Daniel Orr's Blog, page 7

October 28, 1940 – World War II: Italy invades Greece

Early on October 28, 1940, Italy delivered an ultimatum to Greece demanding that Italian forces enter Greek territory and occupy unspecified “strategic locations”, or face war. The popular story is that Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas replied to the ultimatum with the simple “No!”. His actual reply was “So this is war!”. (In present-day Greece, October 28 is celebrated as Ohi Day (or “Anniversary of the No”; Greek: Επέτειος του Όχι, Epéteios tou Óchi)).

A few hours later delivering the ultimatum, Italian forces in Albania, which were massed at the Greek-Albanian border, opened their offensive along a 90-mile (150 km) front in two sectors: in Epirus, which comprised the main attacking force; and in western Macedonia, where the Italian forces were to hold their ground and remain inside Albania.  A third force was assigned to guard the Albania-Yugoslavia frontier.  The Italian offensive was launched in the fall season, and would be expected to face extremely difficult weather conditions in high-altitude mountain terrain, and be subject to snow, sleet, icy rain, fog, and heavy cloud cover.  As it turned out, the Italians were supplied only with summer clothing, and so were unprepared for these conditions.  The Italians also had planned to seize Corfu, which was cancelled due to bad weather.

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

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

Italian-Greek relations, which were strained since the late1920s by Mussolini’s expansionist agenda, deteriorated further.  In 1940, Italyinitiated an anti-Greek propaganda campaign, which included the demand that theGreek region of Epirus mustbe ceded to Albania,since it contained a large ethnic Albanian population.  The Epirusclaim was popular among Albanians, who offered their support for Mussolini’sambitions on Greece.  Mussolini accused Greece of being a British puppet,citing the British naval presence in Greek ports and offshore waters.  In reality, he was alarmed that the BritishNavy lurking nearby posed a direct threat to Italyand hindered his plans to establish full control of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.

Italythen launched armed provocations against Greece,which included several incidents in July-August 1940, where Italian planesattacked Greek vessels at Kissamos, Gulf of Corinth, Nafpaktos, and Aegina.  On August15, 1940, an undetected Italian submarine sank the Greek light cruiserElli.  Greek authorities found evidencethat pointed to Italian responsibility for the Elli sinking, but Prime MinisterMetaxas did not take any retaliatory action, as he wanted to avoid war with Italy.

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

Then on October 7, 1940, Hitler deployed German troops in Romaniaat the request of the new pro-Nazi government led by Prime Minister Ion Antonescu.  Mussolini, upon being informed by Germany four days later, was livid, as hebelieved that Romaniafell inside his sphere of influence. More disconcerting for Mussolini was that Hitler had again initiated amajor action without first notifying him.  Hitler had acted alone in his conquests of Poland, Denmark,Norway, France, and the Low Countries, and had given notice to the Italians only after thefact.  Mussolini was determined thatHitler’s latest stunt would be reciprocated with his own move against Greece.  Mussolini stated, “Hitler faces me with afait accompli.  This time I am going topay him back in his own coin. He will find out from the papers that I haveoccupied Greece.In this way, the equilibrium will be re-established.”

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

But Mussolini would not be dissuaded.  His decision to invade was greatly influencedby three officials: Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano (who was alsoMussolini’s son-in-law), who stated that most Greeks detested their governmentand would not resist an Italian invasion; the Italian Governor-General ofAlbania Francesco Jacomoni, who told Mussolini that Albanians would support anItalian invasion in return for Epirus being annexed to Albania; and thecommander of Italian forces in Albania General Sebastiano Prasca, who assuredMussolini that Italian troops in Albania were sufficient to capture Epiruswithin two weeks.  These three men weremotivated by the potential rewards to their careers that an Italian victorywould have; for example, General Prasca, like most Italian officers, covetedbeing conferred the rank of “Field Marshall”. Mussolini’s order for the invasion had the following objectives,“Offensive in Epirus,observation and pressure on Salonika, and in a second phase, march on Athens”.

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

October 27, 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Nuclear war is averted when a Soviet submarine does not fire its nuclear torpedoes at U.S. warships

On October 27, 1962, all-out war between the United States and the Soviet Union was averted when Soviet flotilla commander Vasily Arkhipov refused to allow the Russian submarine B-59 to fire its nuclear torpedoes at a U.S. Navy flotilla. The American flotilla, consisting of nine destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS Randolph had detected the B-59 and dropped depth charges to force the Soviet submarine to surface to be identified. The refusal by Arkhipov to retaliate by firing the B-59‘s nuclear torpedoes, as suggested by the other two senior officers aboard (agreement of all three was required), prevented the incident from escalating into an all-out nuclear war, as the United States would have reacted militarily to the B-59’s action. Instead, the Soviet submarine surfaced.

In October 1962, an American U-2 spy plane detected a Soviet nuclear missile site under construction in San Cristobal, Pinar del Rio. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the continued presence of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, a U.S. military facility located at the eastern end of Cuba, greatly infuriated Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

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

Background In thenuclear arms race between the two superpowers, the United States held a decisive edge over the Soviet Union, both in terms of the number of nuclear missiles (27,000 to3,600) and in the reliability of the systems required to deliver theseweapons.    The American advantage waseven more pronounced in long-range missiles, called ICBMs (IntercontinentalBallistic Missiles), where the Soviets possessed perhaps no more than a dozenmissiles with a poor delivery system in contrast to the United States that had about 170, which whenlaunched from the U.S.mainland could accurately hit specific targets in the Soviet Union.

The Soviet nuclear weapons technology had been focused onthe more likely war in Europe and therefore consisted of shorter rangemissiles, the MRBMs (medium-range ballistic missiles) and IRBMs(intermediate-range ballistic missiles), both of which if installed in Cuba,which was located only 100 miles from southeastern United States, could targetportions of the contiguous 48 U.S. States. In one stroke, such a deployment would serve Castro as a powerfuldeterrent against an American invasion; for the Soviets, they would haveinvoked their prerogative to install nuclear weapons in a friendly country,just as the Americans had done in Europe.  More important, the presence of Soviet nuclearweapons in the Western Hemisphere would radically alter the global nuclearweapons paradigm by posing as a direct threat to the United States.

In April 1962, Premier Khrushchev conceived of such a plan,and felt that the United States would respond to it with no more thana diplomatic protest, and certainly would not take military action.  Furthermore, Premier Khrushchev believed thatPresident Kennedy was weak and indecisive, primarily because of the American president’shalf-hearted decisions during the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961,and President Kennedy’s weak response to the East German-Soviet building of theBerlin Wall in August 1961.

A Soviet delegation sent to Cuba met with Fidel Castro, whogave his consent to Khrushchev’s proposal. Subsequently in July 1962, Cubaand the Soviet Union signed an agreementpertinent to the nuclear arms deployment. The planning and implementation of the project was done in utmostsecrecy, with only a few of the top Soviet and Cuban officials being informed.  In Cuba, Soviet technical and militaryteams secretly identified the locations for the nuclear missile sites.

In August 1962, U.S.reconnaissance flights over Cubadetected the presence of powerful Soviet aircraft: 39 MiG-21 fighter aircraftand 22 nuclear weapons-capable Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers.  More disturbing was the discovery of the S-75Dvina surface-to-air missile batteries, which were known to be contingent tothe deployment of nuclear missiles.  Bylate August, the U.S.government and Congress had raised the possibility that the Soviets wereintroducing nuclear missiles in Cuba.

By mid-September, the nuclear missiles had reached Cubaby Soviet vessels that also carried regular cargoes of conventionalweapons.  About 40,000 Soviet soldiersposing as tourists also arrived to form part of Cuba’sdefense for the missiles and against a U.S. invasion.  By October 1962, the Soviet Armed Forces in Cubapossessed 1,300 artillery pieces, 700 regular anti-aircraft guns, 350 tanks,and 150 planes.

The process of transporting the missiles overland from Cubanports to their designated launching sites required using very large trucks,which consequently were spotted by the local residents because the oversizedtransports, with their loads of canvas-draped long cylindrical objects, hadgreat difficulty maneuvering through Cuban roads.  Reports of these sightings soon reached theCuban exiles in Miami, and through them, the U.S.government.

October 26, 1991 – Slovenian War of Independence: The last Yugoslav Army units withdraw from Slovenia

On October 26, 1991, the last Yugoslav Army units departedfrom Sloveniafollowing the end of the three-month Brioni Peace Agreement. Slovenia (and neighboring Croatia) had declared independence from Yugoslaviaon June 25, 1991, which led to the outbreak of their independence wars. Aceasefire was declared on July 3. Then in the Brioni Peace Agreement brokeredby the European Community and signed on July 7, 1991, Slovenia (and Croatia) agreed to defer theirindependences for three months.  Inreturn, Yugoslavia wouldcease all military operations in Sloveniaand Croatia.

The peace agreement assured Slovenia’sindependence, as the Yugoslav Army, in the following months, shifted itsattention to the independence wars in Croatia, and later,Bosnia-Herzegovina, both of which contained large Serbian populations.  The last Yugoslav Army units departed from Sloveniaon October 26, 1991.

Sloveniasoon consolidated its sovereignty by implementing major economic programs,which gained international approval.  InJanuary 1992, Slovenia’sindependence was recognized by the European Community; in May of that year, Sloveniajoined the United Nations.

Compared to the other Yugoslav Wars that followed shortly,the Slovenian War of Independence was much less severe in terms of casualties,atrocities, financial cost, and material damage.  When viewed on a regional scale where otherEast European countries and the Soviet Union’s constituent republics weremoving away from communism and becoming independent states, Yugoslavia was faced with anawkward position with regards to its seceding republics.

Yugoslavia’sdecision to disengage in Sloveniawas less difficult, however, in part because of Slovenia’snear ethnic homogeneity compared to, say, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina,which had greater populations of ethnic Serbs. Another aspect of the Slovenia’sindependence war was the Slovenian government’s meticulously planned mediastrategy aimed at generating broad international sympathy and support.  As a result, the European Community exerteddiplomatic pressure on Yugoslaviato end the war quickly.

Yugoslavia comprised six republics, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, and Macedonia, and two autonomous provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina.

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

Background TheSlovenian War of Independence was the first in a series of wars during theperiod of the breakup of Yugoslavia (previous article), when Yugoslavconstituent republics seceded and became independent countries.Geographically,Slovenia was the most westerly located republic of Yugoslavia, and had throughthe centuries, assimilated many Western European influences from neighboringItaly and Austria into its Slavic culture. And unlike the other Yugoslav republics, Slovenia was nearly ethnicallyhomogeneous, with Slovenes comprising 90% of the population.

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

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

Because of the high probability that the Yugoslav Army wouldoppose the secession, the Slovenian government prepared contingency plans manymonths before declaring independence. For instance, Sloveniaformed a small regular army from its police and local defense units.  Weapons and ammunitions stockpiles in Sloveniawere seized; these were augmented with arms purchases from foreign sources.

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

When Sloveniadeclared independence on June 25, this was one day earlier than its previousannounced date of June 26.  This was doneto mislead the Yugoslav Army, which was prepared to attack on June 26.

Immediately after declaring independence, Slovenian forcestook control of the airport near Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital, and the border crossingswith Austria, Hungary, Italy,and Croatia.  No opposition was encountered in theseoperations because the personnel manning these stations were Slovenes, who infact, promptly joined the ranks of the Slovenian Army.

Meanwhile, in Belgrade (in Serbia), the Yugoslav ArmedForces high command ordered limited military action in Slovenia in the beliefthat small-scale intervention would encounter little or no resistance.  And since the Yugoslav Army did not commitsignificant forces in Slovenia, the resulting Slovenian War of Independence wasbrief (lasting only ten days, therefore its more common name, “The Ten-DayWar”), and consisted of skirmishes and small-scale battles.

October 25, 1997 –Republic of the Congo Civil War: Denis Sassou Nguesso takes over power in Congo-Brazzaville

On October 25, 1997, Denis Sassou Nguesso took over powerand formed a new government, declaring himself the new president of theRepublic of the Congo(also known as “Congo-Brazzaville”).  InJanuary 1998, he convened an assembly called the “Forum for National Unity andReconciliation”, which was attended by the country’s political elite (exceptthose who were in exile).  The Forumreached an agreement with the following provisions: establish a three-yeartransitional period before holding elections in 2001, form a transitionallegislative assembly, and draft a new constitution.

Congo-Brazzaville (officially: Republic of the Congo) are nearby countries.

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

Background Congo-Brazzaville,officially known as the “Republic of the Congo”, is a West African countrythat gained its independence in 1960. The country began as a democracy, but within four years after achievingstatehood, it was leaning towards socialism and had adopted socialistpolicies.    Multi-party politics wereended, an official state political party was introduced, and the country’sfree-market capitalism was placed under state controls.  Then in 1970, Congo-Brazzaville officiallyadopted Marxism as its state ideology, changed its name to the “People’sRepublic of the Congo”, andestablished diplomatic relations with the Soviet Unionand other communism countries.

In the early 1990s, the global political and securityclimates changed dramatically, as the Soviet Unionand other East European countries shed off communism and adopteddemocracy.  In 1990, Congo-Brazzavilleyielded to international pressure and moved to transition back to democracy andmulti-party politics.  Although socialistCongo-Brazzaville emulated the Soviet Union’s centralized governmentalinfrastructures, its economy continued to be largely capitalist driven, and thegovernment regularly took out loans from international private commercial bandsand encouraged foreign investments (particularly from France,Congo-Brazzaville’s former colonizer) to the country in order to developCongo-Brazzaville’s oil and mineral resources.

Also in the early 1990s, Congo-Brazzaville was experiencingan economic recession and the government of President Denis Sassou-Nguesso wasbeing accused of corruption by political critics.  In February 1991, President Sassou-Nguessoconvened the “Sovereign National Conference”, an assembly of 200 members of thecountry’s political elite.  TheConference unanimously agreed to restore democracy and establish a transitionalgovernment to run the country until free elections could be held.

In March 1992, Congo-Brazzaville ratified a new constitutionthat instituted multi-party democracy. Then in elections held in August 1992, former Prime Minister PascalLissouba became the country’s new president, defeating the incumbent, PresidentSassou-Nguesso, and the other main candidate, former President Bernard Kolelas.  These three political figures would play themajor roles in the bloody conflicts that followed.

In the legislative elections held in May 1993, PresidentLissouba’s political party won a majority of the parliamentary seats, but thetwo main opposition leaders, Sassou-Nguesso and Kolelas, disputed the results,claiming that fraud had been committed to allow the ruling party to win.  As tensions rose, the three political leadersformed armed groups along ethnic lines: President Lissouba organized the Cocoyemilitia from members of his Nibolek tribe, Sassou-Nguesso formed the Cobramilitia from his Mbochi tribe, and Kolelas organized the Ninja militia from hisLari tribe.

The country’s armed forces were also divided by ethnicity;in particular, Sassou-Nguesso, who was a former army colonel, retained theloyalty of some Mbochi servicemen. Mbochi officers also helped Sassou-Nguesso organize the Cobramilitia.  While Congo-Brazzaville hadexperienced a long history of political unrest since independence, includingthree violent overthrows of government and a presidential assassination, themilitarized climate generated by the 1993 elections portended the country’sdescent into greater violence.

In June 1993, fighting broke out between PresidentLissouba’s Cocoye fighters and the combined forces of Cobra and Ninjamilitias.  In January 1994, a truce wassigned which ended hostilities.  Thefighting caused some 5,000 mostly civilian deaths and tens of thousands ofpeople left without homes.  In 1994, theOrganization of African Unity and the governments of Franceand Gabonbrought together the three rival political parties of Congo-Brazzaville to signa peace agreement, which took effect in December 1995.  The agreement contained two majorstipulations: formation in Congo-Brazzaville of a power-sharing governmentconsisting of the three political parties, and disarming and demobilization ofall militias.  The agreement failed to beimplemented, however.  As a result, themilitarized, confrontational climate remained, setting the stage for afull-blown civil war.

October 24, 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: The Soviet Union condemns the United States for imposing a naval “quarantine” of Cuba

On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy announced in anationwide television broadcast to the American people the presence of nuclearmissiles in Cuba.  He also warned Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchevthat using the missiles against any country in the Western Hemisphere would beequivalent to an attack against the United States,and which would force the U.S. Armed Forces to retaliate against the Soviet Union. President Kennedy then called on the Soviet Unionto remove the missiles.  He alsoannounced a naval “quarantine” of offensive weapons into Cuba, i.e. the U.S. Navy wouldseize offensive weapons before they reached the island.  The quarantine was to prevent Soviet shipsfrom bringing more nuclear missiles to Cuba.  President Kennedy chose to use the word“quarantine” instead of “naval blockade” since the latter was an act of warunder international law.    Some 300 U.S.Navy ships were tasked to enforce the quarantine.  The United States Armed Forces worldwide (exceptin Europe) were placed on a higher state ofreadiness.

On October 23, 1962 the United States gained the approval ofthe Organization of American States (OAS), which voted 20–0 (with Cuba notparticipating) to endorse the naval quarantine; a number of OAS membercountries pledged to provide soldiers, ships, logistical support, and navalbases for the quarantine.

The Soviets reacted strongly against the naval quarantine,with Premier Khrushchev, on October 24, calling it a violation of internationallaw and declaring that the blockade was an “act of aggression” that would leadto war and that Russian warships would ignore the American “piracy”.  The Soviet leader declared that the“armaments…in Cuba,regardless of classification…are solely for defensive purposes…to secure Cubaagainst the attack of an aggressor.” Escorted by submarines, Soviet freighters bound for Cuba appeared determined to ignorethe quarantine.  However, PremierKhrushchev soon ordered the cargo ships to change course or turn back.  The next day, Adlai Stevenson, U.S Ambassadorto the United Nations, presented the U-2 aerial photographic evidence of thenuclear missiles to the UN Security Council. Stevenson asked Valerian Zorin, the Soviet Ambassador to the UN, aboutthe missiles, but the latter refused to confirm or deny their deployment.

In October 1962, an American U-2 spy plane detected a Soviet nuclear missile site under construction in San Cristobal, Pinar del Rio. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the continued presence of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, a U.S. military facility located at the eastern end of Cuba, greatly infuriated Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

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

In August 1962, U.S.reconnaissance flights over Cubadetected the presence of powerful Soviet aircraft: 39 MiG-21 fighter aircraftand 22 nuclear weapons-capable Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers.  More disturbing was the discovery of the S-75Dvina surface-to-air missile batteries, which were known to be contingent tothe deployment of nuclear missiles.  Bylate August, the U.S.government and Congress had raised the possibility that the Soviets wereintroducing nuclear missiles in Cuba.

By mid-September, the nuclear missiles had reached Cubaby Soviet vessels that also carried regular cargoes of conventionalweapons.  About 40,000 Soviet soldiersposing as tourists also arrived to form part of Cuba’sdefense for the missiles and against a U.S. invasion.  By October 1962, the Soviet Armed Forces in Cubapossessed 1,300 artillery pieces, 700 regular anti-aircraft guns, 350 tanks,and 150 planes.

The process of transporting the missiles overland from Cubanports to their designated launching sites required using very large trucks,which consequently were spotted by the local residents because the oversizedtransports, with their loads of canvas-draped long cylindrical objects, hadgreat difficulty maneuvering through Cuban roads.  Reports of these sightings soon reached theCuban exiles in Miami, and through them, the U.S.government.

The weight of circumstantial evidence reaching the United States prompted the Kennedyadministration to increase air reconnaissance missions over Cuba.  On October 14, 1962, a U-2 spy plane tookhundreds of photographs which, after being filtered and analyzed by the CIA, revealedthe construction in San Cristobal, Pinar del Rio Province (Map 23) of a Sovietnuclear missile site for MRBMs that were capable of striking within a range of2,000 kilometers, including Washington, D.C. and the whole southeastern UnitedStates.

On October 16, 1962, President Kennedy was informed of thefindings; he formed a panel consisting of members of the National SecurityCouncil, or NSC (the President, Vice-President, Secretary of State, Secretaryof Defense, Chairman of the U.S. Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff, amongothers) and advisers.  This panel wouldlater (October 22, 1962) be officially established as the ExComm (ExecutiveCommittee) of the NSC and tasked to formulate the United States’ appropriate response to the Soviet missile deploymentin Cuba.

The military members of ExComm believed that the missileschanged the strategic balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union, but President Kennedy andDefense Secretary Robert McNamara disagreed, saying that the Russians alreadypossessed ICBMS and nuclear submarines that could target the United States, with or without the missiles in Cuba.  However, all ExComm members agreed that themissiles changed the political balance and would damage the credibility ofPresident Kennedy with the American people, his western allies, and theinternational community, as it would appear that the United States was incapable of standing up to the Soviet Union.

The military members of ExComm advocated a militarysolution, including air strikes to destroy the missiles before they becameready, and a full-scale invasion of Cuba.  President Kennedy demurred, believing thatAmerican military action might provoke the Soviets to invade West Berlin ordestroy the American Jupiter missiles in Turkey; in turn, NATO would beforced to respond, thereby escalating the conflict into a full-blown war.  West Berlin, administered jointly by the United States, Britain,and France, was locatedwithin the territory of East Germany and long desired by the Soviet and EastGerman governments to be merged with East Berlin, East Germany’scapital.

ExComm unanimously agreed that the missiles must be removed.President Kennedy authorized the military to prepare for war, although hewanted to explore non-combat options first. The armed forces were placed on alert status, with 250,000 troopstransferred to Florida and Georgia; three battalions were sent toGuantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cubato reinforce the existing forces there. In the following days, more U-2 flights, including low-level aerialreconnaissance, showed that three other missile sites were being establishedand nearly completed, two of which were for IRBMs which, with a flight radiusof 4,800 kilometers, could target all of the continental United States, exceptAlaska, Oregon and Washington states.

On October 18, 1962, ExComm decided to pursue one of twooptions: an air strike or a naval blockade. The U.S. Air Force could not guarantee that American air strikes woulddestroy all the missiles, however, thereby pushing most of the ExComm membersto go for a naval blockade, which also was President Kennedy’s first option.

Without revealing that he was aware of the missiledeployments, President Kennedy met with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko,who assured the American president that only Soviet defensive weapons werebeing delivered to Cuba.  Many Soviet pronouncements leading up to thedelivery of the missiles had been aimed to assure the United States that no Soviet offensive weaponswould reach Cuba. Fidel Castro, without mentioning themissiles, declared that Cubahad the right to defend itself from foreign, i.e. American, aggression.

October 23, 1991 – Cambodian-Vietnamese War: The Paris Peace Accords are signed

On October 23, 1991, representatives from Cambodia and Vietnam signed the Paris PeaceAccords, officially titled, “Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlementof the Cambodia Conflict”), which ended their twelve-year war.

As stipulated in the Accords, all four parties (State ofCambodia government and the three resistance groups), formed a provisionalcoalition government called the Supreme National Council of Cambodia, withPrince Sihanouk as its president, and thus the country’s head of state.  In November 1991, Sihanouk returned to Phnom Penh, with largecrowds greeting his arrival.  However,Khieu Samphan, a high-ranking Khmer Rouge leader, was nearly killed when hereturned to Phnom Penhby an angry mob that wanted to exact revenge for the genocidal Khmer Rougeregime.  Then in December 1991, violentanti-government riots and demonstrations rocked the capital, threatening thepeace process.

In November 1991, the United Nations Advance Mission inCambodia (UNAMIC) arrived to assist in enforcing the ceasefire.  In March 1992, the United Nations TransitionalAuthority in Cambodia (UNTAC), a peacekeeping force which also absorbed UNAMIC,became operational in Cambodia, and was tasked with implementing the 1991 ParisPeace Accords, including enforcing the ceasefire, disarming the various armedmilitias, and repatriating Cambodian refugees. UNTAC also was given the unique mandate of administering severalCambodian government agencies.

In May 1993, Cambodia held elections for its ConstituentAssembly (legislature), which were marred by violence as the Khmer Rougerefused to disarm and demobilize (all other armed groups had voluntarilydisarmed to UNTAC) and set up road blocks in their controlled areas, and alsoattacked ethnic Vietnamese civilians in the period before the elections.  In July 1993, the newly elected ConstituentAssembly began to work on a new constitution, which was completed and ratifiedin September 1993.

Under the new constitution, the country became aconstitutional monarchy and was renamed as the “Kingdom of Cambodia”,with Sihanouk restored as king (he first became king in 1941 but abdicated in1955) and head of state, with a Prime Minister as the head of government.

Soon thereafter, the Khmer Rouge, isolated and abandoned byits military backers, particularly China, started to decline in power,with its officers and soldiers accepting the government’s offers of amnesty andreturning to the fold of the law.  Thenin April 1998, with the death of its long-time leader Pol Pot, who had beendeposed, tried and found guilty for murdering a subordinate Khmer Rougeofficial, and placed under house arrest by his own commanders, the Khmer Rougeceased to exist.  After three decades ofwar, Cambodiawas at peace.

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

Background of theCambodian-Vietnamese War On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge overthrew theWest-aligned government in Cambodia(Cambodian Civil War, separate article), and then turned the country into acommunist state.  Nearly two weeks later,on April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and ended theWest-aligned South Vietnamese government (Vietnam War, separate article) andlater merged the two Vietnams into a single state, the Socialist Republic ofVietnam.

In the aftermath of these communist victories, the internationalcommunity believed that the two Marxist states would establish close relationsdue to their shared ideological ties. Instead, shortly after achieving their revolutionary victories, fightingbegan to break out between their forces. These countries’ respective main ethnic groups, the Khmers (Cambodians)and Vietnamese, have a long history of animosity and conflict since the 12thcentury, when their ancient feudal monarchies fought over land and resources.

In the 1800s, the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty took control ofthe Cambodian region of the Mekong Delta (present-day southernmost region of Vietnam) aftera period of settlement by ethnic Vietnamese. As well, the Vietnamese conquerors in Cambodia tried to replace theIndian-influenced Khmer culture of the Cambodians with their ownChinese-influenced Vietnamese culture.

During the period 1887-1893, Francegained control of the Indochina region, imposing direct rule or entering intoprotectorate treaties that virtually turned into colonies the territories of Cambodia, Vietnam,and Laos(which were collectively called French Indochina).  Thereafter, the Cambodians and Vietnameseturned their nationalist struggles against the French, sometimes formingalliances to defeat and expel their common enemy.  Even so, Cambodians continued to harbor amistrust of the Vietnamese – which would become a major cause of theCambodian-Vietnamese War.

The revolutionary movements that eventually prevailed in Vietnam and Cambodia(as well as in Laos)trace their origin to 1930 when the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) wasformed.  VCP soon reorganized itself intothe Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) to include membership to Cambodian andLaotian communists into the Vietnamese-dominated movement.  The great majority of ICP Khmers were notindigenous to Cambodia;rather they consisted mostly of ethnic Khmers who were native to southern Vietnam, and ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia.

In 1951, the ICP split itself into three nationalistorganizations for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos respectively, i.e. Workers Partyof Vietnam, Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP), and Neo Lao Issara.  In December 1946, the Viet Minh (or Leaguefor the Independence of Vietnam), a Vietnamese nationalist group that wasformed in World War II to fight the Japanese, began an independence war againstFrench rule (First Indochina War, separate article).  The Viet Minh prevailed in July 1954.  The 1954 Geneva Accords, which ended the war,divided Vietnam into twomilitary zones, which became socialist North Vietnam and West-aligned South Vietnam.  War soon broke out between the two Vietnams, with North Vietnam supported by Chinaand the Soviet Union; and South Vietnamsupported by the United States. This Cold War conflict, called the Vietnam War (separate article) andwhich included direct American military involvement in 1965-1970, ended inApril 1975 with a North Vietnamese victory. As a result, the two Vietnamswere reunified, in July 1976.

Meanwhile in Cambodia,the local revolutionary struggle ended with the 1954 Geneva Accords, which gavethe country, led by King Sihanouk, full independence from France.  The Accords also ended both French rule andFrench Indochina, and independence also was granted to Laos and Vietnam.  Following the First Indochina War, most ofthe Khmer communists moved into exile in North Vietnam, while those who remained in Cambodia formedthe Pracheachon Party, which participated in the 1955 and 1958 elections.  However, government repression forcedPracheachon Party members to go into hiding in the early 1960s.

By the late 1950s, the Cambodian communist movementexperienced a resurgence that was spurred by a new generation of young,Paris-education communists who had returned to the country.  In September 1960, ICP veteran communists andthe new batch of communists met and elected a Central Committee, and renamedthe KPRP (Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Party) as the Worker’s Party ofKampuchea (WPK).

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 22, 1947 – Indian-Pakistani War of 1947: Kashmiri Muslims break out in revolt

On October 22, 1947, when rumors surfaced that Kashmir would merge with India, Kashmiri Muslims in the state’s western regions broke out in rebellion.  The rebels soon were joined by Pakistani fighters who entered the Kashmiri border from Pakistan.  The rebels and Pakistanis seized the towns of Muzzafarabad and Dommel where they disarmed the Kashmiri troops, who thereafter also joined the rebels.

Within a few days, the rebellion had spread to Baramula andthreatened Srinagar, Kashmir’scapital.  The Kashmiri ruler fled to India, where hepleaded with the Indian government for military assistance.  The Indians agreed on the condition thatKashmir be merged with India,to which the Kashmiri ruler gave his consent. Soon thereafter, Kashmir’s status as asovereign state ended.  On October 27,1947, Indian forces arrived in Srinagarand expelled the rebels, who by this time, had entered the capital.

India and Pakistan. Diagram shows India and the two “wings” of Pakistan (West Pakistan and East Pakistan) on either side. Kashmir, the battleground during the Indian-Pakistani War of 1947, is located in the northern central section of the Indian subcontinent.

(Taken from Indian-Pakistani War of 1947 – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background OnAugust 15, 1947, the new state of Kashmir (Map 1) found itself geographicallylocated next to India and Pakistan, tworival countries that recently had gained their independences after thecataclysmic partition of the Indian subcontinent.  Fearing the widespread violence that hadaccompanied the birth of Indiaand Pakistan, the Kashmirimonarch, who was a Hindu, chose to remain neutral and allow Kashmirto be nominally independent in order to avoid the same tragedy from befallinghis mixed constituency of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.

Pakistanexerted diplomatic pressure on Kashmir, however, as the Pakistani governmenthad significant strategic and economic interests in the former Princely State. Most Pakistanis also shared a common religion with the overwhelminglyMuslim Kashmiri population.  India also nurtured ambitions on Kashmir andwanted to bring the former Princely State into its sphere ofinfluence.  After Kashmir gained back itssovereignty, the British colonial troops departed; consequently, Kashmir was left only with a small native army to enforcepeace and order.

October 21, 1983 – U.S. Invasion of Grenada: The United States is asked to intervene in Grenada

On October 21, 1983, the Organization of Eastern CaribbeanStates asked the United Statesto intervene militarily in Grenada,fearing that the political instability in that island could spread across the Caribbean region. The United States Armed Forces then revised its plan from an evacuationto include an invasion of Grenada.

Diagram showing location of Grenada in the Caribbean Sea and just north of the South American mainland. Grenada consists of the main island (Grenada) and six very small islands located in its northern and southern ends.

The U.S.military identified three targets for the invasion: Point Salines, Pearls Airportin Grenville, and St. George’s.  Just before dawn on October 25, 1983, abattalion of U.S. Rangers was airdropped at the Point Salines Airport constructionsite.  The soldiers succeeded in takingcontrol of the facility.  The Rangersoriginally were planned to be landed by plane; the plan was aborted when U.S.reconnaissance detected that the airport runway was littered withobstacles.  The anti-aircraft gunfirefrom the Grenadian defenses was silenced by strikes from U.S. helicoptergunships.  The U.S. Rangers soon securedand cleared the Point Salines Airportsite, allowing American planes to land more troops, weapons, and supplies.

(Taken from U.S. Invasion of Grenada – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background Grenada is a small island country located in the southeastern section of the Caribbean Sea (Map 36).  In 1974, the country gained its independence from the United Kingdom and thereafter experienced a period of political unrest starting with the contentious general elections of 1976.  After the 1976 elections, a government was formed, which imposed repressive policies to curb political opposition and dissent.  Then on March 13, 1979, communist politicians staged a coup that overthrew the government.

A socialist government was formed led by Maurice Bishop, whotook the position of prime minister.  Thenew government opened diplomatic relations with communist countries.  In particular, Grenadabecame allied with Cuba andthe Soviet Union, and supported their foreignpolicy initiatives.  Prime MinisterBishop dissolved the Grenadian constitution, banned elections and multi-partypolitics, and suppressed free expression and all forms of dissent.

The government began many social and economic projects,which ultimately proved successful.  Forinstance, sound financial policies allowed Grenada’s economy to grow andreduce the country’s dependence on imported goods.  The government made major advances inupgrading the educational system, health care, and socialized housingprograms.  Public infrastructure projectswere implemented.

Despite being officially socialist, the Grenadian governmentmaintained its traditional ties to the West. Grenada retained its British Commonwealth membership, with Queen Elizabeth IIas its symbolic head of state, and the British-inherited position of GovernorGeneral being maintained.  Westernforeign investments were encouraged, and investors from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada – among other countries –operated freely in the islands.  Foreigntourists, who brought in substantial revenues to the local economy, were welcomedby the Grenadian government.

However, hardliners in Grenada’s communist party (calledthe New Jewel Movement) disagreed with Prime Minister Bishop’s double-sidedpolicies.  They demanded that he stepdown from office or agree to rule jointly with staunch communist partymembers.  Prime Minister Bishop rejectedboth suggestions.  On October 12, 1983,the communist hardliners overthrew the government in a coup, and Prime MinisterBishop and other high-ranking government officials were arrested and jailed.  A military council was formed to rule thecountry.

Widespread street protests and demonstrations broke out as aresult of the coup, as Prime Minister Bishop was extremely popular with thepeople.  The protesters demanded thatBishop be set free.  Bishop’s militarycaptors acquiesced, and released the ex-prime minister.  But in the ensuing chaos, government troopsopened fire on the protesters, killing perhaps up to a hundred persons.  Bishop and other top government officialswere rounded up and executed by firing squad.

The U.S.administration of President Ronald Reagan, following the events in Grenada with grave concern, believed that Cuba hadplanned the overthrow of Prime Minister Bishop’s moderately socialistgovernment in order to install a staunchly communist regime.  The United States believed that Cubawould then take full control of Grenada.  Four years earlier in 1979, when theGrenadian communists took over power, U.S.president Jimmy Carter’s government had moved diplomatically to isolate Grenada by stopping U.S. military support anddiscouraging Americans from travelling there.

But President Reagan took an aggressive approach against Grenada: he ordered joint military exercises andmock amphibious operations in U.S.-allied countries in the Caribbeanregion.  He also warned of Soviet-Cubanexpansionism in the Western Hemisphere.  Of particular concern to President Reagan wasthe construction of an airport at Point Salines at the southern tip of Grenada, which the U.S. military believed would be aSoviet airbase because its extended runway could land big, long-range Russianbombers.  The U.S.government surmised that the Soviets planned to use Grenadaas a forward base to supply communists in Central America, i.e. the Sandinistagovernment in Nicaragua andthe communist rebels in El Salvadorand Guatemala.  Increasing the Americans’ suspicion was thepresence of Cuban construction workers at the Point Salines site – after thewar, the U.S.military learned that these were Cuban Army soldiers.

However, the Grenadian government insisted that the PointSalines facility would be used as an international airport for commercialairliners.  As diplomatic relationsdeteriorated between the United Statesand Grenada, PresidentReagan ordered the evacuation of American citizens living in Grenada, the majority of whom were the 800medical students enrolled at the American-owned St. George’s University.  The U.S. government feared for thesafety of the students, as the Grenadian Army had posted soldiers at the schoolgrounds and a nighttime curfew had been imposed on the island, with ashoot-to-kill order imposed against violators. As commercial flights to Grenadawere cancelled already, President Reagan decided that the U.S. Armed Forcesshould implement the evacuation.

October 20, 1962 –Sino-Indian War: Chinese forces launch simultaneous offensives in Aksai Chin and the North-East Frontier Agency

Fighting broke out on October 20, 1962, with Chinese forceslaunching offensives in two main sectors: in the eastern sector (North-EastFrontier Agency; NEFA) north of the McMahon Line, and in the western sector inAksai Chin.  Some fighting also occurredin the Nathu La Pass, Sikkim near the China-India border.  The Chinese government called the operation a“self-defensive counterattack”, implying that India had started the war bycrossing north of the McMahon Line.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 19, 1935 – Interwar period: The League of Nations imposes sanctions on Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia

In October 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia, overrunning the country by May 1936 and incorporating it into newly formed Italian East Africa.  On October 19, 1935, the League of Nations, acting on a motion by Britain that was reluctantly supported by France, imposed economic sanctions on Italy, which angered Mussolini, worsening Italy’s relations with its Stresa Front partners, especially Britain.  At the same time, since Hitler gave his support to Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, Mussolini was drawn to the side of Germany.  In December 1937, Mussolini ended Italy’s membership in the League of Nations, citing the sanctions, despite the League’s already lifting them in July 1936.

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

Italyin the Interwar Period In World War I, Italy had joined the Allies under a secretagreement (the 1915 Treaty of London) in that it would be rewarded with the coastalregions of Austria-Hungaryafter victory was achieved.  But afterthe war, in the peace treaties with Austria-Hungaryand Germany, the victoriousAllies reneged on this treaty, and Italy was awarded much lessterritory than promised. Indignation swept across Italy,and the feeling of the so-called “mutilated victory” relating to Italy’s heavylosses in the war (1.2 million casualties and steep financial cost) led to therise in popularity of ultra-nationalist, right-wing, and irredentistideas.  Italian anger over the war pavedthe way for the coming to power of the Fascist Party, whose leader BenitoMussolini became Prime Minister in October 1922.  The Fascist government implemented majorinfrastructure and social programs that made Mussolini extremely popular.  In a few years, Mussolini ruled with nearabsolute powers in a virtual dictatorship, with the legislature abolished,political dissent suppressed, and his party the sole legal political party.  Mussolini also made gains in foreign affairs:in the Treaty of Lausanne (July 1923) that ended World War II between theAllies and Ottoman Empire, Italy gained Libya and the Dodecanese Islands.  In August 1923, Italian forces occupied Greece’s CorfuIsland, but later withdrew after League of Nations mediation and the Greek government’spromise to pay reparations.

In the late 1920s onward, Mussolini advocated grandioseexpansionism to establish a modern-day Italian Empire, which would includeplans to annex Balkan territories that had formed part of the ancient RomanEmpire, gaining a sphere of influence in parts of Central and Eastern Europe,achieving mastery over the Mediterranean Sea, and gaining control of NorthAfrica and the Middle East which would include territories stretching from theAtlantic Ocean in the west to the Indian Ocean in the east.

With the Nazis coming to power in Germanyin 1933, Hitler and Mussolini, with similar political ideologies, initially didnot get along well, and in July 1934, they came into conflict over Austria.  There, Austrian Nazis attempted a coupd’état, assassinating Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss and demanding unificationwith Germany.  Mussolini, who saw Austriaas falling inside his sphere of influence, sent troops, tanks, and planes tothe Austrian-Italian border, poised to enter Austriaif Germanyinvaded.  Hitler, at this time stillunprepared for war, backed down from his plan to annex Austria.  Then in April 1935, Italy banded togetherwith Britain and France to form the Stresa Front (signed in Stresa, Italy), aimedas a united stand against Germany’s violations of the Versailles and Locarnotreaties; one month earlier (March 1935), Hitler had announced his plan tobuild an air force, raise German infantry strength to 550,000 troops, andintroduce military conscription, all violations of the Versailles treaty.

However, the Stresa Front quickly ended in fiasco, as thethree parties were far apart in their plans to deal with Hitler.  Mussolini pressed for aggressive action; theBritish, swayed by anti-war public sentiments at home, preferred to negotiatewith Hitler; and France,fearful of a resurgent Germany,simply wanted an alliance with the others. Then in June 1935, just two months after the Stresa Front was formed,Britain and Germany signed a naval treaty (the Anglo-German Naval Agreement),which allowed Germany to build a navy 35% (by tonnage) the size of the Britishnavy.  Italy(as well as France) wasoutraged, as Britain wasopenly allowing Hitler to ignore the Versaillesprovision that restricted German naval size. Mussolini, whose quest for colonial expansion was only restrained by thereactions from both the British and French, saw the naval agreement as Britishbetrayal to the Stresa Front.  ToMussolini, it was a green light for him to launch his long desired conquest of Ethiopia (then also known as Abyssinia).  In October 1935, Italyinvaded Ethiopia,overrunning the country by May 1936 and incorporating it into newly formed Italian East Africa. In November 1935, the League of Nations, acting on a motion by Britain that was reluctantly supported by France, imposed economic sanctions on Italy, which angered Mussolini, worsening Italy’s relations with its Stresa Frontpartners, especially Britain.  At the same time, since Hitler gave hissupport to Italy’s invasionof Ethiopia, Mussolini wasdrawn to the side of Germany.  In December 1937, Mussolini ended Italy’s membership in the League of Nations, citing the sanctions, despite the League’s alreadylifting the sanctions in July 1936.

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

In October 1936, Italyand Germany signed apolitical agreement, and Mussolini announced that “all other European countrieswould from then on rotate on the Rome-Berlin Axis”, with the term “Axis” laterdenoting this alliance, which included Japan as well as other minorpowers.  In May 1939, German-Italianrelations solidified into a formal military alliance, the “Pact of Steel”.  In November 1937, Italyjoined the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Germanyand Japan signed one yearearlier (November 1936), ostensibly only directed against the CommunistInternational (Comintern), but really targeting communist ideology and byextension, the Soviet Union.  In September 1940, the Axis Powers wereformed, with Germany, Italy, and Japan signing the Tripartite Pact.

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

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