Daniel Orr's Blog, page 85

September 19, 1944 – World War II: Finland and the Soviet Union agree to a truce

On September 19, 1944, Finland and the Soviet Union signed the Moscow Armistice, ending hostilities between them. The armistice contained the same provisions as the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty that had ended the Winter War, with some additions. Finland was compelled to cede parts of Karelia and Salla, as well as some islands in the Gulf of Finland, as in the 1940 treaty. In the Moscow Armistice, Finland was also required to grant a 50-year lease right for the Soviets to construct a naval base at Porkkala (the area was returned to Finland in 1956). Other Soviet-imposed stipulations were that Finland pay war reparations to the Soviet Union in the form of commodities for six years, legalize the Finnish Communist Party, ban parties and organizations that were deemed fascist, and arraign Finnish officials “responsible for the war” (the so-called “War-responsibility trials in Finland”; Finnish: Sotasyyllisyysoikeudenkäynti). Finland also had to expel German forces from its territory, leading to the Lapland War (September 1944 – April 1945).

Finland and nearby states.

(Taken from The Soviet Counter-offensive – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

In June 1941, Finland had joined Germany in attacking the Soviet Union (albeit not as a member of the Axis) with the aim of regaining lost territory in the Winter War (separate article), and perhaps a secondary motive to gain a little more territory in support of “Greater Finland”.  With these objectives, the Finnish Army made no attempt to attack Leningrad from the north, and rejected the urging by the Germans who were positioned west and south of the city.

For Stalin, however, Finland
was a German ally, and shared Hitler’s plan to destroy the Soviet
Union.  By spring 1944, the
Finnish Army at Karelia was isolated and in a precarious situation after the
Red Army drove back the Germans from Leningrad
into the Estonian border.  The Soviet
High Command then made preparations to knock Finland out of the war, which would
also improve the strategic position of the Red Army as it continued its drive
to the west.

In June 1944, the Soviet Leningrad and Karelian Fronts, with
a combined 550,000 troops, 10,500 artillery pieces, 800 tanks, and 1,600
planes, attacked the Finnish Army (which was outnumbered 2:1 in personnel, 5:1
in artillery, 8:1 in tanks, and 6:1 in planes) in the Karelian Isthmus and
eastern Karelia.  The Soviets broke
through the Finns’ first two defense lines, taking eastern Karelia and Viipuri
(Vyborg), and
by July 1944, had pushed back the Finns 60 miles (100 km) to the third line
(VKT Line).  There, the Red Army advance
was stopped, with the Finns greatly benefiting from the recently delivered
German anti-tank weapons that halted the Soviet armored spearheads.

In late August 1944, Finland feared that its forces
could not withstand another major Soviet offensive, and sued for peace.  The Soviets accepted, and on September 4, a
ceasefire came into effect.  Two weeks
later, an armistice was signed, where the Soviets imposed harsh conditions
which the Finnish government reluctantly accepted, including that Finland
pay war reparation, cede territory, lease territory for a Soviet naval base,
and force the Germans from Finnish territory. 
Regarding the last stipulation, the Finns did turn against the Germans,
who were still occupying northern Finland.

September 18, 1931 – Mukden Incident takes place, giving Japan a pretext to invade Manchuria

On the night of September 18, 1931, Kwantung Army Lieutenant
Suemori Kawamoto set off a small explosive on a small section of the South
Manchuria Railway line near Mukden.  The explosion caused only minor damage to the
rail track and a Mukden-bound train passed through it later without
encountering any difficulty.  Kwantung
Army conspirators, led by officers Itagaki and Ishiwara, initiated this action,
which historically is called the Mukden Incident, in order to accuse the
Chinese of armed provocation and thereby justify a Japanese military reaction
that would lead to a full-scale conquest of Manchuria.

Japan controlled the South Manchuria Railway from Ryojun (formerly Port Arthur) to Mukden and further north by the time of its invasion of Manchuria in 1931.

Immediately following the Mukden Incident, on Colonel
Itakagi’s orders, Japanese forces attacked the Chinese Army garrison at Mukden.  The
7,000-man garrison Chinese force did not resist the 500 Japanese attackers, but
fled their garrison and Mukden.  Col. Itakagi also mobilized Japanese forces
all across the 1,100-km long South Manchuria Railway and as per the
pre-arranged plan, moved to seize towns and cities throughout Manchuria.

In Ryojun (Port
Arthur), Kwantung Army commander General Honjo was
infuriated that junior officers had initiated military action without his
approval.  But after being counseled by
Col. Ishiwara and the other conspirators, General Honjo was won over, and
immediately requested more troops to be brought in from Korea.  A few hours after the start of hostilities,
on September 19, 1931, General Honjo transferred the Kwantung Army headquarters
to Mukden, which by now was under full
Japanese control.

Within a few days, Japanese forces seized much of Liaoning
and Kirin (Jilin) provinces, including virtually all regions, towns, and cities
such as Anshan, Haicheng, Kaiyuan, Tieling, Fushun, Changchun, Yingkou, Antung,
Changtu, Liaoyang, Kirin, Chiaoho, Huangkutun, and Hsin-min.  In Tokyo, the
central government was stunned by this latest act of gekokujō (military
insubordination, which was widespread among junior officers), but gave its
consent and sent more Japanese troops to Manchuria
to support the Kwantung Army’s spectacular successes.

Thereafter, Japanese military authorities successfully
co-opted many Chinese military commanders (including Generals Xi Qia, Chang
Ching-hui, and Chang Hai-peng), warlords, and officials to form local and
provincial administrations in the various jurisdictions, replacing the deposed
pro-KMT governments.  By October 1931,
many such pro-Japanese local governments had been established in Kirin (Jilin) and Liaoning
provinces.  The Japanese conquest of
southern Manchuria was completed in early January 1932 with the capture of
Chinchow (Jinzhou) and Shanhaiguan, with Chinese
forces offering no resistance and withdrawing south of the Great Wall into Hebei Province.

Earlier in October 1931, pro-Japanese General Xu Jinglong
led an army north to take Heilongjiang
Province, but met strong resistance at
the Nen River crossing near Jiangqiao.  But with the support of Japanese troops that
protected work crews repairing the bridge, the attack soon broke through and by
November 18, 1931, Tsitsihar (Qiqihar), the
provincial capital, was taken, with loyalist General Ma Zhanshan and his troops
escaping to the east of Heilongjiang
Province.  Following the conquest of southern Manchuria, Japanese authorities tried to win over through
negotiations Ma Zhanshan and the other defiant northern KMT commander, General
Ting Chao, but failed.  Japanese forces
then launched an offensive to take Harbin, the
last KMT stronghold in Manchuria, which fell
in early February 1932.  In this battle,
the Japanese came to the assistance of their collaborationist Chinese allies
whose attack earlier had been thrown back by loyalist Chinese forces.

To provide legitimacy to its conquest and occupation of
Manchuria, on February 18, 1932, Japan
established Manchukuo (“State of Manchuria”), purportedly an independent state, with its
capital at Hsinking (Changchun).  Puyi, the last and former emperor of China under the Qing dynasty, was named Manchukuo’s “head of
state”.  In March 1934, he was named
“Emperor” when Manchukuo
was declared a constitutional monarchy.

Manchukuo was viewed by
much of the international community as a puppet state of Japan, and
received little foreign recognition.  In
fact, Manchukuo’s government was controlled by
Japanese military authorities, with Puyi being no more than a figurehead and
the national Cabinet providing the front for Japanese interests in Manchuria.

Beset by internal turmoil, Chang Kai-shek’s Nationalist
government in Nanjing
was unable to military oppose the Japanese invasion, for a number of
reasons.  First, in the period after
reunifying China in 1928,
Chiang struggled to maintain control of the country, as large parts of China remained
de facto autonomous and were dominated by powerful warlords who pledged only
nominal allegiance to the central government. 
Second, even Chiang’s own government was racked by power struggles, and
political rivals tried to set up alternative regimes in other parts of the
country.  Third, Chiang also faced a
growing communist insurgency (under the Communist Party of China), which in the
years ahead, would become a major threat to his authority.  To confront these domestic problems and also
deeming that China was yet military incapable of facing Japan in war, Chiang adopted
the policy of “First internal pacification, then external resistance”, that is,
first, defeat the communists, warlords, and political rivals, and then confront
Japan.

China
sought international diplomatic support. 
On September 19, 1931, one day after the start of hostilities, it
appealed to the League of Nations to exert pressure on Japan.  On September 22, the League called on the two
sides to resolve their disputes peacefully. 
But with Japan
continuing armed action, on October 24, 1931, the League passed a resolution
demanding that Japanese forces withdraw from Manchuria
by November 16, which was rejected by the Japanese government.

The League then formed the investigative Lytton Commission
(named after the British administrator Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of
Lytton), which arrived in China
in January 1932, to determine the causes of the conflict.  In October 1932, the Lytton Commission
released a report, whose findings included the following: that Japan was the aggressor and its claim of acting in
self-defense was untrue; and that China’s anti-Japanese policies and
rhetoric, and refusal to compromise, aggravated the crisis.  No mention was made of the side responsible
for causing the Mukden Incident.  The
Commission also refused to recognize Manchukuo,
stating that it did not come from a “genuine and spontaneous independence
movement”.  In February 1933, the League
of Nations approved the Lytton Commission’s report; the following month, Japan
revoked its membership in the League and left.

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

September 17, 1980 –Nicaraguan Revolution: Nicaragua’s ex-President Anastasio Debayle is assassinated in Paraguay

On September 17, 1980, Nicaragua’s former president, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, was assassinated in Paraguay. Somoza had been overthrown by Sandinista rebels in a revolution 14 months earlier, fleeing into exile on July 17, 1979 first to the United States and then settling in Paraguay after the U.S. government denied his entry. The Sandinistas, so-named from the socialist organization, Sandinista National Liberation Front (Spanish: Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional), took over power in Nicaragua after waging a lengthy struggle since 1961 (called the Nicaraguan Revolution) .

Central America

The Sandinistas took over the government, allowing a
civilian junta that had been set up earlier by the opposition coalition to rule
the country.  The junta represented a
cross-section of the political opposition and was structured as a power-sharing
government.

Non-Sandinista members of the junta soon resigned, as they felt powerless against the Sandinistas (who effectively controlled the junta) and feared that the government was moving toward adopting Cuban-style socialism.

(Excerpts taken from Nicaraguan Revolution – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 1)

By 1980, the Sandinistas had taken full control of the government.  The country had been devastated by the war, as well as by the corruption and neglect by the previous dictatorial regimes.  Using the limited resources available, the Sandinista government launched many programs for the general population.  The most successful of these programs were in public education, where the country’s high illiteracy rate was lowered significantly, and in agrarian reform, where large landholdings, including those of ex-President Somoza, were seized and distributed to the peasants and poor farmers.  The Sandinista government also implemented programs in health care, the arts and culture, and in the labor sector.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter was receptive to the Sandinista
government.  But President Ronald Reagan,
who succeeded as U.S. head
of state in January 1981, was alarmed that Nicaragua
had allowed a communist toehold in the American continental mainland, and
therefore posed a threat to the United
States. 
President Reagan believed that the Sandinistas planned to spread
communism across Central America.  As evidence of this perception, President
Reagan pointed out that the Sandinistas were arming the communist insurgents in
El Salvador.  Consequently, President Reagan prepared plans
for a counter-revolution in Nicaragua
that would overthrow the Sandinista government. The Nicaraguan
Counter-Revolution would last until 1990.

Background In 1961, the revolutionary movement called the Sandinista National Liberation Front was formed in Nicaragua with two main objectives: to end the U.S.-backed Somoza regime, and establish a socialist government in the country.  The movement and its members, who were called Sandinistas, took their name and ideals from Augusto Sandino, a Nicaraguan rebel fighter of the 1930s, who fought a guerilla war against the American forces that had invaded and occupied Nicaragua.  Sandino also wanted to end the Nicaraguan wealthy elite’s stranglehold on society.  He advocated for social justice and economic equality for all Nicaraguans.

By the late 1970s, Nicaragua had been ruled for over
forty years by the Somoza family in a dynastic-type succession that had begun
in the 1930s.  In 1936, Anastacio Somoza
seized power in Nicaragua
and gained total control of all aspects of the government.  Officially, he was the country’s president,
but ruled as a dictator.  Over time,
President Somoza accumulated great wealth and owned the biggest landholdings in
the country.  His many personal and
family businesses extended into the shipping and airlines industries,
agricultural plantations and cattle ranches, sugar mills, and wine
manufacturing.  President Somoza took
bribes from foreign corporations that he had granted mining concessions in the
country, and also benefited from local illicit operations such as unregistered
gambling, organized prostitution, and illegal wine production.

President Somoza suppressed all forms of opposition with the
use of the National Guard, Nicaragua’s
police force, which had turned the country into a militarized state.  President Somoza was staunchly anti-communist
and received strong military and financial support from the United States, which was willing to take Nicaragua’s
repressive government as an ally in the ongoing Cold War.

In 1956, President Somoza was assassinated and was succeeded
by his son, Luis, who also ruled as a dictator until his own death by heart
failure in 1967.  In turn, Luis was
succeeded by his younger brother, Anastacio Somoza, who had the same first name
as their father.  As Nicaragua’s new head of state,
President Somoza outright established a harsh regime much like his father had
in the 1930s.  Consequently, the
Sandinistas intensified their militant activities in the rural areas, mainly in
northern Nicaragua.  Small bands of Sandinistas carried out
guerilla operations, such as raiding isolated army outposts and destroying
government facilities.

By the early 1970s, the Sandinistas comprised only a small
militia in contrast to Nicaragua’s
U.S.-backed National Guard.  The
Sandinistas struck great fear on President Somoza, however, because of the
rebels’ symbolic association to Sandino. 
President Somoza wanted to destroy the Sandinistas with a passion that
bordered on paranoia.  He ordered his
forces to the countryside to hunt down and kill Sandinistas.  These military operations greatly affected
the rural population, however, who began to fear as well as hate the
government.

The end of the Somoza regime began in 1972 when a powerful
earthquake hit Managua, Nicaragua’s capital.  The destruction resulting from the earthquake
caused 5,000 human deaths and 20,000 wounded, and left half a million people
homeless (nearly half of Managua’s
population).  Managua was devastated almost completely,
cutting off all government services.  In
the midst of the destruction, however, President Somoza diverted the
international relief money to his personal bank account, greatly reducing the
government’s meager resources. 
Consequently, thousands of people were deprived of food, clothing, and
shelter.

September 16, 1982 – 1982 Lebanon War: Sabra and Shatila Massacre takes place

On September 16, 1982, Phalange militias carried out the Sabra and Shatila massacre, where between 500 and 3,500 mostly Palestinian and Muslim civilians were killed in the Sabra neighbourhood and nearby Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. The Phalange was a militia associated with the Kataeb Party, a mainly Christian Lebanese right-wing party. The massacre occurred during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) and the Israel military intervention in Lebanon (also known as the 1982 Lebanon War; 1982-1985).

The incident took place after the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) had been withdrawn from Lebanon under UN supervision. Israeli forces believed that other PLO fighters were hiding in Sabra and Shatila, and instructed their Phalange allies to clear these areas, leading to the mass killings. The massacre also occurred one day after the assassination of newly elected Lebanese president Bachir Gemayel of the Kataeb Party, which Israel and Phalange believed had been perpetrated by the PLO.

Israel’s intervention in Lebanon, the 1982 Lebanon War, was aimed at destroying the PLO camps in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese Civil War was a complex multi-faceted, multi-sectarian conflict that involved Lebanon’s government forces, many religious and ideological groups, complicated by the direct military interventions of Israel and Syria as well as being a proxy battleground of the Cold War.

(Taken from 1982 Lebanon War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Background Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1978 failed to achieve peace in the region of northern Israel and South Lebanon.  After the war, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) returned to South Lebanon, where it re-established authority and resumed its attacks on Israel.  In turn, Israel launched air strikes against the PLO.  The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which had arrived in South Lebanon after the war to enforce the ceasefire, was unable to stop the upsurge of violence.  The Lebanese government itself had lost authority in South Lebanon, as it was embroiled in a bitter civil war, where the state had become powerless against the many rival sectarian militias that had carved up the country into separate zones of control.  Syria also had sent its armed forces to Lebanon (at the request of the Lebanese government), occupied sections of the country, and exerted great influence in the country’s security and political climate.

By 1982, cross-border and retaliatory attacks by the PLO and
Israel
had increased considerably.  Ariel
Sharon, Israel’s defense minister, developed a plan to invade Lebanon with the following objectives: expel the
PLO from South Lebanon, force out the Syrian Army from Lebanon, and install a pro-Israeli
government consisting of Lebanese Maronite Christians.  The Israeli government rejected the plan,
however, reasoning that such a large-scale operation could potentially cost
heavy casualties on the Israeli Army.

On June 3, 1982, Shlomo Argov,
Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom,
was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt carried out by the Abu Nidal
Organization, a Palestinian militant movement that was a rival of the PLO.  Israel
then launched massive air and artillery attacks in South
Lebanon.  The PLO, declaring
that it had nothing to do with the assassination attempt on the Israeli
diplomat, retaliated with rocket attacks in northern Israeli villages near the
border.  On June 4, 1982, the Israeli
government authorized its armed forces to invade South
Lebanon.

War On June 4, 1982, Israeli forces crossed the Blue Line,
the de facto Israel-Lebanon “border”.  Israel’s initially stated objective was to push
the PLO twenty-five kilometers north of the Blue Line, a distance that would
place northern Israel
out of reach of Palestinian artillery fire.  Israeli forces hoped to complete the operation
within 24 hours.  As the war progressed,
however, Israel
would expand its military, as well as political, objectives.

The Israeli offensive was carried out along three fronts:
from the Mediterranean coast to deny the PLO an escape route to the sea; from
central Lebanon in the
direction of the Beirut-Damascus
Road; and along the Syria-Lebanon border to cut
off supply lines from Syria.  The Israelis also carried out amphibious
landings of armored and infantry units north of Sidon to seal off a northward escape route
for the PLO.  Artillery from Israeli
ships shelled South Lebanon’s coastal roads to
disrupt PLO logistical lines.

September 15, 1950 – Korean War: U.S. troops land on Inchon

As early as July 1950, General Douglas MacArthur had
conceived of a plan to launch a UN amphibious assault at Inchon
harbor, located 27 kilometers southwest of Seoul on the central west coast.  The success of such an operation would have
the strategic effect of destabilizing the North Korean supply lines to the
south, and threaten the North Korean forces fighting in the Pusan
Perimeter.  The U.S. Joint Chiefs of
Staff (JCS) initially were skeptical about the operation because of the risks
involved, but soon gave its approval when General MacArthur expressed
unwavering optimism in the feasibility of his plan.  U.S.
forces then prepared to launch an amphibious landing on Inchon.

Key areas during the Korean War

On September 15, 1950, preceded by days of heavy air attacks
and naval artillery bombardment, some 75,000 U.S. and South Korean troops (of
the newly reconstituted U.S. X Corps) in 260 naval vessels were amphibiously
landed north and south of Inchon, taking the city where they met only light
resistance from the small North Korean garrison.

The unexpected UN landing at Inchon dealt a psychological blow to North
Korean forces at the Pusan Perimeter. 
Already weakened by shortages of food and ammunitions, and rising
casualties, by the third week of September 1950, North Korean resistance collapsed,
with whole military units breaking down, and tens of thousands of troops
fleeing north or to the mountains, or surrendering en masse.  For the North Korean Army, its defeat at the
Pusan Perimeter was catastrophic: some 65,000 (over 60%) of its 98,000 troops
were lost; it had lost nearly all its tanks and artillery pieces; and most
crucially, it ceased to be a force capable of stopping the UN forces which now
began to steamroll northward.

By September 23, 1950, UN forces, comprising largely of the
Eighth U.S. Army, had broken out of the Pusan Perimeter, and advanced north
some 100 miles, on September 27 linking up with X Corps units from the Inchon
landings at Osan.  However, the UN
forces’ aim of linking their units rather than actively pursuing the enemy allowed
some 30,000 retreating North Korean soldiers from the Pusan Perimeter to escape
and eventually cross the 38th parallel into North Korea, where they soon were
reorganized into new fighting units. 
Other North Korean units that took to the mountains in the south also
formed small militias that engaged in guerilla warfare.

UN forces at Inchon
soon recaptured Kimpo airfield.  There, U.S. planes began to conduct air strikes on
North Korean positions in and around Seoul.  UN ground forces then launched a three-pronged
attack on the capital.  They met heavy
North Korean resistance at the perimeter but soon captured the heights
overlooking the city.  On September 25,
1950, UN forces entered Seoul,
and soon declared the city liberated. 
Even then, house-to-house fighting continued until September 27, when
the city was brought under full UN control.   
On September 29, 1950, UN forces formally turned over the capital to
President Syngman Rhee, who reestablished his government there.  And by the end of September 1950, with
remnants of the decimated North Korean Army retreating in disarray across the
38th parallel, South Korean and UN units gained control of all pre-war South
Korean territory.

On October 1, 1950, the South Korean Army crossed the 38th
parallel into North Korea along the eastern and central regions; UN forces,
however, waited for orders.  Four days
earlier, on September 27, 1950, President Truman sent a top-secret directive to
General MacArthur advising him that UN forces could cross the 38th parallel
only if the Soviet Union or China had not sent or did not intend to send forces
to North Korea.

Earlier, the Chinese government had stated that UN forces
crossing the 38th parallel would place China’s national security at risk,
and thus it would be forced to intervene in the war.  Chairman Mao Zedong also stated that if U.S. forces invaded North
Korea, China
must be ready for war with the United
States.

At this stage of the Cold War, the United States believed that its biggest threat
came from the Soviet Union, and that the Korean War may very well be a Soviet
plot to spark an armed conflict between the United
States and China.  This would force the U.S. military to divert troops and resources to
Asia, and leave Western Europe open to a
Soviet invasion.  But after much
deliberation, the Truman administration concluded that China was “bluffing” and would not really
intervene in Korea,
and that its threats merely were intended to undermine the UN.  Furthermore, General MacArthur also later
(after UN forces had crossed the 38th parallel) expressed full confidence in
the UN (i.e. U.S.)
forces’ military superiority – that Chinese forces would face the “greatest
slaughter” if they entered the war.

On October 7, 1950, the UNGA adopted Resolution 376 (V)
which declared support for the restoration of stability in the Korean Peninsula,
a tacit approval for the UN forces to take action in North Korea.  Two days later, October 9, UN forces, led by
the Eighth U.S. Army, crossed the 38th parallel in the west, with General MacArthur
some days earlier demanding the unconditional surrender of the North Korean
Army.  UN forces met only light
resistance during their advance north. 
On October 15, 1950, Namchonjam fell, followed two days later by Hwangju.

As early as July 1950, General MacArthur had conceived of a
plan to launch a UN amphibious assault at Inchon
harbor, located 27 kilometers southwest of Seoul on the central west coast.  The success of such an operation would have
the strategic effect of destabilizing the North Korean supply lines to the
south, and threaten the North Korean forces fighting in the Pusan
Perimeter.  The U.S. Joint Chiefs of
Staff (JCS) initially were skeptical about the operation because of the risks
involved, but soon gave its approval when General MacArthur expressed
unwavering optimism in the feasibility of his plan.  U.S.
forces then prepared to launch an amphibious landing on Inchon.

On September 15, 1950, preceded by days of heavy air attacks
and naval artillery bombardment, some 75,000 U.S. and South Korean troops (of
the newly reconstituted U.S. X Corps) in 260 naval vessels were amphibiously
landed north and south of Inchon, taking the city where they met only light
resistance from the small North Korean garrison.

The unexpected UN landing at Inchon dealt a psychological blow to North
Korean forces at the Pusan Perimeter. 
Already weakened by shortages of food and ammunitions, and rising
casualties, by the third week of September 1950, North Korean resistance collapsed,
with whole military units breaking down, and tens of thousands of troops
fleeing north or to the mountains, or surrendering en masse.  For the North Korean Army, its defeat at the
Pusan Perimeter was catastrophic: some 65,000 (over 60%) of its 98,000 troops
were lost; it had lost nearly all its tanks and artillery pieces; and most
crucially, it ceased to be a force capable of stopping the UN forces which now
began to steamroll northward.

By September 23, 1950, UN forces, comprising largely of the
Eighth U.S. Army, had broken out of the Pusan Perimeter, and advanced north
some 100 miles, on September 27 linking up with X Corps units from the Inchon
landings at Osan.  However, the UN
forces’ aim of linking their units rather than actively pursuing the enemy
allowed some 30,000 retreating North Korean soldiers from the Pusan Perimeter
to escape and eventually cross the 38th parallel into North Korea, where they
soon were reorganized into new fighting units. 
Other North Korean units that took to the mountains in the south also
formed small militias that engaged in guerilla warfare.

UN forces at Inchon
soon recaptured Kimpo airfield.  There, U.S. planes began to conduct air strikes on
North Korean positions in and around Seoul.  UN ground forces then launched a
three-pronged attack on the capital. 
They met heavy North Korean resistance at the perimeter but soon
captured the heights overlooking the city. 
On September 25, 1950, UN forces entered Seoul, and soon declared the city
liberated.  Even then, house-to-house
fighting continued until September 27, when the city was brought under full UN
control.    On September 29, 1950, UN
forces formally turned over the capital to President Syngman Rhee, who
reestablished his government there.  And
by the end of September 1950, with remnants of the decimated North Korean Army
retreating in disarray across the 38th parallel, South Korean and UN units
gained control of all pre-war South Korean territory.

On October 1, 1950, the South Korean Army crossed the 38th
parallel into North Korea along the eastern and central regions; UN forces,
however, waited for orders.  Four days
earlier, on September 27, 1950, President Truman sent a top-secret directive to
General MacArthur advising him that UN forces could cross the 38th parallel
only if the Soviet Union or China had not sent or did not intend to send forces
to North Korea.

Earlier, the Chinese government had stated that UN forces
crossing the 38th parallel would place China’s national security at risk,
and thus it would be forced to intervene in the war.  Chairman Mao Zedong also stated that if U.S. forces invaded North
Korea, China
must be ready for war with the United
States.

At this stage of the Cold War, the United States believed that its biggest threat
came from the Soviet Union, and that the Korean War may very well be a Soviet
plot to spark an armed conflict between the United
States and China.  This would force the U.S. military to divert troops and resources to
Asia, and leave Western Europe open to a
Soviet invasion.  But after much
deliberation, the Truman administration concluded that China was “bluffing” and would not really
intervene in Korea,
and that its threats merely were intended to undermine the UN.  Furthermore, General MacArthur also later
(after UN forces had crossed the 38th parallel) expressed full confidence in
the UN (i.e. U.S.)
forces’ military superiority – that Chinese forces would face the “greatest
slaughter” if they entered the war.

On October 7, 1950, the UNGA adopted Resolution 376 (V)
which declared support for the restoration of stability in the Korean Peninsula,
a tacit approval for the UN forces to take action in North Korea.  Two days later, October 9, UN forces, led by
the Eighth U.S. Army, crossed the 38th parallel in the west, with General
MacArthur some days earlier demanding the unconditional surrender of the North
Korean Army.  UN forces met only light
resistance during their advance north. 
On October 15, 1950, Namchonjam fell, followed two days later by
Hwangju.

September 14, 1960 – Mobutu Sese Seko launches a coup during the Congo Crisis

On September 14, 1960, Mobutu Sese Seko, head of the Congo military, seized power in the Republic of the Congo (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the midst of the Congo Crisis. The crisis consisted of a series of civil wars that began shortly after the country gained its independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960. Mobutu launched the coup following the political deadlock between Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu after Lumumba had sought Soviet support to quell a Belgian-supported uprising in Katanga and South Kasai.

After the coup, Mobutu remained as head of the Congo military until November 1965, when he seized power in another coup following another political impasse. He would hold power over a totalitarian government for the next 32 years.

In his long reign, he grossly mismanaged the country, which he renamed Zaire.  Government corruption was widespread, the country’s infrastructure was neglected, and poverty and unemployment were rampant.  And while Zaire’s economy stagnated under a huge foreign debt, President Mobutu amassed a personal fortune of several billions of dollars.

In 1997, he was deposed in the First Congo War.

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

Africa showing location of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other African countries. At the time of the First Congo War, DRC was known as Zaire.

Background In the
mid-1990s, ethnic tensions rose in Zaire’s eastern regions.  Zairian indigenous tribes long despised the
Tutsis, another ethnic tribe, whom they regarded as foreigners, i.e. they
believed that Tutsis were not native to the Congo.  The Congolese Tutsis were called Banyamulenge
and had migrated to the Congo
during the pre-colonial and Belgian colonial periods.  Over time, the Banyamulenge established some
degree of political and economic standing in the Congo’s eastern regions.  Nevertheless, Zairian indigenous groups occasionally
attacked Banyamulenge villages, as well as those of other non-Congolese Tutsis
who had migrated more recently to the Congo.

During the second half of the twentieth century, the Congo’s eastern region was greatly destabilized
when large numbers of refugees migrated there to escape the ethnic violence in Rwanda and Burundi.  The greatest influx occurred during the
Rwandan Civil War, where some 1.5 million Hutu refugees entered the Congo’s
Kivu Provinces (Map 17).  The Hutu
refugees established giant settlement camps which soon came under the control
of the deposed Hutu regime in Rwanda,
the same government that had carried out the genocide against Rwandan
Tutsis.  Under cover of the camps, Hutu
leaders organized a militia composed of former army soldiers and civilian
paramilitaries.  This Hutu militia
carried out attacks against Rwandan Tutsis in the camps, as well as against the
Banyamulenge, i.e. Congolese Tutsis.  The
Hutu leaders wanted to regain power in Rwanda
and therefore ordered their militia to conduct cross-border raids from the
Zairian camps into Rwanda.

To counter the Hutu threat, the Rwandan government forged a
military alliance with the Banyamulenge, and organized a militia composed of
Congolese Tutsis.  The Rwandan
government-Banyamulenge alliance solidified in 1995 when the Zairian government
passed a law that rescinded the Congolese citizenship of the Banyamulenge, and
ordered all non-Congolese citizens to leave the country.

War In October
1996, the provincial government of South Kivu in Zaire ordered all Bayamulenge to
leave the province.  In response, the
Banyamulenge rose up in rebellion. 
Zairian forces stepped in, only to be confronted by the Banyamulenge
militia as well as Rwandan Army units that began an artillery bombardment of South Kivu from across the border.

A low-intensity rebellion against the Congolese government
had already existed for three decades in Zaire.  Led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the Congo
rebels opposed Zairian president Mobutu Sese Seko’s despotic, repressive
regime.  President Mobutu had seized
power through a military coup in 1965 and had in his long reign, grossly
mismanaged the country.  Government
corruption was widespread, the country’s infrastructure was crumbling, and
poverty and unemployment were rampant. 
And while Zaire’s
economy stagnated under a huge foreign debt, President Mobutu amassed a
personal fortune of several billions of dollars.

Kabila joined his forces with the Banyamulenge militia;
together, they united with other anti-Mobutu rebel groups in the Kivu, with the
collective aim of overthrowing the Zairian dictator.  Kabila soon became the leader of this rebel
coalition.  In December 1996, with the
support of Rwanda and Uganda,
Kabila’s rebel forces won control of the border areas of the Kivu.  There, Kabila formed a quasi-government that
was allied to Rwanda and Uganda.

The Rwandan Army entered the conquered areas in the Kivu and
dismantled the Hutu refugee camps in order to stop the Hutu militia from
carrying out raids into Rwanda.  With their camps destroyed, one batch of Hutu
refugees, comprising several hundreds of thousands of civilians, was forced to
head back to Rwanda.

Another batch, also composed of several hundreds of
thousands of Hutus, fled westward and deeper into Zaire, where many perished from
diseases, starvation, and nature’s elements, as well as from attacks by the
Rwandan Army.

When the fighting ended, some areas of Zaire’s eastern provinces virtually
had seceded, as the Zairian government was incapable of mounting a strong
military campaign into such a remote region. 
In fact, because of the decrepit condition of the Zairian Armed Forces,
President Mobutu held only nominal control over the country.

The Zairian soldiers were poorly paid and regularly stole
and sold military supplies.  Poor
discipline and demoralization afflicted the ranks, while corruption was rampant
among top military officers.  Zaire’s
military equipment often was non-operational because of funding shortages.  More critically, President Mobutu had become the
enemy of Rwanda and Angola,
as he provided support for the rebel groups fighting the governments in those
countries.  Other African countries that
also opposed Mobutu were Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In December 1996, Angola
entered the war on the side of the rebels after signing a secret agreement with
Rwanda and Uganda.  The Angolan government then sent thousands of
ethnic Congolese soldiers called “Katangese Gendarmes” to the Kivu
Provinces.  These Congolese soldiers were
the descendants of the original Katangese Gendarmes who had fled to Angola in the early 1960s after the failed
secession of the Katanga Province from the Congo.

The presence of the Katangese Gendarmes greatly strengthened
the rebellion: from Goma and Bukavu (Map 17), the Gendarmes advanced west and
south to capture Katanga and
central Zaire.  On March 15, 1977, Kisangani
fell to the rebels, opening the road to Kinshasa,
Zaire’s
capital.  Kalemie and Kamina in Katanga Province
were captured, followed by Lubumbashi
in April.  Later that month, the Angolan
Army invaded Zaire
from the south, quickly taking Tshikapa, Kikwit, and Kenge.

Kabila also joined the fighting.  Backed by units of the Rwandan and Ugandan
Armed Forces, his rebel coalition force advanced steadily across central Zaire for Kinshasa.  Kabila met only light resistance, as the
Zairian Army collapsed, with desertions and defections widespread in its ranks.  Crowds of people in the towns and villages
welcomed Kabila and the foreign armies as liberators.

Many attempts were made by foreign mediators (United Nations, United
States, and South Africa)
to broker a peace settlement, the last occurring on May 16, 1977 when Kabila’s
forces had reached the vicinity of Kinshasa.  The Zairian government collapsed, with
President Mobutu fleeing the country. 
Kabila entered Kinshasa
and formed a new government, and named himself president.  The First Congo War was over; the second
phase of the conflict broke out just 15 months later (next article).

September 13, 1948 – Indian forces invade Hyderabad to force annexation

On September 13, 1948, the Indian Army invaded the state of Hyderabad. Four days later, the Nizam (monarch) of Hyderabad surrendered. In November 1948, he signed the Instrument of Accession to India, and the independent state of Hyderabad ceased to exist.

Britain
approved the Indian Independence Act in July 1947, partitioning British India
into two new independent dominions: India
and Pakistan.
On August 14, 1947, Pakistan
declared independence, and the next day, India also declared its
independence.

At the time of partition into India and Pakistan, there also existed in the Indian subcontinent semi-autonomous polities called “princely states”, numbering 565 and covering 40% of the territory, and comprising 23% of the population. Before the British withdrew, they offered the princely states two options: to be incorporated politically and geographically into either India or Pakistan, or to revert to their pre-colonial status as independent political entities.  A great majority of the Princely States took the option suggested by the British and joined either one of the two new countries, but most with India with whom they shared a common border as well as religious ties. 

Hyderabad, which shared all
its borders with India but
none with Pakistan,
was led by a Muslim monarch (the Nizam) who ruled over a largely Hindu population.
Hyderabad was also the wealthiest and most militarily
powerful of the princely states and the Nizam owned 40% of all Hyderabad lands. Not
wanting to accede to Hindu-majority India,
the Nizam declared Hyderabad’s
independence in August 1947. However, India
was determined to integrate Hyderabad
with itself, averse to the presence of a hostile neighbour. Negotiations
between the two sides were held from November 1947 to June 1948, which failed
to reach an agreement.

Ultimately, the Indian government was prompted to take
military action because of what it perceived were violations of the Hyderabad state: carrying out relations with Pakistan,
interfering with Indian traffic at its borders, and most seriously, building up
paramilitary force numbering 200,000 irregulars (“razakars”) apart from the state
force of 22,000 troops.

In the immediate aftermath of the Indian invasion, widespread communal violence broke out with Hindus attacking Muslims. Executions, murders, rapes, and lootings were widespread. Some 30,000-40,000 were killed, with one estimate putting the figure at 200,000 or higher.

(Partition of India; taken from Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

In the Indian subcontinent (Map 12), which was Britain’s
prized possession since the 1800s, a strong nationalist sentiment had existed
for many decades and had led to the emergence of many political organizations
that demanded varying levels of autonomy and self-rule.  Other Indian nationalist movements also
called for the British to leave immediately. 
Nationalist aspirations were concentrated in areas with direct British
rule, as there also existed across the Indian subcontinent hundreds of
semi-autonomous regions which the British called “Princely States”, whose
rulers held local authority with treaties or alliances made with the British
government.  The Princely States,
however, had relinquished their foreign policy initiatives to the British in
exchange for British military protection against foreign attacks.  Thus, the British de facto ruled over the
Princely States.

Lord Mountbatten also settled the fates of the Princely
States, which accounted for about one-third of the area of the Indian
subcontinent.  In a plenary meeting with
the heads of the Princely States in July 1947, the Governor-General offered
them two options: to be incorporated politically and geographically into either
India or Pakistan, or to revert to their
pre-colonial status as independent political entities.  Lord Mountbatten, however, cautioned the
Princely States against taking the second option, saying that they risked being
overwhelmed by their two new giant neighbors, India
and Pakistan.

A great majority of the Princely States took the option
suggested by Lord Mountbatten and joined either one of the two new countries,
but most with India with whom they shared a common border as well as religious
ties.  Two Princely
States, Manipur and Tripura, opted for
independence in 1947, but agreed to be incorporated into India two years later.  Hyderabad,
with a Muslim ruler and a majority Hindu population, and geographically located
inside India,
declared independence.  In 1948, India invaded Hyderabad
and subsequently annexed the former Princely
State.  Junagadh also had a Muslim ruler and a
predominantly Hindu constituency, and chose to be assimilated into Pakistan
but without whom it shared a border.  An
uprising soon broke out among Hindus, whereupon the Indian Army invaded
Junagadh, forcing the Muslim ruler to flee into exile.  In a plebiscite that later was held in
Junagadh, the overwhelming majority of voters chose to be incorporated into India.  Soon thereafter, India annexed Junagadh.

At partition, the Princely State of Kashmir became
independent but found itself geographically straddled between India and Pakistan.  Kashmir’s
Hindu monarch, who ruled over a predominantly Muslim constituency, chose to
remain politically neutral.  Both India and particularly Pakistan, however, wanted to annex Kashmir, and thus exerted pressure on the Kashmiri
monarch.  In October 1947, a revolt broke
out in Kashmir, triggering the Indian-Pakistani War of 1947, which was the
first of three major wars fought between India
and Pakistan over Kashmir and the start of a long-standing dispute that
continues to this day.

September 12, 1974 – Ethiopian Civil War: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is overthrown in a military coup

On September 12, 1974, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in a military coup by the Derg, ending both his reign of 58 years and the 800 year-old Ethiopian Empire. The Derg consisted of Ethiopian reformist junior officers under the name “Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army”, some 110 to 120 enlisted men and officers (none above the rank of major) from the 40 military and security units across the country.  This group became known simply as Derg (an Ethiopian word meaning “Committee” or “Council”) had as its (initial) aims to serve as a conduit for various military and police units in order to maintain peace and order, and also to uphold the military’s integrity by resolving grievances, disciplining errant officers, and curbing corruption in the armed forces.

Ethiopia and adjacent countries in Africa

Following the coup, the Derg seized control of government but
did not abolish the monarchy outright, and announced that Crown Prince Asfa
Wossen, Haile Selassie’s son who was currently abroad for medical treatment,
was to succeed to the throne as the new “king” on his return to the
country.  However, Prince Wossen rejected
the offer and remained abroad.  The Derg
then withdrew its offer and in March 1975, abolished the monarchy altogether,
thus ending the 800 year-old Ethiopian Empire. 
(On August 27, 1975, or nearly one year after his arrest, Haile Selassie
passed away under mysterious circumstances, with Derg stating that
complications from a medical procedure had caused his death, while critics
alleging that the ex-monarch was murdered.)

The political instability and power struggles that followed
the Derg’s coming to power, the escalation of pre-existing separatist and
Marxist insurgencies (as well as the formation of new rebel movements), and the
intervention of foreign players, notably Somalia as well as Cold War rivals,
the Soviet Union and United States, all contributed to the multi-party,
multi-faceted conflict known as the Ethiopian Civil War.

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

Background By early 1974 but unbeknownst at that time, the 44-year reign of Ethiopia’s aging emperor, Haile Selassie, was verging on collapse under the burgeoning weight of various internal hostile elements.  Haile Selassie had ascended to the throne in April 1930, bearing the official title, “His Imperial Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God”, to reign over the Ethiopian Empire that had been in existence for 800 years.  Except for a brief period of occupation by the Italian Army from 1936 to 1941, Ethiopia had escaped falling under the control of European powers that had carved up the African continent into colonial territories during the 19th century.  (The latter event, known as the Scramble for Africa, saw only two African states, Ethiopia and Liberia, that did not come under European domination.)

Under Haile Selassie’s rule, Ethiopia became a founding member
state of the United Nations in 1945 and the Organization of African Unity in
1963.  The Ethiopian emperor had placed
great emphasis on his personal, as well as Ethiopia’s,
role in post-World War II international affairs, and as such, had played a
major role in peacemaking and contributed to mediation efforts in various
African conflicts (e.g. the Congo,
Biafra, Algeria,
and Morocco).  By the 1970s (at which time, he was at the
advanced age of 80), Haile Selassie was widely regarded in the international
community and respected as an elder statesman and a great African father
figure.

At the same time, however, Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia was
mired in numerous internal problems, foremost of which was great social unrest
generated by the deeply entrenched conservative monarchy, aristocratic
nobility, and wealthy landowning and business classes that opposed reforms
which were being called for by the various emerging militant sectors of
society.  In some regions, some
landowners owned large tracts of agricultural land, relegating most of the
rural population to tenant farmers and farm laborers in a semi-feudal,
patronage system.  Haile Selassie made
some attempts to implement land reform and other measures of agrarian equality,
but these were opposed by the wealthy landowners.  Social tensions also existed among Ethiopia’s many
ethnic groups, which were further compounded because of the monarch’s de facto
absolute rule and sometimes inequitable policies that favored his own Amharic
ethnic class to the detriment of other regional ethnic groups.

Ethnic tensions sometimes led to armed rebellion, such as
those that occurred in northern Wollo in 1930, Tigray in 1941, and Gojjam in
1968.  Haile Selassie placed much
emphasis on promoting education, but his government made only modest gains to
transform the elitist educational structure into a universal public school
system, e.g. by the early 1970s, some 90% of Ethiopians were still
illiterate.  Ironically, however, Ethiopia’s educational system became the
breeding ground for radical ideas, as university students, particularly those
studying in Europe, became exposed to
Marxism-Leninism.  In the 1960s and
1970s, many ethnicity-motivated, separatist, or socialist movements emerged in Ethiopia.  Among the more important Marxist groups were
the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement and Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party,
while major regional movements included the Western Somali Liberation Front
(WSLF) and Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), both founded in 1960, and the Oromo
Liberation Front, organized in 1973.

For Haile Selassie’s regime, the most serious among the
regional groups was the ELP-led Eritrean insurgency.  Eritrea
historically had a long political development separate from Ethiopia, but the latter regarded Eritrea as an
integral part of the Ethiopian Empire. 
In September 1952, the United Nations federated Eritrea (then under temporary British
administration) with Ethiopia
(the union known as the Ethiopian-Eritrean Federation), which granted Eritrea broad
administrative, legislative, judiciary, and fiscal autonomy but under the rule
of the Ethiopian monarch.  However,
Eritreans desired full sovereignty and in September 1961, the ELF launched an
eventually lengthy 30-year armed struggle for independence.

By the 1960s, Ethiopia’s
feudalistic system, government corruption, and failure to implement land reform
and other social programs were inciting student and activist groups to launch
protest demonstrations and mass assemblies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s
capital.  Ultimately, however, it was the
Ethiopian military that would set in motion the events that would overturn Ethiopia’s
political system.  In December 1960,
reformist elements of the military, led by the commander of the Imperial Guard
(the emperor’s personal security unit), launched a coup d’état to overthrow
Haile Selassie, who was away on a state visit to Brazil.  Most of the Ethiopian Armed Forces, however,
remained loyal to the government, and the coup failed.  In the aftermath, Haile Selassie strove to
bring the military establishment under greater control, promoting more ethnic
Amharic to the officer corps and plotting discord by playing military factions
against each other.

However, discontent remained pervasive within the military,
particularly among the rank-and-file soldiers, who chafed at the low pay and
poor working conditions.  In January
1974, in what became the first of a series of decisive events, soldiers
stationed at Negele, Sidamo Province, mutinied in protest of low wages and
other poor conditions; in the following days, military units in other locations
mutinied as well.  In February 1974, as a
result of rising inflation and unemployment and deteriorating economic
conditions resulting from the global oil crisis of the previous year (1973),
teachers, workers, and students launched protest demonstrations and marches in Addis Ababa demanding
price rollbacks, higher labor wages, and land reform in the countryside.  These protests degenerated into bloody
riots.  In the aftermath, on February 28,
1974, long-time Prime Minister Aklilu Habte-Wold resigned and was replaced by
Endalkachew Makonnen, whose government raised the wages of military personnel
and set price controls to curb inflation. 
Even so, the government, which was controlled by nobles, aristocrats,
and wealthy landowners, refused or were unaware of the need to implement major
reforms in the face of growing public opposition.

In March 1974, a group of military officers led by Colonel
Alem Zewde Tessema formed the multi-unit “Armed Forces Coordinating Committee”
(AFCC) consisting of representatives from different sectors of the Ethiopian
military, tasked with enforcing cohesion among the various forces and assisting
the government in maintaining authority in the face of growing unrest.  In June 1974, reformist junior officers of
the AFCC, desiring greater reforms and dissatisfied with what they saw was the
AFCC’s close association with the government, broke away and formed their own
group.

This latter group, which took the name “Coordinating
Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, soon grew to about
110 to 120 enlisted men and officers (none above the rank of major) from the 40
military and security units across the country, and elected Majors Mengistu
Haile Mariam  and Atnafu Abate as its
chairman and vice-chairman, respectively. 
This group, which became known simply as Derg (an Ethiopian word meaning
“Committee” or “Council”), had as its (initial) aims to serve as a conduit for
various military and police units in order to maintain peace and order, and
also to uphold the military’s integrity by resolving grievances, disciplining
errant officers, and curbing corruption in the armed forces.

Derg operated anonymously (e.g. its members were not
publicly known initially), but worked behind such populist slogans as “Ethiopia
First”, “Land to the Peasants”, and “Democracy and Equality to all” to gain
broad support among the military and general population.  By July 1974, the Derg’s power was felt not
only within the military but in the government itself, and Haile Selassie was
forced to implement a number of political measures, including the release of
political prisoners, the return of political exiles to the country, passage of
a new constitution, and more critically, to allow Derg to work closely with the
government.  Under Derg pressure, the
government of Prime Minister Makonnen collapsed; succeeding as Prime Minister
was Mikael Imru, an aristocrat who held leftist ideas.

Haile Selassie’s concessions to the Derg included measures
to investigate government corruption and mismanagement.  In the period that followed, Derg arrested
and imprisoned many high-ranking imperial, administrative, and military officials,
including former Prime Ministers Habte-Wold and Makonnen, Cabinet members,
military generals, and regional governors. 
In August 1974, a proposed constitution that called for establishing a
constitutional monarchy was set aside. 
Now operating virtually with impunity, the Derg took aim at the imperial
court, dissolving the imperial governing councils and royal treasury, and
seizing royal landholdings and commercial assets.  By this time, Haile Selassie’s government
virtually had ceased to exist; de facto power was held by the military, or more
precisely, by Derg.

The culmination of events occurred when Haile Selassie was
accused of deliberately denying the existence of a widespread famine that
currently was ravaging Ethiopia’s
Wollo province, which already had killed some 40,000 to 80,000 to as many as
200,000 people.  Conflicting reports
indicated that Haile Selassie was not aware of the famine, was fully aware of
it, or that government administrators withheld knowledge of its existence from
the emperor.  By August 1974, large
protest demonstrations in Addis Ababa
were demanding the emperor’s arrest. 
Finally on September 12, 1974, the Derg overthrew Haile Selassie in a
bloodless coup, leading away the frail, 82-year old ex-monarch to imprisonment.

The Derg gained control of Ethiopia but did not abolish the
monarchy outright, and announced that Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Haile
Selassie’s son who was currently abroad for medical treatment, was to succeed
to the throne as the new “king” on his return to the country.  However, Prince Wossen rejected the offer and
remained abroad.  The Derg then withdrew
its offer and in March 1975, abolished the monarchy altogether, thus ending the
800 year-old Ethiopian Empire.  (On
August 27, 1975, or nearly one year after his arrest, Haile Selassie passed
away under mysterious circumstances, with Derg stating that complications from
a medical procedure had caused his death, while critics alleging that the
ex-monarch was murdered.)

September 11, 1969 – Sino-Soviet Border Conflict: Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai hold an impromptu dialogue at Beijing Airport

On September 11, 1969, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin and
Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai held an urgent impromptu meeting at Beijing Airport to try and resolve the political
and border crisis between their two countries. After 3½ hours, the two premiers
reached a consensus: that their countries would resolve their differences
through peaceful means, that border talks that were broken in 1964 would be
restarted, that diplomatic ties between the two states would be restored, and
that trade and transportation exchanges between their countries would be
reopened.

The meeting was held to defuse tensions between the two
countries. Chinese authorities were concerned about the growing threat of war
with the Soviet Union.  Despite appearing defiant, and warning Russia that it too had nuclear weapons, China was unprepared to go to war, and its
military was far weaker than that of the Soviet Union.  Exacerbating China’s position was its ongoing
Cultural Revolution, which was causing serious internal unrest.

In August-September 1969, believing that a Soviet nuclear
attack would target China’s
major populated centers, the Chinese government prepared to empty the cities
and relocate the population and vital industries to remote locations.  Large-scale underground civilian and military
shelters were built in Beijing
and other areas of the country.  At Mao’s
urging, national and party leaders moved away from Beijing
to different areas across China,
to avoid the government being wiped out by a single Soviet nuclear attack on
the capital.  By this time, even the
Western press believed that war was imminent between the two communist giants.

(Taken from Sino-Soviet Border Conflict – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 5)

Background In November 1917, Russian communists seized power in Petrograd, and after emerging victorious in the Russian Civil War (October 1917-October 1922), they established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (usually shortened to USSR or Soviet Union).  Nearly 27 years later, in October 1949 in China, Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC) when his Red Army all but defeated Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang) forces in the Chinese Civil War.  In December 1949, Chiang and the Kuomintang fled from the Chinese mainland and moved to Taiwan, where he established his new seat of government.

Thereafter, the Soviet Union
and Red China established close fraternal ties. 
In February 1950, the two countries signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of
Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, a
thirty-year military alliance which included a Soviet low-cost loan of $300
million to assist in the reconstruction of war-ravaged China.  In December 1950, the Soviet government
returned to China
sovereignty of the region of Lushun, including Port Arthur, located in
the Chinese northeast. And with China
militarily intervening in the Korean War (previous article) in October 1950,
the Soviet Union sent large amounts of weapons to China, and provided air cover
during the Chinese counter-offensive starting in late 1950.  The period 1950-1958 saw close political,
diplomatic, and economic relations between the two communist powers,
particularly in relation to their common ideological struggle against their
Cold War enemies, the United
States and capitalist West.

In March 1953, Joseph Stalin, who had ruled the Soviet Union
for over three decades, died suddenly, and was succeeded by Nikita
Khrushchev.  Khrushchev brought about a
radical shift in Russia’s
domestic affairs, implementing a series of reforms collectively known as
de-Stalinization.  The most repressive
aspects of Stalinist policies were reversed: suppression and censorship were
reduced; some economic and social reforms were introduced; political prisoners
were released; the Gulag camp conditions were improved; and Stalinist
landmarks, places, and monuments were renamed to erase memories of the Stalin
era.

In foreign affairs, Khrushchev implemented “peaceful
coexistence” with the West, which was a dramatic reversal of Stalin’s policy of
confrontation against capitalist/democratic countries.  The Soviet Union increased trade with the
West, participated in international sports events, and allowed greater cultural
and educational exchanges, and Western cinema and arts to enter the Soviet Union.

However, in China,
Mao was alarmed by these changes in the Soviet Union.  He had drawn inspiration for China’s
political and economic development on the Stalinist model, and perceived
Khrushchev’s “peaceful coexistence” policies with the West as deviating from
Marxism-Leninism.  As a result,
Chinese-Soviet relations became strained, leading to a decade-long period (late
1950s through the 1960s) of hostility known as the Sino-Soviet split.  This split was aggravated by other regional
and global events which occurred during this period.

In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, a large-scale
series of programs in agriculture and heavy industries aimed at accelerating China’s
path to communism.  Mao’s plan was to
vault China into a global
economic power that would surpass the Soviet Union and even the industrialized
Western powers, including Britain
and the United States.  However, the program ended in utter
failure.  Together with a massive
drought, the policies of the Great Leap Forward caused widespread famine that led
to mass starvation.  Some 36 million
people died from hunger, and another 40 million babies failed to be form, or a
total of 76 million deaths due to the “Great Chinese Famine”.

The Great Leap Forward also further strained Sino-Soviet
relations, as Khrushchev perceived Mao’s ambitious programs as a direct
challenge to the Soviet Union’s leadership in
the socialist world.  The Soviet
government then pulled out its military, technical and economic advisers from China.  Then when Khrushchev visited the United States in September 1959, China saw this as further evidence that the Soviet Union had strayed from Marxism-Leninism, and had
become “soft” in its relations with the West.

In March 1959, when the Dalai Lama (Tibet’s spiritual leader) fled from Tibet into India
following a failed Tibetan revolt against Chinese rule, the Soviet government
gave moral support to Tibet,
angering Mao.  India
itself also had a long-standing border dispute with China.  When border clashes between India and China
broke out in 1959 which ultimately led to a limited war in 1962 (Sino-Indian
War, separate article), the Soviet Union remained neutral in the conflict and
even tacitly sided with India, which again provoked Mao.

China
also wanted to invade Taiwan
to fulfill its long-sought goal of reunifying China.  However, China’s
invasion plan received only tepid support from the Soviet
Union.  In 1958, after China provoked the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
by shelling Quemoy and Matsu islands, the Soviet Foreign Ministry cautioned China against escalating the conflict, because
the United States had sent a
naval force to defend Taiwan.

September 10, 1943 – World War II: German troops occupy Italy

On September 10, 1943 and continuing for several days, German forces seized control of Italy after the Italian government announced that it had signed the Armistice of Cassibile with the Allied Powers. The Germans disarmed the Italian troops and took over the Italian zones of occupation in the Balkans and southern France. In most cases, Italian units were unable to resist in the midst of chaos during the disarming process. A few units managed to resist as in the Greek island of Cephalonia, where the Italians surrendered after running out of ammunition, and in the Italian capital Rome, where a hastily mounted haphazard defense was easily overcome. In Sardinia, Corsica, Calabria, and few other areas, the Italians successfully resisted until the arrival of the Allies. Other Italian units joined the local resistance movement.

The Italian Campaign

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

The invasion of Sicily also
forced Germany to withdraw
some units in Russia,
particularly from the ongoing Battle of Kursk (where the German offensive was
already faltering), to confront the new threat. 
Thereafter, the Germans lost the initiative in the Eastern Front and
would permanently be on the defensive, a situation they also would face in the
Allied campaign in Italy.

General Badoglio declared his continued alliance with Germany,
but secretly opened peace talks with the Allies.  Negotiations lasted two months, and on
September 8, the Italian government announced an agreement with the Allies,
called the Armistice of Cassibile, where Italy surrendered to the
Allies.  Fearing German reprisal, King
Victor Emmanuel II, General Badoglio, and other leaders fled from Rome and set up headquarters in Allied-controlled southern
Italy.  There, on October 13, 1943, the Badoglio
government declared war on Germany.

The Germans, which had increased their military presence in
Italy since Mussolini’s ouster a few months earlier, and had gained
intelligence information that the new government was seeking a separate peace
with the Allies, now sprung into action and disarmed Italian forces in Italy,
France, and the Balkan regions, and seized important military and public
infrastructures across Italy.  Italian
military units were unaware of the armistice, and thus were caught off-guard
and generally failed to offer resistance to the German take-over.  Then on September 12, 1943, Mussolini was
rescued from captivity by German commandos in a daring raid, and two weeks
later, was installed by Hitler as head of the newly formed fascist state, the Italian Social
Republic, covering Axis-controlled
northern and central Italy.  Two rival governments now laid claim to Italy,
and the former Italian Armed Forces became divided, fighting while aligned with
one or the other side.

Meanwhile, in September 1943, the Allies were ready to
invade mainland Italy after
their capture of Sicily
one month earlier.  On September 3, 1943,
the same day that the armistice was signed, British 8th Army units in Sicily crossed the Gulf
of Messina and landed at Reggio di Calabria, at the southwestern tip, or “toe” of Italy
(Figure 36).  The landing was unopposed,
as the Germans had already retreated north while the Italian coastal batteries
were overwhelmed by Allied naval gunfire. 
Then on September 9, 1943, one day after the armistice was announced,
the British made another amphibious landing at Taranto
in southeast Italy,
which also was unopposed.  The Allies
aimed the two landings to divert the Germans from the main landing at Salerno,
some 200 miles further north off the western coast, which also was carried out
on September 9, 1943 by the newly formed U.S. 5th Army (comprising one American
and two British divisions).  The Allies
also anticipated that the Taranto-Salerno landings would exploit the confusion
among the Germans by the sudden announcement of the armistice.

However, by the time of the armistice, the Germans were
firmly established in Italy.  And although many German units were diverted
to disarm the Italian Army, a substantial force remained to guard against the
expected Allied invasion.  Furthermore,
General Albert Kesselring, commander of German forces in southern Italy, correctly surmised that the main Allied
landing would not be made in southernmost Italy,
but rather in the vicinity of Salerno, Naples, or even Rome,
where he concentrated German forces from their withdrawal from the south.