AFDL Rebels After their Conquest of the Zarie Government

Elephants in Warfare

Elephants were until recently, a highly effective weapon of war. They caused horses to flee in fear of the Elephants. The Elephants easily trampled men and smashed fortifications with their massive strength and weight. Their main disadvantages was they panicked easily (one Greek city state took advantage of that by lighting pigs on fire and sending them the the War Elephants), and when panicked Elephants trample friend, foe, and neutral indiscriminately in their path. This forces their drivers to kill them in order to stop their uncontrollable rampages. Elephants were used in warfare allover the old world. The major uses of War Elephants were the Classical Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. Elephants were used in battle as recently as 1893 by the Siamese. Soon, the invention of the cannon reduced the usefulness of the Elephant in combat. However, they were still useful for beasts of burden. In WW2 in the Burma theater, Elephants were used extensively for heavy labor, because motorized vehicles were absolute useless in the harsh jungle terrain. They were used for heavy labor as recently as the Iran Iraq War for transporting artillery shells. Sadly for environmentalists, today Elephants are more useful for their ivory in today's wars.  

Non-State Factions of the 2nd Congo War

The 2nd Congo War was plagued by a mind numbing number of warring factions, both foreign and domestic. Here are some of the factions.

1.Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD); One of the Rwandan backed rebel groups. Stalemates in the fighting between the RCD and the Government forces lead to infighting and several splits among RCD. The resulting infighting resulted in several RCD splinter factions that fight other RCD factions.
 A.RCD-Goma
 B.RCD-K-ML
 C.RCD-ML
 D.RCD-N
 E.RCD-CP
2.Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR); Several of the Rwandan genocide perpetrators have fled Rwanda when the RPF took control of Rwanda. The exiled perpetrators formed armed groups like the FDLR and launched attacks on Rwanda from the DRC. Because Rwanda was sponsering groups like the RCD mentioned above, the DRC government sponserd this group in retaliation. In the 2000s, the FDLR turned on the DRC government and started attacking DRC government targets as well.
3.Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC); Another rebel faction in the Ituri region. Like all rebel groups in the 2nd Congo War, the UPC was prone to infighting and splinter factions.
4.National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP); Another Rwandan backed group. Also suffered splits and infighting.
5. Patriotic Force of Resistance in Ituri (FRPI); A Lendu based umbrella group in the Ituri region. Ugandan backed, and an opponent of the UPC.
6.Mayi Mayi Militias; Mai Mai militias are very broad term for tribal militias that warred and allied with/or against foreign and domestic governments in the 2nd Congo War. Almost all the Mai Mai militias are very superstitious that practice magic in hopes of protecting themselves from bullets.
7.Lord's Resistance Army; A Ugandan rebel group that often raids the DRC. Infamous for their cult like behavior and violent abduction/conscription of children for sex slaves and soldiers.
8.Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda (RDR); Another group of exiled Rwandan genocide perpetrators.

LURD Rebels in the 2nd Liberian Civil War

Rebels Aiding Backers in their Backers Insurgencies

One interesting and overlooked phenomenon is that many rebel groups often go to the aid of their foreign backers when their backers themselves surfer an insurgency. Some cases of such occurrences is the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) of Sudan (Darfur more specifically) helping the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) government in South Sudan fight the Neur White Army and rouge SPLA factions. In Syria, Hezbollah came to the aid of the Assad government against the various insurgent groups. In Sudan, the Sudanese government was aided by various Ugandan insurgent groups like the infamous Lords Resistance Army (LRA), and the more obscure groups like the Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) and the Alliance Democratic Forces (ADF), against the SPLA factions and other Sudanese rebel groups (the Ugandan Government also backs the SPLA factions, so the reverse roles has occurred in a Cold War style conflict). The reasons for such interventions is that the Rebel groups will not get their source of backing if the foreign government that is backing them falls to an insurgency. So in order to protect their precious source of backing, those rebel groups intervene in the allied government's insurgency on the side of their backers. This interesting phenomenon should get more attention to academics that study conflict.

AUC-FARC/ELN Clashes

In the later stages of the Colombian Conflict, right wing paramilitary groups such as the United Self Defense of Colombia (AUC) were organized by drug lords to fight against the Marxist rebel groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). FARC and the ELN were infamous for criminal activities such as kidnappings (often targeted Drug Lords, which one of the reasons why AUC and similar groups were created) and drug trafficking (paramilitary groups, liker their rivals also used drug trafficking as a source of founding) for funding their insurgency. FARC/ELN groups also used terrorist style massacres to subdue the civilian population into supporting their insurgency (one incident occurred when FARC guerrillas glued a bomb to the neck of some woman that didn't pay her debt to the group, and sent her to some government target as a forced suicide bomber). The AUC in return, also used terror against suspected guerrilla supporters. The terror tactics got so intense that the AUC eventually was responsible for 80% of the killings occurred in the late part of the Colombian Conflict. AUC paramilitaries have been known to use chainsaws to disembowel FARC/ELN captives and civilians accused of supporting such groups. Most clashes between right-wing paramilitaries and left-wing insurgents are between the AUC and FARC because they are the most powerful groups in their perspective categories. In 2006, the AUC theoretically demobilized their troops, and disbanded. However, similar groups like the Black Eagles still continue to attack left wing supporters to this day (although on a much smaller scale).   

Afghanistan Factions in 1992-96 Phase (Before the Rise of the Taliban)

After the fall of the Afghan Communist regime in 1992, the various Mujahdeen factions and remnants of the communist militias started an all-out battle for supremacy. Here below are some of the factions in the infighting periods of 1992-96.

• Jamiat-e  Islami-yi Afghanistan; A Taijk faction. One of the factions controlled by Massoud. 
• Shura-e Nazar; A coalition military by controlled by Massoud
• Hezb-e Islami; A Pashutan faction, and one of the main allies of the US during the Soviet occupation.
• Ittihad-i Islami Bara-yi Azadi Afghanistan; A Pashutan faction supported by Saudi Arabia.
• Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami-yi Afghanistan; A faction heavily supported by (and some sources say controlled by) Iran.
• Junbish-e Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan; Dostum's Uzbek faction. Mostly made up by Communists from the old government and other Mujahdeen factions
• Harakat-e Islami-yi Afghanistan; A Shia faction also funded by Iran.

Many of these factions mentioned above formed a collation known as the "Northern Alliance" to the US against the Taliban (the Taliban took power in 1996). After 9/11 (despite the loss of Massoud to a suicide bombing just the day before 9/11), the coalition toppled the Taliban with the help of US special forces. The Taliban is activity its waging insurgency to retake government control of Afghanistan to this day.

Al-Qaeda and FARC

Evidence has found a connection between al Qaeda and FARC. In this international world, armed groups that no one would even imagine having anything with each-other have some sort of connections.
http://www.conservativecrusader.com/articles/al-qaeda-and-farc-the-unholy-alliance

Shaka's Zulu Empire

Shaka begin his life as the bastard son of some chief. He and his mother Nandi were outcasts within their own tribe. When his young adult life, he became a warrior under some chief. When his father died, Shaka took over the thrown of his father's tribe with the assassination of his half brother. His rise to military power was ruthless, his armies killed thousands. The reasons for his military success is that he introduced more powerful weapons among his armies, disciplined his armies mercilessly for war, and organized Zulu society. He ruled the Zulu kingdom with an iron fist, especially after the death of his mother. When his mother Nandi died, he had every pregnant women, along with people that engaged in sexual intercourse killed. His purges got more violent. He had 7,000 people killed on the spot. Shaka also banned crops growing. Shaka's half brothers got tired of him and they murdered him a year after his mother died. Dispute Shaka's violent rule, he turned the Zulu people into a powerful nation that even temporarily give the British Empire hell on earth (the Zulus wiped out a British army of about 2,000 men in the Battle of Isandlwana). So because of turning the Zulus into a mighty nation, he is still admired by them to this day.

Battle of Clontraf

The Battle of Clontraf was a clash between Irish and some Norse loyal to Irish warlord/king Brian Boru and rival Irish kingdoms Dublin and Leinster along with thousands of Norse allies (they made such a great majority of the Dublin and Leinster coalition that the battle is often thought of Irish vs Vikings). The background of the battle was that Brian was rapidly gaining power at the expense of both of his indigenous and foreign rivals alike. 4,000/7,000 of the forces loyal to Brian were killed, while 6,000/6,600 of the Irish-Norse alliance died in the battle. Brian himself along with his son that was heir to the Irish throne was slain in the battle. Brian's relative of a disputed nature (accounts varies from a grandson to a brother) Wolf the Quarrelsome then gruesomely killed Brian's assassin (some Norse warlord) in a manner that I will not talk about due to the squeamishness of my audience (like the Fijian post, I wish to cover more details but that might be too gruesome for people). The death of Brian and his heir to the throne lead to a power-strugle between Brian's surviving sons. The battle also greatly reduced Norse presence in Ireland.

Buccaneer Campaigns

The Buccaneers are very romanticized. They are so romanticized that the amazing true reality about them is obscure and forgotten. The Buccaneers are often mistakenly associated with the Caribbean "Golden Age of Piracy",  even thou that took place c.100 years latter (although geographically they operated approximately the same area). They originated from rouge sailors living in the Caribbean islands. The sailors got their name "Buccaneer" because they would smoke Cow or Pig meat over the fire. They were driven off their islands by the Spanish, so they started raiding Spanish towns in revenge. The Buccaneers got more organized as English and the France started funding them like the US would fund the Mujahedin against the Soviets in the modern world. Also like the Americans and the Mujahedin, the Buccaneers wiggled out of the control of the Franco-English backers. A common misconception is that the Buccaneers commonly raided ships. In reality, they preferred to raid towns because they would have to give several of their loot to England and France if they raided ships. Several Buccaneers leaders (most famously Henry Morgan) were actually legendary for their amazing military skills. Buccaneer Bands under Morgan and other leaders would raid even heavily armed Spanish forts with the style similar to modern military black ops commandos. One incident, Morgan took a bunch of Monks and Nuns hostage, and forced them to be human shields against the Catholic Spanish gunners. This took advantage of religious fervor of the Spanish Catholics (I don't know the religion of the Buccaneers, but they most likely didn't care of that matter). The Buccaneers were legendary for their cruelty. One Buccaneer cut out the heart of one prisoner and stuffed it in a mouth of another. All in all, they left a lasting (albert misunderstood) impact on popular culture.

Myanmar Ethnic Rebels

Myanmar has been in a constant state of off/on uprisings (since 1948) in the Kachin and Shan states. Several of its tribal ethnicies, like the Shan (Shan State Army and its splinter factions), Karens (Karen National Liberation Army and rival breakaway faction Democratic Karen Buddhist Army), Kachins (Kachin Independence Army), and the Wa (United Wa State Army) have formed their own armies and revolted against the Tatmadaw Military government in Myanmar. Reporting on the several Myanmar Civil Wars is rare due to the fact that the Myanmar government usually doesn't allow reporters. Many of the Ethnic Armies have turned to drug trafficking for sources of income. Several of the ethnic rebel groups control territory that hold various valuable resources, thus their armies are well equipped with uniforms from pictorial sources and they are able to carry out their insurgency for an incredibly long time (some groups have been fighting the government since 1948). Often times like almost all rebel groups around the world, the Ethnic Armies often clash among themselves, with the UWSA clashing against the Shan groups, and even the DKBA formed an alliance with the Tatmadaw against the KNLA.

MEND's Insurgency in the Niger Delta

The insurgency of Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) was directed against the foreign oil industries in Nigeria. MEND is not as famous as its counterpart Boko Haram, most likely because of its tactics and goals are not as sensational as Boko Haram. MEND often abducts oil workers (not as news worthy as school girls) for ransom. MEND tactics are often piratical raids on oil ships and government targets. MEND is an umbrella term for a variety of armed groups. Their goals seem to be the securing of the Niger Delta's rich oil supply. MEND has little connections with the Boko Haram that I have personally found. However some MEND factions declared war on Boko Haram, but violence between the groups is unlikely because they have different interests.

Yugoslav Wars

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of extremely complex wars. Although in simplified terms, the Yugoslav Wars were ethnic in nature, but several incidents provided loopholes in the classification of the Conflict. For example the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) had several clashes with the fellow Croatian militia, the Croatian Defense Forces (HOS). The HVO then accidentally assassinated the HOS leader (how this is possible, the HVO tried to kidnap the leader in order to force him into a joint offensive but he fought back and they killed him). Another example is that Bosniak gangster Juka switched his allegiances from the Bosnian government to the Croats due to the fact that the Croats offered him a better deal. A 3rd example is that Western Bosnian Muslims (pictured above) under Fikret Abdic allied themselves with the Serbs against the Bosnian Muslim government.

The background of the conflict is the various ethnic groups under Tito's communist Yugoslavia had very tense relationships with each-over, and Tito was the only thing the various ethnic groups together. After Tito's death, nothing kept Yugoslavia from breaking up. Several nationalistic movements among the Serbs, Bosniaks, and the Croats attempted to fill the vacuum of Tito. What resulted was a very complex war with continuous alliance sifting among the Serbs, Croats, and the Bosniaks. After a year or two of Bosniak-Croat fighting, the two sides formed an alliance with each-over against the Serbs. Soon in 1995, after mass rape and other methods of ethnic cleansing committed by all sides, a peace accord was finally signed between the factions.

Long Way Gone

Ishmael Beah's autobiography of being an alleged child solider under the Seriea Leone government army was received controversy over its accuracy. One specifically sited case used by critics in the work is an alleged battle in some UNICEF camp between child soldiers described in the novel, resulting in 3-5 deaths and several serious injuries like one kid got his eye gorged out. Their is no records of such a clash in any of the UNICEF. Another incident is the attack on Beah's village by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) that he says took place in 1993. Apparently, he got the date for the attack on the villiage wrong, which it apparently took place in 1995. This appears to dislocate Beah's claim of being a solider for a few years. Critics argue that he should have only been fighting for a few months. However, he did accurately describe the RUF's atrocities such as its fighters practice of cutting open pregnant women, amputation of limbs, carving "RUF" on victims (etc.). To my personal opinion, Beah could have just been mistaken in some of his memories like the date of the village attack. He also could have sensationalized some of his experiences like the the fight in the UNICEF camp to sell his autobiography more. Fictional or not, it gives a great picture of the experience in the Sierra Leone Civil War.

Thuggery in India

You might somewhat recognize the Thuggee movement from the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The depiction like all hollywood movies is an incredibly fanciful depiction of the movement. The Thuggee movement's sacrifices were nowhere near as elaborate as depicted in the film. The real sacrifices were nothing more then Thugges strangling unsuspecting travelers. However the film is accurate in the depiction that they worship Kali, the Hindu goddess of death. The Thugge movement was something of a cult and a criminal gang combined (in fact, the word "thug" in English is inherited from the word "thuggee"). Their victims were often robbed after their murders. The death toll from the Thugge murders range from anything from 40,000-2,000,000. Often the Thugges would disguise themselves as guides to caravans, and the 1st chance that the Thugges get, they strangle their victims. One Thugge leader Behram killed c.150 people personally. The Thuggee movement was eradicated in the 1850s by the British Raj.

Northern Crusades

The Northern Crusades are a broad term for military campaigns by Christan against various pagan people in the Baltics. Several of the campaigns were agitated when some of the local tribes killed the priests and converts of the Christan religion. The Northern Crusades happened around the same time as their more famous counterparts against the Muslims in the Middle East. Most of the Christan nations that waged the Baltic Crusades were Denmark, Poland, and Sweden. The Baltic region was one of the very few parts of Europe that remained Pagan. So the Christan kingdoms in Scandinavia often waged various campaigns against the indigenous Pagan tribes. Like the later and more famous colonial period, the Christians relied on the local tribes (after being theoretically "Christianized") to fight against other tribes that were rivals of their collaborators. Warfare was not of any large battles as you see in the more famous Middle Eastern crusades due to the swampy environment. Instead it was more of raids and ambushes, with the occasional siege of a small fort.

Results of Infighting among Factions

The universal curse of infighting among non-state factions in very oversimplified terms usually leads to two results. One possible result is that it weakens the factions to the point that the government is able to crush the opposition. A 2nd possible result of infighting is that it continues violence even after the fall of the government in power. One case of infighting weakening factions is that in the Spanish Civil War. In the Spanish Civil War, in the Republican side, friction among communist and anarchist factions within the Republicans lead to violent inter-factional fighting. The Republican infighting allowed the Nationalists to defeat the Republicans. One case of the 2nd result is in Afghanistan. Although inter-factional fighting among Mujahedin was always present in its insurgency against the Soviet friendly government, the inter factional fighting escalated dramatically when the communist government fell. So after several years of radical alliance shifting and backstabbing among Mujahdeen factions and former pro government militias, the Tailban eventually took power. A lose coalition of mujahdeen and ex Marxist militias (especially Dostum) called the Northern Alliance formed against the Taliban. This is were the American intervention picks up. However, classifying infighting is not as black and white as I make it sounds. Sometimes information on infighting is almost non-existent like in Chechnya, other times like in Sudan were elements of both results took place.

Maroons in the Suriname

Maroons are escaped slaves that formed their own colonies. Maroons were all over South America, Central America, and even some parts of Asia, but I will only focus on the ones in Suriname. They had several issues like white attacks and reproduction (most of the Maroons were males). The reproduction issues lead to a complex friend/enemy relationship with the native Indian tribes (Maroon men often kidnapped Indian women, leading to quite a few wars between the Maroons and the Indians). The life of a Maroon was often very hazardous and many died from starvation/disease and attacks from whites, rival Maroon bands, and native Indian tribes. Despite their romanticized depictions of slaves escaping the oppression of the whites, many Maroon bands were actually quite violent and even treated many "freed" blacks as slaves. They also tortured any white plantation owners that they captured. The Maroons usually only raided plantations to get plunder and wives, and their raids to "rescue" slaves from plantations were in reality nothing more them violent abductions. The "rescued" slaves (mostly women, who were no better then sex slaves) were often just under new management from the whites to the Maroons. In fact the relations between Maroons and Slaves were sometimes so bad that slaves have been known to willingly protect their plantations from the Maroon raids! Most European wars against the Maroons are often uneventful, and most of the troops sent against the Maroons die of starvation, predator attacks, and diseases with encounters with the elusive Maroon bands rare.

Kamajors

The Kamajors were pro-government tribes in the Sierra Leone Civil War. Most mainstream government troops (SLA) were incredibility unreliable. They would often join with the insurgent group Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in plundering the population. In the words of many locals, they were described as "sobels", soldiers by day, rebels by night. So the government was forced to relay on mercenaries (most famously Executive Outcomes) and the tribal militias (the subject matter of this post). They were very superstitious, wearing lucky charms and abstaining from sexual intercourse (that is why the Kamajor rape rates are MUCH lower then their enemies in the RUF, who used rape as a weapon of war and punishment for female fighters) in hopes of protecting themselves from bullets. Eventually a splinter-faction of the government calling themselves the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) formed an alliance with the RUF, and together they toppled the "democratic" government in Freetown and formed a military Junta. However, the Kamajor militias with a coalition of West African states called ECOMOG toppled the Junta and brought the "democratic" government back into power. In 2002, the rebels were finally defeated. The Kamajors often committed similar (but on a smaller scale) atrocities as their rivals in the RUF/AFRC. Cannibalism and amputation were often reported in the Kamajor militias. Since the Kamajor's atrocities were usually directed at the rebels, they were mostly welcomed back in society more easier then their rebel counterparts.

The Kamajors are not meant for controlling and maintains states (this is reflected in their tribal clothing), which complicates things since they are the only reliable indigenous force to the government.

Typical encounters between the Kamajors and the RUF are usually encounters in the jungles.

This man is a great reflection on the tribal nature of the Kamajor militias. His he believes that his various "lucky charms" will protect him from bullets.

Mercenary Revolt

The Mercenary Revolt was when Carthage was unable to pay its mercenaries after its defeat in the 1st Punic War. The unpaid mercenaries lead by Mathos soon revolted with the support of various Libyan towns. The war became so cruel that it was soon called the "truceless war". It could only end with the annihilation of one side. Carthage had its prisoners trampled to death, while the mercenaries had their prisoners hands amputated, castrated and thrown in a pit. In one incident, the Carthaginians crucified some mercenary leaders, then the mercenaries raided and kidnapped some Carthaginian generals. The mercenaries took down the bodies of their leaders and replaced them with the captured Carthaginian generals. However, Mathos was captured, tortured and presumably executed by the Carthaginians. All the mercenary rebels either defect to the Carthaginians or killed. Little is known about the war, what is recorded is by Roman historians that are possibly biased. All Carthaginian records were presumably destroyed in the Sack of Carthage by the Romans.

Roman Animal Fights

The Bestarii games in the ancient Roman times would outrage the human and animal rights in the modern world activists alike. Hundreds of thousands of humans and animals alike died in those games. Entire species of animals like the North African Elephant went extinct due to the games. The hunters were often criminals or POWs from Rome's Wars that were sent under-equipped (sometimes they were armed with no weapons at all) to fight dangerous animals like leopards, lions, and bears. Regardless said, almost all of the Bestarii fighters died in each game. One Lion killed 200 Bestarii before the beast was finally killed. Animals (usually Cattle or Giraffes) were trained to rape women to reenact myths were Zeus/Jupiter had sexual relations with his lovers in his animal forms (mentioned in my Hunger Games post). The trainer would put the scent of the females of the species in heat on women to provoke the males of the species to rape the women. The most infamous uses of animals in the Coliseum is that the Romans had prisoners (usually women, but men are not uncommon) tied to poles, and they had wild predators (usually some big cat) maul the helpless victim. A wide variety of people suffered this horrific fate (a lot of them were slaves), but the most famous victims of this method of execution were Christan.

1916 Cumberland vs Georgetech Football Game

The most one sided football game in history was when Georgetech Engineers beat the Cumberland Bulldogs 222-0. It is the only game in history to pass 200 points. In the post WW2 era, their has only been a handful of football games that went past 100 points.

Maji Maji Revolt

The Maji Maji Revolt was a tribal revolt against German ruled East Africa. Some shaman convinced several tribes in East Africa that if they drink his war "medicine", they would be immune to bullets. This caused the deaths of thousands of warriors to the German's machine guns. The revolt was perpetually crushed when the Germans used scorched earth tactics against the revolting tribes. So many tribesman died that several predators (like Lions) have devolved a taste for human flesh from all the bodies from the war. Man eating predators still plague the area to this day.

Battle of Talas

The Battle of Talas was an clash between the unexpected eniemes of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Tang Dynasty. The battle occurred when both the Chinese and the Arabs were expanding into Central Asia. The expanding interests of the empires could not coexist. So in 751 AD, the Arabs and their Tibetan allies clashed with the Chinese and their Karluk mercenaries. The battle became doomed for the Tang Dynasty when its mercenaries defected to the Arabs and the Chinese were defeated. The battle closed off Central Asia to the Chinese and introduced silk to the Arab world, and thru Arab influence the European world also.

2nd Congo War

The 2nd Congo War, as stated in my earlier blog, was the result of Kabila betraying his backers in Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi governments. His ex-backers started various (mostly Tutsi) rebel groups (which they eventually lost control over) such as the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) and the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC). The Kabilan regime in retaliation started sponsoring various rebel groups (mostly Hutu but with exceptions) that were against his rivals like Lords Resistance Army (LRA), CNDD-FDD (mentioned in my post about the Burundi Civil War), and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Also involved in the war were Mai-Mai militias, a VERY lose term for self defense tribal militias that fought for and against the Kabila regime. Like his rivals, Kabila lost control of his militias that he was supporting. The FDLR was a remnant group of exiled perpetrators of the Rwandan Genocide. Several rebel groups (like the extreme case of RCD) suffered the curse of infighting and splintering. RCD had 9 splinter factions that war against each-over mercilessly (even splinter factions of splinter factions like RCD-Kisangia- Liberation Movement (RCD-K-ML) being the splinter faction of a RCD splinter faction RCD-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML)). RCD-K-ML even allied itself with the Kabilian government. The war eventually became mind-numbingly complex and militsided with factions switching their allegiances as often as teenage girls change their clothes, with "friends" fighting each-over as much as their enemies. Laurent Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards (the bodyguard was a child solider), with his son Joseph taking power in the government. The war "ended" (violent insurgencies still continue to this day, with groups like the FDLR, ADF, M23, several Mai Mai groups still waring against the government) with a peace treaty in a luxury hotel called the Sun City Hotel in South Africa in 1998.

Seleka

In one of my previous posts, I have covered the Anti Balaka. Now I will cover their enemies, the Seleka. The Seleka like I have mentioned in my previous post, the Seleka are a coalition (but I will go in more depth in this post) of various Muslim rebel groups like the Patriotic Convention for Saving the Country (CPSK), Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP), and the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (URDF). The Seleka toppled the Bozize government, and they became the de-facto government forces in control. Several Christians that were mercilessly preyed upon by the Seleka coalition started to form their own vigilante groups known as the "Anti Balaka". The Anti Balaka started to mercilessly prey upon the Muslim population with such violence (cannibalism is often reported in the attacks) that some sources call it genocide. The Seleka retaliate with equal violence against the Christians, thus turning the CAR civil war into a tit for tat atrocity conflict.

The scar on this individual is interesting to analyze. He most likely got it in an ambush by Anti-Balaka vigilantes. The weapon that caused the wound seems to be a bladed melee weapon like a machete or knife. A gunshot wound inflicted were the scar is located would have most likely would be fatal. This scar on the face is evidence for hand to hand combat during clashes between Anti Balaka and the Seleka.

Uniforms seem to be prevalent among Seleka fighters. This hints of either great organization or foreign backing. Seleka fighters also might have gotten them from ex-government troops.

Notice the Muslim turbans on many of these individuals. This reflects the fact that many Seleka fighters are Muslim.

Anti Balaka

The Anti Balaka are loosely organized and mostly Christian "Self Defense" militias in the Central African Republic. As I did with ISIS, White Neur Army, and the ULIMO-J, I will analyze the Anti Balaka based on its appearance of its fighters. The word "Balaka" means "machete" (which is somewhat ironic, since the machete is a common weapon among these fighters), which the significance of that is the weapons of the enemies of the Anti Balaka is the Islamic Seleka coalition (in fact, the word "Seleka" means "coalition"), is the machete.

The poor weaponry of these fighters show that they have no foreign backing. Most military weapons and clothing seem to be stolen from the corpses of Seleka fighters.

The Anti Balaka are also very tribal. This is shown by the fighters wearing amulets. They believe that the lucky charms would protect them from bullets.

Again with the weaponry, this man is armed with an improvised firearm. Also shows that the Anti Balaka fighters had to arm themselves.

AFDL's Conquest of Zarie

Disgraced rebel leader Laurent Kabila's (Kabila 1st attempt at insurgency in the Congo Crisis of the 60s with the backing of Che Guevara was a failure. Guevara even described Kabila as "he lacked revolutionary seriousness") Alliance of Democratic Force for the Liberation of the Congo (AFDL), with the backing of Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda, starts it's insurgency against Mobutu's 30 year regime in Zarie. In a murderous rampage, the AFDL kills 60,000 people and quickly conquers all of Zarie. Once the corrupt Mobutu regime had fallen and the AFDL is in control, Kabila renames the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and he double-crosses all of his backers in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda. His enraged former backers then in retaliation create rebel groups against Kabila's regime, thus starting the 2nd Congo War (which I will discuss in a future post). 

Campaigns of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th-17th Centuries

The Ottoman Empire's golden age was in the 14th and 17th centuries. They expanded in that time period in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The Ottomans were almost unstoppable in their conquests. The greatest achievement of the Ottomans is they conquered the Byzantines in the Fall of Constantinople. This victory allowed the Ottomans to entire Europe without any opponents to counter them. Other (non-Christan) opponents of the Ottoman empire are the Timurids, the Mamluks, and the Safavids. Also, the Ottomans (like their Byzantine opponents) were also prone to off and on Civil Wars. The Ottoman Empire was finally halted in the Battle of Vienna by the Poles in 1683. This defeated marked the slow decline of the Ottomans that eventually completed in WW1.