Daniel Orr's Blog, page 6

November 8, 1940 – World War II: Greek forces repulse an Italian offensive at the Battle of Elaia-Kalamas

On November 8, 1940, Greek forces repulsed an Italian offensive at the Battle of Elaia-Kalamas during the Greco-Italian War. The Italians launched their invasion of Greece on October 28, 1940. At the coastal flank of the Epirus sector, the Greek main defensive line was located at Elaia-Kalamas, some 30 km south of the Greek-Albanian border. On November 2, Italian forces launched air and artillery strikes on Greek positions, and by November 5, were able to establish a bridgehead over the Kalamas River. However, Greek defenses held despite repeated attempts to break through with infantry and light and medium tanks. The Italian offensive stalled as much as by the tenacity of the defenders and minefields as by the harsh hilly, rugged terrain and muddy ground caused by heavy rains.

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

On October 28, 1940, Italian forces in Albania, which weremassed at the Greek-Albanian border, opened their offensive along a 90-mile(150 km) front in two sectors: in Epirus, which comprised the main attackingforce; and in western Macedonia, where the Italian forces were to hold theirground and remain inside Albania.  Athird force was assigned to guard the Albania-Yugoslavia frontier.  The Italian offensive was launched in thefall season, and would be expected to face extremely difficult weatherconditions in high-altitude mountain terrain, and be subject to snow, sleet,icy rain, fog, and heavy cloud cover.  Asit turned out, the Italians were supplied only with summer clothing, and sowere unprepared for these conditions. The Italians also had planned to seize Corfu,which was cancelled due to bad weather.

At the Epirussector, the Italians attacked along three points: at the coast for Konispol andproceeding to the main targets of Igoumenitsa and Preveza; at the center ofKalpaki; and in the Pindus Mountains separating Epirusand western Macedonia,towards Metsovo.  The coastal advancemade some progress, gaining 40 miles (60 km) in the first few days withoutmeeting serious resistance and seizing Igoumenitsa and Margariti.  The Italians soon were stalled at the Kalamas River, which was swollen and raging fromrecent heavy rains.

Background InApril 1939, Italian forces invaded Albania (previousarticle) in what Italian leader Benito Mussolini hoped would be the firststep to founding an Italian Empire (in the style of the ancient Roman Empire)in southern Europe, which would be added to the colonies that he alreadypossessed in Africa (Italian East Africa and Libya). 

In September 1939, World War II broke out in Europe when Germany attacked Poland,prompting Britain and France to declare war on Germany.  After an eight-month period of combatinactivity in Europe (called the “Phoney War”), in April 1940, Germany launched the invasions to the north andwest, which ended in the defeat of France on June 25, 1940.  In July 1940, Hitler set his sights onBritain, with the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) launching attacks (lasting untilMay 1941) aimed at eliminating the last impediment to his full domination ofWestern Europe. 

To Mussolini, France’sdefeat and Britain’sdesperate position seemed the perfect time to advance his ambitions in southernEurope. Just as France was verging on defeat from the German onslaught, on June10, 1940, in a brazen act of opportunism[1],Mussolini entered World War II on Germany’s side by declaring war on France andBritain, and sending Italian forces that attacked France through theItalian-French border.  Then with Britain grimly fighting for its own survivalfrom the German air attacks (Battle of Britain, separate article), Mussolini set his sights on British possessionsin Africa, with Italian forces seizing British Somaliland in August 1940, andadvancing into Egypt from Libyain September 1940.

Mussolini aspired to establish an Italian Empire that would control southern Europe, northern Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Middle East.

At the same time, Mussolini was ready to build an Italian Empire, withhis attention focused on the Balkans which he saw as falling inside the Italiansphere of influence.  He also longed togain mastery of the Mediterranean Sea in the Mare Nostrum (“Our Sea”) concept, and turn it into an“Italian lake”.  He chafed at Italy’s geographical location in the middle ofthe Mediterranean Sea, likening it to beingshut in and imprisoned by the British and French, who controlled much of thesurrounding regions and possessed more powerful navies.  Mussolini was determined to expand his ownnavy and gain dominance over southern Europe and northern Africa, andultimately build an empire that would stretch from the Straitof Gibraltar at the western tip of theMediterranean Sea to the Strait of Hormuz near the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, Greece hadbecome alarmed by the Italian invasion of Albania.  Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, whoironically held fascist views and was pro-German, turned to Britain for assistance.  The British Royal Navy, which had bases inmany parts of the Mediterranean, including Gibraltar,Malta, Cyprus, Egypt,and Palestine, then made security stops in Crete and other Greek islands.

Italian-Greek relations, which were strained since the late 1920s byMussolini’s expansionist agenda, deteriorated further.  In 1940, Italyinitiated an anti-Greek propaganda campaign, which included the demand that theGreek region of Epirus mustbe ceded to Albania,since it contained a large ethnic Albanian population.  The Epirusclaim was popular among Albanians, who offered their support for Mussolini’sambitions on Greece.  Mussolini accused Greece of being a British puppet,citing the British naval presence in Greek ports and offshore waters.  In reality, he was alarmed that the BritishNavy lurking nearby posed a direct threat to Italyand hindered his plans to establish full control of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.

Italy then launchedarmed provocations against Greece,which included several incidents in July-August 1940, where Italian planesattacked Greek vessels at Kissamos, Gulf of Corinth, Nafpaktos, and Aegina.  On August15, 1940, an undetected Italian submarine sank the Greek light cruiser Elli. Greek authorities found evidence that pointed to Italian responsibilityfor the Elli sinking, but PrimeMinister Metaxas did not take any retaliatory action, as he wanted to avoid warwith Italy.

Also in August 1940, Mussolini gave secret orders to his military highcommand to start preparations for an invasion of Greece.  But in a meeting with Hitler, Mussolini wasprevailed upon by the German leader to suspend the invasion in favor of theItalian Army concentrating on defeating the British in North Africa.  Hitler wasconcerned that an Italian incursion in the Balkans would worsen the perennialstate of ethnic tensions in that region and perhaps prompt other major powers,such as the Soviet Union or Britain,to intervene there.  The Romanian oilfields at Ploiesti, which were extremely vitalto Germany,could then be threatened.  In August1940, unbeknown to Mussolini, Hitler had secretly instructed the Germany military high command to draw up plansfor his greatest project of all, the conquest of the Soviet Union.  And for thismonumental undertaking, Hitler wanted no distractions, including one in theBalkans.  In the fall of 1940, Mussolinideferred his attack on Greece,and issued an order to demobilize 600,000 Italian troops.

Then on October 7, 1940, Hitler deployed German troops in Romania at therequest of the new pro-Nazi government led by Prime Minister IonAntonescu.  Mussolini, upon beinginformed by Germany fourdays later, was livid, as he believed that Romania fell inside his sphere ofinfluence.  More disconcerting forMussolini was that Hitler had again initiated a major action without firstnotifying him.  Hitler had acted alone inhis conquests of Poland, Denmark, Norway,France, and the Low Countries, and had given notice to the Italians onlyafter the fact.  Mussolini was determinedthat Hitler’s latest stunt would be reciprocated with his own move against Greece.  Mussolini stated, “Hitler faces me with afait accompli.  This time I am going topay him back in his own coin. He will find out from the papers that I haveoccupied Greece.In this way, the equilibrium will be re-established.”

On October 13, 1940 and succeeding days, Mussolini finalized with his topmilitary commanders the immediate implementation of the invasion plan forGreece, codenamed “Contingency G”, with Italian forces setting out fromAlbania.  A modification was made, wherean initial force of six Italian divisions would attack the Epirus region, to be followed bythe arrival of more Italian troops.  Thecombined forces would advance to Athens andbeyond, and capture the whole of Greece.  The modified plan was opposed by GeneralPietro Badoglio, the Italian Chief of Staff, who insisted that the originalplan be carried out: a full-scale twenty-division invasion of Greece with Athens as the immediate objective.  Other factors cited by military officers whowere opposed to immediate invasion were the need for more preparation time, therecent demobilization of 600,000 troops, and the inadequacy of Albanian portsto meet the expected large volume of men and war supplies that would be broughtin from Italy.

But Mussolini would not be dissuaded. His decision to invade was greatly influenced by three officials:Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano (who was also Mussolini’s son-in-law),who stated that most Greeks detested their government and would not resist anItalian invasion; the Italian Governor-General of Albania Francesco Jacomoni,who told Mussolini that Albanians would support an Italian invasion in returnfor Epirus being annexed to Albania; and the commander of Italian forces inAlbania General Sebastiano Prasca, who assured Mussolini that Italian troops inAlbania were sufficient to capture Epirus within two weeks.  These three men were motivated by thepotential rewards to their careers that an Italian victory would have; forexample, General Prasca, like most Italian officers, coveted being conferredthe rank of “Field Marshall”. Mussolini’s order for the invasion had the following objectives,“Offensive in Epirus,observation and pressure on Salonika, and in a second phase, march on Athens”.

On October 18, 1940, Mussolini asked King Boris II of Bulgaria to participate in a joint attack on Greece, but the monarch declined, since underthe Balkan Pact of 1934, other Balkan countries would intervene for Greece in a Bulgarian-Greekwar.  Deciding that its border with Bulgaria was secure from attack, the Greekgovernment transferred half of its forces defending the Bulgarian border to Albania;as well, all Greek reserves were deployed to the Albanian front.  With these moves, by the start of the war,Greek forces in Albaniaoutnumbered the attacking Italian Army.  Greecealso fortified its Albanian frontier. And because of Mussolini’s increased rhetoric and threats of attack, bythe time of the invasion, the Italians had lost the element of surprise.

[1] Mussolini had stated just five days earlier, on June 5, 1940,“I only need a few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peace conferenceas a man who has fought”.

November 7, 1941 – World War II: Stalin leads the October Revolution celebrations in the midst of the Battle of Moscow

On November 7, 1941, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin led the celebrations for the October Revolution in Moscow’s Red Square. In his speech, Stalin exhorted the parading soldiers as they were about to be sent to battle. Many of them would be killed in the fighting for Moscow. The event took place just as German forces were closing in on the Soviet capital.

In modern-day Russia, November 7th is celebrated as a Day of Military Honour in commemoration of the 1941 parade.

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

On October 2, 1941, shortly after the Kievcampaign ended, on Hitler’s orders, the Wehrmacht launched its offensive on Moscow.  For this campaign, codenamed OperationTyphoon, the Germans assembled an enormous force of 1.9 million troops, 48,000artillery pieces, 1,400 planes, and 1,000 tanks, the latter involving threePanzer Groups (now renamed Panzer Armies), the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (the lattertaken from Army Group North).  A seriesof spectacular victories followed: German 2nd Panzer Army, moving north fromKiev, took Oryol on October 3 and Bryansk on October 6, trapping 2 Sovietarmies, while German 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies to the north conducted a pincersattack around Vyazma, trapping 4 Soviet armies. The encircled Red Army forces resisted fiercely, requiring 28 divisionsof German Army Group Center and two weeks to eliminate thepockets.  Some 500,000–600,000 Soviettroops were captured, and the first of three lines of defenses on the approachto Moscow hadbeen breached.  Hitler and the GermanHigh Command by now were convinced that Moscowwould soon be captured, while in Berlin,rumors abounded that German troops would be home by Christmas.

Some Red Army elements from the Bryansk-Vyazma sectoravoided encirclement and retreated to the two remaining defense lines nearMozhaisk.  By now, the Soviet militarysituation was critical, with only 90,000 troops and 150 tanks left to defend Moscow.  Stalin embarked on a massive campaign toraise new armies and transfer formations from other sectors, and move largeamounts of weapons and military equipment to Moscow. Martial law was declared in the city, and on Stalin’s orders, thecivilian population was organized into work brigades to construct trenches andanti-tank traps along Moscow’sperimeter.  As well, consumer industriesin the capital were converted to support the war effort, e.g. an automobile plantnow produced light weapons, a clock factory made mine detonators, and machineshops repaired tanks and military vehicles.

On October 15, 1941, on Stalin’s orders, the stategovernment, communist party leadership, and Soviet military high commandevacuated from Moscow, and established (temporary) headquarters at Kuibyshev(present-day Samara).  Stalin and a smallcore of officials remained in Moscow,which somewhat calmed the civilian population that had panicked at thegovernment evacuation, and initially had also hastened to leave the capital.

On October 13, 1941, while mopping up operations continuedat the Bryansk-Vyazma sector, German armored units thrust into the Sovietdefense lines at Mozhaisk, breaking through after four days of fighting, andtaking Kalinin, Kaluga, and then Naro-Fominsk (October 21) and Volokolamsk(October 27), with Soviet forces retreating to new lines behind the NaraRiver.  The way to Moscow now appeared open.

In fact, Operation Typhoon was by now sputtering, withGerman forces severely depleted and counting only 30% of operational motorvehicles and 30-50% available troop strength in most units.  Furthermore, since nearly the start ofOperation Typhoon, the weather had deteriorated, with the seasonal cold rainsand wet snow turning the unpaved roads into a virtually impassable clayeymorass (a phenomenon known in Russia as “Rasputitsa”, literally, “time withoutroads”) that brought German motorized and horse traffic to a standstill.  The stoppage in movement also prevented the deliveryto the frontlines of troop reinforcements, supplies, and munitions.  On October 31, 1941, with weather and roadconditions worsening, the German High Command stopped the advance, this pauseeventually lasting over two weeks, until November 15.  Temperatures also had begun to drop, and theGermans were yet without winter clothing and winterization supplies for theirequipment, which also were caught up in the weather-induced logistical delay.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, Stalin and the Soviet High Command tookadvantage of this crucial delay by hastily organizing 11 new armies andtransferring 30 divisions from Siberia (together with 1,000 tanks and 1,000planes) for Moscow, the latter being made available following Sovietintelligence information indicating that the Japanese did not intend to attackthe Soviet Far East.  By mid-November1941, the Soviets had fortified three defensive lines around Moscow, set up artillery and ambush pointsalong the expected German routes of advance, and reinforced Soviet frontlineand reserve armies.  Ultimately, Sovietforces in Moscowwould total 2 million troops, 3,200 tanks, 7,600 artillery pieces, and 1,400planes.

On November 15, 1941, cold, dry weather returned, whichfroze and hardened the ground, allowing the Wehrmacht to resume itsoffensive.  For the final push to Moscow,three panzer armies were tasked with executing a pincers movement: the 2nd inthe south, and the 3rd and 4th in the north, both pincer arms to link up at Noginsk,40 miles east of Moscow.  Then withSoviet forces diverted to protect the flanks, German 4th Army would attack fromthe west directly into Moscow.

In the southern pincer, German 2nd Panzer Army had reachedthe outskirts of Tulaas early as October 26, but was stopped by strong Soviet resistance as well assupply shortages, bad weather, and destroyed roads and bridges.  On November 18, while still suffering fromlogistical shortages, 2nd Panzer Army attacked toward Tula and made only slow progress, although itcaptured Stalinogorsk on November 22.  Inlate November 1941, a powerful Soviet counter-attack with two armies andSiberian units inflicted a decisive defeat on German 2nd Panzer Army atKashira, which effectively stopped the southern advance.

To the north, German 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies made moreheadway, taking Klin (November 24) and Solnechnogorsk (November 25), and onNovember 28, crossed the Moscow-Volga Canal, to begin encirclement of thecapital from the north.  Wehrmacht troopsalso reached Krasnaya Polyana and possibly also Khimki, 18 miles and 11 milesfrom Moscow,respectively, marking the farthest extent of the German advance and also whereGerman officers using binoculars were able to make out some of the city’s mainbuildings.

With both pincers immobilized, on December 1, 1941, German4th Army attacked from the west, but encountered the strong defensive linesfronting Moscow,and was repulsed.  Furthermore, by earlyDecember 1941, snow blizzards prevailed and temperatures plummeted to –30°C(–22°F) to –40°C (–40°F), and German Army Group Center, which wasfighting without winter clothing, suffered 130,000 casualties fromfrostbite.  German tanks, trucks, andweapons, still not winterized, suffered operational malfunctions in the winteryconditions.  Furthermore, because of poorweather prevailing throughout much of Operation Typhoon, the Luftwaffe, whichhad proved decisive in earlier battles, had so far played virtually no part inthe Moscowcampaign.

The final German push for Moscow was undertaken with greatly depletedresources in manpower and logistical support, but the German High Command hadhoped that one final fierce and determined attack might overcome the last enemyresistance.  Then with the offensivefailing, the Germans turned to hold onto their positions, and correctlyassessed that the Soviet frontline forces were just as battered, but unawarethat large numbers of Red Army reserve armies were now in place and poised togo on the offensive.

On December 6, 1941, Soviet forces comprising the Western,Southwestern, and Kalinin Fronts, with estimates placing total troop strengthat 500,000 to 1.1 million, launched a powerful counter-attack that took theGermans completely by surprise.  TheSoviets initially made slow progress, but soon recaptured Solnechnogorsk on December12 and Klin on December 15, and with the German lines crumbling, nearly trappedthe German 2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies in separate encirclement maneuvers.

On December 8, 1941, Hitler ordered German forces to holdtheir lines, but on December 14, General Franz Halder, head of the German ArmyHigh Command, believing that the frontline could not be held, ordered a limitedwithdrawal behind the Oka River.  On December 20, a furious Hitler met withfrontline commanders and rescinded the withdrawal instruction, and ordered thatpresent lines be defended at all costs. A heated argument then ensued, with the generals pointing out thebattered conditions of the troops and that German casualties from the cold werehigher than those from actual combat.  OnDecember 25, Hitler dismissed forty high-ranking officers, including GeneralHeinz Guderian (2nd Panzer Army), General Erich Hoepner (4th Panzer Army), andGeneral Fedor von Bock (Army Group Center),the latter for “medical reasons”.  Oneweek earlier, Hitler had also fired General Walther von Brauchitsch,Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces, and took over for himself thecontrol of all German forces and all military decisions.

By late December 1941 to January 1942, the Red Armycounter-offensive was pushing back the Germans north, south, and west ofMoscow, with the Soviets retaking Naro-Fominsk (December 26), Kaluga (December28), and Maloyaroslavets (January 10). But on January 7, 1942, the Red Army, soon experiencing manpower lossesand extended supply lines, and increasing German resistance, halted itsoffensive, by then having driven back the Wehrmacht some 60-150 miles from Moscow.  The Luftwaffe, which thus far had been anon-factor, took advantage of a break in the weather and took to the skies,attacking Soviet positions and evacuating trapped German units, and provedinstrumental in averting the complete collapse of ArmyGroup Center,which had established new defense lines, including a section, called the RzhevSalient, which potentially could threaten Moscow.

November 6, 1956 – Suez Crisis: Britain announces a unilateral ceasefire

On November 6, 1956, Britain,without consulting its allies France and Israel, announced a unilateralceasefire, ending nine days of fighting in the Suez Crisis. The reasons for theBritish sudden about-face in the midst of the fighting stem from both domesticand international pressures.  In London and other Britishcities, anti-war protests and demonstrations immediately broke out after thewar began.  The immense public supportfor starting war against Egyptafter Nasser seized the Suez Canal hadsubsided by the time of the invasion.

The Suez Crisis was a war between Egyptagainst the alliance of Britain,France, and Israel for control of the politically andeconomically vital Suez Canal, a man-modified shipping channel that connectsthe Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

The Suez Crisis was a war between Egypt against the alliance of Britain, France, and Israel for control of the politically and economically vital Suez Canal, a man-modified shipping channel that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

(Taken from Suez Crisis – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background TheSuez Canal in Egypt is aman-made shipping waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the IndianOcean via the Red Sea (Map 7).  The Suez Canal was completed by a Frenchengineering firm in 1869 and thereafter became the preferred shipping and traderoute between Europe and Asia, as it considerablyreduced the travel time and distance from the previous circuitous route aroundthe African continent.  Since 1875, thefacility was operated by an Anglo-French private conglomerate.  By the twentieth century, nearly two-thirdsof all oil tanker traffic to Europe passed through the Suez Canal.

In the late 1940s, a wave of nationalism swept across Egypt,leading to the overthrow of the ruling monarchy and the establishment of arepublic.  In 1951, intense publicpressure forced the Egyptian government to abolish the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of1936, although the agreement was yet to expire in three years.

With the rise in power of the Egyptian nationalists led byGamal Abdel Nasser (who later became president in 1956), Britain agreed to withdraw its military forcesfrom Egyptafter both countries signed the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1954.  The last British troops left Egyptin June 1956.  Nevertheless, theagreement allowed the British to use its existing military base located nearthe Suez Canal for seven years and the possibility of its extension if Egyptwas attacked by a foreign power.  TheAnglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1954 and foreign control of the Suez Canal wereresented by many Egyptians, especially the nationalists, who believed thattheir country was still under semi-colonial rule and not truly sovereign.

Furthermore, President Nasser was hostile to Israel,which had dealt the Egyptian Army a crushing defeat in the 1948 Arab-IsraeliWar.  President Nasser wanted to startanother war with Israel.  Conversely, the Israeli government believedthat Egypt was behind theterrorist activities that were being carried out in Israel.  The Israelis also therefore were ready to goto war against Egyptto put an end to the terrorism.

Egypt andIsrael sought to increasetheir weapons stockpiles through purchases from their main suppliers, the United States, Britain,and France.  The three Western powers, however, had agreedamong themselves to make arms sales equally and only in limited quantities to Egypt and Israel, to prevent an arms race.

Friendly relations between Israeland France,however, were moving toward a military alliance.  By early 1955, Francewas sending large quantities of weapons to Israel.  In Egypt,President Nasser was indignant at the Americans’ conditions to sell him arms:that the weapons were not to be used against Israel,and that U.S. advisers wereto be allowed into Egypt.  President Nasser, therefore, approached theSoviet Union, which agreed to support Egypt militarily.  In September 1955, large amounts of Sovietweapons began to arrive in Egypt.

The United Statesand Britainwere infuriated.  The Americans believedthat Egypt was falling underthe sphere of influence of the Soviet Union,their Cold War enemy.  Adding to thisperception was that Egyptrecognized Red China.  Meanwhile, Britainfelt that its historical dominance in the Arab region was beingundermined.  The United States and Britain withdrew their earlierpromise to President Nasser to fund his ambitious project, the construction ofthe massive Aswan Dam.

Egyptian troops then seized the Suez Canal, which President Nasser immediately nationalized with thepurpose of using the profits from its operations to help build the AswanDam.  President Nasser ordered theAnglo-French firm operating the Suez Canal to leave; he also terminated thefirm’s contract, even though its 99-year lease with Egypt still was due toexpire in 12 years, in 1968.

The British and French governments were angered by Egypt’s seizure of the Suez Canal.  A few days later, Britain and Francedecided to take armed action: their military leaders met and began to preparefor an invasion of Egypt.  In September 1956, Franceand Israel also jointlyprepared for war against Egypt.

November 5, 1978 – Iranian Revolution: In a TV broadcast, the Shah of Iran acknowledges the ongoing revolution but disapproves of it

On November 5, 1978, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi acknowledgedin a nationwide broadcast the ongoing popular revolution taking place but saysthat he disapproved of it. He also pledged to make amends for his mistakes andwork to restore democracy. The following day, he dismissed Prime MinisterSharif-Emami, replacing him with General Gholam Reza Azhari, a moderatemilitary officer.  The Shah also arrestedand jailed 80 former government officials whom he believed had failed thecountry and ultimately were responsible for the current unrest; the loss of hisstaunchest supporters, however, further isolated the Shah.  Simultaneously, he also released hundreds ofopposition political prisoners.

(Taken from Iranian Revolution – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background Underthe Shah, Iran developedclose political, military, and economic ties with the United States, was firmly West-aligned andanti-communist, and received military and economic aid, as well as purchasedvast amounts of weapons and military hardware from the United States.  The Shah built a powerful military, at itspeak the fifth largest in the world, not only as a deterrent against the SovietUnion but just as important, as a counter against the Arab countries(particularly Iraq), Iran’s traditional rival for supremacy in the Persian Gulfregion.  Local opposition and dissentwere stifled by SAVAK (Organization of Intelligence and National Security;Persian: Sāzemān-e Ettelā’āt va Amniyat-e Keshvar), Iran’s CIA-trained intelligence andsecurity agency that was ruthlessly effective and transformed the country intoa police state.

Iran, theworld’s fourth largest oil producer, achieved phenomenal economic growth in the1960s and 1970s and more particularly after the 1973 oil crisis when world oilprices jumped four-fold, generating huge profits for Iran that allowed its government toembark on massive infrastructure construction projects as well as socialprograms such as health care and education. And in a country where society was both strongly traditionalist andreligious (99% of the population is Muslim), the Shah led a government that wasboth secular and western-oriented, and implemented programs and policies thatsought to develop the country based on western technology and some aspects ofwestern culture.  Iran’s push towesternize and secularize would be major factors in the coming revolution.  The initial signs of what ultimately became afull-blown uprising took place sometime in 1977.

At the core of the Shiite form of Islam in Iran is theulama (Islamic scholars) led by ayatollahs (the top clerics) in a religioushierarchy that includes other orders of preachers, prayer leaders, and clericauthorities that administered the 9,000 mosques around the country.  Traditionally, the ulama was apolitical anddid not interfere with state policies, but occasionally offered counsel or itsopinions on government matters and policies.

In January 1963, the Shah launched sweeping major social andeconomic reforms aimed at shedding off the country’s feudal, traditionalistculture and to modernize society.  Theseambitious reforms, known as the “White Revolution”, included programs thatadvanced health care and education, and the labor and business sectors.  The centerpiece of these reforms, however,was agrarian reform, where the government broke up the vast agriculturelandholdings owned by the landed few and distributed the divided parcels tolandless peasants who formed the great majority of the rural population.  While land reform achieved some measure ofsuccess with about 50% of peasants acquiring land, the program failed to winover the rural population as the Shah intended; instead, the deeply religiouspeasants remained loyal to the clergy. Agrarian reform also antagonized the clergy, as most clerics belonged towealthy landowning families who now were deprived of their lands.

Much of the clergy did not openly oppose these reforms,except for some clerics in Qomled by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who in January 22, 1963 denounced the Shahfor implementing the White Revolution; this would mark the start of a longantagonism that would culminate in the clash between secularism and religionfifteen years later.  The clerics alsoopposed other aspects of the White Revolution, including extending votingrights to women and allowing non-Muslims to hold government office, as well asbecause the reforms would reduce the cleric’s influence in education and familylaw.  The Shah responded to AyatollahKhomeini’s attacks by rebuking the religious establishment as being old-fashionedand inward-looking, which drew outrage from even moderate clerics.  Then on June 3, 1963, Ayatollah Khomeinilaunched personal attacks on the Shah, calling the latter “a wretched,miserable man” and likening the monarch to the “tyrant” Yazid I (an Islamiccaliph of the 7th century).  Thegovernment responded two days later, on June 5, 1963, by arresting and jailingthe cleric.

Ayatollah Khomeini’s arrest sparked strong protests thatdegenerated into riots in Tehran, Qom, Shiraz,and other cities.  By the third day, theviolence had been quelled, but not before a disputed number of protesters werekilled, i.e. government cites 32 fatalities, the opposition gives 15,000, andother sources indicate hundreds.

Ayatollah Khomeini was released a few months later.  Then on October 26, 1964, he again denouncedthe government, this time for the Iranian parliament’s recent approval of theso-called “Capitulation” Bill, which stipulated that U.S.military and civilian personnel in Iran, if charged with committing criminaloffenses, could not be prosecuted in Iranian courts.  To Ayatollah Khomeini, the law was evidencethat the Shah and the Iranian government were subservient to the United States.  The ayatollah again was arrested andimprisoned; government and military leaders deliberated on his fate, whichincluded execution (but rejected out of concerns that it might incite moreunrest), and finally decided to exile the cleric.  In November 1964, Ayatollah Khomeini wasforced to leave the country; he eventually settled in Najaf, Iraq,where he lived for the next 14 years.

While in exile, the cleric refined his absolutist version ofthe Islamic concept of the “Wilayat al Faqih” (Guardianship of theJurisprudent), which stipulates that an Islamic country’s highest spiritual andpolitical authority must rest with the best-qualified member (jurisprudent) ofthe Shiite clergy, who imposes Sharia (Islamic) Law and ensures that statepolicies and decrees conform with this law. The cleric formerly had accepted the Shah and the monarchy in theoriginal concept of Wilayat al Faqih; later, however, he viewed all forms ofroyalty incompatible with Islamic rule. In fact, the ayatollah would later reject all other (European) forms ofgovernment, specifically citing democracy and communism, and famously declaredthat an Islamic government is “neither east nor west”.

Ayatollah Khomeini’s political vision of clerical rule wasdisseminated in religious circles and mosques throughout Iran from audiorecordings that were smuggled into the country by his followers and which wastolerated or largely ignored by Iranian government authorities.  In the later years of his exile, however, thecleric had become somewhat forgotten in Iran, particularly among theyounger age groups.

Meanwhile in Iran,the Shah continued to carry out secular programs that alienated most of thepopulation.  In October 1971, tocommemorate 25 centuries since the founding of the Persian Empire, the Shahorganized a lavish program of activities in Persepolis, capital of the First PersianEmpire.  Then in March 1976, the Shahannounced that Iranhenceforth would adopt the “imperial” calendar (based on the reign of Persianking Cyrus the Great) to replace the Islamic calendar.  These acts, considered anti-Islamic by the clergyand many Iranians, would form part of the anti-royalist backlash in the comingrevolution.

November 4, 1962 – Sino-Indian War: China offers India a mutual secession of territory

On November 4, 1962, the Chinese government through PremierZhou Enlai offered to relinquish its claim to the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA)in exchange for Indiadoing the same for Aksai Chin. The offer was made during a lull in the fightingduring the Sino-Indian War. On November 14, Indian Prime Minister JawaharlalNehru rejected the offer, leading to a resumption of fighting after athree-week lull. In mid-November, the Indian government declared a state ofemergency throughout the country.

(Taken from Sino-Indian War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

The Sino-Indian War began on October 20, 1962 when Chineseforces launched offensives in two main sectors: in the eastern sector(North-East Frontier Agency; NEFA) north of the McMahon Line, and in thewestern sector in Aksai Chin.  Somefighting also occurred in the Nathu La Pass, Sikkim near the China-Indiaborder.  The Chinese government calledthe operation a “self-defensive counterattack”, implying that India had started the war bycrossing north of the McMahon Line.

Sino-Indian War.

Background In the 19th century, the British and Russian Empires were locked in a political and territorial rivalry known as the Great Game, where the two powers sought to control and dominate Central Asia.  The Russians advanced southward into territories that ultimately would form the present-day countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, while the British advanced northward across the Indian subcontinent.  By the mid-1800s, Britain had established full control over territories of British India and the Princely States (present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh).  Just as it did with the Russians regarding British territories in northwest India, the British government sought to establish its territorial limits in the east with the other great regional power, China.  British authorities particularly wanted to delineate British India’s boundaries in Kashmir in the north with China’s Xinjiang Province, as well as British India’s borders in the east with Tibet (a semi-autonomous state under Chinese suzerainty), thereby establishing a common British India-China border across the towering Himalaya Mountains. 

In 1865, the Survey of India published a boundary for Kashmir that included the 37,000 square-kilometer AksaiChin region (Figure 43), a barren, uninhabited high-altitude (22,000 feet)desert containing salt and soda flats. However, this delineation, called the Johnson Line (named after WilliamJohnson, a British surveyor), was rejected by the British government.

In 1893, a Chinese official in Kashgar proposed to theBritish that the Laktsang Range serve as the British India-China border, withthe Lingzi Tang Plains to its south to become part of Kashmir and Aksai Chin toits north to become part of China.  The proposal found favor with the British,who in 1899, drew the Macartney-MacDonald Line (named after George Macartney,the British consul-general in Kashgar and Claude MacDonald, a Britishdiplomat), which was presented to the Chinese government.  The latter did not respond, which the Britishtook to mean that the Chinese agreed with the Line.  Thereafter, up until about 1908, British mapsof Indiafeatured the Macartney-MacDonald Line (Figure 44) as the China-Indiaborder.  However, by the 1920s, theBritish published new maps using the Johnson Line as the Kashmir-Xinjiangborder.

Similarly, British authorities took steps to establishBritish India’s boundaries with Tibetand China.  For this purpose, in 1913-1914, in a seriesof negotiations held in Simla (present-day Shimla in northern India), representatives from China, Tibet,and British India agreed on the territorial limits between “Outer Tibet” and British India. Outer Tibetwas to be formed as an autonomous Tibetan polity under Chinese suzerainty.  However, the Chinese delegate objected to theproposed border between “Outer Tibet” and “Inner Tibet”, and walked out of theconference.  Tibetan and Britishrepresentatives continued with the conference, leading to the Simla Accord(1914) which established the McMahon Line (named after Henry McMahon, theForeign Secretary of British India). Inparticular, some 80,000 square kilometers became part of British India, which later was administered as the North-East FrontierAgency (NEFA).  The Tawang area, locatednear the Bhutan-Tibet-India junction, also was ceded to British India and would become a major battleground in the Sino-IndianWar.

The Chinese government rejected the Simla Accord, statingthat Tibet, as a politicalsubordinate of China,could not enter into treaties with foreign governments.  The British also initially were averse toimplementing the Simla Accord, as it ran contrary to the 1907 Anglo-RussianConvention which recognized China’ssuzerainty over Tibet.  But with Russiaand Britainagreeing to void the 1907 Convention, the British established the McMahon Line(Figure 44) as the Tibet-India border. By the 1930s, the British government had begun to use the McMahon Linein its British Indian maps.

In August 1947, British rule in Indiaended with the partition of British India into the independent countries of India and Pakistan.  Meanwhile, for much of the first half of the20th century, China convulsed in a multitude of conflicts: the Revolution of1911 which ended 2,000 years of imperial rule; the fracturing of China duringthe warlord era (1916-1928); the Japanese invasion and occupation of Manchuriain 1931, and then of other parts of China in 1937-1945; and the Chinese CivilWar (1927-1949) between Communist and Nationalist forces.  By 1949, communist forces had prevailed inthe civil war and in October of that year, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the CommunistParty of China, proclaimed the formation of the People’s Republic of China(PRC).

The government of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wasamong the first in the international community to recognize the PRC, and in theyears that followed, sought to cultivate strong Indian-Chinese relations.

In the early 1950s, a series of diplomatic and culturalexchanges between India and China led in April 1954 to an eight-year agreementcalled the Panchsheel Treaty (Sanskrit, panch, meaning five, and sheel, meaningvirtues), otherwise known as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, whichwas meant to form the basis for good relations between India and China.  The Panscheel five principles are: mutualrespect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutualnon-aggression; mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs;equality and cooperation for mutual benefit; and peaceful co-existence.  The slogan “Indians and Chinese are brothers”(Hindi: Hindi China bhai bhai) was popular and Prime Minister Nehru advocated aSino-Indian “Asian Axis” to serve as a counter-balance to the American-SovietCold War rivalry.

However, the poorly defined India-China border wouldovercome these attempts to establish warm bilateral relations.  From the outset, Indiaand Chinaclaimed ownership over Aksai Chin and NEFA. India released mapsthat essentially duplicated the British-era maps which showed both areas aspart of India.  China likewise claimed sovereigntyover these areas, but also stated that as it had not signed any border treatieswith the former British Indian government, the India-China border must beresolved through new negotiations.

Two events caused Sino-Indian relations to deterioratefurther.  First, in the 1950s, China built a road through Aksai Chin thatlinked Xinjiang and Tibet.  Second, in 1959, in the aftermath of a failedTibetan uprising against the Chinese occupation forces in Tibet, the Indian government provided refuge in India for the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s political and spiritualleader.  Earlier in 1950, China had invaded and annexed Tibet.  The Indian government had hoped that Tibet would remain an independent state (and abuffer zone between Indiaand China, as it had been inthe colonial era), but in the early 1950s period of friendly Sino-Indianrelations, India did notoppose Chinese military action in Tibet.

November 3, 1969 – Vietnam War: President Nixon delivers his “silent majority” speech

On November 3, 1969, U.S. President Richard Nixon addressed the nation on television and radio in what became known as the “silent majority” speech. In his address, Nixon stated “…to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support”, in reference to the ongoing Vietnam War. Nixon was continuing his predecessor President Lyndon B. Johnson’s program of “Vietnamization”, that is, gradual American disengagement from the war, with the South Vietnamese military gradually taking over the fighting after a period of being built up. During his campaign for president, Nixon had stated that he had a “secret plan” to end the war, which anti-war advocates believed was a quick end of American involvement in Vietnam. But once in office, Nixon continued with the United States being involved in the war, stating that a sudden withdrawal “would result in a collapse of confidence in American leadership”, and that “a nation cannot remain great if it betrays its allies and lets down its friends”.

In October 1969, protesters staged a giant rally in Washington, D.C., prompting President Nixon to address the nation on November 3 with his “silent majority” speech. In it, he stated that the United States must continue with gradual disengagement from the war to achieve “peace with honor”. He concluded by appealing to the “great silent majority” for support. A White House official later stated that “silent majority” refers to “a large and normally undemonstrative cross-section of the country that…refrained from articulating its opinions on the war”. Nixon also said that he would not be “dictated by a minority staging demonstrations in the streets”.

Southeast Asia during the 1960s

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

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

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

In the 1954 Geneva Accords, Cambodia had declared itsneutrality in regional conflicts, a policy it maintained in the early years ofthe Vietnam War.  However, by the early1960s, Cambodia’s reigningmonarch, Norodom Sihanouk, came under great pressure by the escalating war in Vietnam, and especially after 1963, when NorthVietnamese forces occupied sections of eastern Cambodiaas part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail system to South Vietnam.  Then in the mid-1960s, Sihanouk signedsecurity agreements with Chinaand North Vietnam, where inexchange for receiving economic incentives, he acquiesced to the NorthVietnamese occupation of eastern Cambodia.  He also allowed the use of the port of Sihanoukville(located in southern Cambodia)for shipments from communist countries for the Viet Cong/NLF through a newlyopened land route across Cambodia.  This new route, called the Sihanouk Trail(Figure 5) by the Western media, became a major alternative logistical systemby North Vietnamduring the period of intense American air operations over the Laotian side ofthe Ho Chi Minh Trail.

In July 1968, under strong local and regional pressures,Sihanouk re-opened diplomatic relations with the United States, and his governmentswung to being pro-West.  However, in March1970, he was overthrown in a coup, and a hard-line pro-U.S. government underPresident Lon Nol abolished the monarchy and restructured the country as the Khmer Republic. For Cambodia, thespill-over of the Vietnam War into its territory would have disastrousconsequences, as the fledging communist Khmer Rouge insurgents would soonobtain large North Vietnamese support that would plunge Cambodia into a full-scale civilwar.  For the United States (and SouthVietnam), the pro-U.S. Lon Nol government served as a green light for American(and South Vietnamese) forces to conduct military operations in Cambodia.

The U.S.bombing operations on Viet Cong/North Vietnamese bases in eastern Cambodia forced North Vietnam to increase its military presence in other partsof Cambodia.  The North Vietnamese Army seized controlparticularly of northeastern Cambodia,where its forces defeated and expelled the Cambodian Army.  Then in response to the Cambodiangovernment’s request for military assistance, starting in late April to earlyMay 1970, American and South Vietnamese forces launched a major groundoffensive into eastern Cambodia.  The main U.S. objective was to clear theregion of the North Vietnamese/Viet Cong in order to allow the planned Americandisengagement from the Vietnam War to proceed smoothly and on schedule.  The offensive also served as a gauge of the progress of Vietnamization, particularlythe performance of the South Vietnamese Army in large-scale operations.

In the nearly three-month successful operation (known as theCambodian Campaign) which lasted until July 1970, American and South Vietnameseforces, which at their peak numbered over 100,000 troops, uncovered severalabandoned major Viet Cong/North Vietnamese bases and dozens of underground storagebunkers containing huge quantities of materiel and supplies.  In all, American and South Vietnamese troopscaptured over 20,000 weapons, 6,000 tons of rice, 1,800 tons of ammunition, 29tons of communications equipment, over 400 vehicles, and 55 tons of medicalsupplies.  Some 10,000 Viet Cong/NorthVietnamese were killed in the fighting, although the majority of their forces(some 40,000) fled deeper into Cambodia.  However, the campaign failed to achieve oneof its objectives: capturing the Viet Cong/NLF leadership COSVN (Central Officefor South Vietnam).  The Nixon administration also came underdomestic political pressure: in December 1970, and U.S. Congress passed a lawthat prohibited U.S. ground forces from engaging in combat inside Cambodia and Laos.

Before the Cambodian Campaign began, President Nixon hadannounced in a nationwide broadcast that he had committed U.S. ground troops to theoperation.  Within days, largedemonstrations of up to 100,000 to 150,000 protesters broke out in the United States,with the unrest again centered in universities and colleges.  On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University, Ohio,National Guardsmen opened fire on a crowd of protesters, killing four peopleand wounding eight others.  This incidentsparked even wider, increasingly militant and violent protests across thecountry.  Anti-war sentiment already wasintense in the United Statesfollowing news reports in November 1969 of what became known as the My LaiMassacre, where U.S. troopson a search and destroy mission descended on My Laiand My Khe villages and killed between 347 and 504 civilians, including womenand children.

American public outrage further was fueled when in June1971, the New York Times began publishing the “Pentagon Papers” (officiallytitled: United States– Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense),a highly classified study by the U.S. Department of Defense that was leaked tothe press.  The Pentagon Papers showedthat successive past administrations, including those of Presidents Truman,Eisenhower, and Kennedy, but especially of President Johnson, had many timesmisled the American people regarding U.S.involvement in Vietnam.  President Nixon sought legal grounds to stopthe document’s publication for national security reasons, but the U.S. SupremeCourt subsequently decided in favor of the New York Times and publicationcontinued, and which was also later taken up by the Washington Post and othernewspapers.

As in Cambodia,the U.S. high command hadlong desired to launch an offensive into Laos to cut off the logisticalportion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail system located there.  But restrained by Laos’ official neutrality,the U.S. military instead carried out secret bombing campaigns in eastern Laosand intelligence gathering operations (the latter conducted by the top-secretMilitary Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group, MACV-SOGthat involved units from Special Forces, Navy SEALS, U.S. Marines, U.S. AirForce, and CIA) there.

The success of the Cambodian Campaign encouraged PresidentNixon to authorize a similar ground operation into Laos.  But as U.S. Congress had prohibited Americanground troops from entering Laos,South Vietnamese forces would launch the offensive into Laos with the objective of destroying the Ho ChiMinh Trail, with U.S. forcesonly playing a supporting role (and remaining within the confines of South Vietnam).  The operation also would gauge the combatcapability of the South Vietnamese Army in the ongoing Vietnamization program.

November 2, 1949 – Indonesian War of Independence: The Netherlands and Indonesian revolutionary government establish the United States of Indonesia

Indonesia in Southeast Asia. During its colonial period, Indonesia was known as the Dutch East Indies.

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

By late 1946, the British military had completed its mission in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), that of repatriating Japanese forces to Japan and freeing the Allied prisoners of war following the end of World War II.  By December 1946, British forces had departed from the islands, but not before setting up mediation talks between the Dutch government (which wanted to restore colonial rule) and the Indonesian revolutionaries (which desired independence), an initiative that led the two sides to agree to a ceasefire in October 1946.  Earlier in June 1946, the Dutch government and representatives of ethnic and religious groups and the aristocracy from Sulawesi, Maluku, West New Guinea, and other eastern states met in South Sulawesi and agreed to form a federal-type government attached to the Netherlands.  In talks held with the Indonesian revolutionaries, Dutch authorities presented a similar proposal which on November 12, 1946, produced the Linggadjati Agreement, where the two sides agreed to establish a federal system known as the United States of Indonesia (USI) by January 1, 1949.  The Republic of Indonesia (consisting of Java, Madura, and Sumatra) would comprise one state under USI; in turn, USI and the Netherlands would form the Netherlands-Indonesian Union, with each polity being a fully sovereign state but under the symbolic authority of the Dutch monarchy.

This Agreement met strong opposition in the Indonesiangovernment but eventually was ratified in February 1947 with strong pressurefor its passage being exerted by Sukarno and Hatta.  In December 1946 in South Sulawesi, Pemuda fighters who opposed the agreement restartedhostilities.  Dutch forces, led byCaptain Raymond Westerling, used brutal methods to quell the rebellion, killingsome 3,000 Pemuda fighters.  TheAgreement also was resisted in the Netherlands, but in March 1947, amodified version was passed in the House of Representatives of the Dutchparliament.

Then in July 1947, declaring that the Indonesian governmentdid not fully comply with the Agreement, Dutch forces launched OperationProduct, a military offensive (which the Dutch government called a “policeaction”) in Java and Sumatra, seizing control of the vital economic regions,including sugar-producing areas in Java, and the rubber plantations in Medan,and petroleum and coal facilities in Palembang and Padang.  Dutch ships also imposed a naval blockade ofthe ports, restricting the Indonesian Republic’s economiccapacity.

In early 1947, acting on the diplomatic initiative of India and Australia, the United NationsSecurity Council (UNSC) released Resolution 27, which called on the two sidesto stop fighting and enter into peaceful negotiations.  On August 5, 1947, a ceasefire came intoeffect. A stipulation in Resolution 27 established the Committee of Good Office(CGO), a three-person body consisting of representatives, one named by the Netherlands, another by Indonesia, anda third, mutually agreed by both sides. In subsequent negotiations, the two sides agreed to form the Van MookLine to delineate their respective areas of control which, because of thefighting, the Dutch-held territories in Java and Sumatra increased, while thoseof the Indonesian Republic decreased.

In January 1948, the two sides signed the Renville Agreement(named after the USS Renville, a U.S. Navy ship where the negotiations wereheld), which confirmed their respective territories in the Van Mook Line, andin the Dutch-held areas, a referendum would be held to decide whether theresidents there wanted to be under Indonesian or Dutch control.  Furthermore, in exchange for Indonesianforces withdrawing from Dutch-held areas as stipulated in the Van Mook Line,the Dutch Navy would end its blockade of the ports.

The Indonesian Republic, already weakened politically andmilitarily, was undermined further when its Islamic supporters in nowDutch-controlled West Java objected to the Renville Agreement and broke away toform Darul Islam (“Islamic State”), with the ultimate aim of turning Indonesiainto an Islamic country.  It opposed boththe Indonesian government and Dutch colonial authorities.  Darul Islam subsequently would be defeatedonly in 1962, some 13 years after the war had ended.

The Indonesian Republic also faced opposition from its othererstwhile allies, the communists (of the Indonesian Communist Party) and thesocialists (of the Indonesian Socialist Party), who in September 1948, secededand formed the “Indonesian Soviet Republic”in Madiun, East Java.  Fighting in September-October and continuinguntil December 1948 eventually led to the Indonesian Republicquelling the Madiun uprising, with tens of thousands of communists killed orimprisoned and their leaders executed or forced into exile.  Furthermore, the Indonesian Army itself wasplagued with internal problems, because the government, suffering from acutefinancial difficulties and unable to pay the soldiers’ salaries, had disbandeda number of military units.

With the Indonesian revolutionary government experiencinginternal problems, on December 19, 1948, Dutch forces launched Operation Kraai(“Operation Crow”), another “police action” on the contention that Indonesianguerillas had infiltrated the Van Mook Line and were carrying out subversiveactions inside Dutch-held areas in violation of the Renville Agreement.  Operation Kraai caught the revolutionariesoff guard, forcing the Indonesian Army to retreat to the countryside to avoidbeing annihilated.  As a result, Dutchforces captured large sections of Indonesian-held areas, including theRepublic’s capital, Yogyakarta.  Sukarno, Hatta, and other Republican leaderswere captured without resistance and exiled, this action being deliberate ontheir part, as they believed that this latest aggression by the Dutch militarywould be condemned by the international community.  Before allowing himself to be captured,Sukarno activated a clandestine “emergency government” in West Sumatra (to act as a caretaker government), which he had arrangedbeforehand as a contingency measure.

On December 24, 1948, the UNSC passed Resolution 63 whichdemanded the end of hostilities and the immediate release of Sukarno and otherIndonesian leaders.  Also by this time,the international media had taken hold of the conflict.  The United States also exerted pressure on the Dutch government,threatening to cut off Marshall Plan aid for the Netherlands’ post-World War IIreconstruction.  Operation Kraii alsogenerated division within USI as the Cabinets of Dutch-controlled states of East Indonesia and Pasundan resigned in protest of theDutch military actions. As a result of these pressures, a ceasefire was agreedby the two sides, which came into effect in Java (on December 31, 1948) and Sumatra (on January 5, 1949).

November 1, 1922 – Turkish War of Independence: The new nation of Turkey abolishes the Ottoman Sultanate

On October 29, 1923, the Republic of Turkey was established with Ankara as its capital and Mustafa Kemal as first president. This followed the successful Turkish War of Independence. One year earlier, on November 1, 1922, the Grand National Assembly (the Turkish national parliament), abolished the Ottoman Sultanate, forcing the Sultan Mehmed VI to abdicate and leave for exile abroad. The Ottoman Empire ended, and 600 years of Ottoman dynastic rule came to an end. In March 1924, the Caliphate was abolished, and Turkey transitioned into a secular, democratic state, which it is to this day.

The Ottoman Empire at its peak territorial extent

(Taken from The Ottoman Empire – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

History The imperial Islamic power known as the Ottoman Empire has its origin as one of many semi-independent Turkish tribal states (called beyliks) that formed during the breakdown and collapse of the Seljuk Turkish Empire.  Founded by Osman I (whose name was anglicized to Ottoman and from whom the empire derived its name), the Ottoman beylik achieved sovereignty from the Seljuk Sultanate in 1299.  With the influx of large numbers of Ghazi warriors (both Muslims and Christians) into his beylik, Osman built an army hoping to expand his domain at the expense of the tottering Byzantine Empire* situated to the west of his beylik.

In 1324, the Ottomans captured Bursa,where they established their new capital; Bursa’sfall also ended the Byzantine Empire’s presence in Anatolia.  On Osman’s death in 1326, the succession ofOttoman rulers, first by Osman’s son Orhan, continued to expand the emergingempire.  In 1387, Thessalonica was taken,marking the Ottomans’ first entry into Europe(via the southeast), a presence that would last, except for a brief pause, forsix centuries.  Further expansion intoBalkan Europe continued during the second half of the 1300s with the defeats ofthe Serbian and Bulgarian empires, and annexation of sections of what comprisemodern-day Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia,and Albania.

In 1402, Ottoman power was briefly eclipsed when Tamerlane,the Turkic-Mongol conqueror, invaded Anatolia.  Bayezid, the Ottoman ruler, was captured byTamerlane in battle, starting a turbulent period in the Ottoman court known asthe Ottoman Interregnum.  After aneleven-year power struggle among Bayezid’s sons for succession to the throne,Mehmed I prevailed and became the new sultan. With its leadership crisis resolved, the Ottomans resumed their campaignin Europe, recapturing parts of the Balkansthat had been lost during the interregnum.

By the mid-fifteenth century, Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire’s capital, had been surrounded byOttoman territories.  In early April1453, the Ottomans launched an attack on the city, starting a six-week siege onthe nearly impregnable fortress that was protected by two layers of defensivestone walls.  On May 29, 1453, the wallswere breached, and Constantinople fell.  The Ottomans then moved their capital to Constantinople.

Constantinople’s fall sent shock waves across Western Europe, which at that time was made up of manysmall rival Christian kingdoms, duchies, and principalities, and which allfeared falling under Muslim rule.  TheOttomans advanced further into Europe with the invasion of lands that comprisepresent-day Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,and Albania.  Other conquests also were made in parts ofmodern-day Hungary and Romania.  The invasion of Greecebegan with the capture of Athensin 1458; by the end of the century, most of the Greek mainland had beentaken.  By the first quarter of thesixteenth century, nearly all of the Balkans and some sections of eastern andcentral Europe were under Ottomancontrol.  However, two attempts (in 1529and 1532) to take Vienna failed, which wereresisted by the combined forces of the Habsburg monarchy of Austria and its Christian allies.

Under the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottomansreached the height of their power.  InAnatolia, other Turkish beyliks were defeated, making the Ottoman Sultan themaster of Asia Minor.  Suleiman’s forces also advanced into westernAsia and northern Africa, incorporating moreterritories to those previously won under the previous rulers, Mehmed II andSelim I.  In the east, Mesopotamia(present-day Iraq) also wastaken, while in the south, the Ottomans advanced into the Arabian Peninsula.

            Ottomanexpansion continued up to the mid-seventeenth century.  By then, the empire extended from Baghdad to Algeriaand from the Caucasus to eastern Europe.  The Ottomans owed much of their militarysuccess to their Janissary Army, an elite corps made up of professionalsoldiers.  At its peak and like theByzantine Empire before it, the Ottoman Empire was the wealthiest state inEurope, since its strategically located capital of Constantinople allowed theOttomans to control the main trade routes of the Silk Road that connectedEurope and Asia.  Furthermore, peace prevailed in conqueredlands, as the Ottoman Empire did not carry outforced conversion to Islam, but allowed its subjects to freely practice theirown faiths.  As well as diversity inreligion, the empire also contained many ethnicities, cultures, and languages,an aspect that ultimately would contribute to the Ottomans’ fall.

In May 1683, a major Ottoman offensive in Vienna was defeated by the Holy League, analliance of the Habsburg, German, and Polish forces.  This defeat marked the farthest extent of theOttoman advance into Europe and the start ofthe empire’s decline.

Then in the 1600s onward, Western Europe made rapid advances in the development of science andtechnology, leading to the production of stronger weapons.  The West also became wealthy; starting in1498 when the Portuguese discovered the sea route to Asia, the Ottoman Empire’s monopoly on the Silk trade ended.  Furthermore, Europe’s discovery anddevelopment of the New World brought enormousriches to the emerging Western European empires.

At the same time, the Ottoman Empireexperienced a long period of stagnation, where its economy floundered,bureaucratic corruption prevailed, and a rising inward-looking, Islam-centeredelement in government resisted the demands to carry out reforms.

Then, wars in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesagainst the Austrian Empire, and especially against the rising Russian Empire,revealed for the first time, the weakening Ottoman power.  In the Crimean War of 1853-1856, British andFrench forces intervened to prevent the Russians from seizing large parts ofOttoman territory, including Constantinopleitself.

Then after its defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878,the Ottoman Empire was forced to allow Romania,Serbia, and Montenegro to achieve their independences, whileBulgaria,though remaining under Ottoman rule, became de facto sovereign with its owngovernment.  Some fifty years earlier, in1832, Greecehad won its own war of independence, which ended four centuries of Ottoman rule.  By the 1800s, the Ottoman Empire was referredto disparagingly as the “sick man of Europe”,since it was unable to defend its territories against attacks by Europeanpowers.

The Ottoman demise came following World War I, where the Ottoman Empire emerged as a spent power after throwingits support behind the Central Powers, which likewise was defeated in thewar.  As a result, the Ottoman Empire lost all its remaining colonies and was itself partitionedby the victorious Allied Powers.  Turkishnationalists, led by Mustafa Kemal (whose surname “Ataturk” was added later),then emerged and began the Turkish War of Independence (separate article),which established the modern state of Turkey, consisting of the Turkishheartland of Anatolia as well as eastern Thrace, a sliver of land in theEuropean mainland.

October 31, 1941 – World War II: A U.S. destroyer is sunk by a German U-boat torpedo near Iceland, killing 100 sailors

On October 31, 1941, the U.S. Navy destroyer, USS Reuben James, was sunk after being struck by a torpedo from the German U-boat U-552 near Iceland.  Of the 144 crew comprising 7 officers, 136 sailors and 1 passenger, 100 were killed and 44 rescued.

At this point in World War II, the United States was still officially a non-belligerent, but effectively sympathetic to the side of the Allies. The American destroyer was part of the force escorting the convoys carrying war materials to Iceland, with Great Britain as their final destination. The American force protected the convoys to Iceland, after which escort security passed on to the British Navy.

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

The United States enters World War II At theoutbreak of World War II, the isolationist United States declared itsneutrality based on the U.S. Neutrality Act of 1937.  However, the U.S. government, led byPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt, was greatly alarmed by Hitler’s increasinglybelligerent foreign policy, and with its sympathy turned toward the Europeandemocracies, it had provided the 1937 Neutrality Act with a stipulation thatthe United States could sell weapons to hostile nations on a “cash and carry”basis, i.e. that the purchaser pay for the munitions in cash and transport themat its own expense and risk.  Thisprovision was intended to benefit Britainand France,as their powerful navies dominated the seas. In November 1939, the United States re-affirmed its neutrality, againwith the “cash and carry” provision that favored the Allies.  In June 1940, with the defeat of France, and Britainlosing much of its military equipment at Dunkirk,President Roosevelt approved the sale of thousands of old U.S. Army rifles andtons of ammunition to Britain.  Also, as the British Navy had lost many shipsin the campaigns in Norway and France, and in the defense of the Englishcoasts, in September 1940, the U.S. and British governments signed the“Destroyers for Bases” Agreement, where the United States transferred fifty olddestroyers to Britain in exchange for the British granting to the United States99-year leases to military bases in the Caribbean.  As well, the U.S.military was granted base rights in Newfoundland(in Canada) and Bermuda.

In a major act that moved the United States away from itsnominal neutrality, March 1941, the U.S. government approved the Lend-LeaseAct, where the United States could give weapons and other defense materialsfree of charge to “any country whose defense the [U.S.] President deems vitalto the defense of the U.S.”  Armaments,food, and funds soon arrived in Britain(and China, and later, the Soviet Union).  Thenext month, April 1941, the Pan-American Security Zone (established in October1939) was extended to 22° longitude to just west of Iceland.  In June 1941, following the U-boat sinking ofthe American vessel, the SS Robin Moor (its crew and passengers were allowed toboard lifeboats beforehand), the U.S. government froze German assets in theUnited States, and ordered Germany (and Italy) to close their consulates,except their embassies.

Finally, on December 8, 1941, the United States entered World War II by declaring war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Three days later,December 11, Germany (and Italy) declared war on the United States; that same day, the latterdeclared war on Germany (andItaly).

The United States in the Battleof the Atlantic At the outset, the United States was unprepared toconfront the U-boat threat, despite being able to draw on the Britishexperience and itself having faced many hostile encounters with U-boats.  The U.S. Navy ignored British Navyrecommendations to impose a blackout of coastal areas, or that merchant shipstravel in convoys, or that ships avoid regular maritime routes, and thatlighthouses and other navigational aids be deactivated.

What ensued was the German U-boat fleet’s  (second) “Happy Time” from January to June1942, where for the loss of only 22 U-boats, the Allies lost 1,000 lives and609 ships (9.1 million tons), comprising 25% of all Allied number of ships lostin World War II.  This episode in theAtlantic struggle was particularly tragic, as the U.S. Navy’s apparent disregardto implement war-time measures allowed the U-boats to attack with nearimpunity, most notably by using the nighttime silhouette of the docked merchantships against the backdrop of the bright city lights to torpedo thevessels.  Admiral Ernest King, commanderin chief of the U.S. Fleet, received criticism for not implementing the convoysystem, which British experience had shown was less vulnerable to U-boatattacks than individual ships traveling alone. As well, he was blamed for the feeble naval defense of the Americaneastern seaboard, although at the outbreak of war, the U.S. Navy was severelyoverstretched, engaging in naval operations in Asiaand providing convoy escort for Atlantic convoys.  Also, the sale of 50 destroyers to Britainweakened U.S. naval strength, and the U.S. Eastern Sea Frontier, tasked tosafeguard the East Coast, possessed obsolete vessels, including two1905-vintage gunboats, three 1919-era patrol boats, four converted yachts, andfour wooden submarines.

By May 1942, the U.S. Navy had assembled enough ships forconvoy protection and coastal defenses. In June 1942, the convoy system was extended to the Gulf of Mexico andthe Caribbean, which had seen a rise in U-boatactivity.  Other British recommendations,such as a coastal blackout, were enforced. In July 1940, a fleet of British trawlers, refitted for anti-submarinewarfare, arrived in the United States and were manned with British Royal Navycrews, to assist in convoy escort.  ByAugust 1942, with the Western Hemisphere Atlantic coast bristling with navaldefenses, Allied merchant losses dropped considerably, and the withdrawal ofU-boats from the American continental coastline marked the end of the SecondHappy Time.

The second half of 1942 marked the return of the U-boats tothe Atlantic, with wolf pack attacks concentratedalong the mid-Atlantic air gap.  Duringthis period, 575 merchant ships were sunk. Starting in November 1942, the Allies introduced many strategic andtechnological innovations that would finally turn the fortunes of the battleaway from the Germans.  Aside fromescorts that remained with the convoys, naval “support groups” were deployed,which patrolled known wolf pack haunts and were tasked mainly to hunt down anddestroy U-boats.  Ahead-throwing weapons,such as the “hedgehog” and “squid”, were introduced against submerged U-boats,which had one vital advantage over the traditional depth charges in that thesenew weapons, when fired, allowed the ASDIC to maintain contact with theU-boat.  The British success rate of 1.6%using depth charges rose to 17.5% using hedgehog and squid.

The “mid-Atlantic air gap” was finally closed with thelong-range B-24 Liberator anti-submarine bombers.  As well, Allied planes were equipped withvery sensitive centimetric radars, (replacing the metric radars), which coulddetect surfaced U-boat towers and even periscopes from long distances.  A powerful spotlight, called a Leigh Light,worked at night in conjunction with the new radar: as the Allied planeapproached its target, the Leigh Light, responding to radar tracking,automatically turned on and pointed at the surfaced U-boat, which was thendestroyed with the plane’s weapons.

Furthermore, merchant aircraft carriers (MAC ships) and U.S. escort carriers appeared in greater numbersand patrolled the whole range of the Atlantic,and together with their modern fighter planes equipped with powerful radars andanti-submarine weapons, made U-boat operations extremely difficult anddangerous.  Direct convoy protection alsoincreased substantially, as large numbers of American destroyer escorts (akafrigates) were introduced, largely replacing the less effective corvettes.  Also in October 1942, British intelligencebroke the code of the German Navy’s new Enigma network, TRITON, following theretrieval of codebooks and key settings of the advanced M4 Enigma machine froma captured U-boat at Port Said, Egypt.

These new Allied measures did not become apparentimmediately, and for a time, the British actually seemed headed fordefeat.  Following a lull in fightingduring the winter, in March 1943, Admiral Donitz, now commander-in-chief of theKriegsmarine, confident of victory, unleashed virtually the whole U-boat fleetin the Atlantic.  Spectacular success was achieved, with wolfpacks sinking over 80 Allied merchant ships in the Atlantic, this high losscausing supplies in Britainto fall and so alarming Churchill that he considered ending the convoysystem.  But in April 1943, the newAllied anti-submarine measures from the previous months began to take effect:15 U-boats were sunk for a loss of 39 merchant ships.  Then in May 1943, in what is known as “BlackMay”, the German Navy lost a catastrophic 43 U-boats against 34 merchant shipsin the Atlantic (58 worldwide).  Admiral Donitz suspended all operations inthe Atlantic, admitting that the war in the Atlanticwas lost.

In the ensuing period until the end of the European war inMay 1945, the Kriegsmarine introduced several technological measures to try andwrest back the initiative in the Atlantic.  U-boats were equipped with improved radarwarning systems, two types of modern torpedoes were developed: the acoustictorpedo that homed in on the enemy ship’s propeller and the FAT(Flächen-Absuch-Torpedo) that moved in a criss-cross pattern inside a convoyuntil it hit a ship; and sonar decoys that were launched from U-boats togenerate false ASDIC readings.  A smallnumber of U-boats were modified as Flak Boats, which used their greateranti-aircraft firepower to engage (rather than avoid by submerging) enemyaircraft. The German Navy’s most notable achievement was in the improvement ofthe submarine itself, with the introduction of the Type XXI U-boat“Elektroboote” (“Electric boat”), whose clean hull design became the model formodern-day submarines, and which allowed it to dive faster, range farther, andmove faster underwater.  Only fourElektroboote submarines were completed (two of which were deployed) as a resultof production deficiencies and because U-boat factories were destroyed by theadvancing Allies towards the end of the war.

These German innovations ultimately were futile, because ofAllied counter-measures against them, and also because of the sheer number ofAllied ships, both merchant and military, in the Atlantic, because of theenormous production output from the U.S. shipbuilding industry.  The elimination of the U-boat threat allowedthe Allied buildup in Britainin 1943-1944, with some three million American and other Allied troopstransported across the Atlantic, for the eventual launching in June 1944 of OperationOverlord, the reconquest of German-occupied Western Europe.

In the Battle of the Atlantic, the Allies lost 3,500 merchant ships and 175warships, while the Germans lost 783 U-boats.

October 29, 1956 – Suez Crisis: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula

On October 29, 1956, Israeli forces invaded the SinaiPeninsula during the Suez Crisis, which pitted the alliance of Israel, Britain,and France against Egypt for control of the Suez Canal. The three countries had various reasons for wanting tostart the war against Egypt.  Britainand France wanted to regaincontrol of the Suez Canal.  The British wanted to reassert itself in theregion.  The French were embroiled in acolonial war in Algeriaagainst rebels whom they believed were being funded by President Nasser.  Israelwanted to stop the local terrorism which it attributed to Egypt’s instigation.  Furthermore, Israeli commercial vessels wereblocked from entering the Suez Canal after Egypt seized the waterway.

In October 1956, the invasion plan had been finalized, whichwas to play out this way: Israelwould invade the Sinai Peninsula, prompting Egypt to react militarily.  Britainand France then would issueultimatums to Israel and Egypt to withdraw 16 miles from the Suez Canal, purportedly to prevent an escalation of theconflict.  Britainand France then would takecontrol of the Suez Canal, declaring thattheir presence in the region was necessary to protect the vital waterway.

The Suez Crisis was a war between Egypt against the alliance of Britain, France, and Israel for control of the politically and economically vital Suez Canal, a man-modified shipping channel that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

(Taken from Suez Crisis – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background TheSuez Canal in Egypt is aman-made shipping waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the IndianOcean via the Red Sea (Map 7).  The Suez Canal was completed by a Frenchengineering firm in 1869 and thereafter became the preferred shipping and traderoute between Europe and Asia, as itconsiderably reduced the travel time and distance from the previous circuitousroute around the African continent.  Since1875, the facility was operated by an Anglo-French private conglomerate.  By the twentieth century, nearly two-thirdsof all oil tanker traffic to Europe passed through the Suez Canal.

In the late 1940s, a wave of nationalism swept across Egypt,leading to the overthrow of the ruling monarchy and the establishment of arepublic.  In 1951, intense publicpressure forced the Egyptian government to abolish the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of1936, although the agreement was yet to expire in three years.

With the rise in power of the Egyptian nationalists led byGamal Abdel Nasser (who later became president in 1956), Britain agreed to withdraw its military forcesfrom Egyptafter both countries signed the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1954.  The last British troops left Egyptin June 1956.  Nevertheless, theagreement allowed the British to use its existing military base located nearthe Suez Canal for seven years and the possibility of its extension if Egyptwas attacked by a foreign power.  TheAnglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1954 and foreign control of the Suez Canal wereresented by many Egyptians, especially the nationalists, who believed thattheir country was still under semi-colonial rule and not truly sovereign.

Furthermore, President Nasser was hostile to Israel,which had dealt the Egyptian Army a crushing defeat in the 1948 Arab-IsraeliWar.  President Nasser wanted to startanother war with Israel.  Conversely, the Israeli government believedthat Egypt was behind theterrorist activities that were being carried out in Israel.  The Israelis also therefore were ready to goto war against Egyptto put an end to the terrorism.

Egypt andIsrael sought to increasetheir weapons stockpiles through purchases from their main suppliers, the United States, Britain,and France.  The three Western powers, however, had agreedamong themselves to make arms sales equally and only in limited quantities to Egypt and Israel, to prevent an arms race.

Friendly relations between Israeland France,however, were moving toward a military alliance.  By early 1955, Francewas sending large quantities of weapons to Israel.  In Egypt,President Nasser was indignant at the Americans’ conditions to sell him arms:that the weapons were not to be used against Israel,and that U.S. advisers wereto be allowed into Egypt.  President Nasser, therefore, approached theSoviet Union, which agreed to support Egypt militarily.  In September 1955, large amounts of Sovietweapons began to arrive in Egypt.

The United Statesand Britainwere infuriated.  The Americans believedthat Egypt was falling underthe sphere of influence of the Soviet Union,their Cold War enemy.  Adding to thisperception was that Egyptrecognized Red China.  Meanwhile, Britainfelt that its historical dominance in the Arab region was beingundermined.  The United States and Britain withdrew their earlierpromise to President Nasser to fund his ambitious project, the construction ofthe massive Aswan Dam.

Egyptian troops then seized the Suez Canal, which President Nasser immediately nationalized with thepurpose of using the profits from its operations to help build the AswanDam.  President Nasser ordered theAnglo-French firm operating the Suez Canal to leave; he also terminated thefirm’s contract, even though its 99-year lease with Egypt still was due toexpire in 12 years, in 1968.

The British and French governments were angered by Egypt’s seizure of the Suez Canal.  A few days later, Britain and Francedecided to take armed action: their military leaders met and began to prepare foran invasion of Egypt.  In September 1956, Franceand Israel also jointlyprepared for war against Egypt.