Daniel Orr's Blog, page 62

May 17, 1940 – World War II: German forces enter Brussels, which the retreating Allies had early declared an open (undefended) city

On May 16, 1940, now aware of theGermans’ intent, the Allied High Command ordered its forces in Belgium to turn around and conduct a fightingretreat back to France.  But at this crucial point, the Frenchgovernment made a change in its high command, appointing General Maxime Weygand as over-all Allied commander.  In his first order, General Weygand revokedhis predecessor’s instruction for the fighting withdrawal from Belgium, only to reverse himself a few dayslater (May 21) by ordering the Allies to withdraw from Belgium.  By this time, the trapped French 1stArmy, BEF, and Belgian Army had been pressed into a small area along theBelgian northwest in the channel coast of Belgium and France.  Brussels, theBelgian capital which had been declared an open (undefended) city, had earlierfallen without resistance on May 17, as well as Antwerp the following day after a two-dayBelgian resistance.  By then, the BelgianArmy held only 5% of Belgian territory, with much of Belgium being in German hands.  Many Belgian forts that had resisted theinitial German thrust and were now behind enemy lines also individuallysurrendered: in Namur, Fort Marchovelette on May 18, Fort Suarlée on May 19, FortMalonne and Fort Saint-Héribert on May 21, and Fort Andoy and Fort Maizeret onMay 23; and in Liege, Fort Aubin-Neufchâteau on May 21, and Fort Battice on May22, although Fort de Tancrémont would capitulate only on May 29, 1940, one dayafter the official Belgian Army surrender and the end of hostilities.

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

On May 21, the British launched acounter-attack on a German armored spearhead at Arras, which made some headway but ultimatelyfailed.  The British used only twoinfantry battalions and its only armored battalion in the attack, as BEF forcesconsisting of nine divisions were pre-occupied with confronting the German 6thArmy advancing from the east.  Earlier onMay 17 and 19, French armor also launched failed attacks at Montcornet to breakthe German salient.  In the followingdays, other French counter-attacks were launched, but being disorganized andpoorly led and executed, were easily repulsed by the Germans.

Belgian King Leopold III, averse toabandoning his nation, staunchly resisted the Allied plan to break out of Belgium with a counter-attack toward France,stating that the Belgian Army was a purely defensive force, only having fewtanks and planes.  He warned that if theAllies continued with their counter-attack toward France,effectively abandoning Belgium,the Belgian Army would promptly collapse. In the end, the Allied breakout attempt was not carried out.

By May 25, the Allied pocket wastightening by the pressure of the German 6th and 18tharmies from the east, and the German 4th Army and three panzerdivisions from the south.  The Britishmilitary high command, having as early as May 20 considered withdrawing itsforces from the continental mainland, now rushed plans for Operation Dynamo,the evacuation of the BEF to southern England.  In the chaotic Allied retreat to Dunkirk where the evacuation by the British Royal Navy wasto take place, two corps of the French 1st Army were trapped anddestroyed at Lilleby two converging German forces.  But theFrench stand at Lille stalled the Germans,allowing more British and other French units to reach Dunkirk.

By May 27, the Belgian Army was holdingon to its final defense lines near the Belgian-French border, and was vergingon complete collapse.  The Belgianssuffered from food and water shortages, constant Luftwaffe attacks, and diminishingescape routes, and their shrinking territory was packed with millions ofcivilian refugees.  On May 27, KingLeopold III asked the Germans for an armistice, and the next day, May 28, 1940,the monarch formally surrendered the Belgian Army.  For Belgium, the fighting was over.

AftermathThe Belgian surrender came as a shock to the Allies, with the Parisand London governments accusing King Leopold ofbetraying them, not least because for France,its war with Germany wasstill ongoing, and for Britain,the evacuation at Dunkirkof the BEF had just started.  In thelatter case, the Belgian surrender left a gap in the British left flank,jeopardizing the whole evacuation operation. Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, appealed (unsuccessfully)to the Belgian monarch to reconsider the surrender decision, stating that largenumbers of Belgians were in France, and that Belgian coffers and assets werestill considerable, which could allow Belgium to continue the struggle.  As well, King Leopold was criticized anddeclared “incompetent to reign” by his own government led by Prime MinisterHubert Pierlot, which had fled to France, and after France’s defeat, toBritain, where it formed a government-in-exile for most of World War II[1].

In the aftermath of the Belgian defeat,Germany placed Belgiumunder military rule led by General Alexander von Falkenhausen, but which had acivilian affairs section that worked with the Belgian “Committee ofSecretaries-General”, a panel of high-level Belgian officials formed by thePierlot government before going into exile. The “Committee” was tasked with administering the country in the absenceof a formal government.

During the occupation, Belgianauthorities implemented the Galopin Doctrine, where Belgian industries wouldproduce food and goods needed by the Belgian population, but not materials thatwould help in the German war effort (e.g. firearms, ammunition, etc.).  This policy was criticized by the Allies, whoviewed it as a form of collaboration with the occupiers, and wanted Belgium to pursue a policy of full defiance to Germany,as Belgian workers had done in World War I.

More active collaboration was providedby the many Nazi and fascist parties in Flanders (the Belgian northern half)and Wallonia (the southern half), which helped implement the Nazis’ political,ideological, and racial policies, and organized military formations attached tothe Waffen-SS that served in the Eastern Front, as well as local paramilitaryunits.  German authorities alsore-instituted Flamenpolitik (“Flemish Policy”), a divide-and-conquerprogram aimed at eradicating Belgian national identity and thus also theBelgian state itself, by exploiting the long-standing linguistic dichotomybetween the Dutch-speaking Flemish north (Flanders)and French-speaking Walloon south (Wallonia).  In particular, Flamenpolitik viewed theFlemish people as Germanic, and German authorities appointed Flemishnationalists to high government positions. Flamenpolitik also manifested in the disparity in the German treatmentof Belgian Army POWs:  Flemish soldierswere readily granted freedom, while a large number of the remaining POWs stillimprisoned by the end of World War II were Walloons.  However, German authorities did also regard Wallonia as ancestral German territory and the Walloonsas ethnic (albeit Romanized) Germans.

As in other German-held territories, Belgiumwas placed under strict German control, with all Belgian institutions directedtoward supporting the German war effort. All forms of opposition or dissent were dealt with severely, food andresources were rationed, and political and civilian activities were strictlycontrolled.  Employment in Germanfactories, initially implemented on a voluntary basis, was later made mandatoryand run under a forced labor system.  InJune 1941, with the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, communists were repressed.

In line with Nazi racial policy, inOctober 1940, German authorities in Belgium implemented anti-Jewishlaws, which however were not actively carried out because of opposition by theBelgian “Committee” administrators.  Butby 1942, more aggressive measures were undertaken: in May, Jews were requiredto wear the Star of David patches while in public, and using previouslycollected population registers of Belgian Jews, in August, German authoritiesrounded up and deported Jews to Poland, to concentration camps and ultimately,to extermination camps.  Some 75,000 Jewsthen resided in Belgium;of this number, 25,000 were deported, of whom 24,000 were killed.  Those who escaped deportation went intohiding, and were sheltered by the Catholic clergy, sympathetic Belgians, andresistance groups.  Thousands of Jewsthen joined the Belgian resistance.

A Belgian resistance emerged sometimein late 1940 following the failed German bombing attempt to bring Britainto its knees.  The Belgian resistanceconsisted of many diverse groups separated by region and political/ideologicalidentity, e.g. communists, socialists, royalists, etc.  Resistance activities consisted of sabotageoperations on military-important infrastructures, e.g. railroads andcommunication lines, and sheltering vulnerable elements, e.g. Jews, politicaldissenters, downed Allied airmen, etc.

In July 1944, at a time when Germany was facing imminent defeat in World WarII, military rule in Belgiumwas terminated, and replaced by a Nazi-led civilian administration (called Reichskommissariat Belgien-Nordfrankreich).  Then in December 1944, Germany formally annexed Flanders and Wallonia as two separate provinces (Reichsgaue Flandern andWallonien) of the Greater German Reich. However, by this time, German rule in Belgium had virtually ended, asmuch of the country had already fallen to Allied forces that had advanced fromthe west.

[1] King Leopold, by surrendering to the Germans and refusing to leavefor exile abroad, was left with a seriously stained reputation at the end ofWorld War II.  During the war, he had metwith Hitler in November 1940 and entered into marriage in September 1941, bothof which tarnished his martyr image and became viewed by the Allies as an actof collaboration with the Nazis.  A crisisensued, and in 1951, Leopold was forced to abdicate.

May 16, 1916 – World War I: Britain and France sign the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement to partition the remaining territories of the Ottoman Empire

The most significant war-timetreaty to be implemented in the Middle East was the secret Sykes-PicotAgreement (Map 7), where Britain and Francedrew up a plan to partition between them most of the remaining Ottomanpossessions, i.e. Syria and Lebanon to France,and Mesopotamia and Palestine to Britain*. As a result, following war’s end, Britainand France took control oftheir respective previously agreed territories in the Middle East.  These annexationssubsequently were legitimized as mandates by the newly formed League ofNations: i.e. the 1923 French Mandate for Syriaand the Lebanon, and the1923 British Mandate for Palestine.  British control of Mesopotamia was formalizedby the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922, which also established the Kingdom of Iraq.

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

The Allies also had drawn upa partition plan for Anatolia, the Turkish heartland of the Ottoman Empire.  In this plan,Constantinople and the Turkish Straits were designatedas a neutral zone under joint Allied administrations, with separate British, French,and Italian zones of occupations. Southwest Anatolia was allocated to Italy,the southeast (centered on Cilicia) to France,and a section of the northeast to Armenia.  Greece,a late-comer in World War I on the Allied side, was promised the historicHellenic region around Smyrna, as well as Eastern Thrace.

With these proposed changes,a much smaller Ottoman state would consist of central Anatolia up to the BlackSea, but no coastal outlet in the Mediterranean Sea.  The Allies subsequently incorporated thesestipulations in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres (Map 8), anagreement aimed at legitimizing their annexations/occupations of Ottomanterritories.

Sykes-Picot Agreement

Background On October 30, 1918, the Ottoman Empire ended its involvement in World War I by signing theArmistice of Mudros.  During the war, the Ottoman government hadfought as one of the Central Powers (in alliance with Germany, Austria-Hungary,and Bulgaria),but in 1917 and 1918, it suffered many devastating defeats.  Then with the failure of the Germans’ 1918“Spring Offensive” in Western Europe, the Anatolian heartland of the Ottoman Empire became vulnerable to an invasion, forcingOttoman capitulation.

The victorious Allied Powersin Europe (Britain, France, and Italy)took steps to carry out their many secret pre-war and war-time agreementsregarding the disposition of the Ottoman Empire.  Another Allied power, Russia, also was a party to some ofthese agreements, but it had been forced out of the war in 1914 andconsequently was not involved in the post-war negotiations.

As a first measure andprovided by the terms of surrender, the French and British naval fleets seizedcontrol of the Turkish Straits (Dardanelles andBosporus) on November 12-13, 1913, and landed troops in Constantinople, theOttoman Empire’s capital.

During World War I, Britishforces gained possession of much of the Ottoman Empire’s colonies in the MiddleEast, collectively called “Greater Syria”, a vast territory covering Mesopotamia (Iraq), the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, and Palestine.  When the war ended, most of the ArabianPeninsula gained independence under British sponsorship, including the Kingdom of Yemenand later the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz, the precursor of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

* The agreement also allocated Constantinople, the TurkishStraits, and sections of the Ottoman Empire’s northeast region to the RussianEmpire;  the overthrow of the Russianmonarchy in the 1917 “February Revolution” and the formation of the Sovietgovernment later that year nullified this provision of the treaty

May 15, 1940 – World War II: The Netherlands falls to Nazi Germany

In Berlin,Hitler chafed by what he saw was the slow progress to bring about Dutchsurrender, and as a result, the Luftwaffe sent 90 heavy bombers to bombard Rotterdam instead of the 25 Stuka dive-bombers which hadbeen requested by the German commander at the Rotterdam front to attack Dutch Armypositions.  The Germans at Rotterdam fired red flaresinto the sky to alert the Luftwaffe planes not to proceed with the bombing, buta squadron of the German bombers failed to spot the signal, and accomplishedtheir mission.  In the bombing, calledthe “Rotterdam Blitz”, a largesection of the city was destroyed, causing 900 persons killed, 85,000 homeless,and the loss of 25,000 houses, 3,000 buildings, and dozens of churches andschools.  Immediately thereafter, theDutch forces at Rotterdamsurrendered, and the Germans entered the city. The Rotterdam bombing had a devastatingeffect on Dutch morale: when the Wehrmacht threatened the cities of Utrecht and Amsterdam witha similar fate, the Dutch high command gave up the struggle, and on May 15,1940, the Netherlandssurrendered.  Fighting continued untilMay 19, when the Germans expelled French forces still fighting in Zeeland Province in the extreme southwest.  The German 18th Army thereafterjoined the invasion of Belgium,providing the northern flank of the German advance there.

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

AftermathOn May 13, with Dutch resistance faltering, Queen Wilhelmina and her court,together with the Dutch government, were evacuated by a British Royal Navy shipto Britain,where they established a Dutch government-in-exile that functioned for the restof the war.  The Netherlands had colonialterritories in the Western Hemisphere, called the Dutch West Indies(officially: Netherlands Antilles) comprising several islands in the CaribbeanSea, and in Asia, called the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia).  On December 8, 1941, one day after Japan launched its attack on Pearl Harbor, the Netherlands followed the United States and Britainby declaring war on Japan.  Japanthen launched a six-month campaign in Southeast Asia, and by May 1942, hadcaptured the whole region, with the Dutch East Indiesfalling in March.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the Germans placed thecountry under a civilian administration called the Reichskommissariat Niederlande headed by Austrian Nazi bureaucratArthur Seyss-inquart.  Localcollaboration was led by the Nationaal-SocialistischeBeweging (NSB; English: National Socialist Movement), the Dutch Nazi Party,which administered the lower levels of government.  The Reichskommissariatimposed one-party rule under the NSB, and targeted communists, socialists, andother ideological enemies, and imposed harsh, repressive measures to transformand integrate the Netherlandssocially and economically under the Greater Germanic Reich.  This policy, and that of Gleichschaltung(“enforced conformity”), were based on Nazi perception that the Dutch peoplewere racially “Aryan”, and as such formed part of the “German master race”.

German authorities imposed forced laboron the Dutch, where men 18 to 45 years old were required to work in Germanfactories, while many other Dutch persons actively cooperated, with volunteersjoining the German Army and fighting in various fronts, or spying on andturning over political and ethnic enemies to the Germans.  The Netherlands experienced a very highrate – at 80% – of Jewish persecution during the war, albeit inadvertently.  As Dutch citizens had been required by thepre-war governments to include religion in civil registers (which were used fortaxation purposes), during the occupation, German authorities used theserecords to identify and segregate Dutch Jews, who eventually were forced intoconcentration camps for extermination. Of the 140,000 Dutch Jews, only 30,000 survived the war, while among the100,000 placed in concentration camps, only 5,000 remained, a survival rate of5%.

A small segment of the Dutchpopulation also actively resisted the Germans, leading to the formation of aDutch resistance movement that engaged in various activities, such asassassinating collaborationist officials, sabotaging German infrastructures,sheltering targeted elements (Jews, political and ideological enemies, downedAllied pilots, etc.) and passing information to the Allies.  The effectiveness of the resistance waslimited by the country’s small size, lack of natural refuges such has deepforests and mountains, and strong German presence because of the Netherlands’ strategic location just across theNorth Sea to Britain.

May 14, 1955 – Cold War: The Warsaw Pact is formed

The Truman Doctrine of “containing”Soviet expansionism is generally cited as the trigger for the Cold War, theideological rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union in particular,and the forces of democracy and communism in general.  By the late 1940s, with the apparent threatof imminent war looming, the Western European democracies: Britain, France,Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, andIceland, and the United States and Canada, formed a military alliance calledthe North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949.  Then on May 14, 1955, with the entry of WestGermany into NATO and the formation of the West German Armed Forces, thealarmed Soviet Union established a rival military alliance called the WarsawPact (officially: Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance)with its socialist satellite states: East Germany, Poland, Hungary,Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. The stage thus was set for the ideological and military division of Europe that lasted throughout the Cold War.

(Taken from The End of World War II in Europe – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe – Vol. 6)

Post-war reconstruction and start of the Cold War Europe was devastated after the war, many millions of peoplelost their lives, and many millions others lost their homes andlivelihoods.  Industries were destroyed,and farm lands laid waste, leading to massive food shortages, famines, and morefatalities.  Whole national economieswere bankrupt, expended largely toward supporting the war effort.

The United States, whose economy grew enormouslyduring the war, poured into Europe largeamounts of financial and humanitarian support (U.S. $13 billion; U.S. $165billion in 2017 value) toward the continent’s reconstruction.  American assistance was directed mainly towardits war-time Western Allies and formerly occupied nations.  U.S.policy toward Germany in theimmediate post-war period was one of hostility and indifference, implementedunder JCS (Joint Chiefs of Staff) Directive 1067, which stipulated “to take nosteps looking toward the economic rehabilitation of Germany”.    At this time, Germany was divided into fourAllied zones of occupation, and stripped of its heavy industries and scientificand technical intellectual properties, including patents, trademarks, andcopyrights.

The Allies also severelyrestricted access to Germany for international humanitarian agencies (e.g.International Red Cross) sending food, leading to low nutritional levels andhunger among Germans, which caused high mortality and malnutrition rates amongchildren and the elderly.  The Alliesdeliberately limited Germany’sprocurement of food to the barest minimum, to a level just enough to preventcivil unrest or revolts, which could compromise the safety of occupationtroops.  By 1946, the Allies began togradually ease these restrictions, and many donor agencies opened in Germanyto provide food and humanitarian programs.

By 1947, Europe’seconomic recovery was moving forward only slowly, despite the massive infusionof American funds.  Farm production wasonly 83% of pre-war levels, industrial output only 88%, and exports just59%.  High levels of unemployment andfood shortages caused labor strikes and social unrest.  Before the war, Europe’seconomy had been linked to German industries through the exchange of rawmaterials and manufactured goods.  In1947, the United Statesdecided that Germany’sparticipation in Europe’s economy was necessary, and the Western Allied plan tode-industrialize Germanywas ended.  In July 1947, the U.S. government scrapped JCS 1067, and replacedit with JCS Directive 1779, which stated that “an orderly and prosperous Europerequires the economic contribution of a stable and productive Germany”.  Restrictions on German industry productionwere eased, and steel output was raised from 25% to 50% of pre-war capacity.

In April 1948, the UnitedStates implemented a massive assistance program, the European Recovery Plan,more commonly known as the Marshall Plan (named after U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall), where the U.S.government poured in $5 billion ($51 billion in 2017 value) in 1948 infinancial aid toward European member-states of the Organisation for EuropeanEconomic Co-operation (OEEC).  In theMarshall Plan, which lasted until the end of 1951, the United States donated $13 billion ($134 billionin 2017 value) to 18 countries, with the largest amounts given to Britain (26%), France(18%), and West Germany(11%).  Other beneficiaries were Austria, Belgium,Luxembourg, Denmark, Greece,Iceland, Ireland, Italy,Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,and Trieste.  After the Marshall Plan ended in 1952,another program, the Mutual Security Plan, poured in $7 billion ($63 billion in2017 value) annual recovery assistance to Europeuntil 1961.  By the early 1950s, Western Europe’s productivity had surpassed pre-warlevels, and the region would go on to enjoy prosperity in the next two decades.

Also significant was theeconomic integration of Western Europe, whichwas promoted by the Marshall Plan and spurred on further by the formation ofthe International Authority of the Ruhr (IAR) in April 1949, where the AlliedPowers set limits to the German coal and steel industries.  By 1952, with West Germany firmly aligned with the Western democracies, theIAR was abolished and replaced by the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC),which integrated the economies of France,West Germany, Italy, Belgium,the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.  In 1957, the ECSC was succeeded by theEuropean Economic Community (EEC), which later led to the European Union (EU)in 1993.

The Marshall Plan had beenoffered to the Soviet Union, but which Stalinrejected.  The Soviet leader alsostrong-armed Eastern and Central European countries under Soviet occupation notto participate, including Polandand Czechoslovakia,which had shown interest.  Stalin wasdetermined to achieve a political stranglehold on the emerging communistgovernments of Hungary, Poland, Romania,Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia,and Albania.  Participation of these countries in theMarshall Plan would have allowed American involvement in their economies, whichStalin opposed.

Relations between the SovietUnion and the Western Powers, the United States and Britain, deterioratedduring the Yalta Conference (February 1945) when victory in the war becameclear, because of disagreement regarding the post-war future of Poland inparticular, and Eastern and Central Europe in general.  In April 1945, new U.S. President Trumanannounced that his government would take a firmer stance against the Soviet Union more than his predecessor, PresidentRoosevelt.  Following the end of the war,the United States, Britain, and Francewere wary of the continued Red Army occupation of Eastern and Central Europe,and feared that the Soviets would use them as a staging ground for the conquestof the rest of Europe and the spread ofcommunism.  In war-time Alliedconferences, Stalin had demanded a sphere of political influence in Eastern andCentral Europe to serve as a buffer againstanother potential invasion from the West. In turn, Stalin saw the presence of U.S.forces in Europe as a plot by the United States to gain control ofand impose American political, economic, and social ideologies on thecontinent.  In February 1946, Stalinannounced that war was inevitable between the opposing ideologies of capitalismand communism.

George Kennan, an envoy inthe U.S. diplomatic officein Moscow, thensent to the U.S. State Department the so-called “Long Telegram”, which warnedthat the Soviets were unwilling to have “permanent peaceful coexistence” withthe West, was bent on expansionism, and was prepared for a “deadly struggle fortotal destruction of rival powers”.  Thetelegram proposed that the United States should confront the Soviet threat byimplementing firm political and economic foreign policies.  Kennan’s proposed hard-line stance againstthe Soviet Union was eventually adopted by theTruman government.  In September 1946, inresponse to the “Long Telegram”, the Soviets accused the United States of “striving forworld supremacy”.

In March 1946, civil warbroke out in Greecebetween the local communist and monarchist forces.  Also that month, Churchill delivered his“Iron Curtain” speech, where he stated that an “iron curtain” had descendedacross Eastern Europe, and warned of further Soviet expansionism into Europe.  In reply,Stalin accused Churchill of “war mongering”.

American foreign policy inthe post-war era finally took shape in March 1947 with the Truman Doctrine, which arose from a speech by President Truman before theU.S. Congress, where he stated that his administration would “support freepeoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or byoutside pressures”.  President Trumangave reference to supporting friendly forces in the on-going Greek Civil Warafter the British had announced the end of their involvement in theconflict.  Truman also requested U.S.Congress support for Greece’sneighbor, Turkey,which was being pressured by Stalin to grant Soviet base and transit rightsthrough the Turkish Straits.  Russiantroops also continued to occupy northern Iran despite the Sovietgovernment’s war-time promise to leave when the war ended.  To the Truman administration, a communistvictory in Greece, and theabsorption of Turkey and Iran into the Soviet sphere of influence wouldlead to Soviet expansion into the oil-rich Middle East.

The Truman Doctrine of “containing”Soviet expansionism is generally cited as the trigger for the Cold War, theideological rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union in particular,and the forces of democracy and communism in general.  By the late 1940s, with the apparent threatof imminent war looming, the Western European democracies: Britain, France,Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, andIceland, and the United States and Canada, formed a military alliance calledthe North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949.  Then in May 1955, with the entry of WestGermany into NATO and the formation of the West German Armed Forces, thealarmed Soviet Union established a rival military alliance called the WarsawPact (officially: Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance)with its socialist satellite states: East Germany, Poland, Hungary,Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. The stage thus was set for the ideological and military division of Europe that lasted throughout the Cold War.

May 13, 1958 – Algerian War of Independence: French military officers seize power in Algiers

On May 13, 1958, in whatis historically called the “May 1958 Crisis”, thousands of European Algerians, supported by the French AlgerianArmy, seized power in Algiers, taking over government buildings and publicinstallations.  The French Algerian governmentof Governor-General André Mutterwas deposed.  In its place, a juntacalled the “Committee of Public Safety” (French: Comité DeSalut Public) was formed, led byGeneral Massu (whose efforts were instrumental in the French victory in theBattle of Algiers), as President; subsequently on May 23, 1958, thisself-styled government was renamed the “Central Committee of Public Safety”,with General Massu and Dr. Mohammed Sid Cara, a moderate Algerian Muslim, bothholding the positions of President.  Afull-scale rebellion was now underway.

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

In a public announcement,General Massu called for the return of General Charles de Gaulle to lead the government of France, declaring that only the retired butstrong-willed military officer could keep Algeriafrom being broken off from France.  General de Gaulle was widely esteemed in France, having served as commander of the FreeFrench Forces in World War II and then as head of the provisional governmentafter France’sliberation in 1944.

General Massu madepreparations to overthrow the French government if his demand was not met, onMay 24, 1958, sending French Algerian commandos who seized the French region ofCorsica, and threatening to invade Paris with Algeriantroops and mutinous armored units in mainland France.  On May 19, nearly a week into the rebellion,General de Gaulle announced his readiness to return from retirement and leadthe country but only on the condition that he be allowed to rule with broadpowers for a period of six months.  OnMay 28, Prime Minister Pflimlin’s government collapsed and the following day,President René Cotyasked General de Gaulle to form a new government.

On June 1, 1958, France’sNational Assembly named General de Gaulle the new Prime Minister, also grantingthe new government broad powers for six months. Three days later, on June 4, Premier de Gaulle traveled to Algeria andamid a large assembly of pieds-noirs in Algiers, he declared “Je vous ai compris” (“I have understoodyou.”) and on June 16, the words “Algérie Française” (“French Algeria”), which appeared to the European Algerians that thenew French government was determined to hold onto Algeria.  This supposition seemed warranted, as threemonths later, in October 1958, Franceinitiated the Constantine Plan, an ambitious, multi-sectoral economic andsocial series of programs in Algeriathat included agrarian reform, housing, civil service reforms, education, andinfrastructure development.  A ceasefireand amnesty also were offered to the FLN, which the latter rejected.

The French governmentdid, however, end the militarized situation in Algiers,transferring army officers who had joined the rebellion to other posts outside Algeria.  In December 1958, General Salan, who had heldthe position of Algerian Delegate-General (which had superseded the earlierposition of Governor-General), was transferred to mainland France.  Paul Delouvrier, an industrialist, took over as Delegate-General, marking the returnof civilian rule in Algiers.

De Gaulle also took ahard-line position against the FLN, ordering in early 1959 the French Algerianforces, now led by General Maurice Challe, to escalate counter-insurgencyoperations.  In what became known as the ChallePlan, theFrench Army launched a series of sweeping offensives in northern Algeria from west to east: the Oranregion, Atlas Sahara, Algiers region, and Constantine region.  Improved tactics that emphasized speed,surprise, and concentration of forces, and specially developedcounter-insurgency military equipment gave the French full battlefield success:French elite units at the forefront of the fighting drove away the FLN, andcaptured areas were turned over and secured by the regular army and indigenousmilitias.  In April 1960, General Challewas ready to achieve total victory with the upcoming Operation Trident, theoffensive aimed at capturing the final (and strongest) FLN strongholds in the Aures Mountains.  The attack would not be realized, however.

De Gaulle also was vestedwith powers to draw up a new constitution, which was completed by Michel Debré, the Minister of Justice.  OnSeptember 28, 1958, in a referendum held in France, French Algeria (i.e. theoverseas departments of Oran, Algiers, and Constantine), and France’s African,Pacific, and Atlantic colonies, a total of over 80% of the electorate (for thefirst time under universal suffrage) voted to approve the new constitution,which came into effect on October 4, 1958. The new charter strengthened the role of the president, who was givenmore executive powers (as de Gaulle had wanted) in order to solve the politicalinstability that had plagued the French Fourth Republic.

In November 1958, inlegislative elections that ushered in the FrenchFifth Republic,de Gaulle’s party, the Union for the NewRepublic (French: Union pour la Nouvelle République) wonthe most number of seats in the National Assembly.  Then in the presidential election held thefollowing month, de Gaulle won overwhelmingly as France’s new President; he tookoffice on January 8, 1959.

The 1958 constitutionalso included the unprecedented provision that allowed France’s colonies to gain theirindependence subject to the colony’s vote in the referendum and the colony’slegislative assembly decision for independence. Nearly all of France’sAfrican colonies voted to remain with France(albeit with greater political autonomy) under the newly formed “FrenchCommunity” – only Guinearejected the proposed constitution and gained its independence in October 1958.

The “French Community” did not last long, however, and by the end of 1960, French West Africa (Figure 16) had ceased to existwith Cameroon, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Dahomey (now Benin), Niger, Upper Volta(now Burkina Faso), Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic,Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, and Mauritania, as well as Madagascar located offEast Africa, gaining independence.  DeGaulle’s moves to disengage from Africa did not bode well for the pieds-noirs,although Algeria, being anintegral part of France,could not legally secede by way of the 1958 referendum.  In any case, in the referendum, 97% ofAlgerians voted to remain a part of France.

Meanwhile, the FLN hadvainly tried to stop Algerian Muslims from taking part in the referendum, withthe FLN externals forming the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA; French: Gouvernement Provisionel de la RépubliqueAlgérienne), a government in exilebased in Tunisia.  The GPRA was the FLN’sattempt to gain political and diplomatic legitimacy in the internationalcommunity (as well as to undermine France’songoing reforms in Algeria)and received recognition from many Arab countries.

The demise of FrenchAlgeria began on September 16, 1959 when de Gaulle declared that Algerians hadthe right of self-determination and offered three options regarding Algeria’spolitical future: independence from France; integration with France (the statusquo); or “association” with France, i.e. a “government of Algerians byAlgerians, supported by French aid in close union with France”.  De Gaulle appeared to favor “association”.  European Algerians were outraged at deGaulle, as an independent Algeriameant losing their political and economic stranglehold on power.  By sheer numbers alone, the pieds-noirs, whonumbered about one million in the 1960s (10% of the population) would beoverwhelmed demographically by Algerian Muslims, who totaled some ninemillion.  French Algerians formed theFrench National Front (FNF), a militia aimed at opposing de Gaulle, whoironically had been put into power by the same militancy of the pieds-noirs andFrench Algerian Army.

France’s possessions in Africa included the vast French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa (shaded on the left).

De Gaulle furtherweakened the French Algerian Army’s radicalism when on January 19, 1960, hedismissed General Massu, victor of the Battle of Algiers, who had threatenedinsubordination by declaring that he and other officers may choose to notfollow de Gaulle’s orders.  Three monthslater, in April 1960, de Gaulle reassigned General Challe, commander-in-chiefof the French Algerian Army, away from Algeria, just as the latter was on theverge of inflicting a decisive defeat on the FLN “internal” forces.

General Massu’s dismissalsparked the “Week of Barricades” (French: La semaine des barricades) starting on January 24, 1960, where some 30,000 pieds-noirs took to thestreets, seized government buildings, and set up barricades in an act ofdefiance against de Gaulle’s government. Viewing these acts as a threat to his regime, de Gaulle, donning hisWorld War II brigadier general’s uniform in a televised broadcast on January29, 1960, appealed to the French people and armed forces to remain loyal to France.  The French 10th ParachuteDivision, which had won the Battle of Algiers for France, did not launch suppressiveaction against the barricades, but the refusal of the French Army to join theprotesters doomed the uprising.  TheFrench 25th Parachute Division finally broke up the barricades;casualties for the protesters were 22 dead and 147 wounded, and for theAlgerian gendarmes (police), 14 dead and 123 wounded.

May 12, 1942 – German forces repulse a Soviet offensive at the Second Battle of Kharkov

Following the failure of Operation Barbarossa (Germany’splanned lightning conquest of the Soviet Union in 1941), Stalin was soencouraged by the Soviet counter-attack that saved Moscow that he ordered more operations beconducted. He intended these thrusts to form part of a generalcounter-offensive at specific points from north to south of the frontline.

These operations were unsuccessful and disastrous to the Red Army: at Demyansk (February-April 1942) and Kholm (January-May 1942), trapped German forces, supplied by air for several weeks, repulsed Soviet attempts to eliminate the pockets; a Soviet counter-offensive (January-April 1942) to lift the siege of Leningrad led instead to the attackers being encircled and destroyed; a Red Army operation aimed at recapturing Kharkov (in northeastern Ukraine; Second Battle of Kharkov, May 1942) instead led to six Soviet armies being trapped with 300,000 casualties, including the destruction of 1,200 tanks, 2,000 artillery pieces, and 500 aircraft, for the German loss of 20,000 troops and 50 planes; and the failure of the Red Army to recapture the Crimea (December 1941-May 1942).

May 11, 1944 – World War II: Allied forces make a fourth attempt to breach the Gustav Line

On May 11, 1944, the Allieslaunched another attack on the Gustav Line, the Germans’ main defense systemguarding the entrance to Rome.  On May 19, a concentrated Allied offensivecombining U.S.5th and British 8th Armies finally breached the GustavLine and the Monte Cassino hilltop was captured, forcing German 10thArmy to fall back.  Just days later, May23, U.S. VI Corps at Anzio broke out from the beaches and advanced northwesttoward Rome, instead of attacking northeast for Valmontone to cut off German 10thArmy, as planned.  This change indirection was ordered by General Clark, U.S. 5th Army commander, whoprobably wanted his forces, not the British, to capture Rome,which was in defiance of orders from his superior, General Alexander, chief ofall Allied troops in Italy.  As a result, the Allies failed to encircleGerman 10th Army at the Gustav Line. German 10th Army escaped and, together with German 14thArmy from Anzio, soon established new positionsin northern Italy.  The Allied planning had also placed Rome inside the American sector, and not the British;instead, the latter were tasked to bypass Romeand pursue the retreating Germans.

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

Battle of ItalyThe Allied campaign in Italy, as in the entire North African and Mediterraneanregion as a whole, came about from a compromise between American and Britishmilitary planners in response to prodding by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that the Alliesopen a second front in the West to ease German pressure on the beleagueredEastern Front, which was defended by the Soviet Union.  The U.S.military high command wanted an immediate campaign in France, deeming that this was thequickest way to end the war.  The Britishdesired an offensive in the Mediterranean region for control of the vital sealanes and for other strategic reasons, and particularly to carry the war to Italy,which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the “softunderbelly” of the Axis.  In the end, theBritish and Americans agreed that a cross-English Channel invasion of Francewould be launched in 1944, but that an operation into Italy would also becarried out, which could achieve any of the following strategic aims on thecontinent: Italy would be knocked out of the war; if not eliminated from thewar, Italy would be forced to withdraw its troops from occupied Europe todefend the homeland; and with the Italian withdrawal, German manpower andresources would be stretched further to help defend Italy and occupyterritories vacated by the Italians.

For Germany, the loss of North Africa brought its southern European flank under threat.  In November 1942, German forces occupied Vichy France,relegating the nominally independent French polity into no more than a puppetstate.  To counter a possible invasion ofItaly from the south, theGermans planned (and did) exploit the rugged mountainous terrain of Italy, particularly the Apennine Mountains that stretch formuch of the north-south length of the country. Italy shared a borderwith Greater Germany through Ostmark (Austria),and the Germans also were determined to defend Italy to protect the vital oil fieldsand mineral resources of the Balkan region.

Preparatory to the invasion, Britain and the United States launched air attacks in southern Italy, Sicily,and Sardinia, targeting airfields, portfacilities, and industrial sites.  OnJuly 10, 1943, the Allies made amphibious landings in Sicily, with the U.S.7th Army at the Gulf of Gela in the southwest and the British 8th Army southof Syracuse inthe southeast.  Allied naval gunfireeasily overpowered the Italian coastal defenses, with the fiercest oppositioncoming from the Luftwaffe, which launched air attacks that sank and damagedseveral Allied ships.  U.S. ground forces repulsedrepeated German counter-attacks, and by July 15, 1943, the Allies had securedtheir bridgehead and were breaking out toward the north.  The German-Italian forces quickly establisheddefensive positions along Mount Etna in the northeast, stalling the advance ofBritish 8th Army at Catania, and elements of U.S. 7thArmy.

General George Patton, commander of U.S. 7th Army, then launched anattack toward central Sicily, and soon reached Palermo, Sicily’s capitallocated in the northeast, on July 23, 1943. U.S. forces thenadvanced along the northern coast, threatening to outflank the Axis forces on Mount Etna.  TheAllies breached the first line of defense, forcing the Axis to retreat toanother set of defenses.  But with theAllies also threatening to break through the second line, and British andAmerican units also conducting flanking maneuvers along the coast, the Axisdeemed their positions in Sicilyuntenable.  On August 11, 1943, the Axisbegan to evacuate Sicily across the Strait of Messina for the southern Italianmainland, completing their withdrawal on August 17; some 40,000 German and70,000 Italian troops were evacuated. The Allies captured over 110,000 mostly Italian troops, most of whom didnot offer resistance.

For Italy, the loss of Sicilycame as a shock, which was worsened by an Allied air raid on Rome on July 19, 1943 that destroyed civilianand military infrastructures.  On July25, 1943, the Fascist Grand Council stripped Mussolini of many powers,including control of the Italian military, which was turned over to King VictorEmmanuel III.  The next day, the Italianmonarch fired Mussolini as Prime Minister, and had him imprisoned. A newgovernment was formed, led by the chief of the Italian Armed Forces, GeneralPietro Badoglio, who was appointed as the new Prime Minister.

The invasion of Sicily also forced Germanyto withdraw 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 hiscontinued 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.

May 10, 1940 – World War II: Britain seizes Iceland from Denmark

On April 10, 1940, German forcespeacefully occupied Bornholm, Denmark’s easternmost island located in the Baltic Sea.  TwoDanish-linked territories were seized by the British: the Faroe Islands onApril 12, and Iceland,a self-governing state with the Danish king as its head of state, on May10.  Greenland,a Danish colony, took a different path in World War II.  Henrik Kauffmann, the Danish ambassador tothe United States, signed atreaty with the U.S.government that allowed American military bases to be constructed in the islandto protect it from German invasion.  Atthis time, the United Stateswas still neutral and a non-belligerent in World War II.  The Danish government in Copenhagen, now controlled by the Germans asa protectorate, rejected the treaty.

(Taken from Denmark and Norway – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe – Vol. 6)

In December 1939, Hitler ordered theGerman military high command to prepare an invasion plan for Norway.  The plan was completed in January 1940, buton Hitler’s new order, the German military began work on another plan,Operation Weserubung, in February1940.  Then on February 16, 1940, in whatis known as the Altmark Incident, a British destroyer entered Norwegianterritorial waters, and stopped and boarded a German supply ship, the Altmark,which was carrying 299 British POWs.  Toa furious Hitler, the incident meant that the Allies were determined to breachNorwegian neutrality, which so provoked him that he ordered that preparationsfor Operation Weserubung be hastened.

The conquest of Denmark was included in the invasion plan for Norway, as Denmark’snorthern airbase at Aalborg was considered important for Luftwaffe control ofthe skies over the Skagerrak Strait between Denmarkand Norway, to provide aircover for the German naval and ground invasion forces coming from Germany.  Control of Denmarkwould also allow Germanyto extend its air and naval power to the north, as well as protect the airdefenses of the German homeland. Although some German officials preferred to use diplomatic pressure on Denmarkto force it to agree to the German terms, in the end, Hitler decided on aninvasion.  On March 1, 1940, Hitlerapproved Operation Weserubung, the invasions of Denmarkand Norway.  On April 1, he set the invasion date forApril 9.

As it unexpectedly turned out, Britain’s Operation Wilfred and Germany’sOperation Weserubung became interconnected. On April 8, British ships mined areas along Norway’s western coastline,including Narvik.  The next day, April 9,Germany launched itsinvasion of Denmark and Norway(each discussed in the next two articles).  Although the British mine-laying operationand German invasion were launched unbeknownst of each other, the Britishaction, which occurred first, unexpectedly became Germany’s pretext to launcharmed action, ostensibly to protect Norway against Allied aggression.

May 9, 1936 – Prelude to World War II: Italy annexes Ethiopia

Benito Mussolini, whose quest for Italiancolonial expansion was only restrained by the reactions from both the Britishand French, saw the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as British betrayal to theStresa Front.  To Mussolini, it was agreen light for him to launch his long desired conquest of Ethiopia[1] (thenalso known as Abyssinia).  In October 1935, Italyinvaded Ethiopia, overrunningthe country by May 1936 and incorporating it into newly formed Italian East Africa.  In November 1935, the League of Nations,acting on a motion by Britainthat was reluctantly supported by France,imposed economic sanctions on Italy,which angered Mussolini, worsening Italy’srelations with its Stresa Front partners, especially Britain.  At the same time, since Hitler gave hissupport to Italy’s invasionof Ethiopia, Mussolini wasdrawn to the side of Germany.  In December 1937, Mussolini ended Italy’s membership in the League of Nations, citing the sanctions, despite the League’s alreadylifting the sanctions in July 1936.

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

In January 1936, Mussolini informed theGerman government that he would not oppose Germanyextending its sphere of influence in Austria (Germany annexed Austria inMarch 1938).  And in February 1936,Mussolini assured Hitler that Italywould not invoke the Versailles and Locarno treaties if Germanyremilitarized the Rhineland.  In March 1936, Hitler did just that,eliciting no hostile response from Britainor France.  Then in the Spanish Civil War, whichstarted in July 1936, Italyand Germanyprovided weapons and troops to the right-wing Nationalist forces that rebelledagainst the Soviet Union-backed leftist Republican government.  In April 1939, the Nationalists emergedvictorious, and their leader General Francisco Franco formed a fascistdictatorship in Spain.

In October 1936, Italy and Germanysigned a political agreement, and Mussolini announced that “all other Europeancountries would from then on rotate on the Rome-Berlin Axis”, with the term“Axis” later denoting this alliance, which included Japan as well as other minorpowers.  In May 1939, German-Italianrelations solidified into a formal military alliance, the “Pact of Steel”. In November 1937, Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Germany and Japansigned one year earlier (November 1936), ostensibly only directed against theCommunist International (Comintern), but really targeting communist ideologyand by extension, the Soviet Union.  In September 1940, the Axis Powers wereformed, with Germany, Italy, and Japan signing the Tripartite Pact.

In April 1939, Italy invaded Albania(separate article), gaining fullcontrol within a few days, and the country was joined politically with Italyas a separate kingdom in personal union with the Italian crown.  Six months later (September 1939), World WarII broke out in Europe, which took Italy completely by surprise.

Despite its status as a major militarypower, Italywas unprepared for war.  It had apredominantly agricultural economy, and industrial production forwar-convertible commodities amounted to just 15% that of Britain and France.  As well, Italian capacity for war-importantitems such as coal, crude oil, iron ore, and steel lagged far behind those ofother western powers.  In militarycapability, Italian tanks, artillery, and aircraft were inferior and mostlyobsolete, although the Italian Navy was large, ably powerful, and possessedseveral modern battleships.  Cognizant ofItalian military deficiencies, Mussolini placed great efforts to build up armedstrength, and by 1939, some 40% of the national budget was allocated tonational defense.  Even so, Italianmilitary planners had projected that full re-armament and building up of theirforces would be completed only in 1943; thus, the unexpected start of World WarII in September 1939 came as a shock to Mussolini and the Italian High Command.

[1] Also encouraging Mussolini to invade was the recently signedItalian-French agreement (January 1935), where France,hoping to keep Italy fromsiding with Germany, cededto Italy some colonial areasin Africa, and promised not to interfere if Italyinvaded Ethiopia.

May 8, 1963 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese soldiers open fire on a crowd of Buddhist protesters, killing nine people

In 1963, thepolitical climate in South Vietnam deterioratedconsiderably, and opposition rose against the graft-ridden Diemgovernment.  President Diem, a Roman Catholic in an overwhelmingly Buddhistcountry, appointed many Catholics to top government and military positions,angering Buddhists.  Then in May 1963, ina Buddhist streetprotest condemning the government’s ban on raising Buddhist flags on Vesak(Buddha Day), security forces opened fire on the crowd, killing ninepeople.  The next month, in protest, aBuddhist monk committed self-immolation by setting himself on fire, this eventbeing captured on camera by a news reporter, with the photograph shocking theinternational community.  In thefollowing months, other Buddhist monks also set themselves on fire, andwidespread protests erupted in Saigon.

Then inAugust 1963, South Vietnamese Special Forces raided Buddhist temples, killingand arresting hundreds of Buddhists and causing extensive property damage.  The United States, by this time greatly alarmed at South Vietnam’s deteriorating situation, began to distanceitself from President Diem.  In particular, the Kennedyadministration was outraged at Ngo Dinh Nhu, the president’s younger brotherand chief advisor, who it believed was behind the South Vietnamese government’soppressive policies.  The U.S.government had pressed President Diem to dismissNhu and stop the repression.  But with noreforms coming and South Vietnam’ssecurity situation deteriorating, the United States tacitly gave itsconsent to a plot by South Vietnamese generals to overthrow the Diem government.  In a coup on November 1–2, 1963, Diem wasshot and killed, together with Nhu.  Amilitary junta led by high-ranking officers was then installed to rule thecountry.

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

Meanwhile in1962, the South Vietnamese military had begun to make progress in suppressingthe Viet Cong.  GeneralPaul Harkins, commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam (which wasofficially called Military Assistance Command, Vietnam or MACV), announced thatthe Viet Cong would be defeated by December 1963, by which time Americanadvisers could be withdrawn from South Vietnam. However, in January 1963, at the Battle of Ap Bac, the Viet Cong scored a stunning victory over thenumerically superior (by a 4:1 ratio) South Vietnamese Army.  The Viet Cong had developed new tactics tocounter the enemy’s modern weapons, and held its ground against SouthVietnamese forces that attacked using air, mechanized, and artillery support.

In 1963-1964,the Viet Cong/NLF expanded considerably: its forces, nownumbering over 100,000 fighters, consisted of both regular and guerilla units,and were increasingly capable of fighting conventional battles.  By then, the Viet Cong/NLF controlled or hadinfluence over vast areas from the Central Highlands to the Mekong Delta (areasit called “liberated zones”), or nearly 50% of South Vietnam’s land area, and 50% of the total population.  There, it set up quasi-governments in localvillages, which collected taxes from the residents and distributed agriculturallands to the peasants.  The Ho Chi Minh Trail alsohad grown extensively, allowing thousands of North Vietnamese Army soldiers tomove south and join the war against South Vietnam.  The North Vietnamese Army operated innorthern South Vietnamwhile the Viet Cong/NLF, aided by some North Vietnamese Army units, operated inthe other areas.

In theaftermath of Diem’s overthrow, South Vietnam experiencedpolitical instability by a series of military coups, where juntas were formedand were toppled one after the other.  The South Vietnamese military was plagued with corruption, and sufferedfrom low morale and poor combat capability. The new U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson was convinced that South Vietnam would fall to the Viet Cong, although like President Kennedy, he did not wantto escalate American involvement in Vietnam.  At this time, President Johnson was focusinghis administration on domestic policies, particularly his Great Societyprograms.  But like his predecessors,President Johnson wasconcerned about the United Statesloss of prestige and credibility as the leader of the free world in the eventof a Viet Cong/NLF (i.e. communist) victory in South Vietnam.  Furthermore, the American people, as well aspoliticians and military officers, called for more decisive action in South Vietnam.  Starting in April 1964, President Johnson increased U.S. air and naval presence in the coastalwaters off Vietnam; U.S.planes then began launching covert bombing raids on the Laotian border.

Meanwhile in North Vietnam, in December 1963, the Hanoi government,convinced that South Vietnam was vergingon defeat, approved plans to intensify the war to hasten the fall of the Saigon government. More North Vietnamese Army troops were sent through the Ho Chi MinhTrail, raising North Vietnamese combat strength in the south from 174,000soldiers in December 1963 to 300,000 in 1964. Large quantities of weapons and other supplies also were transported tothe Viet Cong/NLF.

As early as1961, under the top-secret Oplan 34A by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and later in 1964, underthe Military Assistance Command, Vietnam– Studies and Operations Group (MACV-SOG),U.S. Navy fast patrol boats transported South Vietnamese commandos on smallattack missions inside North Vietnam. One such mission, which would have far-reaching consequences,occurred on July 30, 1964, when South Vietnamese commandos attacked two NorthVietnamese islands in the Gulf of Tonkin.  The USS Maddox, an American destroyer operating as an electronicspy ship, was located nearby.  On August2, 1964, the commander of the USS Maddoxreported being attacked by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats, but that theattack was thwarted.  Two days later,August 4, the USS Maddox, now joinedby another electronic spy ship, the USSTurner Joy, again reported being attacked by North Vietnamesetorpedo boats.

This secondincident was later determined to not having occurred.  However, after the second “attack”, PresidentJohnson announced tothe American public that U.S.naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin had been attacked by North Vietnam.  President Johnson then orderedretaliatory air strikes, where U.S.planes struck North Vietnamese naval bases and an oil storage facility.  President Johnson also calledon the U.S. Congress to pass a resolution that would guarantee “freedom…andpeace in Southeast Asia” and support “allnecessary action to protect our Armed Forces”.

On August 7,1964, U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution(Senate: 88-2 and House of Representatives: 416-0), which came into law onAugust 10, which gave President Johnson broad powersto use all necessary military force in Southeast Asia in support of its alliesthere.  The Resolution essentially gavePresident Johnson theauthority to go to war against North Vietnam without first obtaining aDeclaration of War from U.S. Congress. 

The U.S. air strikes, the U.S.spy activities in the Gulf of Tonkin, and the South Vietnamese infiltration missions convincedthe Hanoi governmentthat the United States wasintervening in the war, and worse, it was planning to invade North Vietnam.  As a result, the Ho regime increased militarypressure in South Vietnam to overthrowthe Saigon government before the United States could intervene.  In early 1965, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forceslaunched a series of attacks across South Vietnam, with concentrations in theCentral Highlands east toward the coast to cut South Vietnam in two, and in theregion west of Saigon and near the Cambodian border.  U.S.military installations in South Vietnam also were targeted.  In November 1964, the Bien Hoa airport,headquarters of the U.S. Air Force command in South Vietnam, was attacked by VietCong mortar fire, killing and wounding dozens of American servicemen anddamaging several planes.  Then inFebruary 1965, Viet Cong units attacked the U.S.air base at Pleiku, Central Highlands, killing 9 U.S.soldiers and wounding 70 others, which was followed three days later, by anexplosion that destroyed a hotel at Qui Nohn, killing 23 U.S. soldiers.

As a resultof the Viet Cong escalation,President Johnson authorizedOperation Rolling Thunder, a limited-scale bombing of North Vietnam, which began on March 2, 1965, withthe stated aims of boosting South Vietnamese morale, deterring North Vietnam from supporting the Viet Cong/NLF,and stopping North Vietnamese forces from entering South Vietnam.  Initiallyplanned to last only 8 weeks, the bombing campaign became an incremental,sustained effort that lasted 44 months, ending in November 1968.  Under Operation Rolling Thunder, PresidentJohnson requiredthat the U.S. military’s list of potential targets be subject to his approval,which generated great consternation among the generals who wanted an all-out,large-scale strategic bombing campaign of North Vietnam.  U.S.planes also were only allowed to hit targets (such as road and rail systems,industries, and air defenses) inside a designated radius away from Hanoi and Haiphong, as well as froma buffer zone from the North Vietnam-China border.  Some of these restrictions would be liftedlater.

The incrementalnature of Operation Rolling Thunder allowed North Vietnam enough time tostrengthen its air defenses.  Thus, by1968, Hanoi, Haiphong,and other vital centers were bristling with 8,000 Soviet-supplied anti-aircraftguns and 300 surface-to-air missile batteries, supported by 350 radarfacilities, as well as scores of Soviet MiG-21 fighter planes and 15,000 Sovietair-defense advisers.  In February 1965,the Soviet Union furtherincreased its military support to North Vietnamwhen an American bombing attack coincided with the visit of Soviet DeputyPremier Alexei Kosygin to Hanoi.Previously, the Soviet government had sought a diplomatic resolution to the VietnamWar (despite providing military support to North Vietnam).  Ultimately, by the end of Rolling Thunder, the United Stateslost over 900 planes, while North Vietnamcontinued to deliver even larger amounts of weapons to South Vietnam through theHo Chi Minh Trail.