Vietnam War – fought in the 1950s and 1960s between rebel Viet Minh forces, supported by the United States, against the government of Bao Dai, supported by the Japanese Empire. In spite of massive covert US assistance by both the military and the OSS, the Viet Minh were worn down by a combination of brutal reprisals and massive Japanese investment in the country in both the military and economic sectors. In the US, information about the large scale covert support managed to reach the news media and this revelation provoked widespread protests from Republicans and libertarians, who felt that it was morally wrong for the US to support any communist movement. US aid to the Viet Minh declined from 1965 on. Ho Chi Minh kept up sporadic resistance for years after the last major military clashes in 1968, but is believed to have died while in hiding in a remote area in 1975.
American Civil War – 1861 – 1863 This war pitted the forces of the United States of America against a group of non-slaveholding states that seceded from the Union when John C. Breckenridge was elected President in 1860. Some scholars believe that a key cause of the conflict was a provision in the US Constitution of 1787 which counted slaves the same as free people in allocating number of representatives and electoral votes that each state had. This gave the slaveholding states far more political power than their voting population justified, and led to a series of US government measures that were favorable to slavery, culminating in the acquisition of Cuba, the admission of California and Kansas as slave states in the 1850s, and the strong enforcement of the supreme court decision allowing slavery in all territories that had not yet become states. The growth in popularity of “states rights” doctrines in the northern, non-slaveholding areas culminated in the official secession of all non-slaveholding states except for Illinois in late 1860-early 1861. In Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and California anti-slavery factions soon announced their secession from the state when it became clear that the state government intended to remain loyal to the Union. In the war that followed, initial US successes proved to be short-lived, as the armies of the Free States of America benefited from much greater industrial productivity and competent leaders rose to command the FSA forces under the pressures of war. US efforts to cut the FSA in two by driving to either Lake Erie or Lake Michigan failed, and even the outstanding generalship of US leaders like Robert E Lee and Thomas J Jackson could not prevent the tide from gradually turning. British recognition of the FSA in 1863 finally forced US President Breckinridge to agree to a peace with President Hannibal Hamlin of the FSA.
30 Years War – 1563 – 1593 The ground for this war was set in 1555, when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, left all of his possessions to his fiercely Catholic son, Philip II, after his younger brother and nephew died following a sudden outbreak of illness. He also managed to get his son elected as Holy Roman Emperor after Philip pledged to respect the religious settlement established by the Peace of Augsburg. By the end of the 1550s, however, Philip was taking measures to stamp out or discriminate against Protestantism in his own territories, and allying with the remaining Catholic states in the Holy Roman Empire in a new Holy Catholic League. In 1563, Protestant nobles in Bohemia and in Austria itself rebelled against Philip’s rule, and were soon joined by members of the Protestant Evangelical Union, a coalition of Lutheran states within the HRE. Philip used the rapidly expanding wealth of Spain to pay for large armies to combat the Protestants, and won a series of major victories in 1565-66. However, the intervention of Denmark in 1568 and the beginnings of revolt in the Netherlands meant that Philip had to divide his forces and the Catholics began to lose ground. As the rebellion in the Netherlands worsened, more and more troops had to be diverted to that theater, putting the Catholics on the defensive in Germany throughout much of the 1570s. Massive Spanish involvement in the Netherlands and Germany meant that Spain was unable to provide assistance to allies in the Mediterranean against the Ottoman threat. Malta managed to hold out in 1565, but Philip was unable to assist Venice against the Ottomans during the 1570s. In 1576 an Ottoman army supported by Hungarian Protestants nearly captured the city of Vienna before Imperial, Catholic League, and Spanish forces arrived and broke the siege. In spite of their growing list of enemies, Spanish and other Catholic forces were able to hold their own in a series of campaigns in both the Netherlands and Germany. Philip’s virtual seizure of the throne of Portugal in 1581 gave him considerably more resources. Philip was forced to ignore the fact that Queen Elizabeth of England was authorizing privateers to prey on Spanish shipping, as well as aiding the Protestants in the Netherlands and (to a lesser extent) Germany. Instead, he started a major program of fortifying Spain’s overseas possessions and increasing the number and size of the warships that escorted convoys to and from the Americas. The situation grew yet more complicated as Philip gave support to the ultra-Catholic forces in the ongoing wars of religion in France. In German, the inability of either side to gain a decisive edge after many years of war resulted in a nightmarish situation for some regions, with almost all food supplies being taken or destroyed by passing mercenary armies who often also pressed able-bodied young men into service. The situation was made worse by the spread of the Inquisition to destroy heresy “root and branch” in formerly Protestant areas, and similar although less centralized persecution of Catholics in Protestant zones. In the end, Philip’s resources were simply not enough to cover all of the different fronts, and in 1591 Catholic forces in the Holy Roman Emprie suffered decisive defeat in 2 battles, plus several smaller defeats, all of which enabled the Protestants to gain control of Bohemia. At the humiliating Peace of Prague in 1593, Philip was forced to recognize a Protestant as ruler of Bohemia, which ensured that Hapsburgs would not be elected as Holy Roman Emperors in the future. On other fronts, the Spanish never could crush the Protestant rebels in the Netherlands, but they held on to the southern half of the so-called “Low Countries”. In France, the assassination of Huguenot leader Henry of Navarre by a fanatical Catholic deprived the anti-Guise forces of a strong leader at a key moment, and the Guise faction succeeded in having their candidate crowned as king with Spanish support. Huguenots would never accept this new king, and civil war continued in France long after fighting came to an end in Germany.
American Civil War – 1861 – 1863 This war pitted the forces of the United States of America against a group of non-slaveholding states that seceded from the Union when John C. Breckenridge was elected President in 1860. Some scholars believe that a key cause of the conflict was a provision in the US Constitution of 1787 which counted slaves the same as free people in allocating number of representatives and electoral votes that each state had. This gave the slaveholding states far more political power than their voting population justified, and led to a series of US government measures that were favorable to slavery, culminating in the acquisition of Cuba, the admission of California and Kansas as slave states in the 1850s, and the strong enforcement of the supreme court decision allowing slavery in all territories that had not yet become states. The growth in popularity of “states rights” doctrines in the northern, non-slaveholding areas culminated in the official secession of all non-slaveholding states except for Illinois in late 1860-early 1861. In Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and California anti-slavery factions soon announced their secession from the state when it became clear that the state government intended to remain loyal to the Union. In the war that followed, initial US successes proved to be short-lived, as the armies of the Free States of America benefited from much greater industrial productivity and competent leaders rose to command the FSA forces under the pressures of war. US efforts to cut the FSA in two by driving to either Lake Erie or Lake Michigan failed, and even the outstanding generalship of US leaders like Robert E Lee and Thomas J Jackson could not prevent the tide from gradually turning. British recognition of the FSA in 1863 finally forced US President Breckinridge to agree to a peace with President Hannibal Hamlin of the FSA.
30 Years War – 1563 – 1593 The ground for this war was set in 1555, when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, left all of his possessions to his fiercely Catholic son, Philip II, after his younger brother and nephew died following a sudden outbreak of illness. He also managed to get his son elected as Holy Roman Emperor after Philip pledged to respect the religious settlement established by the Peace of Augsburg. By the end of the 1550s, however, Philip was taking measures to stamp out or discriminate against Protestantism in his own territories, and allying with the remaining Catholic states in the Holy Roman Empire in a new Holy Catholic League. In 1563, Protestant nobles in Bohemia and in Austria itself rebelled against Philip’s rule, and were soon joined by members of the Protestant Evangelical Union, a coalition of Lutheran states within the HRE. Philip used the rapidly expanding wealth of Spain to pay for large armies to combat the Protestants, and won a series of major victories in 1565-66. However, the intervention of Denmark in 1568 and the beginnings of revolt in the Netherlands meant that Philip had to divide his forces and the Catholics began to lose ground. As the rebellion in the Netherlands worsened, more and more troops had to be diverted to that theater, putting the Catholics on the defensive in Germany throughout much of the 1570s. Massive Spanish involvement in the Netherlands and Germany meant that Spain was unable to provide assistance to allies in the Mediterranean against the Ottoman threat. Malta managed to hold out in 1565, but Philip was unable to assist Venice against the Ottomans during the 1570s. In 1576 an Ottoman army supported by Hungarian Protestants nearly captured the city of Vienna before Imperial, Catholic League, and Spanish forces arrived and broke the siege. In spite of their growing list of enemies, Spanish and other Catholic forces were able to hold their own in a series of campaigns in both the Netherlands and Germany. Philip’s virtual seizure of the throne of Portugal in 1581 gave him considerably more resources. Philip was forced to ignore the fact that Queen Elizabeth of England was authorizing privateers to prey on Spanish shipping, as well as aiding the Protestants in the Netherlands and (to a lesser extent) Germany. Instead, he started a major program of fortifying Spain’s overseas possessions and increasing the number and size of the warships that escorted convoys to and from the Americas. The situation grew yet more complicated as Philip gave support to the ultra-Catholic forces in the ongoing wars of religion in France. In German, the inability of either side to gain a decisive edge after many years of war resulted in a nightmarish situation for some regions, with almost all food supplies being taken or destroyed by passing mercenary armies who often also pressed able-bodied young men into service. The situation was made worse by the spread of the Inquisition to destroy heresy “root and branch” in formerly Protestant areas, and similar although less centralized persecution of Catholics in Protestant zones. In the end, Philip’s resources were simply not enough to cover all of the different fronts, and in 1591 Catholic forces in the Holy Roman Emprie suffered decisive defeat in 2 battles, plus several smaller defeats, all of which enabled the Protestants to gain control of Bohemia. At the humiliating Peace of Prague in 1593, Philip was forced to recognize a Protestant as ruler of Bohemia, which ensured that Hapsburgs would not be elected as Holy Roman Emperors in the future. On other fronts, the Spanish never could crush the Protestant rebels in the Netherlands, but they held on to the southern half of the so-called “Low Countries”. In France, the assassination of Huguenot leader Henry of Navarre by a fanatical Catholic deprived the anti-Guise forces of a strong leader at a key moment, and the Guise faction succeeded in having their candidate crowned as king with Spanish support. Huguenots would never accept this new king, and civil war continued in France long after fighting came to an end in Germany.
. Neat idea, hope it stimulates some clever stuff.