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Chapter
Twenty-Four Pre-WWI
1899 C.E. through WWI (April
6, 1917 C.E.-November 11, 1918 C.E.)
Chapter Twenty-Four
- Pre-WWI 1899 C.E. through WWI (April April 6, 1917 C.E.-November 11,
1918 C.E.) of the Family History “The
de Riberas” brings to light a world pushing itself forward with
invention, industry, and manufacturing at its forefront. Non-Hispanic
Americans were enjoying the benefits of citizenship. Abundance for them
was everywhere to be seen, but not necessarily had. Still, for many life
was good! It was also a world
rushing toward militancy. Flushed with martial success of the 1898
C.E. Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense,
the United States was now prepared and eager to spread her wings as one
of the world’s Great Powers. America’s newly won mantle of position
and power brought with it responsibility. Both were not easily
understood or mastered. Only with a strong military and a willingness to
use it could she hold her assets from those who wanted to take them.
This was the way of the world America was entering. During that time,
for the vast majority of Hispanics within the United States, life
remained difficult. For those who had successfully integrated into
American society before 1846 C.E., many had done well for themselves. As
for those Hispanos, Californios, Tejanos, Nuevo Méjicanos of the American
West and Southwest, and other late arriving Hispanics that were included
into the American scene after 1846 C.E., becoming a part of the
mainstream remained problematic. Even after fighting in the American
Civil War and the Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense,
acceptance from their fellow Américanos
had not been forthcoming. Yet, they persevered. Outside of
America’s protected borders, only sixteen years after the Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense, the world was about to witness the spectacle of its “First World
War.” This War, also referred to as WWI, was to begin in Europe and
spread its deadly tentacles around the world. To seek to explain
why two rival groups of world powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary on the
one hand, and Russia, France, and Great Britain on the other, would come
into conflict by 1914 C.E. is not an exercise in futility. Essentially
the factors which drove Europe into this Great War were unresolved
economic, political, and territorial conflicts and disputes, militarism,
a complex web of alliances and alignments, imperialism, the growth
of nationalism, and the power vacuum created by the decline of
the Ottoman Empire. There were other important factors which drove the
combatants including the perceived breakdown of the balance of
power in Europe since 1867 C.E., complicated and fragmented governance,
the arms races of the previous decades, and military
planning. The immediate causes
lay in decisions made by statesmen and generals during the July
Crisis of 1914 C.E. The crisis escalated as the conflict between
Austria-Hungary and Serbia came to involve Russia, Germany, France, and
ultimately Belgium and Great Britain. During the diplomatic crisis that
preceded the war, other factors came into play. One of these was
fatalism, that belief that war was inevitable. Then there was the speed
of the Crisis. As the parties moved forward, the crisis was exacerbated
by delays, misunderstandings in diplomatic communications, and finally
miscalculations. There were also misperceptions. One of which was the
misperception by the German Empire that Great Britain would remain
neutral and not enter the war. As the crisis
unfolded, there began a series of diplomatic clashes among the Great
Powers of Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.
Some of the difficulties had to do with European and colonial
issues left unresolved in the decades before 1914 C.E. These
long-standing unresolved issues had left tensions high and feelings raw.
All a collision in the making. As for the immediate
cause of the crisis itself, this can be easily understood. It was
triggered by the assassination in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 C.E. of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Bosnian Serb. The murderer, a
Yugoslav nationalist, Gavrilo Princip had
been supported by a nationalist organization in Serbia. This acted
as the
trigger for WWI. Simply put, he assassinated the heir to the throne of
Austria-Hungary. The murder would lead to a month of diplomatic
maneuvering called by historians the July Crisis. Those partaking
in the war hysteria were Austria-Hungary and Germany on the one side,
and Russia, France and Britain on the other. Austria-Hungary was certain
that Serbian officials and especially the officers of its “Black
Hand” were involved in a plot to murder the Archduke. Austria-Hungary would set off a diplomatic
crisis by delivering an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. The
result was to be the invoking of a series of international military
alliances which had been formed over the previous decades. Within a
matter of a few weeks, the major powers began their rush toward war. In
time, this ill conceived war would soon spread throughout the world. All the world's great economic and
military powers would enter into war. The Central Powers consisting
of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the Allies included
the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were the two determined sides.
Other nations would enter the war later and these alliances would be
reorganized and expanded. Italy, Japan and the United
States joined the Allies at later dates. The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria would
join with the Central Powers. American
Hubris and the Gathering Great Storm of War Here, I use the term hubris not in the sense of
excessive pride, but America’s
boundless self-confidence in what she had accomplished by 1914 C.E., in
that short 131 years since becoming a recognized nation.
America’s final plunge into the abyss of that nightmarish war would
happen only after years of arguments, debates, conciliations, and
considerations. All of which led to one end, being forced by
circumstances into a war that the Americans did not want. The gathering
storm of war in Europe was the logical outcome of a world of gone mad
with arrogance and envy, lust for expansion, power, prestige, and wealth
and a need for retribution. Until the end of the
19th-Century C.E., American foreign policy followed the general
guidelines established by President George Washington who served as the
first President of the United States from 1789 C.E. to 1797 C.E. In his
Farewell Address to the American people he stated, “The great rule of
conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is—in extending our
commercial relations—to have with them as little political connection
as possible.” The purpose of Washington’s admonition was clearly to
establish and increase trade with other nations. It was also to stay
away from political entanglements with foreign powers in order to
minimize the chance of war. History had taught his generation that
republics that engaged in frequent wars eventually lost their character
as “free” states. James Madison the fourth President
of the United States from 1809 C.E.to 1817 C.E., expressed this
understanding of the character of a “free” state when he wrote,
“Of all enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be
dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War
is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies,
and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many
under the domination of the few.” The war of 1812 with
Britain should have reinforced these beliefs, but it didn’t. It only
whetted America’s appetite for more war. This she found with the
conquest of her neighbors lands and wealth, or so it would seem. As the previous
chapters of this family history, the de
Riberas, have pointed out, the United States through its Manifest
Destiny had spread itself from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean
by 1848 C.E. The young nation had taken territory from its neighbors
Great Britain and Mexico to
ensure its security. Once, geographically consolidated, America began
looking inward toward her newly won lands with the intent of integrating
them into one whole. Simply put, it built, expanded, improved, enhanced,
and above all, became rich.
By 1898 C.E., the United States and its ally
Great Britain were together exerting themselves politically and
militarily in the Pacific region. The control over the Samoan island
chain located in the South Pacific
Ocean was at issue. Notes on Samoa: By
the late-19th-Century C.E., French, British, German, and American
vessels routinely stopped at Samoa. They used Pago Pago Harbor, Samoa,
as a refueling station for coal-fired shipping and whaling. Pago Pago
was then Samoa’s main port and administrative and commercial center. A
treaty was reached between Germany and Samoa on January 21, 1879 C.E.
The Treaty gave Germany the right to establish a naval station in the
harbor of Saluafata. By November 5, 1884 C.E., Samoa petitioned the
Queen of England to make Samoa an English colony or to connect it with
the Government of New Zealand. The petition was refused and soon German
troops landed in Samoa. In
March 1889 C.E., a German naval force invaded a Samoan village and while
doing so, destroyed American property. As a result, three American
warships entered Apia Harbor where three German warships were already
there. Before an attack was made, a typhoon wrecked both the American
and German ships. As a result, a compulsory armistice was called. Under
the 1889 C.E. Treaty of Berlin, Britain, Germany, and the United States
agreed to recognize the Kingdom of Samoa. The conference was proposed by
German foreign minister Count Herbert von Bismarck to reconvene the
adjourned Washington conference on Samoa of 1887 C.E. In April, 1889 C.E.,
Von Bismarck invited the Treaty of Berlin delegations from the United
States and the British Empire to Berlin. The Treaty
between the United States, Germany, and Great Britain established the condominium in
Samoa, by which she was treated as a political territory, state or
border area, over which these multiple sovereign powers formally had
agreed to share equal dominium. The three powers would
exercise their rights of sovereignty jointly, without dividing it into
"national" zones. Further, it was designed to guarantee the
preservation of rights of the three powers as secured in separate
treaties with the Samoan régime in 1878 C.E. and 1879 C.E. Further, the
independence and neutrality of the Samoan government was ensured. These
three countries later canceled the treaty to be able to intervene in the
factional fighting over the Samoan throne, which was threatening to
break out in civil war. By
1898 C.E., the Second Samoan Civil War reached a head. Germany, Britain,
and the United States began disputing over which power should have
control over the island chain. Meanwhile, while the Americans, British, and
Germans struggled for control over the Samoan island chain,
the world of Latino
América and the Caribe remained political and military tinderboxes. This had its
beginning in the early-19th-Century C.E.’s political evolutions and
finally revolutions. In this new era of world power, politics, and
the flexing of military muscle, the United States would have to earn her
stripes. This meant accepting each challenge to it hegemony in the
Western Hemisphere and beyond. In Central América, in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, between February 7th and February 8,
1898 C.E., U.S. forces were on the ground for the first time protecting
American lives and property. Back in Samoa, the first
Samoan battle would be fought at the City of Apia. British and
American naval forces landed and occupied much of it. Mataafan forces
then attacked. British and United States warships in Apia Harbor began
bombarding enemy positions around the City. After the conflict, the
Mataafan forces retreated to their stronghold at Vailele. This began
several months of American and British expeditions against the enemy. By the end of March,
the allied British, U.S., and Samoan forces made their way along the
coast from Apia towards Vailele. After skirmishing with the Samoan
rebels they retreated. The allies then destroyed two rebel villages. An
allied attack on the Vailele plantation was then planned. The corvette
HMS Royalist was sent ahead of the expedition to bombard the
two forts guarding Vailele plantation. The cruisers U.S.S. Philadelphia, HMS Tauranga, and
HMS Porpoise followed the Royalist to Vailele and landed the
sailors and marines. On April 1st, an
allied expedition of 26 U.S. Marines, 88 sailors, and 136 Samoans left
the coast for an attack on Vailele, leaving behind their protective of
naval gunfire support. During
the Second Samoan Civil War, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United
States were caught up in the dispute over which of them should control
Samoa. That year conflict reached a head.
The allies were the Samoan followers
of Malietoa Tanumafili I and supporting naval forces from the United
States and the United Kingdom. These fought against the
rebels of Mata'afa
Iosefo (1832 C.E.-February 6, 1912 C.E.). With Malietoa
Laupepa's death, Mata'afa Iosefo returned
from exile and was elected to power. In response, the British Royal
Navy and the U.S. Navy landed forces at Apia in
support of Laupepa's son Malietoa Tanumafili I and against the
German-backed Mataafa. The Second
Battle of Vailele ended in a defeat for the allied troops. They were
then forced to retreat back to Apia. By April 13th, the
British frontline was extended just south of Vailele. On that day, the
Matafaans attacked but were repulsed. Later, in another Allies
expedition fought again within Vailele, the rebels won. They
had withstood a British led attack on two forts. At the war's
conclusion, the Tripartite Convention of 1899 C.E. partitioned the
Samoan Islands into American Samoa and German Samoa. The
United States was granted the eastern section of the islands. The
Germans were granted the western section of the islands. Great Britain
was given other Pacific island chains formerly belonging to Germany. By April 25, 1898 C.E., the United States
declared war on España,
beginning the Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense.
America had aligned herself with Cubano
rebels. The war followed a Cubano
insurrection, the Cubano
War of Independence against Spanish rule, and the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in
the harbor at Habana. The year 1899 C.E. also saw Philippine-American
War (1899 C.E.-1913 C.E.), U.S. forces protected American interests in
the Philippine Islands. It had followed closely on the heels of the
Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense.
The Americans soon defeated the Filipino
revolutionaries seeking immediate national independence. The U.S.
government would declare the insurgency officially over in 1902 C.E.,
when the Filipino leadership
generally accepted American rule. Skirmishes between government troops
and armed groups would last until 1913 C.E., and some historians
consider these unofficial extensions of the war. This was the first
post-Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense
American military intervention into the Philippines.
By January 1, 1899 C.E., as Spanish forces were leaving Cuba,
Emilio Aguinaldo was declared president of the new Filipino
Republic. The
United States authorities, however, refused to recognize the new
government. By the 17th of the month, the U.S. claimed Wake Island for
use in cable link to Philippines. Wake is located in the western Pacific
Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia sub-region. It is a coral atoll 1,501 miles of Guam, 2,298 miles west
of Honolulu, and 1,991 miles southeast of Tokyo. U.S. Commander Edward Taussig, U.S.S.
Bennington, landed on the island and claimed it for the United States.
Four days later on the 21st of January, the constitution of the Filipino
Republic, the Malolos
Constitution, was promulgated by the followers of Emilio Aguinaldo. Notes on President Emilio
Aguinaldo y Famy (March 22, 1869 C.E.-February 6, 1964 C.E.): President Emilio
Aguinaldo y Famy (March 22, 1869 C.E.-February 6, 1964 C.E.)
was a Filipino
revolutionary, politician, and military leader. He is officially
recognized as the first and the youngest President of the
Philippines (1899 C.E.-1901 C.E.) on
January 23, 1899 C.E. Aguinaldo
was also the first president of a constitutional republic in Asia.
He led Philippine forces first against España
in the latter part of the Philippine Revolution (1896 C.E.-1898
C.E.), and then in the Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense (1898 C.E.), and finally against the United
States during the Philippine-American War (1899 C.E.-1901
C.E.). He was captured in Palanan, Isabela by
American forces on March 23, 1901 C.E., which brought an end to his
presidency. Back in Central América, from February 22nd through March 5,
1899 C.E., American and British naval forces acting jointly landed
troops for a second time to protect national interests at San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua,
in connection with the insurrection of General
Juan P. Reyes. It also landed troops at Bluefields a few weeks
later. These would be the second and third times American forces would
be used in Nicaragua. In the Pacific,
the Filipino Insurrection had
begun on February 4th. The Filipino
Republic declared war on the United States forces in the Philippines,
following the killing of three Filipino
soldiers by U.S. forces in a suburb of Manila. This was the first
post-Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense military intervention by the United
States. Filipino nationalists
viewed the conflict as a continuation of the Philippine Revolution and
the struggle for independence which had begun back in 1896 C.E. The
conflict arose when the First Philippine Republic objected to the terms
of the Treaty of Paris under which the United States took possession of
the Philippines from España,
ending the Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense.
The U.S. government regarded it as an insurrection. The
Philippine-American War or the Guerra
Filipino-Estadounidense
lasted from February 4, 1899 C.E., to July 2, 1902 C.E. The armed
conflict between the First Philippine Republic and the United States
Fighting erupted between the forces of the United States and those of
the pro-Spanish Philippine Republic on February 4, 1899 C.E., in what
became known as the Second Battle of Manila. By the 6th of
February, the United States Senate approved and ratified the Treaty of Paris by a vote of 52 to
27, thus ending the
Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense.
President McKinley would sign it on that day. The United
States gained all of España's
colonies outside of Africa in the Treaty, specifically in the
Pacific and the Caribe. These
included the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico with the exception of Cuba, which became a U.S. protectorate. In Asia,
during the
political contest between the Chinese Dowager Empress and her son, U.S.
forces provided a guard for its diplomatic legation at Peking and the
consulate at Tientsin from November 5, 1898 C.E. to March 15, 1899 C.E. In Europe, the
Queen Regent of España, María Cristina, signed the
Treaty of Paris on March 18th. Her action broke the deadlock in the
Spanish Cortés. The Queen understood the Américanos
very well. Whether España liked it or not, the Américanos would have it their way. Back in the Caribe, the Treaty
of Paris finally came into force in Cuba
on April 11, 1899 C.E., with Cubanos participating only as observers. She had been occupied and
under the jurisdiction of the United States Military Government (USMG)
since July 17, 1898 C.E.
By May 9, 1899 C.E.,
the American Brigadier-General Guy
Vernor Henry was succeeded by
Brigadier General George Whitefield Davis as military governor of Puerto
Rico. American
Brigadier-General Davis (July 26, 1839
C.E.-July 12, 1918
C.E.) was an engineer and promoted
to Major-General (July 1902
C.E.) in the United
States Army. He was the
last U.S. military governor of Puerto Rico, holding the position from
May 9, 1899 C.E. to May 1, 1900 C.E. During his tenure he established a
"United States provisional court," and freed the courts from
control by the Secretary of Justice. He also revised the legal codes
then in force to create a system suitable for the island that took into
consideration both U.S. and Puertorriqueño
views on how the island should be properly governed, considering it
a step toward eventual territorial autonomy for the island. In the Pacific, on
June 2, 1899 C.E., the Pro-Spanish First Philippine Republic officially
declared war against the United States. On that same day, the Spanish forces at Baler, Philippines,
surrender to the United States. This was the second post-Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense military intervention by the United
States. The
American 20th-Century C.E.: Here, it is
important to understand how the United States established itself as a
great power in the early-20th-Century C.E. She would satisfy her
material needs via trade and commerce. Firstly, America would become
crucially important in the regional affairs of the Western Hemisphere.
This was essentially due to its trading arrangements with Latino
América. It was America’s
economic dynamism as a powerhouse of manufacturing that enabled it to do
so. In relation to the Western Hemisphere, America’s policies by
necessity restricted certain activities by foreign powers as defined by
the 1823 C.E. Monroe Doctrine. The United States shaped its regional
sphere, the Western Hemisphere, by ensuring its internal and external
security. As the United States
continued its expansion of trade into the rest of the world, she became
involved in world politics. Through the continuous application of her
economic strength and political savvy, American power grew steadily.
When necessary, America used her military capability. By the period of
1898 C.E. through 1918 C.E., American foreign policy was characterized
as the furthering of her vital interests throughout the world. She did
this by the use of necessary interventionism and the discriminating use
of her growing military power. It should be stated here that America
acted no differently in this regard than any of the other Great Powers
of the time. During the period, security had become even more important
as America began placing it legations in foreign countries where her
economic well-being was being expanded via trade and commerce. America
also exerted other forms of power, notably, the United States gained
influence in international diplomacy as it swayed global events. The 20th-Century
C.E. would see a very active United States in the areas of Latino
América. She was concerned with the political and military
upheavals within the Western Hemisphere. By the
early-20th-Century C.E., there were advances in economic growth and
political stabilization in most of Latino
América. During the period, the region came up against an array of
challenges as the century wore on. The forward momentum of economic
growth and political stability, however, was not lost. In addition,
new problems emerged. The challenges were both internal and external.
They experienced a steady population increase. By 1900 C.E., the total Latino Américano population in all of Latino América was roughly 60 million. Latino América as a whole felt the consequences of ever-closer
incorporation into the world economy. In the first half of
the 20th-Century C.E. (1900 C.E.-1950 C.E.), Latino
América was feeling the impact of outside events not only on its
economy but also politically. These
ciudádanos of Latino América
were ready for change. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New
Deal in the United States and the emerging totalitarianisms of the
left and right in Europe were spreading their ideologies and
impacting Latino political views and stability. In America,
Theodore Roosevelt returned to the United States from the Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense a war hero. By 1899 C.E., he had been elected governor of
New York. He also served as the 25th Vice
President of the United States from March to September 1901 C.E. At
the age of 42, he became the youngest man to become President after the
assassination of President William McKinley, serving
as the 26th President of the United States (1901 C.E.-1909 C.E.).
1900 Campaign poster The U.S. Congress
passed the Foraker Act on April 12th, establishing a civilian
government in the Caribe’s
Puerto Rico under U.S. control. The Act provided for an elected House of
Representatives on the island, but did not allow for a vote in
Washington’s legislatures. Soon afterwards, on May 1st, Charles H.
Allen was inaugurated as the U.S. civilian governor of Puerto Rico. All
of this was done to ensure Puerto Rico’s close cooperation within the
region. In Asia, the Boxer Rebellion began in China.
From May 24th to September 28, 1900 C.E. American troops participated in
legation guard operations to protect foreign lives during the uprising,
particularly at Peking. This was
the first American Military intervention in China. For many years
after this experience a permanent legation guard was maintained in
Peking, and strengthened at times of threatened trouble. By
June 5th, President McKinley named an Executive Cabinet under
Governor of Puerto Rico Charles H. Allen. It included five Puertorriqueño members for the Caribe
country. These were José Celso Barbosa, Rosendo Matienzo
Cintrón, José de Diego,
Manuel Camuñas and Andrés Crosas. He also named six
U.S. members including William H. Hunt, Secretary; J.H. Hollander,
Treasurer; J.R. Garrison, Auditor; W.B. Eliot, Interiors; James A.
Harlan, Attorney General; and Dr. M.G. Brumbaugh, Secretary of
Education.
Puerto Rico was becoming more closely integrated into the growing
American political sphere. Back in the United States, the problem of
Spanish or Mexican Land Grants remained an issue. As stated by the
successor to the abolished office is the California State Lands
Commission, “The staff of State Lands Commission has compiled the
following update to the listing of Grants of Land in California made by
Spanish or Mexican Authorities, as published in the Report of the
Surveyor-General of the State of California, from August 1, 1888 C.E. to
August 1, 1890 C.E." One reason for the update was to enter the
patent dates omitted in the 1890 C.E. report. In some instances, ranchos
were confirmed by the Land Commissioners and the courts and the
necessary surveys were performed. Unfortunately, the final patents were
never issued or could not be found. No one knows why. These unpatented ranchos
were included in the 1890 C.E. report. The format for the new listing was
alphabetically by county name, which differs from the Surveyor-Generals
listing. In that listing it was listed alphabetically by rancho name. This list of confirmed and patented private land claims
(ranchos) gives only the name
of the final patentee. Public records have been researched to ascertain
the correct dates of patent, acreage, and township, range, and meridian.
When there were conflicts of facts, the records of the Bureau of Land
Management were used as the final authority. The 1890 C.E. listing also
included as an appendix, misiónes,
Presidios, and Pueblos. In the Caribe,
Cuba
and España had been
traditionally the largest importers of Puertorriqueño
coffee, when they subjected Puerto Rico to previously nonexistent
import tariffs. These two effects led to a decline in the coffee
industry. From 1897 C.E. to 1901
C.E. coffee went from
65.8 percent of exports to 19.6 percent while sugar went from 21.6
percent to 55 percent. In Europe, by February of 1901 C.E. the Spanish
Contraalmirante Pascual Cervera y
Topete was promoted to Vizealmirante or
vice admiral. He had served proudly during the Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense, the
Guerra in Cuba. The Vizealmirante’s
military service was not forgotten, nor the soldados
who fought so valiantly with him. March brought with
it problems and opportunities for the United States in the Caribe and the Pacific. On March 4th, Federico Degetau y González
took office in Washington as the first Resident Commissioner from Puerto
Rico. Degetau was a
distinguished and celebrated legal scholar, novelist, and politician in
Puerto Rico and España. He
was thoroughly educated and experienced with legal theory, political
action, and was a student of American jurisprudence. In the Pacific on March the 23rd, American forces under
General Frederick Funston captured Emilio Aguinaldo on Palanan, Isabela
Province the Philippines. Later, Aguinaldo declared his
allegiance to the United States. This was the third post-Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense military intervention by the United
States in the Philippines. The month of April 1901
C.E. brought with it many challenges. On the April 6, 1901 C.E. cover of
Puck Magazine there could be found an
image which depicted a personification of the United States as
“Columbia.” The goddess was wearing an “Easter bonnet” of a
warship which proclaimed her as a world power. She was the goddess-like
female figure who was used as a common representation in art of the
United States, as the Goddess of Democracy. Her dress is
military in theme. She has a small cannon and bayonet hanging from her
belt, along with a pocket watch and a small bag that appears to read
“U.S.” The smoke from the warship/hat proclaims EXPANSION. The
caricature of an Easter bonnet made out of a warship alludes to the
gains made by America during the Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense.
It is clear that by this date, the
United States public was now enthralled by Manifest Destiny. As President
McKinley of the United States was begining his 2nd term, he was fatally
shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition at
the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, on September 6,
1901 C.E.
His assassin was the anarchist Leon Czolgosz (May 5, 1873 C.E.-October
29, 1901 C.E.).
Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency following
President the assassination.
The new President was one of those who worshipped the Goddess of
Democracy. In South América’s Colombia,
one of her states Panamá was
experiencing revolutionary disturbances. From November 20th through
December 4, 1901 C.E., U.S. forces were sent to protect American
property on the Isthmus and to keep transit lines open during serious
political and military disturbances. This was the first American
Military intervention in Panamá. The year of 1902 C.E.
brought with it problems in the areas of the Pacific, South América, Central América,
and the Caribe. That year, the
United States Congress passed the Philippine Organic Act. It provided
for the creation of the Philippine Assembly the members of which would
be elected by Filipinos.
Among those leaders was General Macario Sakay, a veteran Katipunan
member who assumed the presidency of the proclaimed "Tagalog
Republic." It had been formed in 1902 C.E. after the capture of
Dictatorial President Emilio
Aguinaldo. In South América at Bocas del Toro,
a provincia of Panamá, Colombia,
U.S. military forces were again
sent during a civil war to protect American lives and property from
April 16th to 23, 1902 C.E. This
was the second American Military intervention in Panamá. With the announced end of USMG jurisdiction
over the Caribe island of
Cuba, it formed its own civil government and gained its independence
on May 20, 1902 C.E. The United States then imposed various restrictions
on the new Cubano government.
These included the prohibiting of alliances with other countries,
reserving the right of American to intervene, and the establishment of a
perpetual lease of Guantánamo
Bay. By July 2, 1902 C.E.,
a victory occurred for the United States in the Pacific.
The Philippine-American War
officially ended. The casualties included more than 4,200
American soldiers and 20,000 Filipino
soldiers dead. There were also 200,000 Filipino
civilians killed. Unfortunately, some
anti-American Spanish Philippine groups led by veterans of the Katipunan
would continue to battle Américano
forces for several more years. From September 17 to November 18, 1902 C.E.,
the United States placed armed guards on all trains crossing the South
Américano Isthmus in Colombia’s Panamá
for security reasons. This they did to keep the railroad line open. The Américanos
also stationed ships on both sides of Panamá
to prevent the landing of Colombiano
troops. This was the third American Military intervention in Panamá. In December 1902 C.E., Vizealmirante Pascual
Cervera y Topete became the Chief of Staff of the Spanish
Navy. His honorable services during the Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense were
not forgotten by España. In 1903 C.E.,
South América, Africa, Central América, and
the Caribe presented the United States more military issues and political
difficulties. From 1903 C.E.-1914 C.E., U.S. Marines stationed on the
Isthmus sought to protect American interests in South
América and lives in Panamá
during and following the revolution for its independence from Colombia.
This revolution was primarily over the construction of the Isthmian
Canal. Africa in the 20th-Century C.E. would begin to
present the United States with a series of political and military
problems. Twenty-five U.S. Marines were sent to Abyssinia (Ethiopia),
Africa, from 1903 C.E.-1904 C.E., to protect the U.S. Consul General
while he negotiated a treaty. This was the first American military
intervention into Abyssinia. In Central América, the Panamá
Canal Zone or Zona del Canal
de Panamá was purchased from private and public owners in 1903 C.E.
by the United States to build a canal and finance its construction.
The land was centered on the Panamá
Canal and surrounded by the Republic of Panamá. The Zona consisted
of the canal and an area generally extending five miles on each side of
the centerline, excluding Panamá
City and Colón,
which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of the Zona. Its border spanned three of Panamá's provincias. When
reservoirs were created to assure a steady supply of water for the locks
those lakes were included within the Zona.
From 1903 C.E. to 1979 C.E. the unincorporated territory was controlled
by the United States. The canal was then placed under joint U.S.-Panameño control from 1979 C.E., until it was fully turned over to Panamá
on December 31, 1999 C.E. The Canal Zone had been, however, abolished on
October 1, 1979 C.E., as a term of the Torrijos-Carter
Treaties of 1977 C.E. After the United
States and Cuba signed
the Cubano-American
Treaty of Relations in 1903 C.E.,
they established a lease granting America permission to use the land
around Guantánamo Bay
in the Caribe.
There, the Américano
would establish coaling and naval stations.
Thus, despite Cuba’s
technically having gained her independence after the Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense was ended,
the U.S. government ensured that it had some form of power and control
over Cubano affairs. In Mora County, New Mexico, United States, Gavino Ribera of the de Ribera
clan was once again a Probate Judge for the term 1903
C.E.-1904 C.E.
Hispanos like Gavino
continued their successful integration into American society. In Central América, U.S. forces protected the American
consulate and the steamship wharf at Puerto
Cortés, Honduras, during a period of revolutionary activity
from March 23th to the 30th or 31, 1903 C.E. This was the first American
military intervention in Honduras.
From March 30th to April 21, 1903 C.E. a
detachment of U.S. Marines was landed in the
Caribe to protect
American interests during a revolutionary outbreak. The marines were
stationed at the city of Santo
Domíngo, Domínícano Republic. This was the first American military
intervention in the Domínícano Republic. In May 1903 C.E., King Alfonso
XIII of España named Vizealmirante Pascual
Cervera y Topete the Chief of Staff of the Spanish Navy, a
senator of the kingdom for life. España never
forgot their heroes of the Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense. The United States
and Colombia signed the Hay-Herrán
Treaty to finalize the construction of the Panamá
Canal. Implementation of the agreement could not be achieved, however,
because the Congress of Colombia rejected
the measure. Importantly, this was a measure which they themselves had
proposed on August 12, 1903 C.E. This action moved the United States to
support an ongoing separatist movement in Panamá.
America would ensure her control over the remnants of the earlier French
attempt at building a canal. In the Middle East, from September 7th to 12,
1903 C.E., U.S. forces protected the American consulate in Beirut,
Syria. Ethnic and religious
troubles had continued there and in today’s greater Lebanon since the
1860s C.E. This 1903
C.E. military intervention was a result of concerns that a local Muslim
uprising was about to ocurre. This
was the first American military intervention into Syria. By this time the
Ottoman Empire which had conquered Syria, including
present-day Lebanon, had been in decline for some time. By the
second half of the 19th-Century C.E., Beirut was developing close
commercial and political ties with European imperial powers,
particularly France. Notes on Syria and Lebanon: In
1888 C.E., Beirut was made the capital of a wilayah, or governorate
in Syria. It included the sanjaks or prefecture administrative
divisions of the Ottoman Empire Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, Acre, and
Bekaa. By this time, Beirut had grown into a cosmopolitan city and
had close links with Europe and the United States. It also
became a center of Christina missionary activity that resulted
in educational institutions, such as the American University of
Beirut. At
the start of the 20th-Century C.E., Salim Ali Salam, a Muslim, was
one of the most prominent figures in Beirut. He held numerous public
positions including deputy from Beirut to the Ottoman parliament and
President of the Municipality of Beirut. By
1911 C.E., Beirut was reported to have a population consisting
of 36,000 Muslims, 77,000 Christians, 2,500 Jews, 400 Druze, and 4,100
foreigners. On October 11, 1903
C.E., Bluefields, Nicaragua,
was proclaimed capital of the Department of Zelaya. With the establishment of the
Republic of Panamá,
the separation of Panamá from Colombia was
formalized on November 3, 1903 C.E. As a result of serious revolutionary
disturbances U.S. forces protected American property on the Isthmus and
kept transit lines open. This was the fourth American Military
intervention in Panamá. Notes on Colombia and Panamá: Throughout
the 19th-Century C.E., Colombia
had been filled with political instability. Colombia’s
first Liberal constitution was drafting in 1853 C.E., brought about a
long period of Liberal control of Colombia. A treaty which became known as the Wyse Concession was signed
on March 20, 1878 C.E.
It granted exclusive right to the Société Civile to build an
inter-oceanic canal through Panamá. As a provision of the treaty, the waterway would
revert to the Colombiano government
after 99 years without compensation. By
1880 C.E., Rafael Núñez,
(born on September 28, 1825 C.E., Cartagena,
Nuéva Granada—died
September 18, 1894 C.E., El Cabrero, Colombia) won his
first term as Presidente (1880
C.E.-1882 C.E.). It was during his first presidency that the first phase
of the Panamá Canal Project,
from March 12, 1881 C.E., to the end of 1882 C.E., was begun under the
French Couvreux and Hersent. He
would be a three-time presidente of Colombia
with the support of moderates from both the Liberal and the Conservative parties.
Núñez would dominate the Nation’s politics from 1880 C.E.
and rule dictatorially until his death in 1894 C.E. It was during this
time that the second phase of the Panamá Canal Project, 1883 C.E. through 1885 C.E., was begun. This
follow the withdrawal of Couvreux and Hersent, and the work was
accomplished by a number of small contractors under supervision of the
company itself. A
rebellion of Radicals and Liberals in 1884 C.E. forced Núñez’s further into an alliance with the Conservatives to
win election to his second term (1884 C.E.-1886 C.E.). Despite political
upheavals, the third phase of the Panamá Canal Project was begun, between 1886 C.E. and 1887 C.E. The
work was done by a few large contractors. The
Colombiano constitution of
1886 C.E. solidified Núñez’s
regime and inaugurated 50 years of Conservative dominance. Presidente Núñez then
instituted a series of reforms called the Regeneration. These
replaced the supremacy of the various states with a centralized
government and restored the power of the Roman Catholic Church. This
centralist regime aggravated the political problems in the country. Soon
poor political decisions also led to a worsening of economic problems.
These were the main causes of the war in 1886 C.E. At
this late date in the construction of the Canal, the Colombiano government allowed the fourth phase of the Panamá
Canal Project to begin in 1888 C.E. The sea level project would soon be
temporarily abandoned for a lock canal. The idea was that after the lock
canal was functional, the channel could be deepened gradually to make a
sea level canal. But it was already too late, and the work
gradually ground to a halt. With
the original Wyse Concession to expire in 1893 C.E., Wyse set out again
for Bogotá.
There, he negotiated a 10-year extension. The "new" Panamá
Canal Company, the Compagnie Nouvelle de Canal de Panamá
was organized effective October 20, 1894 C.E. With
insufficient working capital, only some $12,000,000, to proceed with any
significant work, the Compagnie Nouvelle entertained the hope of
attracting investors who would help them to complete an isthmian canal
as a French enterprise. Initially, they had no intention of
selling their rights; they wanted to make a success of the operation and
perhaps be able to repay the losses of the original shareholders. If all
of these problems were not enough for the French, the Thousand
Days' War (1899 C.E.-1902 C.E.) a civil armed conflict in the newly
created Republic of Colombia began. This included its then province of Panamá.
With
increasingly hostile political environment, Warfare between the
Conservative Party and the Liberal Party’s radical factions resulted.
In 1899 C.E., the ruling Conservatives were accused of maintaining power
through fraudulent elections. The situation was worsened by an economic
crisis caused by falling coffee prices in the international market. With
half its original capital gone by 1898 C.E., the French company had few
choices -- abandon the project or sell it. Company directors
decided to proffer a deal to the most likely taker, the United States of
America. It was no secret that the United States was interested in
an isthmian canal. With
the technical commission report and a tentative rights transfer proposal
in hand, company officials headed for the United States, where they were
received by President William McKinley on December 2, 1899 C.E. The
deal was five years in the making, but was eventually signed. List
of Presidents of Colombia
after the Colombiano Constitution
of 1891:
Manuel António
Sanclemente Sanclemente (1814
C.E.-1902 C.E.) was Presidente of Colombia between
1898 C.E. and 1900 C.E. To
aggravate an already bad situation, the
initial attempts by France to construct a sea-level canal across the
Isthmus resulted in cost overruns and corruption in the Panamá scandals led to abandonment of the canal for a decade.
During the intervening years, local separatists used the political
instability of the Thousand Days' War to agitate for political
separation from Colombia and
establishment of an independent republic of Panamá.
When
Presidente Manuel
António Sanclemente Sanclemente became
too ill to rule the country in 1900 C.E.,
it created a leadership power vacuum. The political environment and the
increasingly dire economic situation created a crisis. By the time the United States
sought to take over the canal project, the government of Colombia proved difficult to work with. The French financier Philippe-Jean
Bunau-Varilla proved to be helpful with the solution. Panamá
simultaneously declared its independence from Colombia
and negotiated a treaty granting the U.S. the right to construct
the canal. United States forces sought to protect American
interests and lives during and following the Panamá Revolution for independence from Colombia over construction of the Isthmian Canal. With brief
intermissions, United States Marines were stationed on the Isthmus from
November 4, 1903 C.E. to January 21, 1914 C.E. to guard American
interests. This was the fifth American Military intervention in Panamá. At this juncture, I must make note of
America’s involvement in Colombia
and her subsequent support for a free and independent Panamá. As the American
“Left” would have it, the United States destabilized Colombia and took from her the Canal. As we can see from the
historical facts, Colombia had
for some time been a nation in Turmoil. Political disputes had commonly
become internal militant revolutions. The truth of the matter is that
the U.S. simply did what the other Great Powers did. She intervened when
and where necessary to make secure her citizens and their rightful
property. Sometimes, there is no there, there, as our friends in the
media are fond of saying! In the Caribe, at Bocas del Toro,
Colombia,
in the province of Panamá,
was separated on November 16, 1903 C.E. from Colón
and became its own province. Its area comprises the mainland and nine
main islands. Prelude
to WWI Elected in 1904 C.E. to
a full term, President Roosevelt continued to promote progressive
policies, many of which were passed in Congress. As a leader of the Republican
Party during this time, Roosevelt became a driving force for the Progressive
Era in the United States in the early-20th-Century C.E. As a leader
of the Progressive movement, he championed his "Square
Deal" domestic policies, promising the average citizen fairness,
breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs.
Making conservation a top priority, he established many new national
parks, forests, and monuments intended to preserve the nation's
natural resources. In foreign policy,
President Roosevelt focused on Central
América. Following the failure of a French construction team in the
1880s C.E.-1890s C.E. the United States commenced building a canal
across a 50-mile stretch of the Panamá
Isthmus in 1904 C.E. Notes on the Panamá Canal: By the
late-19th-Century C.E., technological advances and commercial and trade
pressures pushed the Panamá Canal
Company to begin construct of the Canal on the Isthmus of Panamá, that
narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribe Sea and the Pacific Ocean and links North and South
America in earnest.
The noted canal engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps led this initial
attempt by France to build a sea-level canal. The French
company dug for 8 years until 1891 C.E. The French company
was defeated by severe underestimation of the difficulties in excavating
the rugged Panama land and its swamps. The company was beset by cost
overruns, lack of capital, and deaths from various tropical diseases.
Many of the workers died of yellow fever and malaria, some estimate
close to 50%. There were also issues of political corruption in France surrounding
the financing of the massive project. The project succeeded only
partially in completing the canal. On February 4,
1889 C.E., the Tribunal Civil de la Seine ordered the winding
up of the Panamá Canal
Company in Paris. Work on the isthmus was stopped in the
meantime. Eventually, due to the build up huge debt the company went
bankrupt. Thus, ended French attempts to build a canal. By 1892 C.E., the Panamá
scandals, also known as the Panamá
Canal Scandal or Panamá
Affair, was a corruption affair linked to the building of the Panamá Canal which broke during the French Third Republic.
Close to half a billion francs were lost when the French
government took bribes to keep quiet about the Panamá
Canal Company's financial troubles in what is regarded as the
largest monetary corruption scandal of the 19th-Century C.E. In 1894 C.E., a
second French company, the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panamá, was created. It was to manage the assets and potentially
finish construction. The new company sought a buyer for the assets for
an asking price of $109 million. Almost
ten years later, the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was
signed by the United States and the United Kingdom on November 18, 1901
C.E. It was preliminary to the creation of the Panamá
Canal. It gave the United States the right to create and control a canal
across the Central American isthmus to connect the Pacific Ocean and the
Atlantic Ocean. The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
nullified the earlier Clayton–Bulwer Treaty of 1850 C.E. In the Clayton-Bulwer
Treaty, both nations had renounced building such a canal under the sole
control of one nation. Now,
by treaty, the United States would be the first country to officially
and legally own Panamá Canal.
In the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of November 1903 C.E., construction of the canal
was taken over by the United States which bought out the lease, the
shares, and assets for $40 million. By 1904 C.E.
construction work was resumed on the Canal. The Canal would open ten
years later, on August 3, 1914 C.E. The Canal is a 48
miles long man-made canal in Panamá
which joins the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It allows crossing from the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. Before access to the
Canal was available, a ship traveling from New York to California had to
travel about 14,000 miles via a route which involved going down south of
South America and around it. There were two
driving forces for America wanting the Panamá
Canal. The first was trade and the second military functionality. Firstly, the Panamá
Canal was of interest because of American international trade. It
shortens the overall distance so it takes less fuel to make the journey
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean or vice versa. It's
location between the Americas made travel for ships immensely less
expensive, time consuming, and safer. The Panamá
Canal provides a shortcut to getting around the American Continents. Before the Canal,
to improve the travel and to some degree the shipping dilemma, voyagers
landed either on the Pacific or Atlantic side of the Isthmus
of Panama, that narrow bridge of land that connects North and South
America. Voyagers and shippers required the same process. Two
ships per-trip were needed to travel. This would take several days and
required voyagers and shippers to use a railroad. A ship docking on the
either side, the Pacific or Atlantic, unloaded cargo and the reloaded it
onto a train going to the other side of the
Isthmus. Once there, it required unloaded cargo from the train
and the reloaded it onto a ship. Thus, the need for a second ship with
which they could then carry on with their journey. Once completed,
the Panamá Canal increased
trade between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A ship sailing from New
York to San Francisco saves
about 8,000 miles by using the Canal. It also speeded up the transport
of cargo and passengers between the coasts and getting to Pacific ports.
Thus travel by water, from California to Florida, could be done without
having to go around South America. It greatly decreased shipping times
from East Coast businesses to their markets in the west like China. In
short, it increased efficiency and effectiveness, saved vast amounts of
time and money. Secondly, it met
the needs to protect the expanding trade of the nation. Alfred
Thayer Mahan the 19th-Century C. United States naval officer and
historian believed that a strong navy meant a
strong country. Thus, before the Canal the United States needed two
navies, one for the Atlantic Ocean and one for the Pacific Ocean. The
Canal made it possible one Navy. The deal struck with Panamá,
as well as the Hay-Pauncefote
Treaty, also gave the United States exclusive rights to the
fortification of the Canal. Here, I must stop
and offer an opinion. The United States of the late-19th-Century
C.E. was no different than her international competitors. She needed and
wanted trade and commerce. Her situation was much the same as her
international trading partners. With foreign trade came foreign
involvement. As trade accelerated with Latino
América so did the need for
security. The location of the
fortification of the Panamá Canal
on the Isthmus of Panamá also known historically as the Isthmus of Darién
from 1904 C.E.-1914 C.E.
offered that. It became a forward base of operations, so to speak. During this same
time, President Roosevelt wisely expanded the United States Navy to have
the ability to project American naval power around the globe. In short,
America was determined to send a simple message to both friend and foe.
The United States was not to be trifled with! By 1904 C.E., North
Africa was experiencing rebellion and military strife. The 64-year-old
American Ion Hanford Perdicaris and his stepson were taken hostage from
their villa in Tangier, Morocco, a band of Berber tribesmen on
horseback. The chieftain of these bandits' was a flamboyant,
black-bearded Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli. His intent was to extort a heavy
ransom from the Sultan of Morocco and embarrass the sovereign by showing
he could not protect foreign citizens. For President Theodore Roosevelt,
it was an opportunity to start waving his "big stick," sending
battleships steaming toward the African coast to ensure Perdicaris' safe
release. The squadron demonstrated by a show of force that the kidnapped
American should be released. Marines were landed to protect the consul
general. It also gave
Roosevelt the chance to issue one of his hair-raising proclamations. He
issued a statement which helped ensure his re-election, "We want
either Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!" This was the first time
the United States had a military intervention in Morocco. The Caribe
continued to be teeming with anti-colonial spirit. In 1904
C.E., Luís Muñoz Rivera and José de
Diego founded the Unionist Party of Puerto Rico to fight
against the colonial government established there under the Américano
Foraker Act. During revolutionary fighting from January 2nd
to February 11, 1904 C.E. in the Domínícano
Republic American and British naval forces established an area which no
fighting would be allowed. Its intent was to protect American interests
in Puerto Plata, Sosua, and Santo Domíngo
City. This was the second American military intervention in the
Domínícano Republic. In Asia’s Korea, from January 5, 1904 C.E. to
November 11, 1905 C.E., a guard of U.S. Marines was sent to protect the
American legation in Seoul during the Russo-Japanese War. The
Russo-Japanese War (February 8, 1904 C.E.-September 5, 1905 C.E.) was
the of the 20th-Century C.E.’s first great war. It grew out of
imperial ambitions over Manchuria and Korea between the two
rivals the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan. This was the first
time America intervened militarily in Korea. On February 26, 1904
C.E., the Isthmian Canal Convention was proclaimed. In it, the
Republic of Panamá granted to
the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of a
zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance,
operation, sanitation, and protection of the canal. Elwood Richard Quesada, CB, CBE (April
13, 1904 C.E.-February 9, 1993 C.E.), nicknamed "Pete",
was a United States Air Force Lieutenant-General, FAA administrator,
and, later, a club owner in Major League Baseball. Notes on Elwood Richard Quesada: A
Hispanic, Elwood Richard Quesada
was born in Washington, D.C. in 1904 C.E. to an Irish-American mother
and a Spanish father. He attended Wyoming Seminary in
Kingston, Pa., University of Maryland, College Park, and Georgetown
University. Early
military career: ·
In September 1924 C.E., Quesada enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a flying
cadet ·
Commissioned as a reserve
officer a year later, in 1925 C.E. ·
He had a wide variety of
assignments as: ·
Aide to senior officers ·
Military attaché ·
Technical adviser to other
air forces ·
Intelligence ·
He was also part of the
team (with Ira Eaker and Carl Spaatz) that developed and
demonstrated air-to-air refueling in 1929 C.E. on the Question
Mark. All five crew members were awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross for their participation in the mission. On July 4, 1904
C.E., Beeckman Winthrop became the governor of Puerto Rico and served
until 1907 C.E. This was the cementing of American influence and control
of the Island. President Roosevelt
believed that the United States had the right to exercise international
police power, over Latino Américano
countries. This became known as the policy of the "Big
Stick." Using this determination, from
November 17 to 24, 1904 C.E., U.S. forces protected American lives and
property at Ancon, Panamá, at the time of a threatened insurrection. This was the
sixth American Military intervention in Panamá.
In President
Roosevelt’s message to Congress in on December 6, 1904 C.E., his
declaration that in "flagrant cases of wrongdoing" by Latino
Américano countries, the U.S. had the right to exercise
"international police power" over them became a significant
expansion of the Monroe Doctrine. The policy legitimized frequent
intervention, legally and from a perspective of practical politics, into
Latino Américano affairs.
This included the unilateral military invasion of Panamá.
From a later U.S. legal
perspective, the taking of Panamá
in 1903 C.E.-1904 C.E. was in
fact, and in law, not justifiable. Further, in
President Theodore Roosevelt’s State of the Union address,
he announced the Roosevelt Corollary. It was an addition to
the Monroe Doctrine articulated as a result of the Venezuela
Crisis of 1902 C.E.–1903 C.E. Notes on the Venezolano Crisis: The Venezolano
Crisis was a naval blockade from December, 1902 C.E. to
February, 1903 C.E. imposed against Venezuela by
the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. It was a
result of Presidente Cipriano
Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts and damages suffered by
European citizens in the Venezolano
Civil War. Presidente Castro
was confident that the United States' Monroe Doctrine would
bring America to the fore and prevent European military intervention. To
clarify, the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 C.E. was a U.S.
foreign policy regarding actions by European countries interfering with
states in North or South America. It
stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or
interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts
of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention. In this instance, President Theodore
Roosevelt and his Department of State, however, saw the
Monroe Doctrine as applying to European seizure of territory, rather
than intervention. With prior promises by the Europeans that seizure
would not occur, the America allowed the naval blockade to go ahead
without objection. The
Corollary states that the United States will intervene in conflicts
between the European countries and Latino
Américano countries to enforce legitimate claims of the European
powers, rather than having the Europeans press their claims directly. President
Roosevelt tied his policy to the Monroe Doctrine, and it was also
consistent with his foreign policy included in his Big Stick
Diplomacy. Roosevelt stated that in keeping with the Monroe Doctrine,
the United States was justified in exercising "international police
power" to put an end to chronic unrest or wrongdoing in the Western
Hemisphere. While the Monroe Doctrine had sought to prevent European
intervention, the Roosevelt Corollary was used to justify U.S.
intervention throughout the hemisphere. Later in 1934 C.E., President Franklin
D. Roosevelt would renounce interventionism and establish his Good
Neighbor policy for the Western Hemisphere. In the Caribe, America continued strengthening
her trade ties in the region. By 1905 C.E., Puerto Rico's exports and imports jumped to
84 percent and 85 percent, respectively. To put the entire issue in
to perspective, In 1897 C.E.,
the United States purchased only 19.6 percent of Puerto Rico's exports
while supplying 18.5 percent of its imports. In the United States, in February 17, 1890 C.E.,
José de la Anastácio's
first wife, Nicolása, had
been listed in the Roibal Land
Grant documents with her children as heirs, was dead. My
great-grandfather, José de la
Anastácio, then married Catalina
Barela. Interestingly, she was the sister of Marcelina
Barela, who married José de
la Cruz Ceballes. Their daughter, María
Amalia Ceballes, married my grandfather, Isidro.
Isidro’s father, José de la Anastácio Rivera, my Great-Grandfather, and
his wife, Catalina, died in Pecos
on the same day, April 10, 1905 C.E. By 1906 C.E., the great Spanish patriot of the Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense, Vizealmirante
and Senator Pascual Cervera y
Topete’s, health was failing. He was reassigned to manage the
naval district of Ferrol. His
war service was not to be forgotten. From September 1906 C.E. to January 23, 1909
C.E., U.S. forces sought to protect interests and
re-establish a government in Cuba
after revolutionary activity. This
was the Second Occupation of Cuba
by American military forces, also known as the Cuban Pacification. When
the government of Cubano Presidente
Tomás Estrada Palma collapsed, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered
American military forces into Cuba.
Their mission was to prevent fighting between the Cubanos,
to protect U.S. economic interests there, and to hold free elections in
order to establish a new and legitimate government. This was only one of
many American military interventions into Cuba. By November 6th,
as a new electoral law gave the vote to all Puertorriqueño males
21 and older, the Unionist Party won the elections to the Legislative
Assembly. It sent Tulio Larrínaga to Washington as Resident
Commissioner. The Puertorriqueño
Resident Commissioner, Tulio Larrínaga, was born
just south of San Juan in Trujillo
Alto, Puerto Rico. Larrínaga
trained as a civil engineer and helped modernize Puerto Rico’s
infrastructure before serving in the U.S. House from the 59th-61st
Congresses (1905 C.E.-1911 C.E.). These moves deepened the Puertorriqueño
relationship with America. On December 11th,
during a visit to Puerto Rico American President Theodore Roosevelt
addressed the Puertorriqueño Congress. He recommended that Puertorriqueños
become United States citizens. This was no casual remark. With
citizenship, Puertorriqueños would be better allies in the
region and less problematic. In 1907 C.E., Spanish Vizealmirante and Senator Pascual
Cervera y Topete retired. His service to España during the Guerra
Hispano-Estadounidense would forever be appreciated by the Españoles. That same year, 1907 C.E., American Immigration
peaked at 1.2 million. Most newcomers hailed from southern or eastern
Europe. Integration into American society was to prove to be problematic
for the new arrivals. At that time, the American population was 96,280,000. In
Central América, during a
war between Honduras and Nicaragua,
from March 18th through June 8, 1907 C.E., U.S. troops were stationed in
Trujillo, Ceiba,
Puerto Cortés, San Pedro Sula,
Laguna, and Choloma to protect American interests. This was the sixth time
American military was used in Nicaragua
which is located in Central América. It’s situated about midway between Mexico and Colombia.
It’s bordered by Honduras to
the north and Costa Rica to
the south. Nicaragua ranges
from the Caribe Sea on
the nation's east coast, and the Pacific Ocean bordering the
west. Nicaragua also possesses a series of islands and cays located
in the Caribe Sea. This was also the second American military
intervention in Honduras. The Panic of 1907 or
the 1907 Bankers' Panic was a United States financial crisis that took
place over a three-week period starting in mid-October. The New York
Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. A panic
then occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession. There
were numerous runs on banks and trust companies. The Panic eventually
spread throughout the nation when many state and local banks and
businesses entered bankruptcy. Notes on the Panic of 1907: The
primary causes of the run included a retraction of market liquidity by a
number of New York City banks and a loss of confidence among depositors.
The panic was triggered by the failed attempt in October 1907 C.E. to
corner the market on stock of the United Copper Company. When the bid
failed, those banks that had loaned money to the cornering scheme
suffered runs. These later spread to affiliated banks and trusts,
leading a week later to the downfall of the Knickerbocker Trust Company,
New York City's third-largest trust. The collapse of the Knickerbocker
spread fear throughout the city's trusts as regional banks withdrew
reserves from New York City banks. Panic extended across the nation as
vast numbers of people withdrew deposits from their regional banks. Here, we must stop and examine “The Panic of
1907,” and the crises it started. It
started among New York City financial institutions and markets and both
would ultimately affect the economy of the United States and the rest of
the world. It had an international impact. The Panic placed great
pressure upon the governments of the Latino
Américano region. Existing and needed investments and loans were
not forthcoming. In fact, this further damaged an already weak economy
and worsened political conditions in the countries of the region. To contextualize the
Region’s political atmosphere during this period, the most prevalent
regime types in the
Latino Américano world were
military dictatorships and civilian oligarchies. The military
dictatorship was exemplified by that of Porfirio Díaz in Méjico.
Díaz’s Méjico had a constitution with which the government manipulated the
electorate and restricted suffrage. It did this to maintain control by
keeping power in the hands of a small minority of political leaders.
These, then allied themselves with landed and commercial elites. Even
with these levers of control, the economic and social changes taking
place in Latino América inevitably triggered demands for political
change. This forced political change, then affected the course of
socioeconomic development in the region. On November 16, 1907 C.E., Oklahoma became the
46th state to join the Union. It was originally settled in 1889 C.E.
America was continuing her internal growth and stability. That
same year in America, the Republican William Howard Taft was elected
president. He defeated William Jennings Bryan a Democrat who was on his
third run for the presidency. America’s Great
White Fleet was sent by President Roosevelt to make an around the world
tour for fourteen months. This was an important show of America’s
naval power to the rest of the world. It deployed from Hampton Roads,
Virginia on December 16, 1907 C.E. The Fleet would conclude its journey
on February 22, 1909 C.E. It was called the White Fleet because the
ships were painted white instead of modern Haze
Gray, Deck Gray, or Flight Deck Gray.
The Fleet would cover 43,000 miles and make twenty port calls on six
different continents. It consisted of 16 battleships, accompanying
vessels, and 14,000 sailors. After 1908 C.E., Juan
Vicente Gómez in Venezuela
would establish a civilian oligarchy, as had Argentina,
Brasil, Chile, and Colombia. As discussed earlier, neither dictatorial nor oligarchic
regimes gave true representation to the majority of their Latino Américano inhabitants. This mode of governance played a role
in the continued dissatisfaction of, and agitation by, the masses of the
Latino Américano peoples.
They had fought for, and wanted, “freedom.” But this was not to be! The Great White
Fleet sailed to Trinidad, British West Indies, Brasil,
Chile, Perú, Méjico, and made a
call at the port of San Francisco,
California, on May 6, 1908 C.E. The Fleet sailed again on July 7, 1908
C.E. It traveled to Hawaii, New Zealand, three ports in Australia, the
Philippines, Japan, Ceylon, and stopped in Egypt on January 3, 1909 C.E.
When the Fleet’s
commander learned that an earthquake had struck Sicily the Fleet sailed
to assist with the wreckage and to aid in recovery work. After
completing their mission in Sicily, they traveled on to Naples, Italy,
and from there to their last foreign stop in Gibraltar. After a brief
port call, the Fleet went on to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where the
Fleet’s journey concluded in February of 1909 C.E. Following the
election of José Miguel Gómez
in November 1908 C.E. U.S. officials judged the situation in Cuba
sufficiently stable for the U.S. to withdraw its troops, a process that
would be completed by February of 1909 C.E. That same year in America, the struggle over
Spanish and Mexican Land Grants continued in the United States. My
Great-Grandfather, José Anastácio
Rivera, is listed on the town of Jacona
Grant document as having been married to María
Nicolása Quintana, as
well as, having the following children which are listed: Félix,
Magdaleno, Aniceto, Isidro (my grandfather), María, Gregoria, and Pabla.
María Nicolása Quintana was also listed as one of the heirs of the Ignacio
de Roibal, Original Grantee, in and to the Town of Jacona
Grant; Consisting of 6954.84 Acres, Private Land Claim, Report No. 92
(District Court, No. 6323) dated March 25, 1909 C.E. They would receive
little after the grueling legal process. José Anastácio Rivera was born in 1831
C.E. José Luís Ribera’s
other sons and daughters were José
Pedro de Los Ángeles, was born in Pecos
about August 2, 1834 C.E. Then came Crestíno,
born about 1844, Ascension
born about 1842 C.E.; Felipe,
born about 1846 C.E., Lorenzo
born about 1850 C.E., Pablo,
born about 1856 C.E., a daughter, Vincenta
or Vincentita, and his last daughter, Agapita, born in Pecos,
late in his life. In España,
Vizealmirante and Senator Pascual
Cervera y Topete died on April 3, 1909 C.E. He would live on in the
memory of patriotic Españoles
who remembered his honorable military service during the
Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense. The Olmsted
Amendment to the Foraker Act was passed by both houses of the American
Congress. The legislation was a response to a governmental crisis in
Puerto Rico in early-1909 C.E. On
July 16, 1909 C.E., the Olmsted Amendment to the Foraker Act of
1900 became law. This amendment stated that whenever the Puertorriqueño
legislature adjourned without consensus about appropriations for the
support of the government, the sums appropriated from the previous year
would be considered appropriate. The discussions of the bill provoked
the first Congressional debate on the island's form of government since
1900 C.E. In
Central
América, 1909 C.E. would see the
United States provided political support to conservative-led forces
rebelling against Presidente José Santos Zelaya. U.S. motives included differences over the proposed Nicaragua
Canal, Nicaragua's potential as a destabilizing influence in the region,
and Zelaya's attempts to
regulate foreign access to
Nicaragüense or Nicaraguan natural resources. Notes on José Santos Zelaya López (November 1, 1853 C.E. in Managua-May
17, 1919 C.E.): José Santos Zelaya López was
born in in Managua on November 1, 1853 C.E. and died in New York City on May
17, 1919 C.E. He was the Presidente of Nicaragua from
July 25, 1893 C.E. to December 21, 1909 C.E. Zelaya
was of Nicaragua's Liberal party
and enacted a number of progressive programs, including
improved public education, railroads, and established steam
ship lines. He also enacted constitutional rights that provided for
equal rights, property guarantees, habeas corpus, compulsory vote,
compulsory education, the protection of arts and industry, minority
representation, and the separation of state powers. However, his
desire for national sovereignty often led him to policies contrary to colonialist
interests. On November 17, 1909 C.E., Two
Americans, Leonard Groce and Lee Roy Cannon, were captured and indicted
for allegedly joining the Conservative Party rebellion and the laying of
mines. Zelaya ordered the
execution of the two Americans, which severed U.S. relations. The Americans
were finally executed by order of the Nicaragüense Presidente José
Santos Zelaya
López. This was
only after they confessed to having laid
a mine in the San Juan
River with the intention of blowing up the Diamante,
a naval vessel which was carrying five hundred government soldiers to
suppress an uprising. As a result, American intervention was justified to protect U.S. lives
and property. Zelaya and his Liberal Party continued to face opposition from the Conservative
Party led by Gobernador Juan
José Estrada of Bluefields. While receiving support from the
U.S. government, the Conservative Party sought to overthrow Presidente Zelaya
which led to Estrada's
rebellion in December 1909 C.E. There were at the time, two Conservative
revolts against Zelaya's
government. The forces led by Chamorro
and Nicaragüense General Juan
Estrada captured three small towns on the border with Costa
Rica and were actively fomenting open rebellion in the capital
of Managua.
At the time, the United States had only a limited military presence
in Nicaragua. This consisted
of only one patrolling U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Bluefields to
protect the lives and interests of American citizens who lived there.
There were, however, U.S. Naval warships waiting off Méjico
and Costa Rica moved into position. The protected cruisers U.S.S. Des
Moines (CL-17), U.S.S. Tacoma (CL-20), and collier U.S.S.
Hannibal (AG-1) lay in the harbor at Bluefields, Nicaragua
on the Atlantic coast. The U.S.S. Prairie (AD-5) was at that
time en route for Colón,
Panamá, with 700 Marines. On December 12, 1909 C.E., the flagship of the Nicaraguan
Expeditionary Squadron the U.S.S.
Albany with its 280 bluejackets and the gunboat U.S.S. Yorktown (PG-1) with
155, arrived at Corinto,
Nicaragua. There, they joined the gunboat U.S.S. Vicksburg (PG-11) with
her crew of 155 to protect American citizens and property on the Pacific
coast of Nicaragua. This was
the fifth American military intervention into
Nicaragua. Two days later on December 14, 1909 C.E., Presidente Zelaya resigned. Over time, the ambitions of Presidente
Zelaya of Nicaragua and
those of American interests began to conflict, forcing Zelaya to step down. Zelaya’s hand-picked successor, Doctor José
Madriz, was elected by unanimous vote of the Liberal Nicaragüense
national assembly on December 20, 1909 C.E. U.S. Secretary of State Philander
C. Knox admonished that the United States would not resume
diplomatic relations with Nicaragua
until Madriz demonstrated that
his was a "responsible government ... prepared to make reparations
for the wrongs," done to American citizens. Presidente
Zelaya’s
request for asylum having been granted by Méjico,
he was escorted by armed guard to the Méjicano
gunboat General Guerrero and
departed Corinto for Salina Cruz, Méjico, on
the night of December 23rd. In Latino América, the most essential rail lines had already taken
shape by 1910 C.E., but the coming of automotive transport led to a
major upgrading and extension of highways, and the airplane introduced
an entirely new mode of transportation. The Region’s economies were
growing with these technological improvements. Throughout Latino
América, however, the immediate challenge to existing regimes in
country after country usually came from disaffected members of the
traditional ruling groups and from the expanding middle sectors. Both
were resentful of their exclusion from a fair share of power and
privilege. This was evident at the outset of Méjico’s bloodiest 20th-Century C.E. civil conflict, the Méjicano
Revolution of 1910 C.E. In 1910 C.E., a
dissident member of the large landowning class, Francisco
Madero, challenged Presidente
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz
for reelection. Notes on the Presidente de Méjico José de
la Cruz Porfirio Díaz: For
more than 30 years, the dictator
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz was presidente
of Méjico. Díaz was of humble Mestízo origins.
After training for the Catholic priesthood in his youth, Díaz chose to join the Méjicano
Army. He was a military officer of exceptional ability and rose to
become a general. José de la Cruz was also ambitious. He later took a leading role in
the overthrow of the Archduke Maximilian of Austria in 1867 C.E. Earlier
the French had installed the Archduke Maximilian of Austria as Emperor
of Méjico. General Díaz had not been happy with Maximilian’s successors and
in 1876 C.E. he led a military coup. Once in power, Presidente Díaz
maintained order in the country and began modernizing it. The
Presidente developed industry
by attracting foreign capital and technical expertise. In 1901 C.E.,
annual Méjicano oil
production was at 10,000 barrels. By 1911 C.E., annual production rose
to 13 million barrels. His administration also transformed Méjicano
mining of gold, silver, copper, and other metals. Presidente Díaz also
built an efficient transport system. The wealthy Méjicanos prospered, while the urban poor toiled long hours for
very low wages. In the area of agriculture,
Díaz’s modernization programs went forward. The peasants were
reduced almost to an almost slave-like condition. Presidente
Díaz maintained his power and
influence by through bribery and the rigging of elections. The political
opposition was coercive through the use of the local police and the
army. His regime also controlled the courts and censored the press. In
1908 C.E., Díaz gave an
interview to an American journalist, intended for foreign consumption
only. During the interview, he thoughtlessly pronounced that Méjico
was now ready for democracy. Unfortunately, it was leaked
to a Méjico City newspaper.
The result of the faux pas was to
arouse public political expectations which were never intended t be
realized. With
the next presidential election due in 1910 C.E., one of the regime’s
opponents, Francisco Madero,
took Díaz at his word and ran
against him. Madero lost and
soon rose in rebellion, promising to bring to Méjico
genuine political democracy. He knew that the dictatorship was
decaying from within. Unfortunately, Madero’s
uprising unleashed forces that neither he nor anyone else in Méjico
could control. The disaffected
miners, urban workers, and peasants sought to redress their grievances,
while rival revolutionaries fought each other bitterly. The end result
was a complete collapse. It would be many years before Méjico
regain stability. The
governmental system would now be built around an all-powerful political
party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party or Partido Revolucionario Institucional. The Party skillfully co-opted
labor organizations and the Peónes.
In the United States, 1910 C.E. saw a total
U.S. population of almost 92 million people. Of these, 13.3 million were
foreign-born. Another 12.9 million were children of two foreign-born
parents. Included recent immigrants, about one-third of the U.S.
population, spoke little or no English. That same year, expansion of American railroads
peaked, increasingly tying the American states more closely together.
With more railway systems came improved transportation of people and
goods. By mid-March 1910 C.E., Admiral William W.
Kimball and his flagship of the American Nicaraguan
Expeditionary
Squadron the U.S.S. Albany, had spent five months in Central America, mostly at Corinto.
There mission had been to maintain U.S. neutrality in the ongoing Nicaragüense
Rebellion. With the insurgency led by Gobernador General Juan
José Estrada and Chamorro
now appearing to have collapsed, the U.S. Nicaraguan Expeditionary
Squadron completed its withdrawal from Nicaragüense
waters. By May 19th, U.S. forces again occupied and
protected American interests at Bluefields, Nicaragua,
the largest town and capital of Nicaragua's South Caribe
Coast Autonomous Region. It would remain until September 4, 1910
C.E. For the sixth time, the Americans had been forced to intervene in Nicaragua. On May 27, 1910 C.E.,
U.S. Marine Corps Major Smedley Butler’s supporting units arrived
on the coast of Nicaragua with
250 Marines. Its purpose was to provide security in Bluefields. The
Americans had been forced to intervene in Nicaragua
for the seventh time. The year 1911 C.E.,
would bring the United States into military engagements in Central América’s
Nicaragua, Honduras,
and
Panamá.
America would also see her military in Asia’s China. The U.S. with its
ever growing trade expansion and off-shore involvement would become
subject to the same economic, political, and military forces that the
earlier Great Powers dealt with. American civilian
and military presence had very real economic effects on Nicaragua. Foreign exports went from 28% of total production in 1911
C.E. to 51% in 1918 C.E., most of those exports going to the U.S. The
principal areas of interest were the mines, rubber, mahogany, cedar,
pine, and bananas. Back in New Mexico,
United States, María Antónia
València, the sister to Maria Nicolása Quintana (Rivera),
my Great-Grandmother, died in 1911. She was the daughter of Juan
José Quintana was born October 16, 1798 C.E, at Santa
Cruz, Santa Fé Nuevo Méjico.
He married on October 27, 1835 C.E, in Santa
Cruz, New Mexico María
Candelaria València, born February 6, 1821 C.E, in Santa
Cruz, New Mexico, daughter of José
Brigido València and Juana
María del Carmen Quintana. Children of Juan
José Quintana and María
Candelaria València were as follows: ·
María
del Rosario Quintana, born
September 7, 1836 C.E. in Santa Cruz, Nuevo Méjico ·
María
Dolores Quintana, born October
8, 1837 C.E. in Santa Cruz, Nuevo Méjico ·
Luisa
Quintana, born December 13,
1838 C.E. in Santa Cruz, Nuevo Méjico ·
María
Prudencia Quintana, born April
28, 1843 C.E. in Santa Cruz, Nuevo
Méjico ·
María
Antónia Quintana València,
born February 1845 C.E. in Santa
Cruz, Santa Fé, Nuevo
Méjico María
Antónia was mother to Florentino Valencia Sr. That same year, the world saw the advancement and
use of military technology. The first use of aircraft in a war occurred
in 1911 C.E. during the Turkish-Italian War.
Like others, the Ottomans were preparing for the next war. By January 26, 1911 C.E., American naval
detachments were landed again in Honduras
to protect American lives and interests during yet another civil war.
This was the third American military intervention in
Honduras. Asia was again experiencing political
instability in China, as the Tongmenghui-led Xinhai Revolution approached.
In October 1911 C.E., a U.S. ensign and 10 men tried to enter Wuchang,
China, to rescue missionaries. They were forced to retire when warned
away by a group of armed insurrectionists. A second small landing force
was left to guard American private property and consulate at Hankow. This
was the second American Military intervention in China. The month of October
1911 C.E. would be extraordinarily difficult for the Chinese Empire and
the overthrow of its Qing dynasty. On October 10th, the Wuchang Uprising
began. A group of Chinese revolutionaries in the city of Wuchang were
working in seclusion, loading rifle shells, when one of them let a
cigarette ash fall into gunpowder causing an explosion. The resulting
investigation by the police discovered lists of the group's members,
which included members of the Imperial Army. Faced with certain arrest
and probable execution, the rebels began the insurrection ahead of
schedule. Using captured lists
of revolutionaries, Hubei Province Governor-General Jui-ch'eng
(Rui Cheng) sent military police to arrest the three conspirators from
the Chinese army. Sergeant Hsing Ping-k'un of the 8th Engineering
Battalion of the 8th Regiment was not on that list. When confronted by
officers, he fired the first shots. The Sergeant then persuaded his men
to mutiny and seize the Chuwangtai Arsenal. Imperial General Li
Yuanhong then took charge of the brigade. Next, the Imperial
Governor-General fled. The concerned local Manchu commander, Zhang Biao,
ordered his troops to retreat. This left the mutineers in control of the
arsenal and the provincial treasury. With arms and funds, the revolution
began spreading to other provinces. On October 12th, the
day after revolutionaries captured Wuchang, the Hubei provincial
assembly voted to secede from the Chinese Empire and to form a republic.
Revolutionary Colonel Li Yuanhong then announced the overthrow
of the Qing dynasty. The cities of hangkow and Hanyang were
occupied by the rebel troops without incident. The following day,
on October 13, 1911 C.E., the gunboat U.S.S. Helena arrived at
Hankou, China, with a company of 27 U.S. Marines and 23 U.S. Navy
sailors. They were landed there to protect the property and employees of
the Standard Oil Company. This was the third American Military
intervention in China. That same day, Imperial China's Minister of War,
Prince Yin-chang, secretly requested the assistance of Japan in putting
down the nationalist rebellion. For days later, on
October 17, 1911 C.E., a mob of revolutionaries in Hangkow attacked
soldiers were landed there by German warships. Four days after the
Hangkow incident, on October 21, 1911 C.E., the Imperial government of
China contracted to purchase $15,000,000 worth of supplies from the United
States Navy in order to fight the revolution there. The government
would fall before the aid could be provided. The following day, on
October 22th, the Chinese National Assembly was opened, as scheduled,
for its second session in Beijing, as the revolution continued in
Southern China. General Feng Sen,
newly appointed as the Military Governor of Canton was assassinated upon
his arrival on October 25th. General Feng and his wife had arrived on a
steamboat. As they were walking across the gangplank a bomb was thrown
from a rooftop overlooking the wharf. The next day, on
October 26th, at Hankou, Li Huan-hung proclaimed that he was President
of the Republic of China. The following day of October 27th, Yuan Shih-kai was
named Commander-In-Chief of China's armed forces. That same day, the Sichuan
Province declared its independence from China. On October 28, 1911
C.E, at the first legislative session of the Tsu-Cheng Yuan, China's new
National Assembly delegates demanded three reforms. They wanted a
cabinet of ministers without Manchu nobility. Secondly, the demanded an
amnesty for persons who committed political offenses, and finally the
National Assembly’s delegates wanted a permanent constitution. Yuan
Shih-kai the Chief of China's armed forces sent his negotiator Liu
Ch'eng-en to talk to revolutionary leader Li Yuan-hung on October 29th,
while he attacked Hankow. The following day, of October 30th, China's
Imperial government in the name of the five-year-old Emperor, Pu
Yi, acknowledged its errors and promised to make quick and complete
reforms in two edicts. Also, the National Assembly was authorized to
draft a constitution, which it did within four days. The U.S. Marines were also deployed in November
of 1911 C.E., to guard the cable stations at Shanghai, China. U.S.
landing forces were also sent for protection in Nanking, Chinkiang,
Taku, and elsewhere. This was the
fourth American Military intervention in China. The year of 1912 C.E.
would find the United States embroiled in military engagements in Central
América’s Honduras, Panamá, and Nicaragua.
Her troops would also become involved in the
Caribe’s Cuba. In Asia’s China, 1912
C.E. would see more
American soldiers landed to protect her citizens and property. U.S.
troops would even find themselves in Turkey,
that transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western
Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan. With the mantle of a Great
Power came the responsibility of defending American economic and
political interests and the image of the U.S. as a superior military
nation with great reach and capability. The Méjicano Revolution evoked widespread admiration in Latino
América, especially for its commitment to socioeconomic reform.
Fortunately, the Méjicano political system had few imitators. In the Southern
Cone of South América, which
includes the territories in the republics of Argentina,
Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, a
common pattern was emerging. It was the broadening of participation
within a more conventional democratic system. With this at least the
middle sectors were gaining a meaningful share of power and benefits.
This happened in Argentina following
an electoral reform of 1912 C.E. that made universal male suffrage
effective for the first time and paved the way for the Radical
Civic Union party, with strong middle-class support, to take power
four years later. Rosendo
Matienzo Cintrón, Manuel Zeno Gandía, Luís Lloréns Torres, Eugênio Benítez
Castaño, y Pedro Franceschi
found the Independence Party which was the first party in the history of
the Island to exclusively want Puertorriqueño independence.
Though short-lived, it established a precedent for future organizations
with similar ideologies. For America this was not a good thing. Major General Terry
de la Mesa Allen Sr. was
a Hispanic and senior American military officer who served from 1912
C.E. through 1946
C.E., would fight
in both WWI and WWII. In Central
América, a small American
military force landed in 1912 C.E. to prevent seizure of an
American-owned railroad by the government of Honduras
at Puerto Cortés. The forces
were withdrawn after the United States disapproved the action. This was
the fourth American military intervention in
Honduras. Again in Central América, at the request of both political
parties in Panamá, U.S.
troops supervised the 1912 C.E. elections outside the Panamá Canal Zone. This was the seventh American Military
intervention in Panamá. In Asia, disorders had begun in China during
Kuomintang rebellion in 1912 C.E. They worsened with the overthrow of
the dynasty by Japan. These led to demonstrations which redirected anger
resulting from the invasion of China by Japan. As a result, Again as the
had in the past year, American landing parties arrived for the
protection of U.S. interests in China continuously and at many points
from 1912 C.E. on to 1941 C.E. This
was the fifth American Military intervention in China. The guard at Peking and along the route to the
sea was maintained until 1941 C.E. Finally, on January 6, 1912 C.E., New Mexico
became the 47th state to join the Union. My ancestors had settled the
area in 1610 C.E. At that time, they served España.
They did so until 1821 C.E., when Méjico
became a nation and took the lands. By 1848 C.E, my family, the de
Riberas, had become citizens of the U.S. Territory of New Mexico.
Now they were officially citizens of the United States under New Mexico
statehood. On February 14, 1912 C.E., Arizona became the 48th
state to join the Union. It had first been settled by Españoles in 1776 C.E. It later began its journey to becoming
American as a part of the U.S. Territory of New Mexico. It then became
the U.S. Territory of Arizona. It had now completed its long trek to
statehood. On May 17, 1912
C.E., Evaristo
Estenoz and Pedro Ivonnet
who co-founded the Partido
Indepediente de Color, held a meeting in Santiago
de Cuba. During the meeting, Estenoz
calls for a massive, island-wide demonstration on May 20th, the
anniversary of the republic. Evaristo
also wrote to the administrator of the U.S.-owned sugar mill Soledad requesting 25 guns and ammunition. He warns that he will
destroy the estate's fields and mill if his request is not honored. On
that day, the planned demonstrations by members of the Partido Independiente de Color take place in Oriente and Santa
Clara. The other provinces (Habana,
Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, and Camagüey
did not participate. Four days later on May 21st, Cubano
military troops are sent to Oriente. By May the 24th, the
American government authorizes U.S. Marines to be dispatched from the Guantánamo
Naval Station to protect American lives and property. On that same
day, three American warships the U.S.S. Prairie, U.S.S. Nashville,
and the U.S.S. Paducah left for Cuba.
That next day, May the 25th, a note was delivered to the Cubano
Secretary of State by the American minister. It warns of another
military intervention if "American lives and property"
couldn't be protected by Cuba.
On May 26th, in the Cubano
House of Representatives, Campos
Marquetti proposes amnesty for rebels who surrender within ten days.
The following day, May 27th, General
José
de Jesús Monteagudo Consuegra left Habana
for Oriente to take command of military forces.
Notes on General
Monteagudo (Santa
Clara, December 27, 1861 C.E.-December 14, 1914 C.E.): General
Monteagudo was a Cubano military general of
a Division. He took part in the 1895 War.
By January 20, 1909 C.E., he founded the first third tactical with soldiers from the squadrons
of the Rural Guard. On December 11, 1911 C.E.,
he was appointed Chief of staff of the National Army. He joined the Cubano
Army Rural Guard units and structured the bases of the country's armed
forces. He broke the Partido
Independiente de Color Revolt which erupted on May 20, 1912 C.E. The General died while convalecía
a liver condition in the balanced opportunity. By May 31st, in Oriente,
independents attempted to show their determination with sabotage. They
burned a bridge, a post office, a railway station, and the barracks of a
rural guard. They also set fire to some wooden houses belonging to the Santa
Cecilia Sugar Company. From June 5th to August 5, 1912 C.E., U.S.
forces protected American interests in Cuba’s
Provincia Oriente and Habana.
Once again, the U.S. had to control a Cubano
situation. In the United States, María Marcelina Rivera
(October, 1834 C.E.-June 17, 1912 C.E.) was buried in June, 1912 C.E., in the San Geronimo Cemetery San Miguel County, New Mexico at the age of 78. She
was the daughter of my Great-Great-Grandfather, José
Luís Ribera and my Great-Great-Grandmother María
Ysabel Martínez. She had grown up under Méjico
until 1846 C.E. and became a citizen of the United
States in 1848 C.E. A few months before she died, on January 6, 1912
C.E., she would see her beloved New Mexico become the 47th state to join
the Union. During an attempted revolution, U.S. military
forces protected American interests in Nicaragua
from August to November 1912 C.E. A small force, serving as a legation
guard and seeking to promote peace and stability, remained until August
5, 1925 C.E. This was the eighth time America intervened militarily in Nicaragua. On Kentucky Island which was near Shanghia,
China, U.S. military forces protected Americans and American interests
from August 24th-26, 1912 C.E. This
was the Sixth American Military intervention in China. At Camp Nicholson also near Shanghia during the Xinhai
Revolution, U.S. military forces also protected Americans and American
interests from August 26th-30, 1912 C.E. This was the seventh American Military intervention in China. From November 18th to December 3, 1912 C.E.,
during the First Balkan War U.S. military forces guarded the
American legation at Constantinople, Turkey.
The nation is located on both sides of the Bosporus Strait in
Southeastern Europe.
This was the United States’ first intervention into Turkey. In South América, the population of Argentina
was approximately half urban by the eve of World War I. By 1913 C.E.,
fewer hands were required to produce the Nation’s wealth in the
countryside. Workers in the cities were now creating its wealth and
providing other essential urban services. Technology was changing the
face of Argentina. In Méjico,
Francisco Ignacio Madero González (October
30, 1873 C.E.-February 22, 1913 C.E.) was a Méjicano
revolutionary, writer, and statesman who served as the
33rd presidente de Méjico from 1911 C.E. until his assassination in 1913 C.E. The
violent aftermath of his assassination during a coup in 1913 C.E. again
highlighted the importance of U.S.-Méjico
border security. Continuing battles between
Carrancistas and Villistas for
control of Méjicano Nogales
had led to American involvement. Clashes between the forces of General Venustiano Carranza
Garza, a former ally of Villa,
and the Villistas resulted
in cross-border firing into the U.S.A. during the Battle of Nogales in 1913 C.E. Notes on Venustiano Carranza Garza:
Venustiano Carranza
Garza was born on December 29,
1859 C.E., at Cuatro Ciénegas,
Méjico. He died May 20th/21,
1920 C.E., at Tlaxcalantongo, Méjico.
The son of a landowner, Carranza
became active in local and state politics in 1877 C.E. Venustiano
was a leader in the Méjicano civil
war
(c. 1910 C.E.-1920
C.E.) following
the overthrow of the dictator Presidente
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz in 1910 C.E. The political moderate Carranza
became the first presidente of
the new Méjicano Republic.
Unfortunately, he had been tainted by his association with Díaz
and his alliances with other forces of economic exploitation. Carranza
had opposed the sweeping changes that followed the revolution. In
1910 C.E., as gobernador of Coahuila,
he joined the struggle of Francisco
Madero against Díaz.
By 1913 C.E., he led the forces against Víctoriano
Huerta. In 1913 C.E., Thomas
Woodrow Wilson (December
28, 1856 C.E.-February 3, 1924 C.E.) was a Democrat who became President of the United States. Wilson served
as the 28th President of the United States from March, 1913 C.E. to
1921 C.E. He was an American statesman, academic, and a member of the Democratic
Party. Wilson served as the President of Princeton University from
1902 C.E. to 1910 C.E., and as Governor of New Jersey from
1911 C.E. to 1913 C.E., before winning the 1912 C.E. presidential
election. As president, he oversaw the passage of progressive legislative
policies which were unparalleled until the New Deal in 1933
C.E. The President also led the United States through WWI. He also
established an activist foreign policy known as Wilsonianism. In 1913 C.E., American Democrats with a Democratic
president won congressional control for the first time in 18 years. On February 19, 1913
C.E., General Víctorio Huerta
arrested Francisco Ignacio Madero González and
forced him to step down. On February 22nd, Madero
was presumed assassinated on orders from Huerta.
A Méjicano civil war would
erupt a few days later between Huerta's
forces and supporters of Madero,
who were led by Governor
Venustiano Carranza and Pancho
Villa. With a contingent of several thousand men, Villa
would form a military band known as the Division of the North and
operated in the mountains of northern Méjico. Armando Rivera of the de Ribera clan was buried in the Kit Carson Cemetery Taos, New Mexico
(August 24, 1904 C.E.-February 28, 1913 C.E.) Another of the de Ribera clan, Lillian Rivera
was buried in the Kit Carson Cemetery Taos,
New Mexico (July 30, 1906 C.E.-March
11, 1913 C.E.) Also in Méjico, as a result of the Battle of Nogales which took place on March 13, 1913 C.E. and many other
incidences, the United States placed
the war-torn state Méjico
under an arms embargo. This was done shortly after President Wilson was inaugurated in March
of that year. The arms embargo was imposed to stifle the flow of weapons
and materiel to that country then in the throes of civil war. It
forced Presidente Huerta's
government to look to Europe for armaments. In short, Méjico refused to participate in the embargo against Germany and
granted full guarantees to the German companies for keeping their
operations open, specifically in Méjico
City. In the Pacific,
groups in Philippines continued hostilities in remote areas and islands.
This included the Moro people
and Pulahanes people, until their final defeat at the Battle of Bud
Bagsak on June 15, 1913 C.E. This was the forth post-Spanish
American War military intervention by the United States. A few U.S. Marines landed at Ciaris
Estero, Méjico. They aided in the evacuation American citizens and others
from the Yaqui Valley from
September 5th through September 7, 1913 C.E. Life had been made
dangerous for foreigners because of the civil strife in the area. It is safe to say
that the years previous to WWI was a time of great economic expansion
for the United States in the areas of commerce and trade. It is also an
accepted fact that she was forced by this expansion to increase her
political and military involvement with foreign powers. America’s
interest in trade drove her to interject herself into geographic areas
along her trade routes and to protect U.S. citizens and property
wherever they might be. As a young “Great Power” America had to
become accustomed to her new role and its multiple dimensions of
activity. In addition, the United States had to become a maritime power
of great strength and ability in order to project that power around the
globe. This she did, with sobering effects. But even with all of this,
America was not ready for a world war. From this, she abstained for as
long as possible. As for America’s Californios,
Hispanos, Nuevo Méjicanos, Tejanos, and other Hispanics during that
time, they were continuing the process of integration into American
society. They had become Américanos
after the 1848 C.E. takeover of Méjicano
lands. Later, they fought and died in the American Civil War of 1861 C.E.-1865
C.E., on both sides, Confederate and Union. Next, they fought and died
in the Spanish-American War of 1898 C.E. for America. The Hispanics
would now be asked to serve in the First World War. World
War I Here we must stop
and offer some historical perspective on Germany. This is in regard to
who she was before the time of the outbreak of WWI, as Germany did not
exist as a political unit or German Confederation until the latter part
of the 19th-Century C.E. Over the course of
many centuries, she would become a nation of complex parts comprising an
uncomfortable whole cobbled together with fitful starts and stops. For
quite some time, the problem of unity had been the issue for the German
speaking areas. As a result, the German Confederation or Deutscher
Bund had remained inefficient, ineffective, and would eventually become
a failed experiment. From the beginning, Germany’s strength and
weakness was Prussia. Both were due to Prussia’s size, population,
mind-set, and her army. Notes on Pre-WWI Germany: Centuries
before the modern German state, the Royal Prussian Army had
served the Kingdom of Prussia and was vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as
a European power. It had its roots during the Thirty Years' War of
1618 C.E.-1648 C.E. with its core mercenary forces of Brandenburg.
It was developed it into a viable standing army by Elector Frederick
William. Its size was dramatically increased and its doctrines improved
by King Frederick William I of Prussia. By
the 18th-Century C.E., the Silesian Wars were to become the
battlefield and a contest between Austria and Prussia for
the possession of Silesia. The First Silesian War began in 1740 C.E. and ended in 1742
C.E.
The Second Silesian War followed, from 1744 C.E.
to 1745 C.E. and formed
parts of the great European struggle called the War of the Austrian
Succession. The Third Silesian War (1756 C.E.-1762
C.E.)
similarly formed a part of the Seven Years’ War. The formidable
battle commander King Frederick the Great, led his
highly-disciplined Prussian troops to victory in those wars. These wars
and Prussian military successes greatly increased the prestige of the
Kingdom of Prussia. The
mindset of that successful Prussian military was governed by strict
rules or guidelines. The Prussian soldier’s state of mind after
completion of his army training impacted the way he process battle and
engagement information. It also governed how soldiers carried out their
tasks and how they interacted as part of an organized battle unit.
Basically as soldiers they were a well-trained, disciplined, part of a
cohesive military unit whole. As such, they effectively worked toward a
collective conclusion. In short, they following orders and did their
jobs. They also expected their comrades to do the same. Just as their
fellow Prussian citizens dutifully exercising a disciplined approach to
subordination under an overall concept of a common state and society at
home, they insisted upon each soldier functioning properly both as an
individual and as part of a military unit. After
the Prussia army’s defeat by France at the beginning of the Napoleonic
Wars, in the War, under the leadership of Gerhard von
Scharnhorst, Prussian reformers began modernizing the Army. These
improvements contributed greatly to the defeat of Napoleon
Bonaparte during the War of the Sixth Coalition. The Prussian
Army subsequently became a bulwark of the conservative Prussian
government. The German
General Staff was formally created in 1814 C.E. That was the same year a
law was drafted for universal conscription. Men would serve in the
standing army, the Landwehr and the local Landsturm until
the age of 39. Troops of the standing army served for three years
and were in the reserves for two. Militiamen of the civilian army of the Landwehr
served a few weeks annually for seven years. This was seen as
uniting the military with Prussian civilian society through the use of
an equal to the standing army. When
the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806 C.E., the German
Confederation or Deutscher Bund was created by the Congress of
Vienna in 1815 C.E. It was to coordinate the economies of separate
German-speaking countries. Deutscher Bund was an association of 39
German-speaking states in Central Europe. The
Confederation was weakened by revolution and the rivalry between
the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire. Over the
course of time, the multiple member Confederation proved itself unable
to reach compromises. Earlier,
Napoleon incorporated the southern side of the Rhine Valley of Germany
into France. At that time, with respect to England and Belgium, France
was quite a bit more advanced than Germany. This period of forced
integration with France stimulated economic change in the Rhine Valley.
By 1815, this area became independent of France but retained some
of the economic and institutional reforms of the Napoleonic period.
Serfdom and the guilds were abolished. Other remnants of feudalism were
ended which restricted commerce and industry. By
1818 C.E., Prussia had initiated the concept of a common market. Later,
to make the Deutscher Bund into a common market the Zollverein or Toll
Union was implemented by treaty in 1833 C.E.
It abolished tolls between the various German principalities. It
extended the Zollverein to the larger states of Germany, although
Austria, by Prussian design was excluded. At
this time, Germany developed a rail system which grew rapidly under the
promotion of the German state governments. Eventually, the rail system
would act as a stimulus, expanded coal and steel development. It would
also help increase and expand banking and capital markets available to
Germany. All of this would lead to an increase in the demand for steel
and coal. A steel industry also developed quickly. The coalfields in the
Ruhr Valley would become fully developed and make Germany into the
foremost coal producer in Europe. Other industries such as the chemical
and electrical industries would be developed in the later part of the
19th-Century C.E. The German chemical industry would become one of the
most advanced in the world. By
1848 C.E., with revolutions by liberals and nationalists, an
attempt under the Frankfurt Convention was made to establish a
unified German state with a progressive liberal constitution. The
Liberal Nationalists saw this as an opportunity to unite Germany
following the revolutions of "48.” The changes in government and
constitution to achieve this caused a nationalist outcry. To mitigate
this dissatisfaction, the government formed a Federal Diet at Frankfurt.
The troubled and ineffective ruling body, the Confederate Diet, was
finally dissolved on July 12, 1848 C.E. After extensive efforts to
replace the Confederate Diet failed it was re-established in 1850
C.E. Otto
von Bismarck (1815 C.E.-1898
C.E.)
was appointed Prussian
representative to the Federal Diet in 1851 C.E. He continued to urge the
militaristic Prussian government to seize power within the German
Confederation. Von Bismarck had been
instrumental in advising the Prussian Authorities to block the
Austrian's plans for an enlarged Zollvereign or German Customs Union
which had been formally started on January 1, 1834 C.E. The German
Customs Union was a coalition of German states formed to
manage economic policies and tariffs within their territories.
It had been organized via the 1833 C.E. Zollverein treaties. From
1857 C.E. through-1888 C.E., the Chief of the General Staff modernized
the Prussian Army. The General Staff was expanded the militaristic
Prussian government. By this point in German history, there is no
question that Prussian intent was to control and command all of the
other German speaking areas. The North German state of Prussia’s
political and military leadership had other intentions. It was to wage
three short, successful wars. Within a span of seven years, Denmark,
the Habsburg monarchy, and France had been soundly
defeated. Having earlier consolidated power within, Prussia had begun
her outward push for expansion, plunder, and power. For
a period of decades until about 1860's C.E., there were attempts in
German areas to imitate the industrialization that had been taking place
elsewhere in Europe. This imitation was only moderately successful.
England had begun her Industrial Revolution about a century before
Germany. She was far ahead of the game. Prussia’s
quest to control and command all of the other German speaking areas had
continued unabated. In von Bismarck’s role
as Chancellor from 1861 C.E. to 1890 C.E., he sought to enlarge Prussia
and to unite the Confederation of German States under Prussian
leadership. By
1862 C.E., Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck (1815
C.E.-1898
C.E.)
delivered his famous "Blood and Iron" speech at a meeting of the
budget commission of the Prussian Parliament on September 30th. He emphatically
called for a "small German" nation-state dominated by Prussia
and rejected demands for liberal reform. Von Bismarck stated that
"the great questions of the day (German unity) will not be settled
by speeches and majority decisions - that was the great mistake of 1848
and 1849 - but by blood and iron." During
the Second Schleswig War in 1864 C.E., at the Battle of Dybbøl the
Prussian Army crushed Danish forces. Two years later, disputes
orchestrated by the Prussian Minister President, Otto von
Bismarck, led to the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 C.E. The
Prussian infantry were highly successful against the Austrians and
defeated them at the Battle of Königgrätz. The Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian
War or Seven Weeks' War over Austria in 1866 C.E. brought about the
dissolution of the Confederation of German States. The
War was part of the wider Austria-Prussia rivalry. Each was aided by
various allies within the German Confederation. Prussia had also allied
with the Kingdom of Italy. The war also resulted in the Italian
annexation of the Austrian province of Venetia. Of great importance, the
War resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states which
represented a shift in power among the German states away from Austrian
and towards Prussian hegemony. In short, the dispute over which power
had the inherent right to rule German lands ended in favor of Prussia.
Here, the preference was for a rather a vague coalition of
"middle-Europe." With
the death of the German Confederation, political winds drove towards the
unification of all of the northern German states and its partial
replacement by a North German Confederation in a Kleindeutsches Reich
under Prussian leadership in 1867 C.E. Prussian dominance also led to
the exclusion of German Austria and the other South German states.
Austria was excluded from this German Confederation because of her
anti-unity policy. At
this juncture, we must attempt the better understand the Prussians and
their cultural mindset, including that of its politicians and military.
It is also important to understand that for the most part, Germany was
composed of several independent states with different legislation,
mentalities, and traditions. Yes, Prussia was the most powerful of them,
but still the others mattered. While
there are things that make Prussia distinct from the remainder of
Germany, it still is German. Historically, Prussians were a Baltic
people, much like the Lithuanians, Estonians and Latvians. When
they arrived in the Germanic areas of Europe, the Prussians had their
own language and culture. Over the centuries, they were eventually
absorbed by the Germans, began speaking the German language, and to some
degree, adopted German customs. There
are many things that non-Germans think of as “typically German.”
Within Germany, however, those same things are considered “typically
Prussian.” Examples are bluntness, even to the point of being
considered tactless. There is also punctuality, efficiency, and a keen
ability for organization. There are some who believe the Prussians are
less that creative. Other
regions within Germany are notably rather different than Prussia. These
differences can be highly noticeable. Bavarians for example, tend to
roll their eyes at die Preissen or “those Prussians.” They
also consider the Prussia to be rather picky and uncompromising. There are
some residents of these areas resentment the
Prussian mindset, which still exists. The Prussians and the other
northern Germans often snobbishly discount Bavarians as uneducated
and unsophisticated Catholics. It
is safe to say that, Prussian qualities are often viewed as rather
conservative and military-like. They are seen as dutifully exercising a
disciplined approach to subordination under an overall concept of a
common state and society, in which the individual is to function
properly. This was particularly important in the Prussian Army. By
1869 C.E., the confident Prussian Army issued a military handbook for
warfare on the operational levels. The document had
instructions for Large Unit Commanders were provided writing. In these
Instructions for Large Unit Commanders can see the emergence of
modern German doctrine. In addition, there was the concept of separated
armies which was put forward because modern armies had become too large
and unwieldy for a single commander to control. To make a large army
German army manageable, General Staff believed that it had to be broken
up into separate armies or groups of corps. As regards the individual
unit’s direction and purpose of its operations, each group’s
commander was authorized to regulate its movements and action. This was
of course subject to the instructions of the commander-in-chief as
regards the overall purpose of the battle plan. In
German military strategy only the beginning of a military
operation was able to be planned. After the initial action, the battle
and its commanders operated under a system of changing options. German
officers were required to understand their main task to be prepared with
extensive preparation of all possible outcomes. In short, no plan of
German military operations extended with certainty beyond the first
encounter with the enemy's main strength. No plan could survive after
contact with the enemy. The Germany strategy was in essence a
system of expedients. Later, this would all became a fundamental part of
German military theory. The
General Staff supported multiple and independent smaller armies in
concentric operations. Their purpose was that once one army encountered
the enemy and pinned it down a second army could arrive on the scene and
attack the enemy's flank or rear. They also advocated a Kesselschlacht,
or battle of encirclement. There
were many other General Staff innovations. They were a strong proponent
of war game training for officers. The Prussian Army also took
advantage of German railroads. It guided the construction of rail lines
within Prussia to ensure placement of rail lines to locations of likely
deployment. In addition, there was the system for moving units
separately and concentrating them as an army only before a battle. The
results were more efficient supply and lower vulnerability to modern
firepower. This was a development of the Scharnhorst concept of
"March Divided, Fight United." To enable a successful flanking
attack, the General Staff asserted that troop concentration could only
take place after the commencement of a battle. Unfortunately,
a major consequence of this innovation was the commander's loss of
control over his forces due to the available means of communication at
that time which were visual or line-of-sight or couriers, either mounted
or on foot. This meant that the traditional concept of the elimination
of uncertainty by means of "total obedience" was now obsolete.
Operational initiative, direction, and control now had to be assigned to
a point further down the chain of command. Commanders of distant
detachments were now required to exercise initiative in their decision
making. This forced the development of officers who could do this within
the limits of the senior commander’s intention. Other
areas of difficulty were the conditions of the march and supply of an
army. It was determined that only one army corps could be moved along
one road in the same day. This one army core at a time approach created
inefficient troop movements. As such, to put two or three corps on the
same road meant that the rear corps could not be made use of in a battle
at the front. The
problem of feeding several German corps stationed close together in a
small area presented a challenge. They could not be fed for more than a
day or two. In this regard, the solution was to have in place
arrangements for the separation of the corps for marching and their
concentration in time for battle. In
1870 C.E., the Prussian Army proved victorious over France in
the Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870
C.E.-January 28, 1871
C.E.).
Prussian artillery was
particularly effective against the French, who were frequently flanked
or surrounded by the mobile Prussians. After the victory over the French
Emperor Napoleon III, the now unified Germany had the
Prussian king as emperor or Kaiser. That same year, the modern German
nation was in the process of being created. Thereafter, many major
industries would be founded which would lead to the full fledged
industrialization of Germany and a strengthening of her military. The
unification of Germany into a politically and administratively
integrated nation state officially occurred on January 18, 1871
C.E. The
German Empire also called Second Reich was not established by a
nationalist feeling from the masses. It arrived through the
traditional cabinet diplomacy and agreement by the leaders of the states
in the North German Confederation. The Second Reich was led by Prussia,
in concert with the hereditary rulers of Bavaria, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt,
and Württemberg. The most important of all of these was Prussia.
It occupied more than three-fifths of the area of Germany. Its
population represented approximately three-fifths of the total
population. It would remain the dominant force in the empire until its demise at
the end of WWI. The
excluded South German states which had remained independent would join
the North German Confederation, which was renamed and proclaimed as the
"German Empire." The German Empire was not established by a
nationalist feeling coming from the masses. The Empire arrived
through the traditional cabinet diplomacy and agreement by the leaders
of the states in the North German Confederation. Prussia led the new
Empire in concert with the hereditary rulers of Bavaria, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt,
and Württemberg. The most important of all of these was Prussia.
It occupied more than three-fifths of the area of Germany. Its
population represented approximately three-fifths of the total
population of the Second Reich. It would remain the dominant force in
the empire until its demise at the end of WWI. At
that time, the international situation was advantageous for the
fulfillment of Otto von Bismarck’s aims. Earlier, Italy had defeated
Austria. This left Austrian power an open question. In addition to this,
Austria’s weakness allowed Germany to make a determination regarding
expansion and the seizure of power from Austria. Germany’s long-time
rival Russia was unlikely to interfere in Germany following her defeat
in the Crimean War which had left Austria on unfavorable terms with
Russia. Also
at the time, the diplomatic situation in Europe was fluid due in part to
the willingness of both Russia and France to change the existing balance
of power in Europe. This situation provided Prussian
Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck with
the ability to exploit the circumstances when and how he felt necessary.
He now had room to maneuvre. Germany was by now a
great military power in Europe with an agenda. She wanted more land,
riches, and power. And her Prussian led military was prepared to take
it! America was to eventually face a formidable enemy. Her military had
a long tradition, had successfully fought in many wars, was
well-equipped and trained, commanded by a seasoned officer core, and was
ruthlessly efficient and effective in the art of war. In America,
President Woodrow Wilson's administration refused to recognize
Méjicano Presidente Huerta
because of the manner in which he had seized power. The U.S. instituted
an arms embargo on both sides of the civil war. But, when Huerta's
forces appeared to be winning the Méjicano
Civil War in early-1914 C.E., Wilson lifted the arms embargo by offering
to help Carranza. This action
had negative consequences for the United States. By 1914 C.E., the
United States of America was expanding her reach as an international and
global Great Power. The years would see the Americans embroiled in
Europe with grievances against Germany over several U.S. ships traveling
to Britain being damaged or sunk by German mines. The Americans would
also continue to see Germany attempting to incite war between Méjico and the
United States which would tie down American forces and slow the export
of American arms to the Allies. The Germans had been for some time
engaging in a pattern of actively arming, funding, and advising the Méjicanos. That year also saw
Méjico and Argentina continuing to view the Américanos as bullies and a Western Hemispheric rival. As for Méjico,
she had many grievances against the
Américanos and would earn
more. Brigadier-General John J. Pershing would lead an
invasion force of 10,000 men into Méjico
to capture Francisco “Pancho”
Villa. Notes on John J. Pershing: John
J. Pershing was commissioned Second Lieutenant, United States Army
on July 1, 1886 C.E. and fought marauding Indians in the Southwest. By
October 20, 1892 C.E. he was a First Lieutenant and assigned as an
instructor of military tactics at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. He would remain there through 1895 C.E. In 1897 C.E.,
Pershing was appointed to the West Point tactical staff as an
instructor, where he was assigned to Cadet Company A. After serving and
fighting with the unit on Kettle and San
Juan Hill in Cuba
during the Spanish-American War, Pershing then participated in the
Philippine-American War. He reported on August 17, 1899 C.E., as a
major of Volunteers and was assigned to the Department of Mindanao and
Jolo and commanded efforts to suppress the Filipino
Insurrection. Pershing was next promoted to Major of Volunteers,
U.S. Army (August 18, 1898 C.E.-June 30, 1901 C.E.). On November 27,
1900 C.E., Pershing was appointed Adjutant General of his department and
served in this posting until March 1, 1901 C.E. While at that post, he
became a Captain on February 2, 1901 C.E. He would later revert to
permanent rank July 1, 1901 C.E. By September 20, 1906 C.E., John J.
Pershing was promoted to Brigadier-General, United States Army. Also in that year, the United States would invade the Méjicano port city of Veracruz
and occupy it for more than six months. When World War
I erupted in 1914 C.E., President Woodrow Wilson pledged
neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of
Americans favored. Britain, however, was one of America’s closest
trading partners and tension soon arose between the United States and
Germany over the latter’s attempted blockade of the British Isles.
Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German
mines. By
1914 C.E., World War I (WWI) began in Europe
as Europe’s War. Here, I must say
that the world outside of Europe continued its march into the
20th-Century C.E. This was particularly so for those nations in the
sphere of American influence. In South América’s Perú, a presidente
who was heavily influenced by the example of the Méjicano Revolution, attempted to move to far with social and
political reform. During WWI, in 1914 C.E., he was ousted by a military
coup. In the following decade the banner of reformism in Perú would be taken up by Víctor
Raúl Haya de la Torre, founder of the Aprista Party. The Apristas’
program combined economic nationalism with Latino
Américano solidarity and called for incorporation of the Indians
into the mainstream of national life. During WWI (1914
C.E.-1918 C.E.), few Latino Américanos
would feel a strong emotional identification with either of the
contending WWI alliances. There were, however, individual Hispanics who
felt strongly enough to volunteer. Argentinos who volunteered from 1914 C.E.-1918 C.E.:
Of the major Latino
Américano countries, only Brasil
and Cuba followed
the United States in declaring war on Germany. Both Méjico
and Argentina saw
themselves as being set upon, and the Américanos
as bullies and a hemispheric rival. Thus, they vied for the leadership
role on behalf of the region’s neutrality. Future European
wartime export disruption to Latino
América would be only one of many problems the region would
experience. On the international scene, all
countries were affected by the wartime disruption of trade and
capital flows. In particular, those nations which had most successfully
penetrated European markets with their own exports and had become
important consumers of European goods and financial services. The
outbreak of WWI brought a sharp decline in Argentina
trade as the Allied powers diverted shipping elsewhere and
Germany became inaccessible. Exports to Europe were mainly in the form
of meat to feed Allied troops. In the Caribe,
intermittently from January 29th to February 9, 1914 C.E., the U.S. Navy
was forced to protect American nationals in a time of rioting and
revolution in Haiti. The specific order from the Secretary of the
Navy to the invasion commander, Admiral William Deville Bundy, was to
"protect American and foreign" interests.
In the Caribe, the U.S.
Navy would be forced to protect American nationals in a time of rioting
and revolution in Haiti. This would be the first American intervention
in to Haiti. Then from February 20th and 21, 1914 C.E., U.S.
naval forces again needed to protect American nationals in a time of
rioting and revolution in Haiti. This would be the second American
intervention in to Haiti.
From 1914 C.E.-1917 C.E., there were issues
with Méjico. The Tampico Affair led first to undeclared Méjicano
and American hostilities. The Tampico Affair began during the Méjicano Revolution as a minor incident involving Américano
sailors and Méjicano
land
forces loyal to Méjicano
dictator
General Víctoriano
Huerta Márquez (December 22,
1850 C.E.-January 13, 1916 C.E.). On April 9, 1914 C.E., a
misunderstanding occurred which developed into a failed diplomatic
relations between the two countries. In response, a frustrated United
States invaded the Méjicano
port city of Veracruz
and occupied it for more than six months. This may have been a
contributing factor in the fall of Presidente Huerta,
who would resign in July 1914 C.E. Here, an important
point must be made. Germany, even before the Americans entered into WWI
had long been attempting to incite war between Méjico and the
United States. By April 1914 C.E.,
however, Germany was making every
effort to tie down American forces and slow the export of American arms
to the Allies. The Germans had been engaging in a pattern of actively
arming, funding, and advising the Méjicanos specifically
for these purposes. What greatly troubled the Americas was that these
German provocations were becoming more successful. The Ypiranga
Incident was an example of this. The SS Ypiranga was a German
steamer that was commissioned to transport arms and munitions to the Méjicano
Federal government then
under President Víctoriano
Huerta. On April 21, 1914 C.E. the Ypiranga tried to enter the
harbor port of Veracruz, Méjico, to unload on the first
day of the U.S. occupation. The ship was detained by U.S.
troops ordered by President of the United States Woodrow
Wilson to enforce the arms embargo he had placed on Méjico. At the time, there was neither a declaration of war on Méjico
by the United States or a formal blockade on its ports. As a result, the
detention of Ypiranga was not legal and she was released. She
then proceeded to a port where the U.S. military was absent, Puerto
Méjico in modern-day Coatzacoalcos,
Veracruz, and was able to offload her cargo to Huerta’s
officials. The American capture and occupation of Veracruz,
Méjico, came next. Woodrow
Wilson ordered the military invasion of Veracruz in 1914 C.E. in the context of the Ypiranga
Incident and against the advice of the British government. On
the morning of April 21, 1914
C.E., warships of the United
States Atlantic Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Frank
Friday Fletcher, began preparations for the seizure of the Veracruz
waterfront.
War was prevented thanks to the Niagara
Falls peace conference organized by the ABC nations (Argentina, Brasil, and Chile), but the occupation was
a decisive factor in Méjicano
neutrality in World War I. The Caribe had continued to be a hotbed for revolutionary
movements. Such was the case with the
Domínícano Republic. In June and July, 1914 C.E. during a
revolutionary movement, United States naval forces with the use of
gunfire stopped the bombardment of Puerto
Plata. With the threat of more force the U.S. was able to maintain Santo Domíngo City as a neutral zone. This was the third American
military intervention in the Domínícano
Republic. In Europe, the flash point for WWI was an
assassination in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 C.E. The Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was
murdered by a Yugoslav nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. The
assassination led to a month of diplomatic maneuvering between
Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain called the July
Crisis. It was. Austria-Hungary correctly believed that Serbian
officials especially those officers of the Black Hand, were involved in
the plot to murder the Archduke, and wanted to finally end Serbian
interference in Bosnia. Popularly
known as the Black Hand, “Unification or Death,” was a secret
military society formed on May 9, 1911 C.E. by officers in the Army
of the Kingdom of Serbia. It was this group that was behind the
conspiracy that assassinated the Serbian royal couple. Black Hand
was formed with the aim of uniting all of the territories with a South
Slavic majority not ruled by either Serbia or Montenegro. This assassination would bring all the world's
great economic powers into the War. These assembled into two
opposing alliances, and Central Powers. The Allies included
the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Central Powers consisted
of Germany and Austria-Hungary. As other nations
entered the war, the alliances reorganized and expanded. Later, Italy, Japan and
the United States joined the Allies. The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined
the Central Powers while. Meanwhile, on July
15, 1914 C.E. Méjico’s Presidente Víctoriano Huerta Márquez (December 22,
1850 C.E.-January 13, 1916 C.E.) resigned
and moved to España. In Europe, in the aftermath of the anti-Serb
riots of June 29, 1914 C.E., there were crowds on the streets in
Sarajevo. The Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged the subsequent anti-Serb
riots in Sarajevo. Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also
organized outside Sarajevo, in other cities in
Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and
Slovenia. A diplomatic crisis was to be set off
when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of
Serbia. On July 23rd, Austria-Hungary delivered to Serbia the “July
Ultimatum,” a series of ten demands that were made intentionally
unacceptable, in an effort to provoke a war with Serbia. Even so, Serbia
accepted all of the terms of the ultimatum except for article six, which
demanded that Austrian delegates be allowed in Serbia for the purpose of
participation in the investigation into the assassination. As a result,
those international alliances that had been formed over the previous
decades were invoked. Within a matter of weeks, the major powers were
racing into war. In time, the conflict would spread around the world. From July 24th-July 25, 1914 C.E. Russia
ordered a partial mobilization of its armies. On the 25th, Serbia also
decreed general mobilization. Following this, Austria broke off
diplomatic relations with Serbia and, the next day, ordered a partial
mobilization. By July 28th, Austria-Hungary declared war on
Serbia. Here, it is important that we offer some comments on the outcome
of such a simple that as a declaration of war. On this day began WWI. It
would be the first global war and one of the deadliest conflicts in
history. The War would last from July 28, 1914 C.E. to November 11, 1918
C.E. During this war, one of the largest wars in history, more than 70 million military
personnel would be mobilized, 60 million of which were Europeans. Over
nine million combatants would become involved in the “Great
War” as it became known. Seven million civilians would
die as a result of the war. These deaths would include a casualty
rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial
sophistication and the tactical stalemate caused by grueling trench
warfare. The deaths would also include those of the Revolutions of 1917
C.E.-1923 C.E. in many of the nations involved and the victims of a number
of genocides. Unfortunately unresolved rivalries at the end of the
conflict would contribute to the start of the Second World War twenty-one
years later. It is important at this juncture that we
explain that at the outbreak of WWI, the United States pursued a policy
of non-intervention. Its diplomatic policy sought
to avoid alliances with other nations in order to avoid being drawn into
the War, which many Americans saw as not being directly related the
U.S.’s territorial self-defense. American non-intervention
had a long history of popularity in the government and among the people
of the United States at various periods in time.
So, the U.S. would continue to avoid conflict well into the War while
trying to broker a peace. On July 30th, Russia followed when it
declared general mobilization. Germany next presented Russia with an
ultimatum to demobilize. Russia refused. Germany then declared war on Russia on August
1st. Next, Russia being outnumbered on the Eastern Front, urged its
Triple Entente ally France to open up a second front in the west. France
also began full mobilization on August 1st. Two days later, On August
3rd, Germany declared war on France. That same day in Central
América, brought a great
event for the Américanos. The Panamá
Canal officially opened on August 3, 1914 C.E. After years of disappointment and hard
work, the waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was finally
open. The Canal would
now permit shippers of commercial goods to save time and money by
transporting cargo more quickly between the oceans. Also, with the
construction of the Panamá
Canal the U.S. naval fleet had transit from ocean to ocean
when the movement of troops through the Pacific Ocean became vital. Even before the War, the border between France
and Germany had been heavily fortified by both sides. Given these
constraints, Germany’s military leadership invoked the Schlieffen
Plan. The German troops would bypass these heavily fortified borders and
instead invade neutral Belgium and Luxembourg. They would
then make their way towards France from the north. These actions led the
United Kingdom to declare war on Germany on August 4th, due to her
violation of Belgian neutrality. Germany’s march to Paris was to be
halted in the Battle of the Marne. There a trench line was
established which became known as the Western Front. Both sides
then would settle into a battle of attrition. The line would change
little until 1917 C.E. Bulgaria was the
last country to join the Central Powers when it
signed a treaty of defensive alliance with the Ottoman Empire
on August 19, 1914 C.E. By August 23, 1914 C.E., Japan entered the war
on the side of the Allies. Germany's distraction with the European War
provided Japan with an opportunity to expand its sphere of influence in
China and the Pacific. In October 1914 C.E., once again U.S. naval forces were
assigned to protect American nationals in a time of rioting and
revolution in the Caribe’s
Haiti. This
was the third American intervention in to Haiti. Meanwhile in November on the “Eastern
Front,” the Russian army was leading a successful campaign against the
Austro-Hungarians. The Eastern
Front or Eastern Theater of WWI was a theatre
of operations that encompassed at its greatest extent the entire
frontier between the Russian Empire and Romania on
one side and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, the Ottoman
Empire and the German Empire on the other. The Front stretched
from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in
the south. It included most of Eastern Europe and stretched
deep into Central Europe. The term “Eastern Front” contrasts
with "Western Front," as there were battles being fought in Belgium and France
on the Western Front. By November 1914 C.E., a determined German Army
was able to stop the invasion of East Prussia in the battles
of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes (In present-day Poland).
Also by November 1914 C.E., the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers
and opened fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and the Sinai
Peninsula. In the Caribe,
on December 1st, the first Puertorriqueño officers were assigned
to the Executive Cabinet, allowing islanders a majority. The officers
were Martín Travieso, Secretary, and Manuel V.
Domenech Ferrer, Commissioner of Interiors. The Americans were now
more assured that the Puertorriqueños were true allies. The year 1915
C.E. would continue to see American difficulties with Méjico. In Europe, the first
American merchant vessel would be lost to Germany’s maritime warfare.
The Caribe would see America
yet one more time involved in Haiti’s political and revolutionary
upheavals. This intervention was
also a concern over preventing German or French efforts to take her
over. That year in the United
State’s backyard, Méjico
was once again
causing difficulties. There was yet another Battle of Nogales. This Carrancista
and Villista engagement
resulted in cross-border firing into the U.S. That same year, the
German Naval Intelligence Officer Franz von Rintelen attempted
to incite a war between Méjico
and the United States by giving Víctoriano
Huerta Márquez (December 22, 1850 C.E.-January 13, 1916 C.E.) the Méjicano
military officer and
35th Presidente de Méjico, $12 million for that specific purpose. In the Caribe,
in 1915 C.E., Lieutenant Pedro
Augusto del Valle, from San Juan,
Puerto Rico, became the first Marine of Hispanic descent to graduate
from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In World
War I, he would participate in the surrender of the German High Seas
Fleet. That same year, a delegation from Puerto Rico,
accompanied by the Governor Arthur Yager, traveled to Washington in
order to ask Congress to grant the island more autonomy. In South América, the American merchant vessel William P. Frye, a private
a four-masted steel barque, was transporting a cargo of
grain to England. On January 27, 1915 C.E. it was intercepted by a
German cruiser in the South Atlantic Ocean off the Brasileño
coast and ordered to jettison its cargo as contraband. When the American
ship’s crew refused to follow orders, the German captain ordered the
destruction of the ship by the next day.
By March, 1915 C.E.,
Germany finally announced that a German cruiser had sunk the private
American merchant vessel William P. Frye. The sinking sparked
indignation in the United States and President Wilson was outraged. The
German government apologized for the sinking, calling the attack an
unfortunate mistake. The admission of the attack as a mistake and
apology did little to assuage American anger. It was the first American
merchant vessel lost to Germany’s maritime warfare during the Great
War. The Germans had, however, made their point. Both the Allies and the
neutral nations were vulnerable to her sea power and she wasn’t afraid
to use it. In Méjico, the
Tampico Affair led to Occupation
of Veracruz. Undeclared Méjico-Américano hostilities
followed the Tampico Affair
and Villa's raids. Also Pancho
Villa Expedition) – an abortive military operation conducted
by the Américanos against the military forces of Francisco
"Pancho" Villa from
1916 C.E. to 1917
C.E. and included
capture of Veracruz. On
March 19, 1915 C.E. on orders from President Woodrow
Wilson, and with tacit consent by Presidente de Méjico
Venustiano Carranza Garza
(born December 29, 1859
C.E., Cuatro
Ciénegas, Méjico.-died
May 20th/21, 1920 C.E., Tlaxcalantongo,
Méjico),
Brigadier-General John J. Pershing led an invasion
force of 10,000 men into Méjico
to capture Villa. In early May of 1915
C.E., several New York newspapers published a warning from the
German embassy in Washington D.C. It stated that Americans
traveling on British or Allied ships in established war zones did so at
their own risk. Interestingly, the announcement of warning was placed on
the same page as an advertisement for the soon to be sailing from New
York to Liverpool, British owned RMS Lusitania ocean liner. The sinking of the
Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania occurred in Europe
on Friday, May 7, 1915 C.E. The ship was identified and torpedoed by the
German U-boat, U-20. The sinking occurred 11 miles off
the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. It took the ocean liner 18
minutes to sink. When she went down, of the 1,959 passengers, 1,198 were
killed, including 128 Americans. There were only 761 survivors. Despite
her earlier apologies, Germany was seen as having continued to wage unrestricted
submarine warfare against the United Kingdom. In response, the
German government maintained that they had knowledge that the RMS
Lusitania was carrying munitions and therefore subject to sinking. It was the German U-boat torpedoing and sinking the
RMS Lusitania without warning
that almost pushed the United States to the edge of war. President Woodrow
Wilson insisted at the time that America is "too proud to
fight." He then continued pursuing a policy of non-intervention.
The U.S. also demanded reparations
and an end to German attacks on unarmed passenger and merchant ships. Germany complied. Despite this compliance, the
sinking of the Cunard ocean liner turned public opinion against
Germany in many countries. It was to become an iconic symbol in military
recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought. The sinking
of RMS Lusitania would be only one of many causes for America’s later
entry into WWI. On May 23, 1915 C.E., Italy joined the Allies
in the War against the Central Powers. U. S. President
Woodrow Wilson once again sent troops to Haiti on July 18, 1915
C.E. This military intervention
was in an effort to prevent Germany or France from taking it over. Haiti was
seen as strategically critical as it controls the Windward Passage to
the Panamá Canal. American
military forces next occupied Haiti from July 28, 1915 C.E. to August
15, 1934 C.E. They were sent in to maintain order during a period
of chronic political instability. From it’s the initial entrance
into Haiti, the specific order from the Secretary of the Navy to the
American invasion commander, Admiral William Deville Bundy, was to
"protect American and foreign" interests. This was the fourth
American intervention in to Haiti. In Europe, by August
of 1915 C.E. Germany pledged to ensure the safety of passengers before
sinking unarmed vessels. This she did because of the sinking of the
HMS Lusitania and other factors. In October 1915 C.E., Bulgaria
declared war on Serbia. Back home, the
United States and six Latino Américano
nations officially recognized the Méjicano
government of Presidente Carranza
on October 19, 1915 C.E. The gesture insulted Pancho
Villa and his followers who had earlier parted ways with Carranza.
Feeling betrayed the Villistas
set out on a course of retaliation directed mainly at the Américanos. In one instance, Villa's
irregulars assassinated seventeen U.S. citizens aboard a train traveling
from Chihuahua City to the Cusi
Mine at Santa Isabel Chihuahua, Méjico. Bound from Messina to New
York City, the Italian ocean liner passenger steamship SS Ancona was
attacked near the Gulf of Cagliari off Cape Carbonara a promontory of
southern-eastern Sardinia, Italy, which forms the eastern end of the
Gulf of Cagliari. Without
warning, a German U-boat SM U-38 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Max
Valentiner, torpedoed and sank the fully booked SS Ancona on November 8,
1915 C.E. The torpedo was fired after a chase and the bombardment of the
Ancona by the U-boat. While the Ancona was stopped to enable
evacuation into lifeboats, the SM U-38 raised the flag of Austria-Hungary
during the final minutes of the attack. Of the 446 passengers and 163
crew members, 272 people were killed, including 27 Americans. This
incident caused a diplomatic crisis. Public opinion in the United States
had now begun to turn irrevocably against Germany and her unrestricted
warfare. The Jones Act, formally the
Philippine Autonomy Act of
1916, was a statute announcing the intention of the United States
government to “withdraw their sovereignty over the Philippine Islands
as soon as a stable government can be established therein.” This act
contained the first formal and official declaration of the United States
government's commitment to eventually grant independence to the
Philippines. America had acquired
the Philippines in 1898 C.E., as a result of the Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense. As a result of U.S. legislation in 1901 C.E., the legislative power in
the islands had been exercised through a Philippine Commission,
effectively dominated by Americans. The war and control
by the U.S. of the Philippines changed the cultural landscape of the
islands. The people continued to deal with an estimated 200,000 to
1,500,000 total Filipino
civilians dead due to the rebels seizing their food supplies. The
disestablishment of the Catholic Church in the Philippines as a state
religion caused great difficulty for the predominantly Catholic
population. The introduction and use of the English language in the
islands as the primary language of government, education, business,
industry, and among families and educated individuals would increase in
future decades. In Asia, in 1916 C.E., American forces landed
to quell a riot taking place on American property in Nanking, China.
This was only one of many taking place over the past four years. This
was the eighth American Military intervention in China. It was the Xinhai
Revolution that had led to the founding of the Republic of
China in January 1912 C.E., with Sun Yat-sen as the first
provisional president and Nanking was selected as its new capital. This
was the revolution which overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing
dynasty. The revolution was named Xinhai (Hsin-hai) because it occurred
in 1911 C.E. It consisted of many revolts and uprisings. The turning point,
however, was the Wuchang uprising on October 10, 1911 C.E.,
which was the result of the mishandling of the Railway Protection
Movement. The revolution ended with the abdication of the six-year-old Last
Emperor, Puyi, on February 12, 1912 C.E. This marked the end of 2,000
years of imperial rule and the beginning of China's early
republican era from 1912 C.E. through 1916 C.E. In Méjico, it was the failure of United States troops to capture Pancho
Villa in 1916 C.E. and the movement of Presidente
Carranza in favor of Germany that emboldened the Germans to send the
infamous Zimmermann note on February 24th. The following month,
the Méjicanos would cause
more difficulties for America. Although an earlier Méjicano
train incident infuriated the American public, it was the Villistas' next attack, the raid on Columbus, New Mexico, that
caused the U.S. government to seek retribution. Why Villa chose Columbus as a target for his most daring raid remains
unknown. The small town had only one hotel, a few stores, some adobe
houses, and a population of 350 Américanos
and Méjicanos. It should be noted
that the border town was the home of Camp Furlong and garrisoned by one
squadron of the 13th U.S. Calvary Regiment comprised 500 officers and
men. The Regiment had been garrisoned at Columbus since September, 1912
C.E. At the time of the attack, only about 350 men were at the camp.
Since Villa had numerous sympathizers living in Columbus and in the
vicinity, he had no trouble obtaining information on Camp Furlong's
troop strength and other military intelligence. A local citizen also
warned the Camp that Villa was
in the area. As a precaution military patrols and outposts of the camp
were strengthened. On the early morning
of March 9, 1916 C.E., while still dark, Francisco
"Pancho" Villa
with approximately 485 men known as Villistas
raided Columbus, New Mexico. Afterwards, 30 men from Company I, 1st New
Mexico Infantry, at Deming, New Mexico, heard of the raid. Seeing smoke
as they were arriving the men took over some of the duties of the 13th,
releasing more members of the regiment to chase the Villistas.
Villa’s
men had only killed a small number of soldiers and civilians. Eighteen Américano
soldiers and civilians were either killed or wounded. The Mexican
irregulars' losses were greater numbering approximately 100, of which
seven were wounded and captured. His Villistas
left with a few horses and a small amount of loot taken from the stores
and homes of the town. The raid had not profited Villa
or his men. After the immediate
threat of a possible second engagement subsided, the men of Company I
returned to Deming where they and all of the other units of the New
Mexico Militia were placed on active state service in their respective
armories. General Funston, commanding the Southern Department,
telegraphed the War Department the day after the raid, "I urgently
recommend that American troops be given authority to pursue into Mexican
Territory hostile Mexican bandits who raid American territory. So long
as the border is a shelter for them they will continue to harass our
ranches and towns to our chagrin." Both public outcry
and pressure from the U.S. Army moved President Wilson to order the
military to pursue Villa and
punish him. Wilson directed the Secretary of War, Newton Baker, to
organize a punitive expedition. The U.S. Army quickly made preparations
to conduct the expedition. Troops and supplies immediately began pouring
into the newly established base command in Columbus, which was still
recovering from the raid. Chosen to command the Mexican Punitive
Expedition was Brigadier-General John J. "Black Jack"
Pershing. From March 16, 1916 C.E. to 14 February 14, 1917 C.E., the
expeditionary force of more than 11,000 regular Army troops would be
operated in northern Méjico
in pursuit of Villa. By April 8, 1916 C.E.,
Brigadier-General Pershing with 6,675 soldiers was more than 400 miles
into Méjico. At that point in time, he had no idea how long the
expedition would take. Pershing didn’t even know how much further he
would have to penetrate Méjico
to locate Villa. The
Brigadier-General set up his headquarters in the town of Colonia
Dublan, Chihuahua.
Expedition’s supply base was located on a tract of land near the Río Casas Grandes. Nothing of this
magnitude had been attempted by the U.S. Army in 51 years since the
Civil War. Logistically, the Punitive Expedition had begun with great
difficulty. Pershing very much aware of his situation realized that he
had to ensure that his Army was well supplied. Denied the full use of
the Méjicano railway system,
the Brigadier-General turned to his motor transport companies for
solutions. Unfortunately, the Army did not have enough trucks to
transport the supplies stored at Columbus. To a large extent, the
Expedition would have to rely on mules and wagons to keep supplies
moving. Available maps
depicting roads were totally incorrect. The roads turned out to be
nothing but trails, impassable during wet weather season. As a result,
U.S. Army engineers had to rebuild many of the roads. As the Américano trucks, motorcars, motorcycles, and armored cars arrived
and went into use, they only succeeded in kicking up dust for the Villistas
to hide in. Besides these vehicles Pershing mustered dirigible balloons
and airplanes for his relentless drive to locate Villa.
The First Aero Squadron’s airplanes sent for intelligence gathering
proved to be inadequate. They lacked the necessary power to overcome the
erratic Méjicano winds or to climb high enough to cross the mountains of
northern Chihuahua. Pershing soon
complained in a report that "the aeroplanes have been of no
material benefit so far, either in scouting or as a means of
communication. They have not at all met my expectations. The further
south Villa goes into the
mountains the more difficult will be their tasks, and I have no doubt we
shall soon be compelled to abandon them for either scouting the enemy or
keeping in touch with the advance columns." Gradually the airplanes
were replaced but appropriately functioning airplanes were not enough to
locate Villa. Here, I must make an
important point. The majority of the Méjicano
citizens encountered by Pershing's forces hated the United States. The
most Méjicanos encountered by
Pershing's troops wanted Villa
captured. Unfortunately, their hatred for the United States was even
stronger than that for Villa.
The Américano forces had received few leads. Two weeks of pursuing
aimless leads and fighting in a few minor skirmishes, the Seventh U.S.
Cavalry found and fought 500 Villistas
at San Gerónimo. Fortunately,
there were no Américano
losses. Only several banditos
were wounded. On April 13, 1916
C.E., a detachment of troops from Carranza's
Army attacked the Américano
troops at Parral. Upon
receiving reinforcements, they drove the Méjicanos
back. One Américano soldier
was killed and one wounded. There were 14 Méjicanos
casualties. During this period, Pershing’s men were kept at Dublan.
His command sent out only scouting parties and at times detachments to
locate Villa. They had no
success. In the Caribe, the occupation of the Domínícano
Republic took place from May 1916 C.E. to September 1924 C.E. Américano
naval
forces were used to maintain order during a period of chronic and
threatened insurrection. This was the fourth American military
intervention in the Domínícano Republic. Meanwhile in Europe,
the Sussex Pledge and promise was given by the German Government to the
United States of America on May 4, 1916 C.E. It was given in response to
American demands relating to the military conduct of the WWI.
Specifically, Germany promised to alter their naval and submarine policy
of unrestricted warfare. They would now stop the
indiscriminate sinking of non-military ships. Instead, merchant ships
would be searched and only sunk if they were found to contain military
contraband. A sinking was only to occur after safe passage had been
provided for the crew and passengers. In the U.S., three Méjicano
bandito raids were particularly bloody. On May 8, 1916 C.E., bandits
attacked an outpost at Glenn Springs, Texas, killing one civilian and
wounding three Américano
soldiers. On that same day, the New Mexico Militia was called into
service. Four days later,
Battery A, 1st New Mexico Field Artillery from Roswell arrived at
Columbus on May 12th. This was the first National Guard Field Artillery
unit on the border. The 1st New Mexico Infantry followed, arriving in
strength on May 16th. The 1st New Mexico Infantry was to spend eleven
months on the border. It would be the only National Guard organization
attached to the Mexican Punitive Expedition. Various parts of the unit
were stationed at Columbus, Hachita, Los Animas, and
Elephant Butte, New Mexico. In June, Battery A,
1st New Mexico Field Artillery was ordered to Fort Bliss where it
received valuable training. Later, that training would enable them to
become one of the best known American Expeditionary Force units of World
War I. The National Defense
Act of June 3, 1916 C.E. established the National Guard and units from
Texas and the Territory of New Mexico. Units from the remainder of the
states and the District of Columbia followed. By mid-June, there were
130,000 regular Army and National Guard troops patrolling the vast
border between Méjico and the United States. Their mission was to discourage
further raids. These were not intended to cross the border into
Méjico. On June 15th, banditos
killed four Américano
soldiers at San Ygnacio,
Texas. By June 21st, Méjicano
National Army troops from Chihuahua
attacked two troops of the Américano
10th Cavalry on a scouting mission at the town of Carrizal.
On July 31st, one Américano
soldier and a U.S. customs inspector were killed. In all three cases Méjicano raiders were killed and wounded, but the exact numbers are
unknown. By now, the tensions
between the United States and Méjico
were at the breaking point. Not since the Méjicano-Américano
War (1846 C.E.-1848 C.E.) had the two countries come so close to an
all-out war. Fortunately, neither of the two countries was prepared for
or wanted a war. In Europe, at the Battle
of the Somme, on July 1, 1916 C.E., the overall British commander Sir
Haig forced his army commanders to deepen their objectives. His plan of
attack began with a short hurricane bombardment and was to be followed
by a rush through. This major offensive commenced with artillery
preparations, followed by breakthrough attempts. When these failed,
there could be no cavalry exploitation. As a result, the battle turned
into a protracted effort to wear down the enemy. This resulted in the
costly attrition warfare of 1916 C.E. In fact, larger casualties were
sustained on the British attacking side than on the German defensive
side. Meanwhile, in the
United States, German spies and saboteur were active. Lothar
Witzke (born 1895 C.E., died after 1952 C.E.), a German naval officer became a spy and saboteur on active
service in the United States and Méjico.
He was based in Méjico City was during the WWI.
It has been suggested that he was responsible
for the July 1916 C.E. “Black Tom” explosion in Jersey City, New
Jersey. The explosion took place on
July 30th, at the Black Tom munitions dock and produced
$40 million in damages. Supposedly,
this act of sabotage to destroy American-made munitions
to be supplied to the Allies in World War I was carried
out by German agents. The incident was one of many, which happened
prior to the American entry into WWI. America was waking up to its
vulnerability! In the Caribe, the U.S. purchased the Virgin Islands
on August 4, 1916
C.E. They are located east of Puerto Rico, Saint Thomas, and Saint John. It paid Denmark $25 million for them. The
opening of the Panamá Canal
two years earlier, in 1914 C.E., had provided the United States an
important reason to want the islands. America believed that they would
be better able to protect the Canal’s approaches by controlling the Virgin Islands.
Secondly, the arrival of WWI that year made the matter all the more
urgent. America feared that if Germany invaded Denmark with ownership of
the Islands, then the
Virgin Islands would become a base
for German submarines in the Caribe.
Given these arguments, the Americans had all the leverage necessary to
purchase the islands, or simply annex them. In Europe, on August
27, 1916 C.E., the Romanians joined the Allies against the
Central Powers. President Wilson had tried unsuccessfully to mediate a
war settlement. During this period, the President also repeatedly warned
that the United States would not tolerate unrestricted submarine
warfare, in violation of international law. Theodore Roosevelt the
former president followed with a denunciation of German acts as
"piracy." On
September 25, 1916 C.E., John J. Pershing was promoted to Major General,
United States Army. It is possible that this promotion was in
anticipation of America’s imminent entry into the War. Even after having tried unsuccessfully to
mediate a war settlement, President Wilson was narrowly re-elected on
Tuesday, November 7, 1916 C.E., after campaigning with the
slogan, "he kept us out of war." On December 5,
1916 C.E., President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to
pass the Jones Act which would allow Puertorriqueños
to become U.S. citizens. According to that House concurrent Resolution
253, the U.S. Army had approximately 200,000 active personnel at the
beginning of WWI. In preparation for the inevitability of that war, an
act of Congress was passed in 1917 C.E. to obtain the necessary
manpower. About 3.8 million men were to be drafted into military
service. With the outbreak of World War I and the entrance of the
America into this world conflict, American Hispanos,
Latinos, Nuevo Méjicanos,
Californios, Tejanos, and other Hispanics were eager to serve in the
U.S. armed forces. It should be noted that, even before the Act of
Congress was passed in 1917, C.E. the Hispanic Community has always been
eager to serve their country. They included both native born, mostly of Méjicano descent, and new immigrants from Latino América, Méjico, and
España. These Hispanics
participated in World War I and fought gallantly and with distinction. These are New Mexico WWI soldier records from the period from 1917
C.E. to 1919
C.E. and a few through 1921 C.E. which have missing information.
Obviously, these address only those of the de
Ribera clan, and not all of them. New Mexico, World War I
Records, 1917-1919:
January New Mexico, World
War I Records, 1917-1919
Major-General
Pershing had ceased long-range patrols to avoid further incidents like
that in Carrizal. By then, Villa's forces were badly depleted by casualties and desertion.
Those Villistas who remained
on the loose were largely scattered and ineffective. It was becoming
increasingly obvious that Carranza's
de facto government openly disliked the Américano
presence in Méjico. In an
effort to mitigate the situation, Army chief of staff Major-Generals
Hugh Scott and Funston met with Carranza's
military chief, Álvaro Obregón,
at El Paso. There, they agreed
to gradually withdraw Pershing's forces when and if Carranza
controlled Villa. By this
point, it was no longer necessary for Pershing to send troops any
further into Méjico. After a series of battles, the Mexican Punitive Expedition into
Méjico
which had
begun on March 15, 1916 C.E. was now coming to an end. Major-General
Pershing was ordered on January 18, 1917 C.E. to prepare the Expedition
to return to the United States. He executed that order between January
28th and February 5, 1917 C.E. On January 31, 1917
C.E., Germany
announced the resumption of unrestricted
submarine warfare in the Atlantic.
German torpedo-armed submarines were prepared to attack any and all
ships, including civilian passenger carriers sighted in war-zone waters.
Germany
fully realizing that by doing so, this action would mean American entry
into the war. They had already
determined that to win their war against the Allies, it would have to be
one of attrition. On February 3rd, the
United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany. A few hours
after severing relations, the American liner Housatonic, a private
American cargo ship was sunk by a German U-boat. Fortunately, no
American sailors were killed or injured when the lone torpedo struck the
ship, as none were onboard. The Housatonic’s captain, P. A. Ensor of
New York, reported that he had stopped his vessel after a German U-boat
had fired two warning shots. Captain Ensor boarded the German U-boat and
spoke with the German commander. He was informed that, “You are
carrying foodstuffs to an enemy of my country, and though I am sorry, it
is my duty to sink you.” Ensor protested vehemently but the U-boat
commander had made up his mind. The German told the
American sailors on board the Housatonic to abandon ship. They obliged
and boarded their own lifeboats. The abandoned Housatonic was struck by
a single torpedo on the starboard side at “12:30 o’clock,” two
hours after the incident first began. The ship sank in 20 minutes.
Fortunately, none of the 25 Americans on board were killed. A British
steamer was able to pick them up later. The Mexican Punitive
Expedition officially ended on the afternoon of February 5, 1917 C.E.
Shortly after the withdrawal, various units of the National Guard were
returned to their homes. But, small forces were maintained in Texas and
in the Territory of New Mexico to, "prevent further trouble from
scattered bands of outlaws." Despite its failure to capture Pancho Villa, the Mexican Punitive Expedition was deemed a success. In the Caribe
during the “Sugar
Intervention,” U.S. forces were sent into
Cuba to protect American interests. The Sugar
Intervention refers to the events in Cuba from
1917 C.E.-1922 C.E. when
the United States Marine Corps were stationed on the island during an insurrection and subsequent unsettled
conditions. On February 12, 1917
C.E., following a request for protection from American sugarcane plantation owners
the U.S.S. Paducah (PG-18) landed military forces. Earlier, in November
of 1916 C.E., conservative Cubano
Presidente Mário García Menocal was re-elected. The Liberals began
to question the circumstances behind his re-election. The controversy
then escalated into a military insurgency in the country, led by José
Miguel Gómez and assisted by Piño
Guerra and Merito Acosta. These
left-wing forces mostly active in Eastern Cuba
were insufficient to overthrow the government of Presidente Mário García
Menocal. Most of the United
States armed forces would leave Cuba
by August 1919 C.E., but two companies would remain at Camaguey
until February 1922
C.E. The Mexican Punitive
Expedition provided military training experience for the tens of
thousands of U.S. Army Regulars and National Guardsmen who had taken to
the field with the Expedition. Brigadier-General Pershing's experience
during the Punitive Expedition and the death of Funston on February 19,
1917 C.E. made him the obvious choice as commander of the American
Expeditionary Forces during WWI. Many of the same men who served with
Pershing in Méjico, such as
George S. Patton Jr., who would later achieve glory as an Army commander
during World War II, accompanied him to France. Entry into the First
World War was now merely a matter of time. On February 22nd,
the U.S. Congress passed a $250 million arms-appropriations bill
intended to place the United States on a war footing. Two days later, on
February 24th, the United Kingdom’s authorities
presented to the
U.S. embassy’s ambassador to
Britain a copy of an intercepted the message. It has since become
known as the “Zimmermann Note,” a coded message from German Foreign
Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German
ambassador to Méjico. In
that telegram deciphered by British intelligence, Zimmermann stated
that, in the event of war with the United States, Méjico
should be asked to enter the conflict as a German ally. In return,
Germany would promise to restore to Méjico
the lost territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
This revelation that
the Germans were trying to get Méjico to make war on the United States as Germany's ally was
troubling. In the United States
in March 1917 C.E., the Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was
a major shipbuilding site during WWI. That month, the site
experienced a major explosion of barges loaded with American munitions.
The blast killed 6 people, wounded another 31, and destroyed some port
facilities. Agents of U.S. Military Intelligence tied the blast to a
roving German saboteur, Lothar Witzke. He would later be caught and
imprisoned in 1918 C.E. MINSY was the first United
States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is
located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. There the Napa
River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates
the peninsula shipyard at Mare Island, California, from the main portion
of the city of Vallejo. The Zimmermann Note made its way to President Wilson. He in turn,
released the Note to the U.S.
State Department. On March 1st, when they published the Zimmermann
Note, the
America public
became galvanized against Germany. Americans
saw it as casus belli. This is the act
that provoked Wilson to justify
war. He immediately called on anti-war elements to end all wars,
by winning this one and eliminating militarism from the globe. The
President argued that the war had now become too important for the U.S.
not to have a voice in the peace conference. On March 2nd,
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Act, giving Puertorriqueños
U.S. citizenship. It required Puertorriqueños
to accept U.S. citizenship unless they formally declined. It
superseded the Foraker Act which was the first U.S. definition of
civilian government for Puerto Rico. It was done as a general updating
of that Act of 1900 C.E. or so. The Act also created
a Senate and House of Representatives
for Puerto Rico, established a bill of rights, and authorized the
election of a Resident Commissioner, who had previously been
appointed by the President, to a four-year term. The Foraker Act, however,
still continued to determine economic and fiscal aspects of the Puertorriqueño
government. Interestingly, the
Act came into being after the American purchase of the Danish Virgin
Islands on August 4, 1916 C.E.
This was done to protect the Panamá Canal’s approaches by controlling the Virgin Islands. This too, may have been
an action to bolster U.S. security in the region.
More importantly, the Puertorriqueños
also became subject to the WWI draft. This meant more American military
forces available should she join into WWI. Also in March of 1917
C.E., with the February Revolution
raging, the Russian government collapsed. The
Russian Revolution which began on March 8, 1917 C.E. was one of the most
explosive political events of the 20th-Century C.E. There would be two
revolutionary events which were to take place within a few short months.
This violent revolution would mark the end of the Romanov Dynasty and
centuries of Russian Imperial rule and a continuation of social unrest
in Russia which had been simmering for decades. By the early 1900s
C.E., Russia was one of the most impoverished countries in Europe with
an enormous peasantry and a growing minority of poor industrial workers.
Much of modernized Western Europe viewed her as an undeveloped and
backwards society. At the time, the Russian Empire practiced serfdom, a
form of feudalism by which landless peasants were forced to serve the
land-owning nobility. The practice had already disappeared in most of
the more progressive Western Europe by the end of the Middle Ages. What makes the
Russian Revolution important is the fact that Russia by then had entered
into World War I. As of August 1914 C.E., she had entered into
the War in support of the Serbs and their French and British allies.
There is no question that soon after her entry into it, the war proved
disastrous for the Russian Empire. By 1915 C.E., Czar Nicholas was
forced to leave the Russian capital of Petrograd or St. Petersburg, and
take personal command of the failing Russian Army front. Things were not
going well for the war effort. At home, food and fuel shortages plagued
Russia as inflation mounted. The economy was hopelessly disrupted by the
costly war effort. The February
Revolution actually began on March 8, 2017 C.E., or on February
23rd on the Julian calendar. This was because it was known as such
because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar until February 1918 C.E.
The economic conditions were now so dismal that demonstrators were
clamoring for bread and took to the streets of Petrograd. They were
supported by huge crowds of striking industrial workers dissatisfied
with those in authority no longer willing to support them. The
protesters soon clashed with police and refused to leave the streets. On March 11th,
Russian Imperial troops from the Petrograd army garrison were called out
to quell the uprising. In some of their encounters with demonstrators,
the regiments opened fire, killing demonstrators. Yet, after these
bloody incidences the protesters remained in the streets. Soon, the
troops began to waver. The Duma was formed a provisional government the
next day. A few days later, Czar Nicholas abdicated the
throne, ending centuries of Russian Romanov rule. Initially, leaders
of the new provisional government opposed violent social revolution and
quickly established a liberal program. It included rights such as
freedom of speech, equality before the law, and the right of unions to
organize and strike. Their minister of war, Kerensky, continued the
Russian war effort. Even though Militarily, Imperial Russia had been no
match for an industrialized and militarized Germany, and still remained
inferior. Russian casualties would prove greater than those sustained by
any nation in any previous war. The Russian
involvement in World War I was enormously unpopular at home. Supporting
its troops further exacerbated Russia’s food supply problems. Unrest
within the population continued to grow as peasants looted farms and
food riots erupted in the cities. In China, On March
14, 1916 C.E., the Republic of China terminated its diplomatic
relations with Germany. General Lu Jung-ting led a rebellion against the
government in Kwangsi province beginning on March 15, 1916 C.E.
President Yuan Shih-kai appointed Hsu Shih-ch’ang as prime minister on
March 22, 1916 C.E. These spread across in the mainland China
regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia, Guangdong, Guangxi, Gansu,
Yunnan, and Xinjiang. The Warlord Era
(1916 C.E.-1928) was a period in the history of the Republic of China
when the control of the country was divided among former military
cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions. The Era began
when Yuan Shikai died in 1916 C.E., and lasted until 1928 C.E. In late-March,
Germany sank four more United States merchant ships. WWI
an American War The publication of the Zimmermann telegram and
the recent sinking by German submarines of seven U.S. merchant ships
created Public clamor for action. As a result of public opinion President
Wilson was forced to appear
before Congress on April 2nd. He called for a declaration of war against
Germany. The U.S.
Congress would declare war 4 days later. By April 4th, the Senate voted 82 to six to declare war against Germany.
Two days later, the House of Representatives endorsed the
declaration by a vote of 373 to 50. Two days later, when the U.S.
Congress formally declared war on Germany on
April 6, 1917 C.E., America
entered WWI. Cuba would enter into
World War I in 1917 C.E. on the American side the day after the U.S.
declared. U.S. Marines were allowed to train on the Island - some of
whom remained there until 1922 C.E. As the
United States entered WWI in April
6, 1917 C.E., men were being called to serve and selected. Of the
published pool of approximately 800 men, San
Miguel County's quota was 213. A board was set up to hear appeals
that might be filed by any of these men who, for one reason or another,
felt they could not serve. The men from whom San
Miguel County, New Mexico’s “Quota” would be taken for war: Appearance before the exemption board is in the
order in which the names are published. 1) Names drawn for San Miguel County No. 870--Secundino
Ribera, Isidro (See following Secundino
E. Rivera) No. 297--José
G. Rivera, Las Vegas About 1,000 more
names of San Miguel County
registrants [sic] were expected to be received by mail. MEMORIAL
ID 128070337 WWI Draft Card José
María Ribera Name: José María Ribera He and Paulina
Padilla appeared on the census of 1910 C.E. at San
Miguel, NM, USA, as follows: (Teodocio
Ribera age 51, 29 yrs married, wife: Paulina
Padia). Children of José
Teodocio Ribera and Paulina
Padilla were as follows: i.
Teresita
Ribera. ii.
María
Cenovia Ribera;
born October 31, 1887 C.E. at San
Miguel del Bado, San Miguel, NM, USA. iii.
María
Rebecca Ribera; born
January 13, 1892 C.E. at San Miguel del Bado, San Miguel, NM, USA. iv.
Demetria
Ribera; baptized
January 19, 1894 C.E. at San
Miguel del Bado Church, San
Miguel del Bado, San Miguel, San
Miguel, NM, USA; married José
Dolores Montoya, son of Cyprano
Montoya and Celestina
Montoya, January 8. 1917
C.E. at San
Miguel del Bado, San Miguel Church, San
Miguel del Bado, San Miguel, San
Miguel, NM, USA. v.
Ezequiel
Ribera; born
December 24, 1895 C.E. at San Miguel del Bado, San Miguel,
San Miguel, NM, USA. vi.
Benjamin Ribera; born
February 3, 1899 C.E. at San Miguel del Bado, San Miguel, San Miguel, NM, USA. vii.
José
María Ribera; born August 7, 1900 C.E. at San
Miguel del Bado, San Miguel, San
Miguel, NM, USA. Another group of
Hispanics, the Sephardic Jews, participated in WWI. To clarify, the
Jews of España are called
Sephardi Jews. They are also known as Sephardic Jews or Sephardim.
Originally from Sepharad (España) or the
Ibero Peninsula, they are a Jewish
ethnic division. As terms Hispanic, Hispano or Hispánico
broadly refer to the people, nations, and cultures that have a
historical link to España and many of her colonies,
the Sefarditas
qualify as Hispanics. They established communities throughout areas
of modern España and Portugués
during their settlement of Ibero.
These Sefarditas gradually evolved culturally and developed what would
become their distinctive characteristics and diasporic identity.
These they took with them in their exile from Ibero beginning in the late-15th-Century C.E. to North
Africa, Anatolia, the Levant, Southeastern and Southern
Europe, the Spanish Américas, as well as other
areas of Nuéva España. The term
“Hispanic” also commonly applies to those countries once colonized
under the colonial possession of el
Imperio Español. These include Spanish colonies in the Spanish
Américas, parts of the
Asia-Pacific region, and Africa. Principally, this would apply to
today’s countries of Hispanic América,
the Spanish Las Filipinas,
and Spanish Sahara where Español
may or may not be the predominant or official language. Their
cultures, however, are heavily derived from España.
It could be argued that the term Hispanic should apply to all Español-speaking
cultures or countries, as the historical roots of the word specifically
pertain to the Ibero region.
Here let me state that the Spanish language and culture are
the main distinctions for this application. At the time of the
WWI, Seattle, Washington’s, Sephardic Jewish immigrants had a
patriotic fever and it was manifest throughout their community. Some
joined the Allied effort against the Central Powers in the United States
military. These included Nisim J. Adatto, Nisim A. Alhadeff, Jake Babani,
Henry Benezra, Nisim Benezra, Joe Benvinisti, Victor Cordova, Jacob
Hannan, Mike Policar, Albert Uziel, Harry Varon, Bension Yerushalmi, and
my own great-grandfather Morris (Moshe) David Alhadeff. They were all
enlisted men. Nisim A. Alhadeff was the only Sephardic from Seattle who
actually fought on the front line trenches in Europe. After Henry
Benezra’s military service, he would become the first person from the
Seattle Sephardic Community to graduate from the University of
Washington in 1921 C.E. As I will be
discussing mainly those Hispanics who served in the Air
Service and the U.S. Army, I must state that there
were also Hispanics serving in the U.S. Navy during WWI. On April 6,
1917 C.E. when the U.S. Congress declared war on Germany and
officially entered WWI many men and women with Spanish surnames became
sailors. Here, I list only a few: ·
George E. Fernández,
a first-class petty officer in charge in a fireroom or water tender,
served aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Shaw. He was awarded the
Navy Cross for his actions aboard U.S.S. Shaw on October 9,
1918 C.E. The Shaw collided with RMS Aquitania and
it was cut in two and a fire erupted. Petty Officer Fernández
seized ammunition piled on deck and threw it overboard, saving the lives
of many of his fellow crewmen. ·
Luís
de Flórez graduated from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1911 C.E. before joining
the Navy. During WWI, he became a naval aviator. Commander de Flórez is credited with numerous inventions which made better
flight simulators and equipment for flight safety. ·
Captain Robert F. López
had retired from the Navy in 1911 C.E. During WWI, he was recalled to
active duty to command the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. He was given
the rank of commodore, during wartime it is equivalent to a
one-star admiral rank. ·
Lieutenant Frederick
Lois Riefkohl (1889 C.E.-1969 C.E.), a native of Maunabo,
Puerto Rico, became the first Puertorriqueño
to graduate from the USNA, and served as commander of the armed
guard of U.S.S. Philadelphia. On August 2, 1917 C.E., after
engaging an enemy submarine, he was awarded the Navy Cross, the
second highest medal that can be awarded by the U.S. Navy. ·
·
In 1901 C.E., Private
France Silva United States Marine Corps was awarded the Medal of Honor for
his service during the Boxer Rebellion. He was a Californio from Hayward, California and born on May 8, 1876 C.E. Notes on Private France Silva (May
8, 1876 C.E.-April 10, 1951 C.E.): He
was the first United States Marine of Mexican-American and Hispanic heritage
to receive the Medal of Honor. He received the Medal of Honor for
his meritorious conduct in China during the Boxer
Rebellion. Private Silva
was born in Hayward, California, on May 8, 1876 C.E. Silva
joined the U.S. Marine Corps on September 12, 1899 C.E., in San
Francisco. He attended Boot Camp at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
The Private was assigned to the American flagship U.S.S.
Newark, the first modern cruiser in the U.S. fleet. It was the first protected
cruiser with high speed and a uniform 6-inch gun armament. There he met
Private Daniel Joseph Daly (future double Medal of Honor
recipient) who was already a member of U.S.S. Newark’s crew. They
became good friends. The U.S.S. Newark soon headed to the
Philippines to take part in the Spanish-American War. She was soon
rerouted and to Japan in order to prepare for a landing in China at Taku,
Tientsin, and Peking. On May 20, 1900 C.E., she sailed for China to help
land allied troops to assist civilians within the legations which came
under siege by the Boxers at Peking. They arrived in Peking on May 31st,
before the Boxers closed the city off from the world. Aboard
the U.S.S. Newark, Private France Silva
was a member of the U.S. Marines Legation Guards under the command of
Captain Newt H. Hall, USMC. The cruiser U.S.S. Newark arrived Tientsin on
May 22nd, under the command of Captain Bowman McCalla, USN, both of the
USMC. Captains
John T. Meyers and Newt H. Hall were in the lead position as the
allies were entering the city with the all European Brass Band playing. Just
before their approach Captain Meyers gave the command, "Fix,
Bayonets!" The troops double timed the last three-hundred yards as
the crowd cheered. Soon, the Marines had their last good meal of the
next couple of months and immediately posted guard. Later,
when the Marines entered the Forbidden City of Peking, they were greeted
by Edwin Conger, the lead U.S. Diplomat and a former Army officer, who
said to Captain John T. Meyers, "Thank God you are here. Now we are
safe." By
June 19, 1900 C.E., the U.S. Marines 1st Regiment under Major Littleton
Waller, USMC, attempted to take the city of Tientsin. The engagement was
a failure. In a second successful attempt occurred on June 23rd, after
the U.S.S. Newark had placed a contingent of Marines and three Sailors
on shore to act as a legation guard. The Regiment prevailed and took
Tientsin, forcing the Chinese forces to retreat to Peking. The
legation guard from the city of Tientsin and another detachment of U.S.
Marines, soldiers, and sailors later joined the troops of other western
countries and Japan in defense of other Peking legations against the
Boxers. They would defend the walled city from June 28th until the
arrival of the Allied Forces in August and the fall of the city which
occurred on August 17th. During
the Siege of Peking, on July 1st, Private France Silva of the Newark Guard detachment volunteered to assist other
defenders on the Tartar Wall. While the civilian legation compound in
Peking, Silva was hit in the
arm and received a bad wound. A bullet had entered Silva's
left elbow and bounced off his sternum. Several other defenders had also
been seriously wounded and some killed during the skirmish. Even though Silva
was badly injured and unable to hold his rifle, he and several other
Marines attempted to return to the Wall for action. Captain Newt Hall,
USMC, who was Silva's commanding officer, ordered them back to the sick bay. Silva
refused, telling the captain that if he would take Silva's
rifle and the captain give him his pistol, he said, "I can take
care of myself." Silva
remained on duty for at least a day relieving Marines and others on the
Wall. Private
France Silva, several other
Marines and two sailors, Navy Seamen Axel Westermark and Chief Machinist
Emil Peterson earned the Medal of Honor in their defense of the legation
compound in Peking. Private France Silva
was medically discharged on January 6, 1901 C.E. at Mare Island Naval
Shipyard in Vallejo,
California. On December 31, 1901 C.E., Silva
was awarded the Medal of Honor at Mare Island. In the year that America entered the war, on
all of the European fronts military engagements had been marked by near
disaster for the Allies. A French offensive in April, in which the
British cooperated, was a failure. That was followed by widespread
mutinies in the French armies. When the United
States finally joined World War I on April 6th, upon entering it, America would send its first
troops to France under the command of Brigadier-General
John Joseph Pershing.
Notes on American Major-General John
Joseph Pershing: The
first American troops arrived in Paris, France, on June 26, 1917 C.E.,
with their commanding Major-General John J. Pershing. One of his fist
acts was to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Marquis de Lafayette.
It is important to remember that Lafayette despite his aristocratic
lineage had gone to the aid of the American revolutionaries. He was one
of those responsible for their triumph over the British. The
General is supposed to have declared, “Lafayette, nous voilà!” or
Lafayette, we are here! It
is believed that this act of homage was more than a mere heartfelt
courtesy by an American patriot. The expression may have been intended
for international consumption, explaining the motivations that propelled
a reluctant United States into the Great War. By this gesture, America
was saying that its decision to enter the conflict was driven by
Lafayette’s world view. One might say that his view was one of
revulsion for any country, state, or society governed by a person or
group with absolute power, who practices domineering rule, and
undemocratic control. By his involvement in the American Revolution he
also had a desire to make the world a freer and better place. This
latest America perspective went beyond Manifest Destiny and represented
a fundamental shift in the United States’ relationship with the rest
of the world. It would also have enormous consequences for the history
of the 20th-Century C.E. On April 10, 1917
C.E., four days after the United States declared war on Germany, an
explosion occurred at the Eddystone Ammunition Corporation's artillery
shell plant in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. The explosion killed
139 people. The majority were women and girls who worked in the loading
room, loading shells with black powder. 55 of the victims could not
be identified and were buried in a mass grave. Hundreds more were
injured. The victims were arguably among the first American casualties
of World War I. The explosion was initially blamed on German
saboteurs, and later on Russians. May New Mexico, World War
I Records, 1917-1919
WWI marked the
second significant military test for the state of New Mexico, United
States, since statehood on January 6, 1912 C.E. Out of federal service for only 20 days, the 1st Infantry Regiment, New
Mexico National Guard (NMNG),
was mobilized again on April 24, 1917 C.E.
for service in WWI June New Mexico, World
War I Records, 1917-1919
While the British maintained strong pressure on
their front throughout that year, On
June 7, 1917 C.E., the British 2nd Army, led by Herbert Plumer, scored a
crushing victory over the Germans at Messines Ridge in northern France.
It marked the successful prelude to an Allied offensive designed to
break the grinding stalemate on the Western Front in WWI. Although
Messines Ridge itself was a relatively limited victory, it had a
considerable effect on German forces which had to retreat to the east.
This marked the beginning of their gradual but continuous loss of
territory on the Western Front. It also secured the right flank of the
British thrust towards the much-contested Ypres region, the eventual
objective of the planned offensive. Messines Ridge was a
relatively limited victory, but it had a considerable effect. The
Germans were forced to retreat to the east, a sacrifice that marked the
beginning of their gradual but continuous loss of territory on the
Western Front. Its result secured the right flank of the British thrust
towards the Ypres region, the eventual objective of the planned
offensive. The British forces continued to push the Germans back toward
the high ridge at Passchendaele. American troops were landed at Chungking,
China, to protect American lives during an ongoing political crisis
which had worsened. President Li
Yuan-hung dismissed Prime Minister Tuan Chi-jui on May 23, 1917 C.E.,
and dissolved the parliament on June 13, 1917 C.E. President Li
Yuan-hung had restored the 1913 C.E. constitution and by August 1, 1916
C.E., Tuan Chi-jui formed a government as prime minister in Peking. This
was the ninth American Military intervention in China. In the United States, María Marcelina Roybal y Rivera (of
the de Riberas) died and was
buried. San
Gerónimo Cemetery
In July 1917 C.E., about 236,000 Puertorriqueños
registered for the draft for World War I, and close to 20,000
served. Transcribed from the Las Vegas Daily Optic,
Las Vegas, New Mexico, July
23, 1917 C.E.: The following names belong in the list for San
Miguel County following numbers for which the names could not be
located, and which were marked “unknown”; these names belong in the
order in which the numbers appeared in the regular list: No. 1798--António
Rivera, Rivera No. 447--Vicente
Rivera, Chaperito No.
316--Anastácio
Ribera, Valley Ranch No. 640--Teodor
Rivera, Chapelle Note: Anastácio
(January 24, 1894 C.E.-March 5, 1928 C.E.) was Crestíno’s son. Crestíno was my
Great-Grandfather, José
Anastácio’s, brother. Anastácio died at age 34 On July 31st,
British offensive known as the Battle of Passchendaele or the Third
Battle of Ypres was launched. Together with their Allies the British
launched this renewed assault on German lines in the Flanders region of
Belgium, the region near Ypres. The first and second battles at Ypres
were attacks by the Germans against the salient around Ypres controlled
by the Allies. The crucial German advance to the English Channel was
blocked. The third battle was to be spearheaded by the British commander
in chief, Sir Douglas Haig. Notes on Field Marshal Douglas Haig,
1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE (June
19, 1861 C.E.-January 29, 1928 C.E.): Sir
Haig was a senior officer of the British Army and was
named commander of the 1st Army during the WWI in 1915 C.E.
Sir Haig would then go on to become commander in chief of the British
Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. He would later
become a field marshal commanding all British forces from late-1915 C.E.
until the end of the war. Sir Haig was commander during the Battle
of the Somme, the Third Battle of Ypres, the German Spring
Offensive, and the Hundred Days Offensive. A
top British military leader during World War I., he graduated of the
Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Sir Haig fought in the Sudan War
and the South African War. Haig’s previous battle experience in the
mobile, colonial wars of the Sudan and South Africa did not prepare him
for the static nature of war on the Western Front. In these static battles
both sides suffered heavy casualties, thus movement was limited by the
number of casualties taken. The battlefronts also moved slowly, if at
all. The result was "static," a lack of change in the battle
itself. His late-19th-Century C.E. Staff College training was of very
little benefit to him on the Western Front. Unfortunately
for his troops, Sir Haig saw a battle as a structured, three-stage
affair. The first strategy was tactical preparation, and the wearing
down and drawing enemy reserves into the battle. Once having achieved
these objectives, a commander moved with a rapid and decisive offensive.
The third phase was to exploit the first two. As a cavalryman, he had
always optimistically anticipated breakthroughs whereby, an army could
take the decisive offensive by cavalry exploitation. Throughout WWI,
Sir Haig did not change his approach to battle. His view of war remained
simple. Winning required the winning commander to persist until victory
was complete, and this he felt was dependent on troop morale. After the
war, Haig organized the British Legion and was named an Earl. Earlier, the Nivelle
Offensive suffered a resounding defeat ending in failure. Its
mastermind, the French commander Robert Nivelle, had led the battle in
May. It was followed by widespread mutinies within the French Army.
Before the third battle, Sir Haig demanded that the British press
ahead with another major offensive that summer. The aggressive offensive
aimed at the destruction of German submarine bases located on the north
coast of Belgium. Unfortunately, this offensive was also largely driven
by Sir Haig’s mistaken belief that the German army was on the verge of
collapse. He assumed wrongly, when he believed that it could be broken
completely by a major Allied victory. The same military
strategy of attrition was used at Passchendaele on July 31, 1917 C.E.
Sir Haig unhappy with the earlier performance of his army, appointed an
offensive-minded general, Sir Hubert Gough to command. Haig would press
him to plan a decisive breakthrough, rather than a step-by-step advance.
Haig’s major offensive at the Somme was to commence with artillery
preparations, followed by breakthrough attempts. The engagement
opened on July 31st, with a barrage of some 3,000 guns. Sir Haig next
ordered nine British divisions, led by Sir Hubert Gough’s 5th Army, to
advance on the German lines near the Belgian village of Passchendaele.
There, they were joined by six French divisions. The first two days
brought the Allies heavy casualties, though they made significant
advances. In some sectors, the Allies pushing the Germans back more than
a mile. They only took 5,000 German prisoners. The Battle of
Passchendaele failed to produce the breakthroughs and cavalry
exploitation. Instead, it turned into a protracted effort to wear down
the Germans. Again, larger casualties were sustained on the British
attacking side than on the German defensive side. Though Sir Haig has
been criticized for this basic strategy, attrition did eventually take
its toll on the German army and undoubtedly contributed somewhat to the
victory in 1918 C.E. The British “Third
Battle of Ypres” also known as the Passchendaele Offensive was renewed
again in mid-August, against the Passchendaele ridge. Heavy rains and
thick mud severely hampered the effectiveness of Allied infantry and
artillery. It also prevented any substantial gains over the majority of
the summer and into the early fall. Dissatisfied with
his army’s gains by the end of August, Sir Haig replaced Sir Hubert
Gough. Sir Herbert Plumer was
now to head of the Third Battle of Ypres
with 1 Corps. The British Fifth Army, with 1
Corps of Sir Herbert Plumer's Second Army, joined in on its right at the
Third Battle of Ypres along with a corps of the French First Amy led by Anthoine to
its left. With a total of twelve divisions, after
several small gains in September, the British were able to establish
control over the ridge of land east of Ypres. Encouraged, Haig pushed
Plumer to continue the attacks towards the Passchendaele ridge, some 10
kilometers from Ypres. Back in the United
States, by October 1917 C.E. the NMNG was ordered to Camp Kearny, California. There it joined the
balance of the 40th Division composed of National Guard troops from
California, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. Elements of the regiment where
then reorganized into the 143rd Machine Gun Battalion formed from its
1st and 2nd Battalions and the 144th Machine Gun Battalion comprised of
its Third Battalion and the Machine Gun Company plus the 115th. Once the 40th
Division reached its final destination at La Guerche, France, the entire
division was transformed into a depot division responsible primarily for
training men as replacements for active divisions. Detachments of the
Division also guarded prisoners of war and provided ambulance, then
known as sanitation, services. By
October 6, 1917 C.E., John J. Pershing was promoted to General, National
Army-Army of the United States. In France, the Third
Battle of Ypres continued to see heavy fighting from the village and the
ridge surrounding it. The Allied attackers had reached near-exhaustion
and having few notable gains the Battle continued into its third month.
Unfortunately for the Allies, the Germans had reinforced their positions
in the region with reserve troops released from the Eastern Front. This
was possible as the Russian army there was in internal turmoil and
foundering. Unwilling to give up, Sir Haig ordered a final third attack
on Passchendaele in late-October. In the Russian
“Second Revolution” of that October, the Provisional Government was
toppled and all power was given to the Soviets. That was followed by a
further military defeat. These realities brought the Russians to terms
with the Central Powers through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It
granted the Germans a significant victory. By November 6th and
November 7, 1917 C.E., the October Revolution began. For the Russians,
it began on October 24th and 25th of the Julian calendar, which is why
the event is often referred to as the October Revolution. Russian
Bolsheviks, leftist revolutionaries, led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir
Lenin launched a nearly bloodless coup d’état against the
Duma’s provisional government which had been assembled by a group of
leaders from Russia’s bourgeois capitalist class. Lenin instead called
for a Soviet government that would be ruled directly by councils of
soldiers, peasants, and workers. His Bolsheviks then seize power and
destroyed the tradition of Czarist rule. These same Bolsheviks would
later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On November 6, 1917
C.E., with the eventual capture of the village, by Canadian and British
troops, Sir Haig to finally called-off the Third Battle of Ypres offensive. He claimed victory,
despite some 310,000 British casualties, as opposed to 260,000 on the
German side. There had been no substantial breakthrough, or change of
momentum on the Western Front. Given its outcome, the Third Battle of
Ypres remains one of the most costly and controversial offensives of
WWI. It represented the perfect example of the wasteful and futile
nature of trench warfare for the British forces. At Cambrai, France, on November 20th through
December 4, 1917 C.E., the Battle
of Cambrai was fought. It was a British attack followed by the biggest
German counter-attack against the British Expeditionary Force since 1914
C.E. The town of Cambrai is located in the Département of Nord, which
was then an important supply point for the German Siegfriedstellung.
With its capture and the taking nearby Bourlon Ridge, the German line to
the north would be threatened from the rear. Three American engineer regiments-the 11th,
12th, and 14th-were called to the
Battle of Cambrai. They had been engaged in construction
activity behind the British lines at Cambrai when they were unexpectedly
called upon to go into the front lines of the
Battle during
an emergency. They thus became the first A.E.F. units to meet the enemy.
On December 4, 1917 C.E., the
Battle of Cambrai ended. After the United
States declared war with Germany in April 6, 1917 C.E., on December 7,
1917 C.E., she declared war on Austria-Hungary. Through 1917 C.E.,
various problems had continued between the United States and Méjico. Woodrow Wilson considered another military invasion from
1917 C.E.-1918 C.E. of Veracruz
and Tampico to take control of
the Tehuantepec Isthmus and
Tampico oil fields. In
response, the relatively new Méjicano
Presidente Venustiano
Carranza threatened to destroy the oil fields in case the
Marines landed there. That same year, the
government of Japan was already involved in World War I on the side of
the Allies against Germany. Having been mentioned in the Zimmerman
Telegram, Japan released a statement that she was not interested in
changing sides and attacking America. From 1918
C.E.-1919
C.E.,
after withdrawal of U.S. troops again entered Méjico in pursuit of bandits at least three times in 1918 C.E.
and six times in 1919 C.E. In August 1918 C.E.,
American and Méjicano
troops fought at Nogales, in the Battle of Ambos
Nogales. The incident began when German spies plotted an attack with
Méjicano
soldiers
on Nogales Arizona. The
fighting began when a Méjicano
officer shot and killed a U.S. soldier
on American soil. A full-scale battle then ensued and it ended with Méjicano
surrender.
In the early years
of 1918 C.E. to 1922 C.E., Communism in the Méjicano
Revolution attempted to establish a foothold. That fundamental problem
was complicated by the fact that the Méjicano
Communist party was founded principally by foreigners who themselves did
not have a profound knowledge of Méjicano
society and politics. Other problems included the relative isolation of
the foreign Communist International agents sent to foment revolution in Méjico,
as well as the early party's lack of resources. The experience of the Méjicano
Revolution and the achievement of the Constitution of 1917 C.E. gave Méjicano
workers an investment in the new revolutionary state with which the
Communists could not compete in the early years. The Bolshevik
international revolutionary project and the Communist International had
a limited understanding of Méjico
and thus failed to grasp the powerful impact of the country's
revolution. Doing research on Méjicano
Communism via copies of documents from the Library of Congress, the U.S.
Military Intelligence Division, and the U.S. Bureau of Investigation,
the Russian archives, and various Méjicano
archives and Communists in Méjico,
from 1917 C.E.-1927 C.E., provide differing interpretations of the
Bolsheviks, the Communist International, and the Méjicano
revolution. In the early
Communist Party in Méjico
years, the foreign founders the American Charles Francis Phillips, the
Indian M.N. Roy, the Russian Mikhail Borodin, and then of the Communist
International's agents in Méjico
Louis Fraina and Sen Katayama established themselves in the economic,
social, and political areas of Méjico.
But the Bolshevik's early projection of world revolution as a uniform
prescription for countries around the world was disoriented. The
Communist International agents Fraina and Katayama, proved incapable of
grasping the complexity of the agrarian movements and the labor movement
before the International ended that phase of its attempt to establish a
Communist party in Méjico. All of this is not
to say that Communists were not present there, it is simply to say they
were not known to have effective control. In the Caribe,
U.S. military forces were used for police duty during election
disturbances at Chiriqui, Panamá, according to treaty stipulations from 1918
C.E.-1920
C.E.
They continued to assist in subsequent unrest. This was
the eighth American Military intervention in Panamá. Also in 1918 C.E., First Lieutenant Félix
Rigau Carrera from Puerto
Rico became the first Hispanic fighter pilot in the U.S. Marines. Following the
Mexican Punitive Expedition the threat from German and Méjicano saboteurs and subversives presented a genuine danger.
Border patrolling continued in order to keep arms from filtering into Méjico.
On January 18, 1918 C.E., in the Central Hotel in Nogales,
Sonora, Méjico, Lothar Witzke, also known as Pablo Waberski, was taken into custody as a suspected German spy and
saboteur. He had with him an encoded letter from the German consul in Méjico
City charging him with undercover operations in the United States. It
was this message, decrypted in Washington by Military Intelligence that
led to his conviction for spying. "The bearer of
this is a subject of the Empire who travels as a Russian under the name
of Pablo Waberski. He is a
German secret agent. Please furnish him on request protection and
assistance; also advance him on demand up to 1,000 pesos of Mexican gold
and send his code telegrams to this embassy as official consular
dispatches." American neutrality at the outset of WWI would be
shattered when a coded message from German Foreign Secretary Arthur
Zimmerman to the Méjicano
government was intercepted by the Américanos
and deciphered by British Intelligence. The Zimmerman telegram proposed
an alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event of war with the
United States. Waberski’s death
sentence was the only one to be handed down during WWI. It would later
be commuted to life in prison. Witzke was later released in 1923 C.E. German instigations
would continue that year, with a clash between American and Mexican
troops in the border town of Nogales
in 1918 C.E. resulted in the death of five U.S. soldiers. January New Mexico, World
War I Records, 1917-1919
By the spring of 1918 C.E., the Allies rallied
after the stunning German Spring Offensive (March-May) along
the Western Front. They then drove back the Germans in the successful Hundred
Days Offensive. By March 21st, the German Army had suffered some
350,000 casualties. Fortunately for the Allies, the Germans had not
attained any vital objectives. During the same period, BEF casualties
numbered about 305,000. Only
500 Americans had participated in the campaign. These included members
of the 16th Engineers, 28th Aero Squadron, and 1st Gas
Regiment. In the four great offensives, from March 21th
through June 13, 1918 C.E., the Germans would gain considerable ground.
They would fail, however, to achieve a decisive advantage at any point
on the front. The slight success would be bought at a very high price in
the loss of manpower, their more then 600,000 casualties would be
irreplaceable. The Germans would also deplete badly needed materiel. The
Allied group would lose some 800,000 men, but these would soon be
replaced by new American units arriving at the front in ever-mounting
numbers The Somme Defensive, from March 21st through 6
April 6, 1918 C.E., was a result of the German high command’s decision
to attack on the British-held Somme Front in the direction of Amiens. A
breakthrough at this point would separate the French from the British,
and push the British into a pocket in Flanders. That would then open the
way to the Channel ports. The Spring Offensive began on March
21, 1918 C.E. with an assault by three German armies representing about
62 divisions. The Germans pierced the British defense lines in rapid
succession and by March 26th, Amiens was seriously threatened. On the
following day, a gap was forced between the French and British armies.
Unfortunately for the Germans, they lacked the necessary reserves to
exploit their initial gains. At the height of Germany's Spring Offensive drive,
on March 25, 1918 C.E., American General
Pershing placed the
four American divisions at the disposal of the French. At that time,
these were the only “Doughboys” ready for combat. There were only a
few of the American units that actually engaged. These included the 6th, 12th,
and 14th Engineers, the 69th Infantry Regiment, and the
17th, 22d, and 148th Aero Squadrons. These totaled about 2200 men. By March 26th, Amiens was seriously threatened.
On the following day, a gap was created between the French and British
armies. But the Germans lacked reserves to exploit their initial
phenomenal successes, and the Allies moved in enough reserves to bring
the offensive to a halt by 6 April. The Germans had advanced up to 40
miles, had captured 1,500 square miles of ground and 70,000 prisoners,
and had inflicted some 200,000 casualties. They had failed, however, to
achieve any or their strategic objectives; destruction of the British,
disruption of Allied lateral communicational and capture of Amiens. April New Mexico, World
War I Records, 1917-1919
To counter Gremany's
Somme
Defensive Spring Offensive drive,
by April 6th, the Allies brought forward sufficient reserves to stop the
German offensive after they had advanced some 40 miles and captured
1,500 square miles of ground. The Germans had also taken 70,000 Allied
prisoners and inflicted some 200,000 casualties. They had failed,
however, to achieve any of their strategic objectives; destruction of
the British, disruption of Allied lateral communicational and the
capture of Amiens. Battle of Lys took place from April 9th through
April 27, 1918 C.E. By April 9, 1918 C.E., the British Expeditionary
Force (BEF) would feel the effects of the Somme drive. German
Major-General, Erich von Ludendorff, still planned to destroy the
battered British before they had a chance to recover. This was the
purpose of a new German attack to be launched on that day along the Lys
River in Flanders on a narrow front. The Germans were committing 46
divisions to the assault. They would also once again use Hutier attacks
or infiltration tactics, to quickly score a breakthrough. Stormtroopers ("shock troops" or
"thrust troops") were specialist soldiers of the German
Army in World War I. In the last years of the war, Stormtroopers were
trained to fight with "infiltration tactics.” This was part of
the German Army's new method of attack for overcoming enemy trenches. Men
trained in these methods were known in Germany as Sturmmann, "storm
man." The term is usually translated as "Stormtrooper. These
were formed into companies of Sturmtruppen or "assault
troops." By April 9th, the situation of BEF was desperate,
which is way Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief
of the BEF, issued his famous "backs to the wall" order. He
also appealed to French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Supreme
Allied Commander, for reinforcements. Marshal Foch refused to
commit reserves he was building up in anticipation of the day when the
Allies would again be able to seize the initiative. The French military
were convinced that the British could hold their line. Since March 21st,
the German Army had suffered some 350,000 casualties. Fortunately for
the Allies, the Germans had not attained any vital objectives. During
the same period, BEF casualties numbered about 305,000.
Only 500 Americans had participated in the campaign. These
included members of the 16th Engineers, 28th Aero Squadron, and 1st
Gas Regiment. Marshal Foch had been correct. The British held and
German Major-General Erich von Ludendorff called off the offensive on
April 29, 1918 C.E. On May 27, 1918 C.E., the Germans began their next
major attack on Chemin des Dames. This
would begin the Third Battle of Aisne (May 27th-June 5, 1918 C.E.). They
had selected the thinly held but formidable terrain along the Aisne
River as their target. This was to be known as the Third Battle of the Aisne.
The German Army’s new offensive had as its objective to draw the
Allied reserves accumulated back of the British sector southward. Once
met, their second objective was to destroy the British Army in Flanders.
As the battle began, the French and British
defenders were taken completely by surprise. The Germans overran their
positions rapidly along a forty-mile front. On the first day, the
Germans would progress rapidly advancing up to 13 miles at some points.
Many of the Aisne bridges were captured intact. Unfortunately for the
Germans, the thrust toward Rheims failed but Soissons was
taken. It was at this point that that German Major-General, Erich von
Ludendorff altered his plans. He had decided to make the diversionary
attack his main effort. By May 31st, the Germans were less than 40 miles
from Paris, having reached the outskirts of Château-Thierry on
the Marne. The Germans now sought to expand the deep, exposed
outward projection of their battle line in the next few days. They had
hoped to exploit the position to their advantage. From June and July
of 1918 C.E., U.S. Marines were landed at and near
Vladivostok. Their mission was to protect the American consulate and
other points in the fighting between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist
Republic’s (SFSR)
Bolshevik troops and the Czech Army which had traversed Siberia from the
western front. American forces would remain in Russia from 1918
C.E. through 1920
C.E. June New Mexico, World
War I Records, 1917-1919
In France, General
Pershing insisted on forming an independent American army before
committing any American troops to battle. The General rejected French
and British demands to amalgamate his troops into their depleted armies.
He maintained this position in spite of enormous diplomatic pressure
from Allied politicians and generals. He did this even in the face of
awesome gains made by the German army in the spring of 1918 C.E.
Finally, in June and July, however, Pershing permitted his divisions to
fight under French generals to blunt the Germans on the Marne. During the period of June 1st through June 4th,
the Americans secured a firm bridgehead across the Marne at Château-Thierry.
The American 2nd Division, which included a U.S. Marine brigade,
was west of the town defending the road to Paris. By June 4th, the
Germans were stopped everywhere. American troops of the American
Expeditionary Force had taken part in the check of the German
advance. Some 27,500 Doughboys were involved from the 3rd Division. These
foiled the Germans attempts at a breakthrough. For several days, the Germans sought to exploit
and expand the deep and exposed salient which they had established. The
American 3rd Division foiled enemy attempts in the period June 1st-4th
to secure a firm bridgehead across the Marne at Chateau-Thierry. By June
4, 1918 C.E., they
had been stopped everywhere. Some 27,500 American troops took part in
the check of the German advance. West of the town the 2nd Division,
which included a U.S. Marine brigade, defended the road to Paris, on
June 6th, successfully counterattacked in Belleau Wood. On June 7, 1918 C.E.,
it had been fourteen months since the United States declared war against Germany and
entered WWI. On that day, Major
General Terry de la Mesa
Allen Sr. (April 1, 1888 – September 12, 1969) was sent to France and assigned to the 315th Ammunition
Train. Allen was assigned to
the 3rd Battalion of the 358th Infantry Regiment, part of the 90th
Division of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) which
he led into battle on the Western Front at St. Mihiel and
Aincreville. During one battle, Allen received a bullet through his jaw
and mouth. He was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple
Heart for his actions. Allen remained with the AEF in France until
the Armistice of November 11, 1918 C.E. He then served with the Army
of Occupation in Germany until 1920 C.E. when he returned to the United
States. Major-General Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr. (April
1, 1888 C.E.-September
12, 1969 C.E.)
or "Terrible Terry" as he was know, was born in Fort
Douglas, Utah, to Colonel Samuel Allen and Consuelo
"Conchita" Alvarez de la Mesa and died at
the age of 81. Allen's family had a long
line of military tradition. Besides his father, Allen's maternal
grandfather, Colonel Cárlos
Alvarez de la Mesa, was a Spanish national who fought at Gettysburg during
the American Civil War for the Union Army in the Spanish
Company of the "Garibaldi Guard," officially known as the 39th
New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Notes on Major-General Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr. (April
1, 1888 C.E.-September 12, 1969
C.E.): Major-General Terry
de la Mesa Allen Sr. was a senior USA officer who served from 1912
C.E.
through 1946 C.E., fought as a
Captain in World War I and later in World War II. After
Allen returned to the United States, his temporary rank of major was
reverted to captain until July 1, 1920 C.E., when he was promoted to the
permanent rank of major. He served in Camp Travis and later in Fort
McIntosh, both located in Texas. In 1922 C.E., Allen was assigned to the 61st
Cavalry Division, in New York City. He
continued to take military related courses. In 1928 C.E., he married
Mary Frances Robinson of El
Paso, Texas with whom in 1929 C.E. he had a son, Terry
Allen, Jr. On August 1, 1935 C.E., Allen was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and
became an instructor at the U.S. Army Cavalry School at Fort Riley,
Kansas. He wrote and published "Reconnaissance by horse
cavalry regiments and smaller units" in 1939 C.E. At the Battle of
Montdidier-Noyon, from June 9th-June 13, 1918 C.E., Major-General
Erich von Ludendorff would follow up his stalled Aisne offensive with a
small-scale drive in the Montdidier-Noyon sector. On June 9, 1918 C.E., twenty-one German divisions
attacked along the French Front in a small-scale drive in the
Montdidier-Noyon sector. The twenty-three mile Front extended from Montdidier to
the Oise River. Fortunately, the French had anticipated the assault
and contained the Germans after a nine-mile penetration with a strong
counterattack. The five days of fighting were over by June 12th. The
Germans had little to show for their efforts but heavy losses. There had been no large American units were in the
immediate vicinity of this action. The United States’ 1st
Infantry Division at Cantigny, however, had been subjected to
artillery fire and diversionary raids. Organized in 1917 C.E., the 1st
Infantry Division is a combined arms division of the United States Army.
It is also the oldest continuously serving division in the Regular Army.
It has seen continuous service since WWI. "A"
Battery of the 1st Artillery, NMNG was assigned to 146th Field Artillery
Regiment, 66th Artillery Brigade, of the 41st Infantry Division. The
Unit was sent to the Western Front in July 1918 C.E.
There, it was to assist in the stopping of a German drive that had
crossed the Marne River within 50 miles of Paris, France. The
"A" Battery of the 1st Artillery, NMNG with their French made
mobile 155-mm guns, would remain on the firing line at Chateau Thierry,
St. Mihiel, and in the Argonne until the Armistice, November 11, 1918 C.E. A joint
proclamation of emergency government and neutrality was issued by the
American, Japanese, British, French, and Czech commanders in July. Late in WWI, the Americans participated on a
limited scale in campaigns in Italy. The U.S. Army 332nd Regiment, a
force of about 1,200 men with attached hospital troops was sent from the
A.E.F. to the Italian Front in July 1918 C.E. This was done primarily for the morale effect.
It was hoped that the sight of Americans would have a positive effect on
the Italians. Eventually, the 332nd Regiment would take part in the last
great Italian offensive against the Austrians, the Battle of Vittorio
Veneto from October 24th through November 4, 1918 C.E. By July 1918 C.E., Allied troops outnumbered
German forces on the Western Front and there was a decline in German
morale. The pinch of the Allied
maritime blockade
was having its effect. There was also the effectiveness of Allied
propaganda being distributed widely at the front and in German cities
behind the lines. Major-General
Erich von Ludendorff
was refusing to consider peace negotiations. In fact, he planned two
more offensives for July. It was the Major-General’s
hope when successful, these would bring victory. The intent of his
first new drive was to capture Rheims and to make the supply of the
Merge salient more secure. This it was thought would draw in Allied
reserves. The second and larger offensive, destined never to be
launched, would strike once again at the British in Flanders. Even before the Germans had launched their
failed Champagne-Marne drive, the French high command had made its
plans, an offensive against the Marne salient (Aisne-Marne - July
18th through August 6, 1918). Orders were
issued on July the 12th, for the attack to begin on the 18th. Five
French armies were to take part the Tenth, Sixth, Ninth, Fifth, and
Fourth. These were to be situated around the salient from left to right.
Five divisions of the French XX Corps and the American 1st and 2nd
Divisions were assigned to spearhead the attack were. On July 15, 1918 C.E., despite the limited successes of his four previous offensives, the
German commander, Major-General Erich von Ludendorff, launched still
another all-out assault on the Western Front. The battle of Marne was a
massive attempt by the Germans to breakthrough on the West before
American forces could arrive in large numbers. The Germans launched a
two-pronged offensive (Champagne-Marne,
July 15th- July 18, 1918) with a
wing on either side of Rheims which the Allies were prepared for. Plans
for the attack had been leaked and Allied airplanes had detected the
unusual activity behind the enemy front. The German drive east of Rheims
fell short of its objective. But the German attack west of the city
succeeded. They had pushed across the Marne near Chateau-Thierry. This
attack, from both sides of Reims, was scheduled to reach the Marne
River, east of Paris. On the German left flank the 1st Army and 3rd Army
made only small gains before being stopped at 11:00 a.m. by the French
1st and American units. In all, about 85,000 Americans from various
A.E.F. units were involved in this action. These were the 3rd, 26th,
28th, and 42nd Divisions, the 369th Infantry, and their supporting
elements. It must be said that the Germans captured 1,200 square mile of
territory, 90,000 prisoners and vast stores of weapons in the course of
their offensive. By July 17th, the
“Friedensturm” or Peace Offensive had run out of momentum. West of
Reims, however, the German 7th Army smashed forward to the Marne between
Chateau-Thierry and Epernay. A bridgehead nine miles long and four miles
deep was seized south of the river before the advance was halted on July
17th, by the French 9th Army, which had moved up to the east of the
shaken French 6th Army. In the defense of this sector the American 3rd
Division played a strong role. In all, 52 German divisions were held in
check by 36 Allied divisions, 23 French, 9 American, 2 British, and 2
Italian. This so-called Champagne-Marne Offensive was the last major
German drive on the Western Front. Its failure had been
a heavy blow to German Morale. It is believed that the German people
had built up great hopes for the success of this peace offensive. Major-General
Erich von Ludendorff’s
failure must have been a tremendous psychological blow to the German
nation hoping for peace. Ludendorff's
five separate attacks had cost him more than 800,000 casualties and so
weakened his armies that the initiative now passed to the Allies. On the day after the
German offensive stalled, July 18th, the Allied Commander-In-Chief,
Marshal Ferdinand Foch, launched a massive counterattack against the
Marne salient. On the east and south the French 5th Army and 9th armies
made secondary assaults. On the west the main attack came from the 6th
and 10th armies. Supplementing the four French armies were 14 Allied
divisions, 8 American, 4 British and 2 Italian. The 10th Army jumped off
early in the morning, followed by the other armies in a counterclockwise
direction. It was early on July 18th that a heavy
artillery barrage began, and the two American divisions and a French
Moroccan division jumping off following it. Thus began the Aisne-Marne
- July 18th through August 6, 1918 C.E. offensive. This
was the main blow launched at the northwest base of the salient near
Soissons. Initially, the enemy’s frontline troops were taken by
surprise and gave ground. Aided by
350 tanks, the two Allied western armies advanced from 2 to 5 miles on
the first day. After
the Allied penetration, resistance stiffened. The following day, the 1st Division was
relieved. By the 22nd of July, the 2nd Division was relieved. By then,
they had advanced 6 to 7 miles and made Soissons untenable for the
enemy. They had also captured 6,500 prisoners at an unfortunate American
cost of over 10,000 casualties. Meanwhile during the offensive the other French
armies had also made important gains. So much so, that the German
commander ordered a general retreat from the Marne salient. The French
Sixth Army, on the right of the Tenth, which by the 28th of July,
included the American 3rd, 4th, 28th, and 42nd Divisions, had advanced
steadily from the southwest. Also, the American III Corps now had
control of the 28th and 32nd Divisions, the latter having relieved the
3rd Division in the line on July the 29th. When the Allies’
continued thrust into the salient threatened to cut the vital Soissons
Chateau-Thierry road, Ludendorff began to withdraw from the Marne salient.
Soissons was liberated on August 2nd. During the Aisne-Marne
Offensive (July 18th-6 August 6, 1918 C.E.), the French Sixth Army, on
the right of the Tenth, with the American 3rd, 4th, 28th, and 42nd
Divisions, finally reached the Vesle River on the 3rd of August. With
that, the German Aisne-Marne Offense
became bogged down. Tens of thousands of fresh American troops were
arriving almost daily to reinforce an exhausted Allied army. The Germans
soon fell back to a line along the Vesle and Aisne rivers at the base of
the former salient. With the stabilization of the Vesle River front
Pershing altered his plan for forming the First Army. With the Aisne-Marne Offensive on August 4th,
the Allies would begin four large offensives. By the time of the Aisne-Marne Offensive, the
4th and 42nd Divisions had been under control of the I Corps, the first
American corps headquarters to participate in combat. The American III
Corps headquarters finally entered combat on August 4th. By the 5th of
August, the entire French Sixth Army Aisne-Marne Offensive Front was
held by the two American corps. To the Sixth Army’s east the French
Ninth and Fifth Armies were advancing into the salient. As the Germans
retired across the Aisne and Vesle Rivers, they defended each strong
point as they went. An American attack
on August 6th, found the enemy solidly entrenched. This closed the
battle, which had begun with a German offensive and ended with an Allied
victory. The Aisne-Marne Offensive was over and
the threat to Paris had ended. With the wiping
out of the Marne Salient during the Aisne-Marne Offensive, the
initiative had definitely passed to the Allies. Gone was any possibility
that Major-General Erich von Ludendorff could or would carry out his
planned offensive against the British in Flanders. In addition, the
success of the offensive had revealed the advantages of Allied unity of
command. It also demonstrated the fighting qualities of the American
units. The eight A.E.F. divisions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 26th, 28th, 32nd,
and 42nd) in the action had spearheaded much of the advance,
demonstrating offensive capabilities that helped to inspire new
confidence in the war-weary Allied armies. About 270,000 Americans took
part in the battle. Earlier, while the
Aisne-Marne drive was under way, the French military had outlined their
plans for the remainder of 1918 C.E. It was proposed that the immediate
objective of the Allied offensive should be the reduction of the three
main German salients the Marne, Amiens, and Saint-Mihiel. Its goal was to improve lateral
communications behind the front in preparation for a general offensive
in the fall. Reduction of the Saint-Mihiel salient was assigned to the
American General Pershing. The excellent
showing made by American troops in the Aisne-Marne Offensive gave
General Pershing an opportunity to press again for the formation of an
independent American army. Preliminary steps in the organization of the
American First Army had been taken in early July 1918 C.E. By July 21st,
the French had agreed to the formal organization of the First Army, and
to the formation of two American sectors-a temporary combat sector in
the Chateau-Thierry region. The nucleus of the American First Army would
be the I Corps and the III Corps. The quiet sector farther east and
extending from Nomeny east of the Moselle to a point north of St. Mihiel
would become the actual theater of operations for the American Army.
Orders had been issued on the 24th of July announced formal organization
of the First Army. It was to be effective on August 10th, with General
Pershing its designated commander. Its
headquarters were to be located at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, west of
Chateau-Thierry. Meanwhile in Russia, on August 8th, 7,000 Allied troops were
landed in Vladivostok, and remained until January 1920 C.E., as part of
an allied occupation force. In France, on that same day of August 8th
the British began
limited Somme Offensive
operations. Its objective was the flattening the Amiens Salient. This
attack marked the beginning of the great Somme Offensive. The British
Fourth Army, including the American 33rd and 80th Divisions, struck the
northwestern edge of the salient in coordination with a thrust by the
French First Army from the southwest. No artillery barrage preceded the
attack to forewarn the enemy. Some 600 tanks spearheaded the British
assault, which jumped off during the thick fog. The completely surprised
Germans quickly gave up 16,000 prisoners as their positions were
overrun. German General Ludendorff himself characterized August 8th, as
the "Black Day of the German Army." The Germans were forced to
fall back to the old 1915 line, where they reorganized strong
defenses-in-depth. Just as the Somme Offensive was getting
underway, General Pershing
secured French consent on August 9th to a build-up of 1st Army units in
the vicinity of the Saint-Mihiel Salient where the Offensive was
to take place. Planning for reduction of the Salient required the
concentration of three American corps on a front extending from Port-sur-Seille
westward around the bulge to Watronville. Three American divisions were
to remain on the Vesle Front. By August 10, 1918 C.E., General
Pershing opened
his First Army’s Headquarters, this after much difficulty with
Marshall Foch. The General was
readying for the difficult actions ahead. Ten days later on August 18th, the
Battle of Oise-AisneIn began. During
the Battle of Oise-AisneIn mid-August, on August 18th the French and
Americans together started a series of drives on their Front. It
extended about 90 miles from Reims westward through Soissons to
Ribecourt on the Oise River. The soldiers of the United
States 92nd Infantry Division and the 93rd Infantry Division were
at that time under the command of the French 10th Army, Next to come was the Battle of Ypres-Lys to be
fought from August 19, 1918 C.E. through November 11, 1918 C.E. It was
fought on that part of the Western Front
extending from the English Channel south through Ypres,
and thence across the Lys River to the vicinity of Arras,
was manned by an army group under King Albert of Belgium composed of
Belgian, British, and French armies. From late-August and into
early-September, the American II Corps’ 27th Division and the 30th
Divisions assisted the British Second and Fifth Armies in the
destruction of the German Lys salient. Only three days
later, on August 21st, Sir Haig shifted his Somme attack farther north
to the vicinity of Arras forcing the Germans to withdraw toward the
Hindenburg Line. On August 22nd,
the American 32nd Division as a part of the
French 10th Army in
the Battle of Oise-Aisne spearheaded the penetration of the enemy's main
line as a part of the French 10th Army. In mid-August, at
Oise-Aisne, the French had started a series of drives on their front,
which extended about 90 miles from Reims westward through Soissons to
Ribecourt on the Oise River. Five French armies advanced abreast, from
right to left they were the Fifth, Sixth, Tenth, Third, and First. They
advanced in coordination with the British on the Somme to the north and
the Americans to the east. One notable Puertorriqueño
veteran of World War I was Montserrat Padilla, one of the first
of the city of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, to enlist in the Army. Padilla
was a member of Kilo Company, 307th Infantry Regiment, with whom he went
to the battlefront in Europe in April 1918 C.E. After fighting in the
battles of Lorraine and Chateau Thierry in France, he was poisoned with
mustard gas on August 26, 1918 C.E., and returned to Puerto Rico before
the Lost Battalion event of October 2nd-7th. The Kilo (K)
Company was part of the National Army’s 307th Infantry Regiment which
was constituted August 5, 1917 C.E. The 307th was assigned to the 154th
Infantry Brigade of the 77th Division. It was organized at Camp
Upton, New York on August 29, 1917 C.E. The 307th Regiment
participated in the following campaigns: Oise-Aisne, Meuse-Argonne, Champagne,
and Lorraine. Company K was a member of the "Lost
Battalion" (2nd-7th of October). The commander of Company K,
Captain Nelson M. Holderman was awarded the Medal of
Honor. After completing its war service in France, the 307th
Regiment sailed to New York City aboard the U.S.S. America. The
Regiment demobilized at Camp Upton on May 9, 1919 C.E. Meanwhile, back in the United States there were
other pressing military issues. Directly across the border, there were
German advisors at the 1918 C.E. Battle of Ambos Nogales. The Battle
of Ambos Nogales was
an engagement fought on August 27, 1918 C.E. between Méjicano
military and civilian miquelets
forces and elements of U.S. Army troops of the 35th
Infantry Regiment, who were reinforced by the soldiers of the 10th
Cavalry Regiment. This battle was notable for being a significant
confrontation between U.S. and Méjicano
forces during the Border War, which took place in the context
of the Méjicano Revolution and WWI. The American soldiers and militia
forces were stationed in Nogales, Arizona, U.S.A., and the Méjicano
soldiers and armed Méjicano
miquelets were in Nogales,
Sonora, Méjico.
In France, the
Battle of Saint-Mihiel would take place from September 12th through
September 16, 1918 C.E. But first the transfer of the American First
Army echelon Headquarters from La Ferté-sous-Jouarre in the Marne
region to Neufchâteau on the Meuse immediately south of Saint-Mihiel
was to be completed. It was moved closer to the Saint-Mihiel Front at Ligny-en-Barrois
and completed by August 28th. With that behind them, active preparations
for Battle of Saint-Mihiel and Saint-Mihiel’s reduction began. First, the
fourteen American units from Flanders to Switzerland were shifted into
the area near the Saint-Mihiel Salient. Thankfully, the American and
four French divisions assigned to the 1st Army for the operation had
sufficient infantry and machine gun units for the attack. There were,
however, other challenges. The American 1st Army was short of artillery,
tank, air, and other support units. These were essential for a
well-balanced field army. This was due to the insistence of the British
and French for an earlier priority given to shipment of infantry.
Fortunately, the French were able to make up the deficiencies by loaning
General Pershing more than half the artillery,
airplanes, and tanks needed for the Saint-Mihiel operation. Seven days later,
the American II Corps’ 27th and 30th Divisions, forming part of the
British Fourth Army, during the Somme Offensive attacked the German
defenses along the line of the Cambrai-Saint Quentin Canal,
capturing heavily fortified Bony and Bellicourt on August the 29th.
During the
Oise-Aisne on August 30th, the capture of Juvigny secured tactically
important high ground for the Allies. The 32nd was instrumental in this
effort. On that same day, the
newly arrived and activated American 1st Army of General John Pershing
formally took over the Saint-Mihiel
sector on August 30th. This was a salient jutting to the Meuse River
southeast of Verdun that the Germans had carved out in 1914. Shortly before the
Saint-Mihiel Offensive scheduled to begin a possible problem became
known. French Marshal Ferdinand Foch (1851 C.E.-1929 C.E.) had submitted
plans for a final offensive along the entire Western Front. Its
objective was to drive the enemy out of France before winter and ending
the war in the spring of 1919 C.E. Marshal
Foch once again threatened to disrupt American General
John J. Pershing's plan to carry out a
major operation with an independent American force. On August 30th, the
Allied Commander-in-Chief Foch proposed to exploit the recently gained
successes on the Aisne-Marne and Amiens fronts. His recommendation was
to reduce the size of the Saint-Mihiel attack. He suggested dividing the
American forces into three groups. One group was to be used for the for
the Saint-Mihiel Salient offensive. The second and third groups were to
be placed at fronts to the east and west of the Argonne Forest. General Pershing continued in his insistence
that the American 1st Army should not be broken up at that time, no
matter where it might be sent into action. A compromise was finally
reached. The Saint-Mihiel attack was to be subordinated to a much larger
offensive which was to be launched on the Meuse-Argonne Front in
late-September. With his First Army intact, Pershing agreed to limit his
operations by using only a limited military force needed to reduce the
Saint-Mihiel Salient. Even with a reduced force, Pershing felt that he
could accomplish the operation in a three to four day period.
Simultaneously, the General was to prepare his troops for a major role
in the Meuse-Argonne drive. The total number
of Allied forces involved in the Saint-Mihiel offensive was to be more
than 650,000 troops. Some 550,000 were American and 100,000 other
Allied, mostly French troops. In support of the attack the American
First Army with over 3,000 guns, 400 French tanks, and 1,500 French or
British manufactured airplanes. American Colonel William Mitchell directed
the heterogeneous air force. It was composed of British, French,
Italian, Portuguese, and American units. It would prove to be the
largest single air operation of the war. American squadrons would fly
609 of the airplanes. By the end of the
month of August, during the Somme Offensive the Germans had evacuated
the whole of the Amiens Salient. The American III
Corps’ 28th and 77th Divisions participated in the Oise-Aisne effort
as part of the French 6th Army east of Soissons. By late-August, the
western part of the Vesle River sector extending from Braine to
Courlandon on Oise-Aisne Front was held. By September 1918
C.E., the Allies had eliminated both the Marne and the Amiens salients.
There remained only one major German threat to lateral rail
communications behind the Allied lines. This was the old Saint-Mihiel
Salient near the Paris–Nancy line, thus the Saint-Mihiel
Offensive. By the beginning
of September 1918 C.E., the Italian government and Marshal Foch continually
had attempted to incite Armando Díaz (1861 C.E.-1928 C.E.) the
1st Duke of the Victory; an Italian general and a Marshal of Italy to
take advantage of Austria’s internal difficulties and organize an
offensive between The Austro-Hungarian troops deployed along the front
line at Pasubio, Asiago and Monte Grappa fought fiercely. At Monte
Grappa the Italians would suffer 28,000 casualties over six
days. The Hapsburg Monarchy’s position had worsened, but its problems
apparently did not negatively impact the Austro-Hungarian Armies
deployed along the south-western front. So it would be during the Battle
of Vittorio Veneto from October 24th through November 4, 1918 C.E. The Marshal of
Italy Armando Díaz truly believed that the internal
struggle of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not impact the
front. Though Austria’s soldiers were exhausted and lacked of food and
supplies, their spirits and reliability appeared good. Díaz
could also count on ten reserve divisions behind the front line. The
Marshal did not feel that such an attack would bring significant changes
to the front line. In addition, the
Italian Army did not have enough divisions at the time to perform an
offensive in a mountain area. The Italian Army had only fifty-seven
divisions. Among these were three English, two French, and one
Czechoslovak. The Austro-Hungarians had fifty-eight divisions. The
Austro-Hungarians had 8,900 artillery pieces and the other side
7,000. Therefore, Díaz
planned a much more advantageous offensive along the Piave River for
September-October, to station his troops. There, there were twenty Italian
divisions and 4,130 artillery pieces versus twelve Austro-Hungarian
divisions between Vidor and Grave di Papadopoli. It would be at Grave di
Papadopoli that a successful counterattack would be prevented due to
poor morale. In France, as the
Germans retired from the Vesle northward to the Aisne valley in
early-September, the American III Corps participating in the Oise-Aisne
effort took part in the aggressive pursuit operations. The III Corps’
two divisions carried out successful local attacks in the Oise-Aisne
effort, but failed to break into the German line before they were
relieved to join the American 1st Army. The 28th Division left between
September 7th and September the 8th. On September 9th, the American 32d
Division participating in the Oise-Aisne effort was ordered east to join
the American 1st Army. By this time, the German front was so badly
breached that the enemy was compelled to abandon the Vesle River Line. After
these two successful Allied offenses on the Marne River and east of
Amiens during that summer, the badly bruised German forces began
withdrawing from the salient on September 11th. But
they were too late. The threefold assault on the Saint-Mihiel Salient which
the Germans had already planned to abandon began early
the following morning of September 12, 1918 C.E. 500,000 Americans in 16 American divisions, aided by French artillery
and tanks and an air force of mixed units commanded by the U.S. Colonel
William "Billy" Mitchell attacked the Saint-Mihiel
Salient. The main attack of the Offensive was made by two
American corps, the “I and IV corps.” They struck the south face of
the Salient. On the right was the I Corps. From the right to
the left were its 82nd, 90th, 5th, and 2nd Divisions in line with the
78th in reserve. These elements covered a front from Pont-à-Mousson on
the Moselle westward to Limey. On the left was the American IV Corps.
From the right to the left were its 89th, 42nd, and 1st Divisions in
line with the 3rd in reserve. They were extended along a front from
Limey westward to Marvoisin. The French
II Colonial Corps was to hit the nose. To keep the Germans
in the Salient, a holding attack against the apex was made by the French
II Colonial Corps. This included the French 39th Colonial Division, the
French 26th Division, and the French 2nd Cavalry Division in line. In
the American 1st Army reserves were the 35th, 80th, and 91st Divisions. A secondary attack was to be carried out by the
American V Corps moving in from
the west.
The Corps was to make its way from the Village of Mouilly located
in north east of France, in the department of Meuse of the French region
Lorraine, north to Haudimont. Once there, the V Corps was to move
against the west face along the heights of the Meuse. From the right to
the left were its 26th Division, the French 15th Colonial Division, and
the 8th Brigade, 4th Division in line with the remainder of the 4th in
reserve. The German "Army Detachment C," was
defending the Salient. The Germans had for some time been desperately
short of manpower. As a result, only the day before the offensive began
they had begun a step-by-step withdrawal from the Salient. They had
however, eight divisions and a brigade in the line, and approximately
two divisions in reserve defending the Salient. The attack was going so well that on that day,
September 12th that General Pershing
ordered a speedup in the offensive. The following morning of September 13th, the 1st
Division advancing from the east joined hands with the 26th Division
which had been moving in from the west. Before evening that day, all
Allied objectives in the Salient had been captured. The
American attack could have reach more deeply into the German lines, but
the offensive had been deliberately limited by the Allied
Commander-In-Chief, Marshal Ferdinand Foch. The surprised Germans were
driven from the Salient with the loss of 16,000 prisoners and more than
250 guns. General Pershing’s command suffered 7,000 casualties. The operation also eliminated the threat of an
enemy attack on the rear of Allied fortifications at Nancy and Verdun.
As a direct result of the successful Battle of Saint-Mihiel, Allied
lateral rail communications were greatly improved. In addition, the
Battle opened the way for a future offensive to seize Metz and
the Briey iron fields. At that point, General
Pershing halted
further advances, as the American units were to be withdrawn for the
coming offensive in the Meuse-Argonne sector. The American 77th Division
participating in the Oise-Aisne effort was relieved to join the American
1st Army from September 14th through September 16th. As Foch anticipated, the Germans eventually
contributed to the success of his strategy. Their High Command could not
bring itself to sacrifice the huge stores collected behind the front
lines, and so delayed the withdrawal of its armies. With the elimination
of the Saint-Mihiel Salient, the Allied Commander-In-Chief, Marshal
Ferdinand Foch stood ready to launch two all-out attacks against the
Germans on the Western Front. The offensive was planned as a huge
pincers. The British and French armies would attack from the west. The
American Expeditionary Force would move in from the south. Simultaneously, the Belgian-French-British army
group in Flanders would drive toward Ghent. The French armies in
the Oise-Aisne region would exert pressure all along their
front to lend support to the pincers attack. Foch's great Meuse-Argonne Offensive from
September 26th through November 11, 1918 C.E. was planned to begin in
the last week of September. The Offensive’s major objective was the
capture Aulnoye and Mézières, two key junctions in the
lateral rail system behind the German front. The loss of either would
hamper or prevent a step-by-step German retirement and withdrawal. A
chiefly British army was assigned the task of driving toward Aulnoye.
The American Expeditionary Force was
assigned the southern arm of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive operation, the
thrust on Mézières. It was General
Pershing’s
intent during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive to launch an attack with
enough momentum to drive right through these lines and into the open
area beyond. Once there, his troops could then strike at the exposed
German flanks. Next, with the French Fourth Army coming up on
the left, the Americans could join them in a coordinated drive to cut
the Sedan-Mézières railroad. Pershing decided that he would
strike the heaviest blow in the Meuse-Argonne zone about 20 miles wide.
It lay between the Heights of the Meuse on the east and the western edge
of the high, densely wooded Argonne Forest. This is difficult
terrain, broken by a central north–south ridge that dominates the
valleys of the Meuse and Aire rivers. In the zone there
were heavily fortified places that extended behind the entire front and
barred the way to penetration of the elaborate German defenses in depth.
These were Montfaucon, Cunel, Barricourt, as well as other numerous
strong points. This fortified system consisted of three main defense
lines backed up by a less well-constructed fourth line. There, during
the Meuse-Argonne Offensive U.S. soldiers of 2nd Division would engage
in combat in the Argonne Forest. The task of assembling troops for the southern arm
of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive operation in the concentration area
between Verdun and the Forest of Argonne was
complicated by the fact that many American units were currently engaged
in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. Some 600,000 Americans had to be
moved into the Argonne sector while 220,000 French moved out.
Responsibility for solving this tricky logistical problem fell to
Colonel George C. Marshall, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3
(Operations), 1st Army. In the ten-day period after the Battle of
Saint-Mihiel, by September 26, 1918 C.E. the necessary
Meuse-Argonne Offensive troop movements were accomplished. Now, General
Pershing had at his
disposal nearly 4000 guns, two-thirds of which were manned by American
artillerymen. There were 190 light French tanks, in the majority manned
by American personnel. The General also had some 820 aircraft, 600 of
them flown by Americans. All of this was ready to support his offensive.
There would be three phases to Meuse-Argonne
Offensive. During the initial phase from September 26th through October
3rd, the 1st Army’s southern arm of the operation would advance
through most of the southern Meuse-Argonne region. It was to capture
enemy strong points and seize the first two of the four German defense
lines. American General
Pershing's troops were moved quickly westward to the Argonne Forest to
begin the major offensive. General Pershing disposed support of three corps side by
side, each with three divisions in line, and one in corps reserve on the
20-mile long Meuse-Argonne Front where the main American attack was to
be made. Unfortunately, many untried divisions had to be placed in the
vanguard of these attacking forces. In the center of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was
the V Corps. Placed from the right to the left were the 79th, 37th,
and 91st Divisions with the 32rd in reserve. These,
he hoped would strike the decisive blow. On the right was the III
Corps. From the right to the left were placed the 33rd, 80th,
and 4th Divisions. The 3rd was held in reserve. These were to
move up the west side of the Meuse. On the left was the I Corps. There,
Pershing placed
from the right to the left the 35th, 28th, and 77th
Divisions. He held the 92nd in reserve. These forces were
to advance parallel to the French Fourth Army, on its left.
Across the Meuse, the American Front extended Eastward in direct line
for some 60 miles. This sector was held by two French Corps, the IV and
the II Colonial. The American IV Corps was in the Saint-Mihiel sector.
The Somme drive to breach the main Hindenburg Line
began at the end of September. The American II Corps (27th and 30th
Divisions), forming part of the British Fourth Army, attacked the German
defenses along the line of the Cambrai-St. Quentin Canal, capturing
heavily fortified Bony and Bellicourt on September 29th. Rolando was
born in California, U.S.A., and died in San Bernardino County,
California. Private Lucco
Rivera, of 107th Infantry U.S.A.
was also wounded in battle on September 29th. He went missing on October
the 25th, but rejoined on December 13th. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, men of the 369th
Infantry Regiment went into action at Séchault on September
29, 1918 C.E. The Oise-Aisne operations continued into
late-September, when they merged into Foch's great final offensive of
October–November. Five French armies, from right to left the Fifth,
Sixth, Tenth, Third, and the First advanced abreast, in coordination
with the British on the Somme to the north and the Americans to the
east. In October during
the Battle of Ypres-Lys, King Albert's army group attacked along its
entire Front when the Germans began retiring in the sector south of the
Lys to shorten their lines. An incident
occurred from October 2 through October 7th, which showed the fighting
spirit and commitment of the American Doughboy. It was the honorable
struggle made by "Lost Battalion" of the 77th Division. The Americans were
hard hit during the week’s opening Meuse-Argonne Offensive drive of
the big American offensive against the fortified German lines between
the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. During five days of
fighting in the Argonne Forest, over five hundred American infantrymen
had been cut off from their regiment and surrounded by Germans. An
encircled group of about 550 Doughboys were survivors from four
battalions of the New York 77th Division’s infantry. Included were
Companies A, B, C, E, G, and H from the 308th Infantry Regiment, Company
K, from the 307th Infantry Regiment, and Companies C and D from the
306th Machine Gun Regiment. Early on October
2nd, these members of the New York 77th Division’s infantry
attained their goal, the capture of Hill 198. As they were digging in,
fierce German counter-strikes turned back both the French forces on
their left and the other American forces on their right. The commanding
officer Major Whittlesey knew he had only two options, to hold or
retreat. The Major and his brave men declined to retreat and give up
their position. In the following days they lived without food or water
and their every move was observed by German snipers. Their efforts to
retrieve water from a nearby stream met with men being killed by
snipers. For four days, these men resisted German sniper attacks,
soldiers armed with grenades, trench mortars, and flame throwers. Notes on Major
Charles Whittlesey: Sometime near the turn of the century, Charles
Whittlesey’s family moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Charles Whittlesey graduated from Pittsfield High School and
entered Williams College where he was a member of the Delta Psi
fraternity. After graduating from Williams, Whittlesey attended Harvard
Law School where he graduated in 1908 C.E. He then went to New York City
to practice law with a private firm. In 1911 C.E., he entered practice
with his friend and classmate, J. Bayard Pruyun. A month after the United States had entered WWI
in 1917 C.E. Whittlesey took a leave of absence from his law firm to
join the U.S. Army. When he shipped over to France, Whittlesey was a
captain in the Army’s 77th Division, known as the “Metropolitan
Division.” By September of 1917 C.E., Whittlesey was commissioned a
major. The rest is history Known as the Lost
Battalion, they were not actually lot but unable to be reached. The only
nearby Americans uncertain about their location were their own
division’s artillery officers, who bombarded them with heavy shellfire
for two terrifying hours October 3rd, during the second day of the
siege. During the siege
of the Lost Battalion, the German commander released American prisoner
to give Major Whittlesey a message. In it, he asked the American forces
to surrender. Citing the cries of the American wounded, the German
officer attempted to appeal to Major Whittlesey’s humanitarian side.
He did not reply at all, instead he treated the surrender request with
the silent contempt it deserved. During the initial phase of the Meuse-Argonne
Offensive, the American 1st Army stalled before the third line. The
checking of the Allied advance by the Germans was due to the failure of
tank support and a difficult supply situation. There was also the
inexperience of American troops that contributed to the stall. The second phase
of 1st Army’s southern arm operation (October 4th through October
31st) during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was about to begin. This second
phase could begin only after the inexperienced American divisions had
been replaced by veteran units. The American operation fought its way
slowly through the third German line. This forced the enemy to throw in
reserves. These had to be drawn from other areas of the Front, aiding
the Allied advances elsewhere. By October 5th,
the Somme offensive broke through the Hindenburg Line Late on October 7
after failing to break the American Lost Battalion position, the German
forces retreated northward after one last assault. It was just in time,
as the American 82nd Division farther north had broken through and
threatened to encircle them. The final Lost
Battalion casualty count lists 107 killed, 190 wounded, and 63 missing
out of the 554 men who engaged in the defense. Hispanics
from the ROSTER OF THE LOST BATTALION: ·
2nd Battalion Scout, Private Alfred Rodríguez ·
Company G 308th Infantry, Private Rito
Mares ·
Appendix, Private Enríque Peréa ·
Appendix, Private Ángel Orlando ·
Company D 306th, Machine Gun BN.,
Private Anthony Santillo There was another
notable incident during this phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive
campaign. On October 8th, another American Doughboy, Corporal, later
Sergeant, Alvin C. York, single-handedly killed 15 German soldiers
and captured 132. By mid-October,
American General Pershing dispatched two American divisions, the
37th and 91st, at Marshal Foch's request, to the French Army of Belgium
during the Battle of Ypres-Lys to stimulate the drive to cross the
Scheldt (Escaut) southwest of Ghent. Also in
mid-October, after the needed organization of the American 2nd Army was
completed during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive at Toul in the
Saint-Mihiel sector, Pershing assumed command
of the new army group. The organization had been necessary to provide
for better control of the lengthening American Front and to provide
solutions to diverse tactical problems that it presented. Generalfeldmarschall Svetozar
Boroević von Bojna (1856 C.E.-1920 C.E.) of the Central Powers
did not expect an Italian attack along the Piave because of the floods
that occurred in this zone of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto after
October 16, 1918 C.E. Boroević von Bojna was an Austro-Hungarian
field marshal described as one of the finest defensive strategists
of the WWI. Von Bojna was given Austrian nobility as “Baron
Boroëvić von Bojna.” Later, he rose to the rank of Field Marshal
before the end of the WWI in 1918 C.E. The Allied forces
advanced through open country to the Oise-Somme Canal on
October 19th. During the Battle
of Ypres-Lys by October 20th, Ostend and Bruges had been captured and
the Allied left was at the Dutch frontier. During this phase
of the Somme operations, the 27th and 30th Divisions alternated in the
line. When the American II Corps was relieved on October 21st, it had
served 26 days in the line and suffered 11,500 casualties. The Italian 4th,
8th, 10th and 12th Armies were up against the Austro-Hungarian
6th Army, the Armeegruppe Belluno and the Isonzoarmee. Since the
overflowing of the Piave River did not seem to be stopping, on October,
24, 1918 C.E. Marshal of Italy Díaz ordered the 4th Army
to attack the Austro-Hungarian lines on Monte Grappa. The Battle of
Vittorio Veneto had begun. The Battle of Vittorio Veneto would last
through November 4, 1918 C.E. For
Generalfeldmarschall Svetozar Boroević Von Bojna the Commander
of the Southwestern Front in command of Austrian forces saw the Battle
of Vittorio Veneto as a war of attrition. Notes on
Generalfeldmarschall Svetozar Boroević von Bojna (1856 C.E.-1920
C.E.): Von Bojna joined cadet school at the age of
ten, and later at Graz he studied in military academies. He
advanced quickly through the ranks becoming am corporal in 1872 C.E. By
1875 C.E., he attended the Liebenau cadet school and during that same
year Von Bojna was commissioned a lieutenant. The lieutenant
distinguished himself in the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina in 1878. He was promoted to the rank of
Oberleutnant in 1880 C.E. Between 1887 C.E. and 1891 C.E. he underwent
additional military training and worked as an instructor. By 1892 C.E.,
he was promoted to major. He would later become a commander in the Croatian
Home Guard. Before the WWI, he commanded the 42nd division of
the Croatian Home Guard and in 1897 C.E., Von Bojna was promoted to
the rank of Oberst or colonel. Von Bojna was then assigned to the
Imperial & Royal Army in 1898 C.E. There in June, he was appointed a
chief of staff of the Seventh Corps of the Imperial & Royal Army. By
1903 C.E., the Chief of Staff was formally released from the Home Guard.
He would remain with the Seventh Corps of the Imperial & Royal Army
until February 1904 C.E. By 1904 C.E., Von Bojna was promoted Major
General or Generalmajor. That following year, he was created a Hungarian
nobleman by the Emperor and King. In 1908 C.E., the monarch made
him Field Marshal Lieutenant or Feldmarschallleutnant. Von Bojna next
became the commander of the Sixth Corps of the Army in April of 1912 C.E.
By 1913 C.E., he was General of the Infantry. By the start WWI in 1914 C.E.,
Generalmajor Von Bojna was in command of the Sixth Corps on the Eastern
Front. In early September 1914 C.E., he became commander of the Third
Army. By early- October the Generalmajor liberated Fort Przemysl. His
troops next stopped the Russians from breaking out on the
Danube. During the Russian counter-offensive in February and March 1915
C.E., Boroević's Third Army managed to hold until German
reinforcements arrived to save the endangered Budapest and the Pressburg bridgehead.
The Third Army next joined the general
Austro-Hungarian-German offensive. In that offensive, his Third Army
would serve with the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army under Archduke
Joseph Ferdinand and the German Eleventh Army under Mackensen,
pushing back the Russians and eventually retaking Przemysl. Generalmajor Von Bojna did not stay on the
Eastern Front long. On May 25, 1915 C.E., he was assigned to the new
Italian Front. The Generalmajor only took a part of the Third Army with
him. The remainder of his command was attached to Army Group under
Mackensen. At the Italian Front the Generalmajor became the Commander of
the Fifth Army, with which he organized a defense against the Italians and
broke countless offensives. Generalstabschef or Chief of Staff, Franz
Conrad von Hötzendorf, the Supreme Army Command or Armeeoberkommando,
recommended that they the forces on the Italian Front fall back and
avoid trying to defend Slovenia. His view was that it was indefensible.
Generalmajor Von Bojna persisted with thirty of his detachments. He
maintained that the Slovenes would stand their ground when faced with
the defense of their own country. This attitude appealed to Emperor Francis
Joseph and the Generalmajor was given command on the Soča (Isonzo)
Front. There, his troops contained eleven Italian attacks. On May 1,
1916 C.E., for valor in combat, Von Bojna was promoted to the rank of
Generaloberst. By August 23, 1917 C.E., the now Generaloberst became
Commander of the Southwestern Front, the unit later renamed Army
Group Boroević. In January 1918 C.E., the Commander of the
Southwestern Front was opposing Hungarian proposals to split
Austria-Hungary's Army into separate Austrian and Hungarian units. That
following month, on February 1, 1918 C.E., Von Bojna became Generalfeldmarschall
and was also awarded numerous medals, including the highest order for
Austro-Hungarian soldiers, the Military Order of Maria Theresia. He next led the southern prong of the last
Austro-Hungarian offensive at the Battle of the Piave River. The
order of battle was well planned and neither the Italian or Austrian
generals expected a rapid breakdown of the Austrian Army before the
battle. The front was maintained until end of October 1918 C.E., when
the Italian army launched the decisive Offensive of Vittorio Veneto. By October 26th,
the Italian 4th Army had not been able to move forward on the Battle of
Vittorio Front. Seizing the moment, the confident Austro-Hungarians
counterattacked. Therefore, Marshal Díaz commanded the start of
the offensive on the Piave. Its goal was to have the 12th, the 8th, and
10th Armies create three bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the
river near Valdobbiadene, Sernaglia, and Grave di Papadopoli. Aided by
the floods, the Austro-Hungarian troops kept their discipline and
blocked Italian movement just beyond the river. It was only the 11th
Honvéd Cavalry Division that refused to fight near Sernaglia.
On the evening of
October 27th, the turning point of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto
arrived. A decision made by Lieutenant-General Enrico Caviglia
KCB (May 4, 1862 C.E.-March 22, 1945 C.E.) to exploit a small
bridgehead. He sent two fresh divisions from the 8th to the 10th Army
to cut communications between the Austrian 6th Army and the Isonzoarmee.
Under the capable command of Frederick Rudolph Lambart, Earl of Cavan
(1865 C.E.-1946 C.E.), the Italian 10th Army could be counted upon
for Battle of Vittorio Veneto. It was at that time composed of two
English and two Italian divisions. The 10th made its way beyond
Grave di Papadopoli and was able to create a small, but significant
break in the Austrian lines. Meanwhile, the
Austrian Generalfeldmarschall Svetozar Boroević von Bojna
tried to relocate his reserve near the front. Both the distance and the
unreliability of these troops prevented him from stopping the Italian
10th Army’s advance. The Generalfeldmarschall could relocate only six
reserve divisions. Most of the Hungarian, Czech, Slovenian, and Croatian
reserve soldiers refused to obey orders. Therefore, after
the failure of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto counterattack of October
28th, the Austrian defensive situation worsened. The Austrian Reserve
units began to desert the Front because they were feeling the effects of
the internal situation in the Austrian state. In many cases they refused
to obey orders. The non-Austrian troops began leaving their positions
following the secessions of their nations from the dual monarchy. It
began with the Czechs and Slovaks on October 28th. At the Battle of
Vittorio Veneto Front, the South Slavs left their positions, deserting
the Front on October 29th. On that same day, the Austro-Hungarian high
command ordered a general retreat and organized an armistice commission
which contacted the Italian army. Meanwhile, the
Italian 8th Army exploited the Battle of Vittorio Veneto Front
breakthrough of the 10th Army. It was this unwillingness of
Austro-Hungarian soldiers to sacrifice their lives for a cause they did
not perceive as their own. Poor Austrian morale was probably the key
element which allowed the Italian 8th Army to transform a local
breakthrough into a strategic advance. It advanced in the direction of
Vittorio Veneto. It reached the city the next day, on October 30th. The
element of poor Austrian morale was decisive in allowing the Italian 8th Army
to reach Vittorio Veneto and divide the Austrian army into two parts.
The Italian high command next ordered attacks on the other zones on the
Front to exploit the Austrian retreat. That day, the Battle of Vittorio
Veneto became a spontaneous retreat of the Austrian army. October 31st, at
the Battle of Vittorio Veneto Front the deserting South Slavs were
followed by the troops of Hungary. The Germans put up
a stubborn defense during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive using newly
devised tactics of attacking frontline troops with airplanes. This
limited American gains and casualties were severe. The First Army
responded with air unit bombing raids, braking up German preparations
for counterattacks. Finally, by the end of October the enemy had been
cleared from the Argonne and First Army troops were through the German
main positions. During the Battle
of Ypres-Lys on October 31st, a general attack began in this area and
continued intermittently until hostilities ended on November 11th. Before the third and final phase of the
Meuse-Argonne Offensive’s southern arm operation (November 1st through
November 11th) could get under way, the Americans had to join the
advancing British and French armies. Even before that, General Pershing
had to ruthlessly relieve division officers who faltered under pressure.
Many of the exhausted divisions of the 1st Army also had to be replaced,
roads built or repaired, supply improved, and most Allied units serving
with the A.E.F. withdrawn. On November 1st, American First Army units began
the third and final phase of their Meuse-Argonne Offensive southern
operation assault. Unfortunately, it did so against a now strengthened
German fourth line of defense. Fortunately, the Americans were better
prepared. The penetration of the German line was more rapid than
expected. That day, the V Corps in the center advanced about six miles,
forcing the German units west of the Meuse to withdraw. By November 2nd, the 37th Division participating
in the Ypres-Lys Campaign to
liberate Belgium and parts of northeast France forced a river
crossing southeast of Heurne. In Italy, on the afternoon of November 3rd, the
Italian troops on the Battle of Vittorio Veneto Front reached Trento and
Trieste. That’s same day, at 3:20 p.m. the armistice was signed in
Villa Giusti. The armistice became effective twenty-four hours later, at
3:00 p.m. on November 4th. In a toast on armistice night, the American General
John J. Pershing
paid honest tribute to how he had emerged from the cauldron of the
Argonne a victorious general. “To the men,” he said, “They were
willing to pay the price.” By November 4th, the III Corps forced a crossing
of the Meuse and advanced northeast toward Montmédy. The British
advance in the Somme region also continued until the Armistice. It
constituted the northern arm of Foch's great pincers movement on the
Germans' vital lateral rail communications system. The key junction at
Aulnoye, southwest of Maubeuge, was reached on November 5th.
A total of about 54,000 Americans participated in the Somme
Campaign. On November 6th, with armistice in hand, the
Imperial and Royal Austrian Army was demobilized by Charles
I or Karl I, Karl Franz Joseph Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Maria
(August 17, 1887 C.E.-April 1, 1922 C.E.). He would be the last reigning
monarch of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was also the last Emperor
of Austria, the last King of Hungary (as Charles IV), the
last King of Bohemia (as Charles III), and the last
monarch belonging to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Charles I
had been Emperor since 1916 C.E. In 1918, he would renounce
participation in state affairs, but not abdicate. By November 7th, elements of the V Corps occupied
the heights opposite Sedan thus finally accomplishing the American 1st
Army's chief mission of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. It denied the
Sedan-Mézières railroad to the Germans. Marshal Foch, at this
juncture, then shifted the 1st Army’s left boundary eastward so that
the French Fourth Army might capture Sedan, which had fallen to the
Prussians in 1870 C.E. During Ypres-Lys Campaign, the 37th Division
forced a crossing of another river farther north at the site of the
destroyed Hermelgem-Syngem bridge on November 10th. The casualties of
the two divisions in these operations totaled about 2,600. About 108,000 Americans had participated in the
Ypres-Lys Campaign, from August 19th through November 11, 1918 C.E. A total of 19 British Empire divisions, 12 French
divisions and 1 American division took part. Somme Offensive would
continue until hostilities ceased on November 11th. Up to November 11th, no other American divisions,
except the the 92nd and the 93rd participated in subsequent
Oise-Aisne operations which carried the French armies to the Belgian
border. A total of about 85,000 Americans had taken part in the
Oise-Aisne Campaign under French command. This push was part of what had
forced the Austrians to accept an armistice on November 4th. Pershing
was the only Allied commander who opposed the armistice, urging
continued pressure until the Germans surrendered unconditionally. With the war now
lost, Wilhelm II German Kaiser or Emperor and King of Prussia,
Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Hohenzollern (January 27, 1859 C.E.-June
4, 1941 C.E.) was the last German Kaiser and King of Prussia,
had ruled the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia since
June 15, 1888 C.E. faced the inevitable. Under the Imperial
constitution, Wilhelm the holder of the German Imperial Crown and the
Prussian Crown could not renounce one crown without renouncing the
other. With this complete understanding Wilhelm consented to the
abdication only after Ludendorff's replacement, General Wilhelm
Groener, informed him that the officers and men of the army would march
back in good order under Paul von Hindenburg's command, but would
not fight for Wilhelm's throne on the home front. He abdicated on
November 9, 1918 C.E. Two days later, the American units engaged in
Meuse-Argonne Offensive were closing up along the Meuse east of the
river. They were advancing toward Montmédy, Briey, and Metz,
when hostilities ended. A German-Allied
Armistice was agreed upon at 5:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918
C.E., to go into effect at 11:00 a.m. Paris time, and noon German
time. With the war now
over, General Pershing
authorized the results of the Meuse-Argonne Campaign. It was the
greatest battle in American history up to that time. In his “Final
Report,” he stated that 22 American and 4 French divisions, on the
front extending from southeast of Verdun to the Argonne
Forest, had engaged and decisively beaten 47 different German divisions
or 25 percent of the enemy's entire divisional strength on the Western
Front. More than 1,200,000 Americans had taken part in
the 47-day campaign. The American 1st Army had suffered a loss of about
117,000 killed and wounded. It had captured 26,000 Central Power
prisoners, 847 cannons, 3,000 machineguns, and large quantities of
materiel. For his valiant efforts during this War, John
J. Pershing would later be promoted to General of the Armies of the
United States, Army of the United States, on September 3, 1919 C.E. During those battles, Hispano soldiers from New Mexico, like 19
year-old Nicholas Lucero
served with great distinction. Lucero
received the French Croix de Guerre during World War I. The French Croix de Guerre, ‘War Cross,’ or literally ‘Cross of
War,’ was established on April 8, 1915 C.E.
to recognize acts of combat valor. He was awarded it for
destroying two German machine gun nests and maintaining constant fire
for three hours. Lucero,
Nick (Nicolas or Nicanor) Private, U.S. Army 32nd Division (Red Arrow Division),
A.E.F.120th Machinegun Battalion Date of Action: Degree of Award: unknown Private Lucero
reportedly earned his Croix de Guerre for
destroying two German machine
gun positions and for keeping constant fire on enemy
positions for more than 3 hours. General Orders: Born: Hometown: Albuquerque,
New Mexico World
War 1 New Mexico Casualties - Killed In Action Águilar,
Santiago, San Miguel Carabajal,
Alberto, Wilard Chávez,
Eutimio, San Rafael Gallegos,
Biterbo, Central Garanillo,
António, San António Gonsáles,
Delfide, Tucumcari Griego,
Elisco, Albuquerque Herrera,
Paul, Rociada Madrid,
Agapito, Arroyo Seco Montoya,
Albino, La Cruces Anchez,
Solomon, Ratos Trujillo,
Reuben, Cleveland Valero,
Procopio, Las Vegas Died
Of Disease Privates Castro,
Erenes, Los Lunas Del
Valle, Augustine, Bernalillo Gardenas,
Masimiliano, Maxwell Griego,
Emilio, Embudo Lucero,
Octaviano, Taos Moya,
Louis, Arrabela Padilla,
Elisie, Magdalena Romero,
Toney, Trampas Viarial,
Margarito B., Alcade Died
Of Wounds Privates Aragón,
Alonzo, Dawson Chávez,
Joaquín, Corvio García,
Joseph P., Albuquerque López,
Adolfo, Tinaja Madrid,
Francisco E., Las Cruces Peña,
José N., Albuquerque Rodríguez,
Daniel, Hillsboro Tafoya,
Silas, Dixon Died
Of Accident Privates Chávez,
Cisto R., Puerto de Luna Mares,
Francisco, Cabeson 1918
Casualties Data
from NARA
After completing the
writing this Chapter, I paused to take a moment and reflect upon this
tragedy. It says something of human nature that in 1918 C.E. an English
journalist caustically named it the “First World War,” believing
that it would not be the last. August of 2018 C.E. marked the 100th anniversary
of the beginning of the First World or War World War I (WWI). November 11th
of 2018 C.E. will mark the 100th anniversary of end of the
devastating conflict. During my research,
I found that philosophers and other far smarter then I, have spent
almost one hundred and four years attempting to find explanations for
why this disaster occurred. Most of those that are given to conspiracy
theories believe that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the
heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was only a pretext. One can certainly
find deeper causes for the catastrophe. Mankind’s moral instincts
surely lagged behind its better angels as lust for material wealth drove
many of the greedy. It was most certainly a result of the greed of rich
belligerents attempting to become even wealthier in land and natural
resources. The obvious competition between the Great Powers over
resource-rich colonies in Africa had been at the forefront for some
time. Britain’s naval supremacy and the fear of Russia’s rising
power most certainly triggered Germany’s psychological insecurity and
her actions toward war. As for Russia, she had been for some time
engaged in an internal struggle between liberty and autocracy. Though,
czarist Russia’s alliance with France and England undercut this
argument to some degree. Domestic protests
over hunger and joblessness had been ongoing in Russia. The already
strained Russian economy was under siege. Protests broke out in masse
with Russia’s launching her second and last major offensive on the
Eastern Front on May 22nd (June 4th), 1916 C.E. In response to the
domestic strife, the government did its usual political shuffling.
Several generals, administrators, and others were dismissed. Thousands
were arrested. Determined Russian peasants, soldiers, and workers were
now in support of ending the war. Yet, the Russian military continued on
with its war. Whatever the truth
is, our founding fathers were correct when they told us to beware of
foreign entangling and alliances. We should add one more warning,
“beware of the maneuverings of diplomats and generals who knowingly
drag ambivalent nations into unnecessary wars.” What we do know is
that before the Great War, people were thinking of little else. One
British political scientist wrote regarding WWI, “War came upon them
like a thunderclap.”
It was something of a crash of thunder, startling, yet not totally
unexpected. And once it began, the participating nations found cruel
and creative ways to kill one another’s soldiers. Trenches were
constructed which stretched in an unbroken line for 475 miles from the
North Sea to the Swiss border. It is reported that the Germans holding
some of these trenches constructed walls using corpses. When the French
troops later captured that same trench, they hung canteens from the
protruding ankles of the dead. How European soldiers had succumbed to
barbarity! It should be said that all wars, not just WWI, tell us
something about human nature at its ignoble, dishonorable, and shameful
worst. Unfortunately, such actions speak to our true nature. In 1916 C.E., at the
Front in northern France, along the Somme River, more than 1 million men
were killed or wounded. This for an Allied advance of only seven miles,
the cost was a little over 27 dead men per-foot. The poor use of the
men’s lives was not to build roads, bridges, waterways, schools, or
create great works of art. It was simply for the gaining of some amount
of land to continue more killing. Two years later in 1918 C.E., a
quarter of all the artillery shells fired on the Western Front were
filled poisonous gas, delivering a horrible death. More than a third of
all German males born between the years of 1892 C.E. and 1895 C.E. died
during the course of the Great War. The killing spread from military
targets to the civilian populations of England and France. These
civilians were attacked from the air, with death being delivered from
bombs dropped by German zeppelin airships. Here we arrive at
one salient point, of the utter destructiveness of the War and its
senselessness. Humans, that carnivorous species that kill its own kind
for no good reason, suffer from some form of insanity. The insanity of
continued war suffered by the Germans and Austrians was finally brought
to a halt simply because they could no longer carry on. The use of the
concept of “total war” had consumed them. WWI had cost tens of
millions of lives and shattered the old world in Europe. By the end of
that War, more than 16 million men had gone to their slaughter. After
that sad and pointless war, the hard-hearted Versailles Treaty of 1919
C.E. was agreed to. Some believe that it was an unnecessary harshness
accorded the defeated Imperial Empires of Germany and Austria. What to
be true is that the post-war ravaged economies of Europe would produce a
“lost generation” of young Germans and those in other nations ready
to offer themselves up to the gods of war. That legal
instrument of peace and its reparations which officially ended the war
would by its harshness cause a far worse tragedy just 20 years later. It
would also pave the way for the rise to power of Communist Russia’s
Stalin, Nazi Germany’s Hitler, and a second world war. WWII would begin in
1939 C.E. and end in 1945 C.E. In its wake, it would leave something
approaching 100 million people dead and the world in shambles. In our next chapter
of the Family History of the de
Riberas, “Chapter Twenty-Five - Post-WWI 1919 C.E. through WWII
(1942 C.E.-1945 C.E.),” we will discuss the rise of the German tyrant
Adolf Hitler and an even more destructive and vile worldwide
conflagration, World War Two (WWII). During the WWII
Hispanic Americans, including the de
Riberas, would serve in all branches of the American armed forces.
There were between 250,000 and 500,000 Hispanic Americans who served.
This is out of a total of 12,000,000. That number constitutes 2.3%
to 4.7% of the U.S. Armed Forces of the period. Unfortunately, the exact
number is unknown. At the time, Hispanics were not tabulated separately,
but were generally included in the general White population census
count. These Hispanics would fight in every major American battle
in that war. 08/04/2018 07:14 PM |
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