Daniel Orr's Blog, page 40

December 25, 1978 – Cambodian-Vietnamese War: Vietnam invades Cambodia

On December 25, 1978, Vietnamlaunched its invasion of Cambodia.  Following a diversionary attack on Kratie in Cambodia’s northwest region, the main attackforce of the 120,000-strong Vietnamese forces, supported by 20,000 KUFNSfighters and air, artillery, and armored units, launched a swift offensive intosouthern Cambodia through Takeo Province.  The Khmer Rouge had massed its forces in Svay Rieng Province, where the PolPot regime believed the Vietnamese would strike.  But Vietnamese forces outflanked Svay Rieng Province.

With the fall of Takeo, the road to Phnom Penh lay open.  Vietnamese tanks now sped down the flatcountryside to the capital.  On January7, 1979, the Vietnamese Army captured Phnom Penh, and overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime.  Pol Pot and his staff, together the bulk ofthe Khmer Rouge Army, made a strategic withdrawal to the jungle mountains ofwestern Cambodianear the Thai border, where they set up a resistance government.

(Taken from Cambodian-Vietnamese War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia – Vol. 5)

Background By thelate 1950s, the Cambodian communist movement experienced a resurgence that wasspurred by a new generation of young, Paris-education communists who hadreturned to the country.  In September1960, ICP veteran communists and the new batch of communists met and elected aCentral Committee, and renamed the KPRP (Kampuchean People’s RevolutionaryParty) as the Worker’s Party of Kampuchea (WPK).

In February 1963, following another government suppressionthat led to the arrest of communist leaders, the WPK soon came under thecontrol of the younger communists, led by Saloth Sar (later known as Pol Pot),who sidelined the veteran communists whom they viewed as pro-Vietnamese.  In September 1966, the WPK was renamed theKampuchean Communist Party (KCP).

The KCP and its members, as well its military wing, werecalled “Khmer Rouge” by the Sihanouk government.  In January 1968, the Khmer Rouge launched arevolutionary war against the Sihanouk regime, and after Sihanouk was overthrownin March 1970, against the new Cambodian government.  In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge triumphed andtook over political power in Cambodia,which it renamed Democratic Kampuchea.

During its revolutionary struggle, the Khmer Rouge obtainedsupport from North Vietnam,particularly through the North Vietnamese Army’s capturing large sections ofeastern Cambodia,which it later turned over to its Khmer Rouge allies.  But the Khmer Rouge held stronganti-Vietnamese sentiment, and deemed its alliance with North Vietnam only as a temporary expedient tocombat a common enemy – the United States in particular, Western capitalism ingeneral.  The Cambodian communists’hostility toward the Vietnamese resulted from the historical domination byVietnam of Cambodia during the pre-colonial period, and the perception thatmodern-day Vietnam wanted todominate the whole Indochina region.

Soon after coming to power, the Khmer Rouge launched one ofhistory’s most astounding social revolutions, forcibly emptying cities, towns,and all urban areas, and sending the entire Cambodian population to thecountryside to become peasant workers in agrarian communes under a feudal-typeforced labor system.  All lands andproperties were nationalized, banks, schools, hospitals, and most industries,were shut down.  Money wasabolished.  Government officials andmilitary officers of the previous regime, teachers, doctors, academics,businessmen, professionals, and all persons who had associated with the Western“imperialists”, or were deemed “capitalist” or “counter-revolutionary” werejailed, tortured, and executed.  Some 1½– 2½ million people, or 25% of the population, died under the Khmer Rougeregime (Cambodian Genocide, previous article).

In foreign relations, the Khmer Rouge government isolateditself from the international community, expelling all Western nationals,banning the entry of nearly all foreign media, and closing down all foreignembassies.  It did, however, later allowa number of foreign diplomatic missions (from communist countries) to reopen inPhnom Penh.  As well, it held a seat in the United Nations(UN).

The Khmer Rouge was fiercely nationalistic and xenophobic,and repressed ethnic minorities, including Chams, Chinese, Laotians, Thais, andespecially the Vietnamese.  Within a fewmonths, it had expelled the remaining 200,000 ethnic Vietnamese from thecountry, adding to the 300,000 Vietnamese who had been deported by the previousCambodian regime.

December 24, 1943 – World War II: General Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander

On December 24, 1943, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower wasnamed Supreme Allied Commander. Then in February 1944, he was appointed as theSupreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). He wascharged with the planning and execution of the Allied landings on the Normandy coast underOperation Overlord.

(Taken from Normandy Landings – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol. 6)

On June 6, 1944 (called D-Day), the Allied 21st Army Grouplaunched Operation Overlord, the invasion of the French coast of Normandy.  The operation was delayed by one day from itsearlier planned June 5 because of a storm in the English Channel.  A lull in theinclement weather encouraged General Dwight D. Eisenhower, over-all commanderof Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF), to proceed withthe invasion.  Meanwhile in northern France, the bad weather lulled Germanauthorities into believing that no invasion could take place, and on June 6, atthe time of the Normandylandings, many high-ranking German commanders were away from their posts andparticipating in military exercises elsewhere.

The invasion began with British and American parachute andglider units making overnight landings in Normandy on the flanks of the target area,and securing bridges, exit routes, and capturing other key objectives.  In the early morning of June 6, Allied airand naval units launched a massive bombardment of the Normandy coast and the immediate interior,which was followed by the landing of the ground forces.  With a massive supporting naval armada ofsome 7,000 vessels, including 1,200 warships, 4,100 transports, and manyhundreds of auxiliary vessels, Allied land forces ferried by amphibious landingcrafts hit the Normandy coast at five points: in the western sector, U.S.forces in the beaches codenamed Utah and Omaha, and in the eastern sector, theBritish at the beaches named Gold and Sword, and the Canadians at Juno.

The British and Canadians established beachheads aftermeeting only moderate German resistance, while U.S.forces at Utahbeach at the extreme right, facing the weakest resistance of all the sectors,also easily gained a foothold.  At Omaha beach, U.S. forces met fierce enemy fireand suffered heavy casualties from the entrenched defenders occupying the highground overlooking the beach.  TheGermans at Omaha Beachalso comprised the veteran 352nd Infantry Division, the strongest formation in Normandy.  Here, the Americans faced the real danger ofbeing thrown back into the sea.  Therapid landing of more troops and tanks, and more decisively, the bombardment ofGerman positions by Allied warships and planes allowed the Omaha situation to ease by mid-day.  By the end of D-Day (June 6), four of thefive beachheads were secured, while Omahawas still being cleared and consolidated, and also still subject to distantenemy artillery fire.

Although the Allies had cause for optimism, they had failedto achieve their pre-invasion objectives for Day 1, that of establishing abeachhead up to a distance of 6–10 miles (10–16 km) inland, of linking up thethree central beachheads, and capturing the towns of Caen, Saint-Lo, andBayeux.  In the following days, theAllies expanded their beachheads, and on June 9, 1944, two artificial harborstowed from England becameoperational in Normandy,one each in the American and British-Canadian sectors, where large numbers oftroops, equipment, and supplies were unloaded. The Allied plan was to fortify and then expand their positions fasterthan the Germans could send reinforcements to Normandy. On June 7, 1944, the British and Canadian sectors linked up, joined thenext day with the American-held Omaha beachhead,and on June 11, by the Utahsector – a continuous Allied frontline thus was established.  The delay in the link-up by the Utah sector resultedfrom the Germans receiving reinforcements there and mounting a determined standagainst American attempts to expand the beachhead.

On D-Day, the Allies landed some 130,000–156,000troops.  By June 11, this number hadgrown to 330,000 troops, including 150,000 vehicles and 570,000 tons ofsupplies.  By July 4, Allied troopslanded were one million, which now included French, Polish, Dutch, Belgian,Czech, and Greek units.  By then, theAllies held an overwhelming superiority in manpower and weapons over the Germans,and had achieved full mastery of the skies over France and water lanes along theFrench northern coast.

The Allied landings experienced a major, temporary setbackwhen a powerful storm struck the French coast on June 19–22, 1944 thatcompletely destroyed the artificial harbor in the American sector, as well assank or beached hundreds of Allied ships and destroyed some 140,000 tons ofsupplies.  As a result, the Allies scaledback or temporarily stopped all combat operations due to a shortage of ammunitionand supplies.

Operation Overlord caught the Germans completely bysurprise, which indicated the overwhelming success of the Allied deceptionstrategy under Operation Bodyguard. Allied planners believed that the sheer number of invasion shipssteaming across the English Channel wouldsurely be detected by the Germans within a few hours, and thus were astonishedthat German intelligence had failed miserably. Even after the landings had taken place and for many weeks thereafter,Hitler continued to believe that Normandy was merely a diversion for the mainattack at Pas de Calais, and refused to allow the armored reserves be broughtto Normandy, as requested by General Gerd von Rundstedt, commander of Germanforces in the West, who by late June 1944, was convinced that the Normandylandings were indeed the main Allied attack. German forces at Normandydid launch a number of sporadic counter-attacks, including a major thrust onD-Day that advanced to the coast at Lue-sur-Mer.  But lacking reinforcements and air andartillery support, these German counter-attacks were easily repulsed.

Following D-Day, the Allies rapidly extended their Normandy beachheads andcontinued to push back the Germans.  OnJune 7, 1944 (D-Day + 1), an advance by Canadian forces toward Caen was stoppeddecisively by the Germans north of the town. One week later, on June 13, an attack by British armor towardVillers-Bocage was repulsed with heavy losses by German panzers.  And in late June 1944, a British attempt tooutflank Caenalso failed to achieve a breakthrough. The Germans concentrated their forces in the western sector,particularly in the defense of Caen, since itscapture would allow an Allied breakout into the open plains of northwest France,where the sheer weight of Allied manpower and weapons would be overwhelming.

December 23, 1990 – Slovenian War of Independence: Slovenians vote in favor of independence

In September 1989, Slovenia’s regional government tookthe radical step of abolishing communism and adopting democracy as its officialideology.  Then in January 1990,delegates of Slovenia and Croatiawalked out of an assembly of Yugoslav communists over a disagreement withSerbian representatives regarding the future direction of the nationalgovernment.  From this moment on,Yugoslav unity was shattered and the end of Yugoslavia became imminent.  A pro-independence coalition government wasestablished in Sloveniafollowing democratic, multi-party elections in March 1990.  Then in a general referendum held nine monthslater, 88% of Slovenes voted for independence. On June 25, 1991, Slovenia(together with Croatia)declared independence.

(Taken from Slovenian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Vol. 2)

The Slovenian War of Independence wasthe first in a series of wars during the period of the breakup of Yugoslavia (previousarticle), when Yugoslav constituent republics seceded and becameindependent countries (Map 15 shows Yugoslavia and its subordinatepolitical entities).

Background Geographically, Slovenia wasthe most westerly located republic of Yugoslavia, and had through thecenturies, assimilated many Western European influences from neighboring Italyand Austria into its Slavic culture.  Andunlike the other Yugoslav republics, Slovenia was nearly ethnicallyhomogeneous, with Slovenes comprising 90% of the population.

As communist ideology tottered in theSoviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe during the second half of the1980s, Yugoslavia’sapparent Slavic unity began to fragment as nationalistic and democratic ideasseeped into its many ethnic groups. Economic factors also played into the independence aspirations in Slovenia and Croatia, the two most prosperous Yugoslavrepublics that contributed a fairly large share to the national economy andalso subsidized the less affluent regions of the country.  In the late 1980s, the constituent assembliesof the Yugoslav republics called on the national government to decentralize andallow greater regional autonomy.

In September 1989, Slovenia’s regional government tookthe radical step of abolishing communism and adopting democracy as its officialideology.  Then in January 1990,delegates of Slovenia and Croatiawalked out of an assembly of Yugoslav communists over a disagreement withSerbian representatives regarding the future direction of the nationalgovernment.  From this moment on,Yugoslav unity was shattered and the end of Yugoslavia became imminent.  A pro-independence coalition government wasestablished in Sloveniafollowing democratic, multi-party elections in March 1990.  Then in a general referendum held nine monthslater, 88% of Slovenes voted for independence. On June 25, 1991, Slovenia(together with Croatia)declared independence.

Because of the high probability thatthe Yugoslav Army would oppose the secession, the Slovenian government preparedcontingency plans many months before declaring independence.  For instance, Slovenia formed a small regulararmy from its police and local defense units. Weapons and ammunitions stockpiles in Slovenia were seized; these wereaugmented with arms purchases from foreign sources.

Nevertheless, at the start of the war,Slovenia’swar arsenal consisted mainly of infantry weapons, bolstered somewhat with asmall number of portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. Slovenia had no artillery pieces,battle tanks, or warplanes.  And becausethe Yugoslav Army, the fourth largest in Europe,would be overwhelming in battle, the Slovenians worked out in great detail astrategy for guerilla action.

When Slovenia declared independence on June25, this was one day earlier than its previous announced date of June 26.  This was done to mislead the Yugoslav Army,which was prepared to attack on June 26.

Immediately after declaringindependence, Slovenian forces took control of the airport near Ljubljana, Slovenia’scapital, and the border crossings with Austria,Hungary, Italy, and Croatia.  No opposition was encountered in theseoperations because the personnel manning these stations were Slovenes, who infact, promptly joined the ranks of the Slovenian Army.

Meanwhile, in Belgrade (in Serbia),the Yugoslav Armed Forces high command ordered limited military action in Sloveniain the belief that small-scale intervention would encounter little or noresistance.  And since the Yugoslav Armydid not commit significant forces in Slovenia, the resulting Slovenian War ofIndependence was brief (lasting only ten days, therefore its more common name,“The Ten-Day War”), and consisted of skirmishes and small-scale battles.

December 22, 1948 – 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Israeli forces attack Egyptian units in southern Negev

On December 22, 1948, Israeli forces attacked Egyptian Armyunits positioned in the southern Negev,driving them across the Egyptian border after five days of fighting.  The Israelis then crossed into the Sinai Peninsula and advanced toward al-Arish to trap theEgyptian Army.  Britain and the United States exerted pressure on Israel, forcing the latter towithdraw its forces from the Sinai.

On January 3, 1949, the Israeli Army surrounded the Egyptianforces inside the Gaza Strip in southwestern Palestine. Three days later, Egyptagreed to a ceasefire, which soon came into effect.  The 1948 Arab-Israeli War was over.  In the following months, Israel signed separate armistices with Egypt, Lebanon,Jordan and Syria.

At war’s end, Israelheld 78% of Palestine,22% more than was allotted to the Jews in the original UN partition plan.  Israel’sterritories comprised the whole Galilee and JezreelValley in the north, the whole Negevin the south, the coastal plains, and West Jerusalem.  Jordanacquired the West Bank, while Egyptgained the Gaza Strip.  No PalestinianArab state was formed.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the 1947-1948 CivilWar in Palestine (previous article) that preceded it, over 700,000 Palestinian Arabsfled from their homes, with most of them eventually settling in the West Bank,Gaza Strip, and southern Lebanon(Map 11).  About 10,000 Palestinian Jewsalso were displaced by the conflict. Furthermore, as a consequence of these wars, tens of thousands of Jewsleft or were forced to leave from many Arab countries.  Most of these Jewish refugees settled in Israel.

(Taken from 1948 Arab-Israeli War – Wars of the 20th Century – Vol. 1)

On May 14, 1948, the Palestinian Jews established the Stateof Israel.  The next day, the infantnation was attacked by the armies of Egypt,Jordan, Syria, Lebanon,and Iraq,assisted by volunteer fighters from other Arab states.  The Arabs’ stated reasons for the invasionwere to stop the violence and to restore law and order in Palestine, and to allow the Palestinianpeople to form a government of their choice. Also cited by the Arabs was the displacement of Palestinian Arabs causedby Jewish aggression. As the nation of Israel was by now in existence, theresulting 1948 Arab-Israeli War was one fought by sovereign states.

From the east, Jordanian and Iraqi forces crossed the JordanRiver into Palestine.  The Jordanians advanced along two columns forJerusalem,which they surrounded on May 17, 1948. After heavy house-to-house fighting, the Jewish defenders of the citywere forced to surrender when they ran low on food and ammunition.  The Jordanians captured Jerusalemand then occupied Latrun, a strategic outpost overlooking the highway that ledto Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the Iraqis advanced to the vicinity surroundingthe Arab-populated city of Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkaran.  On May 25, they captured Geulim, Kfar Vona,and Ein Vered before being stopped at Natanya, their ultimate objective on thewestern coast.  Natanya’s fall would havedivided Israel’scoastal areas in two.

A strong Israeli counterattack on Jenin forced the Iraqis topull back and defend the city.  TheIraqis repulsed the Israeli attack.  Now,however, they were concerned with making further advances because of the riskof being cut off from the rear.  TheIraqis, therefore, switched to a defensive position, which they maintained forthe rest of the war.

From the northeast, Syrian forces began their campaign byadvancing toward the south side of the Sea of Galilee.  They captured some Israeli villages beforebeing defeated at Degania.  The Syrianssoon withdrew across the border in order to regroup.  On June 6, they launched another attack, thistime in northern Galilee, where they capturedMishmar Hayarden.  Israeli Armyreinforcements soon arrived in northern Palestine,stopping further Syrian advances.

From the south, the Egyptian Army, which was the largestamong the invading forces, entered Palestinethrough the Sinai Desert.  The Egyptians then advanced through southern Palestine on two fronts: one along the coastal road forTel-Aviv, and another through the central Negev for Jerusalem.

On June 11, 1948, the United Nations (UN) imposed a truce,which lasted for 28 days until July 8.  AUN panel arrived in Palestineto work out a deal among the warring sides. The UN effort, however, failed to bring about a peace agreement.

By the end of the first weeks of the war, the Israeli Armyhad stopped the supposed Arab juggernaut that the Israelis had feared wouldsimply roll in and annihilate their fledging nation.  Although the fighting essentially had endedin a stalemate, Israeli morale was bolstered considerably, as many Israelivillages had been saved by sheer determination alone.  Local militias had thrown back entire Arabregular army units.

Earlier on May 26, Israeli authorities had merged thevarious small militias and a large Jewish paramilitary into a single IsraeliDefense Force, the country’s regular armed forces.  Mandatory conscription into the militaryservice was imposed, enabling Israelto double the size of its forces from 30,000 to 60,000 soldiers.  Despite the UN arms embargo, the Israeligovernment was able to purchase large quantities of weapons and militaryequipment, including heavy firearms, artillery pieces, battle tanks, andwarplanes.

The Arabs were handicapped seriously by the UN armsrestriction, as the Western countries that supplied much of the Arabs’ weaponsadhered to the embargo.  Consequently,Arab soldiers experienced ammunition shortages during the fighting, forcing theArab armies to switch from offensive to defensive positions.  Furthermore, Arab reinforcements simply couldnot match in numbers, zeal, and determination the new Israeli conscriptsarriving at the front lines.  And just asimportant, the war revealed the efficiency, preparedness, and motivation of theIsraeli Army in stark contrast to the inefficiency, disunity, and inexperienceof the Arab forces.

During the truce, the UN offered a new partition plan, whichwas rejected by the warring sides. Fighting restarted on July 8, one day before the end of the truce.  On July 9, Israeli Army units in the centerlaunched an offensive aimed at opening a corridor from Tel-Aviv to eastern Palestine, in order to lift the siege on Jerusalem. The Israelis captured Lydda and Ramle, two Arab strongholds nearTel-Aviv, forcing thousands of Arab civilians to flee from their homes toescape the fighting.  The Israelisreached Latrun, just outside Jerusalem,where they failed to break the solid Jordanian defenses, despite makingrepeated assaults using battle tanks and heavy armored vehicles.  The Israelis also failed to break into theOld City of Jerusalem, and eventually were forced to withdraw.

On July 16, however, a powerful Israeli offensive innorthern Palestine captured Nazarethand the whole region of lower Galilee extending from Haifain the coastal west to the Sea of Galilee inthe east.  Further north, the Syrian Armycontinued to hold Mishmar Hayarden after stopping an Israeli attempt to takethe town.

In southern Palestine,the Egyptian offensives in Negba (July 12), Gal (July 14), and Be-erot Yitzhakwere thrown back by the Israeli Army, with disproportionately high Egyptiancasualties.  On July 18, the UN imposed asecond truce, this time of no specified duration.

The truce lasted nearly three months, when on October 15,fighting broke out once more.  During thetruce, relative calm prevailed in Palestinedespite high tensions and the occasional outbreaks of small-scalefighting.  The UN also proposed newchanges to the partition plan which, however, were rejected once more by thewarring sides.

December 21, 1949 – Indonesian War of Independence: The Netherlands recognizes Indonesia’a sovereignty

On July 6, 1949, upon their release, Indonesian nationalistleaders Sukarno and Hatta restored the revolutionary government in Yogyakarta, and one week later, they ratified theRoem-van Roijen Agreement.  In mid-August1949, a ceasefire came into effect.  In aseries of meetings, called the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference held atThe Hague, Netherlands in August-November 1949, the Netherlands, the IndonesianRepublic, and the Federal Consultative Assembly (Dutch: Bijeenkomst voorFederaal Overleg, which represented the six states and nine autonomousterritories created by the Dutch under USI) agreed that USI be grantedindependence under the Indonesian government, with Sukarno and Hatta as itsPresident and Vice-President, respectively. The Netherlandsand USI would form a loose association called the Netherlands-Indonesian Unionunder the Dutch monarchy.  A stipulationwas that the Dutch military would leave USI, with security functions to beturned over to the Indonesian Armed Forces. Two other difficult issues were settled: 1. the responsibility forpaying off the Dutch East Indies debt totaling 4.3 billion guilders was to beborne by USI, and 2. that West New Guinea, which formed part of the Dutch EastIndies and claimed by the Indonesian Republic as belonging to USI by way ofstate succession, was agreed to remain with the Netherlands until futurenegotiations regarding its future could be held within one year after USI’sindependence.  On December 27, 1949, the Netherlandsformally relinquished authority over USI, which also became a fully sovereign,independent state.

Aftermath of theIndonesian War of Independence Indonesia’sindependence war caused some 50,000-100,000 Indonesian deaths.  The Dutch military lost over 5,000 soldierskilled.  Some 1,200 British soldiers(mainly British Indians) also were killed in action.  Several million people were displaced.  Also in the 1950s, a diaspora of took place,with some 300,000 Dutch nationals leaving Indonesiafor the Netherlands.

(Taken from Indonesian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol. 5)

Sukarno’s proclamation of Indonesia’s independence de factoproduced a state of war with the Allied powers, which were determined to gaincontrol of the territory and reinstate the pre-war Dutch government.  However, one month would pass before theAllied forces would arrive.  Meanwhile,the Japanese East Indies command, awaiting the arrival of the Allies torepatriate Japanese forces back to Japan, was ordered by the Alliedhigh command to stand down and carry out policing duties to maintain law andorder in the islands.  The Japanesestance toward the Indonesian Republic varied:disinterested Japanese commanders withdrew their units to avoid confrontationwith Indonesian forces, while those sympathetic to or supportive of therevolution provided weapons to Indonesians, or allowed areas to be occupied byIndonesians.  However, other Japanesecommanders complied with the Allied orders and fought the Indonesianrevolutionaries, thus becoming involved in the independence war.

In the chaotic period immediately after Indonesia’sindependence and continuing for several months, widespread violence and anarchyprevailed (this period is known as “Bersiap”, an Indonesian word meaning “beprepared”), with armed bands called “Pemuda” (Indonesian meaning “youth”)carrying out murders, robberies, abductions, and other criminal acts againstgroups associated with the Dutch regime, i.e. local nobilities, civilian leaders,Christians such as Menadonese and Ambones, ethnic Chinese, Europeans, andIndo-Europeans.  Other armed bands werecomposed of local communists or Islamists, who carried out attacks for the samereasons.  Christian and nobility-alignedmilitias also were organized, which led to clashes between pro-Dutch andpro-Indonesian armed groups.  Theseso-called “social revolutions” by anti-Dutch militias, which occurred mainly inJava and Sumatra, were motivated by variousreasons, including political, economic, religious, social, and ethniccauses.  Subsequently when the Indonesiangovernment began to exert greater control, the number of violent incidentsfell, and Bersiap soon came to an end. The number of fatalities during the Bersiap period runs into the tens ofthousands, including some 3,600 identified and 20,000 missing Indo-Europeans.

The first major clashes of the war occurred in late August1945, when Indonesian revolutionary forces clashed with Japanese Army units,when the latter tried to regain previously vacated areas.  The Japanese would be involved in the earlystages of Indonesia’sindependence war, but were repatriated to Japan by the end of 1946.

In mid-September 1945, the first Allied forces consisting ofAustralian units arrived in the eastern regions of Indonesia (where revolutionaryactivity was minimal), peacefully taking over authority from the commander ofthe Japanese naval forces there.  Alliedcontrol also was established in Sulawesi, withthe provincial revolutionary government offering no resistance.  These areas were then returned to Dutchcolonial control.

In late September 1945, British forces also arrived in theislands, the following month taking control of key areas in Sumatra, including Medan, Padang, and Palembang, and in Java.  The British also occupied Jakarta(then still known, until 1949, as Batavia), withSukarno and his government moving the Republic’s capital to Yogyakarta in Central Java.  InOctober 1945, Japanese forces also regained control of Bandungand Semarangfor the Allies, which they turned over to the British. In Semarang, the intense fighting claimed thelives of some 500 Japanese and 2,000 Indonesian soldiers.

December 20, 1989 – The United States invade Panama to depose Manuel Noriega

In the early morning of December 20, 1989, the United States invaded Panama.  Approval for the invasion was given onDecember 17, 1989, which had two major military objectives: to defeat thePanamanian forces and to capture General Noriega.  In a nationwide address following the startof the invasion, President Bush gave the following reasons for ordering theinvasion: to protect U.S. citizens in Panama, to re-establish democracy anddefend human rights in Panama, to combat drug trafficking, and to uphold theTorrijos-Carter Treaties.  Some 300 U.S. planes carried out attacks on many targetsacross Panama,including airfields, army bases, and military-vital public infrastructures.

U.S.ground forces, numbering about 28,000 soldiers, advanced from their bases onthe Pacific side of the Canal Zone for Panama City,as well as from the Caribbean end of the Canal for Colon. Paratroopers also were airdropped at Tocumen, seizing Torrijosairport.  Smaller-scale operations werecarried out in Panamanian military and civilian targets in the Canal Zone interior. In Panama City, U.S. air attacks concentrated onthe Panamanian Army’s headquarters, which was located in the densely populatedneighborhood of El Chorillo.  As aresult, many civilians were killed and a large fire broke out, burning down thewhole neighborhood and leaving thousands of residents without homes.

The Panamanian forces were caught by surprise and failed tomount effective opposition, except for small pockets of resistance.  The speed of the U.S. ground offensives also avertedprolonged urban combat and thus greater civilian casualties.  By December 24, four days into the invasion,large-scale fighting had ended (although skirmishes continued to break out forseveral weeks more), and General Noriega had taken refuge inside the ApostolicNunciature (Vatican Embassy) in Panama City.  U. S.forces surrounded and blockaded the Embassy’s perimeter but did not enter thebuilding, since doing so to make an arrest was a violation of internationallaw.  The Vaticaninitially was opposed to handing over General Noriega to the United States, as U.S. authorities requested, andinstead tried to convince the Panamanian leader to surrender voluntarily.

U.S.authorities exerted diplomatic and psychological pressures, which included tanksrumbling noisily in the streets, helicopters hovering overhead, and 24-hourloud playing of rock music outside the Embassy building.  Strong persuasion exerted by Monsignor JoseSebastian Laboa, the Papal Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador) to Panama, prevailed upon General Noreiga tosurrender to the U.S.military on January 3, 1990.  Noriega wasturned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) authorities, whotransported him to the United States to face trial.

(Taken from United States Invasion of Panama – Wars of the 20th Century – 26 Wars in the Americas and the Caribbean: Vol. 7)

Background Sinceits independence, Panamahad been ruled by a succession of civilian governments.  In 1968, military officers overthrew thegovernment.  General Torrijos, the coup’sleader, established a de facto military regime that ruled behind a façade of acivilian government that was subservient to the military.  Then in December 1983, the Panamanian armedforces came under the control of General Manuel Noriega who increased themilitary’s stranglehold over the country. In general elections held in May 1984, General Noriega manipulated theresults of the presidential race to allow his chosen candidate to win.

In the early 1980s, Central Americabecame a major battleground of the Cold War. In search of support, the United States was willing to ignoreGeneral Noriega’s abuses of power and have the Panamanian strongman, a staunchanti-communist, as an ally.  GeneralNoriega already had a long-standing relationship with the United States, havingbeen an asset and informant of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since theearly 1960s, and had even mediated for the U.S. government with Cuban leaderFidel Castro for the release of American prisoners in Cuba.

General Noriega transformed Panamainto a center for smuggling cocaine and other narcotics from Colombia to the United States and othercountries.  He masterminded and led theseoperations and later asserted that the CIA and other U.S. government agencies knew andeven supported these activities. Meanwhile in the United States, President Ronald Reagan was himself under pressure from an investigationby the U.S. Congress for possible involvement in the “Iran-Contra Affair”, acovert operation where the U.S. government sold weapons to Iran (for therelease of American hostages), and the proceeds were then used to fund pro-U.S.“contra” rebels in Nicaragua.

Soon, relations between General Noriega and the U.S.government deteriorated.  Then as morereports from Panamaindicated General Noriega’s involvement in the drug trade, President Regan putpressure on the Panamanian leader, even urging him to step down fromoffice.  President Reagan also wasalarmed at the increasing military repression and political instability in Panama,generated by growing opposition to General Noriega’s rule and governmentcorruption.  General Noriega particularlywas condemned by the local opposition following the murder of Hugo Spadafora, agovernment critic who had returned to Panama to present evidence of themilitary leader’s involvement in the drug trade and other crimes.  In response to public opposition to his rule,the Panamanian strongman released his forces, resulting in violentconfrontations where many civilians were beaten up in street protests.

In February 1988, grand juries in Miamiand Floridafiled drug smuggling, money laundering, and racketeering lawsuits againstGeneral Noriega.  Panamanian assets inthe United States werefrozen, which severely affected Panamathat already was reeling as a result of the United States suspension ofmilitary aid a year earlier.  In March1988, a coup by security officers failed to overthrow General Noriega.President Reagan also began to explore more forceful ways to depose thePanamanian leader, but preferably to be carried out by Panamanians, andsupported or led by the Panamanian military.

In January 1989, George H.W. Bush succeeded as the new U.S.President.  By then, the Cold War wasdrawing to a close – at the end of 1989, Eastern Bloc countries had shed offcommunism for democracy, while the Soviet Unionitself was on the verge of collapse.  InCentral America, the ongoing Cold War conflicts also were winding down inresponse to the improving global security and political climates, and the United Statesfelt less the need to continue funding its allies in the region.  For the United States, General Noriega’smany faults, which long had been set aside because of his strong anti-communistposition, now became too glaring to ignore.

Shortly after taking office, President Bush announced thatone of his government’s domestic priorities was to tackle the growing drugproblem with a so-called “war on drugs’, aimed at expanding a similar anti-drugcampaign that had been in force since the previous administration.  A decade earlier, Bush had served as CIADirector (in 1976) and had dealings with Noriega, who was then Panama’sintelligence chief and whose services would become vital for the United Statesin the heightened Cold War situation in Central America from the late 1970sthrough most of the 1980s.

Now as U.S.head of state, President Bush sought to distance himself from General Noriega,and made a determined effort to remove the Panamanian leader from power.  In May 1989, Panama held general elections.  The U.S. government openly supportedthe main opposition party, hoping that a new government would remove GeneralNoriega as head of the newly created Panama Defense Forces (the Panamanianmilitary and police forces).  As electionresults showed a clear defeat for the government’s hand-picked presidentialcandidate, General Noriega stopped the tabulations and voided the elections,declaring that meddling by the United States (by supporting the opposition) hadundermined the election’s legitimacy.  Panama’selectoral tribunal concurred, declaring that widespread fraud had taken place,tarnishing the results.  However,international poll observers, which included former U.S. President Carter,concluded that the elections generally were free and fair, and that theopposition’s wide lead in the results genuinely reflected the electorate’schoice.  Mass rallies and demonstrationsbroke out in Panama City;General Noriega responded by sending his paramilitary, called the DignityBattalion, that attacked and broke up the crowds.  In the melee, leading opposition candidateswere beaten up, scenes of which were caught by the television news media andaired in the United States.  Thereafter, the Organization of AmericanStates (OAS) condemned the violence and joined the United States in calling forGeneral Noriega to resign which, however, was rejected by the Panamanianleader.

In October 1989, with partial U.S. support, a group of Panamanianmilitary officers tried to overthrow General Noriega in a coup.  Loyal government forces, however, succeededin rescuing the Panamanian leader, leading to the uprising’s collapse andexecution of the coup plotters.  In theaftermath, President Bush was criticized for what was perceived as hishalf-hearted support for the coup.

Meanwhile, as tensions rose between the United States and Panama,the U.S. military sent moretroops and weapons to American bases in the Canal Zone.  The United States was preparing for a full invasion of Panama,aimed at overthrowing General Noriega. Throughout the summer of 1989, U.S. forces carried out continuousmilitary exercises and maneuvers which Panamanians condemned as a deliberateattempt at provoking an incident to start a war.  The increased U.S.military activity so provoked General Noriega that on December 15, 1989, whileaddressing the Panamanian National Assembly, he declared that a state of warexisted between Panama andthe United States.  At the same gathering, the country’s civilianauthority was abolished when the legislators conferred on General Noriega thetitle of “líder máximo”, or maximum leader, i.e. absolute dictator.

As a result of General Noriega’s actions, President Bushbelieved that American citizens living in Panamaand the Panama Canal were in danger.  In the following days, a number of incidentsbetween Panamanian and U.S.forces would precipitate the United States to start the invasion.  In one of these incidents, a U.S. Marine waskilled when Panamanian security forces manning a roadblock fired on an Americanvehicle, while another U.S.officer and his wife were arrested, detained, and harassed by Panamaniansoldiers.

December 19, 1946 – First Indochina War: French forces and the Viet Minh clash at the Battle of Hanoi

When French authorities demanded that the DRV governmentrelinquish control of Hanoi,on December 19, 1946, some 30,000 Viet Minh fighters attacked the French, andattempted to block access to the main French garrison in the city.  French authorities, who were informed of theplan, foiled the Viet Minh.  But thelatter detonated explosives that shut down Hanoi’s power plant, cutting off electricityand plunging the city into darkness.

In the ensuing two-month long Battle of Hanoi, French andViet Minh forces engaged in intense house-to-house fighting, but Frenchmilitary superiority, especially the use of heavy artillery and air firepower,forced Viet Minh forces to evacuate the city and retreat to their traditionalstrongholds in the Viet Bac region in the far north.  French forces then gained control of Hanoi.  By late 1946, the Viet Minh still controlledthe areas around Haiphong, Hue, and Nam Dinh, but in March 1947, Frenchoperations cleared the roads to these major urban areas.

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

Early in the war, the Viet Minh suffered from a serious lackof weapons, and thus resorted to guerilla warfare.  But they took advantage of Vietnam’s thickly covered junglemountains for refuge and concealment. Jungles and mountains comprised 40% of Vietnam’s territory, an invaluableasset for the Viet Minh, but also a formidable obstacle which French forceswere unable to overcome in the war. Throughout the war, while the French controlled the major urban areas,Viet Minh forces operated in much of the hinterland regions, where theyestablished their influence, and gained the support of the residents in remotevillages and settlements.

The French military in Indochinawas organized as the French Far-East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO; French: CorpsExpéditionnaire Français en Extrême-Orient). At its peak, CEFEO had a total strength of 200,000 troops, and consistedmostly of pro-French Vietnamese soldiers. Small contingents also were brought in from French territories in Africa, as well as from the French Foreign Legion.  Early on, CEFEO suffered from inadequate orobsolete weapons, which nonetheless had more firepower than those used by theViet Minh.

In October 1947, French authorities launched Operation Leain Bac CanProvince (located near the Chineseborder) with three major aims: to stop the flow of weapons from Chinato the Viet Minh, destroy the Viet Minh organization, and capture the Viet Minhleadership.  Some 1,000 French commandoswere air-dropped in Viet Minh-held territory, while 15,000 ground troops weretasked to block Viet Minh escape routes. The offensive inflicted some 9,000 Viet Minh casualties, but the Frenchalso suffered 1,000 killed and 3,000 wounded; large quantities of Viet Minhstores and equipment also were seized. But Ho Chi Minh and his commanders, as well as the bulk of the VietMinh, slipped past the French cordon.

A second French offensive (Operation Ceinture) in November1947 near Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang failed to battle the Viet Minh, whichagain escaped.  The Viet Minh implementedthe policy of carrying out guerilla attacks in scattered areas in order toover-extend French forces and defeat the French in a protected war ofattrition.  The French soon experienceddwindling military resources and were unable to launch more large-scaleattacks, while the Viet Minh, by late 1947, had grown to some 250,000 fighters,and occupied areas that the French had abandoned.

By 1948, Francerealized that it could not anymore restore colonial rule in Indochina.  French authorities therefore opened talkswith former Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai regarding establishing a pro-FrenchVietnamese state, which would accomplish the political objective of underminingthe Viet Minh and its DRV government. Negotiations were successful, with the French government and Bao Daisigning two agreements: the First Hai Long Bay Agreement (December 1947), whichstipulated Vietnam’s“independence within the French Union”, and the Second Hai Long Bay Agreement(June 1948), which provided for a clearer stipulation of Vietnam’s independence. In bothagreements, France wouldcontinue to administer Vietnam’sforeign policy decisions and external security functions.  As a result of the two agreements, Bao Daiformed a new government in Saigon.  However, within a short period, he abdicatedand left Vietnam for Europe in frustration at not being granted genuinepolitical power.

The French renegotiated with Bao Dai, which led to thesigning in March 1949 of the Elysee Agreement, which stipulated the formationof the State of Vietnam comprising Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina.  However, the agreement also allowed France to continue to control Vietnam’s foreign policy andexternal security functions.  Bao Daithen returned to Vietnamand formed a new government.  UnderFrench oversight, in July 1949, the “independent” Vietnamese state formed itsown armed forces (the Vietnamese National Army), which thereafter foughtalongside CEFEO.

During the first years of the war, the major world powerssaw the conflict merely as an internal (i.e. colonial) matter of the French, oran independence struggle of the Vietnamese people.  In March 1947, U.S. President Trumandelivered a speech, which eventually came to be known as the Truman Doctrine,where he vowed to “contain” what he saw was the Soviet Union’s expansionistambitions in Greece and Turkey.  This new American policy marked the start ofthe Cold War.

During World War II and in the immediate aftermath, the U.S. government appeared opposed to restoringFrench rule in Indochina, for a number for reasons: Ho Chi Minh had been a U.S. ally in the war; pre-war French colonialrule had been repressive; and the United States was averse tocolonialism.  But with the restoration ofFrench rule, the United Stateskept a hands-off policy in Indochina.

Two events changed U.S.policy toward Indochina and Asia.  First, in October 1949, Chinese communists,emerging victorious after a long civil war in China,established the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a communiststate.  Second, in June 1950, North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and thePRC, invaded U.S.-allied South Korea, triggering the Korean War.  President Truman became convinced that notonly did the Soviet Union have expansionist ambitions in Europe, but thatSoviet leader Josef Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong also were determinedto spread communism in Asia.  The nextU.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, would introduce the Domino Principle,which stated that if the communists prevailed in Korea and Vietnam, the rest ofthe countries of Southeast Asia would be next to fall to communism, akin to arow of dominoes falling one after the other.

As a result, the United Statesstrengthened its military presence in East Asia,reversing its post-World War II policy of withdrawing American forces from theregion.  In February 1950, the U.S. government recognized the French-backed Stateof Vietnam,which was led by Bao Dai.  In July 1950,the first shipments of U.S.war supplies arrived.  Three months later(September 1950), after French and American military officials held talks in Washington,D.C., the United States established the Military Assistance and Advisory Group(MAAG), tasked with serving as the liaison agency that would provide weapons,as well as military advice and training. U.S.military support to the French would dramatically increase over the followingyears to a total of $3 billion.  By 1954,the United States would besupplying 80% of the total weapons used by French forces in Vietnam.  A total of 1,400 tanks, 340 planes, 240,000small firearms, and 150 million bullets were sent.

December 18, 1972 – Vietnam War: U.S. planes bomb North Vietnam

On December 14, 1972, the U.S.government issued a 72-hour ultimatum to North Vietnam to return tonegotiations.  On the same day, U.S.planes air-dropped naval mines off the North Vietnamese waters, again sealingoff the coast to sea traffic.  Then onPresident Nixon’s orders to use “maximum effort…maximum destruction”, onDecember 18-29, 1972, U.S. B-52 bombers and other aircraft under OperationLinebacker II, launched massive bombing attacks on targets in North Vietnam,including Hanoi and Haiphong, hitting airfields, air defense systems, navalbases, and other military facilities, industrial complexes and supply depots,and transport facilities.  As many of therestrictions from previous air campaigns were lifted, the round-the-clockbombing attacks destroyed North Vietnam’s war-related logistical and supportcapabilities.  Several B-52s were shotdown in the first days of the operation, but changes to attack methods and theuse of electronic and mechanical countermeasures greatly reduced air losses.  By the end of the bombing campaign, fewtargets of military value remained in North Vietnam, enemy anti-aircraft guns had been silenced, and North Vietnamwas forced to return to negotiations.  OnJanuary 15, 1973, President Nixon ended the bombing operations.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

North Vietnam’s“strategic raids” also were meant to gauge U.S. military response.  None occurred, as at this time, the United Stateswas reeling from the Watergate Scandal, which led to President Nixon resigningfrom office on August 9, 1974. Vice-President Gerald Ford succeeded as President.

Encouraged by this success, in December 1974, NorthVietnamese forces in eastern Cambodiaattacked Phuoc LongProvince, taking its capital PhuocBinh in early January 1975 and sending pandemonium in South Vietnam, but again producing no militaryresponse from the United States. President Ford had asked U.S. Congress for military support for South Vietnam,but was refused.

December 17, 1918 – Latvian War of Independence: The Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic is formed

Under the sponsorship of Soviet Russia, on December 17,1918, the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic led by Latviancommunist Pēteris Stučka, was set up as a regime to rival the Latviannationalist provisional government of Kārlis Ulmanis that had been formed onemonth earlier. Two Latvian governments now vied for legitimacy during theLatvian War of Independence.

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

Background By themid-19th century, as a result of the French Revolution (1789-1799), a wave ofnationalism swept across Europe, a phenomenon that touched into Latviaas well.  The Latvian nationalistmovement was led by the “Young Latvians”, a nationalist movement of the 1850sto 1880s that promoted Latvian identity and consciousness (as opposed to theprevailing Germanic viewpoint that predominated society) expressed in Latvianart, culture, language, and writing.  TheBaltic German nobility used its political and economic domination of society tosuppress this emerging Latvian nationalistic sentiment.  The Russian government’s attempt at“Russification” (cultural and linguistic assimilation into the Russian state)was rejected by Latvians.  The Latviannational identity also was accelerated by other factors: the abolition ofserfdom in Courland in 1817 and Livoniain 1819, the growth of industrialization and workers’ organizations, increasingprosperity among Latvians who had acquired lands, and the formation of Latvianpolitical movements.

The Russian Empire opposed these nationalist sentiments andenforced measures to suppress them.  Thenin January 1905, the social and political unrest that gripped Russia (the Russian Revolution of 1905) producedmajor reverberations in Latvia,starting in January 1905, when mass protests in Riga were met with Russian soldiers openingfire on the demonstrators, killing and wounding scores of people.  Local subversive elements took advantage ofthe revolutionary atmosphere to carry out a reign of terror in the countryside,particularly targeting the Baltic German nobility, torching houses and lootingproperties, and inciting peasants to rise up against the ethnic Germanlandowners.  In November 1905, Russian authoritiesdeclared martial law and brought in security forces that violently quelled theuprising, executing over 1,000 dissidents and sending thousands of others intoexile in Siberia.

Then in July 1914, World War I broke out in Europe, with Russia allied with other major powers Britain and Franceas the Triple Entente, against Germany,Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire that comprised the major CentralPowers.  In 1915, the armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary made military gainsin the northern sector of the Eastern Front; by May of that year, German unitshad seized sections of Latvian Courland and Livonian Governorates.  A tenacious defense put up by the newlyformed Latvian Riflemen of the Imperial Russian Army held off the Germanadvance into Rigafor two years, but the capital finally fell in September 1917.

The Bolsheviks, on coming to power in the OctoberRevolution, issued the “Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia” (onNovember 15, 1917), which granted all non-Russian peoples of the former RussianEmpire the right to secede from Russia and establish their own separate states.Eventually, the Bolsheviks would renege on this edict and suppress secessionfrom the Russian state (now known as Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic,or RSFSR).  The Bolshevik revolution alsohad succeeded partly on the communists promising a war-weary citizenry that Russiawould withdraw from World War I; thereafter, the Russian government declaredits pacifist intentions to the Central Powers. A ceasefire agreement was signed on December 15, 1917 and peace talksbegan a few days later in Brest-Litovsk (present-day Brest,in Belarus).

However, the Central Powers imposed territorial demands thatthe Russian government deemed excessive. On February 17, 1918, the Central Powers repudiated the ceasefireagreement, and the following day, Germanyand Austria-Hungaryrestarted hostilities, launching a massive offensive with one million troops in53 divisions along three fronts that swept through western Russia and captured Ukraine Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia,and Estonia.  German forces also entered Finland, assisting thenon-socialist paramilitary group known as the “White Guards” in defeating thesocialist militia known as “Red Guards” in the Finnish Civil War.  Eleven days into the offensive, the northernfront of the German advance was some 85 miles from the Russian capital of Petrograd.

On February 23, 1918, or five days into the offensive, peacetalks were restarted at Brest-Litovsk, with the Central Powers demanding evengreater territorial and military concessions on Russia than in the December1917 negotiations.  After heated debatesamong members of the Council of People’s Commissars (the highest Russian governmentalbody) who were undecided whether to continue or end the war, at the urging ofits Chairman, Vladimir Lenin, the Russian government acquiesced to the Treatyof Brest-Litovsk.  On March 3, 1918,Russian and Central Powers representatives signed the treaty, whose majorstipulations included the following: peace was restored between Russia and theCentral Powers; Russia relinquished possession of Finland (which was engaged ina civil war), Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic territories of Estonia, Latvia,and Lithuania – Germany and Austria-Hungary were to determine the future ofthese territories; and Russia also agreed on some territorial concessions tothe Ottoman Empire.

German forces occupied Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus,Ukraine, and Poland,establishing semi-autonomous governments in these territories that weresubordinate to the authority of the German monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II.  The German occupation of the region allowedthe realization of the Germanic vision of “Mitteleuropa”, an expansionistambition aimed at unifying all Germanic and non-Germanic peoples of Central Europe into a greatly enlarged and powerfulGerman Empire.  In support ofMitteleuropa, in the Baltic region, the Baltic German nobility proposed to setup the United Baltic Duchy, a semi-autonomous political entity consisting ofpresent-day Latvia and Estoniathat would be voluntarily integrated into the German Empire.  The proposal was not implemented, but Germanmilitary authorities set up local civil governments under the authority of theBaltic German nobility or ethnic Germans.

Although the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 ended Russia’sparticipation in World War I, the war was still ongoing in other fronts – mostnotably on the Western Front, where for four years, German forces were boggeddown in inconclusive warfare against the British, French and other AlliedArmies.  After transferring substantialnumbers of now freed troops from the Russian front to the Western Front, inMarch 1918, Germany launchedthe Spring Offensive, a major attack into Franceand Belgiumin an effort to bring the war to an end. After four months of fighting, by July 1918, despite achieving someterritorial gains, the German offensive had ground to a halt.

The Allied Powers then counterattacked with newly developedbattle tactics and weapons and gradually pushed back the now spent anddemoralized German Army all across the line into German territory.  The entry of the United States into the war on the Allied side was decisive, asincreasing numbers of arriving American troops with the backing of the U.S.weapons-producing industrial power contrasted sharply with the greatly depletedwar resources of both the Entente and Central Powers.  The imminent collapse of the German Army wasgreatly exacerbated by the outbreak of political and social unrest at the homefront (the German Revolution of 1918-1919), leading to the sudden end of theGerman monarchy with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918and the establishment of an interim government (under moderate socialist FriedrichEbert), which quickly signed an armistice with the Allied Powers on November11, 1918 that ended the combat phase of World War I.

As the armistice agreement required that Germany demobilizethe bulk of its armed forces as well as withdraw the same to the confines ofthe German borders within 30 days, the German government ordered its forces toabandon the occupied territories that had been won in the Eastern Front.  After Germany’scapitulation, Russiarepudiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and made plans to seize back theEuropean territories it previously had lost to the Central Powers.  An even far more reaching objective was forthe Bolshevik government to spread the communist revolution to Europe, first bylinking up with German communists who were at the forefront of the unrest thatcurrently was gripping Germany.  Russian military planners intended theoffensive to merely follow in the heels of the German withdrawal from Eastern Europe (i.e. to not directly engage the Germansin combat) and then seize as much territory before the various local ethnicnationalist groups in these territories could establish a civilian government.

Germany’sdefeat in World War I and the subsequent withdrawal of German forces from theBaltic region produced a political void that local nationalist leaders rapidlyfilled.  In Latvia, on November 17, 1918,independence-seeking political leaders established a “People’s Council”(Latvian: Tautas padome), an interim legislative assembly, which in turn formeda provisional government under Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis.  The next day, November 18, the Latviangovernment declared independence as the Republic of Latvia.

Starting on November 28, 1918, in the action known as theSoviet westward offensive of 1918-1919, Soviet forces consisting of hundreds ofthousands of troops advanced in a multi-pronged offensive with the objective ofrecapturing the Baltic region, Belarus,Poland, and Ukraine.

The northern front of the Soviet offensive was directed at Latvia and Estonia.  In Latvia, the Red Army, as Soviet forceswere called and which included the Red Latvian Riflemen (formerly the LatvianRiflemen of the Imperial Russian Army who had shifted their allegiance toBolshevik Russia), made rapid progress and easily gained control of most ofLatvian territory, including Valka, Valmiera, Rēzekne, Daugavpils, and thecapital Riga, which was taken in April 1919. The newly formed Latvian Army and pro-Latvia German militias retreatedin disarray.  Under the sponsorship ofSoviet Russia, on December 17, 1918, the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republicled by Latvian communist Pēteris Stučka, was set up as a regime to rival theUlmanis Latvian nationalist provisional government that had been formed onemonth earlier.

December 16, 1944 – World War II: German forces launch an offensive in the Ardennes, starting the Battle of the Bulge

On December 16, 1944, the Wehrmacht launched its Ardennescounter-offensive, codenamed “Operation Watch on the Rhine” (German:Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein), which involved 400,000 troops, 12,000 tanks, and4,200 artillery pieces that had been brought up in utmost secrecy and hadescaped Allied intelligence detection. Spearheaded by panzer units, the Germans advanced rapidly to a distanceof some 50 miles (80 km) to come within 10 miles (16 km) of the Meuse River.  The attack took the defending U.S.1st Army completely by surprise. Overcast weather also greatly aided the German advance, as Alliedplanes, which controlled the skies over the battlefield, were unable to launchcounter-attacks in the heavy cloud cover. The German penetration produced a salient, which the Allies called a“bulge” in their lines, leading to the Ardennes fighting being popularly calledby Allied historians as the “Battleof the Bulge”.

The Allies quickly rallied and reorganized, and stopped theGerman advance in the north at Elsenborn Ridge and in the south at Bastogne.  German attempts to flank Bastogne also were stopped by increasingnumbers of Allied forces being brought into the battle.  The German crossing of the Meuse River,which was the key to the advance to Antwerp, alsofailed, as the British held onto the bridges at Dinant, Givet, and Namur.  Aside from fierce Allied resistance, theGermans began encountering supply problems, and many of their tanks ground to ahalt because of fuel shortages.  Then onDecember 23, 1944, improved weather conditions allowed the Allies to launch airattacks on German units and supply columns. By December 24, the German offensive had effectively stalled.  Massing Allied armor bottled up the Germantanks, threatening the latter with encirclement.

On January 1, 1945, the Germans launched a new offensive,Operation North Wind, this time directed at the Alsace-Lorraine region to thesouth, and surprised U.S. 6th Army Group which had been stretched thin insupport of the Ardennes battle to the north. The German attack, aimed at recapturing Strasbourg, initially achieved some success,inflicting heavy casualties on the American defenders, but soon sputtered fromsupply shortages, particularly fuel for the tanks.

On January 3, 1945, the Allies launched a counter-attackafter a two-day delay, with U.S.1st and 3rd Armies executing a pincers movement aimed at eliminating thesalient and trapping the Germans inside the pocket.  The delay allowed most German units toescape, and on January 7, Hitler finally acquiesced to his commanders andordered a general withdrawal.  Fightingcontinued until January 25, with the Germans conducting a fighting retreat, inthe process also being forced to abandon most of their tanks after running outof fuel, and the Allies retaking lost territory and eliminating thesalient.  In February 1945, the Alliescaptured the Hurtgen Forest, finally breachingthe Siegfried Line there.  For Hitler,the Ardennes counter-offensive was a strategic and costly failure, as Germanylost most of its manpower reserves and armored resources in the West in anambitious gamble.  At the outset, theGerman High Command gave little chance for the Ardennesoffensive to succeed.  Its failure alsoseverely weakened German strength on the Western Front against the Alliedoffensive later that year.

(Taken from Defeat of Germany in the West: 1944-1945 – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol. 6)

In February 1945, the Western Allies regained theinitiative, and attacked on a broad front toward the Rhine River(Figure 42).  This new offensive wasgreatly alarming to Hitler in particular and Germanyin general, as the Rhine served as thephysical and symbolic gateway to the German heartland.  To the north, British 21st Army Group attackedthrough the Reichswald Forest and reached the Rhine’s west bank, while to thesouth, U.S. 9th Army, which had been attached to 21st Army Group during theArdennes battle, advanced for Dusseldorf and Cologne.  On February 8, the retreating Germans destroyedthe Ruhr dams, flooding the river valley below and stalling the Allied crossingof the Ruhr by two weeks.  On February 23, with flood waters receding, U.S. 9th Army crossed the Ruhr, and on March 2,it reached its objective on the Rhine’s westbank.

Further to the south, U.S.3rd Army reached the Rhine at Coblenz, U.S. 7th Army at Strastbourg, and the FrenchArmy at Colmar.  By early March 1945, the Allies had brokenthrough to the Rhine’s west bank at manypoints.  Hitler refused the pleas byGerman field commanders to allow their troops to retreat to the east bank, andordered that they should hold their ground and fight to the death.  Instead, some 400,000 German troops gave upand surrendered.  By then, the totalnumber of captured Wehrmacht prisoners in the Western Front had grown to 1.3million soldiers since the start of the Normandyinvasion.

General Eisenhower and the Allied High Command believed thatattempting to cross the Rhine on a broad frontwould lead to heavy losses in personnel, and so they planned to concentrateAllied resources to force a crossing on the north in the British sector.  Here also lay the shortest route to Berlin, whose capturewas definitely the greatest prize of the war. Beating out the Soviets to Berlinwas greatly desired by Prime Minister Churchill and the British High Command,which at this point, the British and American planners believed could beachieved.  With Allied focus on theBritish sector in the north, U.S.12th and 6th Army Groups to the south were tasked with making secondary attacksin their sectors, tying down German troops there and thus aiding the Britishoffensive.