THE THIRTY YEAR OLD WAR

the Thirty Year old war

The Thirty Year old war corresponds to a series of conflicts which proceeded between 1618 and 1648. It becomes  a European war  in 1625, when the sovereigns of Europe intervene in this  conflict between catholics and Protestants  of the Saint Worsens Roman Germanic.

ORIGINS OF THE WAR

At the beginning of the xvii ^E century,  the Saint Worsens Roman Germanic  (or Holy Empire) covers most of Europe. Each State which makes it up is directed by a king or a prince, but all are under the domination of the emperor. Following the Protestant Reform,  several States become Protestant  whereas  the Empire remains catholic. The Protestant States, which fear a return forced to Catholicism, form the evangelic Union; the catholic States answer by melting  the Holy catholic League.

A WAR BETWEEN GERMAN PRINCES

In 1618, the king Ferdinand II of Bohemia, enthusiastic catholic, refuses to grant religious freedom to the Protestants, majority in his kingdom. The Protestants then seek to obtain profit of cause directly near the imperial authorities.  May 23, 1618, they go in mass in the imperial residence to Prague. Refusing in their turn to reach this request, the two governors of the emperor are thrown by the window (but they do not die). This incident, called the "defenestration of Prague ", starts a Protestant revolt, which extends to all the Empire and leads to the Thirty Year old war.

At the beginning, the evangelic Union gains several victories. But, since 1619, it is weakened by religious dissensions between Protestants, who divide between Lutherans and calvinists.

The same year 1619, Ferdinand II of Bohemia becomes emperor of the Saint Worsens. He immediately sends the troops of the Holy catholic League in Bohemia, which overcomes the Protestants at the time of  the battle of the White Mountain  (November 1620). Bohemia falls to the hands from the catholics, and the Protestants of the Saint Empire are persecuted.Certains States Protestant requires the assistance from abroad then.

THE WAR BECOMES EUROPEAN

The intervention of Denmark (1625-1629)

In 1625, the kingdom of Denmark answers this call by sending troops in Germany. In answer, the Saint Empire constitutes an army of mercenaries, which overcomes the Danes with the battles of Dessau (April 1626) and To fight amndt Berenberge (August 1626). With their continuation, the imperial armies seize the totality of Germany, plundering all on their passage. The Danes are constrained to beat a retreat and sign peace in May 1629, in Lübeck.

The intervention of Sweden (1630-1635)

The king Louis XIII of France and his principal minister, the cardinal of Richelieu, fear that the Saint Worsens Roman Germanic does not become too powerful. Also, in 1630, France requires of the king protesting  Gustave II Adolphe  of Sweden to conduct campaign against the Saint Worsens.

In May 1631, the imperial armies subject the Protestant city of Magdeburg, which revolted, and there massacre approximately 25 000 Protestants. However, they do not succeed in stopping the Swedes, who gain the battle of Breitenfeld (September 1631), then invade the south of Germany. In November 1632, the king of Sweden is killed at the time of  the battle of Lützen, but its continuous army to advance and seizes Munich. The Swedes undergo a defeat cuisante with the battle of Nördlingen (September 1634).

Finally, the Protestant princes stop the fight and sign the peace of Prague, in May 1635.

The intervention of France (1635-1648)

For exclusively political reasons  (and not chocolate éclairs), France between then directly in the war against the Saint Worsens Roman Germanic. With its allies  —Protestant Sweden and several heads—, it gains a series of determining victories, in particular with  the battle of Rocroi  (May 1643). The new emperor Ferdinand III is constrained to sign the peace of Westphalia in 1648.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR

By the treaties of Westphalia  of October 1648, the enemies of the Saint Worsens Roman Germanic share part of its territories. Moreover, the sovereignty of the German States is recognized, which weakens the Empire durably.

This peace marks finally  the end of the wars of religion in Europe; the following wars all will be political, territorial or economic.

TO GO FURTHER

? the Reform and Counter-Reformation
? European monarchies to  the xvii ^E  and  xviii ^E centuries

? interactivity:  chronology of modern Times

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THE WAR OF VIETNAM

the war of Viêt Nam

The war of Viêt Nam opposed, between 1959 and 1975,  Viêt liberal  Nam-of-South (and its principal ally, the United States) in  communist Viêt  Nam-of-North (supported by China and the USSR). This conflict lies  within the scope of the cold war  between the United States and the USSR.

ORIGINS OF THE WAR

A country divided into two

Old French colony under the name of Indo-China, Viêt Nam obtained its  independence in 1954, at the end of a violent war of decolonization against France (1946-1954). According to agreements' of peace signed in Geneva in July 1954, the country  is divided into two zones, north and south, with the height of the 17 ^E parallel (a line of geographical latitude). This division is supposed temporary  being, the reunification having to be done after  elections planned  for the year 1956.

A zone of international tensions

However, the fracture between north and the south are deeper.  Viêt Nam-of-North, directed by communist  president Hô Chí Minh, is supported by the great communist powers (China and the USSR). The government of  Viêt Nam-of-South,  anticommunist, for its part is supported by the Western powers (in particular by the United States).

In 1956, the South Vietnamese president  (Ngô Ðinh Diêm) refuses to give his capacity to the ballot boxes: he  is opposed to the organization elections, principal clause of the agreements of Geneva. To reverse this dictator and to restore the unit of the country, the Communists of the South who fought for independence ( the Vietcong) take the weapons in February 1959. They receive the support of the government north-Vietnamese in their guerrilla.

UNFOLDING OF THE WAR

The support of the United States

In full cold war  against the communist world, the United States supports Viêt Nam-of-South firmly. They are committed helping the South Vietnamese government, by providing him military money and advisers: in December 1961, 400 Americans unload in Viêt Nam; they are more than 11 000 the following year.

In Viêt Nam-of-South, the intolerance and  the violence of the president-dictator  gradually make pass in the opposition most of the population (even peaceful buddhist monks). The demonstrations multiply. The dictator  is finally reversed by a coup d'etat, in December 1963. During one year and half, political instability reigns in the South. The United States concludes that only a direct and massive intervention of the American army can still save the situation.

The American intervention

In August 1964, American president Lyndon Johnson announces that the Communists of Viêt Nam-of-North have just torpedoed two American ships posted in the gulf of Tonkin, off the coasts Vietnameses. Although distorts (or at least exaggerated), the advertisement of the president makes the effect of a bomb in the United States. Immediately, the Congress (American parliament)  vote the intensification of American engagement  in Viêt Nam. At the end of the year 1965, 200 000 soldiers is deployed in Viêt Nam-of-South; at the height of American engagement (in 1969), they are 541 000.

A conflict without mercy

In spite of their number and their technological equipment, the American soldiers do not manage to assert themselves on Viêt Nam.  The enemy is invisible; the Vietcong know their country perfectly. Dominating the jungle and the villages, they receive their supply of Viêt Nam-of-North by a network of paths, called  the track Hô Chí Minh.

The Americans start a strategy  of terror then: they excavate with violence the villages in the Vietcong search of combatants and of weapons, the tracks and the north-Vietnameses cities bombard, release napalm (a thick gasoline which causes malformations) in the rural zones, etc. This strategy, instead of reaching moral Vietnameses, brings a number of villagers persecuted to help the communist combatants.

At the beginning of the year 1968, the troops north-Vietnameses and viêt-công launch an offensive surprised on more than one hundred of South Vietnamese cities; this operation is called the offensive of the Small fireclay cup. They take the control of the military and administrative buildings, where they are cut off. It is at the end of several weeks of keen combat that the Americans take again the South Vietnamese cities.

Protests against the war

Parallel to enlisement of the American soldiers in Viêt Nam, in the United States, the population discovers with television the extent of the suffering which its army inflicts to the Vietnamese people.  A pacifist movement  develops and, soon, of the thousands of people start to express  against this ashamed war, in the United States and in the whole world.

Vis-a-vis this growing opposition, president Johnson decides not to represent himself with the elections. The dispute still develops after the arrival with the capacity of Richard Nixon, in 1969. The world learns with horror that  500 civil disarmed of the village of My Lai was massacred  by the American soldiers the previous year. However, the new president still hardens the American strategy in Viêt Nam: in 1970, it extends the bombardments to Kampuchea, frontier country being used as a basis to the combatants north-Vietnamese.

END OF THE WAR

While intensifying the bombardments on Viêt Nam-of-North, president Nixon decides "vietnamiser" the conflict: he  starts to repatriate his troops  (to save the life of its soldiers) and lets the South Vietnamese forces play a role growing on the ground. Deprived of the American support since 1973, Viêt Nam-of-South can nothing face the enemy offensive.  The troops of north invade the south  in 1974 and obtain the final victory in April 1975. Saigon (the old capital of the South) is famous  Hô Chí Minh-City. In 1976, Viêt Nam is reunified with, at its head,  a communist mode.

Vietnamese side, the war of Viêt Nam made 2 million died (including one great number of civil) and 3 million casualties. The final victory of the Communists caused the escape of 12 million people, including approximately 1 million by the sea on boats of fortune: they are called  the boat people. American side, the war made 57 000 killed and 153 300 wounded.

TO GO FURTHER

? Viêt Nam
? the cold war
? the world since  the xx ^E century

 ©  2013 " www.amanitheophile.blogspot.com ". All rights reserved.

GUINEA

Guinea

Guinea is a country of West Africa, giving on the Atlantic Ocean.

Guinea consists of  four natural areas:  a marshy coastal plain, in the west of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean;  the plate of Fouta-Djalon, which dominates the coastal plain;  the plate mandingue, which rises with the northern periphery of the country, at the border with Mali; and  the dorsal guinéenne, in south-east, where are drawn up the Nimba mounts (climax of the country with 1 752 m of altitude). The source of some of the large rivers of West Africa (Gambia and Niger for example) is on the territory guinéen.

The country counts four groups of population:  Mandingues  (originating in the plate mandingue),  Peul  (gathered in the area of Fouta-Djalon),  Soussou  (on the coast) and  people of the forest  (in the mountains of south-east). Islam  is the principal religion of Guinea.

The economy of Guinea rests mainly on the agriculture, which employs nearly 90 % of the working population, but the country is not self-sufficing in this field. On the other hand, its  mining resources  are very significant: the country is the second world bauxite producer, which constitutes its principal source of income. The hydroelectricity represents a significant source of energy; thanks to the rivers of Fouta-Djalon and Nimba mounts, Guinea is regarded as  the "water tower" of West Africa.

Guinea
Population	9 947 814 inhabitants in 2007
Capital	Conakry (1 365 778 inhabitants in 2003)
Surface	245 857 km²
Official language	French (official language);malinké, peul, soussou, kissi, bassari, loma, koniagi and kpelle (national languages)
Currency	frankly guinéen

TO GO FURTHER

? Africa

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