Coded message from the German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmermann (1864-1940), to the German minister in Mexico. It was intercepted by British naval intelligence, which disclosed its contents to the Us Government.

The message’s import was that if the USA declared war on Germany, Mexico should attack the USA with German and Japanese assistance in return for the American states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Japan had entered WWI on the Allied side in 1914, and Germany was seeking (unsuccessfully) to induce it to change sides.

In the event neither Japan nor Mexico collaborated with Germany, but the outrage aroused by the Telegram in the USA played a major part in the country’s decision 3 months later to enter WWI.

Commonwealth republic of SC Africa. Area: 390,308 sq km. Pop: 7,360,000. Official Language: English. Religions: Animist, Christian. Cap: Harare (formerly Salisbury).

Pakistani general and politician. After WWII he rose rapidly through the ranks to become chief of staff (1976). He led the coup deposing BHUTTO (1977) and succeeded him as president (1978). Martial law was in force and political parties banned (1977-78), and no elections have been held. His intentions seem to be toward leading the country into a state of Islamic fundamentalism, though relying on the USA for defensive requirements, and the West in general for economic and financial support.

Soviet marshal and politician. The outstanding commander of WWII, he was prominent in the siege of LENINGRAD, the defence of Moscow (1941), the victory at STALINGRAD (1943), the capture of Berlin (1945). He was Minister of Defence (1955-57). Shortly after achieving membership of the Presidium (1957) he was dismissed from government and party posts on the groups of encouraging his own personality cult, and of undermining the party’s position within the armed forces.

Chinese Communist statesman. He was a founder member of the French Communist Party when he lived in Paris (1920-24). On returning to China he organized revolts against the war lords in Shanghai, Nanjing and Canton, spent 2 years in the USSR, and then became Mao Zedong’s urban revolutionary affairs adviser. During WWII he was the Communists` Liaison officer in the capital, Chongquing. He was PM (1949-76) from the time of the Republic’s establishment, also holding the office of Foreign Minister until 1958. Pragmatic and urbane, he became the best known of China’s leaders on the international scene, travelling widely on diplomatic missions, and as leader of DÉTENTE with the USA (1972-73).

Bulgarian Communist politician. He joined the Party in 1932, and became a partisan resistance leader during WWII. After the Communists seized power (1944) he advanced steadily in the Party’s hierarchy, becoming First Secretary in 1954. Following a succession of purges he emerged in a position of dominance (1962) when he became PM, an office he exchanged for the new one of Chairman of the State Council (1971) while retaining the First Secretaryship.

Socialist federal republic of SE Europe. Area: 255,804sq km. Pop: 22,340,000. Languages: Macedonian, Serbo Croat and Slovene. Religions: Orthodox, RC and Islam. Cap: Belgrade. The federated states of the Republic are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro (Serbo-Croat, Crna Gora), Serbia, and Slovenia; there are also 2 autonomous provinces – Kosovo and Vojvodina.

The kingdom of Yugoslavia was established (1918) under the terms of the Corfu Pact (1917), concluded by leaders of Serbia and South Slav (Yugoslav) refugees from Austria-Hungary. The diversity of religious beliefs embodied in the various republics caused considerable political difficulties in the unification of the new state, reaching a climax with the assassination of a Croat agrarian leader, Stefan Radic, in the Constitutional Assembly (1928). This resulted in King Alexander (1888-1934) repealing the Constitution and assuming dictatorial powers (1929). Alexander was a Serb and his actions aggravated the divisions within the country. Croats and Slovenes in particular alleged that the state was too Serbian-orientated, and in 1934 Alexander was assassinated by Croatian extremists.

Alexander was succeeded by his son, Peter II, but as he was a minor, Alexander’s cousin, Prince Paul (1896-1976) acted as Regent until 1941 when he was dismissed in a military coup for being too subservient to German and Italian influence. Ten days later Germany invaded Yugoslavia, and King and government went into exile in the UK. Resistance movements fought on and eventually Tito and his followers deposed the King (1944) and established the Republic (1945).

Under Tito, Yugoslavia has become a leader of the non-aligned nations. Although a Communist state, it has followed an independent course from that approved by the USSR and its allies, having broken with them in 1948. It condemned the invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and is not a member of the Cominform, Comecon or Warsaw Pact. Foreign investment is encouraged, the tourist industry is being expanded, land reforms without collectivisation have occurred, and industrial development covers a wide range of manufacturing processes.

4 conflicts of WWI centered around the Belgian town of Ypres, which was completely destroyed but never captured by the Germans. The first battle (1914), resulted in the Germans capturing the Messines Ridge. The second battle (1915) was the first occasion when gas was used in warfare. The third battle (1917) involved a combined Australian, British and Canadian offensive against the Messines Ridge and the village of Passchendaele. The fourth battle (1918), also known as the Ballte of the River Lys, occurred when the Germans attempted to encircle Ypres. In total the Germans suffered some quarter of a million casualties while the Allied Losses amounted to about twice that figure.

Turkish reform movement (1903-09) in the Ottoman Empire instrumental in masterminding a rebellion by liberal army officers in the Salonika (1908), followed by the founding of a Committee of Union and Progress in Constantinople (now Istanbul).

The revolt was in support of a demand for the restoration of the 1876 Constitution, and 3 officers who had been urging the country’s modernization for several years headed the Committee. A parliament was summoned, the Constitution restored, Sultan Abdul Hamid deposed, and a policy of radical reform of government and society was instituted. The movement broke up because of internal disagreements.

Scheme for the settlement of Germany’s WWI Reparations proposed by a committee chaired by a US businessman, Owen D. Young (1874-1962).

It superseded the Dawes Plan and reduced Germany’s payments by some 75%, the remaining debt to be redeemed in the form of annuities to an international bank until 1988. It terminated foreign control over Germany’s finances; returned Germany’s securities which had been held by the Allies; transferred responsibility for converting reparations payments into foreign currencies from the Allies to Germany; abolished the Reparations Commission; and ended Allied rights to apply sanctions should payments be in default.

After 1935 Hitler blocked further payments, which had been suspended for 3 years in 1932 owing to the Depression. The Plan was, therefore, of little value since only one payment was made under its terms.

Conventions signed in the Cameroons capital between the EEC and former Belgian, Dutch, French and Italian colonies which wanted to continue their association with the EEC after independence.

Provision was made for duty-free entry into the EEC of certain exports from the former colonies, with a similar arrangement for exports from the EEC into most of the countries. A European Development fund was also established to assist the associated countries.

Following the enlargement of the EEC (1973), former British colonies entered the Agreements, which were superseded by the Lomé Convention in 1975.

Second and more important of the WWII meetings between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin (the first was the Teheran Conference).

Principal agreements reached incl. (1) Germany’s division into 4 occupation zones and the establishment of an Allied Control Commission in Berlin following the expected Allied victory; (2) Germany’s disarmament and obligation to pay Reparations, coupled with the trial and punishment of war criminals; (3) Poland’s re-establishment within new frontiers, the E part of the country to be ceded to the USSR along the Curzon Line, with the W part extended into German territory along the Oderneisse Line as compensation; (4) the establishment of democratic governments in liberated countries on the basis of free elections; (5) the declaration of war on Japan by the USSR; (6) the establishment of Korea’s independence after a period of American and Soviet occupation; (7) endorsement of the Atlantic Charter as the basis of Allied post-war policy; (8) and the convening of a conference for the purpose of founding a United Nations Organization.

Several of these points were restated at the Potsdam Conference after the Allied victory in Europe.

Pakistani soldier and statesman. He was commanding General of the Army (1966) and replaced Ayubkhan as president (1969 – 71), imposing martial law. He resolved to settle political problems by allowing the first ‘one man, one vote’ elections in the country (1970 – 71). Civil war broke out as a result of his refusal to accept the verdict in favour of the Awami League independence movement in East Pakistan (Bangladesh). India’s military intervention on behalf of Bangladeshi independence (1971) led to Pakistan’s defeat and Yahya Khan’s enforced resignation. He was replaced by Bhutto.

Worldwide conflict between the Allied powers, principally the British Commonwealth, the USSR (from 1941), the USA (from 1941) and several European nations overrun by enemy forces, and the Axis powers of Germany, Italy (from 1940) and Japan (from 1941), supported by Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary and Romania.

The causes leading, to hostilities incl. The failure of the WWI peace settlements; the aggressive expansionist policies of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Japan; the Appeasement policies of France and the UK (Munich Agreement); and the isolationism pursued by the USA.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact opened the way for Germany’s invasion of Poland (1939), which prompted British and France to declare war on Germany. After a few months of Phoney War, Germany’s Blitzkreig tactics rapidly overran Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries and France. The British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from France at Dunkirk (1940), and Hitler stood poised to invade the UK, but was foiled by the defeat of his air force by the RAF in the Battle of Britain. His use of massive aerial bombing of civilian and industrial targets failed to break British morale, and similar raids were carried out by the Allies with increasing intensity against Germany (and later Japan).

Italy invaded Greece in 1940 but was repulsed. In 1941 Germany overran Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete, and British troops took control in the Middle East to forestall attempts to capture the oilfields. In the North Africa Campaigns the fighting moved backwards and forwards across the deserts, but eventually Allied forces pushing W from Egypt joined Us forces advancing E from Algeria (1943).

In 1943 allied forces invaded Italy from N Africa. Mussolini was overthrown and Italy joined the Allies. However, German forces entered the country and were only forced northwards after heavy fighting, eventually surrendering in 1945.

Hitler’s invasion of the USSR in 1941 took German forces close to Moscow and Leningrad, and into the Caucasus and the Ukraine. The tide was turned with the Soviet victory at Stalingrad (1942- 43), after which Soviet forces forced the Germans back across E Europe, entering Germany in 1945.

British, Commonwealth and US forces invaded W Europe at the Normandy Landings (1944). Progress was temporarily halted by the German Ardennes Offensive (1944- 45), but Allied troops advanced into Germany in 1945, linking up with Soviet forces. After the Russians entered Berlin, Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered unconditionally.

Japan entered the war in Dec. 1941 by attacking the US Navy at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, and then occupied Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Indo-China, The Philippines, The East Indies and many of the pacific islands. Although notable victories were won by the Allies in Burma and in naval and air engagements in the Pacific, Large areas still remained in Japanese hands until after the dropping of 2 atomic bombs on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki), which forced unconditional Japanese surrender (1945).

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