Gallipoli

Something of an abnormal post here, for a TALK episode that will follow over the next few days...

Today we're looking at the Battle of Gallipoli, this is the place to find all the photos and pics from the trip to Gallipoli that I mentioned in the TALK episode you have hopefully listened to already (ETA on the episode is 28/52015), so I hope you'll have a gander at these photos here, and perhaps get a better feel for what happened this time 100 years ago in the process.

Ottoman Empire over the years 

First of all, the facts. The Ottoman Empire entered the war against the allies in early November 1914, after weeks of wrangling on both sides. Following its clear position, the question then was how to deal with this strategically placed, yet somewhat 'sick' new enemy in the Central Powers camp. For some in the British camp, the idea emerged of an ambitious plan to knock the Ottomans out of the war and then drive south from its captured territories to Germany.

View of the peninsula from satellite; note the narrowness of the waterway and thus its critical strategic location. The southern, European facing side was where most action occurred.

To counter this, Germany had to invest yet more men and materials into the flagging empire to ensure that its weak spots could withstand the kind of offensives that the allies were planning. Both sides worked at a furious pace, but it wasn't until early 1915 that the idea of attacking Turkey was seriously considered, mainly because, in the allied camp, the Western Front of Flanders was still the main event, and the French government didn't under any circumstances want British or indeed French soldiers moved away from the front and tasked with some barely conceived, harebrained scheme on the other side of Europe. Opinions began to shift with the onset of deadlock and trench warfare in the west though, as trenches from the Swiss border to the sea were established after the First Battle of Ypres in late November 1914, and from that point on the objective was to punch a hole in the enemy's defences that would end such a stagnation of military affairs.

Hindenburg at Tannenburg, the greatest Russian defeat in living memory, late August 1914.

Devastation left behind following the First Battle of Ypres, November 1914.

Stabilisation of the fronts: the red line denotes the positions of the trench system that served as the de facto limits of success for both sides in early 1915. The impetus for both sides was thus breaking the deadlock, and the allies looked to Germany's newest ally to achieve this.

So, the attention was turned to the Ottoman Empire- more specifically, its critical waterway known as the Dardanelles. The plan being to sail up the Straits and attack Constantinople. If it sounded too easy, that's because it was, but in November 1914 a small engagement by the Royal Navy had knocked out a large fort at the entrance. The event was celebrated by command, but it had the double negative effect of both lulling Britain into a false sense of security and demonstrating to the Turks that a LOT of work had to be done where their defences were concerned. So, over the following weeks the Turks set to work, and with German aid had established a formidable series of defences along the entrance to the Dardanelles, while the allies- secure in the belief that the endeavour would not be overtly taxing- grossly underestimated the gravity of what was about to face them. When the naval attack failed, and the allies lost 6 vessels to the Turkish shore guns, the decision was made to call off the attack. Already, pressure was on Sir Winston Churchill, a principle architect of the plan, and David Lloyd George, a major advocate of the idea, to show results, and the decision was made to capture the peninsula first, and then bring the force of the navy to bear once the guns were forcibly silenced.

Sir Ian Hamilton, the man tasked with commanding the allies and achieving his objectives at Gallipoli. He, like many of his superiors, has a lot to answer for.

General Liman Von Sanders, Germany's deadliest import where the allies were concerned. In terms of bolstering the Turks and providing them with much needed advice and assistance, von Sanders' role in the Gallipoli campaign is highly underrated and deserves to be re-examined.

Lieutenant-General William 'Birdy' Birdwood, commander of the ANZAC forces. Though born in India and somewhat foreign to the ANZACs he commanded, most grew fond of him in their time in Gallipoli. 

For Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the allies forces about to take their places and invade the Gallipoli Peninsula, his was a task filled with uncertainty. The best information about the peninsula came from outdated French made maps sourced from the Crimean Wars over 50 years before, while secrecy was not watertight and Ian even held an interview with an Egyptian newspaper over the necessity of a landing before the campaign began, as if to wave a giant flag in the face of Liman von Sanders and warn the Turks of their impending arrival. As if he hadn't had enough time to prepare the region already for just such a campaign as the allies were planning, von Sanders now had proof from the horse's mouth that these very defences would soon be put to the test. For Sir Ian Hamilton though, such concerns as predictability or preparation did not seem within his vocabulary. A buzzsaw awaited those he commanded as April neared its end and soldiers massed in eager expectation just off the Straits on the island of Lemnos.

The major plan involved landings at Cape Helles, the southern end of the peninsula. These were to be undertaken by British and Irish soldiers of the 29th Division. Their objective was to storm ashore and seize the high ground- a tactic that will become familiar in the campaign. The Cape Helles landing area stretched across the length of the tip, and so was divided into numerous beaches;
S, V, W, X and Y, with V and W constituting the 'main event' of the landings in the region, and the others designed to provide support. However, once they had landed at dawn on 24th April, it became clear that the plan was flawed. The limited opposition faced by those that landed on all beaches other than V and W meant that the latter two landings lagged behind what were meant to be diversions.

The planned landings at Cape Helles, note W and V at the southermost end of the peninsula.

Detailed map of the landings and the objectives. Note how apparently close everything is. Sometimes we forget that metres separated the men from the enemy and their mission, not miles, and yet it was no easier a task because of this. Formidable defences at V and W beaches prevented much progress, while at S beach the objectives were completed within a few hours.

Some critical commanders had been killed during the Cape Helles landings, which further compromised the venture. Reinforcements were diverted to V beach in an attempt to force the area, but the task was far too great. Names of objectives like Hill 138 and Hill 141 would become the bane of the soldiers, who simply hadn't been prepared for what lay ahead. The Turks were entrenched, and in some cases, to ensure the element of 'surprise', no preliminary bombardment took place to cover the British landings, the result was carnage. In many ways it's hard to imagine the reality of what faced those that landed at V beach, so the best way is to show you the photos I took of the area. These are the first batch of the photos I took, having been in Turkey from 10-14th May 2015; these ones are of the Cape Helles memorial site:

Cape Helles Memorial Site

Monument, literally ten minutes walk from V Beach, with stunning surrounding views

Close up, each side had a different dedication

Names, names and more names surround the walls both inside and outside the monument, denoting the butcher's bill for the Cape Helles landings. Not a Twamley in sight, unless I missed one. For a few strange moments I felt unusually disappointed, until I realised exactly what a Twamley on the wall would have meant- that he would have died just as pointlessly as every other name here.

Stunning views in all directions, since we're literally on the tip of the Peninsula.

Beautiful sunshine and the coast of Turkey proper in the distance. Note also the ruins of the fort; that was the fort which blew up after the allied direct hit in November 1914. It essentially guards the entrance to the Dardanelles waterway. Upon landing here the 29th division was met with fire from the coast in the distance as well as from this hill that I took the picture from.

This is the land atop the cliffs that the Turks would have ran across on V Beach. It felt strangely eerie to be in this place, where 100 years before men would have fought for their lives.

Below is V Beach itself. Even now it's hard to believe it was so beautiful, considering the absolute hell that the whole region meant for so many men. Note how people were able to just casually walk up its edge- a task impossible for men just like these folks in the picture 100 years before.

The very same trenches atop V Beach that would have inhabited the defending Turks

This is the view that would have greeted the 29th division as they landed on the beach; steep cliffs impossible to scale from the sea, and granting the defender all the advantages in the world. There was very little in the way of cover where we were standing, and I can only imagine the fear that would have gripped men just like me once they realised the gravity of their task.

Perhaps because of the task's impossibility, it's not surprising to find a cemetery so close to the actual beach where so many men would have landed. Within were buried the remnants of the 29th division of Brits and Irish, an whoever else was unfortunate enough to have to support them. At least 600 men are estimated to be buried here, but some records put it at 800.

Another view of the cliffs that would be scaled by the 29th; the entrance to the cemetery on the right

The entire graveyard was pristine. Birds were singing and the sun beamed down, it was almost possible to forget that 100 years ago, this very ground was the last place of rest for so many as the battle waged overhead.

Another view of the cemetery on V Beach

This was the moment I almost cried. Having felt strangely emotional up to this point, seeing this grave among the others, I read that Mr J. Kiernan from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, at 21 years old, had died at this spot. It wasn't the fact that he seemed so like me, it was the fact that this happened 100 years ago to the day that I was looking at this grave- that really brought it home. I knelt down and said a small prayer, not really sure what I was praying for, but just in awe of the fact that here, on 11th May 2015 I was able to see J. Kiernan and that I also had a chance to pay my respects.

And some other miscellaneous photos of the French cemetery, the Turkish monument etc.

The French cemetery

We counted at least 3,000 graves 

Stunning white monument; the beauty of it all suggests that it won't ever be forgotten, yet the French contribution is very rarely discussed these days

The major Turkish monument on the primary plateau. Note the line of flags where my friend tried to get a better look and had a whistle blown at him to clear off; the Turks take their monument very seriously

This is the sight that greets you as you walk to the primary plateau above

Here is the mural that would be directly behind you in the first photo. Once again, Mustafa Kemal Attaturk takes center stage, and not for the last time

The 57th Memorial Monument, dedicated to the memory of that division who suffered catastrophic losses during the Gallipoli Campaign. It was this division that was the first to answer the call to defend their homeland against the invading ANZACs at Anzac Cove, and the unit who Attaturk is supposed to have said 'I do not order you to fight, I order you to die'. 

Old Man Monument, so-called after its depiction of the last surviving soldier from Gallipoli, Hüseyin Kaçmaz. Also depicted is his granddaughter, who regularly visited the site with him. In 1993, he met with the last surviving ANZAC soldier, a New Zealander, and the two shook hands. These two men, who would have both been in their early 100's, were an unforgettable symbol of the past, and yet they made their peace with that past, setting an example for the rest of the world in the process.

Another statue of Attaturk, this one a tad more controversial, since it sits beside the New Zealand monument (not pictured here, it's behind the back of photographer). When the NZ monument was commissioned, all seemed well and good, yet a few years later the Turkish government had inexplicably erected their own status of Attaturk right beside theirs. Thanks to the Danish students accompanying us on the trip for filling me in on those details. The fellows posing for the picture are the graduates of the Turkish navy, or so we reckoned anyway. Note how seriously the statue of Attaturk is taken; we were dared to jump in and photobomb them, but we weren't that brave... 

Unfortunately, Cape Helles was not the only landing site. Where would Gallipoli be without ANZAC cove and everything awful that landing suggested? Anzac Cove was designed to support the landing at Cape Helles by cutting the Ottoman communications in the hills behind the Turks. Once in place, the Anzacs were to hold the high ground and ready themselves to link up with the successful Cape Helles landings, once the latter had cleared away the opposition with relative ease, because don't forget chaps, you'll be landing relatively unopposed. The navy will blow Jonny Turk to pieces, and even if not, just give him a good run with the bayonet and he'll scatter! The reality, of course, was a poles apart from what the Anzacs were told to expect, and as a result they walked into yet another buzzsaw.

The landings at Anzac Cove, with Pugg's Plateau serving as a major initial objective, and the higher hills in the background serving as the further objectives. Nobody stopped to imagine that the Turks would expect a landing, or that they would realise the value of the high ground.

The actual progress that was made, compared with the objective in the distance.

What follows are further photos of Anzac Cove, its beaches, cemeteries and related images, taken on 12 May 2015;

Anzac Cove, angle 1

Anzac Cove, angle 2. In the distance is Suvla Bay, another landing that consumed countless lives

Anzac Cove, angle 3. Still I am struck by the beauty of it all; if I didn't know what had happened here, I'd swear this was a holiday resort. The sun was very strong, and that was only standing still, so it doesn't take much imagination to suppose that the men that fought here would have had huge problems with dehydration and sunstroke, not to mention disease.

The infamous ridges of Anzac Cove, only now do they appear so incredibly daunting, seeing them in real life is even more incredible. How the men managed to scale this is beyond me; how they looked at it and thought to themselves that it was a task within the realm of possibility is beyond me also

Another angle of the ridges that would have given invaluable cover to the defending Turks, with the Anzacs having to rush up the space in between, facing fire on both sides as they did so.

Anzac Cove, angle 4. The birds were signing so loudly that at some stages we couldn't hear our guide. I'd like to think that the birds somehow knew what had happened here 100 years before. That they knew the pain and anguish men in this area once went through, and that to compensate, they sing extra loudly, to try and cover up what was once hell on earth for so many, and a meat grinder for so many others. I got the sense that, having endured what it had a century before, there was no pain left, and that now there was only this startling beauty

Looking down south from where we were standing atop Anzac Cove, so in other words having turned 180 degrees from the above picture. That crop of grey hair belongs to our lovely tour guide, who had lived in the region and given tours just like ours for decades. It is such obviously beautiful scenery, and even now is treated as almost holy ground. To think that 100 years before it would have been a hive of activity, as the allies attempted to supply their Anzac brethren now ashore.

Next are the photos I took of Shrapnel Valley, which during the times of the landings 100 years ago looked like this;

Nowadays, it's a pristine cemetery and grounds, with freshly cut green grass, marble white headstones and the customary dedication at the leading monument which reads 'Their Name Liveth For Evermore'

Shrapnel Valley Cemetery and Memorial Grounds

Plugge's Plateau, and the view of Anzac Cove that I depicted earlier in this blog, were accessed by following the remnants of the trenches that way and up a seriously steep hill.

It's difficult not to feel a tad emotional about this one; his parents bringing this slab of rock from so many miles away in Oz, just so their late son could be laid to rest next to his native ground. I can only imagine how difficult that journey must have been for the family, I can only hope it was therapeutic to arrive here at last and put it here in its rightful place. 

This epitaph was especially striking for me. Some tried to find significance in the loss by emphasising honour, duty or respect for one's mates. This one is heart wrenchingly tragic in its truths. All his friends would have, following this loss, was his picture on the wall, because friends, despite the honour and heroism involved, could not take pride in this man's sacrifice. They didn't want a hero, they just wanted their friend back, and now they'd never see him again.

I tried to get a feel for what this place once was by taking a good few shots of the surrounding countryside. Note the hills on this side, as well as the other sides. No wonder it was named Shrapnel Valley, the entire region was a funnel for soldiers to walk through and somehow survive, while being attacked on all sides by bombs, heavy machine guns and explosive shells that inflicted such horrible wounds as only shrapnel could.

Hills surround the cemetery...

Headstones line the grounds

He died for his country's honour, an interesting concept when one considers the grief stricken tragic plea of the other headstone. It just goes to show that people will try to find significance in the loss in a number of ways; some will never accept that the loss was worth it, others will cling desperately to the idea that it was. The poor people that had to endure this.

We next visited Plugge's Plateau (pronounced 'Pluggy'), which served as a major base of operations for the Anzacs after it was captured within a few hours of the landing.

How it looked back then, note the tents strewn across the so-called command center where Colonel Arthur Plugge, commander of the New Zealand Auckland Battalion established his HQ

Plugge's is the smallest of the cemeteries in the region, dedicated to only 21 Anzac deaths

Despite this, it's no less important than the others, nor is it any less beautiful. We visited it on our way to take the numerous photos of Anzac Cove.

We then visited the cemetery at Ari Burnu, the name once given to Anzac Cove, before the Turkish Government officially renamed it after the Anzacs in 1985. Its the most impressive site in the region, and was once the area where the Anzac Day Dawn Service was held, until it was moved in 2000 to a an even larger area that we'll encounter a bit later in this blog.

ANZAC resting place

The striking white monuments that are the signature of the memorial sites here

The first of 7 graves chosen for their character

So simple; private yet public, short yet sweet. Epitaphs like these emphasise the human element that is so critical to preserve, so that these names do not become mere statistics

The only Jewish headstone I encountered in my travels

We also visited Lone Pine Cemetery, where the ANZAC ceremony a few months ago had been held. Our guide told us that only two weeks before we arrived, 10,000 people had flocked to the area to commemorate ANZAC day 100 years on. It was a truly breathtaking experience. 

Lone Pine Cemetery, 1920.

21 years after the battle; the first ceremony to take place on the new grounds, Lone Pine, 1936. Recently constructed is the Monument to the Missing, a beautiful idea that ensures even those who have not found a final resting place can still have their collective memory respected here.

Lone Pine today, and no that is not the pine it is named after (apparently many people presume that it is); that tree no longer stands, but it is a nice dedication nonetheless.

Lone Pine view from the step up, with back facing the monument.

Inscription of the wall down from the monument itself. The inscription reads 'To the Glory of God and in lasting memory of 3,268 Australian soldiers who fought on Gallipoli in 1915 and have no known graves, and 456 New Zealand soldiers whose names are not recorded in other areas of the Peninsula but who fell in the Anzac Area and have no known graves; and also of 960 Australians and 252 New Zealanders who, fighting on Gallipoli in 1915, incurred mortal wounds or sickness and found burial at Sea.

Within the open door of the Monument to the Missing were a countless artifacts dedicated at the time of the ANZAC ceremony weeks before. Some contained pleas to distant relatives, some calls to late ancestors, others thanked them for their sacrifice, and hoped that they could be at peace.

Even after all that had been lost, the allies had not given up on the idea of Gallipoli. A grand offensive was planned for August, whereby the allies hoped to attack on all fronts and mount a landing at Suvla Bay, a little bit north of Anzac Cove. The entire operation, unfortunately, was filled with breathtaking carelessness and criminal stupidity on the allied side, as generals with no grasp of the situation repeatedly send wave after wave of young men to their deaths in a hopeless quest to dislodge the advantaged Turk. This was the Battle of the Nek, so named after the bottleneck that the ridge appeared to take the shape of. One war correspondent, Charles Bean, compared it to 'attacking a frying pan from the handle'. It was madness, and it was meant only as part of another objective, yet the original accompanying objective was never completed. When word came that this attack was to go ahead anyway, many believed it was a death sentence. It even got off to an awful start, with the preliminary bombardment finishing 7 minutes earlier than it was meant to.

General Sir Alexander Godley, the man in charge of the offensives at the battle of the Nek in early August 1915. Responsible for neglecting his troops, to the extent that he commissioned wave after wave of slaughter at the Battle of the Nek, not to mention elsewhere, Godley would be privately vilified by his troops, yet publicly his career flourished. He would lead the ANZACs again on the Western Front, and in late 1917 would again come under scrutiny for ordering the continuation of  the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele. Yet, unfortunately, Godley wasn't the only one doing so, he was part of the cancer of careless within the British Army, he did not invent it or play the sole role in its continuation. He has a lot to answer for, nonetheless, and his name should be among the other controversial ones such as Douglas Haig and Lord Kitchener for what he did at the Battle of the Nek, where the flower of Australia, not to mention many other nations, was trampled upon and slaughtered for no gain whatsoever, save another gleaming memorial

This meant that, rather than facing at least semi-stunned or lesser prepared defenders when the time to go over the top came, the allies would face prepared, well-dug in and incredulous Turkish defenders, who couldn't believe that their enemy would attack at such a disadvantage. The guns, not just of the defenders here, but of other Turks placed a few hundred meters away on nearby hills, were able to rain down murderous fire from the outset. When the first wave were all wiped out, the second wave went ahead anyway, as did the the third. There was definite protest, to the extent that only part of the 4th wave went ahead, but still, it was nowhere near what should have been done. The command were so blatantly detached from the reality on the ground that condemning their actions doesn't come close to justice. They threw men to their deaths with a psychotic, despicable sense of laxness that in any other place, at any other time, they would be murderers. Yet here, on this piece of land, they remained in control of it all.


It makes me so angry to read and hear about, and there is a real sense of tragedy in this cemetery;

Much like everything else in Gallipoli, this cemetery wasn't always so pristine...

Here was the site where Charles Bean, war correspondent for the ANZACs, found the human bones (visible in this photo) of the Battle of the Nek in 1919, and they mercifully led to the creation of a proper cemetery (below under construction) 

Cemetery of the Nek under construction, 1923.

Plaque of dedication to those that fell

Artists' impression of the Nek, 1924

What follows are additional photos I encountered/took myself;

Turkish soldiers, equipped with the latest model of German Maxim gun that proved so devastating

Lancashire Fusiliers on their way to W beach, where most would meet their end. So substantial were their losses that W Beach is often referred to as Lancashire Landing in some histories

French soldiers at Cape Helles

ANZAC soldiers land at Pugge's Plateau

Smashed portion of one of the forts tasked with defending ANZAC Cove

One of the trench systems atop the Nek

Such systems stretched underground, as one side attempted to overtake the other

One of the many demonstrations of what such warfare would have been like 100 years ago, with soldiers sometimes as close as 8 meters to one another's lines. This was taken just before we got the ferry across to Cannakkele, on the Turkish side of the Dardanelles (and where that horse from the film Troy is held) 

Just in case you thought I was lying, here is the horse!

So yes, that's going to do I think. I know this has been something of a long-winded, photo packed post, and I'm sure the episode will be something similar, knowing myself and Sean! I feel like it was worth it though, like this is a story that needs to be told. If you can care about Gallipoli, or at least don't think of it as some event unimportant or uninteresting to you, then I have accomplished something here. Trust me when I say, having visited these place, Gallipoli is a story that needs to be told, and it is a story just as relevant today as it was a century ago. It is about youth, naivety, grief, loss, sacrifice, terror, death and tragedy. It is the place that a dominion became a nation. It is also a place forever associated with failure, and symbolic of what happens when you underestimate your enemy. The real tragedy in my view is that the allies would do it all again the following July. With just as little preparation, with just as little care for men's lives and with just as little 'success', the Somme eclipsed Gallipoli for all the wrong reasons, and claimed the lives of men whose only crime was to volunteer (or be conscripted) into an army which they believed would use their life, not waste it.

The 4 lads in Gallipoli, when we weren't drinking beer, we were here! From left to right is Caelan, Jack, Adam and myself. Good thing the world didn't require us to do what our generation, 100 years ago did... I don't know what would have happened if it had! 

The Irish Gallipoli crew, seated here at the base of the Turkish monument. From left to right Kristina, YanLi, Val, Adam, Liam, Caelan, ME, Dawn, Lia, Jack and our dear leader (and my dissertation supervisor) William Mulligan. Thanks for the fun times folks!

I shudder to think of what the youth of today would do, if faced with a situation like that today. So many of the graves I saw contained the names of men whose lives had ended before they had even reached the stage of mine. I, at 23, was older than most of the casualties I came across. Yet, having seen what I've seen, I know deep down that I would never have it within me to go over the top as they did. I am sincerely thankful that nobody in our generation will ever have to. I, personally want those I love; my friends, family and other half, to have more to remember me by than, as that ringing epitaph said my 'photo on the wall'.

Thanksssssssssss for reading history friends! Thanks also to Lia Brazil for letting me steal her photos (my phone had died) and to this website for their great advice and pics:
 http://www.gallipoli.gov.au/explore-northern-war-cemeteries/cemeteries-and-memorials-of-anzac.php


Zack

WDF 27: The Swedish Deluges

The wars that shook the North of Europe to its foundations began in the troubled aftermath of the Thirty Years War for Poland-Lithuania. The Ukrainian Cossack problem raged from 1648 until the early 1650's when the issue became internationalised thanks to Russian intervention, and with the Russian successes a worried Charles Gustav of Sweden felt little choice but to intervene, before Poland collapsed altogether under the Russian weight.

PL Commonwealth in 1648; note its dependencies that stretch into Prussia.

The ferocious impact of the Russian invasions, as Russian forces reach further than ever before into the interior of the Commonwealth.

The Swedish invasion that followed came close to causing the complete disappearance of Poland from the map of Europe. All that prevented a total Polish capitulation to its Swedish and Russian neighbours was, in my view, the underestimation of the Polish spirit, and the gross failure to assess the damage to its reputation that would follow from making war feed war, a strategy which required plundering and pillaging to keep Swedish finances afloat.

Charles Gustav of Sweden

The incredible impact of the dual Russian and Swedish invasions. Russia's invasion sweeps in from the east (darker blue) while Sweden invades from the north west (paler blue)

A clearer impression of the deluge's impact, also showing the remainder of Poland (the strip of white down the bottom) which was all that remained of John Casimir's dominion by the end of 1655.

The conquering of Poland proved to be an impossible objective though; despite the seemingly overwhelming losses suffered by the Poles, the Swedes were unable to occupy all of the country and make it their own. Their constant public relations faux pas enraged Polish opinion, while increasing foreign concern led to a gradually decreasing Swedish presence in Poland in 1656. By the following year in 1657 Charles Gustav had turned his attentions to the next enemy to join the anti-Swedish league; Denmark.

Yet Charles had also spent most of 1656 simultaneously trying to buy the favour of his Brandenburg neighbour. Since he his successes had alienated much of his potential allies, Brandenburg became gradually more indispensable to Sweden as 1656 progressed. By the end of the year 3 treaties had been signed with the Brandenburgers, but it proved inadequate for Brandenburg's Elector, Frederick William. Frederick desired not just nominal possession over Ducal (East) Prussia, but total sovereignty, and only Poland, as Ducal Prussia's overlord, was able to grand this. Thus in September 1657 did Brandenburg officially become Brandenburg-Prussia, as the price for buying the Great Elector's favour and causing him to declare against the Swedes was a promise of the right to inherit and rule over Ducal Prussia, with no strings attached. Sweden's Pomeranian holdings were now seriously threatened. Thus Brandenburg had been flipped, and Sweden was truly alone.

Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg from 1640-1686.

The two Prussias; one ruled directly by Poland (Royal Prussia), the other under the nominal suzerainty of the King of Poland (Ducal Prussia), and thus requiring Brandenburg to pay homage to the Polish king based on the Brandenburg personal union with Ducal Prussia.

The changing status of Ducal Prussia over 1654-1657.

Swedish Pomerania (in orange) depicted within its Empire.

The flipping of Brandenburg occurred in the background of the invasion and occupation of the Jutland Peninsula by the Swedes, which left the Danish King Frederik III holding out in Copenhagen, hoping that the fortress of Frederiksodde would hold the Swedes on the Peninsula while the anti-Swedish alliance mustered against him. Yet, while such issues seemed promising good fortune struck for Sweden; the Danish Straits froze over following a harsh winter and thus provided a stellar opportunity for Charles Gustav to march across them, thus removing the major Danish defence and granting Sweden a serious opportunity to end the war on decisive terms; the most decisive the Danes had ever experienced.

Frederik III, king of Denmark

The march across the belts depicted in this painting was one of the most incredible military feats of its age, and stunned the rest of Europe because of its daring and audacious effectiveness.

A zoomed in image of the two Danish islands that made up the bulk of the Danish state, while the land to the left of the two islands represents the Jutland Peninsula that was occupied by the Swedes by late 1657. To the right of the two islands lies modern day Sweden, which by this time was owned by the Danes and enabled them to claim the Sound tolls, but not for long. Note the three distinct waterways in this picture; in the far left is the little belt, in roughly the centre is the greater belt, while to the far right lies the Sound, after which the Sound tolls are named. Now imagine the impression marching across these frozen waterways would make on the Danes and Europe as a whole.

The Treaty of Copenhagen brought home the totality of Danish defeat and the supremacy of Sweden over its former enemies. Forced upon its Danish enemy by a Swedish army on its home island, Denmark was stripped of any possibility of ever reclaiming its old status. Never again could European statesmen perceive Denmark as anything but a second rate power, and never again could the Baltic have any other overlord but Sweden. The Vasa state had triumphed over Poland on a level never before imagined possible, and here now it had done the same against its Danish foe. Sweden had trounced its greatest enemies, but the war still raged on.

For the anti-Swedish league, the defeat of Denmark was a blow to their hopes of distracting Sweden long enough in Scandinavia to be able to deliver a knockout blow in Northern Europe. Sweden had been mostly driven out of Poland, but it had left behind an alliance of Transylvanians and Cossacks that kept the alliance of the Poles and Habsburgs busy for much of 1657. Only in 1658 was anything resembling an answer to Swedish dominance forming, but the Danish loss was a tough one to take for the beleaguered Holy Roman Emperor and his Polish ally who, though joined by Brandenburg, now had to face a confident, empowered Sweden secure in its western flank and out for revenge; Frederick William of Brandenburg felt sure that his lands would be on the list of places Charles Gustav would visit.

The news for the anti-Swedish league grew worse when Russia re-entered the war against the Poles and signed a truce with the Swedes, freeing up both more Swedish forces in the east and further pressuring the Poles. The issue for Russia proved to be the creation of the Union of Kėdainiai, which would have created a Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian Commonwealth and would have violated the earlier Treaty of Pereyaslav that Russia had signed with the Cossacks which had pledged the latter to the Tsar's Empire. The renewal of the Russo-Polish war was but another complication in the series of struggles that the Second Northern War had now degenerated into.

The Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth that proved too much for Russia to take. Russia, having intervened purely out of opportunism in 1653 to take advantage of the Cossack pleas for aid, could not allow Poland to craft these same Cossacks onto its own state and thus violate the treaties of assistance and fealty signed between Cossack and Russian in mid-1653.

The Union of Kėdainiai  

For Charles Gustav, the threatening stance posed by Dutch and Danish friendship partly inspired him to ensure a tougher stance be taken against the helpless Danes in the treaty negotiations that took place over the early summer of 1658. However, once it became clear that the Danes were dragging their heels, the Swedes broke off negotiations and attacked the Danes again in early autumn. This time, since the Swedes had attacked first, the Dutch could honour their defensive alliance, and a Dutch fleet did battle with the Swedes, freeing the siege of Copenhagen in early 1659 and paving the way for a dogged Danish defense as Frederik III of Denmark inspired his people to resist. With enemies on all sides of him and Brandenburg leading the allied armies, Charles Gustav had quite the struggle ahead. It appears to have taken its toll, because upon falling ill while visiting troops in early 1660, he died shortly thereafter, plunging the Swedish Empire into another Regency and paving the way for peace out of necessity.

The following treaties brought peace at last to Northern Europe. However, for all intents and purposes too much had changed in the five years of war for any European statesmen to view the region in the same way again. The old ambitions of once great powers; Denmark and Poland, now clearly lay in ruins owing to their overwhelming defeats, while Sweden was the undisputed military masterclass of Europe and its empire was further extended. But at what cost? Sweden remained plagued by internal problems, as well as hounded by opportunistic enemies like the rising powers of Brandenburg-Prussia and Russia. Sweden had alienated itself from Europe because of its conquering ways, and its empire remained no easier to keep unified than before, requiring large garrisons in every corner of it to keep it all together. The impression Sweden made on the map was monumental, but Charles Gustav had much to do before his untimely death further kicked the can down the road. It would be the Swedish misfortune in later years that Swedish policymakers, in their desperation, turned to the only ally they felt they still had following their unleashing of deluges upon Europe: Louis XIV's France. It was to be a partnership that almost collapsed the entire Vasa state.

Sweden after its defeat of Denmark in 1645, the yellow parts of this map was ceded to Sweden, while the red portion was leased to the Swedes for twenty years.

The peace of Copenhagen in 1658; the yellow portions go to Sweden, while the red province, formerly a lease agreement, becomes permanent. The purple seizure of Norwegian land would later be recouped, but here it shows the grand Swedish ambition as Norway is split in half and Sweden acquires a guaranteed access to the North Sea. 

Swedish gains over the years; note the explosion in land grabs that each successive Swedish king sought. Our man Charles Gustav's gains are found in the lightest green shade.

Undoubtedly impressive, the Swedes had cemented their military reputation and could at least bask momentarily in their glory. With a regency looming and an uncertain economic future though, it would take a king with more than the talents of Charles Gustav to protect all that had been taken in the years of warfare known as the Swedish Deluges.

Thanks for listening, and see you all once my thesis ends!

Zack

WDF 26: First Anglo-Dutch War

Having defeated its Spanish enemy after 80 long years, nobody could have supposed that the Dutch Republic would do anything but prosper after 1648. The promise of peace resulted in a booming of Dutch ambitions around the world, and an even greater return on their worldwide investments. The Dutch could count no power their economic equal on the continent, and it certainly seemed as though their Golden Age would remain in place for the foreseeable future. History of course, is never so simple. The Dutch were in fact embarking on a collision course after 1648, though they could not have known it at the time. Their next enemy was to be, in many ways, their political and ideological twin and, in previous years, one of their closest trading partners.

The Dutch Empire, with the lighter green shade denoting the imperial possessions and the darker green denoting the economic possessions in the early Republic. The orange dots essentially represent the warehouses and location of Dutch business that were responsible for Dutch Eastern commerce.

A modern map of the Dutch provinces. Nowadays Holland is divided into two separate provinces, but during our era it was one, and thus dominated the seafaring interests of the Republic.

The War of the Three Kingdoms had ravaged the British Isles on a level experienced during the Thirty Years War on the continent. The residual problems that the new English Commonwealth, founded in May 1649 only months after killing the King of England, Scotland and Ireland, Charles I. The civil wars in the British Isles had been raging on and off since 1643, and would not end convincingly in favour of the English Rump Parliament until late 1651. In those 8 years the conceptions of English, Scottish and Irish statehood would be pulled apart and would fray at the seams. In mid-1653 did the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland become transformed into the family dictatorship ruled over by Oliver Cromwell, but the turmoil that began in the early 1640's never truly went away in the meantime.

The new model army drill that brought the Parliamentarians to victory against the Royalists

Re-enactment of the civil war, a popular historical pursuit for history nerds like myself.

King Charles I of the British Isles, whose execution in early 1649 crystalised the radical new steps that the Three Kingdoms were keen to embark upon. 

The causes of the war will be covered in the four episodes, but suffice it to say they revolved around commercial jealousies on the English part, as well as the Dutch inability to give the Rump what it wanted. In a bizarre logic, war would result because the Dutch could not agree on English terms for a union. The fundamental English desire was to secure its new regime against foreign threats caused the Rump's reps in The Hague to promote their case of union with the newly triumphant Dutch Republic.

Not wishing to jeopardise the state of affairs that their victory over Spain had secured, the Dutch remained unwilling to agree to a union that they perceived would become dominated by London. The Dutch had kept an eye on what the Rump had done; Ireland and Scotland had been subdued by force, and offers of a Commonwealth were believed to be the next step towards further domination by London. Why would the Dutch agree to such a lopsided union when they had everything to gain in the status quo? The English could not answer such a question, and because neither side were willing to give ground, tensions only escalated.

Depiction of the States of Holland, where much of the most important decisions of the Republic were taken

Building where the States-General, effectively the governing apparatus of the Dutch Republic, met for the purpose of crafting state policy. Present were representatives from all 7 Provinces, though Holland certainly had the most influence thanks to its position, thanks to its pride of place in the Republic.

When the war did erupt, few could have anticipated what would happen next. Expecting a Dutch walkover, Europe was stunned to bear witness to the English domination of the war, thanks to its reliance on huge warships and its concentration on firepower that overwhelmed the old Dutch tactics. Still attempting to use the tactics that had enabled it to carve out its place atop the European food chain, fireships and undersized converted merchant vessels were what awaited the English first rates. The overwhelming impact of English superiority of fire and tactics weren't felt initially, but after a series of devastating defeats, the Dutch predicament became quickly desperate.

Battle of the Gabbard Bank depicted in a painting; one of the most devastating losses suffered by the Dutch in their history; the loss here resulted in the scales finally falling from Dutch eyes.

Battle of the Kentish Knock, the first proper encounter between both sides, yet it wasn't conclusive enough to convince the Dutch that change to their strategy was badly needed.

The War would only be ended with the Treaty of Westminster, where the Act of Seclusion would solve what Cromwell upheld to be the prime threat to the Commonwealth's security: the Orange family. Thus, the importance of the Orange family is revealed at this early a stage. William III of the House of Orange was barred from entering office in the Dutch Republic and, at just 4 years old, seemed destined to fade into obscurity thanks to the demands of the victorious English. Yet, times would change, and there would come a point when that same William III would rule both Britain and the Netherlands under a union. In a strange twist, it was just as the Rump had intended, yet the series of events that would lead to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 were directed at a common enemy, France, and by that stage the Anglo-Dutch relationship had come to symbolise all that the Rump originally hoped it would in 1651 when it had offered its seemingly impractical union. Of course, by 1688 it had taken three Anglo-Dutch Wars and the threat of an even greater enemy, Louis XIV, to change the relationship between the English and Dutch into an amicable one....

William III when the act of seclusion was signed. At just 4 years old when his succession to the Dutch Republic was barred, few could have anticipated his later meteoric rise not just to the top of the Dutch Republic, but also to the pinnacle of European power politics by the end of the century.

The Act of Seclusion that prevented by law any member of the House of Orange from holding office in the United Provinces; it was directly aimed at William III, who was 4 years old at the time.

 ..........but these, are stories for another episode. So thanks for reading history friends, and I hope you enjoy the First Anglo-Dutch War!


Thanksssssssss

The Post-Westphalian Age

The treaties were signed, but peace was far from eternal.

After tearing itself apart for 30 years, the various powers of Europe; Spain, France, Sweden, the Dutch, the Habsburgs and others had made their peace, but not completely. Spain remained at war with France. France was consumed by a revolt led by some of its court's highest profile noblemen. The Dutch remained locked in a struggle across the sea with Portugal in modern-day Brazil, and of course, foreign intrigue and competition was forever in the background of all dealings that were concluded by European statesmen.

A simple map of Europe c. 1648

A rather more depressing map of the HRE that brings it all home. The different tones show the variation in the drop in population that the war caused.

The Thirty Years War had revealed the limits of power in Early Modern Europe.  States could only go so far when mobilising their populations or resources. They could only push their people so far before revolt threatened. Events in France vindicated this, as did events in Spain, where revolution in Catalonia and its Portuguese vassal had ripped its prospects apart. In addition for Spain, there was no escaping the fact that in the case of its longest running revolution, the Dutch, its failure to quell that corner of its empire's dissension had resulted in the transformation of the European balance of power.

The Dutch were embarking on their Golden Age, a fact that would set them on a collision course with virtually all of their neighbours. For the moment though, their prospects looked bright. Their former overlord Spain was enmeshed in its own numerous problems, a fact which enabled the Dutch to become the most important trading partner of the Iberian Peninsula. The Dutch success was made that much easier by the utter chaos that their sometimes geographical rival England had fallen into.

The English Civil War consumed the entirety of the British Isles. Uncertain loyalties in Ireland, Scotland and in the New World necessitated campaigns of notable ferocity and destruction in these regions. By the late 1640's Charles I had been captured by forces loyal to the Parliament and the first phase of the civil wars appeared to be nearing an end. The most striking acts of this play had yet to come however; a head had yet to roll, a Commonwealth had yet to be declared and a protector had yet to be named. All of these would come in time, but for the moment England was not in a position to stake its claim to the international system as it once had, leaving, for the moment, the task of assessing and acting to preserve the balance of power to the Dutch.

The face of change: Oliver Cromwell in 1656. 

The head that would roll. Charles I of England and Scotland. 

But the Dutch weren't the only state transformed by the wars of before. The Swedish Empire had been born from them. Having emerged from the obscurity of Scandinavia and from under Denmark's shadow thanks to the exploits of its conquering king Gustavus Adolphus, Sweden had gone on to endure difficult periods and incredible highs, to the point that it was an undeniable first class power by 1648. Unlike other powers of its time, Sweden had made its name and achieved this new rank purely by force of arms alone. Few other powers could claim the startling rise to power that it could, but the majority of Sweden's neighbours had more binding them together after 1648 than the threat of Swedish armies. The consequences of this fact will be felt in future, but as the daughter of Gustavus, Cristina, came of age in 1644, Sweden appeared destined to remain at its newfound place of prosperity.

Johan de Witt, the de facto PM of the Dutch Republic from 1653-1672

The definer of an era: William III of England began his career as William III, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder in the States of Holland. His incredible career and rivalry with Louis XIV is one which is long overdue a film, or at least a long series on Netflix. 

A typical Dutch painting of sailboats, 1679. Note the abundance of orange.

Of course, it had reached this new level at the expense of its neighbours. Poland and Denmark in particular still had notable bones to pick with the Swedes. In the case of the former, dynastic ties and an ugly family feud meant that the two lines of the Vasa family sat at very different ends of the European spectrum in 1648. This rivalry would erupt over the coming years, but for the moment Poland was occupied with its quest to quell nationalist rebellion from its Cossack minority, and Denmark was still reeling from the devastating campaign of assassination that Sweden had launched against it only a few years before. For Poland in particular, the growing power of Russia was a cause for concern, and indeed for Swedish policymakers, focusing on the need to protect their newly won Baltic territories, the Russians seemed like the enemy of the future. Over the previous years they had modernised and expanded their army greatly, as well as see the extension of the Tsar's power over lands to the east, north, west and south of Moscow.

Russia could not expand forever though. To its south lay the formidable Ottoman Empire, whose stake in Balkan affairs would not be shifted for another three centuries. The Thirty Years War had certainly given it a reprieve from any wars with the distracted Habsburg family, but its vassals in the Crimean Tartars and Transylvania had been very busy indeed. Their control over an effective buffer zone led to permanent unease in Vienna, and in the Habsburg court a future war with the Turk seemed both likely and necessary. The Thirty Years War had changed how the Holy Roman Empire operated, but it remained the primary cultural and political nerve centre of the Germans. This would not change for the remainder of the century, but signs were already emerging that things would not be the same after Westphalia.

The Habsburg hereditary lands that encompassed most of the Austrian Empire formed the backbone of the HRE. Surrounding it was Bavaria, its sister Catholic heartland and its valuable ally throughout the war. To the north things became more complex. Brandenburg-Prussia straddled Pomerania and some critical Imperial fiefs. Saxony remained a Protestant stronghold and a centre of European learning. The Rhineland and its Palatine family had fingers in numerous pies despite their humiliation and exile in years past. First and foremost, the election of a new emperor, though it would seem to be mostly a formality by this stage, remained an important European event. Until that fact changed, and until Europeans could ignore the pull of Vienna in favour of another capital, the Empire of the Germans would always be relevant.

Great contemporaries: Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor 1658-1705

Tsar Alexis I of Russia, 1645-1676

The Sun King Louis XIV, King of France 1643-1715, though ruling solo only from 1661.

The Thirty Years War had left many scars; it was hard to imagine that such a war could ever occur in Europe again; the extent to which the ordinary man had had to bear the brunt of such savage conditions meant that an indelible imprint had been left on the European, but especially German psyche. War had by no means vanished from the plethora of tools at a statesman's disposal, but it had certainly lost much of its sheen, and the reasons for waging it had notably been altered. Sovereignty and independence, state power and the absolute rights of kings; these were issues which concerned Europeans now. Whether they would lead to the same level of warfare and destruction as the previous thirty years had wrought remained to be seen, but many issues remained at the top of European politics that could not be ignored, and many figures were waiting in the wings to take these issues to their logical conclusion, as their father's statesmen and their grandfather's statesmen had done so terribly before. War would always be on the horizon in post-Westphalia Europe; what remained to be seen was where conflict would be experienced next.

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Hello history friends! Welcome to a new season of WDF! Season 3, if my calculations are correct. This new season will see me present to you a new series of wars. Some would call these wars obscure, others would consider them essential for understanding how modern Europe came to be. It is my pleasure to attempt to bring these wars to you, and to bring to life new eras of history which were simply dying to be discovered. I hope you'll join me for the ride! Thanksssssssss! :D

Zack (B.A.)