1.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly
2.
Kingdom of Great Britain
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The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
5.
King Philip's War
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King Philips War was an armed conflict between American Indian inhabitants of present-day New England and English colonists and their Indian allies in 1675–78. The war is named for Metacomet, the Wampanoag chief who adopted the English name Philip due to the relations between his father and the Mayflower Pilgrims. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay in April 1678, Metacom was the second son of Wampanoag chief Massasoit, who had coexisted peacefully with the Pilgrims. Metacom succeeded his brother in 1662 and reacted against the European settlers continued encroaching onto Wampanoag lands, at Taunton in 1671, he was humiliated when colonists forced him to sign a new peace agreement that included the surrender of Indian guns. Officials in Plymouth Colony hanged three Wampanoags in 1675 for the murder of an Indian, and Metacoms followers and allies launched an assault on colonial towns throughout the region. Metacoms forces gained initial victories in the first year, but then the Indian alliance began to unravel, by the end of the conflict, the Wampanoags and their Narragansett allies were almost completely destroyed. Metacom anticipated their defeat and returned to his home at Mt. Hope. More than half of New Englands towns were attacked by Indians, King Philips War began the development of a greater European-American identity. The colonists trials, without significant English government support, gave them an identity separate. The Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower and founded Plymouth Plantation expended great effort in forging friendship and they traveled long distances to make peace with Chief Massasoit, and Governor William Bradford made a gift of his magnificent and prized red horse coat upon seeing that the chief admired it. By 1675, the efforts at friendship failed. Plymouth, Massachusetts was established in 1620 with significant early help from local Indians, particularly Squanto and Massasoit, the colonists progressively expanded throughout the territories of the several Algonquian-speaking tribes in the region. Prior to King Philips War, tensions fluctuated between Indian tribes and the colonists, but relations were generally peaceful, many of the neighboring tribes had been traditional competitors and enemies. As the colonial population increased, the New Englanders expanded their settlements along the coastal plain. By 1675, they had established a few towns in the interior between Boston and the Connecticut River settlements. The Wampanoag tribe under Metacomets leadership had entered into an agreement with the Plymouth Colony, however, in the decades preceding the war it, became clear to them that the treaty did not mean that the Colonists were not allowed to settle in new territories. Metacomet became sachem of the Pokanoket and Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag Confederacy after the death in 1662 of his older brother, the latter had succeeded their father Massasoit as chief. Well known to the English before his ascension as paramount chief to the Wampanoag, the Plymouth colonists had put in place laws making it illegal to do commerce with the Wampanoags
6.
American Revolution
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The British responded by imposing punitive laws on Massachusetts in 1774 known as the Coercive Acts, following which Patriots in the other colonies rallied behind Massachusetts. Tensions escalated to the outbreak of fighting between Patriot militia and British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the conflict then developed into a global war, during which the Patriots fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress determined King George IIIs rule to be tyrannical and infringing the rights as Englishmen. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, Congress rejected British proposals requiring allegiance to the monarchy and abandonment of independence. The British were forced out of Boston in 1776, but then captured and they blockaded the ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but failed to defeat Washingtons forces. After a failed Patriot invasion of Canada, a British army was captured at the Battle of Saratoga in late 1777, a combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in 1781, effectively ending the war in the United States. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the conflict, confirming the new nations complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada. Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a new Constitution of the United States. Historians typically begin their histories of the American Revolution with the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, the lands west of Quebec and west of a line running along the crest of the Allegheny mountains became Indian territory, temporarily barred to settlement. For the prior history, see Thirteen Colonies, in 1764, Parliament passed the Currency Act to restrain the use of paper money which British merchants saw as a means to evade debt payments. Parliament also passed the Sugar Act, imposing customs duties on a number of articles, none did and Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765 which imposed direct taxes on the colonies for the first time. All official documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets—even decks of playing cards—were required to have the stamps, the colonists did not object that the taxes were high, but because they had no representation in the Parliament. Benjamin Franklin testified in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire, stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime was politically unacceptable. London had to deal with 1,500 politically well-connected British officers who became redundant, in 1765, the Sons of Liberty formed. They used public demonstrations, boycott, violence, and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws were unenforceable, in Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice admiralty court and looted the home of chief justice Thomas Hutchinson. Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765, moderates led by John Dickinson drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances stating that taxes passed without representation violated their rights as Englishmen. Colonists emphasized their determination by boycotting imports of British merchandise, the Parliament at Westminster saw itself as the supreme lawmaking authority throughout all British possessions and thus entitled to levy any tax without colonial approval
7.
War of 1812
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Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, but the British often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. By the wars end in early 1815, the key issues had been resolved, the view was shared in much of New England and for that reason the war was widely referred to there as Mr. Madison’s War. As a result, the primary British war goal was to defend their North American colonies, the war was fought in three theatres. Second, land and naval battles were fought on the U. S. –Canadian frontier, Third, large-scale battles were fought in the Southern United States and Gulf Coast. With the majority of its land and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars, early victories over poorly-led U. S. armies demonstrated that the conquest of the Canadas would prove more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the U. S. was able to inflict serious defeats on Britains Native American allies, both governments were eager for a return to normality and peace negotiations began in Ghent in August 1814. This brought an Era of Good Feelings in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened American nationalism, the war was also a major turning point in the development of the U. S. military, with militia being increasingly replaced by a more professional force. The U. S. also acquired permanent ownership of Spains Mobile District, the government of Canada declared a three-year commemoration of the War of 1812 in 2012, intended to offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border. At the conclusion of the commemorations in 2014, a new national War of 1812 Monument was unveiled in Ottawa. The war is remembered in Britain primarily as a footnote in the much larger Napoleonic Wars occurring in Europe, historians have long debated the relative weight of the multiple reasons underlying the origins of the War of 1812. This section summarizes several contributing factors which resulted in the declaration of war by the United States, as Risjord notes, a powerful motivation for the Americans was the desire to uphold national honour in the face of what they considered to be British insults such as the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair. The approaching conflict was about violations of American rights, but it was also vindication of American identity. Americans at the time and historians since often called it the United States Second War of Independence, in 1807, Britain introduced a series of trade restrictions via a series of Orders in Council to impede neutral trade with France, with which Britain was at war. The United States contested these restrictions as illegal under international law, the American merchant marine had come close to doubling between 1802 and 1810, making it by far the largest neutral fleet. Britain was the largest trading partner, receiving 80% of U. S. cotton, the British public and press were resentful of the growing mercantile and commercial competition. The United States view was that Britains restrictions violated its right to trade with others, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy expanded to 176 ships of the line and 600 ships overall, requiring 140,000 sailors to man. The United States believed that British deserters had a right to become U. S. citizens and this meant that in addition to recovering naval deserters, it considered any United States citizens who were born British liable for impressment. Aggravating the situation was the reluctance of the United States to issue formal naturalization papers and it was estimated by the Admiralty that there were 11,000 naturalized sailors on United States ships in 1805
8.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
9.
Pancho Villa Expedition
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The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition but originally referred to as the Punitive Expedition, U. S. The expedition was launched in retaliation for Villas attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, the declared objective of the expedition by the Wilson administration was the capture of Villa. The Constitutionalist forces used arms at the town of Parral to resist passage of a U. S. Army column, the U. S. mission was changed to prevent further attacks on it by Mexican troops and to plan for war in the eventuality it broke out. When war was averted diplomatically, the expedition remained in Mexico until February 1917 to encourage Carranzas government to pursue Villa, feeling betrayed, Villa began attacking U. S. nationals and their property in northern Mexico. On November 26,1915, Villa sent a force to attack the city of Nogales and in the course of the ensuing battle, engaged with American forces before withdrawing. On January 11,1916, sixteen American employees of the American Smelting and Refining Company were removed from a train near Santa Isabel, Chihuahua, brigadier General John J. Raids were so commonplace, however, that the rumor was not seen as credible. Ten civilians and eight soldiers were killed in the attack, the raiders burned the town, stole horses and mules, and seized machine guns, ammunition and merchandise, before fleeing back to Mexico. However, Villas soldiers had suffered losses, with at least sixty-seven dead. Many of the casualties were inflicted when the machine gun troop of the 13th Cavalry led by 2nd Lt. John P, about thirteen of Villas wounded later died of their wounds, and five wounded Villistas taken prisoner by the Americans were tried and hanged for murder. Local lore in Columbus holds that the attack may have been caused by a merchant in Columbus who supplied Villa with arms and ammunition. Villa is said to have several thousand dollars in cash for the weapons. The next day, acting on the recommendations of the commanders of his cavalry regiments and this can and will be done in entirely friendly aid to the constituted authorities in Mexico and with scrupulous respect for the sovereignty of that Republic. The 2nd Provisional Cavalry Brigade reached Colonia Dublán after dark on March 17, the entire squadron flew to the advanced camp at Colonia Dublán on March 19–20, losing two aircraft in the process. Pershing immediately sent the 7th Cavalry south just after midnight on March 18 to begin the pursuit, persistent winter weather through early April, particularly bitterly cold nights at high altitude, made both pursuit and logistics more difficult. An additional regiment of cavalry and two of infantry were added to the expedition in late April, bringing its size to 4,800 men. This was the first use of convoys in a U. S. military operation. His headquarters advanced as far as the 1st Aero Squadrons field at Satevó, southeast of Chihuahua City, before falling back at the end of April. Villa had a head start on the pursuit, all but ensuring that his forces would successfully break up into smaller bands
10.
World War I
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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
11.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
12.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
13.
Kosovo
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Kosovo is a disputed territory and partially recognised state in Southeastern Europe that declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. Kosovo is landlocked in the central Balkan Peninsula, with its strategic position in the Balkans, it serves as an important link in the connection between central and south Europe, the Adriatic Sea, and Black Sea. Its capital and largest city is Pristina, and other urban areas include Prizren, Pejë. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, the Republic of Macedonia to the southeast, Montenegro to the west, while Serbia recognises administration of the territory by Kosovos elected government, it still continues to claim it as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. In antiquity, the Dardanian Kingdom, and later the Roman province of Dardania was located in the region, the area was inhabited by several ancient Illyrian tribes. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian Empires, Kosovo was the core of the medieval Serbian state and it has been the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century when its status was upgraded into a patriarchate. After being part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the early 20th century, the war ended with a military intervention of NATO, which forced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops from Kosovo, which became a UN protectorate under UNSCR1244. On 17 February 2008 Kosovos Parliament declared independence and it has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 111 UN member states, Taiwan, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Cook Islands and Niue. Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo as a state, although with the Brussels Agreement of 2013 it has accepted the legitimacy of Kosovar institutions, the entire region is commonly referred to in English simply as Kosovo and in Albanian as Kosova or Kosovë. The name of the plain was applied to the Kosovo Province created in 1864, Albanians refer to Kosovo as Dardania, the name of a Roman province located in Central Balkans that was formed in 284 AD which covered the territory of modern Kosovo. The name is derived from the Albanian word dardha/dardā which means pear, the former Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova had been an enthusiastic backer of a Dardanian identity and the Kosovan flag and presidential seal refer to this national identity. However, the name Kosova remains more widely used among the Albanian population, the official conventional long name of the state is Republic of Kosovo, as defined by the Constitution of Kosovo, and is used to represent Kosovo internationally. This arrangement, which has dubbed the asterisk agreement, was agreed in an 11-point arrangement agreed on 24 February 2012. By the independence declaration in 2008, its long name became Republic of Kosovo. In prehistory, the succeeding Starčevo culture, Vinča culture, Bubanj-Hum culture, the area in and around Kosovo has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years. During the Neolithic age, Kosovo lay within the area of the Vinča-Turdaş culture which is characterised by West Balkan black, bronze and Iron Age tombs have been found in Metohija. However, life during the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age is not confirmed yet, therefore, until arguments of Paleolithic and Mesolithic man are confirmed, Neolithic man, respectively the Neolithic sites are considered as the chronological beginning of population in Kosovo. From this period until today Kosovo has been inhabited, and traces of activities of societies from prehistoric, ancient, whereas, in some archaeological sites, multilayer settlements clearly reflect the continuity of life through centuries
14.
181st Infantry Regiment (United States)
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The 181st Infantry Regiment shares the distinction of being the oldest combat regiment in the United States Army. The regiment traces its history to 13 December 1636, when it was one of four regiments of foot of the British Crown in Massachusetts. Most recently the 1st Battalion, 181st Infantry has served in Iraq, in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, the only active element of the regiment is the 1st Battalion, 181st Infantry Regiment, which returned from a year of service in Afghanistan in July 2011. The 1st Battalion was mobilized in March 2017 for one year of service with the Multinational Force & Observers in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the 181st Infantry Regiment was organized 13 December 1636 in the Massachusetts Militia from existing train bands as the North Regiment. Redesignated 7 September 1643 as the Middlesex Regiment, expanded 13 October 1680 to form the 1st Middlesex Regiment and the 2nd Middlesex Regiment (1st Middlesex Regiment – hereafter separate lineage. The soldiers of the 2nd Middlesex Regiment fought at the Battle of Lexington, the 181st Infantry is one of only nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812. The Massachusetts militia was one of the largest, best equipped and best trained of any of the state militias, as a consequence, no Massachusetts units were federalized until 1814, although as state units they were active in guarding the states coastline. Only after Great Britain burned Washington and generally increased its pressure on the East Coast did Massachusetts allow its militias to be mustered into federal service. With the start of the Civil War the 6th Massachusetts was ordered into service for the defense of Washington in April 1861. As it marched to the relief of the capitol, it was attacked by a mob in Baltimore. The regiment fought its way through, leaving four of its own dead on the streets of the city, on their arrival in Washington, they were greeted by President Lincoln, who shook Colonel Joness hand and said, Thank God, you have come. They slept that night in the Capitol building, the 6th Massachusetts was the first armed and trained regiment to arrive in Washington. It was mustered into service on 22 April 1861 at Washington. On 26 August 1861, veterans of the 6th Mass. formed the 26th Mass and this regiment served four years and was mustered out of service on 26 August 1865 in Savannah, GA. Fought in the campaigns, Mississippi River Campaign, Battle of Petersburg. In 1862, the 6th Mass. recruited back up to strength and were mustered into federal service between 31 August -8 September 1862. The regiment was stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia and served at Deserted House, VA on 30 Jan.1863, private Joseph S. G. Sweatt of Company C was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Carsville, VA on 15 May 1863. Mustered out on 3 June 1863 at Lowell, in July 1863 Company F was ordered to state service to suppress the Boston Draft Riots
15.
184th Infantry Regiment (United States)
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The 184th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army consisting of soldiers from the California Army National Guard. Only the regiments 1st Battalion remains a military unit. The battalion supports state and federal missions in the State of California, United States of America, the 184th Infantry Regiment can trace its lineage to the mid-19th century. The regiments 1st Battalion is currently one of two battalions in the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The battalion is currently conducting training and maintenance in order to prepare for future state, the 184th Infantry Regiment is a descendant of a number of unofficial militias that were formed in California in the mid-to-late-19th century. Bravo Company is the descendant of the Sarsfield Grenadier Guards. Charlie Company is the descendant of the Auburn Greys. In its dual role in service to both the United States of America and the State of California, the regiment can be mobilized to serve under state control, the 184th Infantry Regiment was formed on 20 October 1924 from what had been known as the 2d Infantry Regiment. On 9 December 1895, the 2d Infantry Regiment was formed by consolidating the 1st Artillery Regiment with the 8th Infantry Regiment, the headquarters of the 2d Infantry Regiment was in Sacramento and the unit was part of the California National Guard. The lineage of two units is described below. On 19 March 1880, the 1st Artillery Regiment was formed from the consolidation of the Sacramento Light Artillery, the headquarters of the 1st Artillery Regiment was in Sacramento and the unit was part of the California National Guard. Sacramento Light Artillery. In 1864, the Sacramento Light Artillery was formed from precursor militia elements in Sacramento as part of the California Militia. On 15 March 1872, the 4th Infantry Regiment was formed from precursor militia elements, including the Sarsfield Grenadier Guards as G company, from 1875 through 1877, the 1st Infantry Battalion was formed through the reduction, reorganization, and redesignation of the 4th Infantry Regiment. The headquarters of the 4th Infantry Regiment was in Sacramento and the unit was part of the California National Guard, on 15 February 1890, the 8th Infantry Battalion was formed from precursor militia elements with headquarters in Chico, as part of the California National Guard. On 31 October 1891, the 8th Infantry Regiment was formed through the expansion, reorganization, the headquarters of the 8th Infantry Regiment was in Chico and the unit was part of the California National Guard. Although the units were mobilized for service, they never left the United States. From 28 January 1899 through 6 February 1899, the three companies were demobilized in Washington and California and returned to the 2d Infantry Regiment, on 18 June 1916, the 2d Infantry Regiment was mobilized for border security duty during the Mexican Border Crisis. On 15 November 1916, the unit was demobilized, on 26 March 1917, the 2d Infantry Regiment was mobilized into federal service for World War I
16.
Continental Army
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The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14,1775, the Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent. General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war, most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne and this became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796. The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies, and after 1776, when the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the leading to the war. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774, colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. On April 23,1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of an army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar, on July 18,1775, the Congress requested all colonies form militia companies from all able bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age. It was not uncommon for men younger than sixteen to enlist as most colonies had no requirement of consent for those under twenty-one. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed by the Second Continental Congress in the course of a few days, after Pomeroy did not accept, John Thomas was appointed in his place. As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, as a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units. Soldiers in the Continental Army were citizens who had volunteered to serve in the army, early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men, turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved. Major General Philip Schuylers ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada, the Continental Army of 1776, reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to the length of the war to avoid the crises that depleted forces
17.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
18.
Massachusetts National Guard
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The Massachusetts National Guard was founded as the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia on December 13,1636, and contains the oldest units in the United States Army. It is currently headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base and commanded by Major General L. Scott Rice, Massachusetts National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army and Air Force, identical ranks and insignias are utilized. National Guardsmen are eligible for all US military awards in addition to state awards, Soldiers and Airmen are held to the same uniform, physical fitness, and marksmanship standards as their Active Duty counterparts. The Massachusetts National Guard is organized into an Army National Guard, officers in the Guard hold two commissions - one from the Governor of Massachusetts and the other from the President of the United States. This emphasizes the Guards dual role as both and state and national military force, in its mission as a state organization, the National Guard can be called on by the Governor to assist in national disasters and public safety emergencies. In its national role, the National Guard can be mobilized for service with the United States Armed Forces. Units of the Massachusetts National Guard have been mobilized during the First World War, Second World War, Korean War, Gulf War, the War in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The National Guard is technically commanded by the Governor who is assisted by the State Adjutant General when not Federalized, National Guard members, as with all other Reserve Components, train one weekend a month and conducts Annual Training. The Massachusetts State Defense Force is state military force which can be mobilized by the governor to augment the National Guard, the MSDF is composed of former members of the United States Armed Forces who live in Massachusetts and serve on a voluntary basis unless called to active duty. The MSDFs three major specialties are administrative support, professional support and medical support, while December 13,1636 is often cited as the birthday of the National Guard, it was on that day that the Massachusetts militia was organized into three regiments. Prior to that date, each town had its own company which was commanded by an officer with the rank of captain. The militia companies were nominally under the command of the colonial governor, the regimental organization did much to improve the organization and leadership of the militia. During King Philips War,25 of New Englands 90 towns were attacked and pillaged by native tribal warriors and this war was the bloodiest, in terms of the percentage of the population that died in it, in American history. More than 10% of the population of New England perished. The economic, social, and political consequences of King Philips War would echo into the following centuries, as time progressed, larger towns would usually have more than one militia company and the companies of adjacent towns would be organized into regiments commanded by colonels. The regiments, in turn, were organized into brigades commanded by brigadier generals, in 1692 Plymouth Colony merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony and its militia became part of the Massachusetts Militia. Prior to the American Revolution, Massachusetts armed citizens were organized into two major elements, in the early morning hours of April 19,1775, the militia company of Lexington, commanded by Captain John Parker, confronted British forces heading to Concord to search for stores of munitions. This led to the shot heard round the world and the beginning of the American Revolution, while the Lexington militia retreated in the face of superior British forces, militiamen continuously engaged the British as they retreated from Concord back to Boston later the same day
19.
Melrose, Massachusetts
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Melrose is a city located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Its population as per the 2010 United States Census is 26,983 and it is a suburb located approximately seven miles north of Boston and is situated in the center of the triangle created by Interstates 93,95 and US Route 1. The land that comprises Melrose was first discovered in 1628 and was part of Charlestown. It became the Town of Melrose in 1850 and then the City of Melrose in 1900, Melrose was originally called Ponde Fielde for its abundance of ponds and streams or Mystic Side because of its location in a valley north of the Mystic River. The area was first explored by Richard and Ralph Sprague in 1628, in 1649, the neighborhood of Charlestown known as Malden was incorporated as a separate town, the new town of Malden included most of present-day Melrose within its borders. North Malden largely remained a lightly populated farming community, in 1845, the Boston and Maine Railroad built three stops. Boston workers in search of a country atmosphere moved to the area, the population of North Malden began growing, and in 1850 North Malden split from Malden proper and was incorporated as the town of Melrose. Melrose annexed the highlands from neighboring Stoneham in 1853, creating the current borders. The population of Melrose continued to grow throughout the half of the nineteenth century. Farmland was increasingly partitioned into parcels for residences and businesses. The fire department and the school district were founded and town hall was built in 1873. In 1899, the City of Melrose became the 33rd incorporated city in Massachusetts, levi S. Gould became the city’s first mayor on January 1,1900. The population of Melrose peaked at 33,180 in 1970 before beginning a slow decline continuing through 2010, on April 1,1982, downtown Melrose was added to the National Register of Historic Places, the public library was similarly added to the register in 1988. The name Melrose comes from the burgh of Melrose, Scotland and it was a reference to the hills of Melrose, Scotland which the new town resembled. The name was suggested and advocated for by William Bogle, a Scotland native, Melrose is located at 42°27′33″N 71°3′44″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 4.8 square miles, of which 4.7 square miles is land and 0.1 square miles. The citys largest body of water is Ell Pond, situated near the center of the city, while other bodies are Swains Pond and Towners Pond. Melrose is approximately 7 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts and it borders four cities and towns, Malden, Saugus, Stoneham, and Wakefield
20.
Flintlock
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Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint striking ignition mechanism. The true flintlock continued to be in use for over two centuries, replaced by percussion cap and, later, the cartridge-based systems in the early-to-mid 19th century. Although long superseded by modern firearms, flintlock weapons enjoy continuing popularity with black-powder shooting enthusiasts, french court gunsmith Marin le Bourgeoys made a firearm incorporating a flintlock mechanism for King Louis XIII shortly after his accession to the throne in 1610. However, firearms using some form of flint ignition mechanism had already been in use for half a century. Le Bourgeoys fitted these various features together to create what became known as the flintlock or true flintlock, the new flintlock system quickly became popular, and was known and used in various forms throughout Europe by 1630, although older flintlock systems continued to be used for some time. Examples of early flintlock muskets can be seen in the painting Marie de Medici as Bellona by Rubens, various breech-loading flintlocks were developed starting around 1650. The most popular action has a barrel which was unscrewed from the rest of the gun, obviously this is more practical on pistols because of the shorter barrel length. This type is known as a Queen Anne pistol because it was during her reign that it became popular, another type has a removable screw plug set into the side or top or bottom of the barrel. A large number of sporting rifles were made with this system, as it allowed easier loading compared with muzzle loading with a tight fitting bullet, one of the more successful was the system built by Isaac de la Chaumette starting in 1704. The barrel could be opened by 3 revolutions of the triggerguard, the plug stayed attached to the barrel and the ball and powder were loaded from the top. This system was improved in the 1770s by Colonel Patrick Ferguson and 100 experimental rifles used in the American Revolutionary War, the only two flintlock breechloaders to be produced in quantity were the Hall and the Crespi. The first was invented by John Hall and patented c and it was issued to the U. S. Army as the Model 1819 Hall Breech Loading Rifle. The Hall rifles and carbines were loaded using a paper cartridge inserted into the upward tilting breechblock. Hall rifles leaked gas from the often poorly fitted action, the same problem affected the muskets produced by Giuseppe Crespi and adopted by the Austrian Army in 1771. Nonetheless, the Crespi System was experimented with by the British during the Napoleonic Wars, Flintlock weapons were commonly used until the mid 19th century, when they were replaced by percussion lock systems. Even though they have long considered obsolete, flintlock weapons continue to be produced today by manufacturers such as Pedersoli, Euroarms. Flintlocks may be any type of arm, long gun or pistol, smoothbore or rifle. Flintlock pistols were used as weapons and as a military arm
21.
Musket
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A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smoothbore firearm, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry, a soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer. The musket replaced the arquebus, and was in turn replaced by the rifle. By the end of the 17th century, a version of the musket had edged out the arquebus, and the addition of the bayonet edged out the pike. In the 18th century, improvements in ammunition and firing methods allowed rifling to be practical for use. In the 19th century, rifled muskets became common, combining the advantages of rifles, about the time of the introduction of cartridge, breechloading, and multiple rounds of ammunition just a few years later, muskets fell out of fashion. Musket calibers generally ranged from 0.50 to 0.90 in, rifled muskets of the mid-19th century, like the Springfield Model 1861, were significantly more accurate, with the ability to hit a man sized target at a distance of 500 yards or more. However, in the Italian War of 1859, French forces were able to defeat the longer range of Austrian rifle muskets by aggressive skirmishing and rapid bayonet assaults during close quarters combat. According to the Etymology Dictionary, firearms were often named after animals, and the word derived from the French word mousquette. An alternative theory is that derives from the 16th century French mousquet, -ette, from the Italian moscetto, -etta, the Italian moscetto is a diminutive of mosca, a fly. Hand cannons arrived in Europe from Asia sometime in the early 14th century and they were more commonly used by the early 15th century, particularly in the Hussite wars. It is possible that the noise was at least as important as the missile and these were very short ranged, inaccurate and difficult to load and fire. Hand cannons had a handle, or no handle at all. A wooden stock was added, allowing the weapon to be easily held. The hand cannon evolved into the arquebus by the mid 15th century, the matchlock mechanism was a simple solution to this problem, and placed the match in a clamp on the end of a lever. When a trigger was pulled, the lever would rotate and allowed the match to come in contact with the touch hole, the first European usage of firearms in large ratios was in Hungary under king Matthias Corvinus. Every third soldier in the Black Army of Hungary had an arquebus, gradual advances in the empirical understanding of the corning of gunpowder made possible a more powerful explosive. The cost of gunpowder also gradually fell, by the 16th century the handheld firearm became commonplace, replacing the crossbow and longbow in all advanced armies, and known as the arquebus
22.
Massachusetts Provincial Congress
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The Massachusetts Provincial Congress was a provisional government created in the Province of Massachusetts Bay early in the American Revolution. When Massachusetts declared its independence in 1776, the Congress continued to govern under this arrangement for several years, the Provincial Congress came to an end with elections in October 1780. On May 20,1774, the Parliament of Great Britain passed the Massachusetts Government Act in an attempt to assert its authority in the often troublesome colony. In October 1774, Governor Thomas Gage dissolved the assembly, then meeting in Salem. The members of the assembly met anyway, adjourning to Concord, with John Hancock as its president, this extralegal body became the de facto government of Massachusetts outside of Boston. It assumed all powers to rule the province, collect taxes, buy supplies, Hancock sent Paul Revere to the First Continental Congress with the news that Massachusetts had established the first autonomous government of the Thirteen Colonies. Until the advent of the American Revolutionary War the congress frequently moved its meeting site, pursuant to recommendations of the Second Continental Congress, it in 1775 declared that a quorum of the council would be sufficient to make executive decisions. Although the assembly adjourned from time to time, the council remained in session until the new state constitution was introduced in 1780. This arrangement was only marginally satisfactory, and led to calls for a constitution as early as 1776. By 1778 these calls had widened, particularly in Berkshire County, the provisional government came to an end with elections in October 1780. Born and died in Sherborn, Mass, ref. from documents found on Ancestry. com Hart, Albert Bushnell. New York, The States History Company
23.
Continuity of government
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Continuity of government is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of nuclear war or other catastrophic event. COG was developed by the British government before and during World War II to counter threats, the need for continuity-of-government plans gained new urgency with nuclear proliferation. Countries during the Cold War and afterwards developed such plans to avoid confusion, in the US at least, COG is no longer limited to nuclear emergencies, the Continuity of Operations Plan was activated following the September 11 attacks. Canada built numerous nuclear bunkers across the country, nicknamed Diefenbunkers in a play on the last name of then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, the Peoples Republic of China once operated Underground Project 131, intended to be the PLA headquarters in Hubei during a nuclear conflict. During the Cold War, Denmark built two bunker complexes, named REGAN Vest and REGAN Øst, in Jutland and Zealand respectively, the Centre dOpération des Forces Aériennes Stratégiques is a hardened command centre for French nuclear forces at Taverny Air Base in Taverny, Val dOise. The alternate national command center is located at Mont Verdun near Lyon, the hardened headquarters of Force Océanique Stratégique, Frances nuclear SSBN fleet, is at Houilles, Yvelines. Germany operated a government bunker to house the German government, parliament, drafts of emergency powers legislation have been drawn up in secret, including legislation to deal with circumstances such as an attack on cabinet involving numerous deaths. The New Zealand government believes the most likely disaster scenario to affect the government is an earthquake in Wellington. The government has plans to move Parliament and essential staff to Devonport Naval Base in Auckland if such an event occurs, the Norwegian government operates a nuclear bunker called Sentralanlegget in Buskerud County. The bunker is meant to accommodate the Norwegian Royal Family and the government in case of an attack on the nation. There is also a bunker beneath Høyblokka in downtown Oslo, very little, in the public domain, is known about Russias COG plans. The second command and control center in the Urals, after Yamantau, is speculated to be underground and located near, or under. In spite of this, the command posts for the Strategic Rocket Forces remains Kuntsevo in Moscow. The facility at Kosvinsky, finished in early 1996, was designed to resist US earth-penetrating warheads, further command centers, according to globalsecurity. Another alleged subterranean destination, apart from the aforementioned underground town at Ramenki/Moscow State University is Vnukovo-2 airport, despite official Russian state ambiguity, it is speculated that many of the Moscow bunkers are linked by an underground railway line. During the Cold War, the Klara skyddsrum was built underneath Stockholm, the bunker is designed to accommodate two thirds of the government and between 8,000 and 12,000 civilians in the case of a military attack on Stockholm. It is designed as a large, two-story oval, with multiple entrances. During peace time, parts of it are used as a parking garage, the primary British COG headquarters is at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall
24.
First Battle of Bull Run
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It was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The Unions forces were slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail, each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops in their first battle. It was a Confederate victory, followed by a retreat of the Union forces. Yielding to political pressure, Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell led his unseasoned Union Army across Bull Run against the equally inexperienced Confederate Army of Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Confederate reinforcements under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah Valley by railroad, the Confederates launched a strong counterattack, and as the Union troops began withdrawing under fire, many panicked and the retreat turned into a rout. McDowells men frantically ran without order in the direction of Washington, both armies were sobered by the fierce fighting and many casualties, and realized that the war was going to be much longer and bloodier than either had anticipated. The Battle of First Bull Run highlighted many of the problems, McDowell, with 35,000 men, was only able to commit about 18,000, and the combined Confederate forces, with about 32,000 men, committed only 18,000. Earlier, South Carolina and seven other Southern states had declared their secession from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. To suppress the rebellion and restore Federal law in the Southern states and he later accepted an additional 40,000 volunteers with three-year enlistments and increased the strength of the U. S. Army to almost 20,000. In Washington, D. C. as thousands of volunteers rushed to defend the capital, General in Chief Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott laid out his strategy to subdue the rebellious states. He proposed that an army of 80,000 men be organized and sail down the Mississippi River, while the Army strangled the Confederacy in the west, the U. S. Navy would blockade Southern ports along the eastern and Gulf coasts. The press ridiculed what they dubbed as Scotts Anaconda Plan, instead, many believed the capture of the Confederate capital at Richmond, only one hundred miles south of Washington, would quickly end the war. By July 1861 thousands of volunteers were camped in and around Washington, since General Scott was seventy-five years old and physically unable to lead this force, the administration searched for a more suitable field commander. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase championed fellow Ohioan, although McDowell was a West Point graduate, his command experience was limited. In fact, he had spent most of his career engaged in staff duties in the Adjutant Generals Office. While stationed in Washington he had become acquainted with Chase, a former Ohio governor and senator, McDowell immediately began organizing what became known as the Army of Northeastern Virginia,35,000 men arranged in five divisions. Under public and political pressure to begin operations, McDowell was given very little time to train the newly inducted troops. Units were instructed in the maneuvering of regiments, but they received little or no training at the brigade or division level and he was reassured by President Lincoln, You are green, it is true, but they are green also, you are all green alike
25.
Wenham, Massachusetts
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Wenham is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,875 at the 2010 census, the town of Wenham, originally settled in 1635 and incorporated in 1643, has retained much of its historic character and rural scenery. It is a town of many views of farm lands, lakes, woodlands, historic homes. It features nearly 300 acres of parks, playgrounds and recreational lands, Wenham is closely tied to its neighboring town, Hamilton, sharing a school system, state-of-the-art library, recreation department, commuter rail station and newspaper. In 2010, the community of Hamilton-Wenham was listed among the Best Places to Live by Boston magazine, Wenham was first settled in 1635 and officially incorporated in 1643. English settlers first came to Wenham in the 1630s, but the area had been home to Native American Algonquian peoples for hundreds of years. The Algonquians were a peaceful, agricultural group who planted and stored corn, until recent years, Indian artifacts were found frequently throughout Wenham, and a representative collection is in the possession of the Wenham Museum. Wenham was originally a part of Salem, hugh Peters, the minister in Salem, preached to a group on a hill by the Great Pond around 1638, most probably to encourage settlement. The earliest land grants in the Wenham area roughly coincide with Peters sermon, the hill was leveled in later years to make room for the ice industry at the Great Pond. In September 1643, the General Court of Massachusetts granted that Wenham should be a town in its own right and it was the first town to be set off from Salem. Because many of its settlers came from Suffolk County in England. Wenham means home on the moor, a church was formed in October 1644, with John Fiske as pastor and seven families as members. In those early days, the church and government were one, a small part of the population—those who were church members—controlled both civil and religious life. It was not until 1833 that an amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution separated church, Wenham provided volunteers in King Philips War in the 1670s, and the French and Indian War in the early 1700s. In 1774, the town voted to select 15 men as minutemen, the Industrial Revolution, which changed the face of many Massachusetts towns in the 19th century, passed Wenham by. It remained a community, with one notable exception. Wenhams ice industry brought the name of Wenham to the notice of people as far away as London, artificial refrigeration and a fire that destroyed the ice house in 1973 brought an end to this unique industry. Although slaves were owned by Wenham residents in the 18th century, between 1862 and 1865, the army camp, Camp Landers, occupied 14 acres in Wenham
26.
Department of North Carolina
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The Department of Virginia and North Carolina was a United States Military department encompassing Union-occupied territory in the Confederate States during the Civil War. In 1863 it was formed by the merging of two previously existing departments, the Department of Virginia and the Department of North Carolina, in 1865 the two departments were once again separated. Major General Benjamin F. Butler was appointed the its first commander, early battles undertaken by troops from this department under General Butler included actions at Big Bethel and Hatteras Inlent. Early on the department was known as the ‘’’Department of Southeastern Virginia’’’. On January 7,1862, the areas of North Carolina were detached to form the Department of North Carolina, on June 1,1862, the area south of the Rappahannock River and east of the Fredericksburg-Richmond-Petersburg-Weldon Railroad were added to the department. From June 26,1862, to September 12,1862, on July 15,1863, the Dept. of Virginia was merged with the Dept. of North Carolina. On April 19,1865, much of the rest of Virginia was added, from January 18,1865, to August 1,1865, the Army of the James consisted of troops from this department which were the first to enter the fallen capital city of Richmond. 1861 Benjamin F. Butler John E. Wool George B. McClellan John Adams Dix Erasmus D. Keyes John Adams Dix 1865E. O. C, ord Henry W. Halleck Alfred H. These areas were part of the Department of Virginia. Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside was the department’s first commander, early territories captured by Burnside’s Expeditionary Force included Roanoke Island, New Bern, Morehead City, Beaufort and Fort Macon. On December 24,1862, XVIII Corps was created, composed of the five divisions stationed in North Carolina, on July 15,1863, the department was merged with the Department of Virginia. The Department of North Carolina was headquartered at the Slover-Bradham House in New Bern, on January 31,1865, the department was re-created to include Union-occupied areas of North Carolina excluding those occupied by the armies of William T. Sherman. General John M. Schofield was hand picked by Ulysses Grant to head the department, Schofield assembled troops within the department into the Wilmington Expeditionary Force which he personally led in the capture of Wilmington. Significant territories included in the department were those captured by Ambrose Burnside in 1862 along with recently captured Fort Fisher, in March 1865, The troops of the Department of North Carolina formed the revived X Corps, under the command of Alfred Terry. On May 19,1866, it was merged into the Department of the Carolinas,1862 Ambrose Burnside John G. Foster Innis N. Palmer John G. Foster 1865John M. Schofield Jacob D. Cox Thomas H. From December 21,1863, to June 27,1864 St. Marys County, on January 18,1865, the department was again separated into the Dept. of Virginia and Dept. of North Carolina. From August 12,1863, to April 25,1864, the Army and District of North Carolina were commanded by John J. Peck. From April 28,1864, to January 18,1865 and it primarily served in Virginia during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign and during the siege of Petersburg conducting operations against the city of Richmond north of the James River
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XVIII Corps (Union Army)
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XVIII Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The XVIII Corps was created on December 24,1862 and it was initially composed of five divisions stationed in North Carolina, making it one of the largest in the Union Army, and placed under the command of General John G. Foster. During the spring of 1864, the commanded by General William Farrar Smith, formerly of VI Corps—was transferred to Yorktown, Virginia. The corps played a part in the unsuccessful operations in the Bermuda Hundred. On June 12, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sent Smith on a march to seize Petersburg from the Confederate forces before Robert E. Lee could bring up the bulk of the Army of Northern Virginia. In the Second Battle of Petersburg, June 15-18,1864, Smith was relieved of command in July due to ill health, and he was replaced by Edward O. C. Charles A. Heckman briefly commanded the following the wounding of General Ord during the Battle of Chaffins Farm. John Gibbon was temporary commander of the corps in the month of September 1864, the corps occupied the line of entrenchments closest to the main Confederate line, and suffered heavy casualties in almost daily skirmishing for a month. The corps was relieved of its position by X Corps on August 26, and the corps was sent first to the Bermuda Hundred and its first division took part in the successful attack on Fort Harrison on August 29 during the Battle of Chaffins Farm. The corps was engaged on October 27 in the Second Battle of Fair Oaks. The corps was discontinued in December 1864, as with X Corps, its white units went to join the new XXIV Corps
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VIII Corps (Union Army)
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The VIII Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent most of 1862 guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad lines between Baltimore, Harpers Ferry, and Winchester, the corps, then led by Robert C. Schenck, played a role in the early stages of the Gettysburg Campaign. The badly battered corps withdrew to Harpers Ferry after that, playing no role in the campaign. The VIII Corps played a part in the defense of Washington from Jubal Early at Monocacy on July 9,1864 under the commander of Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace. The primary duty of the VIII Corps in 1864 was rear echelon duties in Maryland guarding the Baltimore, elements of the corps also battled Confederate cavalry as it raided across Maryland to the suburbs of Baltimore during Earlys Raid on Washington. The headquarters of the department was located in Baltimore, the VIII Corps is often confused with the Army of West Virginia which served in the Shenandoah Valley and western Virginia throughout 1864. It is furthermore confusing in the fact that the Army of West Virginia functioned as a corps within the Army of the Shenandoah, the result was references to the Army of West Virginia as the VIII Corps even though they were never officially synonymous. Eicher, John H. & Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press,2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3
29.
Framingham, Massachusetts
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Framingham is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 68,318 as of the United States 2010 Census, founded in 1700, Framingham was placed at #36 on Best Places to Live in US by CNN Money magazine in 2012. Framingham, sited on the ancient trail known as the Old Connecticut Path, was first settled when John Stone settled on the west bank of the Sudbury River in 1647. In 1660, Thomas Danforth, an official of the Bay Colony, formerly of Framlingham, Suffolk, received a grant of land at Danforths Farms and he strenuously resisted petitions for incorporation of the town, which was officially incorporated in 1700, following his death the previous year. Why the L was dropped from the new name is not known. The first church was organized in 1701, the first teacher was hired in 1706, on February 22,1775, the British general Thomas Gage sent two officers and an enlisted man out of Boston to survey the route to Worcester, Massachusetts. In Framingham, those spies stopped at Buckminsters Tavern and they watched the town militia muster outside the building, impressed with the mens numbers but not their discipline. Though the whole company came into the tavern after their drill, Gage did not order a march along that route, instead ordering troops to Concord, Massachusetts, on April 18–19. Framingham sent two companies totaling about 130 men into the Battles of Lexington and Concord that followed. In the years prior to the American Civil War, Framingham was an annual gathering-spot for members of the abolitionist movement, each Independence Day from 1854 to 1865, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society held a rally in a picnic area called Harmony Grove near what is now downtown Framingham. At the 1854 rally, William Lloyd Garrison burned copies of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, judicial decisions enforcing it, other prominent abolitionists present that day included William Cooper Nell, Sojourner Truth, Wendell Phillips, Lucy Stone, and Henry David Thoreau. During the post–World War II baby boom, Framingham, like many suburban areas, experienced a large increase in population. Much of the housing constructed during that time consisted of split-level, in 2000, Framingham celebrated its Tercentennial. Framingham is located at 42°17′59″N 71°25′35″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 26.4 square miles. 25.1 square miles of it is land and 1.3 square miles of it is water, Framingham is located in eastern Massachusetts,20 miles west of Boston, midway between Boston and Worcester. It is bordered by Southborough and Marlborough on the west, Sherborn and Ashland on the south, Natick on the east, Wayland on the northeast, the town of Framingham is divided by Route 9, which passes east-to-west through the middle of the town. South Framingham includes Downtown Framingham, and the villages of Coburnville, Lokerville, North Framingham includes the villages of Nobscot, Pinefield, Ridgefield, and Saxonville plus Framingham Center. As of the census of 2010, there were 68,318 people,27,529 households, the population density was 2,663.6 people per square mile
30.
El Paso, Texas
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El Paso is the seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The city is situated in the far corner of the U. S. state of Texas. El Paso stands on the Rio Grande river across the Mexico–United States border from Ciudad Juárez, the region of over 2.9 million people constitutes the largest bilingual and binational work force in the Western Hemisphere. The city hosts the annual Sun Bowl college football post-season game, El Paso has a strong federal and military presence. William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Biggs Army Airfield, and Fort Bliss call the city home, Fort Bliss is one of the largest military complexes of the United States Army and the largest training area in the United States. Also headquartered in El Paso are the DEA domestic field division 7, El Paso Intelligence Center, Joint Task Force North, Border Patrol El Paso Sector, and U. S. In 2010, El Paso received an All-America City Award, El Paso has been ranked the safest large city in the U. S. for four consecutive years and has ranked in the top three since 1997. As of July 1,2015, the estimate for the city from the U. S. Census was 681,124. Its U. S. metropolitan area covers all of El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas, the El Paso MSA forms part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces CSA, with a population of 1,053,267. The El Paso region has had human settlement for thousands of years, the evidence suggests 10,000 to 12,000 years of human habitation. The earliest known cultures in the region were maize farmers, when the Spanish arrived, the Manso, Suma, and Jumano tribes populated the area. These were subsequently incorporated into the Mestizo culture, along with immigrants from central Mexico, captives from Comanchería, the Mescalero Apache were also present. El Paso del Norte was founded on the bank of the Río Bravo del Norte. El Paso remained the largest settlement in New Mexico until its cession to the U. S. in 1848, the Texas Revolution was generally not felt in the region, as the American population was small, not being more than 10% of the population. However, the region was claimed by Texas as part of the treaty signed with Mexico, during this interregnum, 1836–1848, Americans nonetheless continued to settle the region. The present Texas–New Mexico boundary placing El Paso on the Texas side was drawn in the Compromise of 1850, El Paso County was established in March 1850, with San Elizario as the first county seat. The United States Senate fixed a boundary between Texas and New Mexico at the 32nd parallel, thus largely ignoring history and topography, a military post called The Post opposite El Paso was established in 1854. Further west, a settlement on Coons Rancho called Franklin became the nucleus of the future El Paso, a year later, pioneer Anson Mills completed his plan of the town, calling it El Paso
31.
Pioneer (military)
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A pioneer is a soldier employed to perform engineering and construction tasks. The term is in similar to sapper. Pioneers were originally part of the branch of European armies. Subsequently, they formed part of the branch, the logistic branch, part of the infantry. Historically, the role of pioneer units was to assist other arms in tasks such as the construction of field fortifications, military camps, bridges. Prior to and during the First World War, pioneers were often engaged in the construction, during the 20th century, British Commonwealth military forces came to distinguish between small units of assault pioneers belonging to infantry regiments and separate pioneer units. The United States Marine Corps has sometimes organized its sappers into Pioneer Battalions, the word pioneer is originally from France. The word was borrowed into English, from Old French pionnier and it was used in a military sense as early as 1626–1627. Most of the regiments of artillery have half a company of pioneers. Our regiments of infantry and cavalry have 3 or 4 pioneers each, provided with aprons, hatchets, saws, spades, extensive use was made of pioneers in the British Indian Army because of the demands of campaigning in difficult terrain with little or no infrastructure. In 1780, two companies of pioneers were raised in Madras, increasing to 16 in 1803 divided into two battalions, bombay and Bengal pioneers were formed during the same period. In the late century, a number of existing Indian infantry regiments took the title. The twelve Indian Pioneer regiments in existence in 1914 were trained and equipped for road, rail and engineering work, as well as for conventional infantry service. While this dual function did not qualify them to be regarded as elite units, prior to World War I, each sepoy in a Pioneer regiment carried a pickaxe or a light spade in special leather equipment as well as a rifle and bayonet. NCOs and buglers carried axes, saws and billhooks, heavier equipment, such as explosives, was carried by mule. The unit was well equipped for simple field engineering tasks. During the War, the increased specialisation required of Pioneers made them too valuable to use as regular assault infantry, All four Pioneer Corps were disbanded in 1933 and their personnel mostly transferred into the Corps of Sappers and Miners, whose role they had come to parallel. In addition, their role of frontier road building had now been allocated to civilian workers
32.
Fort Devens
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Fort Devens is a United States Army Reserve military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U. S. state of Massachusetts. It was named after jurist and Civil War general Charles Devens, the nearby Devens Reserve Forces Training Area is located in Lancaster. Although closed in 1996, the fort was reopened the day as the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area. The name reverted to Fort Devens in May 2007, the fort has a population of 306 enlisted personnel,2,151 reservists,348 civilians, and 1,399 family members. It also maintains 25 ranges,21 training areas, and 15 maneuver areas on nearly 5,000 acres of land, furthermore, it is also home to the United States Army Base Camp Systems Integration Laboratory as well as the United States Army System Integration Laboratory. Part of the area of the military base is now home to Federal Medical Center, Devens. The first military base on the site was established by Major Simon Willard, willards home was situated near the Verbeck Gate of Fort Devens, and was destroyed in 1676 in a Nehântick raid during King Philips War. A memorial erected in 1934 marks the location today, during the Civil War the site was used for Camp Stevens, home to the 53rd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Camp Devens was established on September 5,1917 as a cantonment for training soldiers during World War I. It was a center for war selectees and became a demobilization center after the war. Three divisions were activated and trained at Devens during the war, Robert Goddard briefly used the post for his rocket operations in 1929. The camp became a permanent installation in 1931 and was named Fort Devens the following year, a few years later, Fort Devens Army Airfield was established. In 1940, at the onset of World War II, Fort Devens was designated a reception center for all men in New England who would serve one year as draftees, a massive $25 million building project was begun, including more than 1200 wooden buildings and an airfield. The 1st, 32nd, and 45th Divisions trained at Devens during the war, Devens also housed a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian prisoners from 1944 to 1946. It was designated as early as 1942 for detaining enemy aliens of Italian, German, the 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division was located at Fort Devens from 1946 to 1950. The 7th Infantry deployed to San Francisco, California and sailed for Japan on 20 August 1950, arriving on 16 September 1950 to marry-up with the 15th Infantry Regiment and the division headquarters. In the 1950s or 1960s the fort was home to the 56th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, part of 1st Region, on 15 February 1958 the 2nd Infantry Brigade was re-activated at Fort Devens, Massachusetts as the Pentomic 2nd Infantry Brigade with its own shoulder sleeve insignia. It spent the five years training in northern Massachusetts and Cape Cod
33.
26th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 26th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. A major formation of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, it was based in Boston, today, the divisions heritage is carried on by the 26th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. Sent to Europe in World War I as part of the American Expeditionary Forces, sent to Europe once again for World War II, the division again fought through France, advancing into Germany and liberating the Gusen concentration camp before the end of the war. Following the end of World War II, the division remained as a command in the National Guard. However, the division was never called up to any major contengencies or see major combat. The 26th Infantry Division was first constituted on 18 July 1917 and it was formally activated on 22 August of that year in Boston, Massachusetts, and it was celebrated by Boston writers and by composers in pieces such as The Yankee Division March and Battery A March. The division commanded two brigades comprising national guard units from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, the 51st Infantry Brigade contained the 101st and 102nd Infantry Regiments, while the 52nd Infantry Brigade contained the 103rd and 104th Infantry Regiments, together with supporting units. Shortly thereafter, the commander, Major General C. R. Edwards. Edwards decided to settle on the suggestion of Yankee Division since all of the units of the division were from New England. Shortly thereafter, the division approved a shoulder sleeve insignia with a YD monogram to reflect this, on 21 September 1917, the division arrived at Saint-Nazaire, France. It was the division of the American Expeditionary Force to arrive on the Western Front at the time. Two additional divisions completed the first wave of American troop deployment, with the 2nd Division formed in France, the division immediately moved to Neufchâteau for training, as most of the divisions soldiers were raw recruits, new to military service. Because of this, much of the force was trained by the experienced French forces. It trained extensively with the other three US divisions, organized as the U. S, I Corps in January 1918, before being moved into a quiet sector of the trenches in February. The 26th Infantry Division remained in a quiet region of the lines along the Chemin des Dames for several months before it relieved the 1st Division near St. Mihiel on 3 April. The stay of the division in this sector was marked by several serious encounters with the enemy, there were furthermore almost nightly encounters between patrols or ambush parties, and the harassing fire of the artillery on both sides was very active. On 10,12 and 13 April, the lines held by the 104th Infantry in Bois Brule, in late April, German infantry conducted a raid on positions of the 26th Division, one of the first attacks on Americans during the war. At 0400 on 20 April, German field artillery bombarded the 102nd Infantrys positions near Seicheprey before German stoßtruppen moved against the village, the artillery box barrage, continuing 36 hours, isolated American units
34.
Charlestown, Boston
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Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally called Mishawum by the Massachusett, it is located on a north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston. Charlestown was laid out in 1629 by engineer Thomas Graves, one of its early settlers and it was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Charlestown became a city in 1848 and was annexed by Boston on January 5,1874, with that, it also switched from Middlesex County, to which it had belonged since 1643, to Suffolk County. It has had a substantial Irish American population since the migration of Irish people during the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s, since the late 1980s the neighborhood has changed dramatically because of its proximity to downtown and its colonial architecture. In the 21st century, Charlestowns diversity has expanded dramatically, along with growing rates of the very poor, today Charlestown is a largely residential neighborhood, with much housing near the waterfront, overlooking the Boston skyline. Charlestown is home to historic sites, hospitals and organizations. Thomas and Jane Walford were the original English settlers of the peninsula between the Charles and the Mystic and they were given a grant by Sir Robert Gorges, with whom they had settled at Wessagusset in September 1623 and arrived at what they called Mishawaum in 1624. John Endicott, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, sent William, Richard, Thomas Walford, acting as an interpreter with the Massachusetts Indians, negotiated with the local sachem Wonohaquaham for Endicott and his people to settle there. John Winthrops company stopped here for time in 1630, before deciding to settle across the Charles River at Boston. The territory of Charlestown was initially quite large, from it, Woburn was separated in 1642, Melrose and Malden in 1649, Stoneham in 1725, and Somerville in 1842. Everett, Burlington, Medford, Arlington and Cambridge also acquired areas originally allocated to Charlestown, on June 17,1775, the Charlestown Peninsula was the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill, named for a hill at the northwest end of the peninsula near Charlestown Neck. British troops unloaded at Moulton’s Point and much of the battle took place on Breeds Hill, the town, including its wharves and dockyards, was almost completely destroyed during the battle by the British. The town was not appreciably rebuilt until the end of hostilities but, in 1786, an 87-acre Navy Yard was established in 1800, Charlestown State Prison opened in 1805. The Bunker Hill Monument was erected between 1827 and 1843 using Quincy granite brought to the site by a combination of purpose-built railway, notable businesses included the Bunker Hill Breweries and Schraffts candy company. Around the 1860s an influx of Irish immigrants arrived in Charlestown, following the war, the city commissioned Martin Milmore to construct its civil war memorial, dedicated in 1872 and still standing in the communitys Training Field. Out of its 32,040 residents,2240 voted in support of the merger and 1947 opposed, Boston residents also approved the question,5, 960–1,868. Charlestowns separate city government was dissolved the next year, during the early 1960s, the city initiated plans to demolish and redevelop sixty percent of the housing in Charlestown
35.
Guadalcanal Campaign
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It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan. The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. Powerful American and Australian naval forces supported the landings, surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November to retake Henderson Field. In December, the Japanese abandoned their efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their forces by 7 February 1943. The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms Allied victory in the Pacific theater, along with the Battle of Midway, it has been called a turning point in the war against Japan. The Japanese had reached the peak of their conquests in the Pacific, on 7 December 1941, Japanese forces attacked the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack crippled much of the U. S. battleship fleet and precipitated an open, to further those goals, Japanese forces captured the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Wake Island, Gilbert Islands, New Britain and Guam. Joining the U. S. in the war against Japan were the rest of the Allied powers, several of whom, including the United Kingdom, Australia, coral Sea was a tactical stalemate, but a strategic Allied victory which became clear only much later. Up to this point, the Allies had been on the defensive in the Pacific, originally the objectives were the occupation of the Santa Cruz Islands, codenamed Huddle, Tulagi, codenamed Watchtower, and adjacent positions. Guadalcanal, eventually the focus of the operation, was not even mentioned in the early directive, the Imperial Japanese Navy had occupied Tulagi in May 1942 and had constructed a seaplane base nearby. By August 1942, the Japanese had about 900 naval troops on Tulagi and these bases would protect Japans major base at Rabaul, threaten Allied supply and communication lines and establish a staging area for a planned offensive against Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa. The Japanese planned to deploy 45 fighters and 60 bombers to Guadalcanal, in the overall strategy for 1942 these aircraft could provide air cover for Japanese naval forces advancing farther into the South Pacific. The Allied plan to invade the southern Solomons was conceived by U. S. Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. He proposed the offensive to deny the use of the islands by the Japanese as bases to threaten the supply routes between the United States and Australia and to use them as starting points. With US President Franklin D. Roosevelts tacit consent, King also advocated the invasion of Guadalcanal, an early obstacle was a desire by both the Army and Roosevelt to initiate action in Europe. The directive held that the goal was the American reconquest of the Philippines. Joint Chiefs of Staff created the South Pacific theater, with Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley taking command on 19 June 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz, based at Pearl Harbor, was designated as overall Allied commander in chief for Pacific forces. In preparation for the offensive in the Pacific in May 1942, other Allied land, naval and air force units were sent to establish or reinforce bases in Fiji, Samoa, New Hebrides and New Caledonia
36.
Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
37.
New Caledonia
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New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean,1,210 km east of Australia and 16,136 km east of Metropolitan France. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea, locals refer to Grande Terre as Le Caillou. New Caledonia has an area of 18,576 km2. Its population of 268,767 consists of a mix of Kanak people, people of European descent, Polynesian people, the capital of the territory is Nouméa. The earliest traces of human presence in New Caledonia date back to the Lapita period, the Lapita were highly skilled navigators and agriculturists with influence over a large area of the Pacific. British explorer Captain James Cook was the first European to sight New Caledonia, on 4 September 1774 and he named it New Caledonia, as the northeast of the island reminded him of Scotland. The west coast of Grande Terre was approached by Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse in 1788, shortly before his disappearance, from then until 1840, only a few sporadic contacts with the archipelago were recorded. Contacts became more frequent after 1840, because of the interest in sandalwood from New Caledonia, the trade ceased at the start of the 20th century. The victims of this trade were called Kanakas, like all the Oceanian people, the first missionaries from the London Missionary Society and the Marist Brothers arrived in the 1840s. In 1849, the crew of the American ship Cutter was killed, cannibalism was widespread throughout New Caledonia. On 24 September 1853, under orders from Napoleon III, Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia, a few dozen free settlers settled on the west coast in the following years. New Caledonia became a colony, and from the 1860s until the end of the transportations in 1897, about 22,000 criminals. Among the convicts were many Communards arrested after the failed Paris Commune, including Henri de Rochefort, between 1873 and 1876,4,200 political prisoners were relegated in New Caledonia. Only 40 of them settled in the colony, the rest returned to France after being granted amnesty in 1879 and 1880. In 1864, nickel was discovered on the banks of the Diahot River and with the establishment of the Société Le Nickel in 1876, mining began in earnest. The French imported labourers to work in the mines, first from neighbouring islands, then from Japan, the Dutch East Indies, the French government also attempted to encourage European immigration, without much success. The indigenous population was excluded from the French economy, even as workers in the mines, and they were ultimately confined to reservations. This sparked a violent reaction in 1878 as High Chief Atal of La Foa managed to unite many of the central tribes, the Europeans brought new diseases such as smallpox and measles
38.
23rd Infantry Division (United States)
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The 23rd Infantry Division, more commonly known as the Americal Division, of the United States Army was activated 27 May 1942 on the island of New Caledonia. In the immediate emergency following Pearl Harbor, the United States had hurriedly sent three regiments to defend New Caledonia against a feared Japanese attack. This division was the division formed outside of United States territory during World War II. This was unusual, as most U. S. divisions are known by a number, after World War II the Americal Division was officially re-designated as the 23rd Infantry Division. However, it was referred to as such, even on official orders. During the Vietnam War the division had a mixed record, the division was inactivated following its withdrawal from Vietnam in November 1971. Assigned to this duty were companies L and M and attached units from Headquarters Company, Service Company, the total strength being in the vicinity of 480 men was under the command of Brigadier General Rose. That a brigadier general should be placed in command of two rifle companies indicated the degree of importance, and hazard, that G. H. G. The men were assembled and told that Force A and 50 Australians held the most advanced outpost of the Allied Forces in the Pacific, no retreat is possible, no reinforcements can be relied on. The French objected to the arrangement and, increasingly worried about Japanese invasion, with pressing needs to build up defenses in Hawaii and Australia, Army planners decided to put together a force rather than commit an already organized division. The regiments available through the reorganization of divisions along with elements made available a force of about 15,000 men. This force, designated Task Force 6184 and often mentioned as Poppy Force, under Brigadier General Alexander M. Patch, Jr. had the elements of a division, the forces mission was to hold New Caledonia. It was an independent command, directly under the War Department in Washington, the convoy sailed from the New York Port of Embarkation on 23 January 1942 and reached Melbourne on 26 February. This large and critical convoy was covered by a striking group, transshipment of troops and equipment was completed in Melbourne and the seven transports departed on 7 March for New Caledonia as convoy ZK-7, arriving six days later. General Patch, preceding the force by air, had arrived on 5 March with news for the French that American forces were underway, under the command of General Patch, the Americal Division was the first US Army unit to be sent to Guadalcanal. Largely because of constraints, the Americal arrived piecemeal and was fed into combat alongside the battle-hardened and exhausted US 1st Marine Division. Its soldiers were quick to assimilate from the Marines on Guadalcanal lessons on battle tactics against Japanese forces, Americal casualties were consequently less than what might be expected. The 164th Infantry Regiment landed on Guadalcanal on 13 October 1942, ahead of its brother regiments, the Regiment was the first U. S. Army unit to engage in offensive action during World War II as part of the Battle of Guadalcanal
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Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command
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It was especially visible in conjunction with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. The mission of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command was to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of the nations past conflicts, the motto of JPAC was Until they are home. On 30 January 2015, JPAC was officially deactivated by the Department of Defense, JPAC, the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, and certain functions of the U. S. Air Forces Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory, were all merged into the new Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. JPAC was a direct reporting unit within the United States Pacific Command. Its headquarters were located at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, each detachment was under the command of a field grade officer of the United States armed forces. DPAA Annex - Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, the JCA performed routine anthropological and odontological analysis in order to identify service members. The laboratory portion of DPAA referred to as the Central Identification Laboratory,1973, The DOD established the Central Identification Laboratory–Thailand to coordinate POW/MIA recovery efforts in Southeast Asia. 1976, The DOD established the Central Identification Laboratory–Hawaii to search for, recover,1992, The Joint Task Force–Full Accounting was established to focus on achieving the fullest possible accounting of American missing from the Vietnam War. 2002, DOD determined that POW/MIA recovery efforts would be best served by combining the two Central Identification Laboratories and the Joint Task Force,1 October 2003, The Joint POW/MIA Accounting command was established under the auspices of the Commander, Pacific Command. JPAC’s operations were divided into four areas, Analysis and Investigation, Recovery, Identification, JPAC investigated leads concerning Americans who were killed in action but were never brought home. This process involved close coordination with other U. S. agencies involved in the POW/MIA issue, if enough evidence was found, a site was recommended for recovery in a process that often took years to accomplish. JPAC had 18 Recovery Teams whose members traveled throughout the world to recover missing from past wars, a typical recovery team was made up of 10 to 14 people, led by a team leader and a forensic anthropologist. Additional experts were added to the mission as needed, such as mountaineering specialists or divers, the team carefully excavates the site and screens the soil to locate all possible remains and artifacts. In the case of a crash, a recovery site may be quite large. Once the recovery effort was completed, the returned to Hawaii. Upon arrival at the laboratory, all remains and artifacts recovered from a site were signed over to the custody of the CIL, forensic anthropologists carefully analyze all remains and artifacts to determine the sex, race, age at death, and stature of the individual. Anthropologists also analyzed trauma caused at or near the time of death, often, recovered military and personal equipment artifacts were forwarded to the USAF Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory, for advanced scientific and historical analysis. Frequently, the LSEL was able to provide crucial case determinations when other evidence was not recovered or available
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Bougainville Campaign
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The Bougainville Campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied grand strategy in the South Pacific, the campaign took place in the Northern Solomons in two phases. The first phase, in which American troops invaded and held the perimeter around the beachhead at Torokina, before the war, Bougainville had been administered as part of the Australian Territory of New Guinea, even though, geographically, Bougainville is part of the Solomon Islands chain. As a result, within the accounts of the campaign it is referred to as part of both the New Guinea and the Solomon Islands campaigns. During their occupation the Japanese constructed naval aircraft bases in the north, east, and south of the island and they developed a naval anchorage at Tonolei Harbor near Buin, their largest base, on the southern coastal plain of Bougainville. On the nearby Treasury and Shortland Islands they built airfields, naval bases and anchorages, to the Allies, Bougainville would later also be considered vital for neutralizing the Japanese base around Rabaul. In March–April 1942, the Japanese landed on Bougainville as part of their advance into the South Pacific, at the time, there was only a small Australian garrison on the island which consisted of about 20 soldiers from the 1st Independent Company and some coastwatchers. Shortly after the Japanese arrived, the bulk of the Australian force was evacuated by the Allies, once secured, the Japanese began constructing a number of airfields across the island. The airfield at Kahili was known by the Japanese as Buin Airfield, at the opening of the Allied offensives, their estimates of Japanese strength on Bougainville varied widely, ranging between 45,000 and 65,000 Army, Navy, and labour personnel. These forces constituted the Japanese 17th Army, commanded by General Harukichi Hyakutake, hyukatake reported to General Hitoshi Imamura, commander of the Japanese Eighth Area Army, headquartered at Rabaul on New Britain Island. Naval command at Rabaul was the responsibility of Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka, the level of cooperation between these two officers was greater than that usually found between the branches of the Japanese armed forces. The 17th Infantry occupied northern Bougainville, while the 6th had responsibility for the south of Tarina. Reduction of the main Japanese base at Rabaul was the goal of the Allied offensive in the Solomons. To achieve this, Allied planners formulated Operation Cartwheel, by 1943 Rabaul was already within range of Allied heavy bombers, but a closer airfield was needed for light bombers and escort fighters. Thus, the island of Bougainville did not need to be occupied. According to Morison this was the one and only reason why the JCS authorized Halsey to seize a section of Bougainville, the area around Cape Torokina was settled on since, among other things, the Japanese were not there in force and had no airfield there. Bougainville lay within the Southwest Pacific Area, so operations were nominally under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, whose headquarters were in Brisbane, Australia. Although MacArthur had to all major moves, he gave planning and operational control to Admiral William F. Halsey
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Solomon Islands campaign
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The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea. In a campaign of attrition fought on land, on sea, and in the air, the Allies retook some of the Solomon Islands, and they also isolated and neutralized some Japanese positions, which were then bypassed. The Solomon Islands campaign then converged with the New Guinea campaign, on December 7,1941, after failing to resolve a dispute with the United States over Japans actions in China and French Indochina, the Japanese attacked the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack crippled most of the U. S, Pacific Fleets battleships and started a formal state of war between the two nations. In launching this war, Japanese leaders sought to neutralize the U. S. fleet, seize possessions rich in natural resources, and obtain strategic military bases to defend their far-flung empire. Anchoring its defensive positions in the South Pacific was the major Japanese army and navy base at Rabaul, New Britain, which had been captured from the Australians in January 1942. In March and April, Japanese forces occupied and began constructing an airfield at Buka in northern Bougainville, as well as an airfield, in April 1942, the Japanese army and navy together initiated Operation Mo, a joint plan to capture Port Moresby in New Guinea. Also part of the plan was an operation to capture Tulagi in the southern Solomons. The Japanese Navy also proposed an invasion of Australia. Japanese naval forces successfully captured Tulagi but its invasion of Port Moresby was repulsed at the Battle of the Coral Sea, shortly thereafter, the Japanese navy established small garrisons on the other northern and central Solomon Islands. One month later, the Japanese Combined Fleet lost four of its aircraft carriers at the Battle of Midway. The Allies countered the threats to Australia by a build-up of troops and aircraft, with the aim of implementing plans to approach and reconquer the Philippines. In March 1942 Admiral Ernest King, then Commander-in Chief of the U. S. Fleet, had advocated an offense from New Hebrides through the Solomon Islands to the Bismarck Archipelago. The United States Navy advocated a gradual approach from New Guinea. These competing proposals were resolved by Admiral King and U. S. Army Chief of Staff General George C, Marshall, who adopted a three-task plan. Task One was the capture of the island of Tulagi in the Solomons, task Two was an advance along the New Guinea coast. Task Three was the capture of Rabaul, task One, implemented by a directive of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 2 July 1942 and named the initial attacks Operation Watchtower, became the Solomon Islands campaign
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Battle of Leyte
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Japan had conquered the Philippines in 1942. Controlling it was vital for Japans survival in World War II because it commanded sea routes to Borneo and Sumatra by which rubber, for the US, capturing the Philippines was a key strategic step in isolating Imperial Japans military holdings in China and the Pacific theater. It was also a matter of pride for MacArthur. Those relief forces were non-existent, Roosevelts true intentions in ordering MacArthur to flee the Philippines had been to prevent his capture by the Japanese, still, MacArthur had vowed that he would return to the Philippines. He repeatedly stated that it was an obligation of the US to liberate the Philippines as soon as possible. In March 1944, the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered MacArthur to plan an attack on the southern Philippines by the end of the year, halsey then recommended a direct strike on Leyte, canceling other planned operations, and the Leyte invasion date moved forward to October. Leyte, one of the islands of the Philippines, has numerous deep-water approaches and sandy beaches which offered opportunities for amphibious assaults. American air forces based on Leyte could strike at enemy bases, a heavily forested north-south mountain range dominates the interior and separates two sizable valleys, or coastal plains. The larger Leyte Valley extends from the northern coast to the eastern shore and contains most of the towns. This continued south to the port of Ormoc City, then along the shore to Baybay town. The road then turned east to cross the mountainous waist of the island, below these towns, the mountainous southern third of Leyte was mostly undeveloped. High mountain peaks over 4,400 ft, as well as the jagged outcroppings, ravines, the timing late in the year of the assault would force combat troops and supporting pilots, as well as logistical units, to contend with monsoon rains. Japanese troop strength on Leyte was estimated by US intelligence at 20,000, preliminary operations for the Leyte invasion began at dawn on 17 October with minesweeping tasks and the movement of the 6th Rangers toward three small islands in Leyte Gulf. Although delayed by a storm, the Rangers were on Suluan, on Suluan, they dispersed a small group of Japanese defenders and destroyed a radio station, while they found Dinagat unoccupied. The next day, the third island Homonhon, was taken without any opposition, on Dinagat and Homonhom, the Rangers proceeded to erect navigation lights for the amphibious transports to follow. Meanwhile, reconnaissance by underwater demolition teams revealed clear landing beaches for assault troops on Leyte, independently, the 21st Infantry Regiment on 20 Oct. landed on Panaon Strait to control the entrance to Sogod Bay. Following four hours of naval gunfire on A-day,20 October. X Corps pushed across a 4 mi stretch of beach between Tacloban airfield and the Palo River,15 mi to the south, XXIV Corps units came ashore across a 3 mi strand between San José and the Daguitan River
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Battle of the Visayas
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The Battle of the Visayas was fought by U. S. The battle was waged to complete the recapture of the portions south of the archipelago. Panay Island was the first objective, recalled Gen. Eichelberger, Filipino guerrillas stood stiff, resplendent in starched khaki uniforms and ornaments and decked in battle gear. The regiment proceeded to seize the airfield at Barrio Tiring, Cabatuan, the Iloilo International Airport is currently located on the same area in Cabatuan, Iloilo. The regiment also proceeded to seize the airfield at Mandurriao district, the Japanese were holed up in Iloilo City, and the 40th Division easily swept these Japanese outposts in two days. Mopping up operations by the guerrillas and 2nd Battalion of the 160th Infantry Regiment continued, guimaras and Inampulagan islands, between Panay and Negros, were seized on the same day Iloilo fell,20 March and the next day, respectively with no opposition. On 29 March, a platoon from Company F, 185th Infantry under 1st Lt. Aaron H. The Japanese guards were surprised, and the bridge was secured for several hours before reinforcements arrived, on 9 April, all three regiments of the 40th Division pushed east into the rugged, mountainous interior of the island. The Japanese resisted stubbornly, aided by booby-trapped terrain, defended their positions by day. Soon, the 40th Division started using small infiltrating units to creep past tank traps and minefields, on 23 May, at Hacienda San Jose, San Carlos, Medal of Honor awardee, Staff Sgt. Sjorgens unit, Company I, subsequently received a Presidential Unit Citation for its heroic action, by 4 June, the Japanese began a general withdrawal, retreating further into the unexplored mountains of Negros. Eight weeks later, the 40th Division overcame these final defenses, about a week into the Panay and northwestern Negros operations, Operation VICTOR II, the seizure of Cebu, Bohol, and southeastern Negros, was underway. The Americal Division under Maj. Gen. William Howard Arnold was tasked by Gen. Eichelberger for the operation. Some 14,500 Japanese troops held Cebu, but 2,000 Japanese soldiers under Maj. Gen. Takeo Manjome were contained in northern Cebu by about 8,500 guerrillas under Lt. Col. James M. Cushing. One-third of the Japanese forces in Cebu were combat-ready, with a network of formidable defensive positions around the city. On 26 March 1945, at 08,28 on Talisay Beach, four miles west of Cebu City, Japanese resistance was light, but Japanese mines destroyed ten of the first fifteen landing tracked vehicles that moved ashore, effectively stopping the advance. Subsequent landing waves stacked up behind the first that created a traffic jam. Some two hours later, the traffic lessened as troops cautiously picked their way through the dense minefield, the next day,27 March, the Americal Division moved into already devastated Cebu City, as the Americans began a rapid advance
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Talisay, Cebu
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Talisay, officially the City of Talisay and often referred to as Talisay City, is a 3rd city income class component city in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 227,645, in the 2016 electoral roll, it had 120,240 registered voters. Primarily a residential and trading center, Talisay lies within the Metro Cebu area, the name of Talisay is taken from the magtalisay tree which is abundant in the city. Talisay was founded in 1648 as an estate owned by the Augustinians, in 1849 it was converted into a municipality. During both the American colonial period and World War II, Talisay served as a haven of colonial military forces, the municipality served as the center of guerrilla intelligence operations for the Philippine resistance movement in Cebu during World War II. That day is now a holiday in the province of Cebu. In 2000 the municipality of Talisay was converted into a city, the municipality is now linked to Cebu City via the South Coastal Highway from Lawaan, opened in 2004. This brought some recent inward investment in the form of subdivisions, conflict occurred between the residents of the mountain barangay of Maghaway and those of Crown Asias Azienda Milan and Venezia subdivisions. According to the National Statistics Office in its 2000 report, some 70% of the population of Talisay belongs to the urban poor. Talisay City comprises 22 barangays, In the 2016 electoral roll, it had 120,240 registered voters, meaning that 53% of the population are aged 18, cebuano is the predominant language of the inhabitants of the city. Talisay City has 90% Roman Catholic population with 9% other Christian denomination, Talisay remains an important center for the production of blasting caps used in dynamite. Much of the commerce in Talisay takes place in the Tabunok area, the biggest mall is Gaisano Grand Fiesta Mall Tabunok, which has a supermarket, department store and formerly, a cinema. However, much of the population depend on the public markets. Talisay City and the Tabunok area also serve as the area for municipalities south of the city. In 2016 Talisay City Council expressed support for the proposed Light Rail Transit project in Cebu, teresa de Avila Halad Kang Santa Teresa– an offering of thanksgiving in the form of dance by local Talisaynons and pilgrims to pay homage to Sta. Teresa de Avila, the citys patroness, people from all walks of life flock to the city to dance, offer and join the merriment. Inasal Festival – lechon inasal is served in every residents banquet, the festival is a showcase of lechons in various costumes and decorations
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Battle for Cebu City
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The Battle for Cebu City was a major engagement of World War II that occurred between March 26 and April 8,1945, during the second Philippines Campaign. The battle resulted in an Allied victory over the occupying Japanese Army, after launching their campaign to recapture the Philippines at Leyte in October 1944, the Allies followed up that victory by dispatching troops to Luzon in January 1945. A month later, General Douglas MacArthur, overall commander of Allied forces in the Pacific, General Robert L. Eichelbergers Eighth Army was then tasked with conducting a series of amphibious landings in the southern Philippines on islands between Mindanao and Luzon, including Cebu. Prior to the war, Cebu had been the Philippines second-most important industrial center, the island was garrisoned by a force of between 14,500 and 15,000 Japanese troops. These were situated mainly in Cebu City and on the central east coast, drawn from the 35th Army, the majority of these troops were support troops who had been supporting the evacuation of Luzon, and who were formed into combat units. There were also several naval units on the island, including the 33rd Special Base Force. Following a preliminary bombardment, the battle began on March 26,1945, under the leadership of Major General William H. The 182nd came ashore southwest of the city, while the 132nd landed at a gravel beach to the northeast opposite a palm grove. Meeting no Japanese opposition, the U. S. forces nevertheless suffered heavily from mines and it was the first time in the Philippines campaign that U. S. troops had encountered such weapons. As further waves landed, engineers and infantry began clearing lanes through the mine fields, the Americal Division slowly forced its way off the beach and moved inland against only small pockets of Japanese resistance that were carrying out delaying actions. The main body stopped for the night about 1.5 miles from Cebu City, on March 28, more significant fighting broke out as the Americans captured the airfield, as well as Mactan Island in Cebu Harbor. At this time, Japanese resistance grew more determined and heavy fighting followed, around 8,500 local Cebuano guerrilla and irregular forces, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James M. Cushing took part. Units fought on the outskirts of Cebu, capturing Pari-an on March 29, many did not make it and were trapped within Piers One and Two. Led by Major Rijome Kawahara, after further fighting these forces were defeated, Kawahara was killed while trying to cross the makeshift bridge towards Mandaue City. Reportedly, he was killed by a sniper after being incapacitated by mortar, Kawahara was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel. After the war, his body was returned to Japan where it was buried in Sapporo, during the final stages of the battle, the mountainous parts of Cebu were also bombed and cleared. A series of battles were fought during this time, the most famous of which is the Battle of Gochan Hill. Forces finally took the hill, having destroyed at least 85 pillboxes, in early April two battalions from the Americal Divisions third regiment, the 164th, were dispatched to Cebu as reinforcements
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