7 AUGUST

[ 10 February 1846 ] On 10 February 1846, British troops slaughtered thousands of Sikhs attempting to flee the Battle of Sobraon in the Punjab. After a fierce two hour engagement, Redcoat infantry and cavalry, under the command of Major-General Sir Hugh Gough, concentrated their attack on the surviving soldiers, who were hemmed into a…

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,…

GENERAL ADMITS THE FUTILITY OF ‘ACTS OF GREAT VIOLENCE’ IN IRELAND [ 10 January 1798 ] Major General John Moore disapproved of the enthusiasm with which other British officers committed atrocities in Ireland while suppressing local uprisings against British rule. On 10 January 1798, he made an insightful observation in his diary. KITCHENER ARRIVES IN…

CONSERVATIVES BACK FAR RIGHT GOVERNMENT OF VICTOR OBAN [ 12 September 2018 ] On this day in 2018 Conservative MEPs, representing Britain’s largest political party, were among a small minority in the European Parliament to back the far right Hungarian government of Victor Oban, during a crucial vote.  Since he was elected prime minister in…

BRITISH TROOPS SACK WASHINGTON DC On this day in 1814, British troops burned down much of Washington D.C., including the White House, the Capitol, the bridge over the Potomac, the United States Treasury and other government  and private properties. The resulting inferno, accelerated by the invaluable collection of books in the heavily timbered Library of…

BRITISH TROOPS BURN DOWN PEKING’S SUMMER PALACE [ 18 October 1860 ] On this day in 1860 British troops set fire to one of the world’s greatest collections of art work and treasure, the legendary Summer Palace in Peking, also known as the Garden of Perfect Brightness (Yuanming Yuan). Burning all the buildings which stretched…