Institute of Biafran Studies

Learn Our History Today: On April 9, 1865, during the Civil War, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his 28,000-man army to Union General Ulysses Grant, effectively ending the fighting. Just days earlier, Lee had been forced to retreat from his entrenchments around Petersburg, Virginia and abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond. His army was on the brink of collapse. The Civil War’s deadly battles had taken a toll on Lee’s once 100,000-man army. His stores of food and supplies were running critically low, and, on top of that, Grant’s forces gained more and more strength by the day.

Lee retreated south in desperate hope of joining up with Joseph E. Johnston’s army in North Carolina. However, Grant quickly swung down and cut off this option, at the same time sending cavalry to harass Lee’s southerners. By April 8, the cavalry of Union General Philip Sheridan had ridden ahead of Lee’s army and effectively boxed it in. Lee was now surrounded with little hope of escape. With great reluctance, the Confederate General sent a message to Grant stating that he was willing to surrender. On April 9, the two Generals met in the parlor of a house in Appomattox, Virginia.

Lee entered the room dressed head to toe in his finest military dress uniform with a ceremonial sword at his side. Grant entered wearing a mud-stained private’s uniform with the insignia of a Lieutenant General haphazardly sewn on. He carried no sword. The two great Generals first reminisced about the Mexican American War, in which they had both served with distinction, before turning to the matters at hand. Grant offered all of the Confederates full pardons and stated that all private property, such as horses, could be kept by the soldiers. In addition, Lee’s starving men would be given Union rations to eat. General Robert E. Lee accepted, surrendering the Army of Northern Virginia to the Union Army of the Potomac, the men the Confederates had fought for four years on the famous battlefields of Gettysburg, Antietam, and Bull Run. As General Grant left the house, he called over his subordinates and told them, "The war is over. The rebels are our countrymen again."

Also, on this day in U.S. history:
1768: One of the first acts of resistance to British authority in the colonies occurs when John Hancock refuses to allow two British customs agents to go below deck of his ship.
1947: A series of extremely devastating tornados struck in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Ranging from a mile and a half to two miles wide, the tornados that struck on April 9 were some of the most devastating in American history. An entire town, Woodward, Oklahoma, was wiped off the map. Nearly 180 people were killed in Texas and Oklahoma as a result of the twisters.
1950: Entertainer and TV personality Bob Hope makes his first television appearance.

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The Battle of Iwo Jima Was One of the Bloodiest Battles in US Marine Corps History The engagement was among the final to occur in the Pacific Theater.

5,000 War Dogs Served In Vietnam - The US Government Left the Majority of Them Behind They performed a variety of duties during the conflict, saving thousands of lives.

Charles de Gaulle maintained French participation in world affairs and sought to leverage Stalin and the Soviet Union for political benefit. Read more: https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/free-france-resurgent-charles-de-gaulle-in-world-war-ii/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost

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British General Charles Lord Cornwallis knew that if he could crush General Nathanael Greene's American army, he would be able to sweep across North Carolina and Virginia virtually unopposed, perhaps dealing a fatal blow to the American War for Independence. Commanding some of the finest and most disciplined soldiers on earth, Cornwallis was determined to make that happen. Commanding an army of Continental soldiers and local militia, Greene was equally determined to prevent it from happening. On the morning of March 15, 1781, the two armies collided at a little crossroads village in Piedmont North Carolina called Guilford Courthouse.

Following a strategy that had been devised by General Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens, Greene deployed his men in three parallel lines. The first line of defense was North Carolina militia. One hundred fifty yards behind the North Carolinians he deployed a line of Virginia militia. On a hill behind the Virginians, he deployed his most veteran troops—Continental regulars. Sharpshooting Virginia riflemen, and cavalry commanded by Light Horse Harry Lee and Colonel William Washington, were deployed on the flanks of the lines.

At about 1 p.m. Cornwallis’s army arrived and began its attack.

Greene did not expect his militiamen to stop the British. They were volunteer citizens, armed with muskets only, and they could not withstand a bayonet charge. His orders were for the militiamen to fire twice, doing as much damage as they could, then retreat to the rear. Greene hoped that by the time the British made it past the two lines of militia they would have suffered so many casualties that his Continental regulars could stop them.

As the British redcoats advanced, with drums beating and bayonets leveled, the North Carolinians fired a volley. Some remained on the line long enough to fire again, but most fled in the face of the British assault.

The Virginians proved to be much tougher nuts for the British to crack. The left of the Virginia line was deployed through a wooded area, giving the Patriots cover and reducing the value of the British bayonets. The Virginians there poured fire into the British for 20 minutes, repulsing three charges and inflicting severe casualties, before they too were forced back.

Finally, the British advanced to the American third line. After vicious, often hand-to-hand combat, part of the American line began to collapse. Seeing the danger unfolding, Colonel Washington and his cavalry charged into the rear of the British attackers and began cutting them down. Meanwhile two regiments of Maryland and Delaware Continentals launched a bayonet charge. Seeing that the Americans were on the verge of victory, Cornwallis commanded his artillery to fire into the melee. The grapeshot tore into the mass of soldiers, killing and wounding British and Americans alike. With his men and horses being torn apart by the cannon fire, the Americans had to pull back and General Greene ordered his army to withdraw.

Because they held the field at the end of the day, the battle was technically a British victory. But Cornwallis had lost over 25% of his army in the battle and was in no condition to continue his advance. He had no choice but to limp to Wilmington to resupply. From there he would go on to Yorktown, where he would eventually be trapped and forced to surrender.

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse occurred on March 15, 1781, two hundred forty-three years ago today.

When the British Parliament was informed of the results of the battle, Charles Fox remarked (echoing the word of King Pyrrhus of Epirus 2000 years earlier), “Another such victory would ruin the British army.”

The painting by Don Troiani depicts the charge of Washington’s dragoons.

The winter of 1779-80 were dark days in the struggle for American independence. George Washington’s dwindling army was short of food, clothing, and weapons. Many of the men were barefoot and there wasn’t enough ammunition for the few weapons they had. But something happened in April that would lift Patriot spirits and renew their hopes. Lafayette had returned.

The Marquis de Lafayette had first come to America in 1777, defying his king and risking his immense fortune in order to offer his service to the American revolutionaries. The idealistic young nobleman was soon commissioned a major general in the Continental Army. To this day he remains the youngest person to hold that rank. He was nineteen years old.

Lafayette’s courage, zeal, and military competence soon earned the immense respect of General Washington. Wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, Lafayette recovered and fought with distinction in the campaigns of 1778. But when news of the death of one of his young children arrived, and with pressing business matters needing his attention in France, Lafayette requested and was granted a leave of absence. He sailed for France in January 1779.

Still angry at Lafayette’s disobedience, King Louis XVI had him immediately placed under house arrest upon his arrival. When granted a royal audience, Lafayette risked further angering his king by showing up wearing his American uniform. But the young man’s charm, charisma, and enthusiasm soon returned him to the good graces of the king. And he began to lobby for French support for the American cause.

On March 5, 1780, Lafayette was thrilled to receive an order that would answer the hopes and prayers of his American comrades and change American history: “Monsieur le Marquis de Lafayette will hasten to join General Washington whom he will secretly inform that the King will send at the beginning of spring, help consisting of six ships and approximately 5,000 infantrymen.”

The duty of assuring the Marquis’ safe and expeditious return to America, was assigned to Captain Louis de La Touche and the ship he commanded, the frigate L’Hermione. The Hermione was the pride of the French navy. Newly built in Rochefort, the ship could outrun any British warship she couldn’t outgun, and there were few she couldn’t outgun. La Touche was told only that his mission was vitally important and secret. On March 11, 1780, the Hermione set sail for America.

Lafayette was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Boston, and at every town and village he passed through on his journey from Boston to General Washington’s headquarters at Morristown, New Jersey. Although his secret message was still unknown, Patriots sensed that the fact that Lafayette had returned portended good news and better days ahead. When he reached Washington’s camp and delivered the king’s message, new life was breathed into the American cause.

Eighteen months later, in October 1781, American and French forces trapped British General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, forcing his surrender and assuring American independence.

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, boarded the Hermione at Portes-en-Barques France on the mouth of the Charente River bearing a secret message from the King promising French military assistance to America, on March 10, 1780, two hundred forty-four years ago today.

The Hermione participated in numerous fights against the British navy before being lost in a storm in 1793. In 2015 a full-size replica of the Hermione, built in Rochefort, made a triumphant recreation of the famous voyage of the original vessel. The reproduction Hermione can be visited in Rochefort today, when she is not sailing the world.

Surprise and Shock in Warfare: An Enduring Challenge Surprise needs to be a core part of training, planning, doctrine, and strategy, particularly the ability to adapt to situations as they are. Even then, no military has ever consistently overcome the problem of battlefield surprise, meaning that it will remain an ongoing challenge and opportunity. Na

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Surrender of General Paulus’ 6th Army

In early January 1943, the Red Army began the annihilation of the German 6th Army commanded by General Paulus, surrounded near Stalingrad. After a month of ferocious combat, the area of the pocket shrank to a few dozen square kilometers, and the German soldiers, dreadfully exhausted by hunger and cold, lost any remaining will to resist On January 31, Soviet scouts captured General Paulus himself, who was hiding in the basement of a department store in the center of the city. Shortly thereafter, he ordered his troops to surrender, and over 90,000 German soldiers surrendered.

In the meantime, until the last few days of the Stalingrad battle, German citizens were told that the battle was a clear success. As late as November 8 Hi**er announced that any day now the city would be captured. In early winter, German civilian radio rebroadcast military radio reports, in which the defenders of the Stalingrad fortress told of their courage in defeating the Bolsheviks’ attacks, while the soldiers’ letters from the front, telling the real story - about hunger, frost, winds from the steppe, typhus epidemic and the loss of hope to survive - were confiscated by military censors. Finally, even the news that Stalingrad was captured by the Red Army was not fully truthful: it was reported that Field Marshal Paulus and his generals died heroically - while in real life, having surrendered, they actively collaborated with the Soviets.

The news of the defeat at Stalingrad was a shock for the German people; three-day mourning was declared in the country, and many Germans took these events not only as a major Wehrmacht’s failure of the war, but also as a moral defeat. The German allies’ faith in Hi**er was also shattered: the fact that along with the Germans, tens of thousands of Romanian and Hungarian troops were captured near Stalingrad forced the leadership of these countries to consider their future and dampen their zeal to fight against the USSR.

in this photo: General-Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus (left), commander of the Wehrmacht 6th Army, surrounded in Stalingrad, Lieutenant-General Arthur Schmidt and his aide-de-camp Wilhelm Adam after being taken prisoner to the Red Army. Stalingrad, Beketovka, the headquarters of the Soviet 64th Army. January 31, 1943.

Oiginal biafara Documentary Footage Please do not watch if you are Igbo

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I talked about the Tran Atlantic Slave Trade in the paragrahs.I mentioned how the United States made its wealth through slave trade and by extension,with this wealth,it became the most powerful country on earth.Apart from the US,the following countries also made their wealth through the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.They are as follows: Portugal,Spain, Britain,France, Netherlands, Denmark,and Sweden.The difference between the US and these other European countries is that while US was the buyer of these slaves.These other European countries were the suppliers of slaves.

What then were the benefits of African traditional states that participated in these slave trades?With the evidences at our disposal,we would say that there were no benefits.This seems to suggest that these African slave traders were swindled by their European partners.Because after the slave trade,the stage was then set for the colonization of Africa.The continent was rid of its 22 million inhabitants.

So,when the Europeans began to crush one African kingdom after the other,the resistances were weak.Because two-thirds of these 22 million exported African slaves were men.These are men that would have served as soldiers in the defense of their kingdoms.

These then mean that the black race willingly matched itself into captivity everywhere on earth.At home and abroad,we were subjugated.

But,something strange happened within these periods.Somewhere in the Caribbeans,some Igbo slaves there decided to redeem the image of the black race.At that time,that part of Caribbean was being administered by the French government under the widely feared Napoleon Bonaparte himself.This was some 26 years after the Americans gained their independence.

These Igbo slaves rallied themselves together and formed a militia like organization.They started an armed struggle against the French Army.Within 12 years and 4 months of fighting,they rid the island of all french forces.By January 1804,Haiti declared its independence.

Some 34 days ago,Nigeria marked her 63rd year as an independent country.Althouh,the country can be said to be still young when compared to some other older countries.But,the truth is that we are getting everything wrong here.Thereby making it difficult for we to achieve the things that we were suppose to have achieved.

We have been choosing wrong Presidents,Senate Presidents, Governors,Senators,Local government Chairmen, Councilors,etc.And,these bunch of never do wells have refused to administer this claustrophobic republic properly.They are all busy stealing and carting away public funds to other countries.This what they are preoccupied with.

This is why despite the fact that we are the 6th largest producer of crude oil in the world.We still don't have good road network,no stable electricity,poor policing systems,we are an inslovent nation,bad and outdated educational curriculum,etc.

Now,let me dwell on how bad our educational curriculum is.The Trans Atlantic Slave Trade has been described or designated as one of the worst crimes in the history of mankind.Yet,the Nigeria government hasn't deemed it necessary to acquaint its citizens about the scope and nature of this deadly trade and the havoc that it wrecked on Nigeria and Africa at large.

This was a trade that lasted for approximately 400 years.Africa was depopulated of its best abled-bodied men and women.Generation of Nigerians have lived and died without knowing what actually transpired during that nasty trade.

If our educational curriculum would be changed.A generation of Nigeria would emerge that would find it disgusting to loot public funds and then convey it to banks abroad.For the current looting of our public funds isn't different from the previous capturing and transporting of millions of African slaves abroad.

It was through the labour of these African slaves that the United States of America made its wealth that transformed it from a relatively normal country to become a super power country

Did Hi**er intend to conquer the entire USSR?

The N***s, of course, were not at all averse to subjugating the entire vast Soviet territory down to the Pacific coast, but they realized that these plans were not feasible.

“The exceptional size of Russian territory makes it absolutely impossible to conquer it completely,” noted Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel during the preparations for the invasion of the USSR.

After defeating the Red Army, it was assumed that it would take from six to 10 weeks to achieve this. The German troops were to move to a line stretching from the Volga River to Arkhangelsk. According to the plan behind ‘Operation Barbarossa’, a defensive “barrier against Asiatic Russia” was to be established there. “The last industrial area remaining in Russian hands in the Urals can be paralyzed by the air force,” the document stated.

Due to the Wehrmacht's significant military successes, this operational and strategic frontier was significantly shifted eastward as far as the Ural Mountains themselves. "The security of the Reich will be ensured only when no foreign military units remain west of the Urals; the protection of this space… Germany assumes," Hi**er declared on July 16, 1941.

It was presumed that deprived of Caucasian oil (oil fields in Siberia had not yet been discovered), the defeated USSR would simply disappear from the political map of the world as a single state and its remnants would not be able to threaten Germany in any way. The Russians would also lose the entire Far East and part of Siberia up to Lake Baikal, territories which, under the Kantokuen strategic plan, Japan was supposed to seize.

Hi**er was not going to neglect his European allies, either. He planned to give eastern Karelia and a razed Leningrad to the Finns and Bessarabia and part of Ukraine to the Romanians.

Credit: Roger Viollet/Getty Images

CAESAR'S RAIDS ON BRITAIN

It was on this day, 26th August, back in 55 BC when Julius Caesar and the Romans invaded Britain for the first time, crossing the English Channel with eighty ships carrying two legions, the Seventh and the Tenth which were made up of approximately ten thousand men. Crossing the English Channel in those days was a journey into a land of mystery. It is true that cross-channel trading had been going on for centuries, but it was only merchants who went to Britannia.

So why did Caesar land on Britannia’s shores? In truth it’s unlikely that he was intending to conquer Britannia, it’s more likely that he was carrying out a reconnaissance mission to evaluate Britannia’s strength. Crossing the channel would have certainly increased his prestige back in Rome and would have postponed a recall. We can only speculate about his true intentions, but we do know that he underestimated two things, Britannia’s Celtic tribes and the weather.

As Caesar and his legions approached the shores of Britannia they observed cliffs that were bristling with menacing British warriors, horsemen and war chariots. Eventually when they attempted to land on the shoreline they faced difficulty as they were not used to shingle beaches and many Roman soldiers who were weighed down in heavy armour struggled through the waves to the beach. Meanwhile the Britons threw javelins at them. After several days of battle, repairing damaged ships and incessant rain Julius Caesar had had enough and he climbed back onto his ships with his men and returned to Gaul. The following year he returned to Britannia, and was more successful, but it was almost another hundred years before the Romans actually conquered Britain in AD 43.

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben (U.S. National Park Service) Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben was born on September 17, 1730 in the fortress town of Magdeburg in the Kingdom of Prussia. Following in his father's footsteps, Steuben joined the Prussian Army in 1747, when he was 17 years old. In May 1756, the Seven Years War began in Europe,...

Although,this didn't achieve an outright victory.But,it created some sort of stalemate.It was at this stage that France decided to fully back the Americans.George Washington suggested that they need more troops and arms in order to keep routing the British soldiers.But,the French chose to fight a strategic warfare with the British.First,the French attacked some British ships in the open sea.This attacks forced the British to pull out most of its ships that were stationed at the American shores.These ships were used for supplies and re-enforcement of their fighting force inside America.Once these ships were moved out to defend e their fleets that were being attacked by the French Navy,the shores of America was reocuppied by another set of French ships.This then rendered the British fighting force inside America ineffective.Because their supplies cease to reach them.Faced with this grim situation,the British army was forced to surrender.This was how the Americans got their independence some 247 years ago

This month,the Americans celebrated their 247 years of independence.They were colonised by "Great Britain" for many years.Although the British colonial administration of the US was somewhat loose and flexible.It became rigid when the wars that the British Empire were indulging started taking its toll on its finances.The rigidity came in the form of increased taxation of the American colonies and a host of other "unpalatable" new measures.These were what led to the war of independence.With this the Americans chose to break away completely from British control or governance.At first,the American militias successfully routed some British army camps or barracks.Before the American Congress dispatched Mr.George Washington to go and get the militias organised into an effective fighting force.George Washington was 45 years at that time.He carried out the little reforms that he could and came up with a Continental Army.This newly reformed Army,carried out more successful attacks on the British Army.Hence,they were forced to retreat.These series of defeats enraged the British leadership back in Britain.So,a re-enforcement of about 30,000 troops were sent back to the American colony to quell the rebellion.When these British re-enforcement landed,it was a scary sight to behold.The American Continental Army started retreating on all fronts.The British army began chasing them.From George Washington to the last lowest ranking American soldier were on the run.Their only saving grace was the Winter season.This slowed down the British advance or pursuit.Then,with this respite,the Americans were able to start retraining their half-trained and rag-tag Army.Special thanks to a certain French General who showed up to render his assistance.The Americans trained all through the Winter and was able to transform its Army into a professional Army.At the end of the Winter season,the Americans began raiding and carrying out punitive strikes at the British Army camps.

3 Things The Greatest Generals Of History Can Teach You About Strategy - Barking Up The Wrong Tree Everything you need to know about 3 Things The Greatest Generals Of History Can Teach You About Strategy