PHOTOGRAPH OF THE DAY: BATTERY OF JAPANESE 280 mm HOWITZERS IN ACTION, RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR (1904-1905)

 The 28 cm (11 in) Howitzer L/10 was designed in 1884 by the British Armstrong company and 220 built by the Osaka Artillery Arsenal. It fired a 217 kg shell at a maximum range of 7,800 m. The howitzer entered service in 1892 and was installed in shore batteries in forts overlooking Tokyo Bay and Osaka Bay, when the Meiji "Static Defense" policy of the 1870s and 1880s emphasized coastal defenses.

The L/10 was thus primarily intended for anti-ship operations and remained in use until the end of WW2. It saw use as a siege gun during the Russo-Japanese War due to a lack of heavy siege guns. Requested by General Nogi Maresuke, a battery of L/10 was transported and assembled for the siege of Port Arthur. 

The huge shells were nicknamed "roaring trains" by the Russian troops, and during their period at Port Arthur over 16,949 of these shells were fired. In December 1904, using artillery observers on 203 m Hill, the howitzers were able to sink the Russian warships one after the other:

-The battleship Poltava was sunk on December 5, 1904,

-The battleship Retvizan was sunk on December 7, 1904,

-The battleships Pobeda and Peresvet and the cruisers Pallada and Bayan on December 9, 1904.

All six would be raised, repaired, renamed, and recommissioned by the Japanese after the war.

-The battleship Sevastopol, although hit five times by the 280 mm shells, managed to move out of range of the guns.

-Russo-Japanese War Photo Album of the 3rd Army, No. 3, Meiji 38.4, Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS).

 

CRIMEA IS ANNEXED BY CATHERINE THE GREAT, April 8, 1783 (O.S.), SECURING ACCESS TO THE BLACK SEA

 

In 1774, Sultan Mustafa III was defeated by Catherine the Great. The Russian fleet had destroyed the Ottoman navy and the Russian army had inflicted heavy defeats on the Ottoman land forces. The ensuing Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca forced the Sublime Porte to recognize the Tatars of the Crimea as politically independent.

According to the treaty, the Crimean Khanate formally gained its independence (but in reality made the Crimea a protectorate of Russia). The Porte also ceded to Russia two key seaports, Azov and Kerch, obtaining freedom of navigation for the Russian Navy and the merchant fleet in the Black Sea, allowing Catherine II to start a policy of control and hegemony over that sea. The treaty also granted to Russia the position of protector of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman loss of the Crimea and the end of the Crimean Khanate caused Muslims everywhere to question the sultans' legitimacy as defenders of Islam.

After the failure of the Crimean revolts of 1777-1782, in March 1783, Prince Grigory Potemkin made a rhetorical push to encourage Empress Catherine to annex Crimea. Having just returned from Crimea, he told her that many Crimeans would happily submit to Russian rule. Encouraged by these news, Empress Catherine issued a formal proclamation of annexation on 19 April [O.S. 8 April] 1783. The Tatars did not resist the annexation. Crimea was incorporated into the Empire as "Taurida Governorate". Catherine the Great's incorporation of the Crimea into the Russian Empire increased Imperial Russia's power in the Black Sea area. 

In 1787, Catherine conducted a triumphal procession in the Crimea. Sultan Abdül Hamid I restarted hostilities in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–92. Emperor Joseph II of Austria joined the war on the side of the Russian Empire. This conflict turned into another catastrophe for the Ottomans, ending with the Treaty of Jassy (1792), which legitimized the Russian claim to the Crimea and granted the Yedisan region to Russia. The Crimea was the first Muslim territory to slip from the sultan's suzerainty. The Ottoman Empire's frontiers would gradually shrink for another two centuries, and Russia would proceed to push her frontier westwards to the Dniester.

-Painting: The Triumph of Catherine the Great by Vassily Nesterenko, Tavrichesky Hall of the Grand Palace in Tsaritsyno, 2007.

-Further reading: Antoine-Ignace Anthoine, Essai historique sur le commerce et la navigation, 1805; I also advise the reading of Brian L. Davies' The Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774 Catherine II and the Ottoman Empire, 2016 and Eugene Miakinkov's War and Enlightenment in Russia: Military Culture In The Age Of Catherine II, 2020.

ART OF THE DAY: KNIGHTS HOSPITALLER VS SARACENS BY MARK STACEY

The origins of the Hospital in Jerusalem goes back to around 600 AD, when Abbot Probus of Ravenna was commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to build a hospital in Jerusalem to treat and care for Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. This hospice was destroyed fourteen years later when Jerusalem fell to the Persian – Jewish armies: The Christian population was slaughtered, and their churches and monasteries destroyed. Rebuilt after the Byzantine reconquest, it was enlarged by Charlemagne. In 1009, Fatimid caliph Al Hakim destroyed the hostel again and a large number of other buildings in Jerusalem. In 1048, the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mustansir Billah gave permission to merchants from the Republic of Amalfi to rebuild a hospital in Jerusalem on the site of the monastery of St John the Baptist. The hospital was run under the auspices of the Benedictines monks of the Latin Church of Santa Maria Latina in Jerusalem. Throughout the new persecutions against the Christians after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Seljuk Turks in 1078, the Hospital continued to operate. 

The community which ran the hospital became independent during the First Crusade in around 1099, under the leadership of a monk called Gerard. After Jerusalem was taken by the First Crusade, Gerard adopted the policy of receiving all needy patients, irrespective of religion. He organized the Fratres Hospitalarii into a regularly constituted Religious Order under the protection of saint John the Baptist. The members of the Order became known as Knights of St. John or Hospitallers. The formal establishment of the Knights Hospitallers under Brother Gerard was confirmed by the Papal bull Pie postulatio voluntatis of Pope Paschal II in February 1113. All the Knights were religious, bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

By then, the Hospital was an already wealthy and powerful organization within the kingdom of Jerusalem, and Gerard expanded its operations far beyond the limits of the city, establishing daughter hospitals at Bari, Otranto, Taranto, Messina, Pisa, Asti and Saint-Gilles, placed strategically along the pilgrim route to Jerusalem.

It was his successor, Grand Master Raymond du Puy (1083-1060), who militarized the Order. He organized the Order into three classes: To the nobles he assigned the profession of arms, for the protection of pilgrims; the ecclesiastics were to exercise the religious functions; the lay-brothers were to take care of the pilgrims and the sick. The military role of the Hospitallers really began in 1137 when Foulques I, king of Jerusalem, transferred possession of the castle of Bath-Gibelin in the east of Gaza to the Order.

From then on, the Order appears in all the wars that the armies of the kingdom of Jerusalem fights against the Saracens. Under siege, the Kingdom of Jerusalem found it increasingly difficult to stand against its enemies. Following the example of the Templars, Raymond du Puy then developed a system of protection for the pilgrims by providing them with security in their travels to the Holy Places. Little by little, knights and men of arms were hired and participated in the defense of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

-The artist’s website: http://www.markstaceyart.co.uk/

GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY: U.S. INVASION OF MEXICO AND OCCUPATION OF VERACRUZ, 1914

"Poor Mexico! So far from God and so near the United States!" - Historian Nemesio Garcia Naranjo.

On April 9, 1914, in the midst of the Mexican Civil War (with the U.S. backing revolutionary factions led by Venustiano Carranza), nine U.S. sailors that had gone ashore to buy gasoline in Tampico, Mexico, were detained for 1h30 by Mexican colonel Ramón Hinojosa. Although the sailors were immediately freed, and general Morelos Zaragoza formally apologized, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson gave the go-ahead for an already planed invasion of Mexico targeting Veracruz, the largest port in that country. The ultimate goal was to overthrow the government of Victoriano Huerta. Meanwhile, 20,000 U.S. Army soldiers were being mobilized at the U.S.-Mexican border.

 

On April 21-24, a mighty fleet of 22 U.S. Navy warships bombarded the city and landed 7,000 Blue Jackets and Marines, securing Veracruz after five days of sporadic fighting and seizing $1 million from the Custom House, along with the cash register of the local administration. Although unopposed by Mexican regulars, the U.S. officially lost 22 killed and 70 wounded, the Mexicans had about 300 killed and 250 wounded (militia, students of the Naval school and civilians). The occupation of Veracruz would last until November 1914. 

 

This imperialist show of force provoked anti-American demonstrations throughout Mexico, forcing tens of thousands of U.S. citizens to cross the border in haste or to be evacuated by U.S. Navy ships and given shelter in refugee camps set up in San Diego, Texas, and New Orleans. Even revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza denounced the “Second North American Invasion” and called for war. Widespread anti-American riots also broke out in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Uruguay. 

 

After the actions at Veracruz, the U.S. changed their plans from a full invasion of Mexico, including taking the capital, to simply keeping the city of Veracruz, where Robert J. Kerr, a lawyer from Chicago, was appointed governor. Wilson had him replaced by Major General Frederick Funston who implemented martial law and mandatory vaccinations on the entire population. Keeping discipline among the occupation troops in a foreign land proved more delicate: 2,400 U.S. troops were court-martialed, although only 83 were convicted.

 

The Navy ordered 56 Medals of Honor awarded for “heroism” for the brief Veracruz Expedition, more than any other military operation to date! Major Smedley Butler demanded that he be allowed to return his, seeing as he had done little to deserve it. The Navy ordered him not only to keep it, but also to wear it. 

 

Anti-American sentiment in Mexico from the Tampico incident and the Occupation of Veracruz was the chief reason that the government kept Mexico neutral during WW1. President Wilson considered another military invasion of Veracruz and Tampico in 1917–1918, to take control of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the shortest overland route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Tampico oil fields. In 1916, Wilson also sent a punitive expedition led by General John J. Pershing deep into Mexico that failed to capture Pancho Villa.

 

 

-More on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZQGt83w28Q&t=151s this series https://cimsec.org/100-years-ago-veracruz-1914-part-2/ , https://cimsec.org/100-years-ago-veracruz-1914-part-3/ and https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2014/march/take-veracruz-once , (in Spanish): https://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiO3_O40qHvAhWLERQKHWmqDLc4ChAWMAR6BAgIEAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsemar.gob.mx%2Funhicun%2Flibros%2FLa%2520Invasion%2520a%2520Veracruz%2520de%25201914%2520Enfoques%2520Multidisciplinarios.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1kMmw5IJQe0oZW8l4QsDke

See also Jack London’s photographic Album, Veracruz 1914: https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll7/id/8822/

WEEKEND QUIZ, PUNIC WARS: ANSWERS

QUIZ 1: HANNIBAL AND HAMILCAR

A "*" gives you the right answer!

1) What was the name of Hannibal’s father?

-Hasdrubal

 

-Mago

-Hamilcar *

-Bomilcar

2) What did “Barca” mean in ancient Phoenician-Carthaginian?

-Leader

-King

-The Wise

-Thunderbolt *

3) In what year did Hannibal cross the Alps?

 

-215 BC

-218 BC *

-220 BC

-219 BC

4) What battle was considered one of the greatest ambush in history?

-Battle of Lake Trasimene *

-Battle of Cannae

-Battle of Zama

-Battle of the Trebia

5) What was the name of the last of Hannibal’s elephant in Italy?

-Surus *

-Syrius

-Sysyphus

-Sicarius

6) Where did most of Hannibal’s elephants originated from?

-North Africa *

-India

-Persia

-Sub-Sahara 

 

7) What is a “Fabian Strategy”?

-A strategy of offensive at all costs

-A strategy of non-engagement and containment *

-A strategy of building fortified camps

-A strategy of overcoming enemy fortified positions

8) How many miniatures of leaders are in the game 

Hannibal and Hamilcar?

 (answer in the game’s Kickstarter page!

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phalanxgames/hannibal-and-hamilcar) 

-24 *

-12

 

-36

-10

9) Which mercenary group never fought for Hannibal?

-The Spaniards

-The Samnites

-The Celts

-The Nubians *

10) What was the core formation of the Carthaginian army during 

the Punic Wars?

-The cohort

-The infantry phalanx *

-The maniple 

 

-The Lybian light troops

11) In the game Hannibal and Hamilcar, what is the southernmost 

province of the map?

  

(clue at BGG: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/4698426/bgm1961)

-Sicilia

-Malta

-Apulia *

-Graecia

12) How many Macedonian soldiers fought in the Carthaginian army during

 the Battle of Zama?

-4,000 *

-400

 -14,000

-1,400

13) According to ancient authors, how many casualties did the Romans

suffer  at the Battle of Cannae?

-Between 20,000 and 35,000

-Between 35,000 and 50,000

-Between 50,000 and 70,000

-Between 70,000 and 85,000 *

14) What were the name of the Roman generals killed in action by 

Hasdrubal Barca at the Battles of Upper Baetis?

-Gnaeus Scipio and Statorius

-Publius Scipio and Mandonius

-Statorius and Syphax

-Gnaeus Scipio and Publius Scipio *

15) How did Hannibal lose his right eye?

-While training as a teenager

-Because of conjunctivitis *

-By an injury caused by an arrow

-At the Battle of Lake Trasimene

16) What triggered the First Punic War?

-A diplomatic insult from Hannibal Gisco

-The control of the island of Sicily *

-A dispute over the sacred site of Agrigento

-Carthage’s support of Epirus against Rome

17) During the First Punic War, what device was invented by 

the Romans to board Carthaginian ships?

-The harpax 

 

-The corvus *

-The ram

-The ballista

18) During the Battles of Croton (204-203 BC), what was the Carthagian

 army suffering from?

-The spread of an epidemic

-The shortage of food

-The complete loss of a large Carthaginian supply fleet

-All of the above *

19) What galley type was the most commonly used at the time of the 

Punic Wars?

-The Trireme

-The Quinquereme *

-The Octere

-The Hexareme

20) How many battles did Publius Cornelius Scipio “Africanus” 

lose before his triumph at Zama in 202 BC?

-None *

-1 battle

-3 battles

-4 battles

21) How many cards are in the game Hannibal and Hamilcar?

(answer in the game’s Kickstarter page!  

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phalanxgames/hannibal-and-hamilcar)

-64 cards

-128 cards

-182 cards

-A whooping 214 cards *

22) Which was the first naval encounter between Rome and Carthage, 

which ended in a complete rout for the Romans?

-The Battle of Tyndaris

-The Battle of Lipara *

-The Battle of Cape Ecnomus

-The Battle of Salamina

23) How many of Hannibal Barca’s brothers died in 

campaign against Rome?

-None

-1 brother

-2 brother *

-3 brothers

24) According to mythology, which famous woman founded Carthage?

-Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons

-Queen Dido from Tyre *

-Artemisia of Caria

-Queen Tomyris of the Massagetae 

 

25) What was the capacity of Carthage’s military harbour ?

-50 warships

-100 warships

-200 warships *

-500 warships

26) Who famously declared “Carthago delenda est”?

-Fabius Maximus

-Scipio Africanus

-Cicero

-Cato the Censor *

27) What percentage of the overall Roman population perished in battle 

during the 2^nd Punic War ?

-5%

-8% *

-15%

-25%

28) What prestigious award did the Hannibal and Hamilcar 

game won in 2018?  

(if you still ignore that answer, look at:https://www.facebook.com/HannibalGame/)

-The Gaming Industry Award

-The American Tabletop Award

-The Golden Geek Best Wargame Award *

-The Spiel der Jahres Award

29) How did Rome gain the goddess Venus’ favor during the 2^nd Punic War?

-By offering a giant sacrifice of 100 white bulls

-By laying siege to the city of Eryx and capturing her image *

-By offering all of the city’s gold for the construction of a new temple

-By making the goddess the most important of the Roman pantheon

30) After its destruction in 146 BC, who re-founded the city of Carthage?

-Gaius Marius

-Octavian

-Diocletian

-Julius Caesar *