Daniel Orr's Blog, page 83

October 9, 1970 – Cambodian Civil War: The Khmer Republic is proclaimed

On October 9, 1970, the Khmer Republic was proclaimed in Cambodia with General Lon Nol appointed as the country’s head of state. Earlier in March 1970, Lon Nol had led a coup by the National Assembly that voted to oust the reigning head of state, Prince Norodom Sihanouk. The formation of the republic also ended the Kingdom of Cambodia. Lon Nol’s right-wing government was backed by the United States, and sided with South Vietnam against North Vietnam in the ongoing Vietnam War. Lon Nol also reversed Sihanouk’s tolerant policy of allowing North Vietnam to occupy large sections of Cambodian territory in its war against South Vietnam.  As such, he demanded that North Vietnamese troops leave the country, and greatly increased the size of his armed forces with large financial support from the United States.

The emergence of the Khmer Republic greatly alarmed North Vietnam, leading to increased North Vietnamese and Viet Cong (South Vietnamese rebels of the National Liberation Front) activity in Cambodian-occupied areas, as well as bolstering support for the Cambodian communist guerrilla group, the Khmer Rouge.

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

Background Between 1970 and 1975, the U.S.-backed government in Cambodia fought a civil war against the Khmer Rouge, a Cambodian insurgent movement that wanted to establish a communist regime in the country.  The Khmer Rouge’s victory in the war marked the rise into power of its leader, Pol Pot, who would engineer one of the bloodiest genocides in history.  The civil war formed a part of the complex geopolitical theaters of tumultuous Indo-China during the first half of the 1970s, more particularly in reference to the Vietnam War which greatly affected the security climates of adjacent countries, including Cambodia (Map 1).

In 1970, serious economic problems in Cambodia prompted the military to overthrow
Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia’s
ruling monarch, whose faulty policies led to widespread discontent among the
people.  Prince Sihanouk, although
extremely popular and revered as a semi-deity by Cambodians, applied a
calculating but dangerous foreign policy of playing up the superpowers in order
to get the best deal for Cambodia,
and still maintain neutrality.

Years earlier, Prince Sihanouk willingly had received
military and financial assistance from the United States.  But in 1965, after deciding that communism
ultimately would prevail in Indo-China, he opened diplomatic relations with China and North Vietnam.  Furthermore, he accepted military and
economic support from North
Vietnam. 
In return, he allowed the North Vietnamese Army to use sections of
eastern Cambodia in its war
against South Vietnam.

October 8, 1912 – Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire

On October 8, 1912, Montenegro,
which had territorial ambitions on the sanjak (district) of Novi Prazar,
declared war on the Ottoman Empire.  The rest of the Balkan League then issued a
joint ultimatum on the Ottoman government, which contained a demand that the
Ottomans withdraw their troops from the frontier regions.  When the Ottomans rejected the ultimatum, Serbia, Bulgaria,
and Greece
declared war on October 17, 1912.

In the war, the Ottomans fought from a disadvantageous
position.  Their forces in Rumelia were
outnumbered by 3:1, they had to defend a long, hostile border on three sides
from their Balkan enemies who could strike at any point along the border, and
success in sending reinforcements to Rumelia relied on the Ottoman Navy
achieving superiority in the Aegean Sea
against the Greek fleet.

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

Balkan region showing location of Rumelia (in green).

Background At the start of the twentieth century, the Ottoman Empire was a spent force, a shadow of its former power of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that had struck fear in Europe.  The empire did continue to hold vast territories, but only tolerated by competing interests among the European powers who wanted to maintain a balance of power in Europe.  In particular, Britain and France supported and sometimes intervened on the side of the Ottomans in order to restrain expansionist ambitions of the emerging giant, the Russian Empire.

In Europe, the Ottomans had
lost large areas of the Balkans, and all of its possessions in central and
central eastern Europe.  By 1910, Serbia, Bulgaria,
Montenegro, and Greece had
gained their independence.  As a result,
the Ottoman Empire’s last remaining possession in the European mainland was
Rumelia (Map 4), a long strip of the Balkans extending from Eastern Thrace, to Macedonia, and into Albania
in the Adriatic Coast. 
And even Rumelia itself was coveted by the new Balkan states, as it
contained large ethnic populations of Serbians, Belgians, and Greeks, each
wanting to merge with their mother countries.

The Russian Empire, seeking to bring the Balkans into its
sphere of influence, formed a military alliance with fellow Slavic Serbia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro.  In March 1912, a Russian initiative led to a
Serbian-Bulgarian alliance called the Balkan League.  In May 1912, Greece joined the alliance when the
Bulgarian and Greek governments signed a similar agreement.  Later that year, Montenegro
joined as well, signing separate treaties with Bulgaria
and Serbia.

The Balkan League was envisioned as an all-Slavic alliance,
but Bulgaria saw the need to
bring in Greece, in
particular the modern Greek Navy, which could exert control in the Aegean Sea
and neutralize Ottoman power in the Mediterranean Sea,
once fighting began.  The Balkan League
believed that it could achieve an easy victory over the Ottoman
Empire, for the following reasons. 
First, the Ottomans currently were locked in a war with the Italian
Empire in Tripolitania (part of present-day Libya), and were losing; and
second, because of this war, the Ottoman political leadership was internally
divided and had suffered a number of coups.

Most of the major European powers, and especially Austria-Hungary, objected to the Balkan League
and regarded it as an initiative of the Russian Empire to allow the Russian
Navy to have access to the Mediterranean Sea through the Adriatic Coast.  Landlocked Serbia
also had ambitions on Bosnia and Herzegovina
in order to gain a maritime outlet through the Adriatic
Coast, but was frustrated when Austria-Hungary, which had occupied
Ottoman-owned Bosnia and
Herzegovina since 1878, formally annexed the
region in 1908.

The Ottomans soon discovered the invasion plan and prepared
for war as well.  By August 1912,
increasing tensions in Rumelia indicated an imminent outbreak of hostilities.

October 7, 1991 – Yugoslav planes attack Zagreb

On October 7, 1991, Yugoslav Air Force planes attacked a
number of targets in the Croatian capital Zagreb,
the most significant being the Banski dvori, the official residence of the
President of Croatia. Inside the building at the time of the raid were Croatian
President Franjo Tudman, Yugoslavian President Stjepan Mesic, and Yugoslavian
Prime minister Ante Markovic, all of whom were not injured in the attack. President
Tudman laid the blame for the attacks on the Yugoslav military, but the latter
denied any involvement, instead accusing the Croatians of staging the attacks
as a ruse. The following day, October 8, the three-month moratorium on Croatian
independence (Croatia had declared independence on June 7, 1991) lapsed, and Croatia cut all ties with Yugoslavia. During the interim
period, increasing tensions had broken out into fighting in the Croatian War of
Independence.

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

Ethnic Serbs in Croatia formed the majority population in Northern Dalmatia, Lika, and parts of Western Slavonia and Eastern Slavonia.

Background By the late 1980s, Yugoslavia was faced with a major political crisis, as separatist aspirations among its ethnic populations threatened to undermine the country’s integrity (see “Yugoslavia”, separate article).  Nationalism particularly was strong in Croatia and Slovenia, the two westernmost and wealthiest Yugoslav republics.  In January 1990, delegates from Slovenia and Croatia walked out from an assembly of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the country’s communist party, over disagreements with their Serbian counterparts regarding proposed reforms to the party and the central government.  Then in the first multi-party elections in Croatia held in April and May 1990, Franjo Tudjman became president after running a campaign that promised greater autonomy for Croatia and a reduced political union with Yugoslavia.

Ethnic Croatians, who comprised 78% of Croatia’s population, overwhelmingly supported
Tudjman, because they were concerned that Yugoslavia’s
national government gradually had fallen under the control of Serbia, Yugoslavia’s largest and most
powerful republic, and led by hard-line President Slobodan Milosevic.  In May 1990, a new Croatian Parliament was
formed and subsequently prepared a new constitution.  The constitution was subsequently passed in
December 1990.  Then in a referendum held
in May 1991 with Croatian Serbs refusing to participate, Croatians voted
overwhelmingly in support of independence. 
On June 25, 1991, Croatia,
together with Slovenia,
declared independence.

Croatian Serbs (ethnic Serbs who are native to Croatia) numbered nearly 600,000, or 12% of Croatia’s
total population, and formed the second largest ethnic group in the
republic.  As Croatia
increasingly drifted toward political separation from Yugoslavia, the Croatian Serbs
became alarmed at the thought that the new Croatian government would carry out
persecutions, even a genocidal pogrom against Serbs, just as the pro-Nazi
ultra-nationalist Croatian Ustashe government had done to the Serbs, Jews, and
Gypsies during World War II.  As a
result, Croatian Serbs began to militarize, with the formation of militias as
well as the arrival of armed groups from Serbia.

Croatian Serbs formed a population majority in south-west Croatia
(northern Dalmatian and Lika).  There, in
February 1990, they formed the Serb Democratic Party, which aimed for the
political and territorial integration of Serb-dominated lands in Croatia with Serbia
and Yugoslavia.  They declared that if Croatia wanted to secede from Yugoslavia, they, in turn, should be allowed to
separate from Croatia.  Serbs also interpreted the change in their
status in the new Croatian constitution as diminishing their civil rights.  In turn, the Croatian government opposed the
Croatian Serb secession and was determined to keep the republic’s territorial
integrity.

In July 1990, a Croatian Serb Assembly was formed that
called for Serbian sovereignty and autonomy. 
In December, Croatian Serbs established the SAO Krajina (SAO is the
acronym for Serbian Autonomous Oblast) as a separate government from Croatia in the regions of northern Dalmatia and Lika. 
Croatian Serbs formed a majority population in two other regions in Croatia, which they also transformed into
separate political administrations called SAO Western Slavonia, and SAO Eastern
Slavonia (officially SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western
Syrmia).  (Map 17 shows
locations in Croatia
where ethnic Serbs formed a majority population.) In a referendum held in
August 1990 in SAO Krajina, Croatian Serbs voted overwhelmingly (99.7%) for
Serbian “sovereignty and autonomy”.  Then
after a second referendum held in March 1991 where Croatian Serbs voted
unanimously (99.8%) to merge SAO Krajina with Serbia, the Krajina government
declared that “… SAO Krajina is a constitutive part of the unified state
territory of the Republic
of Serbia”.

October 6, 1973 – Yom Kippur War: Egypt and Syria launch offensives on Israel

On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched coordinated offensives against Israel-occupied Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, respectively, starting the Yom Kippur War. Over 200 Egyptian war planes took to the air into the Sinai, striking at Israel airbases, missile batteries, artillery positions, radar installations, and command centers. Then under cover of an artillery barrage, 32,000 Egyptian troops crossed the Suez Canal into the eastern bank of the Sinai.

Simultaneous with the Egyptian attack, Syria launched a
massive offensive into the Golan Heights (which Israel had captured, together
with the Sinai Peninsula and West Bank, during the Six Day War), which was only
light defended. The initial Syrian forces of three infantry divisions comprising
28,000 troops, 800 tanks, and 600 artillery pieces, were joined the next day by
two armoured divisions. The initial Israeli defense forces in the Golan Heights consisted only of brigade-size formations and
supporting units comprising 3,000 troops, 180 tanks, and 60 artillery pieces.

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

Background With its decisive victory in the Six-Day War (previous article) 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 and
Golan Heights in exchange for a peace agreement, but the plan apparently was
not received by Egypt and Syria.  In October 1967, Israel withdrew the offer.

In the ensuing years after the Six-Day War, Egypt
carried out numerous small attacks against Israeli military and government
targets in the Sinai.  In what is now
known as the “War of Attrition”, Egypt
was determined to exact a heavy economic and human toll and force Israel
to withdraw from the Sinai.  By way of
retaliation, 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 became
involved, the two superpowers prevailed upon Israel
and Egypt
to agree to a ceasefire in August 1970.

In September 1970, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt’s hard-line president, passed
away.  Succeeding as Egypt’s head of state was Vice-President Anwar
Sadat, who began a dramatic shift in foreign policy toward Israel.  Whereas the former regime was staunchly
hostile to Israel,
President Sadat wanted a diplomatic solution to the Egyptian-Israeli
conflict.  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 a
peace treaty with Israel
and recognize the Jewish state.

However, the Israeli government of Prime Minister Golda Meir
refused to negotiate.  President Sadat,
therefore, decided to use military force. 
He knew, however, that his armed forces were incapable of dislodging the
Israelis from the Sinai.  He decided that
an Egyptian military victory on the battlefield, however limited, would compel Israel
to see the need for negotiations.  Egypt
began preparations for war.  Large
amounts of modern weapons were purchased from the Soviet
Union.  Egypt restructured its large, but
ineffective, armed forces into a competent fighting force.

In order to conceal its war plans, Egypt carried out a number of
ruses.  The Egyptian Army constantly
conducted military exercises along the western bank of the Suez
Canal, which soon were taken lightly by the Israelis.  Egypt’s persistent war rhetoric
eventually was regarded by the Israelis as mere bluff.  Through press releases, Egypt underreported the true
strength of its armed forces.  The government
also announced maintenance and spare parts problems with its war equipment and
the lack of trained personnel to operate sophisticated military hardware.  Furthermore, when President Sadat expelled
20,000 Soviet advisers from Egypt
in July 1972, Israel
believed that the Egyptian Army’s military capability was weakened
seriously.  In fact, thousands of Soviet
personnel remained in Egypt
and Soviet arms shipments continued to arrive. 
Egyptian military planners worked closely and secretly with their Syrian
counterparts to devise a simultaneous two-front attack on Israel.  Consequently, Syria also secretly mobilized for
war.

Israel’s
intelligence agencies learned many details of the invasion plan, even the date
of the attack itself, October 6.  Israel detected the movements of large numbers
of Egyptian and Syrian troops, armor, and – in the Suez
Canal– bridging equipment. 
On October 6, a few hours before Egypt
and Syria
attacked, the Israeli government called for a mobilization of 120,000 soldiers
and the entire Israeli Air Force. 
However, many top Israeli officials continued to believe that Egypt and Syria were incapable of starting a
war and that the military movements were just another army exercise.  Israeli officials decided against carrying
out 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, when
most Israeli soldiers were on leave.

October 5, 1937 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his “Quarantine Speech”

In October 1937, the United States was already moving away from neutrality, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his “Quarantine Speech”, calling for an international “quarantine” of the “epidemic of world lawlessness” against unnamed countries, but which ostensibly were Germany, Italy, and Japan.  Roosevelt proposed imposing economic measures against them, rather than using outright aggression.

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

United States in the interwar period In the period after World War I, the United States exerted strong influence on the
economic recovery of Europe.  Using American loans, changes were introduced
to the German economy, allowing the Weimar
government to restructure its war reparations obligations to the Allied
nations.  In turn, the latter repaid
their war loans to U.S.
creditors.  By the mid-1920s, prosperity
had returned to Western Europe.

In October 1929, the U.S.
stock market crashed, ushering in the massive economic crisis called the Great
Depression, first in the United
States and spreading later to many parts of
the world.  The U.S. economy was hit
hard, with unemployment reaching 25%, hundreds of thousands of people becoming
homeless, some 5,000 banks (50% of the total number) failing, and many
industries badly hit, including construction, mining, agriculture, logging, and
shipping.  The U.S. government reversed its foreign
policy and turned inward-looking to confront its severe domestic problems.  The effects of the Great Depression would be
felt throughout the 1930s, and the U.S. economy would not fully
recover until the early 1940s.

In the mid-1930s, with mounting tensions in Europe caused by
an increasingly belligerent Nazi Germany, the United
States passed the Neutrality Act in August 1935, where
the United States would not
sell weapons to any party in a war, which reflected the U.S. move
toward isolationism and non-involvement in European affairs.  By 1937, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
felt increasingly drawn to the side of the western democracies, Britain and
France, and with his lobbying efforts, U.S. Congress extended the Neutrality
Act in May 1937, but which included the “cash and carry” provision, in that the
United States would sell war materials to belligerents in a European war, on
condition that the buyers pay for the goods in cash and make arrangements and
bear full responsibility for their shipment. 
Ostensibly, all countries could avail of this provision; however, in
reality, only Britain and France, with their large powerful navies, could
purchase U.S. weapons, while
Germany,
yet in the early stages of building a navy, could not.  The Neutrality Act was further extended in
November 1939.  However, in October 1937,
the United States was
already moving away from neutrality, with President Roosevelt, in his
“Quarantine Speech”, calling for an international “quarantine” of the “epidemic
of world lawlessness” against unnamed countries, but which ostensibly were Germany, Italy,
and Japan.  Roosevelt
proposed imposing economic measures against them, rather than direct
aggression.

After World War I, the United
States adopted a pacifist foreign policy, demobilizing
most of its armed forces, cooperating with the League of
Nations, and participating in disarmament conferences and signing
diplomatic treaties.  In the 1930s, its
neutralist and isolationist position made the United States unprepared for
another war, and in 1938, the defense budget amounted to only 1% of GDP.  But by 1940, U.S. involvement as a non-combatant
in the ongoing European conflict was growing, and a perception grew that the
country would eventually be drawn into war. 
As a result, defense spending rose dramatically to 13% of GDP, and many
aspects of the civilian economy were set to be converted to war readiness.

October 4, 1939 – World War II: The last Polish forces surrender to German and Soviet forces

Facing both German and Soviet invasions, the remaining Polish units continued to engage in desperate fighting.  On September 20, 1939, at Tomaszow Lubelski, the Germans annihilated two Polish armies, the Krakow and Lublin Armies.  Two days later, September 22, Lwow was taken.  In Warsaw, on September 28, the Polish defenders who had withstood relentless German air and artillery attacks, and German ground assaults, finally capitulated after a 20-day siege, with 140,000 Polish soldiers captured.  The next day, the Modlin Fortress located north of the capital also fell after two weeks of fighting.  Isolated Polish pockets held off until as late as the first week of October 1939, which were overrun, ending the six-week war.

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

Background In March 1938, with the Anschluss (political union), Germany gained control of Austria.  Six months later, September 1938, with the Munich Agreement, Germany annexed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia; then after another six months, in March 1939, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia was complete.  German leader Adolf Hitler had achieved these feats using only forceful diplomacy and threats of invasion.  He then turned his eyes on Poland, intent on using the same aggressive diplomatic tactics.

At the end of World War I, the Allies reconstituted Poland as a sovereign nation, incorporating into
the new state portions of the eastern German territories of Pomerania and Silesia, which contained
majority Polish populations.  In the
1920s, the German Weimar Republic
sought to restore to Germany
all its lost territories, but was restrained by certain stipulations of the
Treaty of Versailles, which had been imposed on Germany after World War I.  Polish Pomerania was known worldwide as the
“Polish Corridor”, as it allowed Poland
access to international waters through the Baltic Sea.  The German city of Danzig
in East Prussia, as well as nearby areas, also
was detached from Germany,
and renamed the “Free City of Danzig”, administered by the League of Nations,
but whose port, customs, and public infrastructures were controlled by Poland.

In 1933, Hitler came to power and implemented Germany’s
massive rearmament program, and later began to pursue his irredentist ambitions
in earnest.  Previously in January 1934,
Nazi Germany and Poland had
signed a ten-year non-aggression pact, where the German government recognized
the territorial integrity of the Polish state, which included the German
regions that had been ceded to Poland.  But by the late 1930s, the now militarily
powerful Germany
was actively pushing to redefine the German-Polish border.

In October 1938, Germany
proposed to Poland renewing
their non-aggression treaty, but subject to two conditions: that Danzig be
restored to Germany and that
Germany be allowed to build
road and railway lines through the Polish Corridor to connect Germany proper and East Prussia.  Poland refused, and in April 1939,
Hitler abolished the non-aggression pact. 
To Poland, Hitler was
using the same aggressive tactics that he had used against Czechoslovakia, and that if it yielded to the
German demands on Danzig and the Polish Corridor, ultimately the rest of Poland would be swallowed up by Germany.

Meanwhile, Britain
and France, which had
pursued appeasement toward Hitler, had become wary after the German occupation
of the rest of Czechoslovakia,
which had a non-ethnic German majority population, which was in contrast to
what Hitler had said that he only wanted returned those German-populated
territories.  Britain
and France were now
determined to resist Germany
diplomatically and resolve the crisis through firm negotiations.  On March 31, 1939, Britain
and France
announced that they would “guarantee Polish independence” in case of foreign
aggression.  Since 1921, as per the
Franco-Polish Military Alliance, France had pledged military assistance to Poland if that
latter was attacked.

In fact, Hitler’s intentions on Poland was not only the
return of lost German territories, but the elimination of the Polish state and
annexation of Poland as part of Lebensraum (“living space”), German expansion
into Eastern Europe and Russia. 
Lebensraum called for the eradication of the native populations in these
conquered areas.  For Poland
specifically, on August 22, 1939 in the lead-up to the German invasion, Hitler
had said that “the object of the war is … to kill without pity or mercy all
men, women, and children of Polish descent or language.  Only in this way can we obtain the living
space we need.”  In April 1939, Hitler
instructed the German military High Command to begin preparations for an
invasion of Poland,
to be launched later in the summer.  By
May 1939, the German military had drawn up the invasion plan.

In May 1939, Britain
and France held high-level
talks with the Soviet Union regarding forming a tripartite military alliance
against Germany, especially
in light of the possible German invasion of Poland.  These talks stalled, because Poland refused to allow Soviet forces into its
territory in case Germany
attacked.  Unbeknown to Britain and France,
the Soviet Union and Germany
were also conducting (secret) separate talks regarding bilateral political,
military, and economic concerns, which on August 23, 1939, led to the signing
of a non-aggression treaty.  This treaty,
which was broadcast to the world and widely known as the Molotov Ribbentrop
Pact (named after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop), brought a radical shift to the European power
balance, as Germany was now free to invade Poland without fear of Soviet
reprisal.  The pact also included a
secret protocol where Poland,
Finland, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, and Romania were
divided into German and Soviet spheres of influence.

One day earlier, August 22, with the non-aggression treaty
virtually assured, Hitler set the invasion date of Poland for August 26, 1939.  On August 25, Hitler told the British
ambassador that Britain must
agree to the German demands on Poland,
as the non-aggression pact freed Germany from facing a two-front war
with major powers.  But on that same day,
Britain and Poland signed a mutual defense pact, which
contained a secret clause where the British promised military assistance if Poland was attacked by Germany.  This agreement, as well as British overtures
that Britain and Poland were willing to restart the stalled talks
with Germany,
forced Hitler to abort the invasion set for the next day.

The Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces) stood down, except for
some units that did not receive the new stop order and crossed into Poland,
skirmishing with the Poles.  These German
units soon withdrew back across the border, but the Polish High Command,
informed through intelligence reports of massive German build-up at the border,
was unaware that the border skirmishes were part of an aborted German invasion.

German negotiations with Britain
and France
continued, but they failed to make progress. 
Poland had refused to
negotiate on the basis of ceding territory, and its determination was
strengthened by the military guarantees of the Western Powers, particularly in
that if the Germans invaded, the British and French would attack from the west,
and Germany
would be confronted with a two-front war.

On August 29, 1939, Germany
sent Poland a set of
proposals for negotiations, which included two points: that Danzig be returned
to Germany and that a
plebiscite be held in the Polish Corridor to determine whether the territory
should remain with Poland or
be returned to Germany.  In the latter, Poles who were born or had
settled in the Corridor since 1919 could not vote, while Germans born there but
not living there could vote.  Germany
demanded that negotiations were subject to a Polish official with signing
powers arriving by the following day, August 30.

Britain
deemed that the German proposal was an ultimatum to Poland, and tried but failed to
convince the Polish government to negotiate. 
On August 30, the German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop presented the
British ambassador with a 16-point proposal for negotiations, but refused the
latter’s request that a copy be sent to the Polish government, as no Polish
representative had arrived by the set date. 
The next day, August 31, the Polish Ambassador Jozef Lipski conferred
with Ribbentrop, but as Lipski had no signing powers, the talks did not
proceed.  Later that day, Hitler
announced that the German-Polish talks had ended because of Poland’s
refusal to negotiate.  He then ordered
the German High Command to proceed with the invasion of Poland for the
next day, September 1, 1939.

October 3, 1912 – United States Occupation of Nicaragua, 1912-1933: U.S. Marines bombard Nicaraguan rebel forts at the Battle of Coyotepe Hill

On October 3, 1912, U.S. Marines opened fire with two artillery pieces on the Nicaraguan rebel forts at Coyotepe and Barranca. The forts were strategically located on a hill overlooking the Masaya railroad line nearly halfway between the capital Managua and Granada. The following day, October 4, four U.S. Marine battalions stormed the forts, capturing them that same day. Some 850 U.S. Marines were involved in the battle, assisted by 100 American sailors. The rebels numbered 350 fighters inside the two forts equipped with four artillery pieces. Casualties were: U.S. Marines – 4 killed ; Rebels – 32 killed, 10 wounded.

Nicaragua in Central America

The United States
had sent troops to Nicaragua
in 1912 to intervene on the side of President Adolfo Diaz against an
insurrection by the former Minister of War General Luis Mena. The American
military presence in that country would last over two decades until 1933.

(Taken from United States Occupation of Nicaragua, 1912-1933 – Wars of the 20th Century – 26 Wars and Conflicts in the Americas and the Caribbean)

Background In many instances, Nicaragua’s political troubles prompted American intervention, such as those that occurred in 1847, 1894, 1896, 1898, and 1899, when U.S. forces were landed in that Central American country.  These occupations were brief, with American troops withdrawing once order had been restored, although U.S. Navy ships kept a permanent watch throughout the Central American coastline.  The officially stated reasons given by the United States for intervening in Nicaragua was to protect American lives and American commercial interests in Central America.  In some cases, however, the Americans wanted to give a decided advantage to one side of Nicaragua’s political conflict.

In 1912, the United States
again intervened in Nicaragua,
starting an occupation of the country that would last for over two decades and
would leave a deep impact on the local population.  The origin of the 1912 American occupation
traces back to the early 1900s when Nicaragua,
then led by the Liberals, offered the construction of the Nicaragua
Canal to Germany
and Japan.  The Nicaragua
Canal was planned to be a shipping
waterway that connects the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean through the Caribbean Sea.

The Liberals wanted less American involvement in Nicaragua’s
internal affairs and therefore offered the waterway’s construction to other
countries.  Furthermore, the United States had decided to forgo its original
plan to build the Nicaragua Canal in favor of completing the partly-finished Panama Canal (which had been abandoned by a French
construction firm).

For the United States,
however, the idea of another foreign power in the Western Hemisphere was
anathema, as the U.S.
government believed it had the exclusive rights to the region.  The American policy of exclusivity in the
Western Hemisphere was known as the Monroe Doctrine, set forth in 1823 by
former U.S.
president James Monroe.  Furthermore, the
United States believed that Nicaragua had ambitions in Central
America and therefore viewed that country as a potential source of
a wider conflict.  U.S.-Nicaraguan
relations deteriorated when two American saboteurs were executed by the
Nicaraguan government.  Consequently, the
United States broke off
diplomatic relations with Nicaragua.

In October 1909, Nicaraguan Conservatives, backed by some
Liberals, carried out a rebellion against the government.  The United States threw its support
behind the rebels.  Then when the
rebellion spread, the United States
sent warships to Nicaragua
and subsequently, in December 1909, landed troops in Corinto and Bluefields
(Map 38).  More American forces arrived
in May 1910.

In August 1910, Nicaragua’s ruling government
collapsed, replaced by a U.S.-friendly administration consisting of
Conservatives and Liberals.  The United States bought out Nicaragua’s large foreign debt that
had accumulated during the long period of instability.  Consequently, Nicaragua
owed the United States
the amount of that debt, while the Americans’ stake was raised in that troubled
country.

Then in 1912, Nicaragua’s ruling coalition broke
down, sparking a civil war between the government and another alliance of
Liberals and Conservatives.  As the
rebels gained ground and began to threaten Managua,
Nicaragua’s capital, the United States
landed troops in Corinto, Bluefields, and San Juan del Sur.  At its peak, the U.S.
troop deployment in Nicaragua
totaled over 2,300 soldiers.  Within a
month of the deployment, in October 1912, the American troops, supported by
Nicaraguan government forces, had defeated the rebels.

The United States
tightened its control of Nicaragua
in August 1914 when both countries signed an agreement whereby the Americans
gained exclusive rights to construct the Nicaragua Canal,
as well as to establish military bases to protect it.  The U.S.-Nicaragua treaty mostly served as a
deterrent against other foreign involvement in Nicaragua,
since by this time, the Americans already were operating the Panama
Canal nearby.

October 2, 1937 – Parsley Massacre: Dominican President Rafael Trujillo orders the mass killing of Haitians

On October 2, 1937, President Rafael Trujillo met with Dominican residents of Dajabon and promised to act on their complaints against Haitians who were committing “thefts of cattle, provisions, fruits…”  President Trujillo also disclosed to the Dajabon assembly that government forces had killed 300 Haitians days earlier.

The northwestern Dominican region around Dajabon was the scene of the Parsley Massacre.

From October 3-8, 1937, the Dominican Army massacred
Haitians in and around the region of Dajabon. 
The victims were killed in their homes inside plantation camps or were
gathered together and brought to secluded locations for execution.  The soldiers generally did not fire their
rifles at the Haitians, since the bullets could be used to implicate the
Dominican Army and even President Trujillo. 
Instead, the perpetrators used machetes, clubs, and knives, in order to
suggest that the killings were carried out by civilians.  In some cases, Dominican civilians who helped
Haitians escape were also killed. 
Dominicans also sometimes were misidentified as Haitians and killed.

To identify Haitians, a piece of “perejil” (parsley) was
shown to a potential victim who was ordered to name it.  As Haitians spoke French Creole and were unable
to say “perejil” like the Spanish-speaking Dominicans did, the person was
deemed a Haitian and taken away for execution. 
The Parsley Massacre is so named because of the “perejil” shibboleth.

(Taken from Parsley Massacre – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Background In
1930, Rafael Trujillo became President of the Dominican
Republic, a country that occupies two-thirds and the
eastern section of Hispaniola Island in the Caribbean Sea.  President Trujillo actively pursued a racist
policy known as “Antihaitianismo” or “Antihaitianism”, directed against Haiti, the Dominican
Republic’s western neighbor in Hispaniola.

Antihaitianism emphasized racial differences between the two
nationalities, that Dominicans are descendants of former Spanish colonizers and
therefore are white (in fact, the vast majority of Dominicans are mulatto
descendants of Spanish and black African unions), and that Haitians are black,
being descendants of former African slaves. 
Antihaitianism also espoused the incompatibility of the social, cultural,
and linguistic aspects of the two nationalities, that is, since the Dominican Republic was a former colony of Spain, the
country therefore exhibits strong Spanish influences.  Conversely, Haiti
was a former colony of France
and therefore manifests strong French influences.  Also because of a history of conflict,
Antihaitianism also was viewed by Dominicans as the need for vigilance to
defend their country against a possible invasion by Haitians who were perceived
as wanting to take control of the whole island.

Antihaitianism has its origin in 1805 when Haiti invaded and took control of Santo Domingo (present-day Dominican Republic), then a Spanish
colony, and subsequently carried out repressive policies and atrocities,
including a number of massacres in the Cibao region. A year earlier, Haiti had gained its independence from France.  In 1822, Haiti
and Santo Domingo signed a unification
agreement, whereby the Haitian government gained authority of western
Hispaniola, thereby bringing the whole island under Haiti’s control.

Relations soon deteriorated, however, when the Haitian
government attempted to transform Dominican society.  The Spanish language was curtailed as were
traditional Dominican customs.  The
Catholic Church was suppressed, church properties were seized, and the foreign
clergy was expelled from the island. 
Land reform was imposed, which ran against traditional Dominican farming
practices and which targeted wealthy landowners.  When these landowners were forced out of the
island, their lands were taken over by Haitian officials.

In 1844, Dominicans rebelled and drove away the Haitians,
ending 22 years of occupation. 
Dominicans then declared independence as the Dominican Republic.  In the following years, Haiti carried
out many unsuccessful attempts to re-conquer its eastern neighbor.  An undefined border between them also added
to their acrimonious historical relationship. 
In 1936, tensions eased somewhat, and President Trujillo and Haitian
President Stenio Vincent signed a border treaty that fixed the territorial
limits of the two countries.

However, the Dominican
Republic’s border regions were frontiers too remote to Santo Domingo and only
poorly accessed from other populated areas of the country.  Budgetary constraints also restricted the Dominican
government’s ability to secure the country’s border.    As a result, President Trujillo was
infuriated that his political enemies could easily escape to Haiti from
where he believed they made plans against him. 
The porous border also deprived the Dominican
Republic of tariff duties from farm produce and other
goods that entered from Haiti.

President Trujillo’s greatest concern, however, was the
large number of Haitians who entered the Dominican Republic in search of
work.  Through immigration over the
years, Haitian settlements had established and “haitianized” some Dominican
border areas.  Most of the Haitians were
employed as laborers in Dominican sugar plantations.  President Trujillo initiated repressive
policies aimed at ending the immigration and re-establishing Dominican control
of the border areas.  In July 1937, the
Dominican government expelled 8,000 Haitians. 
Adding to President Trujillo’s anti-Haitian sentiment was that the Dominican Republic’s
economy was being hard hit by the ongoing Great Depression, in which sugar, the
country’s main source of revenue, had dropped to 1/20 of its price in the world
market.

October 1, 1991 – Croatian War of Independence: The Yugoslav Army launches the siege of Dubrovnik

On October 1, 1991, Yugoslav Army forces advanced from Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and
Serb-controlled Croatia
toward the western region of southern Dalmatia with the city of Dubrovnik as their main
objective.  The capture of the towns of
Prevlaka, Konavle, and Cavtat allowed the Yugoslavs to encircle Dubrovnik.  Artillery batteries placed on the surrounding
heights, together with Yugoslav Navy ships on the coastal waters, opened fire
on the city, starting a seven-month siege. 
Yugoslav planes also conducted air strikes on Dubrovnik. 
International diplomatic pressures and widespread foreign media coverage
of the siege eventually deterred the Yugoslav Army from carrying out a ground
assault on the city.

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

Background By the late 1980s, Yugoslavia was faced with a major political crisis, as separatist aspirations among its ethnic populations threatened to undermine the country’s integrity (see “Yugoslavia”, separate article).  Nationalism particularly was strong in Croatia and Slovenia, the two westernmost and wealthiest Yugoslav republics.  In January 1990, delegates from Slovenia and Croatia walked out from an assembly of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the country’s communist party, over disagreements with their Serbian counterparts regarding proposed reforms to the party and the central government.  Then in the first multi-party elections in Croatia held in April and May 1990, Franjo Tudjman became president after running a campaign that promised greater autonomy for Croatia and a reduced political union with Yugoslavia.

Ethnic Serbs in Croatia formed the majority population in Northern Dalmatia, Lika, and parts of Western Slavonia and Eastern Slavonia.

Ethnic Croatians, who comprised 78% of Croatia’s population, overwhelmingly supported
Tudjman, because they were concerned that Yugoslavia’s
national government gradually had fallen under the control of Serbia, Yugoslavia’s largest and most
powerful republic, and led by hard-line President Slobodan Milosevic.  In May 1990, a new Croatian Parliament was
formed and subsequently prepared a new constitution.  The constitution was subsequently passed in
December 1990.  Then in a referendum held
in May 1991 with Croatian Serbs refusing to participate, Croatians voted
overwhelmingly in support of independence. 
On June 25, 1991, Croatia,
together with Slovenia,
declared independence.

Croatian Serbs (ethnic Serbs who are native to Croatia) numbered nearly 600,000, or 12% of Croatia’s total
population, and formed the second largest ethnic group in the republic.  As Croatia
increasingly drifted toward political separation from Yugoslavia, the
Croatian Serbs became alarmed at the thought that the new Croatian government
would carry out persecutions, even a genocidal pogrom against Serbs, just as
the pro-Nazi ultra-nationalist Croatian Ustashe government had done to the
Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies during World War II. 
As a result, Croatian Serbs began to militarize, with the formation of
militias as well as the arrival of armed groups from Serbia.

Croatian Serbs formed a population majority in south-west Croatia
(northern Dalmatian and Lika).  There, in
February 1990, they formed the Serb Democratic Party, which aimed for the
political and territorial integration of Serb-dominated lands in Croatia with Serbia
and Yugoslavia.
 They declared that if Croatia wanted to secede from Yugoslavia, they, in turn, should be allowed to
separate from Croatia.  Serbs also interpreted the change in their
status in the new Croatian constitution as diminishing their civil rights.  In turn, the Croatian government opposed the
Croatian Serb secession and was determined to keep the republic’s territorial
integrity.

In July 1990, a Croatian Serb Assembly was formed that
called for Serbian sovereignty and autonomy. 
In December, Croatian Serbs established the SAO Krajina (SAO is the
acronym for Serbian Autonomous Oblast) as a separate government from Croatia in the regions of northern Dalmatia and Lika. 
Croatian Serbs formed a majority population in two other regions in Croatia, which they also transformed into
separate political administrations called SAO Western Slavonia, and SAO Eastern
Slavonia (officially SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western
Syrmia).  (Map 17 shows
locations in Croatia
where ethnic Serbs formed a majority population.) In a referendum held in
August 1990 in SAO Krajina, Croatian Serbs voted overwhelmingly (99.7%) for
Serbian “sovereignty and autonomy”.  Then
after a second referendum held in March 1991 where Croatian Serbs voted unanimously
(99.8%) to merge SAO Krajina with Serbia, the Krajina government
declared that “… SAO Krajina is a constitutive part of the unified state
territory of the Republic
of Serbia”.

September 30, 1938 – Britain, France, Italy, and Germany sign the Munich Agreement, ceding the Sudetenland to Germany

In a frantic move to avert war, the Prime Ministers of Britain and France,
Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier, respectively, together with
Mussolini, met with Hitler, and on September 30, 1938, the four men signed the
Munich Pact, where the Sudetenland was formally ceded to Germany.

Background In
late March 1938, while Germany was yet in the process of annexing Austria,
another conflict, the “Sudetenland Crisis” occurred, where ethnic Germans, who
formed the majority population in the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia,
demanded autonomy and the right to join the Nazi Party.  Hitler supported these demands, citing the
Sudeten Germans’ right to self-determination. 
The Czechoslovak government refused, and in May 1938, mobilized for war.
In response, Hitler secretly asked the German High Command to prepare for war,
to be launched in October 1938.  Britain and France,
anxious to avoid war at all costs by not antagonizing Hitler (a policy called
appeasement), pressed Czechoslovakia
to yield, with the British even stating that the Sudeten Germans’ demand for
autonomy was reasonable.  In early
September 1938, the Czechoslovak government agreed to the demands.  Then when civilian unrest broke out in the
Sudetenland which the Czechoslovakian police quelled, in mid-September 1938, a
furious Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland be ceded to Germany in
order to stop the supposed slaughter of Sudeten Germans.  Under great pressure from Britain and France,
on September 21, 1938, the Czechoslovak government relented, and agreed to cede
the Sudetenland.  But the next day, Hitler made new demands,
which Czechoslovakia
rejected and again mobilized for war.  In
a frantic move to avert war, the Prime Ministers of Britain
and France, Neville
Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier, respectively, together with Mussolini, met
with Hitler, and on September 29, 1938, the four men signed the Munich Pact,
where the Sudetenland was formally ceded to Germany.  Two days later, Czechoslovakia
accepted the fait accompli, knowing it would not be supported by Britain and France
in a war with Germany.  In succeeding months, Czechoslovakia disintegrated as a sovereign
state: the Slovak region separated, aligning with Germany
as a puppet state; other regions were annexed by Hungary
and Poland; and in March
1939, the rest of the Czech portion of the country was occupied by Germany.

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

In October 1929, the severe economic crisis known as the Great Depression began in the United States, and then spread out and affected many countries around the world.  Germany, whose economy was dependent on the United States for reparations payments and corporate investments, was badly hit, and millions of workers lost their jobs, many banks closed down, and industrial production and foreign trade dropped considerably.

The Weimar
government weakened politically, as many Germans turned to radical ideologies,
particularly Hitler’s ultra-right wing nationalist Nazi Party, as well as the
German Communist Party.  In the 1930
federal elections, the Nazi Party made spectacular gains and became a major
political party with a platform of improving the economy, restoring political
stability, and raising Germany’s
international standing by dealing with the “unjust” Versailles treaty.  Then in two elections held in 1932, the Nazis
became the dominant party in the Reichstag (German parliament), albeit without
gaining a majority.  Hitler long sought
the post of German Chancellor, which was the head of government, but he was
rebuffed by the elderly President Paul von Hindenburg , who distrusted
Hitler.  At this time, Hitler’s ambitions
were not fully known, and following a political compromise by rival parties, in
January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor, with few
Nazis initially holding seats in the new Cabinet.  The Chancellorship itself had little power,
and the real authority was held by the President (the head of state).

On the night of February 27, 1933, fire broke out at the
Reichstag, which led to the arrest and execution of a Dutch arsonist, a
communist, who was found inside the building. 
The next day, Hitler announced that the fire was the signal for German
communists to launch a nationwide revolution. 
On February 28, 1933, the German parliament passed the “Reichstag Fire
Decree” which repealed civil liberties, including the right of assembly and
freedom of the press.  Also rescinded was
the writ of habeas corpus, allowing authorities to arrest any person without
the need to press charges or a court order. 
In the next few weeks, the police and Nazi SA paramilitary carried out a
suppression campaign against communists (and other political enemies) across Germany,
executing communist leaders, jailing tens of thousands of their members, and
effectively ending the German Communist Party. 
Then in March 1933, with the communists suppressed and other parties
intimidated, Hitler forced the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act, which
allowed the government (i.e. Hitler) to enact laws, even those that violated
the constitution, without the approval of parliament or the president.  With nearly absolute power, the Nazis gained
control of all aspects of the state.  In
July 1933, with the banning of political parties and coercion into closure of
the others, the Nazi Party became the sole legal party, and Germany became
de facto a one-party state.

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

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

In domestic matters, the Nazi government made great gains,
improving the economy and industrial production, reducing unemployment,
embarking on ambitious infrastructure projects, and restoring political and
social order.  As a result, the Nazis
became extremely popular, and party membership grew enormously.  This success was brought about from sound
policies as well as through threat and intimidation, e.g. labor unions and job
actions were suppressed.

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

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

In foreign affairs, Hitler, like most Germans, denounced the
Versailles
treaty, and wanted it rescinded.  In
1933, Hitler withdrew Germany
from the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva,
and in October of that year, from the League of Nations, in both cases
denouncing why Germany
was not allowed to re-arm to the level of the other major powers.