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Coronation Exhibition in Buckingham Palace celebrating the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty The Queens Coronation on July 25, 2013 in London, England. The exhibition, ‘The Queens Coronation 1953’, brings together an unprecedented array of dresses, uniforms and robes worn at the historic event. In addition, paintings, objects and works of art relating to the Coronation are also on display.
The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted 38 minutes and is the shortest war in history.
The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. The British authorities preferred Hamud bin Muhammed, who was more favourable to British interests, as sultan. In accordance with a treaty signed in 1886, a condition for accession to the sultanate was that the candidate obtain the permission of the British consul, and Khalid had not fulfilled this requirement. The British considered this a casus belli and sent an ultimatum to Khalid demanding that he order his forces to stand down and leave the palace. In response, Khalid called up his palace guard and barricaded himself inside the palace.
The ultimatum expired at 09:00 East Africa Time on 27 August, by which time the British had gathered three cruisers, two gunboats, 150 marines and sailors, and 900 Zanzibaris in the harbour area. The Royal Navy contingent were under the command of Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson whilst their Zanzibaris were commanded by Brigadier-General Lloyd Mathews of the Zanzibar army. Around 2,800 Zanzibaris defended the palace; most were recruited from the civilian population, but they also included the sultan’s palace guard and several hundred of his servants and slaves. The defenders had several artillery pieces and machine guns which were set in front of the palace sighted at the British ships. A bombardment which was opened at 09:02 set the palace on fire and disabled the defending artillery. A small naval action took place with the British sinking a Zanzibari royal yacht and two smaller vessels, and some shots were fired ineffectually at the pro-British Zanzibari troops as they approached the palace. The flag at the palace was shot down and fire ceased at 09:40.
The sultan’s forces sustained roughly 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured. Sultan Khalid received asylum in the German consulate before escaping to German East Africa. The British quickly placed Sultan Hamud in power at the head of a puppet government. The war marked the end of the Zanzibar Sultanate as a sovereign state and the start of a period of heavy British influence.
Archaeologists have discovered 90 more pieces of the Staffordshire Hoard – in the same field as the original find.
The discovery was made by archaeologists working for Staffordshire Council and English Heritage when they were working on the site following the recent ploughing of the same field near Lichfield.
The discovery was revealed to the world this morning at a press conference at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, in Hanley.
It comes more than three years after the Staffordshire Hoard was found in the field by an amateur metal detectorist.
South Staffordshire Coroner Andrew Haigh will rule at an inquest on January 4 if the metalwork pieces are part of the Staffordshire Hoard and should be declared treasure.
The new finds include a possible helmet cheek piece, a cross-shaped mount and an eagle-shaped mount. The new collection is currently being examined by experts.
Staffordshire County Council leader Philip Atkins said: “The Staffordshire Hoard was an amazing discovery and, together with our partners, we have been immensely proud to play our part in helping to discover and tell the story of a collection of such international importance.
“The ploughing of the same field has unearthed a small number of other gold and silver finds. While it is far too early to say what exactly they are, or how old they are, they are certainly interesting finds.”
Following its discovery in July, 2009, The Staffordshire Hoard, as it became known, was valued at £3.285 million and eventually bought for the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.
The campaign to keep the Hoard on UK soil saw prominent figures from a range of different fields – including actress Dame Judy Dench, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown and ex-Rolling Stone Bill Wyman – queue up to lend their support.
The latest collection will be assessed by the coroner and, if it is deemed to treasure, it will be valued. Mr Atkins said it was “more than likely” that another joint fund-raising campaign would get underway to keep the treasure for the Potteries and Birmingham museums.
The Hoard – the largest collections of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found - contains more than 3,500 items of gold and silver with precious stone decorations.
But the Hoard is so much more than a collection of precious materials – it’s the legacy of craftsmen whose artistry fashioned these precious metals and gemstones into incredibly detailed sword hilt fittings, helmet parts and other items.
Tantallon Castle in North Berwick, Scotland.
Photo © B.B August 2012.
Tantallon Castle in North Berwick, Scotland.
Photo © B.B August 2012.
Corpses on the beach next to two Churchill tanks of the 14th Armoured Regiment (Calgary) stuck in pebbles. Behind them, thick smoke coming from LCT 5.
Department of National Defence / National Archives of Canada C-014160.
In 1942, the Combined Operations Headquarters had good reasons for attempting a raid on Dieppe: on the eastern front a decisive battle was pitching the advancing German troops against the resistance of the Red Army and the Russian people. Stalin asked Churchill and Eisenhower to help the USSR by opening up a Western front in continental Europe, to prevent Hitler from throwing all the might of his armies against the Soviets. As a result, Great Britain planned a series of major raids against German defence installations along the Channel. Only one such operation was actually conducted: Dieppe.
The Allies’ long-term goal was to get a foothold on the continent and set up a bridgehead from where ground forces could move into Europe. But before it could attempt a large-scale landing, the Combined Operations Headquarters had to test some of its assumptions in real action. Would it be possible to capture a fortified seaport large enough to be used afterwards by invading troops, and that, without destroying its infrastructures? Amphibious landing techniques had been successfully tested in previous operations but how would the new barges designed to carry tanks and heavy artillery behave? There was a need to test the complex combination of land, naval and air manoeuvres required by a large-scale invasion in real action conditions, in order to check the efficiency of new equipment, communication lines and chains of command. The August 19th, 1942, raid was to answer all those questions.
Dieppe was a seaside resort in Normandy, built along a long cliff that overlooked the Channel. The cliffs are cut by gaps through which the Scie and Arques rivers flow to the sea. The city boasted a medium-sized harbour that carried a special significance for French Canadians as it was a departure point for ships sailing off to New France. In 1942, the casino on the boardwalk had been partially demolished by the Germans to facilitate the defence of the coast. They had set up two large artillery batteries in Berneval and Varengeville. For the British Commanders, Dieppe was also within the range of the RAF’s
On August 19th, 1942, the ground forces that were taking part in the raid included 4,963 men and officers from the 2nd Canadian Division, 1,005 British commandos, 50 US rangers and 15 Frenchmen. A fleet of 237 ships and landing barges, including 6 destroyers, brought them near the seashore. In the air, Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force bombers and fighters took part in the operation. Although some questioned the very concept of a full frontal assault on a fortified position, the British and Canadian strategists were in agreement with the military doctrines that prevailed at the time and success was likely.
At Dieppe, 907 Canadians, including 56 officers, lost their lives in a battle that lasted for only nine hours. A total of 3,369 men were killed or wounded. At Dieppe, the Canadian Army lost more prisoners than in the whole eleven months of the later campaign in North-West Europe, or the twenty months during which Canadians fought in Italy. 6,108 men took part in the raid (from the Land Forces), 1,946 were taken prisoner, 2,460 were wounded. 4,963 were Canadians (907 fatalities), 1,075 were British Commandoes (52 fatalities), 50 were American Rangers (3 fatalities), with 20 others. In addition, the Royal Navy suffered 75 killed, with 269 missing or prisoners. Overhead the RAF and RCAF lost 119 aircraft - the highest single-day total of the war (62 fatalities) while the Luftwaffe lost just 46.
Dieppe was a pathetic failure. Sixty years later, it seems obvious that Jubilee was a bizarre operation with no chance of success whatsoever and likely to result in a huge number of casualties. In August 1942, British and Allied officers did not have yet the knowledge and combat experience to make a proper assessment of the risks of such an operation. This catastrophe was useful precisely in providing that knowledge which was later to make victory possible.
The Dieppe fiasco demonstrated that it was imperative to improve communications at all levels: on the battlefield, between the HQs of each unit, between air, naval and ground forces. The idea of capturing a well-defended seaport to use as a bridgehead was dropped after August 19th, 1942. In addition, the raid on Dieppe showed how important it was to use prior air bombings to destroy enemy defences as much as possible, to support assault troops with artillery fire from ships and landing crafts, to improve techniques and equipment to remove obstacles to men and tanks.
May 12, 1937: The coronation of George VI takes place at Westminster Abbey.
Following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, in 1936, George ascended the British throne; he was coronated on May 12, 1937 - the original intended date for his predecessor’s coronation. The coronation and procession were broadcast live on television, viewed by an estimated 50,000 people.
George VI opened his coronation speech with the words: “It is with a very full heart that I speak to you tonight.” The “reluctant King”, who would soon have to face the impending crisis of world war, addressed all the people of his empire went on to say:
To many millions the Crown is a symbol of unity. By the grace of God and by the will of the free peoples of the British Commonwealth, I have assumed that crown. In me, as your King, is vested, for a time, the duty of maintaining its honor and integrity.
