The Military History Thread

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January 22, 1506
Birth of the Swiss Guard

The Pontifical Swiss Guard has its origins in the 15th century. Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84) had already made an alliance with the Swiss Confederacy and built barracks in Via Pellegrino after foreseeing the possibility of recruiting Swiss mercenaries. The pact was renewed by Innocent VIII (1484–92) in order to use them against the Duke of Milan. Alexander VI (1492–1503) actually used the Swiss mercenaries during their alliance with the King of France. During the time of the Borgias, however, the Italian Wars began in which the Swiss mercenaries were a fixture in the front lines among the warring factions, sometimes for France and sometimes for the Holy See or the Holy Roman Empire. The mercenaries enlisted when they heard King Charles VIII of France was going to war with Naples. Among the participants in the war against Naples was Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, the future Pope Julius II (1503–13), who was well acquainted with the Swiss, having been Bishop of Lausanne years earlier.

The expedition failed, in part thanks to new alliances made by Alexander VI against the French. When Cardinal della Rovere became Pope Julius II in 1503, he asked the Swiss Diet to provide him with a standing corps of 200 Swiss mercenaries. This was made possible through the financing of the Augsburg merchants Ulrich and Jacob Fugger, who had invested in the Pope and saw it fit to protect their investment. In September 1505, the first contingent of 150 soldiers started their march towards Rome, under the command of Kaspar von Silenen, and entered the city on January 22, 1506, today given as the official date of the Guard's foundation. Julius II later granted them the title “Defenders of the Church’s freedom”.

The force has varied greatly in size over the years and has even been disbanded. Its most significant hostile engagement was on May 6, 1527, when 147 of the 189 Guards, including their commander, died during the Imperial Sack of Rome (see posting) in order to allow Clement VII to escape, escorted by the other 42 guards. Clement VII was forced to replace the Swiss Guard by a contingent of 200 German mercenaries (Custodia Peditum Germanorum). Ten years later, under Pope Paul III, the Swiss Guard was reinstated, under commander Jost von Meggen.

After the end of the Italian Wars, the Swiss Guard ceased to be used as a military combat unit in the service of the pope and its role became mostly that of the protection of the person of the pope and of a ceremonial guard. In 1798, commander Franz Alois Pfyffer von Altishofen went into exile with the deposed Pius VI. After the death of the pope on August 29, 1799, the Swiss Guard was disbanded and only reinstated by Pius VII in 1801. In 1808, Rome was again captured by the French and the guard was disbanded again. Pius VII was exiled to Fontainebleau. The guard was reinstated under Karl Leodegar Pfyffer von Altishofen, when the pope returned from exile in 1814.

The guard was disbanded yet again in 1848, when Pius IX fled to Gaeta, but was reinstated when the pope returned to Rome in the following year. In the later 19th century, the Swiss Guard declined into a purely ceremonial body with low standards. Guards were Swiss in name only, mostly born in Rome to parents of Swiss descent and speaking the Roman Trastevere dialect. The guards were trained solely for ceremonial parade, kept only a few obsolete rifles in store and wore civilian dress when drilling or in barracks. Administration, accommodation, discipline and organization were neglected and the unit numbered only about 90 men out of an authorized establishment of 133.

The modern Swiss Guard is the product of reforms pursued by Jules Repond, commander during 1910-21. Repond proposed to recruit only native citizens of Switzerland and introduced rigorous military exercise. He also attempted to introduce modern arms, but Pius X only permitted the presence of firearms if they were not functional. Repond’s reforms and strict discipline were not well received by the corps, culminating in a week of open mutiny in July 1913.

The foundation of Vatican City as a modern sovereign state was negotiated in the Lateran Treaty of 1929. The duties of protecting public order and security in the Vatican lay with the Papal Gendarmerie Corps, while the Swiss Guard, the Palatine Guard and the Noble Guard served mostly ceremonial functions. The Palatine and Noble Guards were disbanded by Paul VI in 1970, leaving the Swiss Guard as the only ceremonial guard unit of the Vatican. At the same time, the Gendarmerie Corps was transformed into a Central Security Office, with the duties of protecting the Pope, defending Vatican City, and providing police and security services within its territory, while the Swiss Guard continued to serve ceremonial functions only. Paul VI in a decree of June 28, 1976 defined the nominal size of the corps at 90 men. This was increased to 100 men by John Paul II in 1979.

The official dress uniform is of blue, red, orange and yellow with a distinctly Renaissance appearance. It was introduced by Repond in 1914. Repond’s design was inspired by 16th-century depictions of the Swiss Guard. While both Michelangelo and a painting of the Pontifical Swiss Guard bearing Pope Julius II on a litter (by Raphael) are often cited as inspiration for the uniform, the actual uniforms worn by those soldiers included a flaring skirt, a common feature in male clothing during the Renaissance.

Since the assassination attempt on John Paul II on May 13, 1981, a much stronger emphasis has been placed on the guard’s non-ceremonial roles. The Swiss Guard has developed into a modern guard corps equipped with modern small arms, and members of the Swiss Guard in plain clothes now accompany the pope on his travels abroad for his protection.

With the rise of Islamic terrorism in Europe and open threats against the Vatican issued by ISIS, Vatican officials in 2015 collaborated with Italian authorities to improve the protection of Vatican City against attacks that cannot be reasonably defended against by the Swiss Guard and Vatican police, notably against drone attacks.

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January 23, 1795
Capture of the Dutch Fleet

During the campaign of 1794, Gen. Jean-Charles Pichegru secured the Low Countries. In December, he invaded the Netherlands. His timing was perfect, as the country was deeply divided. On the one hand were the Organgists, those who supported the stadtholders of the House of Orange-Nassau. On the other were the “Patriots” who embraced republican ideals and who would have loved to see William ousted. These looked to France and didn’t see Pichegru as an invader so much as a liberator. (see posting, Surrender of Amsterdam) There was a third group known as the Regents - a commercial oligarchy made up of merchant families. Political struggles between these 3 groups ensured that the French met with little resistance.

Amsterdam was a Patriot hotbed, so on January 18, 1795 the citizens ousted Stadtholder William V. He fled to Britain and the country he left behind became the Batavian Republic. Two days later, Pichegeru arrived and was welcomed by the Patriots. Fortunately, the French showed remarkable restraint and didn’t plunder what was then one of the richest cities in Europe. However, there were still points of resistance in the country.

The Dutch province of Zeeland was still Orangist territory, while nearby Den Helder was part of the Batavian Republic. Den Helder is at the tip of the North Holland peninsula, south of the island of Texel, by an inlet to what was then the shallow Zuiderzee bay. The Zuiderzee has been closed off and partly pumped out in the 20th century, and what is left of it now forms the freshwater IJsselmeer. The British navy had their eyes set on the port of Den Helder, but the weather was against them.

The winter of 1794-95 was particularly harsh, causing many waterways to freeze over. This was bad for the Dutch fleet. Largely Orangist, the admirals hoped to join William in Britain and add their fleet to his cause. Unfortunately, they had waited too long. As a result, they got stuck in the ice in the Marsdiep (the deep tide-race) between Texel and Den Helder. 15 warships armed with a total of 850 guns, manned by some 5000 sailors and marines, this made up the bulk of what was left of the Dutch Republic’s navy. With them was a contingent of about 20 merchant ships, also stuck in the ice. Hermanus Reintjes was in command.

The residents of Den Helder port told the French about the fleet, so Pichegeru ordered his men to check the story out. Pichegru ordered Adm. Jan Willem de Winter to lead. The Dutchman de Winter had been serving with the French since 1787, and would later command the Dutch fleet in the Battle of Camperdown. De Winter ordered Lt. Col. Louis Joseph Lahure to the area.

Lahure arrived on the evening of January 23 with the 8th Hussar Regiment and 15th Line Infantry Regiment, about 2000 men. According to residents, such a winter was rare, but because the bay was so shallow, the ice should be solid enough to support the weight of a cavalry regiment. The next morning, the men spread out and arranged themselves in several lines to distribute their weight. The tactic also increased their chances of survival - in the event one line broke through the ice, the others would have a chance to get away. That done, they slowly approached the fleet. After a careful approach to avoid awakening the Dutch sailors (the hussars had covered the horses' hooves with fabric), Lahure launched the assault.

The Orangists who made up the crews and the Regents who owned the merchant ships knew that they were on the losing side. As early as January 21, Reintjes had received orders from the Council of State of Holland and Westfriesland not to resist the French unless they were belligerent. Nor was he to attack them. He didn’t have much choice. Only 11 of his ships were manned, while the other 4 were still undergoing repairs. Nevertheless, there was Dutch pride. As the French approached, Reyntjes ordered his men to their stations in case the French were not in the mood to parlay. Fortunately, Lahure made it clear that he didn’t want a bloodbath. Reintjes concurred and the two sides remained where they were. 5 days later, de Winter finally arrived and extracted an oath from Reintjes and his men. With that, the French conquest of the Netherlands was complete.

Since then, the myth grew up of French cavalry storming and capturing the ships, based mainly on French sources. Dutch historian Johannes Cornelis de Jonge argues that the account of a capture on the ice is likely based on an 1819 publication by the Swiss general Antoine-Henri Jomini, who was later copied by a large number of French historians.

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1064
Siege of Barbastro

Pope Alexander II first preached the Reconquista in 1063 as a “Christian emergency.” It was also preached in Burgundy, probably with the permission or participation of Hugh of Cluny, where the abbot’s brother, Thomas de Chalon, led the army. Certainly zeal for the crusade spread elsewhere in France, for Amatus of Montecassino notes that the “grand chivalry of the French and Burgundians and other peoples” was present at the siege. Thus, a large army was present, primarily of Frenchmen and Burgundians, along with a papal contingent, made up mostly of Italo-Normans, as well as a local Spanish army made up of Catalans and Aragonese. Later, these Spaniards would be disgusted by the crimes committed by the Normans after the capture of the city. The leader of the papal contingent was a Norman by the name of William of Montreuil. The leader of the Spaniards was Sancho Ramirez, King of Aragon and Navarre, whose realm was greatly threatened by the Moors to the south. The largest component, the Aquitainians, was led by Duke William VIII, whom one historian calls the “Christian generalissimo”.

The Duke of Aquitaine led the army through the Pyrenees at Somport. He joined the Catalan army at Girona early in 1064. The entire army then marched past Graus, which had resisted assault twice before, and moved against Barbastro, then part of the taifa of Lleida ruled by Al-Muzaffar. The city was besieged for 40 days until it surrendered according to both Muslim and Christian sources.

Terms were granted by the Christians to spare the lives of the Muslims and Jews of the town and respect their property, but the pact was quickly broken. Another source tells that the garrison offered to surrender their property in exchange for letting them leave the town, and so it was agreed with the besiegers. However, the Crusaders did not honor the treaty and killed the soldiers as they came out. They then sacked the city. Contemporary Muslim chronicles suggest the invading forces might have slain the adult males and enslaved women and children. It was said that 50,000 were killed or captured; these numbers are greatly exaggerated as Barbastro would hardly have reached a population of 2000 at that time.

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January 24, 1822
Death of Ali Pasha

Ali was born to a notable Albanian family of Turkish descent in 1744. He spent much of his youth as a bandit, an almost respectable profession in Albania during that period, and attracted the attention of the Ottoman authorities. He was assigned to suppress brigandage and fought for the Empire with great bravery. He married into the family of a local Pasha and proceeded to gain official appointments by variously bribing, denouncing and murdering the official rulers of local districts until he achieved his first official appointment as Pasha of Delvino (1784). His rise continued with his appointment as lieutenant to the Pasha of Rumelia. In 1788 he seized control of Yannina, and enlisted most of the brigands under his own banner, organizing them as a regular army. Yannina would be his power base for the next 33 years. He took advantage of a weak Ottoman government to expand his territory still further until he gained control of most of Albania, western Greece and the Peloponnese.

During war-time, Ali Pasha could assemble an army of 50,000 at short notice, and could double that number in 2-3 weeks. He shifted allegiances between France, Britain and Russia guided purely by self interest. They supplied him with modern artillery and he hired foreign experts to train his troops. Ali also had a fleet of at least 16 ships operated by his son Veli at Preveza.

From 1789 to 1803, he fought a series of campaigns against the Suliotes, an Orthodox Christian people of the Suli region of Epirus. In the end, the Suliotes surrendered their land, but were allowed to depart with their possessions.

As Pasha of Yannina, he slowly laid the foundations to create an almost independent state. During his rule, Yannina developed into a major educational, cultural, political and economic hub. Lord Byron visited Ali’s court in 1809 and recorded the encounter in Childe Harold. He evidently had mixed feelings about the despot, noting the splendor of Ali’s court and the Greek cultural revival that he had encouraged. However, Byron deplored Ali’s cruelty: “His Highness is a remorseless tyrant, guilty of the most horrible cruelties, very brave, so good a general that they call him the Mahometan Buonaparte ... but as barbarous as he is successful, roasting rebels, etc, etc..”

In 1819, Halet Efendi brought issues concerning Ali Pasha to the attention of Sultan Mahmud II. Ali was accused of grabbing power and influence in Ottoman Rumelia away from the Porte. In 1820, Ali, after long tensions with the Turkish Reforms, allegedly ordered the assassination of Gaskho Bey, a political opponent in Constantinople; Sultan Mahmud II, who sought to restore the authority of the Porte, took this as a major opportunity to move against Ali Pasha by ordering his immediate deposition.

Ali refused to resign and put up a fierce resistance to the imperial expeditionary force led by Hursid Pasha. Most of his followers abandoned him without fighting and fled, or passed to the Ottoman army, which put Yannina under siege in September 1820.

On December 4, 1820, Ali Pasha and the Suliotes formed an anti-Ottoman coalition. Ali gained the support of the Suliotes mainly because he offered to allow the return of their land, and partly by appeal to their perceived Albanian origin. Initially, the coalition was successful and managed to control most of the region, but when Ali’s Muslim Albanian troops were informed of the beginning of the Greek revolts in the Morea, it was terminated.

By January 1822, Ottoman forces had taken most of the fortifications of Yannina except the fortified palace. Ali opened negotiations. Deceived with offers of a full pardon, he was persuaded to leave the fortress and settle in the Monastery of St Panteleimon on the island in Lake Pamvotis, previously taken by the Ottoman army during the siege. When asked to surrender for beheading, he famously proclaimed: “My head ... will not be surrendered like the head of a slave,” and kept fighting till the end and was shot through the floor of his room and his head cut off to be sent to the Sultan. Hursid Pasha, to whom it was presented on a large dish of silver plate, rose to receive it, bowed 3 times before it, and respectfully kissed the beard, expressing aloud his wish that he himself might deserve a similar end. Ali Pasha was buried with full honors in a mausoleum next to the Fethiye Mosque, which still stands.

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January 25, 1905
Battle of Sandepu

After the Battle of the Sha-Ho (see posting), the Russians and Japanese faced each other south of Mukden until the frozen Manchurian winter began. The Russians were entrenched around Mukden, while the Japanese were occupying a 100 mile long front with 1st (Tamemoto Kuroki), 2nd (Yasukata Oku) and 4th (Michitusra Nozu) Armies and the Akiyama Independent Cavalry Regiment. The Japanese field commanders thought no major battle was possible and assumed that the Russians had the same view regarding the difficulties of winter combat.

The Russian commander, Gen. Alexei Kuropatkin, was receiving reinforcements via the Trans-Siberian Railway, but was concerned about the impending arrival of the battle-hardened Japanese 3rd Army (Maresuke Nogi) after the surrender of Port Arthur on January 2 (see posting).

Under Kuropatkin were 1st Machurian Army (Nikolai Linevich), on the left, 3rd Manchurian Army (Alexander Kaulbars) in the center, and the right held by 2nd Manchurian Army, under the newly-arrived and inexperienced Oskar Gripenberg. 2nd Manchurian Army consisted of 8th European Army Corps, a division of the 10th, the 61st Reserve Division, the 5th Rifle Brigade, and the 1st Siberian Army Corps under Baron Georgi Stackelberg, besides a large body of cavalry, 285,000 men and 350 guns.

Gripenberg was initially pessimistic about Kuropatkin’s plans for an offensive against the Japanese left wing, which was left in an exposed northern position close to Russian territory near the small village of Heikoutai. He agreed to the plan on the condition that all 3 Russian armies coordinate their attack. Details of the plan were leaked by St Petersburg to a war correspondent from L’Echo de Paris, who credited the plan to Gripenberg. This news article, as well as Gripenberg’s major redeployments of his forces, signaled the Russian intentions to the Japanese.

Kuropatkin’s first move was to send Pavel Mishchenko south with 6000 cavalry and 6 batteries of light artillery with the aim of destroying Newchang Station on the South Manchurian Railroad. The station was known to have a large stockpile of food and supplies. Mishchenko was also instructed to destroy railway bridges and sections of track along the way. Departing on January 8, Mishchenko made unexpectedly slow progress due to inclement weather and the lack of forage and supplies. By the time he reached the station on January 12, it had been heavily reinforced by the Japanese. After failing to take the station in 3 attempts, he was forced to withdraw. The damage to the tracks was quickly repaired by the Japanese.

On January 19, Kuropatkin issued orders for 2nd Manchurian Army to attack in a maneuver to outflank Oku’s Japanese 2nd Army and to drive it back across the Taitzu River before Nogi’s 3rd Army could arrive. However, Gripenberg was not allowed to commit all of his forces - Kuropatkin limited him to 3 divisions plus the 1st East Siberian Army Corps and cavalry. The Japanese were aware of these plans, causing overall commander Iwao Oyama to reinforce his left flank. Kuropatkin afterwards blamed premature moves by Gripenberg for alerting the Japanese.

On January 25, the battle began with an attack by 1st Siberian Rifle Corps on the fortified village of Heikoutai, which the Russians took with severe losses. Russian 14th Division, which was intended to attack the fortified village of Sandepu, failed to coordinate its attack, and attacked the following day instead. Hampered by a lack of maps, reconnaissance and poor weather conditions, with occasional blizzards, the Russians also attacked the wrong village, occupying the neighboring hamlet of Paotaitzu, which came under a strong artillery barrage and counterattack from Sandepu, which was occupied in strength by Japanese 5th Division. Rather than come to the rescue, Gripenberg sent a false report to Kuropatkin that Sandepu had been taken, and ordered his men to rest on January 27. However, the rest area assigned to Stackelberg’s troops was in Japanese hands, and despite standing orders to the contrary, Stackelberg ordered his men to attack. After losing 6000 men, he was forced to fall back.

By the morning of January 28, Gripenberg found that he was separated from Kaulbars by Sandepu, which prevented any attempt to link forces. However, as he still outnumbered the Japanese 7 divisions to 5, he insisted on continuing the offensive. His decision was not supported by Kuropatkin, who acted with his usual caution and hesitation, and ordered Gripenberg back. Stackelberg, again ignoring orders, continued to attack, and with the help of Mishchenko’s cavalry, took part of Sandepu village. Simultaneously, Russian 10th Army Corps (Konstantin Tserpitsky), with Gripenberg’s consent, succeeded in securing positions to the rear of Sandepu. Despite the advantageous situation, Kuropatkin then relieved Stackelberg of his command for insubordination, and again demanded that Gripenberg withdraw. Advancing Russian soldiers, their morale high as they were on what appeared to be a successful offense for the first time since the beginning of the war, could not understand the reason. Oyama then launched a massive counteroffensive on January 29, and succeeded in retaking Heikoutai by mid-morning.

Immediately after the battle, Gripenberg resigned his commission, claiming illness and was replaced by Kaulbars. On his return to St Petersburg, he stopped at Harbin where he bitterly blamed Kuropatkin for the debacle in the newspapers, declaring that he was a traitor and that Kuropatkin withheld crucial support due to jealousy at his success. He continued a harsh publicity campaign against Kuropatkin in the newspapers after his return to Russia. Stackelberg was also relieved of his command, and charged with insubordination.

Total Russian casualties were 1781 killed, 9395 wounded and 1065 MIA per modern Soviet sources, although other sources put the toll at over 20,000 men. Japanese casualties totaled around 9000 with only 2000 killed. As the battle ended in a tactical stalemate, neither side claimed victory. In Russia, the Marxists used the newspaper controversy created by Gripenberg, and by Kuropatkin’s incompetence in previous battles, to drum up more support in their campaign against the government.

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January 26, 1856
Battle of Seattle

The catalyst of the Puget Sound War was the Treaty of Medicine Creek of 1854. Negotiated by Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens, the treaty preserved Indian (Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Puyallup and Klickitat) fishing rights, but took away prime farm land. Nisqually Chief Leschi, chosen to negotiate the treaty with Stevens, was outraged and chose to fight rather than give up his land.

The fighting commenced in October 1855, when Eaton’s Rangers, a citizen militia, were involved in a clash with Nisqually tribesmen. Two militiamen were killed. Upon hearing the news, Governor Stevens immediately dispatched a company to locate Leschi and bring him back to Olympia.

The war itself consisted of a series of short skirmishes with relatively few deaths on the American side. Notable battles occurred as far east as Walla Walla. In particular, on October 28, 1855, a party of Muckleshoot killed 8 settlers in what was later called the White River Massacre. 3 children fled on foot to Seattle, but one boy was kidnapped and held by the Muckleshoot for 6 months before being released. In response to the attack at White River, the Americans captured around 4000 noncombatant Indians and moved them to Fox Island for close observation. Many died due to insufficient food, water, and shelter. Additionally, southwestern tribes who had no tradition of warfare were raided by fearful Americans. They were disarmed and their villages placed under surveillance. Upper and Lower Chehalis families were forcefully relocated to a farm near Steilacoom; coastal tribes such as the Cowlitz were moved to a site on the Chehalis River; the Chinook people were moved inland to Fort Vancouver. All remained captive until the end of the war.

Acting Governor Charles Mason ordered the formation of 4 companies of militia to rendezvous at Seattle. On orders from Indian Agent Michael Simmons, local Indian Agent Dr. David Maynard removed 434 Indians from the Seattle area to the west side of Puget Sound. Maynard accomplished this at his own expense and with the assistance of his wife. The US Navy sloop of war Decatur had been stationed in Puget Sound both in anticipation of trouble with local Indians, but also as a deterrent against Indians from Vancouver Island who regularly raided Indian and American settlements. The Decaturanchored in Elliott Bay and the crew assisted in constructing a blockhouse. Captain Isaac Sterret of the Decatur contributed some Marines, two 9-pounder cannon, and 18 stands of arms to the defense effort.

Tensions eased until January 1856 when word of renewed hostilities reached Seattle. Governor Stevens arrived in Seattle aboard the USS Active on January 21 and discounted rumors of war. Less than an hour after Stevens sailed away, new information came in. Various reports credit Chief Seattle, his daughter Angeline, and Curley (Sucquardle) or Curly Jim for warning Seattle’s 50 or so white residents that an attack was imminent. Chiefs Owhi and Coquilton reconnoitered the lines, disguised as friendly Indians, on the night of January 25.

In response to warnings, Decatur’s new commander, Guert Gansevoort, ordered Marines ashore early on the morning of January 26. On being warned by Nancy (Kicumulow), Curley’s sister, gunners from Decaturlobbed a howitzer shell at the house owned by Tom Pepper on the forested crest of First Hill, believed to shelter hostiles, at about 8:30 AM, and raiders replied with a fusillade of gunfire. Seattle residents and refugees from previous attacks in southern King County took shelter in the 2 blockhouses. The village also teemed with dozens of friendly Indians, including the wives and children of settlers. These people crowded into the defile along the beach for protection.

The guns of the Decatur fired into the trees sheltering the attackers (along where 3rd Avenue would later be built). Volunteers under militia Captain Christopher Hewitt contributed fire, but it was the range of Decatur’s guns that kept the Indians at a distance. Sporadic exchanges of fire continued until 11:45 when the Indians apparently paused to eat. The settlers took advantage of the lull to evacuate women and children to the Decatur and another ship. When settlers attempted to retrieve arms and valuables from their abandoned homes, the Indians resumed firing. Desultory exchanges then resumed and continued all afternoon. When scouts reported that the Indians were preparing to light fire to settler dwellings, the Decatur shifted its fire to the homes, damaging several. By 10 PM, all firing stopped.

The next morning found the attackers gone along with whatever settler stock, foodstuffs, and other property they could take. 2 settlers were killed. Estimates of the number of Indians killed varied wildly. According to Isaac Stevens, writing to Washington, settlers estimated that 200-500 Indians had taken the field; T.S. Phelps, navigator on the Decatur, put the number of enemy at 2000, but frontier military officers often inflated the number of opposing forces to reinforce their accomplishments (or to minimize their failures). No Indian bodies were found at Seattle.

Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens and others blamed the attack on Nisqually Chief Leschi and Klickitat/Yakima Chief Owhi, both of whom were later captured. Governor Stevens also implicated Kitsap of the Muckleshoot and Suquamish as an instigator of the violence, but the settlers did not see it that way. Residents on the west side of Puget Sound named their new county Kitsap.

The final battle of the war occurred on or about March 10, 1856, when a column of approximately 110 volunteers from the Washington Territorial Volunteers were ambushed near Connell’s Prairie by a force estimated at 150 tribesmen, supposedly led by Chief Leschi. After several hours of skirmishing and several charges by the Volunteers, the Natives withdrew, taking their dead and wounded with them, but leaving behind bloody clothing and drums, among other items. Following the battle, Leschi and his remaining warriors retreated over the Cascades into Eastern Washington.

Leschi was captured in November 1856 and forced to stand trial for murder in the ambush of Eaton’s Rangers. His first trial resulted in a hung jury because of the question of the legitimacy of murder during wartime; the jury voted 10 in favor of conviction, 2 opposed. Leschi was tried again in 1857. Despite vague witness accounts and issues over whether Leschi was actually at the scene of the incident, he was found guilty. Leschi was hanged on February 19, 1858.

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1159
Siege of Crema

In 1158, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa led an army into northern Italy to reduce the autonomy of its communes. The main imperial ally, Cremona, was at the time quarreling with the nearby Crema about rights and privileges owed to the bishops of Cremona. Crema was also allied to Milan, and this was seen as threatening extension of Milanese power towards Cremona and the Po River. In a meeting held at Casale Monferrato, the Cremonese convinced Frederick to attack Crema, an act that would also threaten rebellious Milan. The Cremonese also paid 15,000 silver crowns to Frederick in exchange for his help.

In early February 1159, Frederick began a blockade, demanding that the Cremans demolish their walls. They refused and prepared to resist a siege. In response, Frederick killed his Creman prisoners and the defenders then retaliated by hacking their German prisoners to pieces in view of their comrades.

The besieging troops were formed mostly by Barbarossa’s imperial contingents, part of them led by his brother, Conrad, and by the latter’s son Frederick; by Bavarian troops under duke Henry the Lion; and by communal troops, mostly belonging to the main imperial allies, Cremona (under bishop Oberto of Dovara) and Pavia.

The Imperials instituted a full siege in October 1159; starting in December, they used a “cat” (a mobile roof), followed by a siege tower, to cover their engineers who were mining under the walls. This led to Creman counter-mining and battles underground After the mining had weakened the walls, a ram was used to create a breach; the tower gradually neared the walls starting from January 6, 1160. The final assault was launched on January 21 using a mobile bridge almost 80 feet long, while a smaller one was launched from the siege tower. The defenders surrendered on January 25 after Imperial troops had taken control of the walls. Some 20,000 survivors were allowed to leave before Crema was burnt to the ground. An edict issued by Frederick in 1162 at Lodi officially forbade its reconstruction.

Milan was also taken and destroyed 2 years later, ending the first phase of the war. Crema would be rebuilt by its citizens after the signature of the Peace of Constance in 1183.

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January 27, 2002
Lagos Armory Explosion

The Ikeja military cantonment was a large military cantonment and storage area in the Nigerian city of Lagos, situated north of the city center near the districts of Isolo and Onigbongo. In January 2002, the base was being used to store a large quantity of “high caliber bombs”, as well as other sundry explosives. On the afternoon of January 27, a fire broke out in a street market being held next to the base, which was also home to the families of soldiers. At around 1800 the fire apparently spread to the base’s main munitions store, causing an enormous explosion. This blast killed many of the base staff and their families immediately and destroyed several nearby streets, flying debris starting numerous fires further afield. Tremors from the explosion also collapsed many buildings in the area, trapping people in the ruins and starting new fires from damaged cooking appliances. These tremors were so powerful that windows shattered 10 miles away and the blast could be felt more than 30 miles inland.

Also thrown up by the blast were thousands of as yet unexploded military munitions, which fell in a rain of exploding shells, grenades and bullets casting further destruction across most of the northern section of the city. Thousands of people, seeing explosions and fires breaking out, fled their homes. As the streets became more and more crowded, explosions amid the fleeing crowds from shells falling from the initial explosion created panic. A stampede developed, trampling those who fell underfoot. Reports also describe people jumping from burning high-rise buildings and being killed in desperate attempts to cross the busy Ikeja divided highway.

The affected areas of the city burned through most of the night, with explosions continuing to boil out of the wrecked armory until the afternoon of January 28. The emergency services were woefully inadequate to deal with the devastation, as there were not enough fire crews or water points available to cope with the fire, which consequently consumed large parts of the northern suburbs. City hospitals were also overwhelmed, many injured going for hours without medical attention even if they did manage to reach an undamaged medical facility. The military, too, having suffered the loss of many of its Lagos-based personnel in the initial explosion, was not in a position to assume control of the city and did not appear in large numbers until late on the 28th.

By the evening of January 28, most of the fires were under control and people began returning to the city and attempting to find loved ones lost in the stampede. Many of the dead were children, separated from their families in the confusion and subsequently crushed in the crowds that filled the streets and canal. The final death toll is hard to compute, although the Red Cross claims that at least 1000 bodies were recovered and a number of people were reported missing and never found. In addition to the dead, at least 5000 were injured and over 12,000 left homeless, with entire districts of the city gutted.

Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo arrived in Ikeja on January 28 along with most senior city and national politicians, and publicly demanded answers from the military as to why such a huge ammunition dump was kept in such a poorly maintained and public location. It later emerged that a small explosion had occurred at the base the previous year, following which the army was advised by city officials to remove or modernize the armory, but took no action. On the evening of the 28th, George Emdin, the commander of the Ikeja base who had not been present during the explosion, issued a statement: “On behalf of the military, we are sorry, this is an old ammunition depot with high-caliber bombs ... some efforts were being made in the recent past to try to improve the storage facility, but this accident happened before the high authorities could do what was needed”

This provoked fury from the people of Lagos, who claimed that the military was making excuses for their mistakes and that nothing would be done to improve safety at other neglected dumps, many of which have not been properly maintained since Nigeria gained democracy in 1999 following 20 years of military rule. There were widespread fears in the immediate aftermath of the explosion that it signified the beginning of a military coup, although the government later released a statement ruling out this possibility.

[Ennath]

January 27, 2002
Lagos Armory Explosion

The Ikeja military cantonment was a large military cantonment and storage area in the Nigerian city of Lagos, situated north of the city center near the districts of Isolo and Onigbongo. In January 2002, the base was being used to store a large quantity of “high caliber bombs”, as well as other sundry explosives. On the afternoon of January 27, a fire broke out in a street market being held next to the base, which was also home to the families of soldiers. At around 1800 the fire apparently spread to the base’s main munitions store, causing an enormous explosion. This blast killed many of the base staff and their families immediately and destroyed several nearby streets, flying debris starting numerous fires further afield. Tremors from the explosion also collapsed many buildings in the area, trapping people in the ruins and starting new fires from damaged cooking appliances. These tremors were so powerful that windows shattered 10 miles away and the blast could be felt more than 30 miles inland.

Also thrown up by the blast were thousands of as yet unexploded military munitions, which fell in a rain of exploding shells, grenades and bullets casting further destruction across most of the northern section of the city. Thousands of people, seeing explosions and fires breaking out, fled their homes. As the streets became more and more crowded, explosions amid the fleeing crowds from shells falling from the initial explosion created panic. A stampede developed, trampling those who fell underfoot. Reports also describe people jumping from burning high-rise buildings and being killed in desperate attempts to cross the busy Ikeja divided highway.

The affected areas of the city burned through most of the night, with explosions continuing to boil out of the wrecked armory until the afternoon of January 28. The emergency services were woefully inadequate to deal with the devastation, as there were not enough fire crews or water points available to cope with the fire, which consequently consumed large parts of the northern suburbs. City hospitals were also overwhelmed, many injured going for hours without medical attention even if they did manage to reach an undamaged medical facility. The military, too, having suffered the loss of many of its Lagos-based personnel in the initial explosion, was not in a position to assume control of the city and did not appear in large numbers until late on the 28th.

By the evening of January 28, most of the fires were under control and people began returning to the city and attempting to find loved ones lost in the stampede. Many of the dead were children, separated from their families in the confusion and subsequently crushed in the crowds that filled the streets and canal. The final death toll is hard to compute, although the Red Cross claims that at least 1000 bodies were recovered and a number of people were reported missing and never found. In addition to the dead, at least 5000 were injured and over 12,000 left homeless, with entire districts of the city gutted.

Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo arrived in Ikeja on January 28 along with most senior city and national politicians, and publicly demanded answers from the military as to why such a huge ammunition dump was kept in such a poorly maintained and public location. It later emerged that a small explosion had occurred at the base the previous year, following which the army was advised by city officials to remove or modernize the armory, but took no action. On the evening of the 28th, George Emdin, the commander of the Ikeja base who had not been present during the explosion, issued a statement: “On behalf of the military, we are sorry, this is an old ammunition depot with high-caliber bombs ... some efforts were being made in the recent past to try to improve the storage facility, but this accident happened before the high authorities could do what was needed”

This provoked fury from the people of Lagos, who claimed that the military was making excuses for their mistakes and that nothing would be done to improve safety at other neglected dumps, many of which have not been properly maintained since Nigeria gained democracy in 1999 following 20 years of military rule. There were widespread fears in the immediate aftermath of the explosion that it signified the beginning of a military coup, although the government later released a statement ruling out this possibility.

[scoundrel]

Tampere is a large town in Finland, population today about 318,000 people, located. As the map shows, Tampere is inland and in the heart of south west Finland; it is about 200kms or two hours drive from Helsinki.

In 1918 Finland was a newly industrial society which had only really established the basis of a modern urban workforce in the 20-30 years before. Many of its people were still farmers and agricultural workers and some of this divide was reflected in the civil war about to start. The population of Finland was better educated than most other Russian areas and were Scandinavian rather than Slavic in culture and traditions, which included a tradition of local democracy which, at local level, Czarist authorities had tolerated because it was often convenient to have accepted local authorites to deal with. Later, after the 1905 Russian unrest and a general strike in Finland, Finland had gained a single chamber parliament in 1906 with universal suffrage and indeed, 19 female representatives.

Finland declared herself independent on 6 December 1917 in the wake of the chaos arising from the October 1917 Revolution. Lenin assessed the problem realistically and concluded that to concentrate his forces on areas which mattered more, he needed to accept that some areas which mattered less could not be defended with the limited resources he still had. Rather than mess about, Lenin simply met a two man delegation from the Finnish parliament and signed off on Finland's independence on 31 December 1917; he may have told them not to let the door hit them on the way out.

There were many Russian soldiers stationed in Finland, about 130,000 in January 1918, but who controlled them was up for grabs and in any case most of them would have been much more focused on Russian civil war issues than on Finland. Most of these men left Finland of their own free will, to participate in a war which directly affected them. Most of those who remained stood aloof from the Finnish Civil War, but some of them participated and in most cases they paid the price.

Independence led immediately to a violent power struggle, as so often happens. The Finnish parliament created a defence force [depending on how you look at it] called the Civil Guards, a sort of militia army. Lt General Carl Gustav Mannerheim, until weeks previously a loyal and successful general in the Czar's army, was chosen to be the commander. Germany released about 1,900 Finns from her own military, men who undoubtedly had served against Russia, and they returned to Finland as a Jaeger regiment, and they and General Mannerheim, strange bedfellows, got on like a house on fire. These trained and well equipped soldiers became a key component of the "White Guards" in what was to follow. Their presence and the German influence it implied, were the reasons why Britain and the United States refused to recognise Finland at this point. They wanted Russia to rejoin the First World War and Finland to rejoin Russia

In January 1918 the local Finnish communists, styling themselves the Red Guards, organised themselves to dispute and if possible overthrow the power of the parliament. They were reacting to the increasingly vigorous activities of Mannerheim's forces and were hoping to reunite Finland to Russia. They mounted a coup and proclaimed something called the Finnish Socialist Workers Republic. Lenin obviously saw an opportunity to reverse Finland's independence and sent a large consignment of arms and supplies late in January, which triggered the start of hostilities. The White Guards tried to intercept the trains with the arms etc; the Red Guards defended the trains, and it was Game On.

Broadly speaking, the Finnish nationalists ("Whites") controlled the thinly populated arctic and sub-arctic areas and the east half of Finland's populated south. The Bolshevik Red side controlled Helsinki, Vyborg, the populated west (including Tampere) and the south coast. While I style the Red side as "Bolsheviks" it should be noted that they were also nationalists in that they leaned towards Russia and Bolsevism without abandoning the idea of Finland as a separate entity.

There was a White general offensive in February 1918 and by 20 February Mannerheim's forces had reached the rural areas around Tampere and were directly threatening the Red forces in the city, led by a saw mill foreman called Hugo Salmela, who conducted the defence cleverly in spite of having no formal military training; definitely a gifted amateur. Vyborg was too close to the new Russian border and Mannerheim appreciated that a Russian intervention was more likely there, so he concentrated of taking Tampare and regaining control of south west Finland first.

The encirclement was completed by late March and the Red side lost several battles outside Tampere attempting to stop this happening. The last step was on 26 March when the Whites cut the railway to Pori, a port on Finland's Gulf of Bothnia west coast, which had been the last exit route still open.

The first White assault on the town began from the west in the district of Epila and in the south. The Red drove the Whites off with heavy losses. There was a second and even bloodier assault on 28 March, Maundy Thursday, also repelled after a day of hard fighting. However, in a key stroke of fortune, Hugo Selmala was killed accidentally by a grenade fumbled by his own side, and the defenders lost the only commander they had who really knew what to do.

Between 28 March and 3 April, the Whites regrouped and concentrated their artillery forces, denuding other sectors. On 3 April 1918, striking at the east of Tampere, they gave a barrage lasting less than an hour which destroyed hundreds of homes and damaged hundreds more; then they stormed in while their guns were still shooting. The working class districts of Tammela and Kyttala were overrun and the Whites reached the river and the middle of the town. They suffered about 200 dead and the Reds about 170 dead, plus many more wounded. It was starting to become very apparent that both sides were murdering prisoners.

On 4 April, the Whites crossed the river and cleared out most of the west of the town. Final resisters, including the Womens Red Guards who holed up in the City Hall and refused to surrender, were mopped up on the 5th. A few lucky ones reached the frozen surface of Lake Pyhajarvi and got away.

The Whites disgraced themselves after the surrender by murdering many of the prisoners despite having promised not to do so. All Russian soldiers captured in the town were executed immediately - about 200 men. Women captured fighting for the Reds were also summarily executed. About 1,000 prisoners were murdered in the first few hours and then it stopped, possibly because someone higher up found out and booted arse - Mannerheim? Who knows. Just as likely, when they realised that over 10,000 Reds had surrendered, the Whites came to their senses and realised that even they weren't frantically keen to murder 10,000 men plus.

The rest of the prisoners were gathered in the central square where they froze without shelter or food for a day, and were then moved to a hastily erected site outside town which became their prison camp. About 1,200 of the prisoners died in the camp, either executed as ringleaders or from disease, including the usual sanitation diseases and also the Spanish Flu.

The Finnish civil war lasted only until May 1918, partly because Russian support for the Reds withered away after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The legacy of the war lasted much longer due to the brutality shown by both sides towards prisoners and towards mere civilians. In 1939, Stalin may have hoped to cash in on this legacy when he created the Terijoki government, the so-called Finnish Democratic Republic, headed by the traitor Otto Wille Kuusinen, who had been a minister in the short lived Finnish Socialist Workers Republic and was probably the most senior survivor of the Red side. But in reality, the Winter War became a unifying event in which many former civil war enemies fought shoulder to shoulder in the same unit to defend the Finland they all loved dearly, and many old hatreds and quarrels were set aside for good, and many grievances were forgiven, though certainly never forgotten.