Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK): The ANC’s Armed Wing, 1961–1993

Launched in 1961 by leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa and the South African Communist Party (SACP), Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was the military wing of the ANC until its disbandment in 1993. The initial stage of MK’s armed struggle involved sabotage against government installations and other symbols of the apartheid regime by a small group of operatives. Under increasing repression by the apartheid state, and thanks to the support received from African and socialist countries, MK adopted a strategy of guerrilla warfare as armed struggle assumed an increasingly central role in the liberation struggle, although the military was understood as an extension of political work, that is, linked to the reinvigoration of political struggle and organizations. Geopolitical constraints prevented MK from waging a conventional guerrilla war, and from the 1970s MK adjusted its strategy by turning to armed propaganda and people’s war. While debates on the role of MK in South Africa’s liberation are often reduced to the relative success or failure of military strategy and action, the history of MK remains a sensitive topic post-apartheid, carrying significant weight both symbolically and in the lives of thousands of people who served in its ranks, including women, who joined and participated in MK throughout the three decades of its existence.

The V. Schoeneman Case: Einsatzkommando 8, the Wehrmacht and the Holocaust

In 1964, the trial of Werner Schoenemann, the commander of one of the 6 punitive units of the Einsatzkommando 8, took place in Cologne. The criminal was charged with mass executions of Jews on the territory of Belarus in late June — September 1941. The paper shows how the former Nazi tried to avoid criminal responsibility and what legal assessment by the German justice his atrocities received. V. Schoeneman denied his guilt and sought to shift responsibility for what he had done to the Wehrmacht troops. The defendant argued that the actions of extermination of Jews were carried out on the initiative of the German armed forces and were in the nature of reprisals; they were designed to force the local population to abandon the conduct of guerrilla warfare. Based on the testimony of the accused, law enforcement officers detained three officers of the 354th Infantry Regiment involved in the liquidation of the Jewish community of the town of Krupki (September 18, 1941). During the investigation, it was established that the service members provided support to members of the Einsatzkommando 8 during the execution, but were not the initiators of this atrocity. For complicity in the grave murders of 2,170 Jews in the settlements of Slonim, Borisov, Smolevichi, Krupki and others, V. Schoeneman was sentenced to 6 years in prison. When assigning such a lenient punishment, representatives of the German Themis relied on the dominant approach to assessing the criminal activities of former Nazis in the 1960s. According to the jury, the defendant was only a submissive executor of orders, an impersonal, devoid of his own motives “cog” in the mechanism of the Nazi state. V. Schoeneman did not repent of what he had done. For the former punisher, Jewish victims were still just dry figures in the reports, thanks to which he sought to make a career. Schoeneman’s case proves that Wehrmacht service members took an active part in the Holocaust along with members of the Einsatzkommandos. The genocide, unprecedented in the history of humankind, became possible only because of the broad participation of German citizens representing various social strata and professional groups.

Return of the Prodigal Son? Transformations in Zimbabwe’s Relations with China Since 1963

The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) introduced Zimbabwe into the realm of China during the liberation struggle as it sourced military support. In line with the Chinese dominance in ZANU, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) guerrilla warfare followed the Maoist doctrine. However, at independence, Zimbabwe joined the British Commonwealth and became a part of the western orbit. Although the country continued to have some form of political and economic linkages with China, the relations were cosmetic. It was at the fall of the cordial relations with the West at the end of the 1990s that Zimbabwe refocused on China. Zimbabwe hinged its survival on Chinese support as it turned full circle to the East. This paper analyses the long historical relations between Zimbabwe and China. It argues that political transformations returned back Zimbabwe to China’s hegemony. The paper is based on qualitative research methods and information was gathered primarily through the use of archival data.

Formation and Development of Ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea (End of the 18th — Beginning of the 21st Century) in Domestic Historiography

The article describes the state of scientific research on the history of the formation of the Ukrainian community in Crimea in the late 18th – early 21st century, which appeared in the 1990s – early 2000s, when, after the revival of its autonomy, there was a breakthrough in research on various aspects of Crimean history, and written at a new, higher level on the principles of historicism, objectivity, alternativeness. It is the post-Soviet period that is characterized by extensive scholarly discussions on the history of Crimea and the prospects for its development. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of works, which comprehend the debatable issues of the common historical destiny of Ukraine and Crimea, debunk the myths of “originally Russian Crimea”, highlight the problems of solving the Crimean question in 1917–1920, chronology of P. Bolbachan’s campaign, proclamation of Crimean republics in 1918–1921, the Bolsheviks pursuing a policy of indigenization in the Crimea, the famine of the 1920s–1930s and repression on the peninsula, as well as guerrilla warfare during World War II. The author claims that after 1991, hundreds of academic monographs and articles appeared, dozens of dissertations were defended, and a number of academic conferences on various areas of Crimean history were held.It is established that there is no comprehensive study of the formation of the community of Ukrainians in Crimea at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 21st century. Scarcely studied is the sociopolitical, demographic, economic situation of Ukrainians on the peninsula during the collapse of the Russian Empire and the existence of national and quasi-state formations on its territory, as well as the policy of Crimean regional governments towards Ukrainians and the policy of UPR and Ukrainian State governments regarding the protection of Ukrainians in Crimea, its state affiliation, etc. A comprehensive analysis is required for the policy of Ukraine towards the Ukrainian ethnic community of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol in 1991–2014, as well as the occupation policy of the Russian Federation after 2014, which led to discrimination against Crimean Ukrainians and the threat of assimilation of some of them. The annexation of Crimea, which took place in violation of the Constitutions of Ukraine and the ARC, laws of Ukraine and universally recognized international legal norms, rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens living in Crimea, was a pre-arranged special operation, information and propaganda policy being one of its key components. Currently, the problems of the emergence and overcoming of pro-Russian identity in Crimea at the present stage and the development of ways to optimize the system of public administration and national security of Ukraine are insufficiently studied.

The Oxford Handbook of the American Civil War

This volume integrates the military and social histories of the American Civil War in its chapter organization. Its contributors use war and society methods: a holistic approach to understanding war and its consequences that incorporates the topics and techniques of a variety of historical subfields. Each chapter narrates a military campaign embedded in its strategic, political, and social context. Authors explore the consequences of a military campaign for the people who lived in its path and provide analysis of how an army’s presence reverberated throughout society in its region of operation. The volume yields a number of important insights about the impact of military campaigns, including the scale of movement, deportation, and depopulation among civilians; how the refugee experience and military action shaped emancipation as a process; the extent of guerrilla warfare; resistance to federal authority in the Great Plains and the Southwest; locations of localized total war; the implementation of military conscription in the Confederacy; a campaign’s consequences for cities, rural areas, and the natural environment; and the synergy between war and politics. Chapters consider the role of weather, topography, logistics, and engineering in the conduct of military campaigns.

Introduction

The introduction to The Oxford Handbook of the American Civil War provides an overview of historical scholarship regarding the effect of military campaigns on nonmilitary resources and people. Using war and society methods, it explores the consequences of military campaigns in the political, social, and environmental spheres. Topics covered in the introduction include movement, deportation, and depopulation among civilians; refugees; military action and emancipation; insurrection; guerrilla warfare; resistance to Federal authority on the Great Plains and in the Southwest; gender; African Americans, Hispanos, and Native Americans; locations of localized total war; military conscription in the Confederacy; cities, rural areas, and the natural environment; the synergy between war and politics; religion; spatial, and temporal analysis of military campaigns; logistics; the soldier experience; and medical care.

The Battle of Manila, February 4–5, 1899

Narrates the fighting between Filipino insurrectos and the American regular and volunteer troops deployed to the Philippines to fight the Spanish. Spanish surrender and American ambitions ultimately led to a conventional battle on the outskirts of Manila. The Battle of Manila marked a turning point in intercultural war. A conventional battle waged using symmetrical tactics, it was one of the encounters that showed decisively that, with some exceptions, non-western forces could no longer stand on the battlefield against a western power. In the battle itself, American racist attitudes combined with experience fighting Indians to dominate American tactics and the soldiers’ experience of combat. For their part, Filipino forces were defined in many ways by the patron system through which they were recruited, which undermined the overall cohesion and effectiveness of their army. The Americans won decisively at Manila, but then struggled to adapt when the Filipinos turned to guerrilla warfare.

Maoism

Mao Zedong and his legacy may be given credit for effective innovation in conducting guerrilla warfare and mobilizing the peasantry to win a fifteen-year battle against the Guomindang and the Japanese. Stains on his legacy are the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.