ZULU!

The years 2008 -2011 have been very good years for Zulu War collectors (like my friend Papa Zulu - Joe Quintinni). Britains produced some excellent figures and accessories and then Conte released their superb Zulu line. Put 'em all together and you get battlescenes like the ones on this page. This page will start with the most recent images and then go back in time.

via ZULU.

One of Abdul Aboulboul Amir's Beja infantry units helping to protect the oasis in our RED DESERT colonial campaign. These three battles were fought during January, 2009 and the reports are listed below:

Into the Desert The first game, played on January 3, 2009 at THE DRAGON'S LAIR in Pearl MS, in which the Anglo/Egyptian/Indian forces got a bloody nose.

The Imperials Strike Back! The second game, also played at the THE DRAGON'S LAIR, in which the Imperials defended the Missionary compound and generally shot up the Dervishes.

Searching for the Lost Lamb The third and last game, in which the Imperial players search for poor lieutenant Rigby-Figby who has wandered off apparently. Played also in Pearl MS, on January 31, 2009.

via Jackson Gamers' Colonial Wars page.

Shisan Hang, Guangzhou, where foreign trade was handled in the Qing Dynasty

In the 16th century, western colonial powers traveled to remote eastern lands to seek resources and to create markets and overseas colonies. In 1514, the Portuguese landed on Chinese land, followed by the Spanish, the Dutch, and the British. In 1793, a British delegation led by McCartney required the Qing imperial court to open trading ports, establish firms, and even to provide Zhoushan Islands for “dry goods.” The Qing imperial court determinedly refused the request.

 

Britain, with a trade deficit against China, began to smuggle opium into the country with intent to seduce Chinese civilians and soldiers to use it. The British government counted on the addictive nature of opium to produce sales that would overturn their trade deficit. The quantity of opium imported reached more than 40,000 chests per year by 1840.

 

The Chinese people suffered ...

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Captured MS.406 fighters of GC I/7, in July 1941.

On 13 May 1941, the fears of de Gaulle and Spears were realised when German aircraft landed in Syria in support of the Iraqi rebel Rashid Ali, who was opposed to the pro-British government. On 8 June, 30,000 troops (Indian Army, British, Australian, Free French and the Trans-Jordanian Frontier Force) invaded Lebanon and Syria in what was known as Operation Exporter. There was stiff resistance from the Vichy French and Spears commented bitterly on ‘that strange class of Frenchmen who had developed a vigour in defeat which had not been apparent when they were defending their country’

 

In 1941 Beirut added war between Vichy France and Britain to its stock of conflicts. The fall of France in June 1940 had shattered Lebanese Christians, many of whom had based their lives on French power and culture. Many Arabs, however ...

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In the period between 1945 and the end of the 1960s, the “colonial moment” came to an end across most of Africa, and did not last much longer even in those areas which proved rather more resistant to change. In some places, indeed, the experience of colonial rule had lasted little more than a couple of generations; the consequences may on certain levels have been profound, but in other respects what followed was a reversion to an earlier, nineteenth-century, pattern of relations between Africa and Europe. This may or may not have been the ultimate objective of colonial administrators, depending on how much we believe there to have been a “grand plan” in Rome, London, Paris, Lisbon or Brussels; but the speed with which colonial rule itself came to an end was certainly not anticipated. The empires set up in the 1890s and 1900s were meant to last rather longer ...

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25th President of the United States

William McKinley’s administration encompassed the Spanish–American War and the colonization of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. Although some Americans were critical of U.S. overseas expansion, McKinley’s image as a successful wartime leader helped him win election to a second term in 1900.

 

McKinley’s participation in the Civil War provided him with first-hand military experience. He enlisted as a volunteer for the Union Army at the age of 18. Having gained widespread recognition as a commissary sergeant when he brought food and water to his colleagues pinned down at the battle of Antietam, McKinley obtained a commission and fought in the heavily contested Shenandoah Valley. He left the Army with the brevet rank of major and used that military title throughout his life.

 

Although his political career certainly benefited from his service record in the Union Army, McKinley ...

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Mustafa Kemal and Libyan bedevis

The Young Turks' transition to Turkish nationalism had only begun, however, when it was given a final thrust forward by a new wave of foreign attacks on the empire starting with that of the Italians in Tripoli and Bengazi late in 1911. The kingdom of Italy dreamed of an empire that would revive the glory of the old Roman Empire. Most of the African territories contiguous to the Mediterranean had been already taken by Britain and France, and only Tripoli seemed reasonably available. Ottoman rule there was nominal. The garrisons were weak, the government limited and inadequate, and the economic situation poor. The interior, inhabited by bedouins, had recently come under the control of a Muslim pietistic movement led by the Senusis, further undermining the sultan's suzerainty. On the other hand, Tripoli was close to Italy. Italian merchants had been active there for some ...

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The ravages of the Second World War left Europe’s colonial powers gravely weakened and incapable of projecting power in the region. In the face of severe British weakness and with the expiry of Britain’s mandate over Palestine looming, the United Nations (UN) attempted to forge a compromise partition plan to accommodate Palestine’s Jewish and Arab population. The plan was rejected outright by the Arabs, and when the mandate expired in 1948, Zionist leaders unilaterally declared the state of Israel. This declaration triggered an invasion by neighbouring Arab states, and in the resulting Arab–Israeli War of 1948, Israeli forces succeeded in driving out large numbers of Arab inhabitants of Palestine, significantly expanding the borders of the nascent Israeli state. This was the first of three major wars between Israel and various Arab forces over the course of the next twenty-five years. Collectively, these wars resulted in the ...

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The First World War marked a decisive turning point in Middle Eastern history. During the war, in an effort to undermine the Ottoman Empire from within, the British encouraged the empire’s Arab subjects to rise up in revolt against Ottoman rule. The Arab Revolt, led by Sherif Hussein, helped hasten the demise of the Ottoman Empire and did much to fuel the emergence of Arab nationalism in the region. In return for their assistance in defeating the Turks, the British had promised to recognise an independent Arab state in the aftermath of the war. This promise was made explicit in a letter of 1915 from British High Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon, to Sherif Hussein, which pledged that, subject to certain modifications, “Great Britain is prepared to recognize and uphold the independence of the Arabs in all the regions lying within the frontiers proposed by the Sharif of ...

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The Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV, however, believed that the Italians violated this promise and attacked an Italian military column at Dogali in 1887, before advancing toward Massawa.

Eritrea was an Italian colony on the Red Sea coast of east Africa. In 1869, the Rubattino Steamship Company had purchased the port of Assab to use as a trading station on the Red Sea. When the port proved less than successful, Italian investors acquired Massawa in 1885 with the connivance of the British. This angered Ethiopia, which believed that Italy had infringed on its rights to the city. To avoid a conflict, the Italians agreed to halt further expansion. The Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV, however, believed that the Italians violated this promise and attacked an Italian military column at Dogali in 1887, before advancing toward Massawa. There were only a small number of Italian forces in East Africa, and Italy was unwilling ...

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