union, with whom Germanyhad a tenuous non-aggression pact. Conflict in the Balkans would most likely prompt intervention by Russia,which traditionally held a strong influence there.

Hitler had long stated thathe had no territorial ambitions on the Balkans. Instead, Germany’smain interest there was purely economic, as the Balkan countries were Germany’sbiggest partners, supplying the latter with food and mineral resources.  But of the greatest importance to Hitler werethe Ploiesti oil fields in Romania, which provided the Germanmilitary and industry with vital petroleum products.

Germany and Italymediated two territorial 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 toconvince Mussolini to stall the latter’s territorial ambitions in theBalkans.  Mussolini had long viewed thatin the German-Italian partition of Europe, southeastern Europeand the Balkans fell inside the Italian sphere of control.  Italian forces had invaded Albania in April 1939 (separate article), and after the fall of France in June 1940, Mussolini exerted pressureon Greece and Yugoslavia,and threatened them with invasion.  Atthat time, Hitler was able to convince Mussolini to suspend temporarily hisBalkan ambitions and instead focus Italian efforts on defeating the British in North Africa.

But on October 7, 1940, atthe request of Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu, German forces entered Romania to guard against a Soviet invasion; forHitler, it was to protect the vital Ploiestioil fields.  Mussolini was outraged bythis German action, as he believed that Romania fell inside his zone ofcontrol.  Also for Mussolini, Hitler’smove into Romaniawas only the latest in a long list of stunts that had been made withoutpreviously consulting him, and one that had to be reciprocated, or as Mussoliniput it, “to repay him [Hitler] with his own coin”.  Hitler had invaded Poland,Denmark, Norway, France,and the Low Countries without informingMussolini beforehand.

On October 28, 1940,Mussolini, without notifying Hitler, launched the invasion of Greece (previous article), despite insufficientmilitary preparation and against the counsel of his top generals.  The operation was a disaster, as the motivatedGreek Army threw back the Italians to Albania, and then launched its ownoffensive.  Within three months, theGreeks occupied a quarter of Albanian territory.  Greece had declared its neutralityat the start of World War II.  Butbecause of the Italian invasion, the Greek 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 attackon Greeceand likelihood of British intervention in the Balkans shocked Hitler, seeingthat his efforts to try and maintain peace in the region had failed.  His prized Ploesti oil fields and the wholesoutheastern 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 under codename OperationMarita.  In the final plan, German forcesin Bulgaria would open a second front in northeastern Greece and capture thewhole Greek northern coast, link up with the Italians in the northwest, and ifnecessary, push south toward Athens and seize the rest of Greece.  Operation Marita was scheduled for March1941; however, delays would cause the invasion to be launched one month later.

For the invasion of Greece, Hitler considered it necessary to bringinto the Axis fold the governments of Hungary,Romania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia, notwithstanding theirstated 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[1].  Three days later, Romania also joined the Pact, asRomanian leader Antonescu was motivated to do so by fear of a Sovietinvasion.  In succeeding months, largenumbers 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).

Bulgaria balked at joining the Pact and thus be openly associatedwith the Axis, and also 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 exertedstrong diplomatic pressure on Bulgariaand also 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, Bulgaria joined the TripartitePact, officially joining the Axis.  OnMarch 2, 1941, German forces involved in Operation Marita entered Bulgariaand proceeded south to the Bulgarian-Greek border.

To assure Turkey of Germanintentions, Hitler wrote to the Turkish government to explain that the Germanpresence in Bulgaria wasdirected 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, Greece was aware of German plans, and in theprevious months, held talks with Britainand Yugoslaviato formulate a common strategy against the anticipated German attack.  The dilemma for Greece was that by March1941, the greater part of its military forces were still tied down against theItalians in southern Albania, leaving insufficient units to defend the rest ofthe country’s northern border.  At therequest of the Greek government, Britainand its dominions, Australiaand New Zealand, sent 58,000troops to Greece; this forcearrived in March 1941 and deployed in Greece’s north central border.

With regards to Yugoslavia,Hitler exerted great effort to try and persuade the officially neutral butAllied-leaning government of Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisha Cvetkovic to jointhe Axis.  In a series of high-levelmeetings between the two countries which even included Hitler’s participation,the Germans offered sizable rewards to Yugoslaviafor joining the Axis, including Greek territory that would include Salonicawhich would give Yugoslaviaaccess to the Aegean Sea.  Talks went nowhere until Hitler met withPrince Paul on March 4, 1941, which led two weeks later to the Yugoslavgovernment agreeing to join the Axis.  OnMarch 25, 1941, Yugoslaviasigned the Tripartite Pact, motivated by a secret clause in the agreement thatcontained three stipulations: the Axis promised to respect Yugoslaviansovereignty and territorial integrity, the Yugoslavian military would not berequired to assist the Axis, and Yugoslavia would not be required toallow Axis forces to pass through its territory.  But two days later, March 27, the pro-AlliedSerbian military high command deposed the Yugoslav government and installeditself in a military regime, arrested Prince Paul, and named the 17-year oldminor crown prince as King Peter II.  Thenew military government assured Germanythat Yugoslaviawanted to maintain friendly ties between the two countries, albeit that itwould not ratify the Tripartite Pact. Anti-German mass demonstrations broke out in Belgrade and other Serbian cities.

As a result of the coup, afurious and humiliated Hitler believed that Yugoslaviahad taken 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.

[1] The Tripartite Pact was a mutual-defense treaty originally signedby Germany, Italy, and Japan on September 27, 1940.

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.

(Taken from Dirty War – Wars of the 20th Century – Vol. 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,and even the far-right.  In 1955,however, President Peron was deposed in a military coup.  Argentina then came under militaryrule, 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 Peron returnedto 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 leftistelements.  He cast his lot with hisright-wing supporters, however, and formed a government composed of thebureaucratic elite, 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’snew president.  Isabel’s politicalinexperience manifested, however, as she was incapable of confronting thecountry’s many problems.  High-rankinggovernment and military leaders interfered constantly in major government policydecisions, 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 squadscarried out 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 people becauseof 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, 1978 – Ogaden War: Ethiopia declares victory

The Ethiopian governmentnow faced the enticing prospect of advancing right into Somalia.  Ultimately, the Soviet Union prevailed uponthe Ethiopian Derg regime to stop at the border; on March 23, 1978, with muchof the fighting dying down, Ethiopiadeclared victory and the war over. Estimates of combat casualties are: over 6,000 killed and 10,000 woundedin the Ethiopian Army, and over 6,000 killed and 2,000 wounded in the SomaliArmy.  Some 400 Cubans and 30 Sovietsalso lost their lives.  A combined 50planes and over 300 tanks and armored vehicles also were destroyed.  Furthermore, some 750,000 Ogaden inhabitants(mainly ethnic Somali and Oromo) fled from their homes and ended up as refugeesin Somalia.

(Taken from Ogaden War – Wars of the 20th Century –Vol. 4)

Aftermath Forsome time after Ethiopiadeclared that the war was over, large sections of the Ogaden remained outsidethe control of the Ethiopian Army, as the WSLF remained a viable force strongenough to carry out guerilla warfare. With the assistance of Soviet military advisors, the Ethiopian Armylaunched counter-insurgency operations which by 1981 effectively had eliminatedthe guerilla threat.

For Somalia, the war was a crushingblow to its collective national psyche. The Somali military was broken: it had lost 30% of its troops, 40% ofits armored units, and 50% of its planes. But much greater was the impact on its irredentist ambitions – politicalturmoil in the aftermath of the war would render the quest for Greater Somaliavirtually unattainable.  The war broughtinstability to the Barre regime which, prior to the war, held absolute andunchallenged authority.  Just over a yearafter the war, in April 1978, a coup by disgruntled military officers tried tooverthrow President Barre, but failed. As a result, many coup plotters were executed by firing squad.  More ominously, the war left a long-lastingimpact on Somalia’scapacity to remain a unified country – the clan-based nature of Somali societyeventually would overcome nationalist collectivism, particularly with PresidentBarre’s continued authoritarianism and the growing dissatisfaction withclan-centered power politics, later manifested in the 1990s with the country’simplosion into a long and bitter civil war.

For the United States, the Ogaden War was ahumiliating, strategic defeat. Domestically, U.S. President Carter was criticized by the RepublicanParty for his government’s inconsistent and irresolute actions during the war,which damaged U.S.standing in the region and increased the victorious Soviets’ position.  In particular, the Soviets had gained whatthey saw was the more politically and militarily important Ethiopia over Somalia,while the United States lostEthiopia and gained Somalia.

In Cold War politics,soon after the Ogaden war, the United Statesonly reluctantly agreed to enter into a full military agreement with Somalia.  But in 1979, two events ended the decade-longperiod of détente (i.e. improved U.S.-Soviet diplomatic relations, and resurgedsuperpower rivalry): the overthrow of the pro-U.S. Shah of Iran in the IranianRevolution (February 1979) and more important, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan(December 1979).  Viewing the Afghanistaninvasion as a prelude to a Soviet master plan of expanding into and takingcontrol of the oil-rich Middle East, in January 1980, President Carteradvocated a hard-line policy (called the Carter Doctrine), which declared that“an attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf regionwill be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States ofAmerica, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, includingmilitary force”, as a statement of U.S. determination to defend the MiddleEast.

Relative to this newforeign policy, the United Statesestablished and strengthened existing military ties with its allies in theregion, including Oman, Sudan, Kenya,and Somalia.  With Somalia,the United States signed amilitary agreement with the Barre regime that provided military assistance tothe Somali Army in exchange for U.S.rights to use military bases in Somalia.  For the rest of the Cold War, Somalia remained a U.S. ally, with American personnelpresent mainly in the naval and air bases at Berbera.

March 22, 1945 – World War II: U.S. Third Army crosses the Rhine

On March 22, 1945, U.S. ThirdArmy also crossed the Rhine, at Oppenheim andsoon at two other points further north. General Patton, the U.S. 3rd Army commander, had rushed thecrossings with little preparations, purposely to deny his rival GeneralMontgomery the honor of being the first to force an opposed crossing of theRhine.  To the south, U.S. 7th Army crossed at Worms and the French atGermersheim.

(Taken from Defeat of Germany in the West, 1944-1945 – Wars of the 20th Century –Vol. 6)

On March 23, 1945, GeneralMontgomery and 21st Army Group launched Operation Plunder, theforcing of the Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and southof the Lippe River. As was typical with General Montgomery, the operation was launched afterthorough preparation and heavy concentration of forces.  The offensive was made with the largestairborne assault in history (Operation Varsity, involving 16,000 Allied paratroopers in 3,000 planes andgliders), and massive air and artillery bombardment of German positions beforethe amphibious crossing of the Rhine by theground forces.  The operation was a greatsuccess, overwhelming the German defenders. By late March 1945, the Allies had established a chain of bridgeheads onthe Rhine’s eastern bank and were threateningto break out into the German heartland.

On March 28, 1945, GeneralEisenhower announced that the capture of Berlinwas not anymore the main goal of the Western Allies, for the followingreasons.  First, the Soviet Red Armywould clearly reach Berlin first, as it waspoised at the Oder River just 30 miles (48 km) of the German capital,while the Western Allies at the Rhine were over 300 miles (480 km) from Berlin.  Second, the breakthrough in the south wouldallow the Western Allies, particularly the U.S.forces, to rapidly fan out into the heart of Germany, which would break Germanmorale and bring a quick end to the war. Third, SHAEF priority was now to capture the Ruhr region, Germany’s industrial heartland, to destroyGerman’s weapons production facilities and incapacitate Germany’s ability to continue thewar.

Under these revisedobjectives, the three Allied Army Groups advanced into Germany and then into Central Europe.  In the north, theBritish advanced toward Hamburg and the Elbe River,and met up with Soviet forces at Wismar in theBaltic coast on May 2, 1945, while the Canadians secured the Netherlands and northern Germancoast.  To the south of the British, onMarch 7, U.S. 9thand 1st Armies attacked the Ruhrregion in a pincers movement, leading to the last large-scale battle in theWestern Front.  On April 4, the pincersclosed, and U.S. forcessystematically destroyed the trapped German Army Group B inside the Ruhr pocket.  On April 21, the pocket was cleared and theAmericans captured over 300,000 German soldiers, this unexpected massive Germandefeat surprising the Allied High Command. As a result of this catastrophe, German Army Group B commander GeneralWalther Model committed suicide, while concerted German defense of the WesternFront effectively ceased.  Other elementsof U.S. 9th and 1stArmies had also advanced further east, and on April 25, 1945, contact was madebetween American and Soviet forces at the Elbe River.

Further to the south, GeneralPatton’s 3rd Army advanced into western Czechoslovakiaand southeast for eastern Bavaria and northernAustria.  U.S.6th Army Group (U.S.7th Army and the French Army) turned south into Bavaria,Austria, and northern Italy, with the isolated German garrisons at Heilbronn, Nuremberg, and Munich putting up somestiff resistance before surrendering.

On April 30, 1945, Hitlercommitted suicide, and three days later, Berlinfell to the Red Army.  As per Hitler’slast will and testament, governmental powers of the now crumbling German statepassed on to Admiral Karl Doenitz, head of the German Navy, who at once tooksteps to end the war.  On May 2, Germanforces in Italy and western Austria surrendered to the British, and two dayslater, the Wehrmacht in northwest Germany,the Netherlands and Denmark surrendered, also to the British, whileon May 5, German forces in Bavaria andsouthwest Germanysurrendered to the Americans.  At thistime, isolated German units facing the Soviets were desperately trying to fighttheir way to Western Allied lines, hoping to escape the punitive wrath of theRussians by surrendering to the Americans or British.

On May 7, 1945, GeneralAlfred Jodl, German Armed Forces Chief of Operations, signed the instrument ofunconditional surrender of all German forces at Allied headquarters in Reims, France.  A few hours later, Stalin expressed hisdisapproval of certain aspects of the surrender document, as well as itslocation, and on his insistence, another signing of Germany’s unconditionalsurrender was held in Berlin by General Wilhelm Keitel, chief of German ArmedForces, with particular attention placed on the Soviet contribution, and infront of General Zhukov, whose forces had captured the German capital.

Shortly thereafter, most ofthe remaining German units surrendered to nearby Allied commands, includingArmy Group Courland in the “Courland Pocket”, Second Army Heiligenbeil andDanzig beachheads, German units on the Hel Peninsula in the Vistula delta,Greek islands of Crete, Rhodes, and the Dodecanese, on Alderney Island in theEnglish Channel, and in Atlantic France at Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle, andLorient.

March 21, 1975 – The 3,000-year old monarchy of Ethiopia is abolished

On September 12, 1974, military officers belonging to theDerg organization overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in a bloodless coup,leading away the frail, 82-year old ex-monarch to imprisonment.

The Derg gained control of Ethiopia but did not abolish themonarchy outright, and announced that Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, HaileSelassie’s son who was currently abroad for medical treatment, was to succeedto the throne as the new “king” on his return to the country.  However, Prince Wossen rejected the offer andremained abroad.  The Derg then withdrewits offer and in March 1975, abolished the monarchy altogether, thus ending the3,000 year-old Ethiopian Empire.  (OnAugust 27, 1975, or nearly one year after his arrest, Haile Selassie passedaway under mysterious circumstances, with Derg stating that complications froma medical procedure had caused his death, while critics alleging that theex-monarch was murdered.)

(Taken from Ethiopian Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – Vol. 4)

The surreptitious means by which Derg, in a period of sixmonths, gained power by progressively dismantling the Ethiopian Empire andultimately deposing Haile Selassie, sometimes is referred to as the “creepingcoup” in contrast with most coups, which are sudden and swift.  On September 15, 1974, Derg formally tookcontrol of the government and renamed itself as the Provisional MilitaryAdministrative Council (although it would continue to be commonly known asDerg), a ruling military junta under General Aman Andom, a non-member Derg whomthe Derg appointed as its Chairman; General Aman thereby also assumed the roleof Ethiopia’s head of state.

At the outset, Derg had its political leanings embodied inits slogans “Ethiopia First” (i.e. nationalism) and “Democracy and Equality toall”.  Soon, however, it abolished theEthiopian parliament, suspended the constitution, and ruled by decree.  In early 1975, Derg launched a series ofbroad reforms that swept away the old conservative order and began thecountry’s transition to socialism.  InJanuary-February 1975, nearly all industries were nationalized.  In March, an agrarian reform programnationalized all farmlands (including those owned by the country’s largestlandowner, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church), reduced farm sizes, and abolishedtenancy farming.  Collectivizedagriculture was introduced and farmers were organized into peasant organizations.  (Land reform was fiercely resisted in suchprovinces as Gojjam, Wollo, and Tigray, where most farmers owned their landsand tenant farming was not widely practiced.) In July 1975, all urban lands, houses, and buildings were nationalizedand city residents were organized into urban dwellers’ associations, known as“kebeles”, which would play a major role in the coming civil war.  Despite the extensive nationalization, a fewprivate sector industries that were considered vital to the economy were leftuntouched, e.g. the retail and wholesale trade, and import and exportindustries.

In April 1976, Derg published the “Program for the NationalDemocratic Revolution”, which outlined the regime’s objectives of transformingEthiopia into a socialist state, with powers vested in the peasants, workers,petite bourgeoisie, and anti-feudal and anti-monarchic sectors.  An agency called the “Provisional Office forMass Organization Affairs” was established to work out the transformativeprocess toward socialism.

Ethiopian Civil War Thepolitical instability and power struggles that followed the Derg’s coming topower, the escalation of pre-existing separatist and Marxist insurgencies (aswell as the formation of new rebel movements), and the intervention of foreignplayers, notably Somalia as well as Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union andUnited States, all contributed to the multi-party, multi-faceted conflict knownas the Ethiopian Civil War.

The Derg government underwent power struggles during itsfirst years in office.  General Aman, thenon-Derg who had been named to head the government, immediately came intoconflict with Derg on three major policy issues: First, he wanted to reduce thesize of the 120-member Derg; Second, as an ethnic Eritrean, he was opposed tothe Derg’s use of force against the Eritrean insurgency; and Third, he opposedDerg’s plan to execute the imprisoned civilian and military officialsassociated with the former regime.  InNovember 1974, Derg leveled charges against General Aman and issued a warrantfor his arrest.  On November 23, 1974,General Aman was killed in a gunfight with government security personnel whohad been sent to arrest him.

Later that same day, in the event known alternatively as the“Massacre of the Sixty” or “Black Saturday”, Derg security units gathered agroup of imprisoned high-ranking ex-government and ex-military officials andexecuted them at the Kerchele Prison in Addis Ababa.  TheDerg’s stated reasons for the executions were that these officials had made“repeated plots … that might engulf the country into a bloodbath”, as well as“maladministration, hindering fair administration of justice, selling secretdocuments of the country to foreign agents and attempting to disrupt thepresent Ethiopian popular movement”. Among those executed included Haile Selassie’s grandson, other membersof the Ethiopian nobility, two ex-Prime Ministers, and seventeen army generals.

In late November 1974, Derg appointed General Tarafi Benti,also a non-Derg, to succeed as Derg Chairman and thus also became Ethiopia’shead of state.  At this time, MajorMengistu, Derg’s first vice-chairman, made attempts to expand his power base,which were countered by rival Derg factions allied with General Benti.  For a time, the Benti faction appeared tohave gained the upper hand, relegating Mengistu’s supporters outside keygovernment posts.  However, in a decisivearmed confrontation that took place between the two factions in early February1977, General Benti was killed, along with some of his supporters, and MajorMengistu emerged as the undisputed leader of Derg.  Mengistu became Derg Chairman and the head ofgovernment; thereafter, his authority would not be challenged and he would rulewith dictatorial powers.  In November1977, the last remaining threat to Mengistu’s authority was eliminated whenMajor Atnafu, Derg’s vice-chairman, was executed.

Early on after Derg come to power, a number ofMarxist-Leninist groups, the two most prominent being the Ethiopian People’sRevolutionary Party (EPRP) and All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (MEISON),competed for influence in Derg for the role of “vanguard party” which wouldprovide direction for the country’s transition to socialism.  EPRP opposed Derg’s military control and soonrailed at the government for not carrying out a genuine “people’s revolution”along traditional Marxist lines; this criticism infuriated the Derggovernment.  MEISON, however, wasagreeable to a gradual transitional period under a military regime, a positionthat found favor with Derg.  Thereafter,Derg established a working relationship with MEISON and appointed a number ofMEISON party members to government positions.

Armed conflict soon broke out between Derg and MEISON on theone hand, and EPRP on the other hand. Starting in February 1977, in what the Derg regime called “WhiteTerror”, EPRP militants assassinated Derg officials and MEISON members, andsabotaged government infrastructures. The Derg government responded with its own, and much more brutal,campaign of violence against the EPRP called “Red Terror”.  Local “kebeles” (urban residentialassociations) served as the government’s eyes and ears; suspected state enemieswere arrested, tortured, and executed by government-sanctioned local “kebeles”death squads.

By December 1978, the government’s sustained repression hadkilled or imprisoned thousands of EPRP militants and supporters and had forcedthe EPRP to leave the cities and transfer to AgamaProvince in northern Ethiopia where it reorganized as arural guerilla militia.  The Derg regimesoon also came to distrust MEISON, its political mentor, as it saw the latter’sincreasing autonomy as a potential threat. In mid-1977, the government launched a campaign to eliminate MEISON,arresting and executing the group’s members and purging MEISON officials fromgovernment positions.  In total, the RedTerror may have caused up to 250,000 – 500,000 deaths.

With the EPRP and MEISON eliminated by 1978, Derg merged anumber of smaller socialist groups into the “Union of EthiopianMarxist-Leninist Organization”, which became the new “vanguard party” tosucceed MEISON under strict government oversight.  Thereafter, Derg’s transitional process tosocialism met little internal opposition.

The country’s militarization alienated many of therevolution’s early supporters, including teachers, students, and workers, whilemany officials of the previous regime who had not yet been arrested fled intoexile abroad.  Meanwhile, the regionalethnic insurgencies increased in magnitude under the Derg government.  In Eritrea, the Eritrean People’s LiberationFront (EPLF) had succeeded the ELF has the leading separatist movement, whilein Tigray province, many armed groups also had organized, foremost of which wasthe Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), whose (initial) goal wassecession of Tigray from Ethiopia.  Boththe Eritrean and Tigrayan insurgencies achieved considerable success,ultimately seizing control of some 90% of Eritrea and Tigray, respectively,mainly in rural and hinterland areas (government troops retained control of themajor urban centers), and turning back repeated Ethiopian Army offensives.

March 20, 1951 – Korean War: General MacArthur is told that the United States would first offer peace to China and North Korea before allowing UN forces to advance into North Korea

On March 20, 1951, General Douglas MacArthur received acommunication from the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff stating that the U.S. government was ready to offer peace talkswith China and North Korea, before President Truman would allowUN forces to cross the 38th parallel into North Korea.  Instead, on March 24, General MacArthurannounced an ultimatum, demanding that Chinawithdraw its troops or face the consequences of UN forces advancing into North Korea.  In early April 1951, with General MacArthur’sapproval, UN forces crossed the 38th parallel, and by April 10, had advancedsome 10 miles north to a new line designated the “Kansas Line”.

On April 11, 1951, in a nationwide broadcast, PresidentTruman relieved General MacArthur of his command in Korea, stating that acrucial objective of U.S. government policy in the Korean conflict was to avoidan escalation of hostilities which potentially could trigger World War III, andthat “a number of events have made it evident that General MacArthur did notagree with that policy.”  GeneralMacArthur had openly advocated an escalation of the war, including directly attackingChina, involving forces fromNationalist China (Taiwan),and using nuclear weapons.

General Ridgway, Eighth U.S. Army commander, was named tosucceed as Supreme UN and U.S. Commander in Korea.  Unlike his predecessor who desired nothingshort of total victory, General Ridgway favored a limited war and accepted adivided Korea,and thus worked closely with the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Trumanadministration.

(Taken from Korean War – Wars of the 20th Century: Volume 5 – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Background DuringWorld War II, the Allied Powers met many times to decide the disposition ofJapanese territorial holdings after the Allies had achieved victory.  With regards to Korea,at the Cairo Conference held in November 1943, the United States, Britain,and Nationalist China agreed that “in due course, Korea shall become free andindependent”.  Then at the YaltaConference of February 1945, the Soviet Unionpromised to enter the war in the Asia-Pacific in two or three months after theEuropean theater of World War II ended.

Then with the Soviet Army invading northern Korea on August 9, 1945, the United States became concerned that the SovietUnion might well occupy the whole Korean Peninsula.  The U.S.government, acting on a hastily prepared U.S.military plan to divide Koreaat the 38th parallel, presented the proposal to the Soviet government, whichthe latter accepted.

The Soviet Army continued moving south and stopped at the38th parallel on August 16, 1945.  U.S. forces soon arrived in southern Koreaand advanced north, reaching the 38th parallel on September 8, 1945.  Then in official ceremonies, the U.S.and Soviet commands formally accepted the Japanese surrender in theirrespective zones of occupation. Thereafter, the American and Soviet commandsestablished military rule in their occupation zones.

As both the U.S. and Soviet governments wanted to reunifyKorea, in a conference in Moscow in December 1945, the Allied Powers agreed toform a four-power (United States, Soviet Union, Britain, and Nationalist China)five-year trusteeship over Korea.  Duringthe five-year period, a U.S.-Soviet Joint Commission would work out the processof forming a Korean government.  Butafter a series of meetings in 1946-1947, the Joint Commission failed to achieveanything.  In September 1947, the U.S.government referred the Korean question to the United Nations (UN).  The reasons for the U.S.-Soviet JointCommission’s failure to agree to a mutually acceptable Korean government arethree-fold and to some extent all interrelated: intense opposition by Koreansto the proposed U.S.-Soviet trusteeship; the struggle for power among thevarious ideology-based political factions; and most important, the emergingCold War confrontation between the United Statesand the Soviet Union.

Historically, Koreafor many centuries had been a politically and ethnically integrated state,although its independence often was interrupted by the invasions by itspowerful neighbors, Chinaand Japan.  Because of this protracted independence, inthe immediate post-World War II period, Koreans aspired for self-rule, andviewed the Allied trusteeship plan as an insult to their capacity to run theirown affairs.  However, at the same time, Korea’spolitical climate was anarchic, as different ideological persuasions, fromright-wing, left-wing, communist, and near-center political groups, clashedwith each other for political power.  Asa result of Japan’sannexation of Koreain 1910, many Korean nationalist resistance groups had emerged.  Among these nationalist groups were the unrecognized“Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea” led bypro-West, U.S.-based Syngman Rhee; and a communist-allied anti-Japanesepartisan militia led by Kim Il-sung. Both men would play major roles in the Korean War.  At the same time, tens of thousands ofKoreans took part in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the ChineseCivil War, joining and fighting either for Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalistforces, or for Mao Zedong’s Chinese Red Army.

The Korean anti-Japanese resistance movement, which operatedmainly out of Manchuria, was divided alongideological lines.  Some groups advocatedWestern-style capitalist democracy, while others espoused Sovietcommunism.  However, all were stronglyanti-Japanese, and launched attacks on Japanese forces in Manchuria,China, and Korea.

On their arrival in the southern Korean zone in September1948, U.S.forces imposed direct rule through the United States Army Military GovernmentIn Korea (USAMGIK).  Earlier, members ofthe Korean Communist Party in Seoul(the southern capital) had sought to fill the power vacuum left by the defeatedJapanese forces, and set up “local people’s committees” throughout the Koreanpeninsula.  Then two days before U.S.forces arrived, Korean communists of the “Central People’s Committee”proclaimed the “Korean People’s Republic”.

In October 1945, under the auspices of a U.S. military agent, Syngman Rhee, the formerpresident of the “Provisional Government of the Republicof Korea” arrived in Seoul. The USAMGIK refused to recognize the communist Korean People’s Republic,as well as the pro-West “Provisional Government”.  Instead, U.S. authorities wanted to form apolitical coalition of moderate rightist and leftist elements.  Thus, in December 1946, under U.S.sponsorship, moderate and right-wing politicians formed the South KoreanInterim Legislative Assembly.  However,this quasi-legislative body was opposed by the communists and other left-wingand right-wing groups.

In the wake of the U.S. authorities’ breaking up thecommunists’ “people’s committees” violence broke out in the southern zoneduring the last months of 1946.  Calledthe Autumn Uprising, the unrest was carried out by left-aligned workers,farmers, and students, leading to many deaths through killings, violent confrontations,strikes, etc.  Although in many cases,the violence resulted from non-political motives (such as targeting Japanesecollaborators or settling old scores), American authorities believed that theunrest was part of a communist plot. They therefore declared martial law in the southern zone.  Following the U.S. military’s crackdown onleftist activities, the communist militants went into hiding and launched anarmed insurgency in the southern zone, which would play a role in the comingwar.

Meanwhile in the northern zone, Soviet commanders initiallyworked to form a local administration under a coalition of nationalists,Marxists, and even Christian politicians. But in October 1945, Kim Il-sung, the Korean resistance leader who alsowas a Soviet Red Army officer, quickly became favored by Sovietauthorities.  In February 1946, the“Interim People’s Committee”, a transitional centralized government, was formedand led by Kim Il-sung who soon consolidated power (sidelining the nationalistsand Christian leaders), and nationalized industries, and launched centrallyplanned economic and reconstruction programs based on the Soviet-modelemphasizing heavy industry.

By 1947, the Cold War had begun: the Soviet Union tightenedits hold on the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, and the United Statesannounced a new foreign policy, the Truman Doctrine, aimed at stopping thespread of communism.  The United States also implemented the MarshallPlan, an aid program for Europe’s post-World War II reconstruction, which wascondemned by the Soviet Union as an American anti-communist plot aimed atdividing Europe.  As a result, Europebecame divided into the capitalist West and socialist East.

Reflecting these developments, in Koreaby mid-1945, the United States became resigned to the likelihoodthat the temporary military partition of the Korean peninsula at the 38thparallel would become a permanent division along ideological grounds.  In September 1947, with U.S. Congressrejecting a proposed aid package to Korea,the U.S.government turned over the Korean issue to the UN.  In November 1947, the United Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) affirmed Korea’ssovereignty and called for elections throughout the Korean peninsula, which wasto be overseen by a newly formed body, the United Nations Temporary Commissionon Korea (UNTCOK).

However, the Soviet government rejected the UNGA resolution,stating that the UN had no jurisdiction over the Korean issue, and preventedUNTCOK representatives from entering the Soviet-controlled northern zone.  As a result, in May 1948, elections were heldonly in the American-controlled southern zone, which even so, experiencedwidespread violence that caused some 600 deaths.  Elected was the Korean National Assembly, alegislative body.  Two months later (inJuly 1948), the Korean National Assembly ratified a new national constitutionwhich established a presidential form of government.  Syngman Rhee, whose party won the most numberof legislative seats, was proclaimed as (the first) president.  Then on August 15, 1948, southernersproclaimed the birth of the Republicof Korea (soon more commonly known as South Korea), ostensibly with the state’ssovereignty covering the whole Korean Peninsula.

A consequence of the South Korean elections was thedisplacement of the political moderates, because of their opposition to boththe elections and the division of Korea.  By contrast, the hard-line anti-communistSyngman Rhee was willing to allow the (temporary) partition of thepeninsula.  Subsequently, the United Statesmoved to support the Rhee regime, turning its back on the political moderateswhom USAMGIK had backed initially.

Meanwhile in the Soviet-controlled northern zone, on August25, 1948, parliamentary elections were held to the Supreme NationalAssembly.  Two weeks later (on September9, 1948), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (soon more commonly knownas North Korea) was proclaimed, with Kim Il-Sung as (its first) Prime Minister.  As with South Korea, North Korea declared its sovereignty over thewhole Korean peninsula

The formation of two opposing rival states in Korea,each determined to be the sole authority, now set the stage for the comingwar.  In December 1948, acting on areport by UNTCOK, the UN declared that the Republicof Korea (South Korea) was the legitimate Korean polity, a decision thatwas rejected by both the Soviet Union and North Korea.  Also in December 1948, the Soviet Unionwithdrew its forces from North Korea. In June 1949, the United Stateswithdrew its forces from South Korea. However, Soviet and American military advisors remained, in the Northand South, respectively.

In March 1949, on a visit to Moscow,Kim Il-sung asked Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, for military assistance fora North Korean planned invasion of South Korea.  Kim Il-sung explained that an invasion wouldbe successful, since most South Koreans opposed the Rhee regime, and that thecommunist insurgency in the south had sufficiently weakened the South Koreanmilitary.  Stalin did not give hisconsent, as the Soviet government currently was pressed by other Cold Warevents in Europe.

However, by early 1950, the Cold War situation had beenaltered dramatically.  In September 1949,the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, ending the United States’ monopoly on nuclearweapons.  In October 1949, Chinesecommunists, led by Mao Zedong, defeated the West-aligned Nationalist governmentof Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War, and proclaimed the People’s Republicof China, a socialist state.  Then in1950, Vietnamese communists (called Viet Minh) turned the First Indochina Warfrom an anti-colonial war against Franceinto a Cold War conflict involving the Soviet Union, China,and the United States.  In February 1950, the Soviet Union and China signed the Sino-Soviet Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance Treaty, where the Sovietgovernment would provide military and financial aid to China.

Furthermore, the Soviet government, long wanting to gaugeAmerican strategic designs in Asia, was encouraged by two recent developments:First, the U.S. government did not intervene in the Chinese Civil War; andsecond, in January 1949, the United States announced that South Korea was notpart of the U.S. “defensive perimeter” in Asia, and U.S. Congress rejected anaid package to South Korea.  To Stalin,the United Stateswas resigned to the whole northeast Asian mainland falling to communism.

In April 1950, the Soviet Union approved North Korea’s planto invade South Korea, but subject to two crucial conditions: Soviet forceswould not be involved in the fighting, and China’s People’s Liberation Army(PLA, i.e. the Chinese armed forces) must agree to intervene in the war ifnecessary.  In May 1950, in a meetingbetween Kim Il-sung and Mao Zedong, the Chinese leader expressed concern thatthe United States mightintervene if the North Koreans attacked South Korea.  In the end, Mao agreed to send Chinese forcesif North Koreawas invaded.  North Korea then hastened itsinvasion plan.

The North Korean armed forces (officially: the KoreanPeople’s Army), having been organized into its present form concurrent with therise of Kim Il-sung, had grown in strength with large Soviet support.  And in 1949-1950, with Kim Il-sungemphasizing a massive military buildup, by the eve of the invasion, NorthKorean forces boasted some 150,000–200,000 soldiers, 280 tanks, 200 artillerypieces, and 200 planes.

By contrast, the South Korean military (officially: Republic of Korea Armed Forces), which consistedlargely of police units, was unprepared for war.  The United States, not wanting a Korean war, held back fromdelivering weapons to South Korea,particularly since President Rhee had declared his intention to invade North Koreain order to reunify the peninsula.  By thetime of the North Korean invasion, South Korean weapons, which the United Stateshad limited to defensive strength, proved grossly inadequate.  South Korea had 100,000 soldiers(of whom only 65,000 were combat troops); it also had no tanks and possessedonly small-caliber artillery pieces and an assortment of liaison and traineraircraft.

North Koreahad envisioned its invasion as a concentration of forces along the Ongjin Peninsula.  North Korean forces would make a swiftassault on Seoulto surround and destroy the South Korean forces there.  Rhee’s government then would collapse,leading to the fall of South Korea. Then on June 21, 1950, four days before the scheduled invasion, KimIl-sung believed that South Korea had become aware of the invasion planand had fortified its defenses.  Herevised his plan for an offensive all across the 38th parallel.  In the months preceding the war, numerousborder skirmishes had begun breaking out between the two sides.