WORLD WAR II

 The other major war that took place was World War II which is known to have been the

biggest and deadliest war in history involving more than thirty countries in 1939.

 By the

early part of 1939 the German dictator Adolf Hitler had become determined to invade

and occupy Poland.

 Poland, for its part, had guarantees of French and British military

support should it be attacked by Germany. Hitler intended to invade Poland anyway, but

first he had to neutralize the possibility that the Soviet Union would resist the invasion of

its western neighbour. Secret negotiations led on August 23rd 1939 to the signing of the

German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in Moscow.

 In a secret protocol of this pact, the

Germans and the Soviets agreed that Poland should be divided between them, with the

western third of the country going to Germany and the eastern two-thirds being taken

over by the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R). Having achieved this cynical agreement, the other

provisions of which stupefied Europe even without divulgence of the secret protocol,

Hitler thought that Germany could attack Poland with no danger of Soviet or British

intervention and gave orders for the invasion to start on August 26. 

News of the signing,

on August 25, of a formal treaty of mutual assistance between Great Britain and Poland

(to supersede a previous though temporary agreement) caused him to postpone the

start of hostilities for a few days.

 He was still determined, however, to ignore the

diplomatic efforts of the western powers to restrain him. Finally, on August 31, 1939,

Hitler ordered hostilities against Poland to start at 4:45 the next morning. The invasion

began as ordered.

 In response, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. World War II had begun.

 The principal belligerents were the Axis

powers Germany, Italy, and Japan and the Allies France, Great Britain, the United

States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The Axis powers were in

support of Adolf Hitler while the allies were in support of Poland and other European

countries. It was the qualitative superiority of the German infantry divisions and the

number of their armoured divisions that made the difference in 1939. The firepower of a

German infantry division far exceeded that of a French, British, or Polish division. The

German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, was also the best force of its kind in 1939. It was a

ground-cooperation force designed to support the Army, but its planes were superior to

nearly all Allied types. Hitler’s greatest strategic disadvantage in opposing the Allies’

imminent reentry into Europe lay in the immense stretch of Germany’s conquests, from

the west coast of France to the east coast of Greece. It was difficult for him to gauge

where the Allies would strike next. The Allies’ greatest strategic advantage lay in the

wide choice of alternative objectives and in the powers of distraction they enjoyed

through their superior sea power. Hitler, while always having to guard against a cross-

Channel invasion from England’s shores, had cause to fear that the Anglo-American

armies in North Africa might land anywhere on his southern front between Spain and

Greece. Having failed to save its forces in Tunisia, the Axis had only 10 Italian divisions

of various sorts and two German panzer units stationed on the island of Sicily at

midsummer 1943. The Allies, meanwhile, were preparing to throw some 478,000 men

into the island—150,000 of them in the first three days of the invasion. Under the

supreme command of Alexander, Montgomery’s British 8th Army and Patton’s U.S. 7th

Army were to be landed on two stretches of beach 40 miles long, 20 miles distant from

one another, the British in the southeast of the island, the Americans in the south. The

Allies’ air superiority in the Mediterranean theatre was so great by this time—more than

4,000 aircraft against some 1,500 German and Italian ones—that the Axis bombers had

been withdrawn from Sicily in June to bases in north-central Italy. Through the efforts of

the allied powers World War II stopped in 1945.

 World War II was one of the great watersheds of 20th-century geopolitical history leading to the death of over fifty million

civilians and soldiers making it the bloodiest and biggest war in history. World War II

also involved the death of over six million jews during the Holocaust.

The Rwandan genocide was a horrific ethnic conflict that unfolded over 100 days in

1994, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsi and moderate

Hutu people.

 The genocide was fueled by longstanding tensions between the Hutu

majority and Tutsi minority in Rwanda. In 1990, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front

(RPF) rebel group invaded Rwanda from Uganda, sparking a civil war.

 Despite a peace agreement in 1993, Hutu extremists opposed the power-sharing plan and began a

campaign of violence. On April 6, 1994, the assassination of Hutu President

Habyarimana served as a catalyst, with Hutu extremists quickly launching a coordinated

genocide against the Tutsi population.

 Soldiers, police, and Hutu militia systematically

identified and killed Tutsi and moderate Hutu leaders, while also inciting Hutu civilians to

murder their Tutsi neighbors. The methods were shockingly brutal, often involving

machetes and other crude weapons. Rape was also used as a weapon, with some

perpetrators deliberately infected with HIV/AIDS. Despite the presence of a UN

peacekeeping force, the international community failed to intervene and stop the

killings. It was not until the RPF forces seized control of the country in July 1994 that the

genocide came to an end.

 The aftermath saw millions displaced and ongoing conflict in

the region. The Rwandan genocide stands as one of the darkest chapters in modern

history, a tragic example of the devastating consequences when ethnic tensions spiral

out of control.

These constant conflicts and wars have taught us multiple painful lessons through the

death of loved ones and through the destruction of infrastructure leading to the

crumbling down of empires and nations. Although this has now become basic

knowledge we still find many nations and people always wanting to overpower others

leading to unwanted conflicts and even wars.

WORLD WAR I

 We are currently living in a world that has seen countless conflicts and wars between

different nations and communities leaving devastating marks on the lively hood of

millions of people around the world. One of the major wars that took place was world

war I.

 Started in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe—especially in the troubled Balkan

region of southeast Europe—for years before World War I actually broke out. A number

of alliances involving European powers, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and other parties

had existed for years, but political instability in the Balkans (particularly Bosnia, Serbia

and Herzegovina) threatened to destroy these agreements.

 The Spark That Ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand—heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire—was shot to death along with his wife, Sophie, by the

Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914.

 Princip and other nationalists were

struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina. This led to the

Austro-Hungarian government and some nations blaming Serbia for the death of the

Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Austria-Hungary waited to declare war until its leaders’

received assurance from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support

their cause. 

Austro-Hungarian leaders feared that a Russian intervention would involve

Russia’s ally, France, and possibly Great Britain as well. Germany secretly went on to

agree to support Austria-Hungary in their cause. Convinced that Austria-Hungary was

readying for war, the Serbian government ordered the Serbian army to mobilize and

appealed to Russia for assistance. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia,

and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers quickly collapsed. 

Within a

week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-

Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun. Germany began fighting World War

I on two fronts, invading France through neutral Belgium in the west and confronting

Russia in the east. On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the border into Belgium.

In the first battle of World War I, the Germans assaulted the heavily fortified city of

Liege, using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal—enormous siege cannons—to

capture the city by August 15. The Germans left death and destruction in their wake as

they advanced through Belgium toward France, shooting civilians and executing a

Belgian priest they had accused of inciting civilian resistance.

 French and British forces

confronted the invading German army, which had by then penetrated deep into

northeastern France, within 30 miles of Paris. The Allied troops checked the German

advance and mounted a successful counterattack, driving the Germans back to the

north of the Aisne River. The defeat meant the end of German plans for a quick victory

in France. Both sides dug into trenches, and the Western Front was the setting for a

hellish war of attrition that would last more than three years. At the outbreak of fighting

in 1914, the United States remained on the sidelines of World War I, adopting the policy

of neutrality favored by President Woodrow Wilson while continuing to engage in

commerce and shipping with European countries on both sides of the conflict. 

In 1915,

Germany declared the waters surrounding the British Isles to be a war zone, and

German U-boats sunk several commercial and passenger vessels, including some U.S.

ships. Widespread protest over the sinking by U-boat of the British ocean liner

Lusitania—traveling from New York to Liverpool, England with hundreds of American

passengers onboard—in May 1915 helped turn the tide of American public opinion

against Germany. In February 1917, Congress passed a $250 million arms

appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war. 

Germany sunk four

more U.S. merchant ships the following month, and on April 2 Woodrow Wilson

appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. World

War I took the lives of more than 9 million soldiers; 21 million more were wounded.

Civilian casualties numbered close to 10 million.

 The two nations most affected were

Germany and France, each of which sent some 80 percent of their male populations

between the ages of 15 and 49 into battle.  The political disruption surrounding World

War I also contributed to the fall of four venerable imperial dynasties: Germany, Austria-

Hungary, Russia and Turkey. The first global war also helped to spread one of the

world’s deadliest global pandemics, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which killed an

estimated 20 to 50 million people.

THE ANNEXATION

 Ukrainian forces began recapturing territories in the north-east and south. In late September, Russia declared the annexation of four partially-occupied regions, which was internationally condemned.

 Russia spent the winter conducting inconclusive offensives in the Donbas. In spring 2023, Russia dug into positions ahead of another Ukrainian counteroffensive, which failed to gain significant ground. The war has resulted in a refugee crisis and tens of thousands of deaths.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE INVASION OF UKRAINE

 On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This took place when Putin announced a “special military operation”, claiming Russia had no plans to occupy the country.

https://youtu.be/BpYowSHNM1Y?t=30

The invasion that followed was internationally condemned. Due to fierce resistance, Russia abandoned an attempt to take Kyiv in early April.  

UKRAINE IS BARRED TO JOIN THE NATO

 Beginning in 2021, Russia built up a large military presence near its borders with Ukraine, including with neighboring Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed irredentist views-territorial claims made by the Russian Federation to territories that were historically part of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union and denied Ukraine’s right to exist. He further criticized the enlargement of the NATO military alliance of thirty-two European and North American countries that consist of systems of collective defense declaring that Ukraine be barred from joining the military alliance.  

DONBAS WAR

 DONBAS WAR

The Donbas War was a phase of the Russia-Ukraine war which began in April 2014, when a commando unit headed by a Russian citizen, Igor Girkin, seized Sloviansk in Donetsk oblast.

By early summer in 2014, pro-Russian forces had overrun a sizable swathe of territory. In July Malaysia Airlines MH17 was shot down over rebel-controlled territory by a Russian supplied surface-to-air missile. Nearly 300 passengers and crew were killed.

A cease fire followed in February 2015 that slowed but did not stop the bloodshed leaving the Donbas in a state of frozen conflict for the next 7 years. 

THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

 

THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

The Russia-Ukraine feud began on February 2014. This happened when Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was swept from power after months of popular demonstrations and a failed violent crackdown on protestors. 

The Revolution of Dignity took place which led to deadly clashes between protestors and the state forces in the capital Kyiv with the effort to reject former president Viktor Yanukovych. This resulted to Viktor Yanukovych fleeing to Russia. Within days disguised Russian troops invaded Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the illegal annexation of Crimea in March. .

This marked the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. The Russians also supported the pro-Russian separatists-who had overall control of the Russian federation-fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas War.  

CAPTAIN PADDY

CAPTAIN PADDY

Captain Paddy an Irishman who has spent 22 of his 54 years in Africa, is the unit’s master mechanic. Just before Port Harcourt fell to the federals, he scrounged up a convoy of trucks and liberated—under fire —the entire workshop of the Shell-B.P. refinery there. When Aba had to be evacuated for lack of ammo, Paddy was one of the last men out, a machine gun in one hand, a demijohn of wine in the other.