15 OCTOBER

ARAB VILLAGERS WHO RUN AWAY ‘MEET THEIR END ON THE SCAFFOLD’ [ 14 January 1915 ] During the First World War, British troops were deployed to Mesopotamia (now Iraq) to force back Turkish forces and secure a post-war territorial stake in the crumbling Ottoman Empire. BRITAIN INITIATES FIRST EVER HERBICIDAL WAR [ 14 January 1951…

BRITISH SACK THE CRIMEAN CITY OF KERCH [ 24 May 1855 ] On this day in 1855, thousands of terrified citizens of the Crimean city of Kerch had their homes broken into and their possessions looted, while men and even children were slaughtered and hundreds of women raped. The local population had begged general Sir…

SLAVES IN JAMAICA REFUSE TO WORK FOR THEIR BRITISH SLAVE MASTERS. 27 December 1831 – a widespread slave strike occurred in the British administered island of Jamaica. A severe drought during the summer had brought increased hardship for the slave population which was compounded by the ruthlessness of the plantation owners, who insisted on their…

THOUSANDS MURDERED AFTER BRITISH LED IMPERIAL ARMY TAKES SUZHOU [ 5 December 1863 ] On this day in 1863, thousands of men and women in the Chinese rebel city of Suzhou were massacred, after the town was seized by imperial Chinese forces. Colonel Charles Gordon (later to become legendary as General Gordon of Khartoum) had…

DAY AND NIGHT CURFEW IMPOSED IN NICOSIA [ 13 June 1958 ] On 13 June 1958, during an insurgency against British rule in Cyprus which had also exacerbated tensions between the Greek and Turkish communities, Major General Douglas Kendrew decided to order a day and night curfew on the entire population of Nicosia ‘until further…