Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of 800,000 residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.

The Yangzhou Massacre was a tragic and brutal event that took place in May 1645 during the transitional period from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty in China. This massacre occurred in the city of Yangzhou, located in present-day Jiangsu province, and is remembered as one of the most horrific episodes of the Qing conquest of China.

The transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty was marked by intense military conflicts and power struggles. After the fall of Beijing to the Manchu-led Qing forces in 1644, the Ming loyalists continued to resist in southern China. Yangzhou was a strategic city held by the Southern Ming forces under the command of Shi Kefa, a loyalist official and general.

In the spring of 1645, Qing forces, commanded by Prince Dodo, besieged Yangzhou. Despite a determined defense by Shi Kefa and his troops, the city fell after ten days of intense fighting. Following the capture of Yangzhou, the Qing forces carried out a massacre as a form of retribution and terror to subdue any further resistance from the local population and other Ming loyalists.

The massacre resulted in the deaths of a large number of residents. Although historical records vary, it is estimated that tens of thousands to possibly several hundred thousand people were killed over the course of ten days. The exact number is difficult to ascertain, but it is widely accepted that the scale of violence and bloodshed was immense.

The Yangzhou Massacre had a profound psychological impact on the region and the broader Chinese populace. It served as a grim warning to other cities and regions still under Ming control about the consequences of resisting the Qing forces. The event also cemented the reputation of the Qing dynasty as being ruthless in their consolidation of power, which had lasting implications for their rule over China.

The primary historical account of the massacre comes from a diary written by Wang Xiuchu, a resident of Yangzhou who survived the massacre. His diary, “The Ten Days in Yangzhou,” provides a harrowing eyewitness account of the atrocities committed by the Qing soldiers. This document remains one of the most important sources for understanding the events and scale of the massacre.

The Yangzhou Massacre remains a somber chapter in Chinese history, symbolizing the brutality of war and the human cost of political and dynastic transitions.

Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna.

The Battle of Pampeluna, also known as the Siege of Pampeluna, took place in 1521 during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Pampeluna, located in present-day Mexico, was a stronghold of the Aztec Empire and was fiercely defended by its inhabitants against the Spanish conquistadors.

The Spanish expedition to conquer the Aztec Empire was led by Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conquistador. After landing in Mexico in 1519, Cortés and his forces established alliances with various indigenous groups who were enemies of the Aztecs. Over time, Cortés and his army advanced towards the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, encountering resistance along the way.

Pampeluna was a key city that stood in the path of the Spanish conquest. It was ruled by the Aztec ruler, Cuauhtémoc, who had fortified the city and prepared it for a siege. The Spanish army, accompanied by their indigenous allies, laid siege to Pampeluna in early 1521.

The siege lasted for several months and was characterized by intense fighting and resistance from the Aztec defenders. The Spanish forces, armed with superior weaponry and aided by indigenous allies who were disillusioned with Aztec rule, managed to breach the city’s defenses. The Aztecs fought fiercely, but they were eventually overwhelmed by the combined forces of the Spanish and their allies.

The fall of Pampeluna was a significant blow to the Aztec Empire. It weakened their defenses and allowed the Spanish to continue their advance towards Tenochtitlan. After the capture of Pampeluna, Cortés and his army proceeded to lay siege to Tenochtitlan, which fell in 1521, marking the end of the Aztec Empire.

The Battle of Pampeluna was a pivotal event in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. It demonstrated the military superiority of the Spanish conquistadors and their ability to overcome well-fortified cities. The fall of Pampeluna and subsequent conquest of Tenochtitlan reshaped the political and cultural landscape of the region, leading to the establishment of Spanish colonial rule in Mexico.

In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, by 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.

The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.

Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

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The first prisoners arrive at a newly built concentration camp at Auschwitz.

Auschwitz, also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, opened in 1940 and was the largest of the Nazi concentration and death camps. Located in southern Poland, Auschwitz initially served as a detention center for political prisoners. However, it evolved into a network of camps where Jewish people and other perceived enemies of the Nazi state were exterminated, often in gas chambers, or used as slave labor. Some prisoners were also subjected to barbaric medical experiments led by Josef Mengele. During World War II, more than 1 million people, by some accounts, lost their lives at Auschwitz. In January 1945, with the Soviet army approaching, Nazi officials ordered the camp abandoned and sent an estimated 60,000 prisoners on a forced march to other locations. When the Soviets entered Auschwitz, they found thousands of emaciated detainees and piles of corpses left behind.

After the start of World War II, Adolf Hitler, the chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, implemented a policy that came to be known as the “Final Solution.” Hitler was determined not just to isolate Jews in Germany and countries annexed by the Nazis, subjecting them to dehumanizing regulations and random acts of violence. Instead, he became convinced that his “Jewish problem” would be solved only with the elimination of every Jew in his domain, along with artists, educators, Romas, communists, homosexuals, the mentally and physically handicapped and others deemed unfit for survival in Nazi Germany.

The Battle of Hamburger Hill during the Vietnam War ends.

Hamburger Hill was the scene of an intense and controversial battle during the Vietnam War. Known to military planners as Hill 937, the solitary peak is located in the dense jungles of the A Shau Valley of Vietnam, about a mile from the border with Laos.

The Vietnamese referred to the hill as Dong Ap Bia. Though the hill had no real tactical significance, taking the hill was part of Operation Apache Snow, a U.S. military sweep of the A Shau Valley. The purpose of the operation was to cut off North Vietnamese infiltration from Laos and enemy threats to the cities of Hue and Da Nang.

101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION ATTACKS
Under the leadership of General Melvin Zais, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division, paratroopers engaged a North Vietnamese regiment on the slopes of Ap Bia Mountain on May 10, 1969. Entrenched in well-prepared fighting positions, the North Vietnamese 29th Regiment repulsed the initial American assault, and after suffering a high number of casualties, U.S. forces fell back.

The soldiers of the North Vietnamese 29th Regiment—battle-hardened veterans of the Tet Offensive—beat back another attempt by the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry on May 14. An intense battle raged for the next 10 days as the mountain came under heavy air strikes, artillery barrages and 10 infantry assaults, some conducted in heavy tropical rainstorms that reduced visibility to near zero.

Due to the bitter fighting and the high casualty rate, Ap Bia Mountain was dubbed “Hamburger Hill” by journalists covering the Vietnam War. Speaking to a reporter, 19-year-old Sergeant James Spears said, “Have you ever been inside a hamburger machine? We just got cut to pieces by extremely accurate machine gun fire.”

HAMBURGER HILL CAPTURED
On May 20, General Zais sent in two additional U.S. airborne battalions, plus a South Vietnamese battalion as reinforcements for his increasingly disgruntled soldiers.

One U.S. soldier—who had fought in nine of the 10 assaults on Hamburger Hill—was quoted as saying, “I’ve lost a lot of buddies up there. Not many guys can take it much longer.”

Finally, in the 11th attack, the North Vietnamese stronghold was captured on May 20, when thousands of U.S. troops and South Vietnamese soldiers fought their way to the summit. In the face of the four-battalion attack, the North Vietnamese retreated to sanctuary areas in Laos.

HAMBURGER HILL ABANDONED
On June 5—just days after the hard-won victory—Ap Bia Mountain was abandoned by U.S. forces because it had no real strategic value. The North Vietnamese re-occupied Hamburger Hill a month later.

“The only significance of the hill was the fact that your North Vietnamese on it … the hill itself had no tactical significance,” General Zais was quoted as saying.

Reports of casualties vary, but during the 10 days of intense fighting, an estimated 630 North Vietnamese were killed. U.S. casualties were listed as 72 killed and 372 wounded.

LEGACY OF HAMBURGER HILL
The bloody battle over Hamburger Hill and the fleeting victory resulted in a firestorm of criticism from anti-war activists. Outrage over what appeared to be a senseless loss of American lives was exacerbated by photographs published in Life magazine of U.S. soldiers killed during the battle.

On the floor of the U.S. Senate, Edward Kennedy scorned the military tactics of the Nixon administration. Kennedy condemned the battle for Ap Bia Mountain as “senseless and irresponsible.” General Creighton Abrams, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, was subsequently ordered to avoid such intensive ground battles.

But not all the soldiers and military leaders agreed that Hamburger Hill was a wasted effort. Of the criticisms leveled at U.S. commanders, General Zais said, “Those people are acting like this was a catastrophe for the U.S. troops. This was a tremendous, gallant victory.”

The first prisoners arrive at a newly built concentration camp at Auschwitz.

The first traffic ticket in the US is issued when a New York City taxi driver is arrested for speeding while driving 12 miles per hour on Lexington Street.