1.
British Raj
–
The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The rule is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India, the resulting political union was also called the Indian Empire and after 1876 issued passports under that name. It lasted until 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign states, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan and this area is very diverse, containing the Himalayan mountains, fertile floodplains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a long coastline, tropical dry forests, arid uplands, and the Thar desert. In addition, at times, it included Aden, Lower Burma, Upper Burma, British Somaliland. Burma was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948, among other countries in the region, Ceylon was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. Ceylon was part of Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, the kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861, however. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965, India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory, British India and the Native States. In general, the term British India had been used to also to the regions under the rule of the British East India Company in India from 1600 to 1858. The term has also used to refer to the British in India. The terms Indian Empire and Empire of India were not used in legislation, the monarch was known as Empress or Emperor of India and the term was often used in Queen Victorias Queens Speeches and Prorogation Speeches. The passports issued by the British Indian government had the words Indian Empire on the cover, in addition, an order of knighthood, the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, was set up in 1878. At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor, during the partition of Bengal the new provinces of Assam and East Bengal were created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, there were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in August 1947. The princely states did not form a part of British India, the larger ones had treaties with Britain that specified which rights the princes had, in the smaller ones the princes had few rights. Within the princely states external affairs, defence and most communications were under British control, the British also exercised a general influence over the states internal politics, in part through the granting or withholding of recognition of individual rulers. Although there were nearly 600 princely states, the majority were very small
2.
Presidencies and provinces of British India
–
Provinces of India, earlier Presidencies of British India and still earlier, Presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in the subcontinent. Collectively, they were called British India, in one form or other they existed between 1612 and 1947, conventionally divided into three historical periods. During 1612–1757, the East India Company set up factories in several locations, mostly in coastal India and its rivals were the merchant trading companies of Holland and France. By the mid-18th century, three Presidency towns, Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta had grown in size, during the period of Company rule in India, 1757–1858, the Company gradually acquired sovereignty over large parts of India, now called Presidencies. However, it increasingly came under British government oversight, in effect sharing sovereignty with the Crown. At the same time it gradually lost its mercantile privileges, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Companys remaining powers were transferred to the Crown. In the new British Raj, sovereignty extended to a few new regions, increasingly, however, unwieldy presidencies were broken up into Provinces. In 1608, the English East India Company established a settlement at Surat, and it was followed in 1611 by a permanent factory at Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast, and in 1612 the company joined other already established European trading companies in Bengal. Company rule in Bengal, however, ended with the Government of India Act 1858 following the events of the Bengal Rebellion of 1857 and these rulers were allowed a measure of internal autonomy in exchange for British suzerainty. British India constituted a significant portion of India both in area and population, in 1910, for example, it covered approximately 54% of the area, in addition, there were Portuguese and French exclaves in India. Independence from British rule was achieved in 1947 with the formation of two nations, the Dominions of India and Pakistan, the latter also including East Bengal, present-day Bangladesh. The term British India also applied to Burma for a time period, starting in 1824, a small part of Burma. This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma commenced being administered as a separate British colony, British India did not apply to other countries in the region, such as Sri Lanka, which was a British Crown colony, or the Maldive Islands, which were a British protectorate. It also included the Colony of Aden in the Arabian Peninsula, the original seat of government was at Allahabad, then at Agra from 1834 to 1868. Bombay Presidency, East India Companys headquarters moved from Surat to Bombay in 1687, the East India Company, which was incorporated on 31 December 1600, established trade relations with Indian rulers in Masulipatam on the east coast in 1611 and Surat on the west coast in 1612. The company rented a trading outpost in Madras in 1639, meanwhile, in eastern India, after obtaining permission from the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to trade with Bengal, the Company established its first factory at Hoogly in 1640. Almost a half-century later, after Emperor Aurengzeb forced the Company out of Hooghly, by the mid-18th century the three principal trading settlements, now called the Madras Presidency, the Bombay Presidency, and the Bengal Presidency were each administered by a Governor. After Robert Clives victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, in 1772, the Company also obtained the Nizāmat of Bengal and thereby full sovereignty of the expanded Bengal Presidency
3.
British Indian Army
–
The Indian Army was the principal army of India before independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of both British India and the Princely states, which could also have their own armies. The Indian Army was an important part of the British Empires forces, the term Indian Army appears to have been first used informally, as a collective description of the Presidency armies of the Presidencies of British India, particularly after the Indian Rebellion. The first army officially called the Indian Army was raised by the government of India in 1895, however, in 1903 the Indian Army absorbed these three armies. The Indian Army should not be confused with the Army of India which was the Indian Army itself plus the British Army in India, before 1858, the precursor units of the Indian Army were units controlled by the Company and were paid for by their profits. These operated alongside units of the British Army, funded by the British government in London. Many of these took part in the Indian Mutiny, with the aim of reinstating the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II at Delhi. The meaning of the term Indian Army has changed over time, The officer commanding the Army of India was the Commander-in-Chief, the title was used before the creation of a unified British Indian Army, the first holder was Major General Stringer Lawrence in 1748. By the early 1900s the Commander-in-Chief and his staff were based at GHQ India, Indian Army postings were less prestigious than British Army positions, but the pay was significantly greater so that officers could live on their salaries instead of having to have a private income. Accordingly, vacancies in the Indian Army were much sought after and generally reserved for the higher placed officer-cadets graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. British officers in the Indian Army were expected to learn to speak the Indian languages of their men, prominent British Indian Army officers included Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, Claude Auchinleck and William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim. Commissioned officers, British and Indian, held identical ranks to commissioned officers of the British Army, Kings Commissioned Indian Officers, created from the 1920s, held equal powers to British officers. Viceroys Commissioned Officers were Indians holding officer ranks and they were treated in almost all respects as commissioned officers, but had authority over Indian troops only, and were subordinate to all British Kings Commissioned Officers and KCIOs. They included Subedar Major or Risaldar-Major, equivalents to a British Major, Subedar or Risaldar equivalents to Captain, recruitment was entirely voluntary, about 1.75 million men served in the First World War, many on the Western Front and 2.5 million in the Second. Soldier ranks included Sepoys or Sowars, equivalent to a British private, British Army ranks such as gunner and sapper were used by other corps. In the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny. The three Presidency armies remained separate forces, each with its own Commander-in-Chief, overall operational control was exercised by the Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army, who was formally the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies. From 1861, most of the manpower was pooled in the three Presidential Staff Corps
4.
Anglo-Persian War
–
The Anglo–Persian War lasted between November 1,1856 and April 4,1857, and was fought between Great Britain and Persia. In the war, the British opposed an attempt by Persia to press its claim on the city of Herat, the campaign was successfully conducted under the leadership of Major General Sir James Outram in two theatres—on the southern coast of Persia near Bushehr and in southern Mesopotamia. The war resulted with Persia withdrawing from Herat and signing a new treaty in which it surrendered its claims on the city and they opposed an extension of Persian influence in Afghanistan because of the perception that Persia was unduly influenced by the Russians. The Persian influence on Central Asia had caused the creation of Greater Iran, while knowing of the influence, Persia had over 12 foreign provinces under its imperial control. They made an attempt in 1856, and succeeded in taking Herat on 25 October. In response, the British Governor-General in India, acting on orders from London, separate from and preceding the dispute over Herat was an incident concerning one Meerza Hashem Khan, whom the British ambassador hoped to appoint as a secretary in the mission in Teheran. The Persians objected, creating a dispute that escalated when rumours appeared that the British ambassador had improper relations with the mans wife, the dispute escalated still further when the Persians arrested the woman, the British ambassador broke relations when they refused to release her. The British Government decided to attack in the area of Bushire/Bushehr. It ordered the Government in India to launch a maritime expeditionary force, in the aftermath of the disastrous First Afghan War, the British were reluctant to send a force through Afghanistan to relieve Herat directly. Instead, they elected to attack the Persians on the Persian Gulf coast and this included two companies of the Bombay Sappers & Miners. Major J. Hill, the erstwhile Commandant of the Bombay Sappers and Miners, after the expedition he resumed the post of Commandant of the Bombay Sappers once again. This force inducted in January 1857, the first division under Stalker set sail from Bombay in November after the declaration of war, on a squadron or flotilla of seven steamships under Commodore Young, towing thirty sailing vessels. The British landed a force and captured the island of Kharag on 4 December, the first division of the expedition disembarked in the neighbourhood of the major port city of Bushire/Bushehr on 5 December 1856. They stormed the old fort at Reshire and after a naval bombardment went on to capture the city on 10 December. There was then a delay as the British waited for reinforcements, reconnaissance inland revealed a Persian force of 4000 troops at Shiraz and the first division was considered too weak to venture inland away from its maritime base of operations. This led to the formation and induction of a division from India. Once reinforcements arrived, an Army expeditionary force of three brigades under Major General Sir James Outram advanced on Brazjun/Borazjan, which the Persians abandoned without a fight. The British appropriated or destroyed the supplies at the site and then halted on 5 February near the village of Khoosh-Ab where good water was available
5.
Taiping Rebellion
–
The war was mostly fought in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei, but over 14 years of war the Taiping Army had marched through every province of China proper except Gansu. Hostilities began on January 1,1851, when the Qing Green Standard Army launched an attack against the God Worshipping Society at the town of Jintian, Guangxi. Hong declared himself the Heavenly King of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace, the Taipings began marching north in September 1851 to escape Qing forces closing in on them. On March 19,1853, the Taipings captured the city of Nanjing and Hong declared it the Heavenly Capital of his kingdom. For a decade the Taiping occupied and fought much of the mid and lower Yangzi valley. Qing imperial troops proved to be ineffective in halting Taiping advances. In Hunan Province a local irregular army called the Xiang Army or Hunan Army, under the leadership of Zeng Guofan. Zengs Xiang Army proved effective in turning back the Taiping advance in the western theater of the war. In 1856 the Taiping were weakened after infighting following a coup led by the East King, Yang Xiuqing. During this time the Xiang Army managed to retake much of Hubei. While Taiping forces were preoccupied in Jiangsu, Zengs forces moved down the Yangzi River, in May 1862 the Xiang Army began directly besieging Nanjing and managed to hold firm despite numerous attempts by the numerically superior Taiping Army to dislodge them. Hong died on June 1,1864, and Nanjing fell shortly after, the terms used for the movement often reflect the viewpoint of the writer. The Qing referred to the Taiping as Yue Bandits in official sources, in the 19th century Western observers, depending on their ideological position, referred to the Taiping as the revolutionaries, insurgents or rebels. The conflict in general has been called the Taiping Rebellion by many Western historians and they argue, instead, that the conflict should be called a civil war. The government, led by ethnic Manchus, was seen by many Han Chinese as ineffective, anti-Manchu sentiments were strongest in southern China among the Hakka community, a Han Chinese subgroup. In 1837 Hong Xiuquan, a Hakka from a mountain village, once again failed the imperial examination. He returned home, fell sick and was bedridden for several days and it was his duty to spread his message and overthrow the Qing dynasty. One of Hongs associates, Yang Xiuqing--a firewood merchant from Guangxi--also declared that he heard the voice of God
6.
Second Anglo-Afghan War
–
This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan. The war ended after the British emerged victorious against the Afghan rebels, most of the British and Indian soldiers withdrew from Afghanistan. This was aimed to thwart expansion by the Russian Empire into India, after tension between Russia and Britain in Europe ended with the June 1878 Congress of Berlin, Russia turned its attention to Central Asia. That same summer, Russia sent a diplomatic mission to Kabul. Sher Ali Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, tried unsuccessfully to keep them out, Russian envoys arrived in Kabul on 22 July 1878, and on 14 August, the British demanded that Sher Ali accept a British mission too. The Amir not only refused to receive a British mission under Neville Bowles Chamberlain, a British force of about 50,000 fighting men, mostly Indians, was distributed into military columns which penetrated Afghanistan at three different points. An alarmed Sher Ali attempted to appeal in person to the Russian Tsar for assistance, but unable to do so, he returned to Mazar-i-Sharif, where he died on 21 February 1879. According to this agreement and in return for a subsidy and vague assurances of assistance in case of foreign aggression. Ghazi Mohammad Jan Khan Wardak, and a force of 10,000 Afghans, staged an uprising, despite besieging the British garrison there, he failed to maintain the Siege of Sherpur, instead shifting focus to Roberts force, and this resulted in the collapse of this rebellion. Yaqub Khan, suspected of complicity in the massacre of Cavagnari, Ayub Khan, who had been serving as governor of Herat, rose in revolt, defeated a British detachment at the Battle of Maiwand in July 1880 and besieged Kandahar. Roberts then led the main British force from Kabul and decisively defeated Ayub Khan on 1 September at the Battle of Kandahar, abandoning the provocative policy of maintaining a British resident in Kabul, but having achieved all their other objectives, the British withdrew. They also used a method involving urine, Pathan women urinated into prisoners mouths. Captured British soldiers were out and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a stick. Pathan women then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of the man until he drowned in the urine, there were several decisive actions in the Second Anglo–Afghan War, from 1878 to 1880. Here are the battles and actions in chronological order, an asterisk indicates a clasp was awarded for that particular battle with the Afghanistan Medal. Afghan Wars and the North-West Frontier 1839–1947, westminster, National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations. Afghanistan, A Short Account of Afghanistan, Its History, and Our Dealings with It
7.
Anglo-Egyptian War
–
The Anglo-Egyptian War occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha and vastly expanded British influence over the country, in January 1882 the British and French governments sent a Joint Note to the Egyptian government, declaring their recognition of the Khedives authority. On 20 May 1882, British and French warships arrived off the coast of Alexandria, on 11 June 1882, an anti-Christian riot occurred in Alexandria that killed 50 Europeans. Colonel ‘Urabi ordered his forces to put down the riot, but Europeans fled the city, the reasons why the British government sent a fleet of ships to the coast of Alexandria is a point of historical debate, as there is no definitive information available. May I also venture to say that it has given the Liberal Party a new lease of popularity, first, they describe a plot by Edward Malet in which he portrayed the Egyptian government as unstable to his superiors in the cabinet. The British fleet bombarded Alexandria from 11–13 July and then occupied it with marines, the British did not lose a single ship, but much of the city was destroyed by fires caused by explosive shells and by ‘Urabists seeking to ruin the city that the British were taking over. Tewfik Pasha, who had moved his court to Alexandria during the unrest, declared ‘Urabi a rebel, ‘Urabi then reacted by obtaining a fatwa from Al Azhar shaykhs which condemned Tewfik as a traitor to both his country and religion, absolving those who fought against him. ‘Urabi also declared war on the United Kingdom and initiated conscription, the British army tried to reach Cairo through Alexandria but was stopped for five weeks at Kafr El Dawwar. In August, a British army of over 40,000, commanded by Garnet Wolseley and he was authorised to destroy ‘Urabis forces and clear the country of all other rebels. The engineer troops had left England for Egypt in July and August 1882, the engineers included pontoon, railway and telegraph troops. Wolseley saw the campaign as a challenge as he did not believe the Egyptians would put up much resistance. Seeking to ascertain the strength of the Egyptians Kafr El Dawwar position and this action was reported by Orabi as a battle, and Cairo was full of the news that the advancing British had been repulsed. While, most historians describe the action merely as a reconnaissance in force which was never intended as an assault on the Egyptian lines. However, the end result was that the British abandoned any hope they may have had of reaching Cairo from the north, Wolseley arrived at Alexandria on 15 August and immediately began to organize the movement of troops through the Suez Canal to Ismailia. This was quickly accomplished, Ismailia was occupied on 20 August without resistance, Ismailia was quickly reinforced with 9,000 troops, with the engineers put to work repairing the railway line from Suez. A small force was pushed along the Sweet Water Canal to the Kassassin lock arriving on 26 August, the main body of the army started to move up to Kassassin and planning for the battle at Tell El Kebir was undertaken. Skirmishing took place but did not interfere with the build up, on 12 September all was ready and during that night the army marched to battle. 13 September 1882 - Urabi redeployed to defend Cairo against Wolseley and his main force dug in at Tell El Kebir, north of the railway and the Sweet Water Canal, both of which linked Cairo to Ismailia on the canal
8.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
9.
Western Front (World War I)
–
The Western Front or Western Theater was the main theatre of war during World War I. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, the tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France. This line remained unchanged for most of the war. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several major offensives along this front, the attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. However, a combination of entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, as a result, no significant advances were made. In an effort to break the deadlock, this front saw the introduction of new technology, including poison gas, aircraft. But it was only after the adoption of improved tactics that some degree of mobility was restored, the German Armys Spring Offensive of 1918 was made possible by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that marked the end of the conflict on the Eastern Front. In spite of the stagnant nature of this front, this theatre would prove decisive. The terms of peace were agreed upon with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, belgiums neutrality was guaranteed by Britain under the 1839 Treaty of London, this caused Britain to join the war at the expiration of its ultimatum at 11 pm GMT on 4 August. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914, Luxembourg had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège, which lasted from 5–16 August, Liège was well fortified and surprised the German Army under von Bülow with its level of resistance. German heavy artillery was able to demolish the main forts within a few days. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian field army retreated to Antwerp, leaving the garrison of Namur isolated, with the Belgian capital, Brussels, although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about 20–23 August, for their part, the French had five armies deployed on their borders. The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII, was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine following the outbreak of hostilities, on 7 August the VII Corps attacked Alsace with its objectives being to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with 1st and 2nd Armies attacking toward Sarrebourg-Morhange in Lorraine, in keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French. The French advanced the 3rd and 4th Armies toward the Saar River and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau, before being driven back
10.
East African Campaign (World War I)
–
The campaign all but ended in November 1917, when the Germans entered Portuguese East Africa and continued the campaign living off Portuguese supplies. The strategy of the German colonial forces, led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, was to divert forces from the Western Front to Africa. His strategy achieved only mixed results after 1916, when he was out of German East Africa and Allied forces became composed almost entirely of South African, Indian. The Germans fought for the whole of World War I, receiving word of the armistice on 14 November 1918 at 7,30 a. m, both sides waited for confirmation and the Germans formally surrendered on 25 November. German East Africa became two League of Nations Class B Mandates, Tanganyika Territory of the United Kingdom and Ruanda-Urundi of Belgium, German East Africa was colonized by the Germans in 1885. The territory itself spanned 384,180 square miles and covered the areas of modern-day Rwanda, Burundi, the colonys indigenous population numbered seven and a half million and was governed by just 5,300 Europeans. Although the colonial regime was relatively secure, the colony had recently been shaken by the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1904–05 whose effects were still being felt by 1914. The outbreak of World War I in Europe led to the popularity of German colonial expansion. Mittelafrika effectively involved the annexation of territory, mostly occupied by the Belgian Congo, the territory would dominate central Africa and would make Germany as by far the most powerful colonial power on the African continent. Nevertheless, the German colonial military in Africa was weak, poorly equipped, although better trained and more experienced than their opponents, many of the German soldiers were reliant on weapons like the Model 1871 rifle which used obsolete black powder. Even the largest concentration of German troops in the continent in East Africa, was unable to fight an aggressive war. By threatening the important British Uganda Railway, von Lettow hoped to force British troops to invade East Africa, in 1912, the German government had formed a defence strategy for East Africa in which the military would withdraw from the coast into the hinterland and fight a guerrilla campaign. For the Belgians, the German presence in East Africa was a threat to the security of Congo, the Colonial Minister, Jules Renkin, favoured a policy of trading territory gained in East Africa with the Portuguese, to expand the western Congo coast in a post-war settlement. A successful campaign in Africa was also seen as a way for the De Broqueville government to avenge the German invasion of Belgium, in East Africa, the Congo Act was first broken by the British. On 15 August, German Askari forces stationed in the Neu Moshi region engaged in their first offensive of the campaign, taveta on the British side of Kilimanjaro fell to 300 Askari of two field companies with the British firing a token volley and retiring in good order. In September, the Germans began to stage raids deeper into British East Africa, German naval power on Lake Victoria was limited to Hedwig von Wissmann and Kingani a tugboat armed with one pom-pom gun, causing minor damage but a great deal of news. The British then armed the Uganda Railway lake steamers SS William Mackinnon, SS Kavirondo, Winifred, the tug was trapped and then scuttled by the Germans. In an effort to solve the raiding nuisance and to capture the northern, white settler region of the German colony
11.
Third Anglo-Afghan War
–
The Third Anglo-Afghan War, also referred to as the Third Afghan War, began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. The Afghans were able to resume the right to conduct their own affairs as a fully independent state. The root cause of the Third Anglo-Afghan War lies many years before the fighting commenced. For the British in India, Afghanistan was long seen as a source of threat. For a long time the British worried about Russian intentions in the region and this period became known as the Great Game. Ostensibly, the country remained independent, however under the Treaty of Gandamak it accepted that in external matters it would. have no windows looking on the outside world, the death in 1901 of Emir Abdur Rahman Khan led indirectly to the war that began 18 years later. His successor, Habibullah, was a leader who sided with Britain or Russia. Notwithstanding these outbreaks, the frontier generally remained settled at a time when Britain could ill afford trouble, a Turco-German mission left Kabul in 1916. By that time, however, it had successfully convinced Habibullah that Afghanistan was an independent nation, with the end of the First World War, Habibullah sought to gain reward from the British government for his assistance during the war. Looking for British recognition of Afghanistans independence in foreign affairs, he demanded a seat at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 and this request was denied by the Viceroy, Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, on the grounds that attendance at the conference was confined to the belligerents. Further negotiations were scheduled, but before they could begin Habibullah was assassinated on 19 February 1919 and this resulted in a power struggle as Habibullahs brother Nasrullah Khan proclaimed himself as Habibullahs successor, while in Kabul Amanullah, Habibullahs third son, had also proclaimed himself Amir. However, the Afghan army suspected Amanullahs complicity in the death of his father, needing a way of cementing his power, upon seizing the throne in April 1919 Amanullah posed as a man of democratic ideals, promising reforms in the system of government. He stated that there should be no forced labour, tyranny or oppression, upon seizing the throne, Amanullah had his uncle Nasrullah arrested for Habibullahs murder and had him sentenced to life imprisonment. Nasrullah had been the leader of a conservative element in Afghanistan. By April 1919 he realised that if he could not find a way to placate the conservatives he would be unlikely to maintain his hold on power. In 1919 the Afghan regular army was not a formidable force. These men were organised into 21 cavalry regiments and 75 infantry battalions, with about 280 modern artillery pieces, organised into 70 batteries, in reality, the Afghan regular army was not ready for war. As in past years, the levels of the officer corps were riddled with political intrigue
12.
Colonel-in-chief
–
Colonel-in-Chief is a ceremonial position in a military regiment. It is in use in several Commonwealth armies, where it is held by the regiments patron. The position was used in the armies of several European monarchies. A Colonel-in-Chief has a ceremonial role in their regiment. The Norwegian Army has taken a more whimsical approach to the position, historically a Colonel-in-Chief was the ceremonial head of a regiment, usually a member of a European countrys royal family. The practice extends at least back to 1740 in Prussia when Frederick II held that position in the newly created Garde du Corps, an elite heavy cavalry regiment. By the late 19th Century the designation could be given to the children of royalty, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II carried the title to an extreme, holding it in literally dozens of German and Austro-Hungarian, British, Russian, and Portuguese regiments. In addition, his mother, wife, son, and daughters were also full or deputy Colonels-in-Chief of various units, in modern usage, the Colonel-in-Chief of a regiment is its patron, who has a ceremonial role in the life of the regiment. They do not have a role, or the right to issue orders. The chief purpose of the Colonel-in-Chief is to maintain a link between the regiment and the royal family. Some artillery regiments have a Captain-General instead of a Colonel-in-Chief, Colonels-in-Chief are appointed at the invitation of the regiment. While it is traditional for a royal personage to hold the position, as of 2015, most Colonels-in-Chief in the British Army are members of the British royal family. These exceptions, however, do not change the raison dêtre of the post, the role has spread to other armies in the Commonwealth of Nations, at least in countries which have royal families
13.
Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
–
The title of Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was granted by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to her third son, Prince Arthur, on 24 May 1874. At the same time, he was granted the subsidiary title of Earl of Sussex. The Dukedom of Connaught and Strathearn was named one of the four provinces of Ireland. It was seen as the title that, if available, would henceforth be awarded to the British monarchs third son, since the exit of the Irish Free State from the United Kingdom in 1922, titles related to locations in the Free State have not been awarded. However, territorial titles relating to Northern Ireland have continued to be awarded, after Prince Arthurs death in 1942, the title was inherited by his grandson, Alastair. In the absence of any heirs, the dukedom became extinct when Alastair died,15 months after his grandfather. A Canadian military regiment, The British Columbia Regiment, is a Canadian armoured regiment in the 1st Dukes name, a British Indian Army cavalry regiment, the 6th Duke of Connaughts Own Lancers, was also named for the 1st Duke. Connaught Place, New Delhi, the centre of Indias capital. Connaught Place, London, on the end of Edgeware Road, very close to the Marble Arch
14.
O'Moore Creagh
–
Creagh was born in Cahirbane, County Clare, on 2 April 1848, the seventh son of Captain James Creagh, RN, and his wife, Grace OMoore. Creagh was married twice, firstly to Mary Longfield in 1874, who died in 1876 and he had three children, one of whom was Major General Sir Michael Creagh. In 1878 he became captain of the Merwara battalion, commanding them from 1882 until 1886 and he assumed command of the 29th Bombay Infantry in 1890, and was promoted to Assistant Quarter-master General in 1896. He commanded the Indian contingent during the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900 and he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1904 and promoted to general in 1907, becoming the Military Secretary to the India Office the same year. Creagh succeeded Lord Kitchener as Commander-in-Chief, India, in 1909, during the First World War he served as the military advisor to the Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps. He died at 65 Albert Hall Mansions, London SW9, on 9 August 1923 and his Victoria Cross is displayed at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London, England. Listed in order of publication year The Register of the Victoria Cross Clarke, a register of awards to Irish-born officers and men. Irelands VCs Monuments to Courage Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross Location of grave and VC medal OMoore Creagh at Find a Grave
15.
Victoria Cross
–
The Victoria Cross is the highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. It is awarded for gallantry in the face of the enemy to members of the British armed forces and it was previously awarded to Commonwealth countries, most of which have established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857 and these investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace. The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean War, since then, the medal has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients. Only 15 medals,11 to members of the British Army, the traditional explanation of the source of the metal from which the medals are struck is that it derives from Russian cannon captured at the Siege of Sevastopol. Some research has suggested a variety of origins for the material, research has established that the metal for most of the medals made since December 1914 came from two Chinese cannons that were captured from the Russians in 1855. Owing to its rarity, the VC is highly prized and the medal has fetched over £400,000 at auction, a number of public and private collections are devoted to the Victoria Cross. The private collection of Lord Ashcroft, amassed since 1986, contains over one-tenth of all VCs awarded, following a 2008 donation to the Imperial War Museum, the Ashcroft collection went on public display alongside the museums Victoria and George Cross collection in November 2010. These are unique awards of honours system, recommended, assessed, gazetted and presented by each country. In 1854, after 39 years of peace, Britain found itself fighting a war against Russia. The Crimean War was one of the first wars with modern reporting, before the Crimean War, there was no official standardised system for recognition of gallantry within the British armed forces. This structure was limited, in practice awards of the Order of the Bath were confined to officers of field rank. Brevet promotions or Mentions in Despatches were largely confined to those who were under the notice of the commanders in the field. Other European countries had awards that did not discriminate against class or rank, France awarded the Légion dhonneur and The Netherlands gave the Order of William. There was a feeling among the public and in the Royal Court that a new award was needed to recognise incidents of gallantry that were unconnected with a mans lengthy or meritorious service. Queen Victoria issued a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual on 29 January 1856 that officially constituted the VC, the order was backdated to 1854 to recognise acts of valour during the Crimean War. Queen Victoria had instructed the War Office to strike a new medal that would not recognise birth or class, the medal was meant to be a simple decoration that would be highly prized and eagerly sought after by those in the military services
16.
Order of the Bath
–
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for appointing a knight. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath, George I erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order. Prior to 1815, the order had only a class, Knight Companion. Recipients of the Order are now usually senior officers or senior civil servants. Commonwealth citizens who are not subjects of the Queen and foreign nationals may be made Honorary Members, in the Middle Ages, knighthood was often conferred with elaborate ceremonies. These usually involved the taking a bath during which he was instructed in the duties of knighthood by more senior knights. He was then put to bed to dry, clothed in a special robe, he was led with music to the chapel where he spent the night in a vigil. At dawn he made confession and attended Mass, then retired to his bed to sleep until it was fully daylight, in the early medieval period the difference seems to have been that the full ceremonies were used for men from more prominent families. Knights Bachelor continued to be created with the form of ceremony. The last occasion on which Knights of the Bath were created was the coronation of Charles II in 1661. From at least 1625, and possibly from the reign of James I, Knights of the Bath were using the motto Tria iuncta in uno, and wearing as a badge three crowns within a plain gold oval. These were both adopted by the Order of the Bath, a similar design of badge is still worn by members of the Civil Division. Their symbolism however is not entirely clear, the three joined in one may be a reference to the kingdoms of England, Scotland and either France or Ireland, which were held by English and, later, British monarchs. This would correspond to the three crowns in the badge, another explanation of the motto is that it refers to the Holy Trinity. The prime mover in the establishment of the Order of the Bath was John Anstis, Garter King of Arms, the Court remained the centre of the political world. The King was limited in that he had to choose Ministers who could command a majority in Parliament, the leader of an administration still had to command the Kings personal confidence and approval. A strong following in Parliament depended on being able to supply places, pensions, the attraction of the new Order for Walpole was that it would provide a source of such favours to strengthen his political position
17.
Order of the Star of India
–
The article is about the order of chivalry known as Star of India. For other items of the name, please see disambiguation at Star of India. The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861, with the death of the last surviving knight, the Maharaja of Alwar, the order became dormant in 2009. The motto of the order is Heavens light our guide, the Star of India, the emblem of the order, also appeared on the flag of the Viceroy of India and other flags used to represent British India. The last appointments to the orders relating to the British Empire in India were made in the 1948 New Year Honours, the orders have never been formally abolished, and Elizabeth II succeeded her father George VI as Sovereign of the Orders when she ascended the throne in 1952. She remains Sovereign of the Order to this day, however, there are no living members of the order. The last Grand Master of the Order, Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was assassinated by the Provisional IRA on 27 August 1979. The last surviving Knight Grand Commander, HH Maharaja Sree Padmanabhadasa Sir Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma GCSI, GCIE, Maharajah of Travancore, the last surviving Knight Commander, HH Maharaja Sir Tej Singh Prabhakar Bahadur KCSI, Maharaja of Alwar, died on 15 February 2009 in New Delhi. The last surviving Companion of the Order, Vice-Admiral Sir Ronald Brockman CSI, the British Sovereign was, and still is, Sovereign of the Order. The next-most senior member was the Grand Master, the position was held, ex officio, when the order was established in 1861, there was only one class of Knights Companions, who bore the postnominals KSI. In 1866, however, it was expanded to three classes, members of the first class were known as Knights Grand Commanders, rather than Knights Grand Cross, so as not to offend the non-Christian Indians appointed to the Order. All those surviving members who had already been made Knights Companions of the Order were retroactively Known as Knights Grand Commanders. Former viceroys and other officials, as well as those who served in the Department of the Secretary of State for India for at least thirty years were eligible for appointment. Rulers of Indian Princely States were also eligible for appointment, like some rulers of princely states, some rulers of particular prestige, for example the Maharajas of the Rana dynasty or the Sultans of Oman, were usually appointed Knights Grand Commanders. Women, save the princely rulers, were ineligible for appointment to the order and they were, unlike the habit of many other orders, admitted as Knights, rather than as Dames or Ladies. The first woman to be admitted to the order was HH Nawab Sikandar Begum Sahiba, Nawab Begum of Bhopal, the orders statutes were specially amended to permit the admission of Queen Mary as a Knight Grand Commander in 1911. Members of the Order wore elaborate costumes on important ceremonial occasions, The mantle, on the left side was a representation of the star. The collar, also only by Knights Grand Commanders, was made of gold
18.
10th Baluch Regiment
–
The 10th Baluch or Baluch Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. After the independence, it was transferred to the Pakistan Army, in 1956, it was amalgamated with the 8th Punjab and Bahawalpur Regiments. During more than a years of military service, the 10th Baluch Regiment acquired an enviable reputation as one of the most distinguished among the fabled regiments of the British Indian Army. Its long list of honours and awards includes four Victoria Crosses, the Baluch Regiment originated in the Army of Bombay Presidency in 1844, when Sir Charles Napier raised the 1st Belooch Battalion for local service in the newly conquered province of Sindh. Two years later, another Belooch battalion was raised, while in 1858, John Jacob raised Jacobs Rifles, the 1st was in Karachi when the news of the insurrection reached the Commissioner. Sir Bartle Frere dispatched them with all haste, on foot across the Sindh desert in May, to join the artillery train on its way to Delhi. The regiment was brought into line for its services in North India as the 27th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry, meanwhile, the 2nd Beloochees were also regularized as the 29th Regiment. In 1862, the 2nd Beloochees were dispatched to China to suppress the Taiping Rebellion, two years later, they became some of the first foreign troops to be stationed in Japan, when two companies were sent to Yokohama as a part of the garrison guarding the British legation. The 1st Beloochees greatly distinguished themselves in the tough Abyssinian Campaign of 1868 and were made Light Infantry as a reward, all Baloch battalions took part in the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, where the Jacobs Rifles suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Maiwand. The 1st Belooch Regiment again distinguished itself in 1885-87 during the Third Burma War, in 1891, two battalions of Bombay Infantry also became Baluchi, when they were reconstituted with Baluchis, Hazaras and Pathans from Baluchistan and localized in the province. The first of these, the 24th Infantry was raised in 1820, while the other, in 1914, their full dress uniforms included red trousers worn with rifle green or drab tunics. 124th Duchess of Connaughts Own Baluchistan Infantry 1/124th - India, Persia, 2/124th - Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, India. 126th Baluchistan Infantry - India, Egypt, Muscat, Aden, 127th Queen Marys Own Baluch Light Infantry 1/127th - India, East Africa, Persia. 129th Duke of Connaughts Own Baluchis 1/129th - India, France, 130th King Georges Own Baluchis 1/130th - India, East Africa, Palestine. During the First World War, most of the regiments raised second battalions, only 2/124th Baluchistan Infantry of the wartime raisings was retained after the post-war reforms. At Hollebeke, during the First Ypres, Sepoy Khudadad Khan became the first Muslim and pre partition Indian soldier to win the Victoria Cross, prior to 1911 pre partition Indian soldiers had not been eligible for the Victoria Cross. The battalion would go on to serve with distinction in German East Africa alongside the 127th QMO Baluch Light Infantry, meanwhile, the 1st and 3rd Battalions of 124th DCO Baluchistan Infantry served in Persia, while the 2nd distinguished itself in Mesopotamia and Palestine. After the First World War, a major re-organization of British Indian Army took place, most of the wartime units were disbanded, while the remaining single-battalion regiments were merged to form large regimental groups of 4-6 battalions each
19.
Pakistan Army
–
Pakistan Army is the land-based service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It came into existence after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies it had an active force of approximately 620,000 active personnel as of 2017. In Pakistan, there is 16–23 years of age for military service. Pakistan Army has started inducting women as commissioned officers, Pakistani Air Force and Pakistani Navy have inducted their first female pilots and sailors in 2012 see details at Women in the Pakistan Armed Forces. Since its establishment in 1947, the Army has been involved in four wars with neighbouring India, since 1947, it has also maintained a strong presence along with its inter-services in the Arab states during the past Arab-Israeli Wars, and aided the coalition in the first Gulf War. Recently, major joint-operations undertaken by the Army include Operation Zarb-e-Azb, Operation Toar-e-Tander, the Army has also been an active participant in United Nations peacekeeping missions, including playing a major role in rescuing trapped US soldiers in Operation Gothic Serpent in 1993. Under Article 243 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the President is appointed the civilian Commander-in-Chief, the Chief of Army Staff, by statute a four-star general, is appointed by the President with the consultation and confirmation needed from the Prime Minister. The Pakistan Army is currently commanded by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan Army was created on the 30th of June of the year 1947 from the division of the British Indian Army. Fearing that India would take over the state of Kashmir, irregulars, scouts, in response to this, the Maharaja acceded to India. The Indian Armed Forces were then deployed to Kashmir and this led to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. A ceasefire followed on UN intervention with Pakistan occupying the northwestern part of Kashmir and this aid greatly expanded the Pakistan Army from its modest beginnings. The Pakistan Army took over from politicians for the first time when General Ayub Khan came to power through a coup in 1958. He formed Convention Muslim League which included Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who would later become Pakistans first democratically elected Prime Minister, tensions with India flared in the 1960s and a brief border skirmish was fought near the Rann of Kutch area during April 1965. The War began after the failure of Operation Gibraltar on 5 August 1965, on the night of 6 September 1965, the Indian Army opened the war front to the Province of Punjab of Pakistan, the Indian Army almost reached the Pakistani city of Lahore. The Indian Army conquered around 360 square kilometres square kilometres of Pakistani territory on the outskirts of Lahore. Indian forces halted their assault on Lahore once they had reached the village of Burki, the rationale for this was that a ceasefire was to be signed soon, and had India captured Lahore it would likely have been returned in ceasefire negotiations. The War eventually ended with a United Nations backed ceasefire and was followed by the Tashkent Declaration, losses were relatively heavy—on the Pakistani side, twenty aircraft,200 tanks, and 3,800 troops. Pakistans army had been able to withstand Indian pressure, but a continuation of the fighting would only have led to further losses, at the time of ceasefire declaration, India reported casualties of about 3,000 killed
20.
Baloch Regiment
–
The Baloch Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Pakistan Army. The modern regiment was formed in May 1956 by the merger of 8th Punjab, since then, further raisings have brought the strength of the Regiment to more than fifty battalions. The Baloch Regiment is descended from the infantry of the old British Indian Army and is named after the Pakistani province of Balochistan, before 1991, it was called the Baluch Regiment but the spelling was changed to Baloch to better reflect the correct pronunciation. The Baloch Regiment is second in seniority after the Punjab Regiment and its senior-most battalion was raised more than two hundred years ago, in 1798. The regiment has a record of military service both before and after the independence of Pakistan. It has won numerous awards including six Victoria Cross, one George Cross. The Regiment’s long list of battle honours dates from the Battle of Cochin in 1809 to the Battle of Qaisar-i-Hind in 1971, the Baloch Regiment has its origin in the former Bombay and Madras Armies, as well as the State Forces of Bahawalpur. In the 18th century, British possessions in India were divided into the Presidencies of Madras, Bengal, each presidency maintained its own army, and it was not until the end of the 19th century that a unified command was established for the British Indian Army. For more than fifty years, the Madras Army was engaged in the struggle for control of South India and was responsible for the British defeat of Tipu Sultan. It also took a part in the wars against the Mahrattas, dispatched a number of overseas expeditions and played a major role in the conquest. The Baloch Regiments Madrassi origins are derived from the five battalions it inherited from 8th Punjab Regiment in 1956. The 1st Battalion was raised in 1798 at Masulipatam, as 3rd Extra Battalion of Madras Native Infantry and was known as MacLeod ki Paltan after the officer and it was designated as 1st Battalion 15th Regiment in 1800, and 29th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry in 1824. The battalion was dispatched to Ceylon to suppress a rebellion of the Sinhalese in 1818, in 1832, it was stationed at Malacca, Malaya, when it was again engaged in suppressing a revolt in the State of Naning. 2,3,4 &5 Baloch were also raised as battalions of Madras Infantry in 1799-1800, in 1824, they were designated as the 30th, 31st, 32nd & 33rd Madras Native Infantry respectively. The 30th & 32nd Regiments took part in the First Burma War, while the 30th, the 31st Regiment, then known as 1st Battalion 16th Regiment, greatly distinguished itself at the Battle of Mahidpur. It was styled as Light Infantry in 1811, as reward for a 25-mile forced march in support of a retreating force, the 33rd Regiment first made its name in the Travancore War in 1809, when the battalion repulsed a force of 3000 rebels at Cochin. All four battalions saw action in Central India against the Marathas during the Great Indian Rebellion of 1857-58. Between 1890 and 1893, the five battalions were moved to Burma and reconstituted with Punjabi Muslims, Sikhs and their designations were changed to 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd Regiments of Madras Infantry
21.
Karachi
–
Karachi is the capital of Sindh, and is the largest and most populous city in Pakistan, as well as the 7th largest in the world and the worlds second most populous city proper. Ranked as a world city, the city is Pakistans premier industrial and financial centre. Karachi is also Pakistans most cosmopolitan city, though the Karachi region has been inhabited for millennia, the city was founded as a village named Kolachi that was established as a fortified settlement in 1729. By the time of the Partition of British India, the city was the largest in Sindh with a population of 400,000. Immediately following the independence of Pakistan, the population increased dramatically with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees from India. The city experienced economic growth following independence, attracting migrants from throughout Pakistan. Karachi is now Pakistans premier industrial and financial centre, the city has a formal economy estimated to be worth $113 billion as of 2014. Karachi collects over a third of Pakistans tax revenue, and generates approximately 20% of Pakistans GDP, approximately 30% of Pakistani industrial output is from Karachi, while Karachis ports handle approximately 95% of Pakistans foreign trade. Approximately 90% of the corporations operating in Pakistan are headquartered in Karachi. Up to 70% of Karachis workforce is employed in the informal economy, Karachi is one of Pakistans most secular and socially liberal cities. It is also the most linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse city in Pakistan, Karachi is considered to be one of the worlds fastest growing cities, and has communities representing almost every ethnic group in Pakistan. Karachi is also home to over 2 million Bangladeshi migrants,1 million Afghans, the citys murder rate in 2015 had decreased by 75% compared to 2013, and kidnappings decreased by 90%, with the improved security environment triggering sharp increases in real-estate prices. Karachi was reputedly founded in 1729 as the settlement of Kolachi, the new settlement is said to have been named in honour of Mai Kolachi, whose son is said to have slayed a man-eating crocodile in the village after his elder brothers had already been killed by it. The citys inhabitants are referred to by the demonym Karachiite in English, the earliest inhabitants of the Karachi region are believed to have been hunter-gatherers, with ancient flint tools discovered at several sites. The Karachi region is believed to have known to the ancient Greeks. The region may be the site of Krokola, where Alexander the Great once camped to prepare a fleet for Babylonia, in 711 C. E. Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Sindh and Indus Valley. The Karachi region is believed to have known to the Arabs as Debal. Under Mirza Ghazi Beg the Mughal administrator of Sindh, development of coastal Sindh, under his rule, fortifications in the region acted as a bulwark against Portuguese incursions into Sindh
22.
Charles James Napier
–
Charles James Napier was the eldest son of Colonel George Napier, and his second wife, Lady Sarah Lennox, with this being the second marriage for both parties. Lady Sarah was the great-granddaughter of King Charles II, Napier was born at the Whitehall Palace in London, and he received part of his education at boarding school in Celbridge, Ireland. He joined the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the British Army in January 1794, Napier commanded the 50th Regiment of Foot during the Peninsular War in Iberia against Napoleon Bonaparte. Napiers activities there ended during the Battle of Corunna, in which he was wounded, Napier was rescued, barely alive, by a French Army drummer named Guibert, and taken as a prisoner-of-war. Nevertheless, Napier was awarded an Army Gold Medal after he was returned to British hands, Napier recuperated from his wounds while he was being held near the headquarters of the French Marshall Soult and afterwards Michel Ney. On March 21,1809, a British sloop approached Corunna with a letter for the commandant of the city, for his deeds at Bussaco and at Fuentes de Oñoro, Napier won the silver medal with two clasps. Napier returned to England and became the General Officer Commanding of the Northern District in England in April 1839, in 1842, at the age of 60, Napier was appointed Major General to the command of the Indian army within the Bombay Presidency. His orders had been only to put down the rebels, Napier was supposed to have despatched to his superiors the short, notable message, Peccavi, the Latin for I have sinned. This pun appeared under the title Foreign Affairs in Punch magazine on 18 May 1844, the true author of the pun was, however, Englishwoman Catherine Winkworth, who submitted it to Punch, which then printed it as a factual report. Later proponents of British rule over the East Indians justified the conquest thus, If this was a piece of rascality, it was a noble piece of rascality. On 4 July 1843, Napier was appointed Knight Grand Cross in the division of the Order of the Bath, in recognition of his leading the victories at Miani. He was also in 1843 given the colonelcy of the 97th Regiment of Foot, Napier was appointed Governor of the Bombay Presidency by Lord Ellenborough. Napier was again dispatched to India during the spring of 1849, however upon arriving once again in India, Napier found that this had already been accomplished by Lord Gough and his army. Napier remained for a while as the Commander-in-Chief in India and he also quarrelled repeatedly with Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India. The source of the dispute was Dalhousies behaviour on Indias north-west frontier, Dalhousie had requested repeated punitive raids against villagers who had not paid taxes. Napier was opposed to these tactics but accompanied a column of East India Company troops under Sir Colin Campbell, the Punjab troops were not under Napiers command and began burning villages on Lawrences orders. ’. Napier returned home to England for the last time, however his quarrel with Dalhousie was not over. Instead they were pooh-poohed as the emanations of a distempered mind. ’ Napiers former house is now part of Oaklands Catholic School of Waterlooville, Napier died on 29 August 1853 and his remains were buried in the Royal Garrison Church in Portsmouth
23.
Sindh
–
Sindh /sɪnd/ is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, in the southeast of the country. Historically home to the Sindhi people, it is locally known as the Mehran. It was formerly known as Sind until 1956, Sindh is the third largest province of Pakistan by area, and second largest province by population after Punjab. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west, and Punjab province to the north, Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east, and Arabian Sea to the south. Sindhs climate is noted for hot summers and mild winters, the provincial capital of Sindh is Pakistans largest city and financial hub, Karachi. Sindh has Pakistans second largest economy with Karachi being its capital hosts the headquarters of several multinational banks. Sindh is home to a portion of Pakistans industrial sector. The remainder of Sindh has an agriculture based economy, and produces fruit, food consumer items, Sindh is also the centre of Pakistans pharmaceutical industry. Sindh is known for its culture which is strongly influenced by Sufism. Several important Sufi shrines are located throughout the province which attract millions of annual devotees, Sindh also has Pakistans highest percentage of Hindu residents. Karachi and other centres of Sindh have seen ethnic tensions between the native Sindhis and the Muhajirs boil over into violence on several occasions. Sindh is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites - the Historical Monuments at Makli, and the Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro, the word Sindh is derived from the Sanskrit language and is adapted from the Sanskrit term Sindhu which literally means river hence a reference to Indus River. Spelling of its name as Sind was discontinued in 1988 by an amendment passed in Sindh Assembly. The Greeks who conquered Sindh in 325 BC under the command of Alexander the Great rendered it as Indós, the ancient Iranians referred to everything east of the river Indus as hind from the word Sindh. When the British arrived in the 17th century in India, then ruled by the Maratha Empire, they applied the Greek version of the name Sindh to all of South Asia, calling it India. The name of Pakistan is actually an acronym in which the letter s is derived from the first letter in Sindh, Sindhs first known village settlements date as far back as 7000 BCE. Permanent settlements at Mehrgarh, currently in Balochistan, to the west expanded into Sindh and this culture blossomed over several millennia and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE. The primitive village communities in Balochistan were still struggling against a difficult highland environment and this was one of the most developed urban civilizations of the ancient world
24.
Baloch people
–
They mainly speak the Balochi language, a branch of Northwestern Iranian languages, and are an Iranic people. About 50% of the total Baloch population live in Balochistan, a province of Pakistan, 40% of Baloch are settled in Sindh. They make up nearly 3. 6% of the Pakistani population, about 2% of Irans population, prominent Baloch people in Pakistan include former Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and former President Asif Ali Zardari who is an ethnic Baloch from Sindh. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry born in Quetta, is the longest-serving Chief Justice of Pakistan is another prominent Baloch personality, the son of Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is the Chief of the Baloch Zardari tribe. Farooq Leghari was the first ever ethnic Baloch to be elected President, the exact origin of the word Baloch is unclear. Rawlinson believed that it is derived from the name of the Babylonian king, dames believed that it is derived from the Persian term for cockscomb, said to have been used as a crest on the helmets of Baloch troops in 6th century BCE. Herzfeld proposed that it is derived from the Median term brza-vaciya, the remnants of the original name such as Balochuk and Balochiki are said to be still used as ethnic names in Balochistan. Some writers suggest a derivation from Sanskrit words bal, meaning strength, the army in question is that of the Umayyad Caliphate after the conquest of Sindh. According to Baloch lore, their ancestors hail from Aleppo in what is now Syria and they are descendants of Hazrat Ameer Hamza, uncle of the prophet Muhammad, who settled in Halab. and they fled to the Sistan region. They allegedly remained there for nearly 500 years until they fled following a deception against the Sistan leader Badr-ud-Din to the Makran region, the Baloch began migrating towards the east in the late Sasanian period. The cause of the migration is unknown but may have been as a result of the unstable conditions in the Caspian area. The migrations occurred over several centuries and this brought them into conflict with the Buyids, and later the Ghaznavids and the Seljuqs. Adud al-Dawla of the Buyid dynasty launched a campaign against them. By the 13/14th centuries waves of Baloch were moving into Sindh, according to Dr. Akhtar Baloch, Professor at University of Karachi, the Balochis migrated from Balochistan during the Little Ice Age and settled in Sindh and Punjab. The Little Ice Age is conventionally defined as an extending from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, or alternatively. Although climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of this period, which varied according to local conditions. According to Professor Baloch, the climate of Balochistan was very cold, the area where the Baloch tribes settled was disputed between the Persian Safavids and the Mughal emperors. Although the Mughals managed to some control over the eastern parts of the area, by the 17th century
25.
Sindhis
–
Not to be confused with the Sindi people. Sindhis are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the Sindh province of Pakistan, Sindhi culture is highly influenced by Sufi doctrines and principles. Some of the cultural icons are Raja Dahir, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Jhulelal, Sachal Sarmast. After the partition of India in 1947, most Sindhi Hindus and Sindhi Sikhs migrated to India, according to the 1998 census of Pakistan, Hindus constituted about 8% of the total population of Sindh province. Most of them live in areas such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur. Hyderabad is the largest centre of Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan with 100, the original inhabitants of ancient Sindh were believed to be aboriginal tribes speaking languages of the Indus Valley Civilization around 3300 BC. Moen-jo-Daro is the symbol of Indus Valley Civilization in World, the Indo-Aryans are believed to have founded the Vedic civilization that existed between the Sarasvati River and Ganges river around 1500 BC. This civilization helped shape subsequent cultures in South Asia, because of its location at one of the more western edges of South Asia, Sindh was one of the earliest regions to be influenced by Islam after 632 AD. Before this period, it was heavily Hindu, and Buddhist, after 632 AD, it was part of the Islamic empires of the Abbasids and Umayyids. Habbari, Soomra, Samma, Arghun dynasties ruled Sindh, the region received its name, Sindh, from the River Sindhu. The people living in the region are referred to as Sindhi, the terms Hindi and Hindu are derived from the word Sindh and Sindhu, as the ancient Persians pronounced s as h. India is also known as Hindustan and these tribes belong to the same blood line. Among other Sindhi Rajputs are the Bhachos, Bhuttos, Bhattis, Bhanbhro, Mahendros, Buriros, Lakha, Sahetas, Lohanas, Mohano, Dahars, Indhar, Chachar, Dhareja, Rathores, Dakhan, Langah, etc. The Sindhi-Sipahi of Rajasthan and the Sandhai Muslims of Gujarat are communities of Sindhi Rajputs settled in India, closely related to the Sindhi Rajputs are the Jats of Sindh, who are found mainly in the Indus delta region. However, tribes are of importance in Sindh as compared to in Punjab. Identity in Sindh is mostly based on a common ethnicity, with Sindh’s stable prosperity and its strategic geographical position, it was subject to successive conquests by foreign empires. In 712 A. D. Sindh was incorporated into the Caliphate, the Islamic Empire, Muslim Sindhis tend to follow the Sunni Hanafi fiqh with a substantial minority being Shia Ithna ashariyah. Sufism has left an impact on Sindhi Muslims and this is visible through the numerous Sufi shrines which dot the landscape of Sindh
26.
Pashtuns
–
The Pashtuns /ˈpʌʃˌtʊnz/ or /ˈpæʃˌtuːnz/, historically known by the exonyms Afghans, and Pathan, are an ethnic group native to Afghanistan and North-Western Pakistan. They are generally classified as Eastern Iranian ethno-linguistically, who use Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali, the origin of Pashtuns is unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Pakthas between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC, who may be their early ancestors. Their history is mostly spread amongst various countries of South and Central Asia, as the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, Pashtuns have been the dominant ethno-linguistic group for over 300 years. The Barakzai dynasty played a role during the Great Game from the 19th century to the 20th century as they were caught between the imperialist designs of the British and Russian empires. There have been many notable Pashtun people throughout history, Ahmad Shah Durrani is regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. Under Amanullah Khan, Afghanistan was able to pursue an independent foreign policy, some others include Malala Yousafzai, Shah Rukh Khan, Hamid Karzai, and Imran Khan. They are an important community in Pakistan, which has the largest Pashtun population, Pashtuns attained presidency there and high rankings in sports. They are the worlds largest segmentary lineage ethnic group, according to Ethnologue, the total population of the group is estimated to be around 50 million but an accurate count remains elusive due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979. Estimates of the number of Pashtun tribes and clans range from about 350 to over 400, additional Pashtun communities are located in western and northern Afghanistan, the Gilgit–Baltistan and Kashmir regions and northwestern Punjab province of Pakistan. There are also sizeable Muslim communities in India, which are of largely Pashtun ancestry, throughout the Indian subcontinent, they are often referred to as Pathans. Smaller Pashtun communities are found in the countries of the Middle East, such as in the Khorasan Province of Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Europe, important metropolitan centres of Pashtun culture include Peshawar, Quetta, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Kunduz, and Lashkar Gah. The cities of Kabul and Ghazni in Afghanistan are home to around 25% Pashtun population while Herat, with as high as 7 million by some estimates, the city of Karachi in Sindh, Pakistan has the largest concentration of urban Pashtuns in the world. In addition, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Lahore also have sizeable Pashtun populations, about 15% of Pakistans nearly 200 million population is Pashtun. In Afghanistan, they are the largest ethnic group and make up between 42-60% of the 32.5 million population. The exact figure remains uncertain in Afghanistan, which is affected by the 1.5 million or more Afghan refugees that remain in Pakistan. Another one million or more Afghans live in Iran, a cumulative population assessment suggests a total of around 49 million individuals all across the world. A prominent institution of the Pashtun people is the system of tribes. Despite this, many people identify themselves with various clans
27.
Brahui people
–
The Brahui or Brahvi people are a Pakistani ethnic group of about 2.2 million people with the vast majority found in Baluchistan, Pakistan. They are a minority group in Afghanistan, where they are native. They mainly occupy the area in Balochistan from Bolan Pass through the Bolan Hills to Ras Muari on the Arabian sea, the Brahuis are almost entirely Sunni Muslims. The ethnonym Brahui is an old term and a purely Dravidian one. The fact that other Dravidian languages only exist further south in India has led to speculations about the origins of the Brahui. There are three hypotheses regarding the Brahui that have proposed by academics. One theory is that the Brahui are a population of Dravidians, surrounded by speakers of Indo-Iranian languages. Another theory is that they migrated to Baluchistan from inner India during the early Muslim period of the 13th or 14th centuries, a third theory says the Brahui migrated to Balochistan from Central India after 1000 AD. The absence of any older Iranian influence in Brahui supports this last hypothesis, the main Iranian contributor to Brahui vocabulary is a northwestern Iranian language, Baluchi, Sindhi and southeastern Iranian language, Pashto. The Brahui language is a Dravidian language, even though it is far from South India. Brahui is generally written in the Perso-Arabic script and there is even a Latin alphabet that has developed for use with Brahui. Kalat, Jhalawan, and Sarawan, with Kalat as the standard dialect, at present Brahui is spoken in Pakistani Balochistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Sindh and the Persian Gulf Arab states. Other, relatively minor, low-frequency haplogroups among the Brahui are those of L, E1b1a, G, and N
28.
Balochistan
–
Balochistan is an arid desert and mountainous region in south-western Asia. It comprises the Pakistani province of Balochistan, Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, Balochistan borders the Pashtun region to the north, Sindh to the east, Punjab to the northeast, and Persian regions to the west and northwest. South of its coastline, including the Makran Coast, are the Arabian Sea. The name Balochistan is generally believed to derive from that of the Baloch people, the term Baloch does not appear in pre-Islamic sources. It is likely that the Balochs were known by other name at their place of origin. The Suffix -stān is a Persian word meaning place, johan Hansman relates the term Baloch to Meluḫḫa, the name by which the Indus Valley Civilisation is believed to have been known to the Sumerians and Akkadians in Mesopatamia. Meluḫḫa disappears from the Mesopotamian records at the beginning of the second millennium B. C, however, Hansman states that a trace of it in a modified form, as Baluḫḫu, was retained in the names of products imported by the Assyrians. Al-Muqaddasī, who visited the capital of Makran Bannajbur, states that it was populated by people called Balūṣī, leading Hansman to postulate Baluch as a modification of Meluḫḫa and Baluḫḫu. Asko Parpola relates the name Meluḫḫa to Indo-Aryan words mleccha and milakkha/milakkhu etc. which do not have an Indo-European etymology even though they were used to refer to non-Aryan people. Taking them to be proto-Dravidian in origin, he interprets the term as meaning either a proper name milu-akam or melu-akam, meaning high country, historian Romila Thapar also interprets Meluḫḫa as a proto-Dravidian term, possibly mēlukku, and suggests the meaning western extremity. A literal translation into Sanskrit, aparānta, was used to describe the region by the Indo-Aryans. During the time of Alexander the Great, the Greeks called the land Gedrosia and its people Gedrosoi, the earliest evidence of human occupation in what is now Balochistan is dated to the Paleolithic era, represented by hunting camps and lithic scatters, chipped and flaked stone tools. The earliest settled villages in the date to the ceramic Neolithic. These villages expanded in size during the subsequent Chalcolithic, when interaction was amplified and this involved the movement of finished goods and raw materials, including chank shell, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and ceramics. By 2500 BCE, the now known as Pakistani Balochistan had become part of the Harappan cultural orbit. From the 1st century to the 3rd century CE, the region was ruled by the Pāratarājas, the dynasty of the Pāratas is thought to be identical with the Pāradas of the Mahabharata, the Puranas and other vedic and Iranian sources. These coins are found in Loralai in todays western Pakistan. Herodotus in 450 BCE described the Paraitakenoi as a tribe ruled by Deiokes, arrian describes how Alexander the Great encountered the Pareitakai in Bactria and Sogdiana, and had them conquered by Craterus
29.
Punjab, Pakistan
–
Punjab, is Pakistans second largest province by area after Balochistan, and its most populous province with an estimated population of 101,391,000 as of 2015. It is bordered by Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as the regions of Islamabad Capital Territory and it also shares borders with the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir. The provincial capital of Punjab is the city Lahore, a centre of Pakistan where the countrys cinema industry. Punjab has been inhabited since ancient times, the Indus Valley Civilization, dating to 2600 BCE, was first discovered at Harappa. Punjab features heavily in the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, in 326 BCE, Alexander the Great defeated King Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes near Mong, Punjab. The Umayyad empire conquered Punjab in the 8th century CE, Punjab was later invaded by Tamerlane, Babur, and Nader Shah. Punjab reached the height of its splendour during the reign of the Mughal Empire, following a successful rebellion, Sikh-led armies claimed Lahore in 1759. The administration of the Sikh Empire was based out of Lahore, the province was formed when the Punjab province of British India was divided along religious boundaries in 1947 by the Radcliffe Line after Partition. Punjab is Pakistans most industrialised province with the industrial sector making up 24% of the gross domestic product. Punjab is known in Pakistan for its prosperity, and has the lowest rate of poverty amongst all Pakistani provinces. Punjab is also one of South Asias most urbanized regions with approximately 40% of people living in urban areas and its human development index rankings are high relative to the rest of Pakistan. Punjab is known in Pakistan for its relatively liberal social attitudes, the province has been strongly influenced by Sufism, with numerous Sufi shrines spread across Punjab which attract millions of devotees annually. The founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak, was born in the Punjab town of Nankana Sahib near Lahore, Punjab is also the site of the Katasraj Temple, which features prominently in Hindu mythology. Several UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located in Punjab, including the Shalimar Gardens, the Lahore Fort, the excavations at Taxila. The region was known to the Greeks as Pentapotamia, meaning the region of five rivers. The word Punjab was formally introduced in the early 17th century CE as an elision of the Persian words panj and āb, thus meaning the five rivers, similar in meaning to the Greek name for the region. The five rivers, namely Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, flow via the Panjnad River into the Indus River, of the five great rivers of Punjab, four course through Pakistans Punjab province. Due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and witnessed centuries of invasions by the Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Scythians, Turks
30.
Iran
–
Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
31.
Indian Rebellion of 1857
–
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in India in 1857–58 against British rule. For nearly 100 years, that rule had been presided over by the British East India Company, the rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Companys army in the garrison town of Meerut,40 miles northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a threat to British power in that region. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities formally to have ended until 8 July 1859. The rebellion is known by names, including the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection. Many Indians did rise against the British, however, very many also fought for the British, after the outbreak of the mutiny in Meerut, the rebels very quickly reached Delhi, whose 81-year-old Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar, they declared the Emperor of Hindustan. Soon, the rebels had captured large tracts of the North-Western Provinces. The East India Companys response came rapidly as well, with help from reinforcements, Kanpur was retaken by mid-July 1857, and Delhi by the end of September. However, it took the remainder of 1857 and the better part of 1858 for the rebellion to be suppressed in Jhansi, Lucknow. Other regions of Company controlled India—Bengal province, the Bombay Presidency, in the Punjab, the Sikh princes crucially helped the British by providing both soldiers and support. In some regions, most notably in Awadh, the took on the attributes of a patriotic revolt against European presence. However, the rebel leaders proclaimed no articles of faith that presaged a new political system, even so, the rebellion proved to be an important watershed in Indian- and British Empire history. India was thereafter administered directly by the British government in the new British Raj, on 1 November 1858, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation to Indians, which while lacking the authority of a constitutional provision, promised rights similar to those of other British subjects. In the following decades, when admission to these rights was not always forthcoming, the victory was consolidated in 1764 at the Battle of Buxar, when the East India Company army defeated Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. After his defeat, the granted the Company the right to the collection of Revenue in the provinces of Bengal, Bihar. The Company soon expanded its territories around its bases in Bombay and Madras, later, the Anglo-Mysore Wars, in 1806, the Vellore Mutiny was sparked by new uniform regulations that created resentment amongst both Hindu and Muslim sepoys. After the turn of the 19th century, Governor-General Wellesley began what became two decades of accelerated expansion of Company territories and this was achieved either by subsidiary alliances between the Company and local rulers or by direct military annexation
32.
China
–
China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
33.
Japan
–
Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
34.
Yokohama
–
Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan by population and most populous municipality of Japan. It is the city of Kanagawa Prefecture. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the island of Honshu. It is a commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area. Yokohamas population of 3.7 million makes it Japans largest city after the Special Wards of Tokyo, Yokohama was a small fishing village up to the end of the feudal Edo period, when Japan held a policy of national seclusion, having little contact with foreigners. It was initially agreed that one of the ports to be opened to ships would be the bustling town of Kanagawa-juku on the Tōkaidō. However, the Tokugawa shogunate decided that Kanagawa-juku was too close to the Tōkaidō for comfort, the Port of Yokohama was officially opened on June 2,1859. Yokohama quickly became the base of trade in Japan. Kannai, the trade and commercial district, was surrounded by a moat. To protect British commercial and diplomatic interests in Yokohama a military garrison was established in 1862, with the growth in trade increasing numbers of Chinese also came to settle in the city. Recreational sports introduced to Japan by foreign residents in Yokohama included European style horse racing in 1862, cricket in 1863, after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the port was developed for trading silk, the main trading partner being Great Britain. In 1887, a British merchant, Samuel Cocking, built the citys first power plant, at first for his own use, this coal-burning plant became the basis for the Yokohama Cooperative Electric Light Company. The city was incorporated on April 1,1889. The early 20th century was marked by growth of industry. Entrepreneurs built factories along reclaimed land to the north of the city toward Kawasaki, much of Yokohama was destroyed on September 1,1923 by the Great Kantō earthquake. The Yokohama police reported casualties at 30,771 dead and 47,908 injured, fuelled by rumours of rebellion and sabotage, vigilante mobs thereupon murdered many Koreans in the Kojiki-yato slum. Many people believed that Koreans used black magic to cause the earthquake, martial law was in place until November 19. Rubble from the quake was used to land for parks
35.
Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
–
His term as Commander-in-Chief of the Army in India saw him quarrel with another eminent proconsul, the Viceroy Lord Curzon, who eventually resigned. Kitchener then returned to Egypt as British Agent and Consul-General, in 1914, at the start of the First World War, Kitchener became Secretary of State for War, a Cabinet Minister. Kitchener died on 5 June 1916 when HMS Hampshire sank west of the Orkney Islands and he was making his way to Russia in order to attend negotiations when the ship struck a German mine. He was one of more than 600 killed on board the ship, Kitchener was born in Ballylongford near Listowel, County Kerry, in Ireland, son of army officer Henry Horatio Kitchener and Frances Anne Chevallier. His father had recently bought land in Ireland under a scheme to encourage the purchase of land after selling his commission. They then moved to Switzerland where the young Kitchener was educated at Montreux, then at the Royal Military Academy, pro-French and eager to see action, he joined a French field ambulance unit in the Franco-Prussian War. His father took him back to England after he caught pneumonia after ascending in a balloon to see the French Army of the Loire in action. Commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 4 January 1871, his service in France had violated British neutrality, and he was reprimanded by the Duke of Cambridge, the commander-in-chief. He served in Palestine, Egypt, and Cyprus as a surveyor, learned Arabic, Sir Walter Kitchener, had also entered the army, and was Governor of Bermuda from 1908 to 1912. In 1874, at age 24, Kitchener was assigned by the Palestine Exploration Fund to a mapping-survey of the Holy Land, replacing Charles Tyrwhitt-Drake, who had died of malaria. Conder and Kitchener’s expedition became known as the Survey of Western Palestine because it was confined to the area west of the Jordan River. The survey collected data on the topography and toponymy of the area, as well as local flora, the results of the survey were published in an eight-volume series, with Kitchener’s contribution in the first three tomes. This survey has had an effect on the Middle East for several reasons, The ordnance survey serves as the basis for the grid system used in the modern maps of Israel. The collection of data compiled by Conder and Kitchener are still consulted by archaeologists, the survey itself effectively delineated and defined the political borders of the southern Levant. For instance, the border between Israel and Lebanon is established at the point in upper Galilee where Conder and Kitchener’s survey stopped. In 1878 having completed the survey of Western Palestine, Kitchener was sent to Cyprus to undertake a survey of newly acquired British protectorate. Then in 1879 he became vice-consul in Anatolia, in 1883 Kitchener became a Freemason. On 4 January 1883 Kitchener was promoted to captain, given the Turkish rank bimbashi, Egypt had recently become a British puppet state, its army led by British officers, although still nominally under the sovereignty of the Khedive and his nominal overlord the Sultan of Turkey
36.
Bombay Army
–
The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. In 1895 all three armies were merged into the Indian Army. In the early stages of HEIC rule Bombay was rated as a unhealthy, accordingly only a small garrison was maintained while emphasis was placed on creating a local navy to control piracy. In 1742 the Bombay Army consisted of eight companies of European and Eurasian garrison troops and these had evolved from independent companies dating back as far as 1668 when the Company took over control of the city of Bombay. By 1783 the Bombay Army had grown to 15,000 men, recruitment from the 1750s on had however been expanded to include a majority of indigenous sepoys, initially employed as irregulars for particular campaigns. The first two regular battalions were raised in 1768, a third in 1760 and a fourth ten years later. The non-Indian element was organized in a single Bombay European Regiment, in 1777 a marine battalion was created to serve on the HEIC warships based on the port of Bombay. In 1796 the Bombay Native Infantry was reorganized into four regiments, the Bombay Foot Artillery, which traced its history back nearly 50 years prior to this date, was brought up to six companies in strength in 1797. The Bombay Army was heavily involved in the First Maratha War, the Bombay native infantry establishment continued to expand until it reached 26 regiments in 1845. Three Bombay Light Cavalry regiments were raised after 1817, plus a few troops of irregular horse, one brigade of Bombay Horse Artillery comprising both British and Indian personnel had been established by 1845, plus three battalions of foot artillery. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was almost entirely confined to the Bengal Army, of the thirty-two Bombay infantry regiments in existence at the time only two mutinied. Some Bombay units saw service during the repression of the rebellion in Central India. Following the transfer of HEIC rule to that of the British government in 1861 the Bombay Army underwent a series of changes and these included the disbandment of three regiments of Bombay Native Infantry and the recruitment of replacement units from the Beluchi population. Originally created as units, the three Belooch regiments in their red trousers were to remain a conspicuous part of the Bombay Army for the remainder of its separate existence. During the remainder of the 19th century Bombay Army units participated in the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia, the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, in 1895 the three separate Presidency Armies were abolished and the Army of India was divided into four commands, each commanded by a lieutenant-general. These comprised Madras, Punjab, Bengal and Bombay, prestigious units of the Bombay Army include the 1st Bombay Grenadiers raised in 1784 from grenadier companies of existing regiments, and the Maratha Light Infantry. Belasis Commanding Major-General R. Jones Commanding Lieutenant-General John Abercromby Major-General W. Wilkinson Commanding Major-General C, the Victorians at War, 1815-1914, An Encyclopedia of British Military History. Presidency armies Bengal Army Madras Army
37.
Commander-in-chief
–
A commander-in-chief is the person or body that exercises supreme operational command and control of a nations military forces or significant elements of those forces. In the latter case, the element is those forces within a particular region. Often, a given countrys commander-in-chief need not be or have been an officer or even a veteran. This follows the principle of civilian control of the military, the role of commander-in-chief derives from the Latin, imperator. Imperatores of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire possessed imperium powers, in its modern use, the term first applied to King Charles I of England in 1639. It continued to be used during the English Civil War, a nations head of state usually holds the nominal position of commander-in-chief, even if effective executive power is held by a separate head of government. Governors-general and colonial governors are also often appointed commander-in-chief of the forces within their territory. A commander-in-chief is sometimes referred to as commander, which is sometimes used as a specific term. The term is used for military officers who hold such power and authority, not always through dictatorship. The term is used for officers who hold authority over an individual military branch. According to the Constitution of Albania, The President of the Republic of Albania is the Commander-in-chief of Albanian Armed Forces, the incumbent Commander-in-chief is President Bujar Nishani. The Ministry of Defense is the government department that assists and serves the President in the management of the armed forces, the Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers exercise this control through the Australian Defence Organisation. The Constitution states, in Article 80, that the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armed Forces. e, the cabinet under the chairmanship of the Federal Chancellor, as defined in Article 69. The commander-in-chief is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister and he retired on 7 April 1972 and relinquished all authority and duties to the President of Bangladesh. Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 states that the Brazilian Armed Forces is under the command of the President of the Republic. The Sultan of Brunei is the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, the powers of command-in-chief over the Canadian Armed Forces are vested in the Canadian monarch, and are delegated to the Governor General of Canada, who also uses the title Commander-in-Chief. In this capacity, the general is entitled to the uniform of a general/flag officer, with the crest of the office. According to the National Defence Act, the Minister of National Defence is responsible and accountable to parliament for all related to national defence
38.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
39.
Belgium
–
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
40.
Khudadad Khan
–
On 31 October 1914, at Hollebeke, Belgium, 26-year-old Khan performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War. A statue of Khudadad Khan is at the entrance of the Pakistan Army Museum in Rawalpindi, the battalion formed part of the Indian Corps, which was sent to France in 1914, to shore up the British forces fighting on the Western Front during the First World War. In October 1914, the Germans launched an offensive in northern Belgium, in order to capture the vital ports of Boulogne in France. In what came to be known as the First Battle of Ypres, on 31 October, two companies of the Baluchis bore the brunt of the main German attack near the village of Gheluvelt in Hollebeke Sector. The out-numbered Baluchis fought gallantly but were overwhelmed after suffering heavy casualties, Sepoy Khudadad Khan’s machine-gun team, along with one other, kept their guns in action throughout the day, preventing the Germans from making the final breakthrough. The other gun was disabled by a shell and eventually Khudadad Khan’s own team was overrun, all the men were killed by bullets or bayonets except Khudadad Khan who, despite being badly wounded, had continued working his gun. He was left for dead by the enemy but despite his wounds he managed to back to his regiment during the night. Thanks to his bravery, and that of his fellow Baluchis and they strengthened the line, and prevented the German Army from reaching the vital ports. For his matchless feat of courage and gallantry, Sepoy Khudadad Khan was awarded the Victoria Cross, Khudadad Khan retired as a Subedar. He died in 1971 and is buried in Chak No and his Victoria Cross is on display at his ancestral house in Village Dab, Pakistan. In 2016 a play by Ishy Din, Wipers, about Khudadad Khans feat was put on in Leicester. He was awarded the medal on the day as Darwan Singh Negi VC. Notes Citations Bibliography Ahmed, Maj Gen Rafiuddin, history of the Baloch Regiment 1820-1939. The Fourth Battalion, Duke of Connaughts Own, Tenth Baluch Regiment in the Great War, ISBN 1-84734-752-5 Qureshi, Lt Col IA. History of 11th Battalion, the Baluch Regiment, monuments to Courage The Register of the Victoria Cross VCs of the First World War -1914 Khuda Dad Khan at the Wayback Machine
41.
Battle of Messines (1914)
–
The Battle of Messines was fought in October 1914 between the armies of the German and British empires, as part of the Race to the Sea, between the river Douve and the Comines–Ypres canal. From 17 September –17 October the belligerents had made attempts to turn the northern flank of their opponent. By the next day French attacks north of the Aisne, led to Falkenhayn ordering the 6th Army to repulse French forces to secure the flank, by 6 October the French needed British reinforcements to withstand German attacks around Lille. The North-east of France and the south-west Belgium were known as Flanders, west of a line between Arras and Calais in the north-west, lay chalk downlands, covered with soil sufficient for arable farming. East of the line, the declines in a series of spurs into the Flanders plain, bounded by canals linking Douai, Béthune, St. Omer. To the south-east, canals ran between Lens, Lille, Roubaix and Courtrai, the Lys river from Courtrai to Ghent and to the north-west lay the sea. The plain was almost flat, apart from a line of low hills from Cassel, east to Mont des Cats, Mont Noir, Mont Rouge, Scherpenberg, a coastal strip about 10 miles wide, was near sea level and fringed by sand dunes. Inland the ground was mainly meadow, cut by canals, dykes, drainage ditches, the ground surface quickly turned to a consistency of cream cheese and on the coast troops were confined to roads, except during frosts. The rest of the Flanders Plain was woods and small fields, divided by hedgerows planted with trees and cultivated from small villages, south of La Bassée Canal around Lens and Béthune was a coal-mining district full of slag heaps, pit-heads and miners houses. North of the canal, the city of Lille, Tourcoing and Roubaix formed a complex, with outlying industries at Armentières, Comines, Halluin and Menin. In France, the roads were closed by the authorities during thaws, to preserve the surface and marked by Barrières fermėes signs. The difficulty of movement after the end of summer absorbed much of the local labour on road maintenance, leaving field defences to be built by front-line soldiers. The 1st and 2nd Cavalry divisions under General Allenby, covered the assembly of the III Corps at St. Omer and Hazebrouck from 10–12 October, the cavalry was ordered to extend as far north as Ypres. On 12 October, the British cavalry advanced and found the Germans dug in on Mont des Cats and at Flêtre, next day the cavalry advanced onto high ground east of Mont des Cats and occupied Mont Noir,3 miles north of Bailleul. On 15 October, the cavalry was ordered to reconnoitre the Lys from Estaires to Menin, a foothold was gained at Warneton and German outposts at Houthen and Hollebeke, west of the Ypres–Comines canal, were pushed back to the far side. By the end of 15 October, the Cavalry Corps and the 3rd Cavalry Division held the Lys river from Armentières to Comines and the Comines canal to Ypres. The BEF was ordered to make an advance on 16 October, as the German forces were falling back, except for III Reserve Corps. The cavalry were ordered to cross the Lys between Armentières and Menin as the III Corps advanced north-east, to clear the way for the cavalry and gain touch with the 7th Division near Ypres
42.
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
–
The Battle of Neuve Chapelle took place in the First World War. It was a British offensive in the Artois region of France and broke through at Neuve-Chapelle, more troops had arrived from Britain and relieved some French troops in Flanders, which enabled a continuous British line to be formed, from Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée north to Langemarck. The battle was intended to cause a rupture in the German lines, a French assault at Vimy Ridge on the Artois plateau was also planned, to threaten the road, rail and canal junctions at La Bassée from the south, as the British attacked from the north. The battle was the first deliberately planned British offensive and showed the form which position warfare took for the rest of the war on the Western Front, tactical surprise and a break-through were achieved, after the First Army prepared the attack with great attention to detail. A big German counter-attack by twenty infantry battalions early on 12 March, was a costly failure, Sir Douglas Haig, the First Army commander, cancelled further attacks and ordered the captured ground to be consolidated, preparatory to a new attack further north. An acute shortage of ammunition made another attack impossible, apart from a local effort by the 7th Division. Despite poor weather conditions, the stages of the battle went extremely well for the British. The RFC quickly secured aerial dominance and set about bombarding railways, the remaining fifteen 18-pdr batteries, six 6-inch howitzer siege batteries and six QF4. 5-inch howitzer batteries with sixty howitzers fired on the German front-line trenches. The trenches were 3 feet deep, with breastworks 4 feet high but were unable to withstand a howitzer bombardment, the bombardment was followed by an infantry assault at 8,05 a. m. The Garhwal Brigade of the Meerut Division, Indian Corps attacked with all four battalions on a 600 yards front, on the right the attack quickly collapsed, both companies losing direction and veering to the right. The attack confronted a part of the German defence not bombarded by the artillery, the Indian troops forced their way through the German wire and took 200 yards of the German front trench, despite many casualties. A fresh British attack was arranged from the north, in which the Garhwali troops were to join in with a frontal assault. German troops infiltrated northwards, before being forced back by bombers and bayonet charges, Haig ordered more attacks that day, with similarly disappointing results. The German defences in the centre were quickly overrun on a 1,600 yards front, at Haigs request, the British Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Sir John French, the British commander in France, released the 5th Cavalry Brigade to exploit the expected breakthrough. On the left of the attack, two companies of the German Jäger Battalion 11 delayed the advance for more than six hours until forced to retreat, although aerial photography had been useful, it was unable to efficiently identify the enemys strong defensive points. Primitive communications also meant that the British commanders had been unable to keep in touch with other and the battle thus became uncoordinated. The battle at Neuve Chapelle marked a watershed in trench warfare, the British telephone system proved vulnerable to German artillery-fire and the movement of troops along communication trenches was delayed by far more than the most pessimistic expectations. Small numbers of German troops in strong-points and isolated trenches, had been able to maintain a volume of small-arms fire sufficient to stop the advance of far greater numbers of attackers
43.
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
–
Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, known as the Lion of Africa, was a general in the Prussian Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force that never exceeded about 14,000, he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Belgian, and Portuguese troops. Essentially undefeated in the field, Lettow-Vorbeck was the only German commander to successfully invade imperial British soil during the First World War and his exploits in the campaign have been described by Edwin Palmer Hoyt as the greatest single guerrilla operation in history, and the most successful. Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck was born into the Pomeranian minor nobility and he was educated in boarding schools in Berlin and joined the corps of cadets at Potsdam and Berlin-Lichterfelde. In 1890, he was commissioned a Leutnant into the Imperial German Army, in 1900, Lettow-Vorbeck was posted to China as a member of the international alliance forces to quell the Boxer Rebellion. He did not like fighting against guerrillas and considered the war detrimental to the discipline of the German Army and he returned from China in 1901 and became a member of the German General Staff. Beginning in 1904, he was assigned to German South-West Africa, during the Namaqua and he did not participate in the subsequent genocide, having suffered injuries to his left eye and chest, he was evacuated to South Africa for treatment and recovery. In 1907, Lettow-Vorbeck was promoted to Major and assigned to the staff of 11th Army Corps, from March 1909 to January 1913, he was commanding officer of the marines of II. Seebataillon at Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony, German Empire, in October 1913, the Imperial German army promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed him to command the German colonial forces known as the Schutztruppe in German Kamerun. Before he could assume command, however, his orders were changed. While travelling to his new assignment, Lettow-Vorbeck formed what would prove to be a friendship with Danish author Karen Blixen. Decades later, she recalled, He belonged to the olden days, Lettow-Vorbecks plan for the war was quite simple, knowing that East Africa would only be a sideshow to the other theatres of war, he determined to tie down as many British troops as he could. He intended to keep away from the Western Front. Realising the need to seize the initiative, he disregarded orders from Berlin and the colonys Governor, Heinrich Schnee, Lettow-Vorbeck simply ignored the Governor and prepared to repel a major British amphibious assault on the city of Tanga. The attack began on 2 November 1914, and for the four days the German forces fought one of their greatest engagements. Lettow-Vorbeck then assembled his men and their scant supplies to attack the British railways in East Africa and he scored a second victory over the British at Jassin on 19 January 1915. These victories gave him badly needed modern rifles and other supplies, however, Lettow-Vorbeck also lost many experienced men, including the splendid Captain Tom von Prince, whom he could not easily replace. Lettow-Vorbeck knew he could count on his highly motivated officers, although casualties remained high, Lettow insisted his commanders engage British forces
British India
