Daniel Orr's Blog, page 50

September 15, 1940 – World War II: A combined 1,700 German and British planes engage in battle over London

On September 15, 1940, inwhat is known as the “Battle of Britain Day”, a combined 1,700 planes (1,100 Luftwaffe and 600 RAF)fought a day-long air battle in the skies over London, in what Goering hopedwould be the ultimate destruction of the RAF. By then, the constant German pressure during Alderagriff (since August24) had greatly strained RAF strength of No. 11 Group (which was tasked todefend southeast England,including London),but the sudden shift in Luftwaffe concentration toward the cities allowed theRAF a respite. Also at this time, a crisis within the RAF was reaching thebreaking point, as Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, commander of RAFNo. 12 Group (for southwest England),criticized Air Chief Marshal Dowding’s conduct of the air campaign,particularly the use of small RAF units to meet the massive German fleets.  Leigh-Mallory, like many senior RAFcommanders, favored large formations (per the “Big Wing” strategy) to meet theLuftwaffe in pitched air battles.  As aresult, Downing was dismissed as commander of RAF Fighter Command.

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

BackgroundImmediately after the German military’s successful conquest of France in June1940, Hitler set his sights to Britainacross the English Channel.  Several months earlier, at the outbreak ofWorld War II in September 1939 following the German invasion of Poland, Britainhad launched small-scale air raids on Germany, targeting ships and ports, anddropping propaganda leaflets on a number of German cities.  In the ensuing Phoney War, no major militaryaction took place in the Western Front. This period coincided with the rapid rebuilding and expansion of theBritish Royal Air Force, as with the other British armed services, which hadbeen drastically reduced in budget and size during the interwar period.

In October 1939, while theGerman military high command, on Hitler’s orders, began planning for theinvasion of France and the Low Countries, consideration was given for thesecountries’ northern coasts to be reserved for constructing German air and navalbases for a future war with Britain.  InNovember 1939, a German directive gave greater clarity to this objective: thatthese coastal bases would be used to blockade British ports, attack Britishnaval and commercial traffic along the English Channel,and launch air attacks on the British coast, targeting shore installations andindustrial plants.  From the outset, theGerman High Command acknowledged that the German fleet faced a greatdisadvantage in a naval war with the much larger British Royal Navy, a situationthat was worsened during the German campaign in Norway, where the German Navy waseffectively incapacitated.

In January 1939, Hitler hadembarked on a massive ship-building program aimed at the German Navy achievingparity with the British Royal Navy, but the outbreak of World War II inSeptember of that year compelled him to suspend the program and allocate meagerGerman resources to constructing U-boats, which were faster and cheaper toproduce, and to the other service branches, the army and air force, which weremore important in a continental war.

During the German invasion ofFrance and the LowCountries, apart from the British Expeditionary Force fighting on the ground,the British Royal Air Force (RAF) launched air raids into Germany, especially targeting the industrial Ruhr region and hitting a host of targets, includingindustrial plants, communications, rail and road systems, and ports andshipping.  These air attacks, like theRAF efforts inside Franceand the Low Countries, were ineffective andsuffered heavy losses.

With France seeking an end to the fighting on June15, 1940 and the French-German armistice agreement taking effect one weeklater, the Wehrmacht reorganized its forces for Britain, and took over orconstructed new bases along the southern Channel coast.  In the immediate aftermath of the Battle ofFrance, Hitler believed that the war in the west was practically over, and Britain would be forced to negotiate peace,which would allow the Wehrmacht to turn its attention to the Soviet Union in the east.  Hitleroffered a number of peace overtures to the British government, even promisingthat Britaincould keep its vast colonial empire, but a defiant Churchill turned them alldown.  On July 2, 1940, Hitler orderedthat operations against Britainbe started.  To overcome Britain, the German High Command determined thatdefeating the RAF and thus gaining control of the skies over the EnglishChannel and Britain wereabsolutely necessary before a sea and land invasion of the British Isles could be made.

German-occupied Western Europe

The Luftwaffe (German AirForce) faced a daunting task.  In thecampaigns in Poland, France, and the Low Countries, the Luftwaffe hadfunctioned only in support of the Wehrmacht’s over-all objectives, but now for Britain,it was tasked with an independent strategic role, which was outside itsoperational doctrine.  The Luftwaffepossessed only medium bombers, since German planners had set aside developmentof long-range strategic bombers, because of the higher cost and complextechnology required, and also because the Luftwaffe was convinced thatmedium-size bombers were able to perform the same missions just as well.

During the campaign in the Netherlands,the Luftwaffe had stunningly lost a large number of aircraft, over 500 in totalincluding 280 transports, which post-World War II testimony by high-rankingGerman air officers acknowledged negatively affected German performance in theBattle of Britain.  In particular, theheavy loss of transports in the Netherlandscampaign prevented large-scale airborne operations from taking place in Britain.

In terms of aircraftcapability, each side could claim an edge in certain categories, and thuscanceled each other out over-all.  Butmuch more crucial by the time that hostilities began, the British hadestablished a top-secret sophisticated early warning and responseinfrastructure called the Dowding system (named after itsdesigner, Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding), which consisted of a network ofhuman observers, and radar stations that were linked through a system ofunderground telephone system that relayed information to a centralized commandcenter.  All air defense systems,including the RAF and anti-aircraft battery stations, formed the crucial partof the Dowding system.

September 13, 1948 – Indian forces invade Hyderabad to force its annexation into India

On September 13, 1948, the Indian Army invaded the state of Hyderabad. Four dayslater, the Nizam (monarch) of Hyderabadsurrendered. In November 1948, he signed the Instrument of Accession to India, and the independent state of Hyderabad was no more.

Britainapproved the Indian Independence Act in July 1947, partitioning British Indiainto two new independent dominions: Indiaand Pakistan.On August 14, 1947, Pakistandeclared independence, and the next day, India also declared its independence.

At the time of partition into Indiaand Pakistan,there also existed in the Indian subcontinent semi-autonomous polities called“princely states”, numbering 565 and covering 40% of the territory, and takingin 23% of the population. Before the British withdrew, they offered theprincely states two options: to be incorporated politically and geographicallyinto either India or Pakistan,or to revert to their pre-colonial status as independent politicalentities.  A great majority of the PrincelyStates took the option suggested by the British and joined either one of thetwo new countries, but most with India with whom they shared a common border aswell as religious ties. 

Hyderabad, which shared allits borders with India butnone with Pakistan,was led by a Muslim monarch (the Nizam) who ruled over a largely Hindupopulation. Hyderabad was also the wealthiestand most militarily powerful of the princely states and the Nizam owned 40% ofall Hyderabadlands. Not wanting to accede to Hindu-majority India,the Nizam declared Hyderabad’sindependence in August 1947. However, Indiawas determined to integrate Hyderabadwith itself, averse to the presence of a hostile neighbour. Negotiationsbetween the two sides were held from November 1947 to June 1948, which failedto reach an agreement.

Ultimately, the Indian government was prompted to takemilitary action because of what it perceived were violations of the Hyderabad state: carrying out relations with Pakistan,interfering with Indian traffic at its borders, and most seriously, building upparamilitary force numbering 200,000 irregulars (“razakars”) apart from thestate force of 22,000 troops.

In the immediate aftermath of the Indian invasion, massivecommunal violence broke out with Hindus attacking Muslims. Executions, murders,rapes, and lootings were widespread. Some 30,000-40,000 were killed, with oneestimate putting the figure at 200,000 or higher.

(Taken from Partition of India – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

In the Indian subcontinent (Map 12), which was Britain’sprized possession since the 1800s, a strong nationalist sentiment had existedfor many decades and had led to the emergence of many political organizationsthat demanded varying levels of autonomy and self-rule.  Other Indian nationalist movements alsocalled for the British to leave immediately. Nationalist aspirations were concentrated in areas with direct Britishrule, as there also existed across the Indian subcontinent hundreds ofsemi-autonomous regions which the British called “Princely States”, whoserulers held local authority with treaties or alliances made with the Britishgovernment.  The Princely States,however, had relinquished their foreign policy initiatives to the British inexchange for British military protection against foreign attacks.  Thus, the British de facto ruled over thePrincely States.

Lord Mountbatten also settled the fates of the PrincelyStates, which accounted for about one-third of the area of the Indiansubcontinent.  In a plenary meeting withthe heads of the Princely States in July 1947, the Governor-General offeredthem two options: to be incorporated politically and geographically into eitherIndia or Pakistan, or to revert to theirpre-colonial status as independent political entities.  Lord Mountbatten, however, cautioned thePrincely States against taking the second option, saying that they risked beingoverwhelmed by their two new giant neighbors, Indiaand Pakistan.

A great majority of the Princely States took the optionsuggested by Lord Mountbatten and joined either one of the two new countries,but most with India with whom they shared a common border as well as religiousties.  Two PrincelyStates, Manipur and Tripura, opted forindependence in 1947, but agreed to be incorporated into India two years later.  Hyderabad,with a Muslim ruler and a majority Hindu population, and geographically locatedinside India,declared independence.  In 1948, India invaded Hyderabadand subsequently annexed the former Princely State.  Junagadh also had a Muslim ruler and apredominantly Hindu constituency, and chose to be assimilated into Pakistanbut without whom it shared a border.  Anuprising soon broke out among Hindus, whereupon the Indian Army invadedJunagadh, forcing the Muslim ruler to flee into exile.  In a plebiscite that later was held inJunagadh, the overwhelming majority of voters chose to be incorporated into India.  Soon thereafter, India annexed Junagadh.

At partition, the Princely State of Kashmir becameindependent but found itself geographically straddled between India and Pakistan.  Kashmir’sHindu monarch, who ruled over a predominantly Muslim constituency, chose toremain politically neutral.  Both India and particularly Pakistan, however, wanted to annex Kashmir, and thus exerted pressure on the Kashmirimonarch.  In October 1947, a revolt brokeout in Kashmir, triggering the Indian-Pakistani War of 1947, which was thefirst of three major wars fought between Indiaand Pakistan over Kashmir and the start of a long-standing dispute thatcontinues to this day.

September 12, 1938 – Interwar Period: Hitler backs the demands of Sudeten Germans, raising tensions with Czechoslovakia

In late March 1938, while Germany wasyet in the process of annexing Austria, another conflict, the “SudetenlandCrisis” occurred,where ethnic Germans, who formed the majority population in the Sudeten regionof Czechoslovakia, demanded autonomy and the right to join the Nazi Party.  Hitler supported these demands, citing theSudeten Germans’ right to self-determination. The Czechoslovak government refused, and in May 1938, mobilized for war.In response, Hitler secretly asked the German High Command to prepare for war,to be launched in October 1938.  Britain and France,anxious to avoid war at all costs by not antagonizing Hitler (a policy calledappeasement), pressed Czechoslovakiato yield, with the British even stating that the Sudeten Germans’ demand forautonomy was reasonable.  In earlySeptember 1938, the Czechoslovak government agreed to the demands.  Then when civilian unrest broke out in theSudetenland which the Czechoslovakian police quelled, in mid-September 1938, afurious Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland be ceded to Germany in order to stop thesupposed slaughter of Sudeten Germans. Under great pressure from Britainand France, on September 21,1938, the Czechoslovak government relented, and agreed to cede the Sudetenland.  Butthe next day, Hitler made new demands, which Czechoslovakia rejected and againmobilized for war.  In a frantic move toavert war, the Prime Ministers of Britainand France, NevilleChamberlain and Edouard Daladier, respectively, togetherwith Mussolini, met with Hitler, and on September 29, 1938, the four men signedthe Munich Pact,where the Sudetenland was formally ceded to Germany.  Two days later, Czechoslovakiaaccepted the fait accompli, knowingit would not be supported by Britainand France in a war with Germany.  In succeeding months, Czechoslovakia disintegrated as a sovereignstate: the Slovak region separated, aligning with Germanyas a puppet state; other regions were annexed by Hungaryand Poland; and in March1939, the rest of the Czech portion of the country was occupied by Germany.

(Taken from Events Leading up to World War II in Europe – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol. 6)

Hitlerand Nazis in Power In October 1929, the severe economiccrisis known as the Great Depression began in the United States, and then spread outand affected many countries around the world. Germany, whoseeconomy was dependent on the United States for reparations payments andcorporate investments, was badly hit, and millions of workers lost their jobs,many banks closed down, and industrial production and foreign trade droppedconsiderably.

The Weimar government weakened politically, asmany Germans turned to radical ideologies, particularly Hitler’s ultra-rightwing nationalist Nazi Party, as well as the German Communist Party.  In the 1930 federal elections, the Nazi Partymade spectacular gains and became a major political party with a platform ofimproving the economy, restoring political stability, and raising Germany’s international standing by dealing withthe “unjust” Versaillestreaty.  Then in two elections held in1932, the Nazis became the dominant party in the Reichstag (German parliament),albeit without gaining a majority. Hitler long sought the post of German Chancellor, which was the head ofgovernment, but he was rebuffed by the elderly President Paul von Hindenburg[1],who distrusted Hitler.  At this time,Hitler’s ambitions were not fully known, and following a political compromiseby rival parties, in January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler asChancellor, with few Nazis initially holding seats in the new Cabinet.  The Chancellorship itself had little power,and the real authority was held by the President (the head of state).

On the night of February 27, 1933, firebroke out at the Reichstag, which led to the arrest and execution of a Dutcharsonist, a communist, who was found inside the building.  The next day, Hitler announced that the firewas the signal for German communists to launch a nationwide revolution.  On February 28, 1933, the German parliamentpassed the “Reichstag Fire Decree” whichrepealed civil liberties, including the right of assembly and freedom of thepress.  Also rescinded was the writ ofhabeas corpus, allowing authorities to arrest any person without the need topress charges or a court order.  In thenext few weeks, the police and Nazi SA paramilitary carried out a suppressioncampaign against communists (and other political enemies) across Germany,executing communist leaders, jailing tens of thousands of their members, andeffectively ending the German Communist Party. Then in March 1933, with the communists suppressed and other partiesintimidated, Hitler forced the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act,which allowed the government (i.e. Hitler) to enact laws, even those thatviolated the constitution, without the approval of parliament or thepresident.  With nearly absolute power,the Nazis gained control of all aspects of the state.  In July 1933, with the banning of politicalparties and coercion into closure of the others, the Nazi Party became the solelegal party, and Germanybecame de facto a one-party state.

At this time, Hitler grew increasinglyalarmed at the military power of the SA, particularly distrusting the politicalambitions of its leader, Ernst Rohm.  On June 30-July 2, 1934, on Hitler’s orders,the loyalist Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel;English: Protection Squadron) and Gestapo (Secret Police) purged the SA,killing hundreds of its leaders including Rohm, and jailing thousands of itsmembers, violently bringing the SA organization (which had some three millionmembers) to its knees.  The purgebenefited Hitler in two ways: First, he became the undisputed leader of theNazi apparatus, and Second and equally important, his standing greatlyincreased with the upper class, business and industrial elite, and Germanmilitary; the latter, numbering only 100,000 troops because of the Versaillestreaty restrictions, also felt threatened by the enormous size of the SA.

In early August 1934, with the death ofPresident Hindenburg, Hitler gained absolute power, as his Cabinet passed a lawthat abolished the presidency, and its powers were merged with those of thechancellor.  Hitler thus became both German head of state and headof government, with the dual roles of Fuhrer (leader) and Chancellor.  As head of state, he also was SupremeCommander of the armed forces, making him absolute ruler and dictator of Germany.

In domestic matters, the Nazi governmentmade great gains, improving the economy and industrial production, reducingunemployment, embarking on ambitious infrastructure projects, and restoringpolitical and social order.  As a result,the Nazis became extremely popular, and party membership grew enormously.  This success was brought about from soundpolicies as well as through threat and intimidation, e.g. labor unions and jobactions were suppressed.

Hitler also began to impose Nazi racialpolicies, which saw ethnic Germans as the “master race” comprising“super-humans” (Ubermensch),while certain races such as Slavs, Jews, and Roma (gypsies) were considered“sub-humans” (Untermenschen);also lumped with the latter were non-ethnic-based groups, i.e. communists,liberals, and other political enemies, homosexuals, Freemasons, Jehovah’sWitnesses, etc.  Nazi lebensraum (“livingspace”) expansionism into Eastern Europe and Russia called for eliminating theSlavic and other populations there and replacing them with German farm settlersto help realize Hitler’s dream of a 1,000-year German Empire.

In Germanyitself, starting in April 1933 until the passing of the Nuremberg Laws inSeptember 1935 and beyond, Nazi racial policy was directed against the localJews, stripping them of civil rights, banning them from employment andeducation, revoking their citizenship, excluding them from political and sociallife, disallowing inter-marriages with Germans, and essentially declaring themundesirables in Germany. As a result, tens of thousands of Jewsleft Germany.  Hitler blamed the Jews (and communists) forthe civilian and workers’ unrest and revolution near the end of World War I,ostensibly that had led to Germany’sdefeat, and for the many social and economic problems currently afflicting thenation.  Following anti-Nazi boycotts inthe United States, Britain, and other countries, Hitler retaliatedwith a call to boycott Jewish businesses in Germany, which degenerated intoviolent riots by SA mobs that attacked and killed, and jailed hundreds of Jews,looted and destroyed Jewish properties, and seized Jewish assets.  The most notorious of these attacks occurredin November 1938 in “Kristallnacht”(Crystal Night), where in response to the assassination of a German diplomat bya Polish Jew in Paris, the Nazi SA and civilian mobs in Germany went on aviolent rampage, killing hundreds of Jews, jailing tens of thousands of others,and looting and destroying Jewish homes, schools, synagogues, hospitals, andother buildings.  Some 1,000 synagogueswere burned, and 7,000 businesses destroyed. 

In foreign affairs, Hitler, like mostGermans, denounced the Versaillestreaty, and wanted it rescinded.  In1933, Hitler withdrew Germanyfrom the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva,and in October of that year, from the League of Nations, in both casesdenouncing why Germanywas not allowed to re-arm to the level of the other major powers.

In March 1935, Hitler announced thatGerman military strength would be increased to 550,000 troops, militaryconscription would be introduced, and an air force built, which essentiallymeant repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles and the start of full-scalerearmament.  In response, Britain, France,and Italyformed the Stresa Front meant to stop further German violations, but thisalliance quickly broke down because the three parties disagreed on how to dealwith Hitler.

Italy,after being denounced by the League of Nations and slapped with economic sanctions after itsinvasion of Ethiopia,switched sides to Germany.  Mussolini and Hitler signed a series ofagreements that soon led to a military alliance.  Meanwhile, Britainand France continued theirindecisive foreign policies toward Germany.  In March 1936, in a bold move, Hitler senttroops to the Rhineland, remilitarizing the region in another violation of the Versailles treaty, but metno hostile response from the other powers. Hitler justified this move as a defensive response to the recentlyconcluded French-Soviet mutual assistance pact, which he accused the twocountries of encircling Germany,a statement that drew sympathy from some British politicians.

[1] Hindenburg achieved worldwide fame in World War I as Germany’sChief of the General Staff

September 11, 1969 – Sino-Soviet Border Conflict: Soviet and Chinese officials hold an impromptu meeting at Beijing Airport

On September 11, 1969, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin andChinese Premier Zhou Enlai held an urgent impromptu meeting at Beijing Airport to try and resolve the politicaland border crisis between their two countries. After 3½ hours, the two premiersreached a consensus: that their countries would resolve their differencesthrough peaceful means, that border talks that were broken in 1964 would berestarted, that diplomatic ties between the two states would be restored, andthat trade and transportation exchanges between their countries would bereopened.

The meeting was held to defuse tensions between the twocountries. Chinese authorities were concerned about the growing threat of warwith the Soviet Union.  Despite appearing defiant, and warning Russia that it too had nuclear weapons, China was unprepared to go to war, and itsmilitary was far weaker than that of the Soviet Union.  Exacerbating China’s position was its ongoingCultural Revolution, which was causing serious internal unrest.

In August-September 1969, believing that a Soviet nuclearattack would target China’smajor populated centers, the Chinese government prepared to empty the citiesand relocate the population and vital industries to remote locations.  Large-scale underground civilian and militaryshelters were built in Beijingand other areas of the country.  At Mao’surging, national and party leaders moved away from Beijingto different areas across China,to avoid the government being wiped out by a single Soviet nuclear attack onthe capital.  By this time, even theWestern press believed that war was imminent between the two communist giants.

(Taken from Sino-Soviet Border Conflict – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol. 5)

Background InNovember 1917, Russian communists seized power in Petrograd, and after emergingvictorious in the Russian Civil War (October 1917-October 1922), theyestablished the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (usually shortened to USSRor Soviet Union).  Nearly 27 years later,in October 1949 in China,Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC) when his Red Army all butdefeated Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang) forces in theChinese Civil War.  In December 1949,Chiang and the Kuomintang fled from the Chinese mainland and moved to Taiwan,where he established his new seat of government.

Thereafter, the Soviet Unionand Red China established close fraternal ties. In February 1950, the two countries signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty ofFriendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, athirty-year military alliance which included a Soviet low-cost loan of $300million to assist in the reconstruction of war-ravaged China.  In December 1950, the Soviet governmentreturned to Chinasovereignty of the region of Lushun, including Port Arthur, located inthe Chinese northeast. And with Chinamilitarily intervening in the Korean War (previous article) in October 1950,the Soviet Union sent large amounts of weapons to China, and provided air coverduring the Chinese counter-offensive starting in late 1950.  The period 1950-1958 saw close political,diplomatic, and economic relations between the two communist powers,particularly in relation to their common ideological struggle against theirCold War enemies, the United States and capitalist West.

In March 1953, Joseph Stalin, who had ruled the Soviet Unionfor over three decades, died suddenly, and was succeeded by NikitaKhrushchev.  Khrushchev brought about aradical shift in Russia’sdomestic affairs, implementing a series of reforms collectively known asde-Stalinization.  The most repressiveaspects of Stalinist policies were reversed: suppression and censorship werereduced; some economic and social reforms were introduced; political prisonerswere released; the Gulag camp conditions were improved; and Stalinistlandmarks, places, and monuments were renamed to erase memories of the Stalinera.

In foreign affairs, Khrushchev implemented “peacefulcoexistence” with the West, which was a dramatic reversal of Stalin’s policy ofconfrontation against capitalist/democratic countries.  The Soviet Union increased trade with theWest, participated in international sports events, and allowed greater culturaland educational exchanges, and Western cinema and arts to enter the Soviet Union.

However, in China,Mao was alarmed by these changes in the Soviet Union.  He had drawn inspiration for China’spolitical and economic development on the Stalinist model, and perceivedKhrushchev’s “peaceful coexistence” policies with the West as deviating fromMarxism-Leninism.  As a result,Chinese-Soviet relations became strained, leading to a decade-long period (late1950s through the 1960s) of hostility known as the Sino-Soviet split.  This split was aggravated by other regionaland global events which occurred during this period.

In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, a large-scaleseries of programs in agriculture and heavy industries aimed at accelerating China’spath to communism.  Mao’s plan was tovault China into a globaleconomic power that would surpass the Soviet Union and even the industrializedWestern powers, including Britainand the United States.  However, the program ended in utterfailure.  Together with a massivedrought, the policies of the Great Leap Forward caused widespread famine thatled to mass starvation.  Some 36 millionpeople died from hunger, and another 40 million babies failed to be form, or atotal of 76 million deaths due to the “Great Chinese Famine”.

The Great Leap Forward also further strained Sino-Sovietrelations, as Khrushchev perceived Mao’s ambitious programs as a directchallenge to the Soviet Union’s leadership inthe socialist world.  The Sovietgovernment then pulled out its military, technical and economic advisers from China.  Then when Khrushchev visited the United States in September 1959, China saw this as further evidence that the Soviet Union had strayed from Marxism-Leninism, and hadbecome “soft” in its relations with the West.

In March 1959, when the Dalai Lama (Tibet’s spiritual leader) fled from Tibet into Indiafollowing a failed Tibetan revolt against Chinese rule, the Soviet governmentgave moral support to Tibet,angering Mao.  Indiaitself also had a long-standing border dispute with China.  When border clashes between India and Chinabroke out in 1959 which ultimately led to a limited war in 1962 (Sino-IndianWar, separate article), the Soviet Union remained neutral in the conflict andeven tacitly sided with India, which again provoked Mao.

Chinaalso wanted to invade Taiwanto fulfill its long-sought goal of reunifying China.  However, China’sinvasion plan received only tepid support from the Soviet Union.  In 1958, after China provoked the Second Taiwan Strait Crisisby shelling Quemoy and Matsu islands, the Soviet Foreign Ministry cautioned China against escalating the conflict, becausethe United States had sent anaval force to defend Taiwan.

September 10, 1943 – World War II: German forces take control of Italy

On September 10, 1943 and continuing for several days, Germanforces took control of Italyafter the Italian government announced that it had signed the Armistice ofCassibile with the Allied Powers. The Germans disarmed the Italian troops andtook over the Italian zones of occupation in the Balkans and southern France.In most cases, Italian units were unable to resist in the confused, chaoticconditions during the disarming. A few units managed to resist as in the Greek island of Cephalonia,where the Italians surrendered after running out of ammunition, and in theItalian capital Rome,where a hastily mounted haphazard defense was easily overcome. In Sardinia, Corsica, Calabria,and few other areas, the Italians successfully resisted until relieved by thearrival of the Allies. Other Italian units joined the resistance movement.

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

SicilyThe invasion of Sicilyalso forced Germany towithdraw some units in Russia,particularly from the ongoing Battle of Kursk (where the German offensive wasalready faltering), to confront the new threat. Thereafter, the Germans lost the initiative in the Eastern Front andwould permanently be on the defensive, a situation they also would face in theAllied campaign in Italy.

General Badoglio declared his continued alliance with Germany,but secretly opened peace talks with the Allies.  Negotiations lasted two months, and onSeptember 8, the Italian government announced an agreement with the Allies,called the Armistice of Cassibile, where Italy surrendered to theAllies.  Fearing German reprisal, KingVictor Emmanuel II, General Badoglio, and other leaders fled from Rome and set up headquarters in Allied-controlled southernItaly.  There, on October 13, 1943, the Badogliogovernment declared war on Germany.

The Germans, which had increased their military presence inItaly since Mussolini’s ouster a few months earlier, and had gainedintelligence information that the new government was seeking a separate peacewith the Allies, now sprung into action and disarmed Italian forces in Italy,France, and the Balkan regions, and seized important military and publicinfrastructures across Italy.  Italianmilitary units were unaware of the armistice, and thus were caught off-guardand generally failed to offer resistance to the German take-over.  Then on September 12, 1943, Mussolini wasrescued from captivity by German commandos in a daring raid, and two weekslater, was installed by Hitler as head of the newly formed fascist state, the Italian SocialRepublic, covering Axis-controllednorthern and central Italy.  Two rival governments now laid claim to Italy,and the former Italian Armed Forces became divided, fighting while aligned withone or the other side.

Meanwhile, in September 1943, the Allies were ready toinvade mainland Italy aftertheir capture of Sicilyone month earlier.  On September 3, 1943,the same day that the armistice was signed, British 8th Army units in Sicily crossed the Gulfof Messina and landed at Reggio di Calabria, at the southwestern tip, or “toe” of Italy(Figure 36).  The landing was unopposed,as the Germans had already retreated north while the Italian coastal batterieswere overwhelmed by Allied naval gunfire. Then on September 9, 1943, one day after the armistice was announced,the British made another amphibious landing at Tarantoin southeast Italy,which also was unopposed.  The Alliesaimed the two landings to divert the Germans from the main landing at Salerno,some 200 miles further north off the western coast, which also was carried outon September 9, 1943 by the newly formed U.S. 5th Army (comprising one Americanand two British divisions).  The Alliesalso anticipated that the Taranto-Salerno landings would exploit the confusionamong the Germans by the sudden announcement of the armistice.

However, by the time of the armistice, the Germans werefirmly established in Italy.  And although many German units were divertedto disarm the Italian Army, a substantial force remained to guard against theexpected Allied invasion.  Furthermore,General Albert Kesselring, commander of German forces in southern Italy, correctly surmised that the main Alliedlanding would not be made in southernmost Italy,but rather in the vicinity of Salerno, Naples, or even Rome,where he concentrated German forces from their withdrawal from the south.

September 9, 1922 – Greco-Turkish War: Turkish forces enter Smyrna

On September 8, 1922, Greek forces evacuated from Smyrna; the next day, theTurkish Army entered the city.  Then onSeptember 13, a fire broke out in the city’s Armenian sector, which quicklyspread and engulfed the Armenian and Greek sectors.  The conflagration, known as the Great Fire ofSmyrna, finally was put outafter ten days on September 22, but not before some 10,000 to 100,000 personshad been killed. Conflicting accounts point to Turks, Greeks, or Armenians ashaving caused the fire.  In theaftermath, 150,000 to 200,000 Greek and Armenian residents fled from the city.

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

With Smyrna andpractically the whole of Anatolia in Turkish control, Kemal prepared his forcesfor the attack on Constantinople.  As war loomed between the Allies and Turkishnationalists, France and Italywithdrew their warships from the region of the Straits.  However, Britainwas determined to hold the Dardanelles and Bosporus,and on September 15, 1922, issued an ultimatum to Kemal threatening war ifTurkish forces entered the Straits area.

War was averted when the Allies and Turkishnationalists agreed to peace negotiations, which were held in the town of Mudanya, starting onOctober 3, 1922.  The combat phase of thewar ended with the Armistice of Mudanya, signed on October 11,1922 (Greece signed on October 13), which included two major provisions: First,that Eastern Thrace, with the exception of the neutral zone along the Straits,would be returned to Turkey, and second, that the Allies would be allowed tomaintain a presence in the Straits to safeguard the freedom and neutrality ofthe water channel.  Subsequently, Greekforces withdrew from Eastern Thrace through the MaritsaRiver into Western Thrace.

Concerning the second provision of the Armistice ofMudanya, a subsequent agreement between the Allies and Turkey demilitarized the Straitsand established an International Straits Commission tomaintain unrestricted commercial and military transit across the channel.  In 1936, the Straits were returnedpermanently to Turkeywith the signing of the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits.

Aftermath A final peace agreement was made under theTreaty of Lausanne (held in Lausanne,Switzerland), signed on July24, 1923 and implemented on August 6, 1924, which replaced the defunct Treatyof Sevres and officially ended the state of war between Turkey and the Allied Powers.  By the Treaty of Lausanne, the Alliesrecognized the Turkish state and the borders of that state.  Turkeyrelinquished ownership of the Ottoman overseas possessions in Asia and northernAfrica, as well as Cyprusand the Dodecanese Islands.

In October 1923, Allied forces left Constantinople, which then was occupied by TurkishNationalist forces.  On October 29, 1923,the Turkish people established the Republicof Turkey with Ankara as the nation’s capital and MustafaKemal* as first president.  A year earlier, in November 1922, the GrandNational Assembly (the Turkish nationalist parliament),abolished the Ottoman Sultanate, forcing the sultan to leave for exile abroadand ending 600 years of Ottoman dynastic rule. In March 1924, the Caliphate was abolished.  Turkey then transitioned into asecular, democratic state, which it is to this day.

* In November 1934, Mustafa Kemaladopted “Ataturk” (Father of the Turks) as his surname, accorded to him by theTurkish Parliament that had ratified the Surname Law in June 1934.

September 8, 1945 – World War II: The U.S. Army enters the southern half of Korea up to the 38th parallel after Soviet forces occupy the northern half

On August 16, 1945, Soviet forces from Manchuria continuedsouth into the Korean Peninsula and stopped atthe 38th parallel. 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.

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

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 Joint Commission’sfailure to agree to a mutually acceptable Korean government are three-fold andto some extent all interrelated: intense opposition by Koreans to the proposedU.S.-Soviet trusteeship; the struggle for power among the variousideology-based political factions; and most important, the emerging Cold Warconfrontation 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 theunrecognized “Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea”led by pro-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, violentconfrontations, strikes, etc.  Althoughin many cases, the violence resulted from non-political motives (such astargeting Japanese collaborators or settling old scores), American authoritiesbelieved that the unrest was part of a communist plot.  They therefore declared martial law in thesouthern zone.  Following the U.S.military’s crackdown on leftist activities, the communist militants went intohiding and launched an armed insurgency in the southern zone, which would playa role in the coming war.

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 Soviet authorities.  In February 1946, the “Interim People’sCommittee”, a transitional centralized government, was formed and led by KimIl-sung who soon consolidated power (sidelining the nationalists and Christianleaders), and nationalized industries, and launched centrally planned economicand reconstruction programs based on the Soviet-model emphasizing heavyindustry.

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.

September 7, 1901 – Boxer Rebellion: The Boxer Protocol is signed, ending hostilities

On September 7, 1901, the Eight-NationAlliance, togetherwith Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands, and the Qinggovernment signed a peace treaty called the Boxer Protocol,which officially ended the conflict. Among the treaty’s provisions were that China would pay war reparationsto the foreign powers over a 35-year period; that ten high-ranking officialswould be executed and hundreds of others would be punished with exile orimprisonment; that China was barred from importing weapons, ammunition, andmaterials to manufacture armaments for a period of two years, subject to atwo-year extension; that anti-foreign organizations would be outlawed; that thecivil service examinations would be suspended for five years in areas whereforeigners were massacred or subject to atrocities; and that China would extenta formal apology to German and Japan for the murders of their envoys, and amemorial arch would be built by the Chinese government on the spot where theGerman diplomat was killed.

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

BackgroundBy the 19th century, China,a great and ancient nation with a civilization spanning 4,000 years, wasweakening from internal and external pressures. Internally, the Qing Dynasty, which hadruled China since 1644, hadexperienced many regional uprisings, including the Panthay Rebellion (1856-1873), Dungan Revolt (1862-1877) Nian Rebellion (1851-1868), andthe catastrophic Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), where 20-30 million people werekilled and the most fertile regions of China were devastated.  During the 19th century, Chinawas hit with many major famines that caused more than 120 million deaths.  China also had experienced a rapidpopulation growth, and by the early 19th century, some 300 millionChinese were competing for land in an overwhelmingly agricultural economy,generating social unrest and discontent. Furthermore, most Chinese had few opportunities, as the Qing courttightly regulated other industries and external trade.  The government itself was plagued withcorruption, ineptitude, and power struggles.

But the greatest challenge to China in the 19th century, and onethat threatened its existence, came from outside its borders, namely theEuropean powers, United States,and Japan.  Throughout its history, China saw itself as the center ofthe civilized world under a mandate from haven, and that all people outsidethis realm were “barbarians” with inferior cultures and civilizations.

Medieval Europe’s interests in Chinacentered on trade, and Chinese products such as silk, tea, and porcelain werehighly valued in the West, and formed a central role in the multi-continentalland and sea complex network of trade routes known as the Silk Road (110 B.C.-1450 A.D.).  With the decline of the Silk Road, thePortuguese discovered a maritime passage to the Far Eastvia the African continent.  Europeantrade with Chinathen experienced a resurgence.

By the 18th century, Portugal had been joined by Spain, France,Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark,Sweden, and the United States.  The reclusive Qing government, distrustful offoreigners, restricted trade to the southern portof Canton (present-day Guangzhou), through aprivate monopoly arrangement called the Canton System (1757-1842). One European nation, Russia,had for centuries traded with China.  Thus, the two countries shared deeperrelations.  They also shared an undefinedand disputed frontier, which was resolved by border agreements in the 17thcentury.

In the last decades of the 19thcentury, Japan had tradingand economic interests in China;it also had political and territorial ambitions there.  Japan had only recently (in 1854) awakenedfrom its own centuries-long period of self-isolation.  Starting in the 1860s, it launchedwide-ranging modernization and industrialization programs using the Western modelto transform itself into a modern, affluent nation.  Within a span of one generation, Japanbecame an economic and military powerhouse.

The extent of China’s military backwardness firstbecame apparent in 1842, when Chinese forces were defeated by the British inthe First Opium War.  In the treaty that ended the war, the Qinggovernment yielded to many British demands, including paying war reparations,ceding territory (Hong Kong), granting British nationals in China exemption from Chinese laws(extraterritoriality), and allowing more Chinese ports to be opened totrade.  Thereafter, in similar treaties, China also granted the same privileges to France and the United States.  The First Opium War became the first of manyunsuccessful wars that Chinaexperienced during the 1800s.  Wars andthe threats of wars forced the Qing government to agree to other demands byforeign powers.

These imposed agreements, which laterChinese historians called “unequal treaties”, occurred inthe period called the “century of humiliation” (1839-1949) when China suffered a series of defeatsin wars.  China then was forced to submitto the foreign powers, and agreed to the opening of more than 80 ports to trade(so-called “treaty ports”), and cede territories (called “concessions”) to theforeign powers in 19 major cities and urban centers, including Beijing,Shanghai, Canton (present-day Guangzhou), and Tianjin.  As a result of the Second Opium War(1856-1860), foreign powers were allowed to establish diplomatic legations in Beijing.

Chinaalso lost its tributary states, Indochina, Korea, and Formosa(Taiwan),to foreign powers.  By the late 19thcentury, Britain, France, Germany,Russia, and Japan had established spheres of influenceinside China(Figure 25) itself.  The foreign powersowned or controlled concessions and treaty ports, where they applied their ownlaws, deployed their own police and military forces, and imposed their owncultures.  And by 1898, China appeared on the verge ofbeing partitioned by the foreign powers.

Foreign spheres of influence in China in the early 1900s

During the Self-strengthening Movement(1861-1895) and the Hundred Days Reform (June-September 1898), the Qinggovernment attempted to implement reforms to modernize China to the level of the West and Japan.  These reforms failed as a result of theopposition of hard-line conservative Qing officials, and especially of EmpressDowager Cixi, who was the de facto ruler of China.

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

Sect members practiced martial arts andgymnastics, and performed mass religious rituals, where they invoked Taoist andBuddhist spirits to take possession of their bodies.  They also believed that these rituals wouldconfer on them invincibility to weapons strikes, including bullets.  As the sect was anti-foreign andanti-Christian, it soon gained the attention of foreign Christian missionaries,who called the group and its followers “Boxers”in reference to the group’s name and because it practiced martial arts.

The Qing government, long wary of secretsocieties which historically had seditious motives, made efforts to suppressthe Boxers.In October 1899, government troops and Boxers clashed in the Battle of SenluoTemple in northwest Shandong Province.  In this battle, Boxers proclaimed the slogan“Support the Qing, destroy the foreign” which drew the interest of somehigh-ranking conservative Qing officials who saw that the Boxers were apotential ally against the foreigners. Also by this time, the Boxers had renamed their organization as the  “Righteous and Harmonious Militia (Yihetuan)”, using the word “militia” tode-emphasize their origin as a secret society and give the movement a form oflegitimacy.  Even then, the Qinggovernment continued to view the Boxers with suspicion.  In December 1899, the Qing court recalled theShandongprovincial governor, who had shown pro-Boxer sympathy, and replaced him with amilitary general who launched an anti-Boxer campaign in the province.

September 6, 1944 – World War II: Soviet forces recapture Tartu, Estonia

In September 1944, threeSoviet Army Groups (1st, 2nd, and 3rd BalticFronts) opened the Baltic Offensive: Tartu and southeast Estonia were retaken, and another Soviet advancereached Riga, Latvia’s capital. German forces,which still held much of Latviaand Estonia,including the region west of Narva, faced the danger of being outflanked andcut off.  In September 1944, in OperationAster carried out by the German Navy, German Army Group North was evacuatedfrom Estonia and Latvia, and landed in the CourlandPeninsula south of Riga. Here, the German force, which Hitler soon renamed Army Group Courland,resisted successive Red Army offensives until the end of World War II in Europe.  It wouldonly be on May 9, 1945, one day after Germany’s unconditional surrenderto the Allies, that the 200,000 German troops in the “Courland Pocket” surrendered to the Red Army.

(Taken from Soviet Counter-Attack and Defeat of Germany – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol. 6)

Baltic StatesWith its capture of Belarus,the Red Army was poised to recapture the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia,and Lithuania.  The Soviet position in the Baltic region wasgreatly enhanced during the course of Operation Bagration, when in July 1944,the 1st Baltic Front, holding the northern flank, recaptured much ofLithuania and then reached the Gulf of Riga on the Baltic Coast.  This feat effectively cut off German ArmyGroup North in Estonia and Latvia.

In September 1944, threeSoviet Army Groups (1st, 2nd, and 3rd BalticFronts) opened the Baltic Offensive: Tartu and southeast Estonia were retaken, and another Soviet advancereached Riga, Latvia’s capital. German forces,which still held much of Latviaand Estonia,including the region west of Narva, faced the danger of being outflanked andcut off.  In September 1944, in OperationAster carried out by the German Navy, German Army Group North was evacuated fromEstonia and Latvia, and landed in the CourlandPeninsula south of Riga. Here, the German force, which Hitler soon renamed Army Group Courland,resisted successive Red Army offensives until the end of World War II in Europe.  It wouldonly be on May 9, 1945, one day after Germany’s unconditional surrenderto the Allies, that the 200,000 German troops in the “Courland Pocket” surrendered to the Red Army.

The Balkans and Eastern and Central Europe With its advance into western Ukraine in April 1944, theRed Army, specifically the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts,including the 1st and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, was poised toadvance into Eastern Europe and the Balkans to knock out Germany’s Axis alliesfrom the war.  In May 1944, a Red Army offensiveinto Romania was stopped by a German-Romanian combined force, but a subsequentoperation in August broke through, and the Soviets captured Targu Frumus andIasi (Jassy) on August 21 and Chisinau on August 24.  The Axis defeat was thorough: German 6thArmy, which had been reconstituted after its destruction in Stalingrad, wasagain encircled and destroyed, German 8th Army, severely mauled,withdrew to Hungary, and the Romanian Army, severely lacking modern weapons,suffered heavy casualties.  On August 23,Michael I, King of Romania, deposed the pro-Nazi government of Prime MinisterIon Antonescu and announced his acceptance of the armistice offered by Britain,the United States, and the Soviet Union. Romania then switchedsides to the Allies and declared war on Germany.  The Romanian government thereafter joined thewar against Germany, andallowed Soviet forces to pass through its territory to continue into Bulgariain the south.

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

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

Occupied Europe’s mosteffective resistance struggle was located in Yugoslavia.  By 1944, the communist Yugoslav Partisanmovement, led by Josip Broz Tito, controlled the mountain regions of Bosnia, Montenegro,and western Serbia.  In late September 1944, the Soviet 2ndand 3rd Ukrainian Fronts, thrusting from Bulgariaand Romania, together withthe Bulgarian Army attacking from western Bulgaria,launched their offensive into Serbia.  The attack was aided by Yugoslav partisansthat launched coordinated offensives against the Axis as well as conductingsabotage actions on German communications and logistical lines – the combinedforces captured Serbia, mostimportantly the capital Belgrade,which fell on October 20, 1944.  Germanforces in the Balkans escaped via the more difficult routes through Bosnia and Croatia in October 1944.  For the remainder of the war, Yugoslavpartisans liberated the rest of Yugoslavia;the culmination of their long offensive was their defeat of the pro-NaziUstase-led fascist government in Croatiain April-May 1945, and then their advance to neighboring Slovenia.

The succession of Red Armyvictories in Eastern Europe brought great alarm to the pro-Nazi government in Hungary, which was Germany’s last European Axispartner.  Then when in late September1944, the Soviets crossed the borders from Romaniaand Serbia into Hungary, Miklos Horthy, the Hungarian regent andhead of state, announced in mid-October that his government had signed anarmistice with the Soviet Union.  Hitler promptly forced Horthy, under threat,to revoke the armistice, and German troops quickly occupied the country.

The Soviet campaign in Hungary, which lasted six months, provedextremely brutal and difficult both for the Red Army and German-Hungarianforces, with fierce fighting taking place in western Hungary as the numerical weight ofthe Soviets forced back the Axis.  InOctober 1944, a major tank battle was fought at Debrecen, where the panzers of German ArmyGroup Fretter-Pico (named after General Maximilian Fretter-Pico) beat backthree Soviet tank corps of 2nd Ukrainian Front.  But in late October, a powerful Sovietoffensive thrust all the way to the outskirts of Budapest, the Hungarian capital, by November7, 1944.

Two Soviet pincer arms thenadvanced west in a flanking maneuver, encircling the city on December 23, 1944,and starting a 50-day siege.  Fierceurban warfare then broke out at Pest, the flat eastern section of the city, andthen later across the Danube River at Buda, thewestern hilly section, where German-Hungarian forces soon retreated.  In January 1945, three attempts by Germanarmored units to relieve the trapped garrison failed, and on February 13, 1945,Budapest fellto the Red Army.  The Soviets thencontinued their advance across Hungary.  In early March 1945, Hitler launchedOperation Spring Awakening, aimed at protecting the Lake Balaton oil fields insouthwestern Hungary, whichwas one of Germany’slast remaining sources of crude oil. Through intelligence gathering, the Soviets became aware of the plan,and foiled the offensive, and then counter-attacked, forcing the remainingGerman forces in Hungaryto withdraw across the Austrian border.

The Germans then hastened toconstruct defense lines in Austria,which officially was an integral part of Germany since the Anschluss of1938.  In early April 1945, Soviet 3rdUkrainian Front crossed the border from Hungaryinto Austria, meeting onlylight opposition in its advance toward Vienna.  Only undermanned German forces defended theAustrian capital, which fell on April 13, 1945. Although some fierce fighting occurred, Viennawas spared the widespread destruction suffered by Budapest through the efforts of the anti-NaziAustrian resistance movement, which assisted the Red Army’s entry into thecity.  A provisional government for Austriawas set up comprising a coalition of conservatives, democrats, socialists, andcommunists, which gained the approval of Stalin, who earlier had planned toinstall a pro-Soviet government regime from exiled Austrian communists.  The Red Army continued advancing across otherparts of Austria,with the Germans still holding large sections of regions in the west and south.By early May 1945, French, British, and American troops had crossed into Austria from the west, which together with theSoviets, would lead to the four-power Allied occupation (as in post-war Germany) of Austria after the war.

September 5, 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: Japan and Russia sign the Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the war

On September 5, 1905, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty ofPortsmouth, ending thewar.  By the terms of the treaty, Japan gained control of Korea; Russiawithdrew its forces from Manchuria but retained the Chinese Eastern Railway; and theRussian lease on the Liaodong Peninsula, including Port Arthur, wastransferred to Japan.  SakhalinIsland was partitioned at the 50thparallel, with Japan gainingthe southern portion and Russiaretaining the northern side.

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

Casualties from the war include:Japanese – 75,000 killed in action and from diseases, and 10,000 wounded;Russians – 65,000 killed in action and from diseases, 140,000 wounded, and75,000 captured.

AftermathDespite its defeat, Russiacontinued to be regarded as a major European power.  Russia’s greatest loss was itsprestige, as it had been humiliated by a tiny Asian nation, and one that hadonly recently modernized.  The Russianmonarchy was weakened politically by the war and from the internal unrest in1905, but survived twelve more years in power. In March 1917, following another revolution amid the Russian defeats inongoing World War I, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate the throne, and theRussian monarchy came to an end.

In Japan, the immediate effect of thewar was outrage and frustration by the Japanese people, who believed that theirnation had been deprived of greater benefits from the war, particularly warreparation and more territory.  Protestdemonstrations broke out in the cities, which sometimes degenerated intoviolence and riots.  People were angry attheir own government for agreeing to the treaty, and also at U.S. PresidentRoosevelt, whom they accused of siding with the Russians during thenegotiations.

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