It is almost the year 2012. We'll have a lot to remember this year ....
20 years ago (1992): the Maastricht Treaty signed (7
February). The move towards a European integration was boosted and the single
currency, the Euro, became reality,
while Britain remained as sceptical of the idea of European union as ever. Now
they are saying I told you so and the rest of Europe is really, really annoyed.
30 years ago (1982): the Falklands War (April-June). Britain
was about to be consigned to the second division of the world and then this war
totally revived her fortune. It demonstrated that, with logistical backing of
the United States, Britain could still wage an expeditionary warfare. The
Argentinians could not believe they lost. The bloody dictatorship of General
Galtieri ended as a result. Not so bad news after all then?
[The Illustrious class British aircraft carrier that proved
its worth during the war.]
50 years ago (1962): the Cuban missile crisis (October). The
United States and the Soviet Union square off in Cuba. Annoyed by the US
deployment of new middle range nuclear missiles in Turkey, the Soviet Union shipped
nuclear missiles to Cuba. JFK, having been humiliated at the Bay of Pigs
fiasco, was determined not to climb down even if it meant an all-out nuclear
war. The Soviets did back down; yet, behind the scenes, the US also agreed to
withdraw the missiles in Turkey.
70 Years ago (1942): what Winston Churchill called the end
of the beginning. The Axis powers in WW2 began to lose. First go the Japanese,
who, despite enjoying numerical superiority in major warships in the western
Pacific, got soundly beaten by the US Navy at Midway in June. In October, the
British finally stopped and comprehensively defeated the Germans in North
Africa, led by the ‘Desert Fox’, Erwin Rommel. The Germans would meet even
bigger disaster in Russia: Operation Blau
[blue], aimed at occupying Caucasus and its oil fields, was launched in summer.
By the end of the year, they captured Stalingrad. There, they were bogged down,
locked into deadly city fight with the Russians. They eventually got surrounded
not just in the city but also in the entire operational sector by the
counter-attacking Red Army. The German Sixth Army under General von Paulus was
completely encircled and then annihilated. Nearly one million German soldiers
perished, but, more than one million Soviets also became casualties.
100 years ago (1912): the Balkan Wars broke out (October). Throughout
the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Turkish Empire was in retreat, whereas the
advance of the Slavic nations was accelerating. Bulgaria and Serbia were at the
forefront of this Pan-Slavic spring, with the backing of the Russian Empire.
Greece also won independence, and, although not strong or large enough to take
on the Ottomans on its own, it also benefitted from the weakening of the
Ottoman power. The tension between the Sublime Porte and its former subjects
reached a boiling point in the early twentieth century. With the Turkish defeat
at the hands of the Italians (1911-1912) and the forming of the Balkan League,
the time was ripe for an all-out offensive to push Turks back into Asia. At
sea, the Greek armoured cruiser Averoff became the pride of the Hellenic navy
by spearheading its offensive against the Turkish fleet, wrestling sea
supremacy from the Turks in the Aegean. Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece all gained territories.
But over the spoil of war, the second Balkan war would break out next year
(1913) between Serbia and Bulgaria. This time, Bulgaria would lose what she had
gained in the first war.
[The Averoff: the Italian-built armoured cruiser, now a
museum ship in Athens, Greece.]
The Hellenic Navy website (http://www.hellenicnavy.gr/index.php/el/Ιστορία-Παράδοση/istoriapn.html) ]
Pan Slavism was destabilizing the whole region: the Slavic
nations were gaining at the expense of traditional multi-national empires, but
sowing new seeds of conflict as they go along. Most seriously, Serbia’s
victories were alarming the Hapsburg Empire to such an extent that enmity
between these two states would eventually spark off WW1, when Gavrilo Princip
fired those fatal shots in Sarajevo in 1914.
[Available as free e-book: Shurman, J. G. (1914). The Balkan Wars,
1912-13.]
150 years ago (1862):
the second year of the American Civil War. The battle of Antietam in
September. During the first year of the Civil War, both the United States and
the Confederate States of America were still learning how to fight modern war.
The more desperate Confederates had an edge though, and during 1862, they believed
that they were winning, as they were threatening even Washington D.C. The battle of Antietam was
a result of the Union’s attempt to stop the Confederates’ advance after their
win in an earlier battle. It was a bloodbath: more than 20,000 Americans became
casualties. Though not a clear victory for the Union, it did blunt the
Confederates’ offensive and so is considered as the turning point of the Civil
War by some. During the next year, the Confederates’ attempt to find another
way to achieve a decisive victory led to the battle of Gettysburg [we’ll
commemorate this one in 2013!], which quashed their last chance of victory.
[The Dunker Church. This rather featureless house was a
focal point during the battle of Antietam. Antietam National Park.]
200 years ago (1812): Napoleon’s Russian campaign and the
Anglo-American war of 1812. It was like a world war. Napoleon was victorious in
Europe, except that Spain was still resisting with British help and Russia had
no intention of submitting to him. Napoleon invaded Russia in three major
thrusts. Napoleon’s main force in the centre marched straight towards Moscow.
Having lost a series of minor engagements and the major battle at Smolensk
(August), the Russians made their last stand at Borodino, in front of Moscow
(September). Though suffering heavily, Napoleon won the day and resumed his
advance. The Russian Tsar Alexander abandoned Moscow. Napoleon entered Moscow,
but the Russians burnt down the city. Napoleon’s attempt to impose peace on the
Russians was frustrated, as Alexander refused to capitulate. With the onset of
the Russian winter, Napoleon realized that his army could not stay without
provisions. His men were cold and starving. The tragedy of the retreat began.
Constantly harassed by the Russian partisans and the Cossacks, the French
doggedly withdrew, but, by the time the army departed Russia, the main force of
the Grande Armée had been reduced to just 10,000, out of the original strength
of more than 400,000.
With the bulk of the French army destroyed, the Russians
chased up. The Tsar Alexander liberated Europe from the French and marched into
Paris. Napoleon was deposed; even though he would come back taking advantage of
the victorious allies’ bickering over post-war settlement, encouraged by the
French defeat in Russia, another grand coalition materialized, which would
converge in the field of Waterloo in 1815.
[The Tsar Alexander I]
1812 was the year that started the final downfall of
Napoleon. Less spectacularly but equally importantly, two wars Britain had been
waging against Napoleon were also going well this year: the guerrilla warfare
in Spain and the naval war. Ever since Britain defeated France at Trafalgar six
years previously, Britain held supremacy of the seas, tightening the blockade of
France. But this led to another problem across the Atlantic.
The naval war meant interdiction of merchant shipping by
belligerents. Any ship suspected of carrying goods to and out of France could
be stopped by the Royal Navy. Britain upheld the right of the belligerent,
seizing any goods as contraband. The United States, a neutral, on the other
hand, insisted on freedom of the seas: she should have rights to trade with any
country and carry goods to any destination at high seas.
In peacetime, this was a legal dispute. In wartime, this
Anglo-American difference on the fundamental principle regarding maritime trade
in wartime was serious enough to destroy their otherwise cosy relationship. (This
Anglo-American row continued until the eve of WW2.) As the US continued to sell
stuff to France (naturally, the French, blockaded by Britain, were eager to
trade with the US), the British Royal Navy seized some American ships.
Americans protested that it was an assault on their fundamental freedom. Neither
side was prepared to back down, and incidents, which enraged the Americans more,
were taking place with an alarming frequently. In the end, a war was inevitable.
(June 1812)
The land war in 1812 was mostly fought along US-Canadian
border regions. (Ever since, the idea of American invasion of Canada has never
completely died out: as late as in 1926, the Canadian military drew up a plan
for just such a case to the embarrassment of the government, and even today,
the Canadians are worried that the Americans are up to something.[i])
The US Navy, outnumbered, fought gallantly, scoring some unlikely victories
with its fleet of a handful of frigates. The war led to burning of Washington
DC by the British. (The only occasion that the US mainland was seriously
invaded by foreign forces since Independence.) Amazingly, however, the US
persevered and would win the war [1815].
[The USN battling the Royal Navy.]
[Classic available as e-book: Roosevelt, Theodore (1882). The Naval War of 1812. New York and
London.]
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