Daniel Orr's Blog, page 67

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

Adolf Hitler exerted great effort to try and persuade the officially neutral but Allied-leaning government of Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisha Cvetkovic to join the Axis.  In a series of high-level meetings between the two countries which even included Hitler’s participation, the Germans offered sizable rewards to Yugoslavia for joining the Axis, including Greek territory that would include Salonica which would give Yugoslavia access to the Aegean Sea.  Talks went nowhere until Hitler met with Prince Paul on March 4, 1941, which led two weeks later to the Yugoslav government agreeing to join the Axis.  On March 25, 1941, Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact, motivated by a secret clause in the agreement that contained three stipulations: the Axis promised to respect Yugoslavian sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Yugoslavian military would not be required to assist the Axis, and Yugoslavia would not be required to allow Axis forces to pass through its territory.  But two days later, March 27, pro-Allied Yugoslav Army Force officers deposed the Yugoslav government and installed itself in a military regime, arrested Prince Paul, and named the 17-year old minor crown prince as King Peter II.  The new military government assured Germany that Yugoslavia wanted to maintain friendly ties between the two countries, albeit that it would not ratify the Tripartite Pact.  Anti-German mass demonstrations broke out in Belgrade and other Serbian cities.

As a result of the coup, a furious and humiliated Hitlerbelieved that Yugoslavia hadtaken a stand favoring the Allies, despite the new Yugoslav government’sconciliatory position toward Germany.  On March 27, 1941, just hours after the coup,Hitler convened the German military high command and stated his intention to“destroy Yugoslaviaas a military power and sovereign state”. He ordered the formulation of an invasion plan for Yugoslavia, which was to be carried out togetherwith the attack on Greece.  Despite the time constraint (the attack onGreece was set to be launched in ten days, April 6, 1941), the German militaryfinalized a lightning attack for Yugoslavia, code-named Operation 25, to beunder taken in coordination with the operation on Greece.

Hitler invited Bulgariato participate in the attack on Yugoslavia,but the Bulgarian government declined, citing the need to defend its borders.  As well, Hungarydemurred, as it had just recently signed a non-aggression pact with Yugoslavia, but it agreed to allow the Germaninvasion forces to mass in its southwestern border with Yugoslavia.  Romania was not asked to join theinvasion.

Mussolini, after conferring with Hitler, agreed toparticipate, and the Italian forces were to undertake the following:temporarily cease operations at the Albanian front; protect the flank of theGerman forces invading from Austriato Slovenia; seize Yugoslav territoriesalong the Adriatic coast; and link up with German forces for the invasion of Greece.

On April 3, 1941, Yugoslaviasent emissaries to Moscow to try and arrange amutual defense treaty with the Soviet Union.  Instead, on April 5, the Soviet governmentagreed only to a treaty of friendship and non-aggression with Yugoslavia,which did not promise Soviet protection in case of foreign aggression.  As a result, Hitler was free to invade Yugoslaviawithout fear of Soviet intervention.  OnApril 6, 1941, Germany and Italy launched the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece, discussed separately in thenext two chapters.

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

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

The Balkan Campaign InAugust 1940, Hitler gave secret instructions to his military high command toprepare a plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union,to be launched in the spring of 1941.  InOctober 1940-January 1941, the Germans launched fierce air attacks on Britain, whichfailed to force the latter to capitulate as Hitler had hoped.  Hitler then suspended his planned invasion ofBritainand instead focused on other ways to bring it to its knees.  He turned to the Mediterranean Sea, whosecontrol by Germany and Italy would have the effect of cutting off Britain from its colonies in Africa and Asia viathe Suez Canal.  In this plan, German forces would captureGibraltar through Spain,thus sealing off the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, while the ItalianArmy in Libya would captureBritish-controlled Egypt aswell as the Suez Canal, sealing off the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.  German forces wouldjoin in the final stages of the Italian offensive.

As the German military formulated the invasion plan of theSoviet Union and the means to knock Britain out of the war, Hitler wasdetermined that no complications arose that would interfere with theseobjectives.  Foremost, Hitler had noappetite for turmoil to break out in southeastern Europe,especially the highly volatile Balkan region, the “powder keg” that had sparkedWorld War I.  Politically andstrategically, Hitler wanted stability in the Balkans to keep away the SovietUnion, with whom Germanyhad a tenuous non-aggression pact. Conflict in the Balkans would most likely prompt intervention by Russia, whichtraditionally held a strong influence there.

Hitler had long stated that he had no territorial ambitionson the Balkans.  Instead, Germany’s main interest there was purelyeconomic, as the Balkan countries were Germany’s biggest partners,supplying the latter with food and mineral resources.  But of the greatest importance to Hitler werethe Ploiesti oil fields in Romania, whichprovided the German military and industry with vital petroleum products.

Germanyand Italy mediated twoterritorial disputes involving Romaniaand its neighbors: on August 21, 1940, Romaniawas persuaded to cede Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria,and on August 30, 1940, it also relinquished one-third of Transylvania to Hungary.  A few weeks earlier, in late June-early July1940, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had used strong-arm tactics to force Romania to cede its northeastern regions ofBessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Hitler strove to convince Mussolini to stall thelatter’s territorial ambitions in the Balkans. Mussolini had long viewed that in the German-Italian partition ofEurope, southeastern Europe and the Balkansfell inside the Italian sphere of control. Italian forces had invaded Albaniain April 1939 (separate article), and after the fall of France in June 1940, Mussolini exerted pressureon Greece and Yugoslavia, andthreatened them with invasion.  At thattime, Hitler was able to convince Mussolini to suspend temporarily his Balkanambitions and instead focus Italian efforts on defeating the British in North Africa.

But on October 7, 1940, at the request of Romanian dictatorIon Antonescu, German forces entered Romaniato guard against a Soviet invasion; for Hitler, it was to protect the vital Ploiesti oil fields.  Mussolini was outraged by this German action,as he believed that Romaniafell inside his zone of control.  Alsofor Mussolini, Hitler’s move into Romania was only the latest in along list of stunts that had been made without previously consulting him, andone that had to be reciprocated, or as Mussolini put it, “to repay him [Hitler]with his own coin”.  Hitler had invaded Poland, Denmark,Norway, France, and the Low Countries without informing Mussolini beforehand.

On October 28, 1940, Mussolini, without notifying Hitler,launched the invasion of Greece(previous article), despite insufficient military preparation and against thecounsel of his top generals.  Theoperation was a disaster, as the motivated Greek Army threw back the Italiansto Albania,and then launched its own offensive.  Within three months, the Greeks occupied aquarter of Albanian territory.  Greece haddeclared its neutrality at the start of World War II.  But because of the Italian invasion, theGreek government turned to Britainfor assistance.  In early November 1940,British forces had arrived, and occupied two strategically important Greekislands, Crete and Limnos.

The unexpected Italian attack on Greece and likelihood of Britishintervention in the Balkans shocked Hitler, seeing that his efforts to try andmaintain peace in the region had failed. His prized Ploesti oil fields and the whole southeastern Europe were now vulnerable.  On November 4, 1940, Hitler decided to becomeinvolved in Greecein order to bail out his beleaguered ally Mussolini and to forestall theBritish.  On November 12, 1940, theGerman High Command issued Directive No. 18, which laid out the German plan tocontain the British in the Mediterranean: German forces would invade northern Greece and Gibraltar in January 1941, and thenassist the Italians in attacking Egypt in the fall of 1941.  However, Spain’spro-Axis dictator General Francisco Franco refused to allow German troops into Spain, forcing Germanyto suspend its invasion of Gibraltar.  On December 13, 1940, the German militaryissued Directive No. 20, which finalized the invasion of Greece undercodename Operation Marita.  In the finalplan, German forces in Bulgaria would open a second front in northeasternGreece and capture the whole Greek northern coast, link up with the Italians inthe northwest, and if necessary, push south toward Athens and seize the rest ofGreece.  Operation Marita was scheduledfor March 1941; however, delays would cause the invasion to be launched onemonth later.

For the invasion of Greece,Hitler considered it necessary to bring into the Axis fold the governments of Hungary, Romania,Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia,notwithstanding their stated neutrality at the start of the World War II.  With their cooperation, German forces wouldcross their territories through Central and Eastern Europe,as well as control their military-important infrastructures, such as airfieldsand communications systems.  Hungary, which had benefited territorially inthe German seizure of Czechoslovakiaand Axis arbitration of Transylvania, was drawn naturally to Germany.  On November 20, 1940, the Hungariangovernment joined the Tripartite Pact . Three days later, Romaniaalso joined the Pact, as Romanian leader Antonescu was motivated to do so byfear of a Soviet invasion.  In succeedingmonths, large numbers of German forces and weapons, passing through Hungary, would assemble in Romania, mainly for the planned invasion of the Soviet Union (whose operational plan would be finalizedin December 1940 under the top-secret Operation Barbarossa).

Bulgariabalked at joining the Pact and thus be openly associated with the Axis, andalso was concerned that participating in the invasion of Greece would leave its eastern border vulnerableto an attack by Turkey,which was allied with Greece.  The Bulgarians also were aware of a Sovietplan to capture Varna, Bulgaria’s Black sea port, which the Sovietswould use to seize control of the Turkish Straits, which was a source of along-standing dispute between the Soviet Union and Turkey. 

However, Hitler exerted strong diplomatic pressure on Bulgaria andalso promised to protect Bulgarian territorial integrity.  Bulgaria acquiesced and agreed toallow German troops to enter Bulgarian territory.  On February 28, 1941, German engineeringcrews bridged the Danube River at the Romanian-Bulgarian border, and the firstGerman units crossed into Bulgariaand continued to that country’s eastern border. The next day, March 1st, Bulgariajoined the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis.  On March 2, 1941, German forces involved inOperation Marita entered Bulgariaand proceeded south to the Bulgarian-Greek border.

To assure Turkey of German intentions, Hitler wrote to theTurkish government to explain that the German presence in Bulgaria was directed at Greece.  To further allay the Turks, German troopswere positioned far from the Turkish border. The Turkish government accepted the German clarification, and agreed tostand down its forces during the German attack on Greece.

Meanwhile, Greecewas aware of German plans, and in the previous months, held talks with Britain and Yugoslavia to formulate a commonstrategy against the anticipated German attack. The dilemma for Greece was that by March 1941, the greater part of itsmilitary forces were still tied down against the Italians in southern Albania,leaving insufficient units to defend the rest of the country’s northernborder.  At the request of the Greekgovernment, Britain and itsdominions, Australia and New Zealand, sent 58,000 troops to Greece; this force arrived in March 1941 anddeployed in Greece’snorth central border.

March 26, 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalist forces launch their offensive into central Spain

On March 26, 1939, Nationalist forces advanced into central Spain, meeting no resistance as the junta had ordered Republican soldiers to raise white flags and retreat from the frontlines. On March 28, the Nationalists entered Madrid, where large crowds welcomed them as liberators.  The Nationalists then continued across eastern Spain to the Mediterranean coast.

(Taken from Spanish Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

In December 1938, one month after the fighting in the Ebro ended, General Francisco Franco, leader of the Nationalist forces, was ready to advance into Catalonia, with Barcelona, the Republican government’s capital, as the ultimate objective.  The Nationalists assembled a force of 300,000 soldiers, 300 tanks, 1,400 artillery pieces, and 500 planes.  Meeting this were also about 300,000 Republican soldiers, but who were only poorly equipped with firearms, and supported by 40 tanks, 250 artillery pieces, and 100 planes.  Across Catalonia, the Republicans’ morale among soldiers and civilians was at its lowest, and the great majority wanted an end to the war.

Key areas during the Spanish Civil War.

On January 23, 1939, the Nationalists attacked Catalonia from the westand south.  After initially meetingstrong resistance, the offensive broke through and advanced all across thecountryside.  To take the pressure from Catalonia, in early January 1939, the Republicans openeda front in Extremadura, attacking northeast of Cordoba and gaining some territory.  Then, the Nationalists counter-attacked withsupporting air firepower, and threw back the Republicans.

By the third week of January 1939, the Nationalists hadreached the outskirts west and south of Barcelona.  The Republican government, led by PresidentManuel Azaña and Prime Minister Negrin, evacuated from the capital and flednorth to the Spanish-French border.  Some500,000 Republican soldiers and civilians joined the retreat, pursued by theNationalist Army.  Prime Minister Negrinappealed to General Franco for peace talks, but was rejected, as theNationalist leader wanted only unconditional surrender.  On January 26, Barcelona fell to the Nationalists.

In early February 1939, the retreating Republican Army andcivilians entered into France(the French government had reopened the border).  The refugees were gathered by Frenchauthorities and then interned in camps. After the war, some 200,000 refugees returned to Spain, while 300,000 eventually immigrated toother countries in Europe and the Americas.  On February 9, 1939, Nationalist forcesreached the Spanish-French border, which they closed down.  By this time, Catalonia was fully under the Nationalists’control.  Three weeks later, France and Britain recognized General Franco’sgovernment.

Prime Minister Negrin managed to fly back to RepublicanSpain to take over control of the remaining territories still held by theRepublicans.  By then, however, althoughthe Republicans still held about 30% of Spain, the war essentially wasover.  Negrin established hisheadquarters at Alicante,where he appointed communist officers to high-ranking military positions.  In Madrid,non-communist officers, concerned that the Republican government was becomingcommunist, launched a coup on March 5, 1939 that deposed Prime MinisterNegrin.  However, communist units of theRepublican Army opposed the coup, leading to the outbreak of fighting betweenpro-communist and anti-communist forces of the Republican Army.  After five days of clashes, anti-communistforces prevailed in Madrid.

After overthrowing the Republican regime, the coup leadersformed a military-civilian junta (called the National Council of Defense),which was made up of military officers, as well as socialist and anarchistleaders.  After fighting in Madrid ended, the juntatried to negotiate a peace treaty with General Franco, but the talksfailed.  On March 26, 1939, Nationalistforces advanced into central Spain,meeting no resistance as the junta had ordered Republican soldiers to raisewhite flags and retreat from the frontlines.

On March 28, the Nationalists entered Madrid, where large crowds welcomed them asliberators.  The Nationalist advanceacross eastern Spain to theMediterranean coast also met no opposition, with Jaen,Cuenca, Albacete,and Saguntobeing taken without incident.  As aresult of the Nationalist advance, some 50,000 Republican supporters fled tothe ports of Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena,and Gandia in the hope of escaping abroad. Fewer than 5,000 of these Republicans made it out of Spain.  By April 1, the Nationalists had captured theeastern coast, and thus controlled all of Spain.  The war was over.  About 500,000 persons lost their lives in thewar; this figure includes total combat-related deaths of soldiers andcivilians, and non-combat fatalities from various causes including summaryexecutions, starvation, and diseases.

Aftermath Followingthe war, General Franco established a right-wing, anti-communist dictatorialgovernment centered on the Falange Party. Socialists, communists, and anarchists, were outlawed, as werefree-party politics.  Political enemieswere killed or jailed; perhaps as many as 200,000 lost their lives in prison orthrough executions.  The politicalautonomies of Basque and Cataloniawere voided.  These regions’ culture,language, and identity were suppressed, and a single Spanish national identitywas enforced.

After World War II ended, Spainbecame politically and economically isolated from most of the internationalcommunity because of General Franco’s affiliation with the defeated fascistregimes of Germany and Italy.  Then with increasing tensions in the Cold Warbetween the United Statesand Soviet Union, the U.S.government became drawn to Spain’sstaunchly anti-communist stance and strategic location at the western end ofthe Mediterranean Sea.

In September 1953, Spainand the United Statesentered into a defense agreement known as the Pact of Madrid, where the U.S. government infused large amounts ofmilitary assistance to Spain’sdefense.  As a result, Spain’sdiplomatic isolation ended, and the country was admitted to the United Nationsin 1955.

Its economy devastated by the civil war, Spainexperienced phenomenal economic growth during the period from 1959 to 1974(known as the “Spanish Miracle”) when the government passed reforms that openedup the financial and investment sectors. Spain’stotalitarian regime ended with General Franco’s death in 1975; thereafter, thecountry transitioned to a democratic parliamentary monarchy which it is today.

March 25, 1971 – Pakistan jails Bangladeshi nationalist Mujibur Rahman, who while in prison, declares the independence of Bangladesh

In Dhaka, the EastPakistani capital, thousands of residents undertook mass demonstrations thatparalyzed commercial, public, and civilian functions.  On March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Armyarrested and jailed Mujibur Rahman, who then declared while in prison thesecession of East Pakistan from Pakistanand the founding of the independent state of Bangladesh.  Mujibur’s supporters aired the declaration ofindependence on broadcast radio throughout East Pakistan.

Bangladesh War of Independence and 1971 Indian-Pakistani War

(Taken from Bangladesh War of Independence and 1971 Indian-Pakistani War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Background TheBangladesh War of Independence began as a civilian uprising in East Pakistanthat escalated into a civil war between East Pakistan and West Pakistan.  Indiaintervened in the civil war, sparking the Indian-Pakistani War of 1971.  In the aftermath of the two wars, EastPakistan broke away from Pakistanand formed the new state of Bangladesh.

In 1947, the Indian subcontinent was partitioned (previousarticle) into two new countries (Map 13): the Hindu-majority India and thenearly exclusive Muslim Pakistan.  Muchof India was formed from thesubcontinent’s central and eastern regions, while Pakistancomprised two geographically separate regions that became West Pakistan(located in the northwest) and East Pakistan(located in the southeast).

From its inception, Pakistanexperienced a great disparity between West Pakistan and East Pakistan.  The nationalcapital was located in West Pakistan, fromwhere all major political and governmental decisions were made.  Military and foreign policies emanated fromthere as well.  West Pakistan also held a monopoly on the country’s financial,industrial, and social affairs.  Much ofthe country’s wealth entered, remained in, and was apportioned to theWest.  These factors resulted in WestPakistan being much wealthier than East Pakistan.  And all this despite East Pakistan having ahigher population than West Pakistan.

In the 1960s, East Pakistancalled for social and economic reforms and greater regional autonomy, but wasignored by the national government.  Thenin 1970, the Amawi League, East Pakistan’s main political party, won a stunninglandslide victory in the national elections, but was prevented from taking overthe government by the ruling civilian-military coalition regime, which fearedthat a new civilian government would reduce the military’s influence on thecountry’s political affairs.

Leaders from East Pakistan and West Pakistan tried to negotiate a solution to the political impasse,but failed to reach an agreement.  Havingbeen prevented from forming a new government, Mujibur Rahman, East Pakistan’s leader, called on East Pakistanis to carry out acts ofcivil disobedience.

In Dhaka, the EastPakistani capital, thousands of residents undertook mass demonstrations thatparalyzed commercial, public, and civilian functions.  On March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Armyarrested and jailed Mujibur, who then declared while in prison the secession ofEast Pakistan from Pakistanand the founding of the independent state of Bangladesh.  Mujibur’s supporters aired the declaration ofindependence on broadcast radio throughout East Pakistan.

East Pakistanis then organized the Mukti Bahini, a guerillamilitia whose ranks were filled by ethnic Bengali soldiers who had defectedfrom the Pakistani Army.  As armedclashes began to break out in Dhaka, the national government sent more troopsto East Pakistan.  Much of the fighting took place in April-May1971, where government forces prevailed, forcing the rebels to flee to theIndian states of West Bengal and Tripura.  The Pakistani Army then turned on thecivilian population to weed out nationalists and rebel supporters.  The soldiers targeted all sectors of society– the upper classes of the political, academic, and business elite, as well asthe lower classes consisting of urban and rural workers, farmers, andvillagers.  In the wave of violence andsuppression that took place, tens of thousands of East Pakistanis were killed,while some ten million civilians fled to the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam,Bihar, and Meghalaya.

As East Pakistani refugees flooded into India, theIndian government called on the United Nations (UN) to intervene, but receivedno satisfactory response.  As nearly 50%of the refugees were Hindus, to the Indian government, this meant that thecauses of the unrest in East Pakistan werereligious as well as political.  (Duringthe partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, a massive cross-bordermigration of Hindus and Muslims had taken place; by the 1970s, however, EastPakistan, still contained a significant 14% Hindu population.)

Since its independence, Indiahad fought two wars against Pakistanand faced the perennial threat of fighting against or being attackedsimultaneously from East Pakistan and West Pakistan.  Indiatherefore saw that the crisis in East Pakistan yielded one benefit – if thethreat from East Pakistan was eliminated, India would not have to face thethreat of a war on two fronts.  Thus,just two days into the uprising in East Pakistan,India began to secretlysupport the independence of Bangladesh.  The Indian Army covertly trained, armed, andfunded the East Pakistani rebels, which within a few months, grew to a force of100,000 fighters.

In May 1975, Indiafinalized preparations for an invasion of East Pakistan,but moved the date of the operation to later in the year when the Himalayanborder passes were inaccessible to a possible attack by the Chinese Army.  Indiahad been defeated by Chinain the 1962 Sino-Indian War, and thus was wary of Chinese intentions, more so sinceChina and Pakistan maintained friendly relations and bothconsidered Indiatheir common enemy.  As a result, India entered into a defense treaty with theSoviet Union that guaranteed Soviet intervention in case India wasattacked by a foreign power.

In late spring and summer of 1971, East Pakistani rebelsbased in West Bengal entered East Pakistan andcarried out guerilla attacks against the Pakistani Army.  These infiltration attacks includedsabotaging military installations and attacking patrols, outposts, and otherlightly defended army positions. Government forces threw back the attacks and sometimes entered into India inpursuit of the rebels.

By October 1971, the Indian Army became involved in thefighting, providing artillery support for rebel infiltrations and even openlyengaging the Pakistani Army in medium-scale ground and air battles along theborder areas near Garibpur and Boyra (Map 14).

March 24, 1976 – President Isabel Peron of Argentina is ousted in a coup

On March 24, 1976, Argentinean President Isabel Peron wasoverthrown in a military coup. A military junta called “National ReorganizationProcess” gained control of government, ruling with autocratic powers in asuccession of right-wing, staunchly anti-communist administrations, until 1983.During this period, the juntas brought about the Dirty War, an anti-subversivemilitary campaign against perceived communist and leftist elements in society.

Argentina and nearby countries. During the Dirty War, the Argentine government used “dirty” methods in its anti-insurgency campaign to stamp out leftist and perceived communist elements in the country.

(Taken from Dirty War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 1)

Background TheDirty War refers to the Argentinean military government’s suppression ofleft-wing and perceived communist elements during the mid-1970s to the early1980s.  The “Dirty” in its name refers tothe violent, illicit methods used by the military to carry out thecampaign.  These “dirty” methods includedsummary executions, extrajudicial arrests and detentions, tortures, abductions,and rapes.  The military justified thesemethods on the grounds that their enemies were using terrorism and otherunderhanded actions against the civilian population and even against thegovernment itself.  The Argentineanauthorities also declared that drastic measures were needed as the country wasfalling into anarchy, a claim that was rejected by the politicalopposition.  What is undisputed, however,was the presence of widespread violence and considerable tensions leading up tothe Dirty War.

The origin of the Dirty War can be traced back to the riseof Juan Peron, Argentina’sextremely popular president during the 1940s to the 1950s, and his politics ofPeronism, a unique, all-inclusive nationalist ideology.  Peronism gained broad support from the commonpeople, workers, and peasants, as well as from the political left, moderates, andeven the far-right.  In 1955, however,President Peron was deposed in a military coup. Argentinathen came under military rule, and Peronism and Peronist parties were banned.

By the late 1960s, the remaining Peronist movements hadgiven way to various radical and communist armed groups that had sprung up as aresult of Fidel Castro’s communist victory in Cubaand the subsequent spread of Marxist ideology across Latin America.  In the early1970s, the Argentinean insurgents carried out attacks against civilian andmilitary targets.  Rebel actions includedassassinations, summary killings, abductions, bombings, and armed robberies.

Partly because of the increasing civil unrest as well as anailing economy, the Argentinean military government lifted the ban onPeronism.  Then in elections held in May1973, a left-wing Peronist political party came to power.  The new government freed political prisonersand enacted pro-leftist laws.  Theresurgent labor union staged job actions, causing many businesses to closedown.  Many foreign investors left thecountry after receiving threats on their lives, businesses, and properties.

With the ban on his return lifted, ex-President Peronreturned to Argentinain June 1973.  But what should have beencause for celebration instead generated a fatal split in Peronism.  Some two million Peronist supporters welcomedPeron on his arrival at the airport. When commotion broke out, however, Peron’s armed right-wing supportersfired on the left-wing Peronists in the crowd, killing 13 persons and woundingover 300 others.

The following month, the left-wing Peronist governmentstepped down, giving way to Peron to take up the presidency, since he had wonthe presidential election held a few months earlier.  President Peron’s vice-president was IsabelPeron, his wife, who won the vice-presidential race.  President Peron was supported by a broadpolitical coalition and a massive populist base that included leftist elements.  He cast his lot with his right-wingsupporters, however, and formed a government composed of the bureaucraticelite, as well as some moderates.

By May 1974, President Peron had purged his government andpolitical party of left-leaning politicians; his left-wing supporters at thelower echelons had been alienated as well. But already in failing health at age 78, President Peron’s final term inoffice lasted only ten months, as he passed away on June 1, 1974.

Isabel Peron, the vice-president, succeeded as Argentina’s newpresident.  Isabel’s politicalinexperience manifested, however, as she was incapable of confronting thecountry’s many problems.  High-rankinggovernment and military leaders interfered constantly in major governmentpolicy decisions, and Isabel was reduced to a figurehead president.

The growing influence of the military in Argentineanpolitics plunged the country deeper into the Dirty War, which actually hadbegun near the end of Juan Peron’s presidency. Extremist right-wing politicians close to Juan Peron had organized the“Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance” or “Triple A”, a clandestine state-run“death squad” that initially targeted union leaders, but expanded itsoperations to include all leftist elements, as well as political dissidents.

The Argentinean communists also militarized, terrorizingprivate businesses with bombings, arsons, and armed robberies, and kidnappingor killing businessmen, managers, and executives.  The insurgents also attacked police stationsand army outposts, causing hundreds of military and police casualties.

In 1975, the communist rebels gained a third section of Tucuman Provincein Argentina’snorthwest region (Map 26).  Thegovernment issued the so-called “Annihilation Decrees”, which authorized themilitary to crush the insurgency.  Thecountry was reconfigured into military zones, greatly reducing the civiliangovernment’s authority.

In March 1976, high-ranking military officers deposed IsabelPeron.  The military’s stated reason forthe coup was to prevent the communist take-over of the country.  Thereafter, a military junta came topower.  Argentina’s legislature wasabolished, while the judicial courts were restructured to suit the newmilitarized system.  The academic andintelligentsia were suppressed, as were labor and peoples’ assemblies.  The military government instituted harshmeasures to stamp out communist and leftist elements.  Also targeted by the military were oppositionpoliticians, journalists, writers, labor and student leaders, including theirsupporters and sympathizers.

The military operated with impunity, arbitrarily subjectingtheir suspected enemies to arrests, interrogations, tortures, andexecutions.  One infamous method ofexecution was the “death flight”, where prisoners were drugged, stripped naked,and held down with weights on their feet, and then boarded onto a plane andlater thrown out into the Atlantic Ocean.  Since death flights and other forms ofexecutions made certain that the bodies would not be found, the victims weresaid to have disappeared, striking great fear among the people.  Another atrocity was allowing capturedpregnant women to give birth and then killing them, with their babies given tothe care of and adopted by military or right-leaning couples.  The military and Triple A death squads carriedout these operations clandestinely during the Dirty War.

The military government’s anti-insurgency campaign was sofierce, sustained, and effective that by 1977, the leftist and communist groupshad practically ceased to exist. Hundreds of rebels, who had escaped to the nearby countries of Brazil, Uruguay,Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile,were arrested and returned to Argentina.  The United States provided technicalassistance to the integrated intelligence network of these countries within thescope of its larger struggle against communism in the Cold War.

The Argentinean government continued its draconian rule evenafter it had stamped out the insurgency. The Dirty War caused some 9,000 confirmed and up to 30,000 unconfirmedvictims from murders and forced disappearances. By 1982, however, the military’s anti-insurgency campaign, which hadfound wide popular support initially, was being criticized by the peoplebecause of high-level government corruption and a floundering national economy.

Seeking to revitalize its flagging image, the militarygovernment launched an invasion of the British-controlled Falkland Islands in an attempt to stir up nationalist sentiments andthereby regain the Argentinean people’s support.  The Argentinean forces briefly gained controlof the islands.  A British naval taskforce soon arrived, however, and recaptured the Falkland Islands, driving away and inflicting heavy casualties on theArgentinean forces.

Consequently, Argentina’s military governmentcollapsed, ending the country’s militarized climate.  Argentina then began to transitionto civilian rule under a democratic system. After the country held general elections in 1983, the new governmentthat came to power opened a commission to investigate the crimes committedduring the Dirty War.  Subsequently, anumber of perpetrators were brought to trial and convicted.  Some military units broke out in rebellion inprotest of the convictions, forcing the Argentinean government to pass new lawsthat reduced the military’s liability during the Dirty War.  In 1989, a broad amnesty was given to allpersons who had been involved, indicted, and even convicted of crimes duringthe Dirty War.

In June 2005, however, the Argentinean Supreme Courtoverturned the amnesty laws, allowing for the re-opening of criminal lawsuitsfor Dirty War crimes.  The fates of manypersons killed and disappeared, as well as the infants taken from theirmurdered mothers, remain unsolved and are subject to ongoing investigations.

March 23, 1901 – Philippine-American War: Revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo is captured

On March 23, 1901, U.S. Army-recruited Filipino soldiers andtheir American officers captured Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela; the Filipinoleader soon pledged allegiance to the United States and called on otherrevolutionaries to end hostilities and surrender.  However, the war continued, since Aguinaldohad previously set up a line of succession to the revolutionary leadership, apost that was filled after his capture by General Miguel Malvar, who operatedmainly in Batangas, and also in nearby provinces.

Key areas during the Philippine-American War.

The year 1901 saw the most intense phase of the U.S.reconcentrado policy implemented in many areas held by therevolutionaries.  In January of thatyear, interior villages in Marinduque were depopulated and their residentsmoved to coastal guarded camps before the U.S. Army launched inland operationsto flush out the insurgents.  Threemonths later, in April, U.S.forces carried out similar operations in Abra in northern Luzon.  Also in April, U.S.forces launched a scorched-earth sixty-mile wide destruction of villages andfarmlands in Panay Island from Iloiloin the south to Capiz in the north.  Thenin September, in the event known as the Balangiga Massacre, Filipino guerillasattacked an American garrison in Balangiga, Samar, killing nearly all the U.S.soldiers.  In reprisal, U.S. GeneralJacob Smith issued the following instructions to U.S. Marines who were taskedwith pacifying Samar, “I want noprisoners.  I wish you to kill and burn,the more you kill and the more you burn, the more you will please me…Theinterior of Samar must be made into a howling wilderness”.  The age limit specified was ten, i.e. allpersons above this age was to be killed.

The Philippines in Southeast Asia.

(Taken from Philippine-American War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background Throughoutthe Spanish colonial rule (which began in 1565) over much of the archipelagothat now comprises the country called the Philippines, the native inhabitantsof the islands often offered resistance and launched scores of mostly local orlimited-scope rebellions, all of which generally failed to have a marked orlong-lasting effect on Spain’s political and military control of thecolony.  Developments in the 19thcentury, however, sparked the emergence of a unified collective Filipinoconsciousness among the separate islands’ numerous and diverse ethnic groups,which soon led to the development of a nationalist vision for thearchipelago.  Among these developmentswere the opening in 1834 of Manila (as well as other ports in the Philippineislands) to world trade, the entry of foreign firms (e.g. British, American,French, Swiss, and German) to compete with the erstwhile Spanish-ownedcommercial and trade monopolies, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 thataccelerated European-Asian trade, and the 1868 Glorious Revolution in Spainthat established a progressive government which in turn appointed a liberal,democratic-minded Governor-General in the Philippines.

Traditional Philippine colonial society, which wasstratified into the peninsulares (Spanish nationals born in Spanish) andinsulares (Spanish nationals born in the Philippines) upper ruling classes, themestizo (descendants of Spanish-native unions) and pre-colonial native nobilitylower ruling classes, and the masses of indios (natives) lower classes(comprising peasants, and rural and urban laborers), was transformed during thesecond half of the 19th century with the rise of the middle class, whichconsisted of landed farmers, teachers, lawyers, physicians, and governmentworkers.  The members of this new socialclass, which emerged and benefited from the central government’s political andeconomic reforms, placed great emphasis on education and sent their childrenfor advanced schooling in Manila and even in Spain and other European cities,thereby producing a second generation of the enlightened (i.e. educated) middleclass, which was called the ilustrado class.

This ilustrado middle class, working together with politicalexiles from the islands, organized as the Propaganda Movement during the lastdecades of the 19th century and established its main base of activities inSpain, where progressive ideas were prevalent and generally tolerated, and notin their homeland, which although officially run by a civilian government underthe Governor-General, was highly influenced by the powerful Catholic religiousorders (Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans), which held the realpolitical power especially in the countryside where most of the nativesresided.  The Propaganda Movement pursuedits ideological views through the fine arts (painting, sculpture, etc.) andprint (most notably the newspaper La Solidaridad and Jose Rizal’s two scathingnovels against the Spanish colonial system in the Philippines).  Politically, the movement did not seekindependence and instead called on Spain to implement reformsincluding local representation in the Spanish parliament, civil and socialreforms, and the end of the religious orders’ political and social dominationof the colony.  However, Spain wasintransigent to change and by 1896, the Propaganda Movement had sputtered andeffectively ceased to exist.

In 1892, a reformist organization, La Liga Filipina (ThePhilippine League), was founded in Manila (by Rizal who had returned to thePhilippines) which, in its brief existence that was cut short by Spanishauthorities and Rizal’s arrest and deportation, was crucial to advancing thenationalist cause because it had members from the lower social classes whobecame exposed to liberal, progressive ideas. Then on La Liga Filipina’s dissolution, Andres Bonifacio, a Manilawarehouse worker, and his other associates from the lower classes, secretlyorganized the Katipunan (Filipino: Samahang Kataastaasan, KagalanggalangKatipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan; English: Supreme and Most Honorable Society ofthe Children of the Nation), a militant mass-based radical movement that advocatedthe establishment of an independent Philippine state through violent revolutionagainst Spain.

By 1896, the rebel movement numbered some 30,000 members,drawn mostly from the rural and urban lower class but also fromnationalist-minded middle class leaders, professionals, and even local publicofficials, with the latter group heading many of the insurgent organization’slocal and regional revolutionary councils. The movement spread throughout much of the archipelago with activerecruitment campaigns being carried out particularly in Manila’s nearbyprovinces including Manila (province), Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac,Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas, and also other parts of Luzon as well as theVisayan islands, and some Christian parts of Mindanao.

Spanish authorities soon learned of the clandestineorganization and conducted widespread arrests of suspected members, whichforced the as yet unprepared insurgents to commence hostilities with an attackon Manila inlate August 1896 in an attempt to overthrow the Spanish government.  The Spanish Army repulsed the attack andBonifacio and his insurgent forces fell back to the hills east of Manila where theyreorganized as a guerilla militia that engaged in hit-and-run warfare.  Provincial rebel commands also initiatedsimilar armed uprisings, which likewise were easily quelled by local SpanishArmy units, except in Cavitewhere the revolutionary leaders, most notably Emilio Aguinaldo (who later wouldplay a major role in the Philippine-American War), defeated and expelled theSpanish forces and gained control of much of the province.  Tensions soon developed between Bonifacio andAguinaldo, which led to a power struggle. By March 1897, Aguinaldo had emerged as the organization’s de factoleader, having executed his rival, although many provincial revolutionarycommands operated as virtually independent commands and others, particularly inthe Visayan islands, were distrustful of being ethnically dominated byrevolutionaries from Luzon in the post-warperiod.

By May 1897, with the arrival of reinforcements and weaponsfrom Spain, the Spanish Army launched a major offensive that gained backcontrol of Cavite and many other insurgent-occupied areas, and Aguinaldo wasforced to be constantly on the move until finding relatively safe refuge in themountains north of Manila where he carried out a guerilla struggle.  By this time, the Spanish authoritiesrealized the difficulty of capturing Aguinaldo and sought the mediation ofinfluential Filipinos and mestizos (some of whom had been involved with therebel movement but had since been won over to Spain with the offer ofamnesty).  After several months, inDecember 1897, these mediation efforts led to the signing by Filipino andSpanish representatives of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, a peace treaty that endedhostilities.

The peace treaty stipulated that in exchange for Aguinaldoand other revolutionary leaders ending the rebellion, surrendering apre-determined number of firearms, and going into voluntary exile abroad, Spainwould pay Aguinaldo and the revolutionary leadership a monetary indemnity (tobe paid in three installments).  The twosides did not fully comply with the treaty’s provisions, and much tension andmistrust persisted.  On December 23,1897, Aguinaldo and his party of revolutionaries did go to voluntary exile inHong Kong where they plotted to renew hostilities with a cache of newlyacquired weapons that were purchased using the indemnity money given by theSpanish government.  In the islands, theSpanish Army continued to face sporadic local armed resistance and thus failedto fully pacify the archipelago, and consequently also could not implementamnesty.

At this stage of political uncertainty, the Spanish-AmericanWar broke out on April 25, 1898, with hostilities centered mainly in Cuba, withthe United States taking the side of the Cuban revolutionaries who had beenengaged in a protracted independence war against colonial Spain for three years(since February 1895).  The United States then sent a naval squadron to the Philippines, and on May 1, 1898 at the Battle ofManila Bay, the U.S.ships, commanded by Commodore George Dewey, dealt a crushing defeat on theSpanish Navy.  Commodore Dewey thenimposed a naval blockade of Manila Bay while awaiting the formation in the United States of ground troops to carry out theland war against the Spanish Army in Manila andthe Philippines.

Meanwhile, U.S.consular officials in Singaporemet with Aguinaldo, these talks soon becoming a subject of great controversy,as the Filipino leader later asserted that these officials, ostensiblyrepresenting the U.S.government, promised him that in exchange for the Filipino revolutionaries’support to the United Statesin the war against Spain,the U.S.government would recognize Philippine independence.  However, the U.S.government declared that no such promise to Aguinaldo was made and that the U.S. consular officials were not in authority toenter into negotiations for and in behalf of the United States.

At any rate, the meetings brought about a tacit alliancebetween the Filipino revolutionaries and the United States, and a U.S.ship transported Aguinaldo and his party from Hong Kong to the Philippines, with the revolutionary leadersarriving in Manila on May 19, 1898 to restartthe uprising against Spain.  Aguinaldo’s return had a catalyzing effect,as the revolution, although not completely dying down during his absence, roseto such an intensity that within a short period, insurgent provincial commandshad seized control of much of the territories, including the provinces ofLaguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Tayabas, and Camarines.  By July 1898, the Filipino insurgentscontrolled much of the archipelago, except Manila, which was surrounded and placed undersiege by some 12,000 revolutionary troops. Sensing imminent victory, on June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo declared theindependence of the Philippines,which was followed six days later by the formation of a dictatorial government,with himself as the new country’s president. On June 23, he abolished the dictatorial government, instead creating arevolutionary government, also with himself as president.

Meanwhile, on June 30, 1898, the first of three batches of U.S. ground troops arrived and were landed in Cavite, south of Manila;by late July 1898, General Wesley Merritt, commander-in-chief of the PhilippineExpeditionary Forces, had arrived and the total U.S. Army troop strengthnumbered 12,000 soldiers.  Then as U.S. forces deployed closer to Manila, skirmishes began to break out, themost serious taking place on August 8, 1898 when eight American soldiers werekilled or wounded.  These incidentsprompted the U.S.military command to suspect that the Filipino revolutionaries were passing oninformation to Spanish authorities about the American troop movement,highlighting the increasingly deteriorating relations between the two nominalallies.

Meanwhile, the anticipated showdown between U.S. and Spanish forces in the Philippines did not materialize, as the Spanishcentral government in Madrid realized imminentdefeat in Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.  On August 12, 1898 inWashington, D.C.,the United States and Spain signed the “Protocol of Peace” that endedhostilities between the two countries; this agreement did not reach the Philippinesuntil August 16.  However, U.S. andSpanish authorities in Manila also entered into secret negotiations, which ledto the two sides agreeing to carry out a mock battle for control of Manila; theplan was aimed at preserving Spanish military honor that otherwise would betarnished if the Spanish Army surrendered without a fight, and the two sideswould be spared unnecessary loss of lives. More importantly for the two powers and in the context of regional andglobal rivalries (with the other European powers operating in theAsia-Pacific), Manila (and thus the Philippines) would be passed on from Spain to the United States, and without theparticipation of the Filipino revolutionaries. Without disclosing the plan, U.S.authorities warned Aguinaldo to keep his forces inside Filipino defensivelines, and faced the risk of meeting U.S. fire if they advanced.

As agreed, on August 13, 1898, Spanish and American forcescarried out the mock battle, which involved an assault by U.S. forces, some cursory exchange of gunfire,and a pre-determined signal to indicate that the Spanish Army was ready tosurrender and turn over Manilato the Americans.  The battle endedsuccessfully, with U.S.forces gaining control of the capital, although it was marred somewhat when, atthe start of the American offensive, Filipino troops also advanced from theirlines, prompting an exchange of gunfire between the two sides that claimed sixAmerican and forty-nine Spanish troop casualties.

In the aftermath, Filipino forces gained control of sectionsof Manila andAguinaldo insisted in joint Filipino-American occupation of the capital.  On August 17, 1898, U.S. President WilliamMcKinley informed General Elwell Otis that only U.S.forces were to occupy Manila, thus indicatingthe United States’ intentionto keep the Philippines.  A few days earlier, August 14, the UnitedStates established a military government in the islands, with General Merritttaking the position of (the first) military Governor.  U.S. authorities threatened the useof armed force against Aguinaldo if the Filipino units were not withdrawn fromthe capital; on September 15, 1898, the latter reluctantly withdrew his forcesto a defensive line extending across the perimeter of the capital.

In late September 1898, American and Spanish representativesmet in Paris tobegin work on a treaty to officially end the war, particularly with regards tothe future of Spanish territories involved in the conflict.  Negotiations were difficult with respect tothe Philippines, as the United States demanded possession of first onlyLuzon and later the whole archipelago, which Spain strongly opposed.  Finally, however, on December 10, 1898, thetwo countries signed the Treaty of Paris, where Spainceded Cuba, Puerto Rico,Guam, and the Philippines tothe United States; withregards to the Philippinesparticularly, the U.S.government paid Spainthe amount of U.S. $20 million for “Spanish improvements” made in the colony.

The treaty, which needed to be approved by the twocountries, experienced considerable opposition in the U.S. andSpanish legislatures.  On March 19, 1899,Spainratified the treaty with the intervention of the Spanish monarchy.  In the U.S. Senate, a vote on the treaty setfor February 6, 1899 appeared to just fall short of the two-thirds majorityneeded for approval.  However,developments in the Philippineswould influence the vote.

In early January 1899, U.S.ships trying to land American troops in Iloilo Citywere blocked by thousands of local Filipino troops.  From Malolos (where the Filipino centralgovernment was headquartered), Aguinaldo threatened to use force if theAmericans forced a landing.  In the midstof rising tensions, on January 4, 1899, President McKinley’s “Benevolent Assimilation”policy of American annexation of the islands was released, generating even morediscord.

March 22, 1979 – Israel’s parliament approves the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty

Following the Yom Kippur War (October 1973), on January 18,1974, Egypt and Israelsigned a Disengagement of Forces Agreement (also known as the Sinai IAgreement). The agreement established a buffer zone between Egyptian andIsraeli forces that was to be monitored by the United Nations Emergency Force(UNEF). Only a limited amount of armament and forces were permitted inside thebuffer zone.

On September 4, 1975, Egypt and Israel signed the Sinai Interim Agreement (also known as Sinai II Agreement), where both sides pledged that conflicts between them “shall not be resolved by military force but by peaceful means.” A further withdrawal was agreed and a wider UN buffer zone was created.

These agreements paved the way for the Camp David Accords (in Camp David, Maryland), which led to the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty on March 26, 1979. This landmark peace treaty ended their state of war and normalized relations, and Egypt became the first Arab state to officially recognize Israel. On March 22, 1979, Israel’s parliament (Knesset) approved the peace treaty.

Diplomatic relations between them came into effect in January 1980, with an exchange of ambassadors the following month. Israel withdrew from the Sinai, which Egypt reoccupied and promised to leave demilitarized. Israeli ships were allowed free passage through the Suez Canal, and Egypt recognized the Strait of Tiran and Gulf of Aqaba was international waterways.

(Taken from Yom Kippur War – Wars of 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background With its decisive victory in the Six-Day War in June 1967, Israel gained control of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank from Jordan.  The Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights were integral territories of Egypt and Syria, respectively, and both countries were determined to take them back.  In September 1967, Egypt and Syria, together with other Arab countries, issued the Khartoum Declaration of the “Three No’s”, that is, no peace, recognition, and negotiations with Israel, which meant that only armed force would be used to win back the lost lands.

Shortly after the Six-Day War ended, Israel offered to return the Sinai Peninsula andGolan Heights in exchange for a peace agreement, but the plan apparently wasnot received by Egypt and Syria.  In October 1967, Israel withdrew the offer.

In the ensuing years after the Six-Day War, Egyptcarried out numerous small attacks against Israeli military and governmenttargets in the Sinai.  In what is nowknown as the “War of Attrition”, Egyptwas determined to exact a heavy economic and human toll and force Israelto withdraw from the Sinai.  By way ofretaliation, Israeli forces also launched attacks into Egypt.  Armed incidents also took place across Israel’s borders with Syria,Jordan, and Lebanon.  Then, as the United States, which backed Israel,and the Soviet Union, which supported the Arab countries, increasingly becameinvolved, the two superpowers prevailed upon Israeland Egyptto agree to a ceasefire in August 1970.

In September 1970, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt’s hard-line president, passedaway.  Succeeding as Egypt’s head of state was Vice-President AnwarSadat, who began a dramatic shift in foreign policy toward Israel.  Whereas the former regime was staunchlyhostile to Israel,President Sadat wanted a diplomatic solution to the Egyptian-Israeliconflict.  In secret meetings with U.S. government officials and a United Nations(UN) representative, President Sadat offered a proposal that in exchange for Israel’s return of the Sinai to Egypt, the Egyptian government would sign apeace treaty with Israeland recognize the Jewish state.

However, the Israeli government of Prime Minister Golda Meirrefused to negotiate.  President Sadat,therefore, decided to use military force. He knew, however, that his armed forces were incapable of dislodging theIsraelis from the Sinai.  He decided thatan Egyptian military victory on the battlefield, however limited, would compel Israelto see the need for negotiations.  Egyptbegan preparations for war.  Largeamounts of modern weapons were purchased from the Soviet Union.  Egypt restructured its large, butineffective, armed forces into a competent fighting force.

In order to conceal its war plans, Egypt carried out a number ofruses.  The Egyptian Army constantlyconducted military exercises along the western bank of the Suez Canal, which soon were taken lightly by the Israelis.  Egypt’s persistent war rhetoriceventually was regarded by the Israelis as mere bluff.  Through press releases, Egypt underreported the truestrength of its armed forces.  Thegovernment also announced maintenance and spare parts problems with its warequipment and the lack of trained personnel to operate sophisticated militaryhardware.  Furthermore, when PresidentSadat expelled 20,000 Soviet advisers from Egyptin July 1972, Israelbelieved that the Egyptian Army’s military capability was weakenedseriously.  In fact, thousands of Sovietpersonnel remained in Egyptand Soviet arms shipments continued to arrive. Egyptian military planners worked closely and secretly with their Syriancounterparts to devise a simultaneous two-front attack on Israel.  Consequently, Syria also secretly mobilized forwar.

Israel’sintelligence agencies learned many details of the invasion plan, even the dateof the attack itself, October 6.  Israel detected the movements of large numbersof Egyptian and Syrian troops, armor, and – in the Suez Canal– bridging equipment. On October 6, a few hours before Egyptand Syriaattacked, the Israeli government called for a mobilization of 120,000 soldiersand the entire Israeli Air Force. However, many top Israeli officials continued to believe that Egypt and Syria were incapable of starting awar and that the military movements were just another army exercise.  Israeli officials decided against carryingout a pre-emptive air strike (as Israel had done in the Six-Day War)to avoid being seen as the aggressor.  Egypt and Syria chose to attack on Yom Kippur(which fell on October 6 in 1973), the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, whenmost Israeli soldiers were on leave.

March 21, 1975 – Ethiopian Civil War: The 3,000-year old Ethiopian monarchy is abolished

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

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

Ethiopia and nearby countries.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By December 1978, the government’s sustained repression hadkilled or imprisoned thousands of EPRP militants and supporters and had forcedthe EPRP to leave the cities and transfer to AgamaProvince in northern Ethiopia whereit reorganized as a rural guerilla militia. The Derg regime soon also came to distrust MEISON, its political mentor,as it saw the latter’s increasing autonomy as a potential threat.  In mid-1977, the government launched acampaign to eliminate MEISON, arresting and executing the group’s members andpurging MEISON officials from government positions.  In total, the Red Terror may have caused upto 250,000 – 500,000 deaths.

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

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

March 20, 1951 – Korean War: General MacArthur is told that the United States would first offer peace to China and North Korea before allowing UN forces to cross the 38th parallel into North Korea

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

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

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

East Asia.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the wake of the U.S. authorities’ breaking up thecommunists’ “people’s committees” violence broke out in the southern zoneduring the last months of 1946.  Calledthe Autumn Uprising, the unrest was carried out by left-aligned workers,farmers, and students, leading to many deaths through killings, violentconfrontations, strikes, etc.  Althoughin many cases, the violence resulted from non-political motives (such astargeting Japanese collaborators or settling old scores), American authoritiesbelieved that the unrest was part of a communist plot.  They therefore declared martial law in thesouthern zone.  Following the U.S.military’s crackdown on leftist activities, the communist militants went intohiding and launched an armed insurgency in the southern zone, which would playa role in the coming war.

Meanwhile in the northern zone, Soviet commanders initiallyworked to form a local administration under a coalition of nationalists,Marxists, and even Christian politicians. But in October 1945, Kim Il-sung, the Korean resistance leader who alsowas a Soviet Red Army officer, quickly became favored by Soviet authorities.  In February 1946, the “Interim People’sCommittee”, a transitional centralized government, was formed and led by KimIl-sung who soon consolidated power (sidelining the nationalists and Christianleaders), and nationalized industries, and launched centrally planned economicand reconstruction programs based on the Soviet-model emphasizing heavyindustry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 19, 1982 – Falklands War: Argentinean workers raise their national flag in South Georgia Island

By March 1982, the Argentinean military had completed itsinvasion plan.  Occasionally, Argentineanofficials made hinted references to the invasion, which apparently wereoverlooked by the British government.

The invasion plan called for Argentine forces first seizing South Georgia Island,located northwest of the South Sandwich Islands.  On March 19, 1982, Argentinean contractworkers in South Georgia Island raised theArgentine flag.  On April 3, fightingbroke out between the Argentinean invasion force and the small British garrisondefending the island.  The Britishinflicted some material damage to the invaders, but were overwhelmed and forcedto surrender.  South Georgia Islandthen came under Argentinean control.

The invasion of the Falklands began on April 2, 1982, with100 Argentinean commandos landing at Port Stanley,the capital, ahead of the main force of 2,000 soldiers who later were landedamphibiously.  After some skirmishes, theisland’s British garrison of 60 soldiers surrendered, and the Falklandscame under Argentine control.

In 1982, Argentina and Britain went to war for possession of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

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

Background Inearly 1982, Argentina’sruling military junta, led by General Leopoldo Galtieri, was facing a crisis ofconfidence.  Government corruption, humanrights violations, and an economic recession had turned initial public supportfor the country’s military regime into widespread opposition.  The pro-U.S. junta had come to power througha coup in 1976, and had crushed a leftist insurgency in the “Dirty War” byusing conventional warfare, as well as “dirty” methods, including summaryexecutions and forced disappearances.  Asreports of military atrocities became known, the international communityexerted pressure on General Galtieri to implement reforms.

In its desire to regain the Argentinean people’s moralsupport and to continue in power, the military government conceived of a planto invade the Falkland Islands, a Britishterritory located about 700 kilometers east of the Argentine mainland.  Argentinahad a long-standing historical claim to the Falklands,which generated nationalistic sentiment among Argentineans.  The Argentine government was determined toexploit that sentiment.  Furthermore,after weighing its chances for success, the junta concluded that the Britishgovernment would not likely take action to protect the Falklands, as theislands were small, barren, and too distant, being located three-quarters downthe globe from Britain.

The Argentineans’ reasoning was not without merit.  Britainunder current Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was experiencing an economicrecession, and in 1981, had made military cutbacks that would have seen thewithdrawal from the Falklands of the HMS Endurance, an ice patrol vessel andthe British Navy’s only permanent ship in the southern Atlantic Ocean.  Furthermore, Britain had not resisted when in 1976,Argentinean forces occupied the uninhabited Southern Thule, a group of smallislands that forms a part of the British-owned South Sandwich Archipelago,located 1,500 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands.

In the sixteenth century, the Falkland Islands first came to European attention when they were signed byPortuguese ships.  For three and a halfcenturies thereafter, the islands became settled and controlled at varioustimes by France, Spain, Britain,the United States, and Argentina.  In 1833, Britaingained uninterrupted control of the islands, establishing a permanent presencethere with settlers coming mainly from Walesand Scotland.

In 1816, Argentinagained its independence and, advancing its claim to being the successor stateof the former Spanish Argentinean colony that had included “Islas Malvinas” (Argentina’s name for the Falkland Islands), theArgentinean government declared that the islands were part of Argentina’sterritory.  Argentinaalso challenged Britain’saccount of the events of 1833, stating that the British Navy gained control ofthe islands by expelling the Argentinean civilian authority and residentsalready present in the Falklands.  Over time, Argentineans perceived the Britishcontrol of the Falklands as a misplacedvestige of the colonial past, producing successive generations of Argentineansinstilled with anti-imperialist sentiments. For much of the twentieth century, however, Britainand Argentina maintained anormal, even a healthy, relationship, although the Falklandsissue remained a thorn on both sides.

After World War II, Britain pursued a policy of decolonization thatsaw it end colonial rule in its vast territories in Asia and Africa,and the emergence of many new countries in their places.  With regards to the Falklands, under UnitedNations (UN) encouragement, Britainand Argentinamet a number of times to decide the future of the islands.  Nothing substantial emerged on the issue ofsovereignty, but the two sides agreed on a number of commercial ventures,including establishing air and sea links between the islands and theArgentinean mainland, and for Argentinean power firms to supply energy to the islands.  Subsequently, Falklanders (Falklandresidents) made it known to Britainthat they wished to remain under British rule. As a result, Britainreversed its policy of decolonization in the Falklandsand promised to respect the wishes of the Falklanders.

March 18, 1962 – France and Algerian revolutionaries sign the Évian Accords

In May 1961, the French government and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA; French: Gouvernement Provisionel de la République Algérienne) held peace talks in Évian, France, which proved contentious and difficult.  But on March 18, 1962, the two sides signed an agreement called the Évian Accords, which included a ceasefire (that came into effect the following day) and a release of war prisoners; the agreement’s major stipulations were: French recognition of a sovereign Algeria; independent Algeria’s guaranteeing the protection of the pied-noir community; and Algeria allowing French military bases to continue in its territory, as well as establishing privileged Algerian-French economic and trade relations, particularly in the development of Algeria’s nascent oil industry. Pied-Noirs were Algeria-born people of French and other European origin.

In a referendum held in France on April 8, 1962, over 90% ofthe French people approved of the Évian Accords; the same referendum held inAlgeria on July 1, 1962 resulted in nearly six million voting in favor of theagreement while only 16,000 opposed it (by this time, most of the one millionpieds-noirs had or were in the process of leaving Algeria or simply recognizedthe futility of their lost cause, thus the extraordinarily low number of “no”votes).

Map showing location of Algeria in North Africa.

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

Background Thefirst half of the twentieth century saw the rise of Algerian nationalism led byindigenous socio-political movements. Among these were the Algerian Communist Party, religious-basedAssociation of Algerian Muslim Clerics, and the successive organizations led byFerhat Abbas and Ahmed Messali Hadj, two nationalists who played major roles inthe early independence struggles as well as in the forthcoming war ofindependence.

At the global stage, a number of events helped to spur thegrowth of nationalism in colonial territories worldwide.  United States President Woodrow Wilson’s“Fourteen Points” speech to U.S. Congress, which became the basis for peacethat ended World War I, contained a stipulation (point 5) onself-determination, i.e. “free, open-minded, and absolutely impartialadjustment of all colonial claims…in determining all such questions ofsovereignty, the interests of the population concerned must have equalweight…”  Then in the midst of World WarII, the so-called “Atlantic Charter” issued by U.S. President Franklin D.Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill stipulated that “all people havea right to self-determination.”

Furthermore, World War II politically weakened the Frenchcolonial empire, particularly France’s humiliating defeat to Germany and thedestabilized political structure that emerged, with two rival regimes, VichyFrance (under Marshall Philippe Pétain) and Free France (under General Charlesde Gaulle), both vying for political legitimacy.  The early Algerian nationalist movements usedpeaceful means to achieve their goals, participated in the electoral process,and for the most part, did not seek outright independence but worked to achievepolitical autonomy within the French system, greater representation, or morerecognition of indigenous religious, cultural, and social rights.  For instance, in March 1943, Algeriannationalists led by Abbas, presented France with the “Manifesto of theAlgerian People”, which called for greater Algerian Muslim political participationand equality of indigenous peoples under the law.

Radicalization of Algerian nationalists occurred after WorldWar II when French authorities, who had promised to take up Algeria’s self-determination in exchange for theAlgerian Muslims’ support for Franceduring the world war, reneged on their word and were determined to hold onto Algeria.  Algerian nationalists were greatlydisappointed, as thousands of Algerians had fought for France in bothworld wars.

On May 8, 1945, the day World War II ended in Europe, likemany other locations around the world, Algeriacelebrated Germany’ssurrender to the Allied Powers.  But incelebrations in Sétif, a town located 300 kilometers west of Algiers, commotion broke out when policeauthorities violently dispersed a crowd that was celebrating the Allied victorytogether with calls for Algerian independence. For three days thereafter, a full-scale uprising (which involved some50,000 Algerians) took place that engulfed much of the territory, as armedbands roamed the countryside attacking European civilians, homes, and farms,and destroying government buildings and public infrastructures.  French reprisal was vicious, with the Frenchmilitary using land, air, and sea counter-measures that, by June 1945, had decisivelystamped out the rebellion.  Thisincident, which was felt greatest at Sétif and Guelma and for which the eventderives its name, the “Sétif and Guelma Massacres”, caused over 100 Europeanskilled and between 15,000 and 20,000 to as high as 45,000 Algerian Muslimskilled.

As a result of these massacres as well as the post-World WarII rise of nationalism among colonized peoples worldwide, Algerian nationalistsbecame increasingly radicalized in their efforts to achieveself-determination.  In 1946, theDemocratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto (UDMA; French: Union Démocratique duManifeste Algérien), recently formed by Abbas, called on France to end the “department” status of Algeria andgrant political autonomy to the territory. Also that year, the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties(MTLD; French: Mouvement pour le Triomphe des Libertés Démocratiques), led byHadj, demanded France togrant outright independence to Algeria.  These movements were deemed moderate as theysought to achieve their objectives through peaceful, democratic means.

The Special Organisation (OS; French: OrganisationSpéciale), however, which was a radical arm of the MTLD, was organized as aparamilitary that sought to achieve independence through armed rebellion; aswith the other nationalist groups at that time, the OS disbanded withoutachieving its aims.  Former elements ofthe OS and MTLD reorganized as the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action(CRUA; French: Comité Révolutionnaire d’Unité et d’Action) that had similarrevolutionary aspirations; after more changes, on October 14, 1954, CRUAmorphed into the National Liberation Front (FLN; French: Front de LibérationNationale).  The FLN set November 1, 1954as the start of the uprising which, unbeknown at that time, was the start ofthe eight-year Algerian War of Independence.

Early in the war, other Algerian nationalist groups wereassimilated by the FLN in a common struggle to end French rule.  Another independence organization, theAlgerian National Movement (MNA; French: Mouvement National Algérien), led byNajh, also fought a revolutionary war separate from the FLN, generating arivalry between the FLN and MNA for legitimacy and post-war supremacy.  Armed confrontations between these two groupstook place in Algeria,as well as France, which in the latter, the rivalry produced the so-called“Café Wars”, where each side carried out mafia-style shootings, disappearances,abductions, and bombings against the other side; some 5,000 people were killedin the Café Wars.  In the end, the FLNprevailed and the war essentially was fought between the FLN, particularly itsparamilitary wing called the National Liberation Army (ALN; French: Armée deLibération Nationale), which sought to end French rule and gain Algerianindependence; and France, which sought to suppress the insurgents’ separatistobjectives.