Apart from the Charge of the Light Brigade (the actual charge, but also the poem), the Crimean War (1853-1856) is best known as the first “modern” war, in that it was during the Crimean War when later military staples like rail, telegraphs, trenches, and rifled firearms and artillery first got tested in a major engagement. Oh, … Continue reading Today in European history: the Battle of Sinop (1853)
Author: DWD
writer, blogger, lover, fighter
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Hama (903)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a fairly small, radical—apocalyptic, really—and highly militarized Islamic sect carves out a chunk of territory, including a sizable piece of Syria, in which to establish its own very wealthy political entity that could be described as revisionist, expansionist, and even irredentist. They specialize in hit-and-run attacks on … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Hama (903)
Good history reading: the Battle of Ctesiphon (1915)
Earlier this week (November 22-25) was the 100th anniversary of World War I's Battle of Ctesiphon, the point at which Britain's 1915 campaign to take Baghdad went from a bad decision in theory to a bad decision in fact. That campaign, in short, consisted of the 6th (Poona) Division of the British Indian Army, under … Continue reading Good history reading: the Battle of Ctesiphon (1915)
Today in European history: the Council of Clermont (1095)
The title of this post is a bit misleading. The Council of Clermont actually ran from November 18 through November 28, 1095, so November 27 is the anniversary of neither its beginning nor its end. It is, however, the anniversary of the day on which Pope Urban II (d. 1099) got to the main point … Continue reading Today in European history: the Council of Clermont (1095)
Retired USAF general says Turkey really shouldn’t have shot that plane down
There have been a lot of developments in the case of that Russian Sukhoi Su-24 interdictor that was shot down in Syria yesterday by Turkish F-16s, and although I'm on semi-vacation I figured I should at least mention some of them. First, in a bit of good news, one of the pilots apparently survived being … Continue reading Retired USAF general says Turkey really shouldn’t have shot that plane down
Today in European history: the Treaty of Granada (1491)
The end of the "Reconquista" came on January 2, 1492, when the last Muslim ruler of Granada, the Nasirid Sultan Abu Abdullah Muhammad XII ("Boabdil" to the Spaniards, for whom "Abu Abdullah" was apparently too hard to pronounce), went into exile in Morocco. But by that point his departure was a formality. Boabdil was obliged … Continue reading Today in European history: the Treaty of Granada (1491)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Montgisard (1177)
Although he’s considered a great military leader, largely for having retaken Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, Saladin’s career as a general was not without its setbacks. Richard the Lionheart defeated him a few times during the Third Crusade, for example, though ultimately that crusade failed to achieve its goal. And there’s also the 1177 Battle of Montgisard, … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Montgisard (1177)
Well, as worst-case scenarios go…
It seems like only yesterday we were just speculating that maybe Russian planes buzzing Turkish airspace wasn't exactly good news for, you know, the human race. Welp, you'll never guess what happened today: Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday, saying it had repeatedly violated its air space, one of … Continue reading Well, as worst-case scenarios go…
Cutting off Crimea
On Sunday, saboteurs in Ukraine's southern Kherson region blew up one of the electrical towers that carries the main power lines from the mainland into Crimea, cutting those lines and leaving the Russian-claimed peninsula without electricity. Some power has been restored to Crimean cities using generators, but most of the peninsula is still in the … Continue reading Cutting off Crimea
Libya gets A ceasefire, but not THE ceasefire
Alongside the much more prominent and destructive national civil war that's been raging in Libya between its two competing governments (and between those governments and ISIS), there's also been a regional war going on in the southern part of the country (the Fezzan region) between two Berber peoples, the Tubu and Tuareg. They've had a … Continue reading Libya gets A ceasefire, but not THE ceasefire
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 