A German soldier giving a British soldier a light to his cigarette during the truce.
Just five months into WWI in December 1914, unofficial truces and ceasefires were called by soldiers in the Western and Eastern fronts of the Great War.
The first of these Christmas Truces was made a week before Christmas, during the stalemates of the First Battle of Ypres and Race to Sea, French and British soldiers met German men in no man’s land on the Western Front of WWI. During this first truce, soldiers sang carols, exchanged gifts, talked, and even played soccer with each other.
On the Eastern Front, Austro-Hungarian and Russian soldiers had a similar ceasefire. In some of these truces, the two sides would go recover bodies, have funerals for dead men, and exchange prisoners with each other.
During 1915, there were some short truces, not just during Christmas but also during the rest of the year. Sadly after the truces of 1914, unofficial ceasefires (not called by officials) were looked down upon by higher authorities and by 1916 you could be court-martialed for doing so.
Some commanders directly disobeyed orders from generals that threatened to punish them with death if they called a ceasefire with the enemy. This was because higher commanders didn’t want the enemy to be seen as human rather as a horrible evil that needed to be destroyed at all costs.
A monument to commemorate the Christmas Truce at Ypres Battlefield in France, showing a British and German soldier shaking hands over a soccer ball.
The Christmas Truce of 1914 was one of the only times in WWI when soldiers from seperate sides came together on neutral ground to fraternize, trade, and play games. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Five different civilized Indian tribes allied themselves with the Confederate States. These tribes were: the Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw and Cherokee fighting with the nickname “Braves†under General Stand Watie in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. These tribes fought in numerous battles in the states they were from.
Rebels in Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were, for the most part, exterminated. In May, the Confederacy gained the Southern half of Arizona and New Mexico, after the people there voted to join the Confederacy, then tried to take the rest of the New Mexico territory by invasion, but by July Union forces had taken it back and invaded parts of West Texas.
Map of the Confederate States and states with Confederate supporters, with Confederate Arizona and New Mexico highlighted.
In August and September, a Confederate campaign was launched into Kentucky by General Braxton Bragg. The goal of the campaign was to draw a neutral Kentucky out of Union control and have one more Confederate state. Bragg launched the invasion directly up the middle of the state, splitting it in half, and even raiding Cincinnati before being pushed back into Eastern Tennessee.
During 1862, the entire North Carolina coast was captured and occupied by the Federals.
Political Situation
In 1862, Lincoln’s reason for war was still for the preservation of the Union and not for the ending of slavery. But that would soon change in 1863 with his famous Emancipation Proclamation, while although not actually freeing any slaves in the south, made the war about slavery.
The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 11-16, 1862 in Stewart County, Tennessee on the banks of the Tennessee River. It was a prominent Union victory with the Federals taking 2,691 casualties and the Confederates having about 2,000. The Union under General Ulysses S. Grant besieged the fort for five days until the Confederates surrendered, capturing 12,963 men.
Ulysses S. Grant.
General Grant did extremely well during the battle and would later be promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Union army. The Battle of Fort Donelson was a major loss for the Confederates and a major victory for the Union.
The Battle of Pea Ridge was a decisive Battle in Benton County, Arkansas and took place from March 7-8, 1862. An army of about 10,500 men led by Confederate General Sterling Price fought at Pea Ridge against Union General Franz Sigel. It was another Union victory in Western Theatre with Union casualties being 203 killed, 980 wounded and 201 missing, while the Confederates had about 2,000 casualties.
Fighting at Pea Ridge
Pea Ridge was the costliest civil war battle in Arkansas. Cherokee Indians fought alongside Confederates under command of Cherokee General Stand Watie. Texas Confederate General Benjamin McCulloch was also killed at the battle.
The Battle of Shiloh was a major battle fought in Hardin County, Tennessee from April 6-7, 1862 and one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war. A group of 63,000 men led by Union General Ulysses S. Grant fought against an army of 40,335 led by Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard. The armies battled for two days in the Southwestern Tennessee wilderness. The Union came out on top having 13,047 casualties with the Confederate 10,699.
Confederate and Union troops fighting at Shiloh.
Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnson was killed during the battle and the Confederates were forced to retreat. The Battle of Shiloh was part of the Shiloh Campaign, in which the Union tried to take control of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers in Western Tennessee, and with the help of Union General Grant, they would succeed.
The Seven days Battles were a series of battles in Henrico County, Virginia: The Battle of Seven pines, Malvern Hill, Gaines Farm, Savage’s Station, Glendale, Beaver Dam Creek, and Garnett’s Farm of which the Confederates won all of them. They were fought from June 25-July 1, 1862. It was part of the Peninsula Campaign, which was Union General George McCllelan’s failed attempt at invading Virginia and taking Richmond by the Virginia Peninsula. McCllelan’s army of 114,000 men made it all the way to the outskirts of Richmond, but were pushed back by a Confederate force of 92,000.
Flag of General John Bell Hood’s Texas Brigade with the names of four battles, all of them except Eltham’s Landing being part of the Seven days Battles.
General Robert E. Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia, along with other Generals, such as Texas General John Bell Hood, pushed back the Federals in these Seven battles, the worst being the Battle of Seven Pines. The Seven days Battles were probably the highest point in Confederate moral and strength of the whole war.
The Shenandoah Valley Campaign took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from March-June, 1862. There were six different battles in the campaign, The Battle of Kernstown, McDowell, Front Royal, First Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic. It was nicknamed Jackson’s Valley Campaign because Confederate General “Stonewall†Jackson was the main commander of the campaign.
Map of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign.
Even though the whole campaign there were only 7,984 casualties in all (5,307 Union, 2,677 Confederate) it was a very important campaign. The Confederates were the victor and because he used his vast military knowledge Stonewall Jackson was able to win all but one battle (The Battle of Front Royal). Overall, it was a major victory for the CSA because they gained control of the Shenandoah River and the Shenandoah Valley.
The Louisiana state flag is removed from the city hall.
Although there was no fighting (except for a minor clash between gunboats) the Capture of New Orleans was very important, because the Union took the key Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana, which gave them entrance to the Deep South. Union General Ben Butler commanded the fleet of union gunboats to take the city, from April 25-May 1, 1862. Not much fighting occurred but the Union did gain control of a key Southern city.
The Second Battle of Manassas was fought from August 29-30, 1862 in Manassas, Virginia. Confederate General Robert E. Lee fought against Union armies commanded by General John Pope. It was an astounding victory for the Confederacy, and a horrible defeat for the Union. Even while Confederates were outnumbered, by 20,000 troops, they only took 7,298 casualties, while the Union had a crushing 14,462 casualties.
A painting depicting Confederate soldiers throwing stones down at the Union below.
Robert E. Lee was also accompanied by General Stonewall Jackson, General J.E.B. Stuart, main commander of the Confederate Cavalry, and General James Longstreet, maybe the four best Confederate Generals.
The Battle of Antietam was a major battle fought on September 17, 1862 in Sharpsburg, Maryland. It was tactically inconclusive, but it was a strategic Union victory.
Up until this point, Lee’s army had only defended against the Union, never going on the attack, but finally Lee decided to take the fight to the North. Lee hoped that if he could cut off Washington D.C. from the rest of the North they would surrender.
Confederate and Union bodies at what’s known as “Bloody Lane.”
It only lasted one day, but the day of the engagment, September 17, 1862 holds the title as the bloodiest single day in American history. The Union had about 12,410, versus the Confederate 10,316 casualties, making that around 23,000. The Battle of Antietam was part of the Maryland Campaign.
Confederate Armies only had 38,000 men and the Union had 87,000, more than twice the Confederate size. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia fought alongside the Texas Brigade at the battle.
The Second Battle of Corinth took place from October 3-4, 1862 in the town of Corinth, Mississippi. An army of 23,000 Union troops commanded by General William Rosecrans fought outside the town of Corinth against the Confederate army of 22,000 men commanded by General Earl Van Dorn. The Union won the battle, having 2,520 casualties against the Confederate 4,233 casualties.
Map of the Corinth Campaign of 1862
The Second Battle of Corinth was one of the most costly battles in the Western Theatre of the war. Union General Grant was also commanding troops in the Corinth Campaign, but he wasn’t actually at the battle.
The Battle of Perryville occurred on October 8, 1862 near Perryville, Kentucky. Perryville was the bloodiest battle in Kentucky, with the Union having 4,241 casualties and Confederate casualties being 3,396. It was part of the Kentucky Campaign or the Confederate Heartland Offensive, in which the Confederates under General Braxton Bragg attempted to liberate Kentucky and possibly cut the Union in half by going up through Kentucky and invading Indiana and Ohio.
Flag of Confederate Kentucky
The Confederates had already been pushed back out of Northern Kentucky earlier that year, and were defeated at Perryville, which is in Central Kentucky. The commanding Union general was General Don Carlos Bell. Bragg was accompanied by Generals Leonidas Polk and William J. Hardee.
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought from December 11-15, 1862. It was a crucial battle and astounding victory for the Confederates. The Union had 12,653 casualties and the Confederates only had 5,377. General Ambrose E. Burnside, the commanding Union General, ordered that they try to break the Confederate line commanded by General Stonewall Jackson at Marye’s Heights. The Union sent line after line of men that were gunned down by the Confederate artillery and guns, and Burnside was forced to retreat.
During the Union charge at the Confederate line, a Confederate soldier gives water to the Union wounded.
It was part of the Fredericksburg Campaign, that ended at Fredericksburg in which the Union tried to invade Richmond by the north.
This is part two of a series of blogs about the 20th century. This series will cover the events between the years 1914-1993. The start of WWI to the fall of communism.
Click the year or conflict you want to go to and it will send you down to it. Also, click on any blue highlighted words to read more about it.
This blog will cover the events between the years 1922 to 1930. The years between WWI and WWII (1918-1939) are known as the Interwar Years.
Throughout 1922 and the entire 20th century, communist revolutions and uprisings occurred throughout the world. This was partly because on April 3, 1922 Joseph Stalin became leader of Russia after the death of Vladimir Lennin, changing the official name of communist Russia from the Russian SFSR to the Soviet Union or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These communist rebellions were mostly between the current government in the country and the communist party, but sometimes they were fought between the communist party and another political party, like a fascist or democratic group. The rebels rarely won these revolts. Brazil, South Africa, the Weimar Republic, Bulgaria, and many more had failed communist revolts. The rebellion in Brazil lasted from 1922 until 1927, when the rebels were put down.
Following the Irish War of Independence, the Irish had another war. This time is was between Irish who were for the treaty with the UK and those who were against it. This is called the Irish Civil War and it started June 28, 1922.
The IRA (Irish Republic Army) was against having the Anglo-Irish Treaty with the UK because in the treaty it stated that Ireland would be within the British Empire, but almost completely free to do as they pleased. They also thought it was a betrayal of the Irish Republic that had been proclaimed under the Easter Uprising, who were Irish who loathed the British and wanted no connection with them whatsoever, so they started a civil war to try to overthrow the pro-treaty Irish Provisional Government, which became known as the Free State in December 1922. The Provisional Government wanted peace with the UK and thought the treaty was fair. Many of the people, on both sides, had fought under the Old IRA during the Irish War of Independence. Many of the pro-treaty members of the IRA either left or were thrown out when the civil war began.
Flag of the Irish Free State (Provisional Government).
On April 14, members of the new IRA occupied buildings of the Irish Supreme Court (Four Courts). These members wanted to spark a new conflict with the British Empire. Some Provisional Government officials wanted to use force against them but others wanted to avoid a civil war as much as possible.
From April to June the rebels were left alone until the National Army bombarded the Four Courts until the IRA surrendered. The building was badly damaged and many of the archives were burned.
Other attacks and bombings occurred, but on May 24, 1923 the anti-treaty IRA surrendered to the pro-treaty Provisional Government.
On October 31, 1922 Bentino Mussolini became the 27th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy after the March on Rome. The March on Rome was Mussolini’s mass demonstration during which Mussolini and his fascist “Blackshirts†marched through the city of Rome. Three days after the march, Mussolini was appointed the 27th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy. During the march, the current Prime Minister, Luigi Facta, wished to declare a state of siege, but was overruled by King Victor Emmanuel III and appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister instead.
Mussolini along with other fascist Blackshirts march on the streets of Italy’s capital of Rome.
Also known as the Italo-Senussi War the pacification of Libya was a long and bloody conflict between the Italian military against Libyan rebels known as the Senussi Order. The Senussi Order were a resistance to Italian colonization in Cyrenaica, currently Eastern Libya, under rebel leader Omar Mukhtar. During the conflict, the Italians, under Benito Mussolini, committed multiple war crimes including the use of chemical weapons, the execution of surrendering Libyans, and the killing of mass civilians. Concentration camps were also used for rebellious Libyans, who opposed the Italian occupation.
Libya had been part of the Ottoman Empire until the Turkish-Italo War in 1911 when Italy invaded Libya. The war ended in Italian victory, so Italy was able to keep Libya as its own colony. Up until 1923, the Libyans were able to relatively ignore the Italian control over the country, but when Omar Mukhtar staged a rebellion the Italians decided they needed to do something. Over 250,000 Libyans died during the “Pacification†between 1923 and 1932.
The war ended in Italian victory in 1932 and they executed of Omar Mukhtar and many of his followers.
Meanwhile in the German Weimar Republic on November 8, Hitler, some 20 Nazi Party members, and a detachment of 603 SA surrounded a beer hall in the city of Munich in the German state of Bavaria. In the hall a man named Gustav Ritter Von Kahr was making a speech. Kahr was a Bavarian socialist, who was against Adolf Hitler and his ideas. With his soldiers guarding the event from outside, Hitler made his way into the auditorium, jumped on a chair, and yelled, “The national revolution has begun! The hall is surrounded by 600 men. No one is allowed to leave!†He then said that the government of Bavaria was deposed and declared the formation of a new government. Then he ordered Kahr along with two other men at gunpoint to accept new government positions he had just assigned to them. They refused and were taken into custody by the Nazis.
During the night, units of Kampfbund (other Nazis) were wandering around the city, attempting to resupply themselves when a unit of Reichswehr (Barvarian police) spotted them. The Reichswehr were trying to get to nearby barracks when they had spotted the Nazis. They fired at each other without any fatalities. The Nazi Kampfbund retreated while the Reichswehr called reinforcements.
Members of the Nazi SA during the Putsch.
The next day Hitler realized the Putsch was going nowhere. He was about to call it off when a Nazi named Erich Ludendorff then shouted, “We will march!†so Hitler and 2,000 other Nazis and Sturmabteilung (SA) marched to the Feldherrnhalle, where they were confronted by German police. The police fired on the Nazis, which resulted in the death of 16 Nazi Party members and 4 police officers. Adolf Hitler was wounded, but escaped his arrest and fled to the countryside. Two days later, he was taken into custody and was charged with treason. He was found guilty and charged with five years in prison. During his time, he wrote a book about Nazi ideals and Germany’s future called Mein Kampt or My Struggle in German. After serving only six months, Hitler was released.
On the 15 of September, Bolshevik-inspired Romanian rebels started an uprising in the Bessarabian city of Tatarbunary. Being pro-Russian the rebels called for an end to Romanian occupation of Bessariarabia and the creation of a new Moldovan Communist nation, a protectorate of the Soviet Union. The revolt lasted from September 15 to the 18. In the end the Romanian government prevailed, but resulted in the death of 3,000 people.
Flag of the Kingdom of Hejaz. This same flag was used by Arab revolutionaries during the Arab Revolt.
In 1916 during WWI, Hejaz had been a part of the Arab Revolt, a mass Arab rebellion led by the United Kingdom against their Ottoman oppressors. After the war the Kingdom of Hejaz achieved independence. Hejaz bordered a large Arabian country called the Sultanate of Nejd, modernly containing most of Saudi Arabia. Hejaz and Nejd had already fought between each other in the First Saudi-Hastemite War of 1919, but this conflict sparked because Saudi pilgrims were denied access to the Islamic holy land in the cities of Mecca and Media. On August 29, 1924 Saudi troops invaded the Kingdom of Hejaz. They advanced towards the city of Taif, which fell without any major struggle. Then Nejd turned toward Mecca. Hejaz appealed to the United Kingdom for aid, but they refused. Mecca fell with little resistance. The king of Hejaz had fled from Mecca to Jeddah before the city fell. Yanbu and Medina fell in December, 1925 and in January, 1926 Saudi troops entered the gates of Jeddah. Hejaz was united with Nejd after the city fell.
To the north in the country of Turkey, the Kurds wished to be separate from Turkey and have their own country. In 1925, they had three rebellions: The Sheikh Rebellion, Raçkotan and Raman Pacifying Operations, and the Sason Rebellion. All three of these rebellions failed and the leaders of each were executed. The first two combined lasted not even a year, but the last rebellion lasted until 1937.
Not far from Turkey in Yemen, people from the Zaraniq tribe started an armed revolution against the Arabian country of Yemen.
At the time Yemen’s official name was the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen. Zaraniq was supported by the United Kingdom, who were still very instrumental in the Middle East. Zaraniq was also supported by the newly united country of Hejaz and Nejd.
Flag of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen.
The only fighting that occurred during the war was occasional raids by the Zaraniq. In 1929 the war ended with the Yemeni government emerging on top.
To the north of Yemen groups of Syrian rebels plotted to rid Syria of French rule, who had taken the land from the Ottomans after WWI.
Different types of Muslims and even Christians across Syria and Lebanon independently fought with one common goal: to rid the area of French rule. The revolt lasted from July 1925 to June 1927 with a total of 6,000 casualties. The French won the war and defeated the rebels.
A rebel leader celebrating the release of imprisoned revolutionaries.
The war ended in December 1928 with a Nationalist victory. The Beiyang Government was overthrown and the warlords were defeated.
Beiyang soldiers retreating by train.
The communists had been thrown out of the alliance in April 1927 after communist labor unions took control of Shanghai and were defeated. After this point the CCP was angered, thus starting the long, bloody Chinese Civil War.
In June 1926 the Communist Party of Indonesia planned a overthrow of the Dutch government. It was quickly put down and around 20,000 revolutionaries were either interned, imprisoned, or arrested.
In 1927, there were three more Kurdish rebellions, in the fairly new country of Turkey, that were all put down within the end of 1927. These were the Koçuşaği Rebellion, the Mutki Rebellion, and the Bicar Suppression.
In 1929, there were also two more, the Asi Resul Rebellion and the Tenduruk Rebellion, which also ended in failure.
In 1927, still during the Northern Expedition conflict, a 22 year conflict was about to begin between the Kuomintang (KMT) lead Republic of China and Chinese Communist Party (CCP). To make this easier I’ll split this into three parts. The first part will cover the years 1927-1930, the second will cover 1931-1937, and the third part will cover 1937-1949.
In early 1927, the KMT-CPC rivalry led to a split in the revolutionary ranks. The KMT moved the seat of the KMT government from Guangzhou to Wuhan. Guangzhou had a heavy communist influence whereas Wuhan was heavily nationalist. Also it’s important to emphasis that there were left-wing KMT, who were more socialist and didn’t like communism, and then right-wing KMT. Right and left KMT worked tried to work together, but it led to an unstable government. Wuhan was the seat of the left-wing KMT while Nanchang was the seat of the right. On August 1 of the same year the CCP launched an uprising in Nanchang against a KMT government based in Wuhan. This led to the creation of the Chinese Red Army. This rebellion was put down by August 8.
Leader of KMT Nationalist government Chiang Kai-shek in 1926 with the NRA during the Northern Expedition.
King Amanullah Khan had angered these Islamic nationalists because he was against radical Islam. He wished for women to have more rights and thought non-muslims should have equal rights in Afghanistan.
Flag of the Saqqwists.
The war began when the Shinwaris revolted in the city of Jalalabad in November 1928. Even though this revolt was quickly put down, it inspired the Saqqawists to rebel in Jabal al-Siraj before attacking Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul on December 14, 1928. This assault was stopped, but on January 17, 1929 the Saqqawists were successful in occupying the capital. After Kabul they headed east and beat back Ali Ahmad Khan’s army near Jalalabad.
In June a man known as Nadir Khan engaged a Saqqawist offensive in the north. The man that had been king prior to the revolution, Amanullah Khan, had fled the country leaving it up to Nadir Khan to stop the rebels. After a month of stalemate in the north, Nadir pushed them all the way back to Kabul. On October 13, 1929 the Afghan palace in Kabul, the Arg, was captured by Nadir’s forces. After the capture of the Arg the civil war is known to end even though Saqqwist activity continued until 1931. After the war Nadir Khan became the new king of Afghanistan and ruled until 1933.
Also, in December 1929, the Soviets entered Northern Afghanistan to wipe out the anti-Soviet Basmachi there, who had fought against them on several occasions on the Soviet-Afghan border and in Uzbekistan.
The 1929 Stock Market Crash was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The 1920’s in America was a time of wealth and prosperity and is known as “The Roaring Twenties†because of this. This crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression, an event which left many Americans in poverty until after WWII.
The Sino-Tibetian War began when the Tibetian Army invaded China in a dispute over Buddhist monasteries. Although a three-year war, Chiang Kai-shek’s army overwhelmed Tibetian forces during the first year of the war. A ceasefire was being negotiated, but Tibet refused the conditions and the war continued for two more years. In 1932 the war ended, but it had changed nothing. Tibet still had the same land as before and the monasteries remained in Chinese control.
