14 APRIL

BRITAIN SUPPORTS US ASSAULT ON VIETNAM 13 June 1965 – Tony Benn comments in his diary regarding the situation in Vietnam that “the Americans are now deciding to invade in full strength and we are left in the embarrassing position of appearing to support them.”

CHINESE DESTROY BRITISH OPIUM WHICH LEADS TO THE FIRST OPIUM WAR. 3 June 1839 – Lin Zexu, an imperial commissioner of Qing China, orders the destruction of illegal opium imports which was being shipped by British traders.  China had banned the import of opium in 1800 but until 1839, traders had been able to purchase…

INDIAN SOLDIERS REFUSE ORDERS TO USE CARTRIDGES GREASED WITH PIG AND COW FAT [ 24 April 1857 ] On 24 April 1857, eighty five Indian soldiers of the Third Bengal Light Cavalry stationed at Meerut, a town 40 miles north east of Delhi, refused orders to use cartridges covered by paper greased with pig and…

BATTLE OF PLASSEY IS FOLLOWED BY THE LOOTING OF BENGAL On 23 June 1757, Colonel Robert Clive, commanding 3,000 troops of Britain’s East India Company, defeated Siraj-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Bengal, at the Battle of Plassey, partly by persuading Mir Jafar, the Nawab’s senior military commander to defect. Please feel welcome to post comments below. …

THE BRITISH STAGE A COUP IN SHARJAH. 24 June 1965 – The British orchestrated a coup in the emirate of Sharjah to remove Sheikh Saqr, who was considered to have too great an interest in independent development and had even allowed the Arab League to have a role in the small kingdom’s decision making, at…

11 MALAYAN COMMUNISTS SHOT DEAD “WHILE TRYING TO ESCAPE” 7 November 1948 –  During a counter insurgency “sweep” of the “communist infested” Muar Lenga district of Johor in southern Malaya, British troops shot dead eleven insurgents. They claimed they had been trying to escape.  Another nine men were shot dead, allegedly for the same reason,…