New page online reflecting the ongoing situation in Mali, with the recent Tuareg Rebellion and military coup. See more of the history of Tuareg Rebellions at
http://www.historyguy.com/tuareg_rebellions.htm
Tuareg Warriors in 1916
Also, the Serial Wars and Conflicts page has been revamped. Check it out at: http://www.historyguy.com/serial_wars_and_conflicts.html
LRA leader Joseph Kony (in white shirt)
The insurgency of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Kony against the government of Uganda began in 1987 in the aftermath of the failed Holy Spirit Movement Rebellion of Alice Auma (also known as Alice Lakwena). After the Holy Spirit Movement lost a major battle against the Ugandan government at th ebattle of Jinja, Alice Auma fled to Kenya while Joseph Kony emerged as the leader of the remaining rebel forces. With Kony’s assumption of power came a shift in the rebels’ strategy and a new name: the Lord’s Resistance Army. Kony declared himself to be a prophet, emerging as a “Spirit Guide,” and inspired his rebel troops to fight the Ugandan government.
Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA, and target of the #Kony2012 campaign
In March, 2012, a YouTube video highlighting the crimes of Joseph Kony went viral, with users posting the #Kony2012 hashtag on twitter and other social media to draw attention to Kony’s crimes as the head of the LRA. The Kony 2012 video is a film and campaign by Invisible Children whose goal it is to make Joseph Kony famous, or rather, infamous, in order to raise internatioal support for his arrest and to set a precedent for international justice. Critics of Invisible Children and the Kony 2012 campaign point to several factual errors or ommissions in the video. The video states that Kony currently has an army of some 30,000 child warriors, and that is not true. After the Ugandan Army drove the LRA out of northern Uganda in 2006, Kony’s army has dwindled. Experts now believe that Joseph Kony has only a few hundred fighters still with him. Also, Kony and the LRA have not haunted northern Uganda since being driven out by the Ugandan Army in a 2006 military offensive. Invisible Children argues in favor of international military intervention in bringing Kony to justice. and is raising funds that go for direct support of the Ugandan military. While Kony’s forces have engaged in heinous war crimes for decades, it should be pointed out that the Ugandan military is also accused of criminal behavior, including rape and murder. More information and facts about Joseph Kony and the LRA are at http://www. historyguy.com.
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal Threatens Gambia
Senegal Map with Casamance in Red
The Casamance region of Senegal is marked in red on this Senegal Map
The Casamance War in Senegal
The ongoing war in the Casamance region of Senegal pits the Jolo people of the Casamance region against the government of Senegal. The rebels, who call themselves the Mouvement des forces démocratiques de la Casamance (MFDC), seek independence for the region. The Jolo are primarily Christian, while the rest of Senegal is primarily Muslim. Despite a cease-fire arranged in 2004, violence has continued on and off ever since. In 2010, an arms shipment from Iran, bound for the Casamance rebels, was intercepted in Nigeria. In December, 2011, rebels attacked the Senegalese Army, resulting in 12 deaths.
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http://www.historyguy.com/casamance_senegal_war.html
al-Shabab War in Somalia Update:
After the disintigration of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) after the U.S.-aided Ethiopian Invasion of 2006, the al-Shabab militia became the leading Islamist military group. In 2007, Shabab publicly aligned itself with al-Qaida, and has waged a bloody guerrilla war against the TFG government forces and the African Union troops (primarily troops from Uganda and Burundi), in Mogadishu and in southern Somalia. Al-Shabab is considered a terrorist group by Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. (see alsoU.S. Special Forces Attack on al-Qaida in Somalia (September, 2009)
Shabab engaged in a terrorist attack in Uganda in 2010, and in the autumn of 2011, Shabab militants kidnapped several foreigners from Kenyan soil, prompting a Kenyan military intervention in southern Somalia to battle the Shabab fighters. Kenyan government sources claimed that the goal of their invasion was to end the Shabab presence in the southern Somali city of Kismayo.
Witnesses reported seeing 25Kenyan armoured vehicles carrying Kenyan soldiers passing through the Somali town of Dhobley, and there were reports of warplanes bombing two Shabab bases near the border.
According to the BBC, Somali government troops are acting in conjunction with the Kenyan forces ito attack the al-Shabab-controlled areas in southern Somalia. The third day of the Kenyan offensive featured a slowing down of Kenyan forces due to heavy rain and mud in a region with few paved roads.
Map of Kenya and southern Somalia in 2011
http://www.historyguy.com/somalia_conflict_shabab_war.htm
http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_libya.htm
Wars of Libya (1800-Present)
Libyan Flag under Gadaffi
First Barbary War (1986)–Also known in the West as the Tripolitanian War, this was a war between Tripoli and the United States. From this conflict, the United States Marine Corps Hymn uses the phrase “From the Shores of Tripoli…”
World War Two (1940-1943 in Libya)–Although Libya was occupied by Fascist Italy during World War Two, Libya was a battleground betweent the Italians and Germans on one side, and the British, Americans, and other Allies on the other side.
Khaddafi Coup d’etat (1969)–The coup led by Colonel Muammar Khaddafi ended the monarchy, and began 42 years of rule by Khaddafi
Military Coup Attempt (1975)
Libyan-Egyptian War (1977)–A brief four-day border war between Libya and Egypt.
Libyan invasion of Chad (occupation of Aouzou Strip) 1979
Tobruk Army Revolt (1980)
Libyan invasion of Chad (1981)
U.S. Air raid against Tripoli and Benghazi (1986)
Libyan Revolution of 2011 (2011)
Sources:1. Kohn, George C. Dictionary of Wars. New York: Facts On File Publications. 1999.
2. Dupuy, R. Ernest and Trevor N. Dupey. The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History: From 3500 B.C. to the Present
New York, New York: Harper & Row. 1993.
New page on Egyptian History, including information on the Political Unrest in Egypt in January of 2011.
Egypt History Portal page is at http://www.historyguy.com/egypt_history.htm
Tunisia is a North African nation whose Arabic-speaking people are largely Muslim. As such, it is considered a part of the Muslim and Arab world. Tunisia came under French rule in the 1880s, and gained independence in 1956.
Tunisia today is a nation struggling with poltical changes, with President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, leaving office amid massive protests over his rule. Ben Ali was only the second President of Tunisia. He was succeeded by Fouad Mebazaa.
Wars and Conflicts of Tunisia from the French Conquest to Today:
French occupation (1881)
Tunis Riots (1938)–At least 118 dead in riots following the arrest of an opposition leader.
World War II in North Africa (1942-1943)
Tunisian War of Independence (1952-1955)
France Tunisia Independence War 1952-1954 –Guerrilla war of independence against the French began in Tunisia, led by Habib Bourguiba.
Habib Bourguiba, Led Tunisia to Independence From France–Obitiuary for Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian revolutionary leader
Franco-Tunisian Border Conflict (1957)
Second Franco-Tunisian War [The Bizerte Incident] (1961)
Bread Riots (1983-1984)–Protests against the government after the price of bread was increased over 100%. The riots and the response from the authorities killed at least 50 demonstrators and bystanders. See also Tunisia: Bourguiba Lets Them Eat Bread–Time Magazine, Jan. 16, 1984)
http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_tunisia.htm
Israeli air raid against PLO headquarters in Tunis (Oct. 1,1985)-After the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fled its old headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon due to the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon, the PLO used Tunis as its headquarters. Israel’s “Operation Wooden Leg,” attempted to kill PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat with an air raid on his headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia. Arafat survived, though at least 60 members of the PLO died. Israel said this attack was in response to the PLO yacht attack off Larnaca, Cyprus. (See also Israeli-Palestinian Battles)
Anti-Government Riots (January 2011)–Protests against the governement of President Ben Ali led to the President leaving power and fleeing Tunisia. At least 78 deaths were reported in the riots.
See also: http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_tunisia.htm
New and updated pages on the History Guy Website at http://www.historyguy.com include information on several wars and conflicts, including:
–The Habsburg-Valois wars of the 1400s and 1500s, which were waged largely in Italy between France and the Holy Roman Empire (which was dominated by Austria). See: http://www.historyguy.com/french_wars_in_italy_habsburg_valois_wars.htm
–The wars of The Habsburg Empire,(better known as Austria-Hungary), between the years 1815, at the end of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and 1918, at the end of the First World War, resulting in the collapse and death of the Habsburg Empire. See: http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_habsburg_empire_austria-hungary_1815-1918.htm
–The wars in the region of Africa known as “The Horn of Africa,” including the nations of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia. This page discusses such wars as Somalia’s “Mad Mullah,” the ongoing Oromo resistance in Ethiopia, the Ogaden War, the bloody Ethiopian-Eritrean Wars, the Somali Civil War, and, most recently, the Somali Pirate Attacks that plague the shipping industry off the coast of Somalia.
See :http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_the_horn_of_africa.htm
Some war casualty figures were released by a human-rights group in Somalia. The figures are unverified, but, in the History Guy’s opinion, are not outside the realm of possibility. Mogadishu has seen heavy combat between the insurgent Islamic forces and the heavily-equipped Ethiopian military. Also, the insurgents are using Iraq-style bombing techniques and tactics, which tend to inflict large numbers of casualties among civilians.
According to Somalia’s Elman Human Rights group, 5,960 civilian fatalities occurred in the capital of Mogadishu in 2007. Also, the group claims that 7,980 civilians were wounded and over 700,000 displaced from their homes due to the continuing war between the Somali government and the Islamic insurgency. Ethiopia is aiding the Somali government; providing troops and air power to fight the insurgents. In December of 2006, Ethiopian forces, with American aid, invaded Islamic forces-held Somali territory and overthrew the extremist Islamic regime and helped install a pro-Western government in its place.
Source:
Somali group: 5,960 killed this year–Associated Press, December 2, 2007