13 July 1913

The 1913 Romanian Army cholera outbreak during the Second Balkan War starts

The 1913 Romanian Army cholera outbreak occurred during the Second Balkan War, which was fought from June to August 1913.

Background:

Second Balkan War: This conflict involved several Balkan states, primarily Bulgaria against its former allies Serbia, Greece, and Romania, as well as the Ottoman Empire. The war arose from territorial disputes following the First Balkan War.
Romania’s Involvement: Romania entered the war against Bulgaria in July 1913, seeking to claim territories promised during diplomatic negotiations.

Cholera Outbreak:

Outbreak Timing: The cholera outbreak struck the Romanian Army in the summer of 1913, coinciding with their military campaign against Bulgaria.
Conditions: The outbreak was exacerbated by the poor sanitary conditions and overcrowded camps, common during wartime. The movement of troops and lack of proper sanitation facilitated the spread of the disease.
Impact on Soldiers: Cholera, a severe diarrheal illness caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, led to significant morbidity and mortality among the Romanian soldiers. The symptoms included severe dehydration, which could be fatal if not treated promptly.
Response: The Romanian military and medical authorities struggled to contain the outbreak due to limited medical knowledge and resources. Efforts to improve sanitation and provide medical care were undertaken, but the high mobility of troops made containment difficult.

Consequences:

Military Impact: The cholera outbreak weakened the Romanian Army, reducing its effectiveness in the field. This had strategic implications for their campaign during the war.
Casualties: The exact number of casualties from the cholera outbreak is not well-documented, but it significantly affected the Romanian forces.
Post-War Measures: The outbreak highlighted the need for better sanitary practices and medical preparedness in military operations. Lessons learned from the outbreak contributed to future improvements in military hygiene and medical care.

13 July 1878

Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman Empire.

The Treaty of Berlin, signed on July 13, 1878, was a diplomatic agreement that aimed to settle the disputes and territorial conflicts that arose from the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The war was fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, with other European powers having interests in the outcome.

The treaty was negotiated at the Congress of Berlin, a meeting of representatives from various European powers held in Berlin, Germany. The primary objective of the treaty was to revise the terms of the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano, which had been signed earlier between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

The Treaty of Berlin made several important changes to the territorial arrangements in the Balkans, impacting the balance of power in the region. Some of the key provisions of the treaty included:

Recognition of the independence of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro.
Autonomy for Bulgaria under Ottoman suzerainty and the election of a prince for the new state.
Territorial adjustments in the Balkans, including the return of some territories to the Ottoman Empire and the expansion of others.
International administration for Bosnia and Herzegovina, while remaining nominally under Ottoman sovereignty.
Recognition of the neutrality and independence of the Ottoman Empire.
Guarantees for the protection of religious minorities in the Balkans.

The treaty was significant because it sought to maintain the European balance of power by preventing the complete disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and limiting Russian influence in the region. However, the treaty’s provisions were not entirely satisfactory to all parties involved, and it did not resolve all the issues in the region, setting the stage for further conflicts and tensions in the decades to come.

13 July 1985

The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Moscow and Sydney.

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13 July 1814

The Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie of Italy, is set up.

Inspired by the French Gendarmerie, the corps was created by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps. Previously, police duties were managed by the Dragoni di Sardegna Corps, created in 1726 and composed of volunteers, after French soldiers had occupied Turin at the end of the 18th century and later abandoned it to the Kingdom of Piedmont, the Royal Carabinieri Corps was instituted under the Royal Patents of 13 July 1814.

The new force was divided into divisions on the scale of one division for each province, the divisions were further divided into companies and subdivided into lieutenancies, which commanded and coordinated the local police stations and were distributed throughout the national territory in direct contact with the public.

Photo of a Carabiniere around 1875. The ‘Medal of Italian Independence’ is worn, indicating a veteran of the Risorgimento.
In 1868, the Corazzieri mounted division was formed – initially as an escort of honour for the sovereign, and since 1946 for the President of the Republic, the Italian unification saw the number of divisions increased, and on 24 January 1861 the Carabinieri were appointed the “First Force” of the new national military organization.

In May 1915 Italian troops marched to encompass South Tyrol, territory of their former allies the Austro-Hungarian empire, in the Fronte italiano campaign. The defenders had sufficient time to prepare strong fortifications there, and in the Carso theatre to the east, and the Italian regiments, under overall command of General Cadorna, found themselves repeatedly repulsed in harsh fighting. The role of the Carabinieri was to act as barrier troops, setting up machine gun posts to control the rear of the attacking regiments and prevent desertion.

13 July 1863

Opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting in New York City.

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On July 13, 1863, as the second day of a new military draft lottery in New York City got underway, demonstrations broke out across the city in what began as an organized opposition to the first federally mandated conscription laws in the nation’s history, but soon morphed into a violent uprising against the city’s wealthy elite; its African-American residents; and the very idea of the Civil War itself. The New York City Draft Riots, which would wreak havoc on the city for four days and remain the largest civilian insurrection in American history, exposed the deep racial, economic and social divides that threatened to tear the nation’s largest city apart in the midst of the American Civil War.

Thanks to its status as the business capital of the United States, New York City was a deeply divided city at the start of the Civil War in April 1861. Its merchants and financial institutions were loath to lose their southern business and the city’s then-mayor, Fernando Wood, had called for the city to secede from the Union. Meanwhile, to the city’s poorer citizens, the war increasingly came to be seen as benefitting only the rich, as the coffers of the city’s elites filled with the financial spoils of battle and the conflict became known as a “rich man’s war, poor man’s battle.” The passage of the nation’s first military draft act, in March 1863, only worsened the situation. Not only did it allow men to buy their way out of military service by paying a commutation fee of $300 , it also exempted blacks from the draft, as they were not yet considered American citizens. Opposition to the draft was widespread across the North, and in New York, some of the loudest critics of the bill could be found in city government, as politicians railed against the legality of the bill and its impact on the city’s working class poor.