Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 93 i History of War

711-18 UMAYYAD CONQUEST OF HISPANIA The Islamic Umayyad Caliphate invades Iberia. A Christian Visigoth king is defeated in battle and the new Umayyad province of Al-Andalus covers the vast majority of the peninsula. The Visigoths retreat and regroup into a small kingdom called Asturias in the far north of Spain. c.718-22 BATTLE OF COVADONGA 01 A Visigoth nobleman called Pelagius of Asturias ambushes and defeats an Umayyad force in a mountain pass. Pelagius’s victory leads to him becoming king of Asturias. Covadonga is regarded as the event that starts the Christian Reconquista (‘Reconquest’) of Spain. 718-1139 EXPANDING CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS After the establishment of Asturias’s monarchy, various Christian kingdoms are founded in Iberia, including Navarre (824), León (910), Aragon (1035), Castile (1037) and Portugal (1139). These kingdoms variously squabble and form…

The Emirate of Granada’s surrender in 1492 marked the formal end of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula. Soon after, the conquerors began forced conversions of Muslims, culminating in the expulsion of all Muslims and Jews from Spain. The Christian victors celebrated their success as a moral victory, dubbed the Reconquista, or ‘Reconquest’, of Spain, which British historian David Nicolle calls “a classic case of history being written by the winning side”. For centuries, he adds, the Muslim period was written off as an “alien interlude”, a narrative that academics have increasingly begun to question. To understand the issue, it’s important to first look at the nature of the original Muslim conquest. The Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania first adopted the Catholic faith in 589. When King Witiza died…

Napoleon’s exile on St Helena was a world away from his sovereignty on the island of Elba. Security was tight and Governor Lowe made sure that the Emperor was watched night and day, determined that the mistakes of the past would not be repeated. Yet Napoleon’s hardcore supporters discussed schemes to free him – both plausible and fantastical. Now it seems unlikely that Napoleon would have been able to repeat the same trick twice, but if the Emperor had escaped from St Helena, where might he have gone? Would he have returned again to France, or were there other, more likely, destinations? LIVE IN EXILE IN THE UNITED STATES Hundreds of Napoleon’s supporters fled to the United States after his 1815 defeat, including Napoleon’s older brother Joseph, who settled in…

The UN forces in Korea endured a disastrous start to 1951. On 31 December 1950 the Chinese 13th Army breached UN defences below the 38th parallel as part of the Third Phase Campaign and, on 3 January, Seoul was evacuated by the US Eighth Army. The Eighth Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Matthew B Ridgeway, who had been in office for little over a week, taking up his command only on 26 December 1950. One of the regiments in the Eighth Army was the 27th Infantry Regiment, the Wolfhounds (a name given to them by their Bolshevik enemies in Siberia when they served there during the Russian Civil War in 1918-19). Commanding Company E, Easy Company, of the 2nd Battalion was 30-year-old Captain Lewis Millett, a veteran of several…

The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands posed a unique threat to Britain’s military. Located over 8,000 miles away in the South Atlantic, any operation to confront the Argentinian occupation of the islands was bound to rely heavily on the Royal Navy. Yet at the time the navy was in a state of transition, with one of its carriers, HMS Invincible, was on the brink of being sold. Nonetheless, a task force sailed south, including civilian vessels pressed into military service. By the end of the short but bloody conflict, several of these ships were sadly lost, along with them many lives. Atlantic Conveyor, a converted container ship used to transport Sea Harriers and helicopters, was lost to enemy action on 25 May. In his new book Abandon Ship, Paul…

AFONSO I FOUNDER OF THE KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL C.1109-85 PORTUGAL Until Afonso, Portugal was territorially split between a Christian county that owed allegiance to Castile-León and the Muslim Almoravid dynasty. Afonso’s own maternal grandfather was Alfonso VI of Castile-León and he became count of Portugal as a child while his mother Teresa acted as regent. He first had to overcome his mother’s resistance to his majority when he defeated her supporters at the Battle of São Mamede in 1128. Afonso then proclaimed himself as prince of Portugal before he turned his attention to defeating the Almoravids. The Battle of Ourique on 25 July 1139 was a turning point in Portuguese history when Afonso defeated the Almoravids in the region of Alentejo. He was able to become the first king of…

Known to the Spanish as El Campeador, ‘Master of the Battlefield’, and to the Muslims as El Cid, from the Arabic ‘Al Sayyid’, ‘The Master’, few figures capture the spirit of the mid-Reconquista tug-of-war than Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. In the millennium since his death, European works of poetry, literature and drama have transformed him into Spain’s great Christian hero, celebrated for wrenching Valencia from Muslim hands. Though the facts of his life remain mired in myth, the historical figure behind the legend offers a far more interesting glimpse into the chaotic nature of the Reconquista period. Born to a Castilian family of minor nobility in the mid-11th century, Rodrigo ingratiated himself with the king of León’s eldest son, Sancho – fighting alongside him at the Battle of Graus against…

Even its main proponent, US General Douglas MacArthur, only gave this desperate military gamble a one-in-5,000 chance for success, but it turned the tide of a war that still shapes today’s world. The legacy of the Korean War (1950-53) is still a stark feature on the global landscape, with the fluctuating relations between the communist north (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – DPRK) and the democratic south (the Republic of Korea – RoK) having far-reaching repercussions across the world. The partition of Korea dates back to 1945, when the country was liberated from over 40 years of Japanese rule and divided along the 38th parallel. The Soviets had occupied the north, establishing a communist government, while the USA had occupied the south and established a highly corrupt but at…

HESS’ ‘FLIGHT FOR PEACE’ British soldiers pose next to the wreckage of Rudolf Hess’ Messerschmitt ME110, which he had crashed in Scotland on 10 May. The bizarre and daring flight of Hitler’s right-hand man took both German and British authorities by total surprise. Hess claimed to have made the journey to broker a peace between Britain and Germany, to no avail. He was briefly held in the Tower of London, and after the war was the last remaining inmate of the notorious Spandau Prison, where he was held for 20 years. SURVIVORS OF THE BISMARCK German survivors from the Bismarck are held under guard after arriving at a British port. The famous battleship was sunk in the Atlantic on 27 May. THE HOLOCAUST IN PARIS In May 1941, German and…

ATS TABLE MANNERS Taken: c.1945 Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) Privates Hiscocks, Bowron, Morrison and James enjoy a spot of tea during a voluntary ‘domestic science’ course for servicewomen based in the London area. The course was designed to teach servicewomen how to keep a home, including cooking, cleaning and making an afternoon tea spread. Despite this domestic training, the ATS were used to working in a range of logistical and support roles during the war. Women worked in factories, workshops and radar stations, and operated anti-aircraft guns and searchlights – broadly held to be men’s roles. The service of the ATS and other women’s organisations during the war began to change attitudes towards women in the workplace, and their role in society, though there remained a long way to go.…

“ALFONSO LOOKED ON IN HORROR AT AN ARMY THAT WAS AT LEAST TWICE THE SIZE OF HIS. MARTYRDOM LOOKED FAR MORE LIKELY THAN CONQUEST” In the 12th century, the Muslim Berber Almohad Caliphate emerged from Morocco’s Atlas Mountains into southern Andalusia, uniting the various Muslim principalities that had once been part of the collapsed Almoravid dynasty. With their Maghreb power base in Marrakesh and an Andalusian capital in Seville, under the leadership of Caliph Yaqub Al Mansur, the Almohads ushered in a brief architectural, trade, scientific and intellectual renaissance. Their path was made easier by infighting among the Christian kingdoms of northern Iberia. Ferdinand II of León and his son Alfonso IX both allied with the Almohads to stave off the threats of Portugal and Castile. However, after suffering a…

01 DIRE STRAITS The approaches to Inchon are long and narrow. It's the sort of area such a large fleet finds it difficult to navigate in the dark, while the ships are bunched up and very vulnerable to enemy attack. Assistance is provided by US Navy Lieutenant Eugene Clark, who landed on 1 September and has spent the two weeks since collecting intelligence. On 15 September he and his South Korean supporters seize and switch on the local lighthouse. 02 BOMBARDMENT BEGINS Inchon has been shelled and attacked by aircraft on and off since 10 September, as have other targets up and down the Korean coast so as not to draw undue attention to the chosen landing zone. At 5.45am on 15 September a bombardment opens up on…

PRINCE ADALBERT 1884-1948 Dropping off the radar with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party, Wilhelm’s third son Adalbert moved to Switzerland with his wife and two children during the 1930s and lived out the rest of his life there in exile. PRINCE JOACHIM 1890-1920 The sixth and youngest son Joachim committed suicide in 1920. He was diagnosed in 1918 with the rare hereditary condition of porphyria and was prone to outbursts of rage, which cost him his wife and then his life. PRINCE AUGUST WILHELM 1887-1949 ‘Auwi’ joined the Nazi Party, gaining a rank in the paramilitary Brownshirts and then the SS. He was sidelined in 1942 for making derogatory remarks about Joseph Goebbels. CROWN PRINCE FRIEDRICH WILHELM 1882-1951 Friedrich Wilhelm was approached by opposition leaders in Germany…

MODIFIED HULL Borrowed from the preceding Cromwell, the Comet hull was stretched to accommodate a larger turret ring along with its crew of five. The hull was welded in a low configuration to minimise the overall height of the vehicle. MAIN WEAPON Vickers-Armstrong reconfigured the famed QF 17-pounder gun for use in the Comet turret. Known as the 77mm HV and mounted in a cast mantlet, the weapon was shorter and its breech resized to reduce recoil. TURRET DESIGN The electrically rotating Comet turret was constructed of rolled, homogeneous armour plating welded with some protective slope. The earlier Cromwell turret ring was enlarged to accommodate a heavier main weapon. A rectangular storage bin was fixed to the rear, and the commander operated an attached searchlight. CHRISTIE SUSPENSION The Comet was…

THE EIGHT HUNDRED THE SIX-DAY BATTLE FOR SIHANG WAREHOUSE, COMMEMORATED IN CHINA BUT UNKNOWN IN THE WEST, IS RETOLD IN GORY SPLENDOUR Director: Hu Guan Released: Out now Asian war cinema is a rich and under-appreciated genre, with many of its best titles still unseen in Europe. The Eight Hundred, a 2020 release that topped box office records in China despite the Covid-19 pandemic, gathers up all the familiar tropes – duty, sacrifice, and dying for your country – and pushes them through a meat grinder. The plot itself is about a week-long fight over an abandoned warehouse, in which a few hundred Chinese Nationalist troops fought against the Imperial Japanese Army besieging Shanghai in 1937. Context and dates matter too. The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought from 1937 until…