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China: British and Chinese officials on board HMS Wellesley a day before the capture of Chusan (5-6 July, 1840) in the First Opium War. British Commodore Sir James Gordon Bremer (table, 3rd left) and Chinese Admiral Chang (table, 3rd right), Karl Gützlaff (centre) served as interpreter.<br/><br/> The first capture of Chusan by British forces in China occurred on 5–6 July 1840 during the First Opium War. The British captured Chusan, the largest island of an archipelago of that name.<br/><br/> The First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–42), known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice.
China: British and Chinese officials on board HMS Wellesley a day before the capture of Chusan (5-6 July, 1840) in the First Opium War. British Commodore Sir James Gordon Bremer (table, 3rd left) and Chinese Admiral Chang (table, 3rd right), Karl Gützlaff (centre) served as interpreter.<br/><br/> The first capture of Chusan by British forces in China occurred on 5–6 July 1840 during the First Opium War. The British captured Chusan, the largest island of an archipelago of that name.<br/><br/> The First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–42), known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice.
Joachim-Napoléon Murat (Gioacchino Murat; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a Marshal of France and Admiral of France under the reign of Napoleon. He was also the 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808, and King of Naples from 1808 to 1815.<br/><br/> Murat received his titles in part by being Napoleon's brother-in-law through marriage to his younger sister, Caroline Bonaparte, as well as personal merit. He was noted as a daring, brave, and charismatic cavalry officer as well as a flamboyant dresser, for which he was known as 'the Dandy King'.
Adachi Ginko (1853-1908) was a Japanese <i>ukiyo-e</i> artist active during the 19th century. Born as Adachi Heishichi in 1853, he studied under the painter Goseda Horyu and began designing woodblock prints as early as 1870, though his earliest surviving prints date to 1873.<br/><br/> He was very active as a member of the Utagawa school and worked in different genres, from portraits to landscapes, illustrations, satirical works and triptychs of contemporary events. His most successful work were a series of triptychs in the late 1880s called the 'Pictorial Outline of Japanese History'.<br/><br/> Ginko was arrested and jailed in 1889 for his caricatures of the Meiji Emperor during the controversial era of the Meiji Constitution decree. He was imprisoned for a year, but continued to produce prints after his release, with his last known work dating to 1908, after which he disappears from any public record.
The First Sino-Japanese War (1 August 1894 - 17 April 1895) was waged between Qing Dynasty China and the Japanese Empire, primarily over control of the Korean peninsula. In China, the war is commonly known as the War of Jiawu, while in Japan it is called the Japan-Qing War, and in Korea, the Qing-Japan War.<br/><br/> The war lasted 8 months altogether, and saw more than six months of unbroken victories and success by the Japanese land and naval forces against the numerically superior but militarily inferior Chinese army. The Japanese eventually took over the Chinese port city of Weihaiwei and forced the Qing government to sue for peace in February 1895, though the war would continue until April.<br/><br/> The Sino-Japanese War highlighted the stark failure of the Qing Empire to modernise and advance its armed forces, and resulted in regional dominance in East Asia shifting for the first time from China to Japan. The Korean peninsula, Joseon, was removed from the Chinese sphere of influence and fell under Japanese vassalage instead.
Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev (14 May 1891, Saint Petersburg – 21 November 1967) was a Soviet painter and graphic artist. He became famous for his exceptional illustrations of the poems of the prominent poet and translator Samuil Marshak, such as Circus, Ice Cream, Tale About a Foolish Mouse, Moustached and Striped, Book of Many Colours, Twelve Months and Luggage.<br/><br/> As a young boy, Lebedev started to paint postcards that were sold in a shop in Saint Petersburg. At the age of nineteen, he held his first exhibit at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1913, he began work as a cartoonist for several satirical journals, including the famed 'Satirikon'). From 1920-1922, Lebedev worked for The Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA) and The Department of Agitation (Agitprop) designing propaganda posters.
Franklin also served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) from 1837 to 1843. He disappeared on his last expedition, attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The icebound ships were abandoned and the entire crew perished from starvation, hypothermia, tuberculosis, lead poisoning and scurvy.<br/><br/> In September 2014, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, announced that the wreck of HMS Erebus, one of the two ships from Franklin's final voyage, had been rediscovered.<br/><br/> On 12 September 2016, it was announced that the Arctic Research Foundation expedition had found the wreck of HMS Terror south of King William Island in Terror Bay and in 'pristine' condition.
Adolf Hitler (Führer und Reichskanzler) officially received congratulations from officials of the army in the new year celebration event held in Berlin, the night of 31 December 1935-1 January 1936.<br/><br/> From left to right: Generaloberst Werner von Blomberg (Reichskriegsminister und Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht), General der Flieger Hermann Göring (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe), General der Artillerie Werner Freiherr von Fritsch (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres), and Admiral Erich Raeder (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine).
Franklin disappeared on his last expedition, attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The icebound ships were abandoned and the entire crew perished from starvation, hypothermia, tuberculosis, lead poisoning and scurvy.<br/><br/> In September 2014, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, announced that the wreck of HMS Erebus, one of the two ships from Franklin's final voyage, had been rediscovered.<br/><br/> On 12 September 2016, it was announced that the Arctic Research Foundation expedition had found the wreck of HMS Terror south of King William Island in Terror Bay and in 'pristine' condition.
The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, is a mass murder and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanjing (Nanking), the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.<br/><br/> During this period, hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers were murdered and 20,000–80,000 women were raped by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.
Zheng He (1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was born Ma He to a Muslim family, and later adopted the conferred surname Zheng from Emperor Yongle.<br/><br/> Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. His larger ships stretched 120 meters or more in length. These carried hundreds of sailors on four tiers of decks.
Five Star Admiral Ray Spruance commanded U.S. naval forces during two of the most significant naval battles that took place in the Pacific theater, the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The Battle of Midway was the first major victory for the United States over Japan and is seen by many as the turning point of the Pacific war. The Battle of the Philippine Sea was also a significant victory for the US.<br/><br/> The Navy's official historian said of the Battle of Midway '...Spruance's performance was superb...(he) emerged from this battle one of the greatest admirals in American naval history'. After the war, Spruance was appointed President of the Naval War College, and later served as American ambassador to the Philippines.
Afonso de Albuquerque (1453—1515) was a Portuguese admiral whose military and administrative accomplishments as second governor of Portuguese India established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean. He is generally considered a military genius.<br/><br/> Albuquerque attempted to close all Indian Ocean naval routes to the Atlantic, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and to the Pacific, and was responsible for building numerous fortresses to defend key strategic positions and establishing a net of diplomatic relations.<br/><br/> Shortly before his death he was awarded viceroy and 'Duke of Goa' by king Manuel I of Portugal, becoming the first Portuguese duke not from the royal family, and the first Portuguese title landed overseas. He was known as ‘The Terrible’, ‘The Great’, ‘The Caesar of the East’, ‘Lion of the Seas’ and ‘The Portuguese Mars’.<br/><br/> There is no doubting Albuquerque’s ruthless ambition. He suggested diverting the course of the Nile River to render Egypt barren. And he even planned to steal the body of the Prophet Muhammad, and hold it for ransom until all Muslims had left the Holy Land.
Ding Ruchang (18 November 1836 – 12 February 1895) was a career officer in the late Qing dynasty military of China.<br/><br/> During the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894, Ding lost five of the ten ships in his fleet.<br/><br/> Ding refused offers of political asylum by Japanese admiral Itoh Sukeyuki and committed suicide by an overdose of opium in his office at his Liugong Island headquarters. His deputy, Admiral Liu Buchan, after ordering that his warship be scuttled by explosives, also committed suicide. The remnants of the Beiyang Fleet surrendered to the Japanese.
Zheng He (1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was born Ma He to a Muslim family, and later adopted the conferred surname Zheng from Emperor Yongle.<br/><br/> Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. His larger ships stretched 120 meters or more in length. These carried hundreds of sailors on four tiers of decks.
Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, GCB, USN (February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was a five-star admiral of the United States Navy. He held the dual command of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CinCPac), for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA), for U.S. and Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II.<br/><br/> He was the leading U.S. Navy authority on submarines, as well as Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation in 1939. He served as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 1945 until 1947. He was the United States' last surviving Fleet Admiral.
The Ryukyu Kingdom (historical English name: Lewchew, Luchu, or Loochoo) was an independent kingdom that ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th to the 19th century. The kings of Ryukyu unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan.<br/><br/> Despite its small size, the kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East and Southeast Asia.
Franklin also served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) from 1837 to 1843. He disappeared on his last expedition, attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The icebound ships were abandoned and the entire crew perished from starvation, hypothermia, tuberculosis, lead poisoning and scurvy.<br/><br/> In September 2014, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, announced that the wreck of HMS Erebus, one of the two ships from Franklin's final voyage, had been rediscovered.<br/><br/> On 12 September 2016, it was announced that the Arctic Research Foundation expedition had found the wreck of HMS Terror south of King William Island in Terror Bay and in 'pristine' condition.
Nguyen Van Thieu was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) who went on to become the President of South Vietnam (1965–75), first as the head of a military junta and then after winning a fraudulent election. He established an authoritarian and corrupt rule over South Vietnam until resigning and fleeing the nation a few days before the fall of Saigon and the ultimate communist victory.
During the Russo-Japanese War, Tōgō engaged the Russian navy at Port Arthur and the Yellow Sea in 1904, and destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, a battle which shocked the world.<br/><br/> Tsushima had broken the Russian strength in East Asia, and is said to have triggered various uprisings in the Russian Navy (1905 uprisings in Vladivostok and the Battleship Potemkin uprising), contributing to the Russian Revolution of 1905.<br/><br/> Togo was termed by Western journalists 'The Nelson of the East', after the British admiral who defeated the French and Spanish at Trafalgar.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (Russian: АлСкса́ндр Π’Π°ΡΠΈΜΠ»ΡŒΠ΅Π²ΠΈΡ‡ ΠšΠΎΠ»Ρ‡Π°ΜΠΊ, 16 November [O.S. 4 November] 1874 – 7 February 1920) was a polar explorer and commander in the Imperial Russian Navy, who fought in the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War. During the Russian Civil War, he established a counter-revolutionary government in Siberia—later the Provisional All-Russian Government—and was recognised as the 'Supreme Ruler and Commander-in-Chief of All Russian Land and Sea Forces' by the other leaders of the White movement (1918–1920).<br/><br/> His government was based in Omsk, in southwestern Siberia. He tried to defeat Bolshevism by ruling as a dictator but his government proved weak and confused. For example, he lost track of the imperial gold reserves and much of it disappeared. He failed to unite all the disparate elements. He refused to consider autonomy for ethnic minorities, refused to collaborate with non-Bolshevik leftists, and relied too heavily on outside aid. As his White forces fell apart, he was captured by independents and handed over to the Bolsheviks, who executed him.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (Russian: АлСкса́ндр Π’Π°ΡΠΈΜΠ»ΡŒΠ΅Π²ΠΈΡ‡ ΠšΠΎΠ»Ρ‡Π°ΜΠΊ, 16 November [O.S. 4 November] 1874 – 7 February 1920) was a polar explorer and commander in the Imperial Russian Navy, who fought in the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War. During the Russian Civil War, he established a counter-revolutionary government in Siberia—later the Provisional All-Russian Government—and was recognised as the 'Supreme Ruler and Commander-in-Chief of All Russian Land and Sea Forces' by the other leaders of the White movement (1918–1920).<br/><br/> His government was based in Omsk, in southwestern Siberia. He tried to defeat Bolshevism by ruling as a dictator but his government proved weak and confused. For example, he lost track of the imperial gold reserves and much of it disappeared. He failed to unite all the disparate elements. He refused to consider autonomy for ethnic minorities, refused to collaborate with non-Bolshevik leftists, and relied too heavily on outside aid. As his White forces fell apart, he was captured by independents and handed over to the Bolsheviks, who executed him.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (Russian: АлСкса́ндр Π’Π°ΡΠΈΜΠ»ΡŒΠ΅Π²ΠΈΡ‡ ΠšΠΎΠ»Ρ‡Π°ΜΠΊ, 16 November [O.S. 4 November] 1874 – 7 February 1920) was a polar explorer and commander in the Imperial Russian Navy, who fought in the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War. During the Russian Civil War, he established a counter-revolutionary government in Siberia—later the Provisional All-Russian Government—and was recognised as the 'Supreme Ruler and Commander-in-Chief of All Russian Land and Sea Forces' by the other leaders of the White movement (1918–1920).<br/><br/> His government was based in Omsk, in southwestern Siberia. He tried to defeat Bolshevism by ruling as a dictator but his government proved weak and confused. For example, he lost track of the imperial gold reserves and much of it disappeared. He failed to unite all the disparate elements. He refused to consider autonomy for ethnic minorities, refused to collaborate with non-Bolshevik leftists, and relied too heavily on outside aid. As his White forces fell apart, he was captured by independents and handed over to the Bolsheviks, who executed him.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (Russian: АлСкса́ндр Π’Π°ΡΠΈΜΠ»ΡŒΠ΅Π²ΠΈΡ‡ ΠšΠΎΠ»Ρ‡Π°ΜΠΊ, 16 November [O.S. 4 November] 1874 – 7 February 1920) was a polar explorer and commander in the Imperial Russian Navy, who fought in the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War. During the Russian Civil War, he established a counter-revolutionary government in Siberia—later the Provisional All-Russian Government—and was recognised as the 'Supreme Ruler and Commander-in-Chief of All Russian Land and Sea Forces' by the other leaders of the White movement (1918–1920).<br/><br/> His government was based in Omsk, in southwestern Siberia. He tried to defeat Bolshevism by ruling as a dictator but his government proved weak and confused. For example, he lost track of the imperial gold reserves and much of it disappeared. He failed to unite all the disparate elements. He refused to consider autonomy for ethnic minorities, refused to collaborate with non-Bolshevik leftists, and relied too heavily on outside aid. As his White forces fell apart, he was captured by independents and handed over to the Bolsheviks, who executed him.
Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. The Yongle emperor designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin and extend the empire's tributary system.<br/><br/> Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of up to 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen, with each ship housing up to 500 men.<br/><br/> Zheng He's fleets visited Arabia, Brunei, East Africa, India, the Malay Archipelago and Thailand, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk; in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, ivory and giraffes.
Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. The Yongle emperor designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin and extend the empire's tributary system.<br/><br/> Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of up to 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen, with each ship housing up to 500 men.<br/><br/> Zheng He's fleets visited Arabia, Brunei, East Africa, India, the Malay Archipelago and Thailand, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk; in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, ivory and giraffes.
Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. The Yongle emperor designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin and extend the empire's tributary system.<br/><br/> Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of up to 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen, with each ship housing up to 500 men.<br/><br/> Zheng He's fleets visited Arabia, Brunei, East Africa, India, the Malay Archipelago and Thailand, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk; in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, ivory and giraffes.
Field Marshal Sir Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO & Bar (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior commander in the British Army. He was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War, and was promoted to field marshal in 1944.<br/><br/> As chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, Brooke was the foremost military advisor to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and in the role of co-ordinator of the British military efforts was an extremely important but not always well-known contributor to the Allies' victory in 1945.<br/><br/> After retiring from the army, he served as Lord High Constable of England during the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. His war diaries attracted attention for their criticism of Churchill and for Brooke's forthright views on other leading figures of the war.
Isoroku Yamamoto (山本 五十六 Yamamoto Isoroku, April 4, 1884 – April 18, 1943) was a Japanese Marshal Admiral and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy.<br/><br/> Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the decisive early years of the Pacific War and so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway.<br/><br/> He died when American codebreakers identified his flight plans and his plane was shot down. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II.
Goryeo, also known as Koryŏ (Hangul: κ³ λ €; hanja: ι«˜ιΊ—; 918–1392), was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by King Taejo. This kingdom later gave name to the modern state of Korea. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the leader of the Joseon dynasty in 1392. The Goryeo dynasty expanded its borders to present-day Wonsan in the north-east (936–943) and the Amnok River (993) and finally almost the whole of the Korean peninsula (1374).<br/><br/> By the 14th century Goryeo had lost much of its power under Yuan Dynasty pressure. Although King Gongmin managed to free his kingdom from the Mongol influence, the Goryeo general Yi Seonggye revolted and overthrew the last king of Goryeo, King Gongyang in 1392. Gongyang was killed in 1394.
The First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–42), known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice.<br/><br/> Chinese officials wished to stop what was perceived as an outflow of silver and to control the spread of opium, and confiscated supplies of opium from British traders. The British government, although not officially denying China's right to control imports, objected to this seizure and used its newly developed military power to enforce violent redress.<br/><br/> In 1842, the Treaty of Nanking—the first of what the Chinese later called the unequal treaties—granted an indemnity to Britain, the opening of five treaty ports, and the cession of Hong Kong Island, thereby ending the trade monopoly of the Canton System. The failure of the treaty to satisfy British goals of improved trade and diplomatic relations led to the Second Opium War (1856–60). The war is now considered in China as the beginning of modern Chinese history.
The Siege of Saigon, a two-year siege of the city by the Vietnamese after its capture on 17 February 1859 by a Franco-Spanish flotilla under the command of the French admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly, was one of the major events of the Conquest of Cochinchina (1858–62).<br/><br/> Saigon was of great strategic importance, both as the key food-producing area of Vietnam and as the gateway to Cochinchina.
Elliot was born to influential and distinguished family that included several powerful politicians and diplomats. After entering the navy at an early age he served through several of the decisive battles of the French Revolutionary Wars, seeing action at Genoa, Hyères, and Cape St Vincent and under Nelson at the Nile and Copenhagen. He had graduated to his own commands by the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, being described by Nelson as one of the best officers in the navy, and served with distinction in the Mediterranean and in the East Indies, where he took part in the Invasion of Java.<br/><br/> Elliot was promoted to rear-admiral on 10 January 1837 and in September that year went out as commander-in-chief of the Cape Station. He was then sent to China in February 1840, during the First Opium War, as commander-in-chief East Indies and China Station and joint plenipotentiary with his cousin, Captain Charles Elliot.
Isoroku Yamamoto (山本 五十六 Yamamoto Isoroku, April 4, 1884 – April 18, 1943) was a Japanese Marshal Admiral and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy.<br/><br/> Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the decisive early years of the Pacific War and so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway.<br/><br/> He died when American codebreakers identified his flight plans and his plane was shot down. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II.
Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., United States Navy, (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959)[1] (commonly referred to as 'Bill' or 'Bull' Halsey), was a U.S. Naval officer. He commanded the South Pacific Area during the early stages of the Pacific War against Japan. Later he was commander of the Third Fleet through the duration of hostilities.
Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., United States Navy, (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959)[1] (commonly referred to as 'Bill' or 'Bull' Halsey), was a U.S. Naval officer. He commanded the South Pacific Area during the early stages of the Pacific War against Japan. Later he was commander of the Third Fleet through the duration of hostilities.
Piri Reis (full name HajΔ± Ahmed Muhiddin Piri; Reis was a Turkish military rank equivalent to that of captain) was an Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 and died in 1554 or 1555.<br/><br/> He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-Δ± Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book which contains detailed information on navigation, as well as very accurate charts (for its time) describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea. He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map (prepared in 1513) was discovered in 1929 at the TopkapΔ± Palace in Istanbul. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still in existence in the world (the oldest known map of America that is still in existence is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500, which is conserved in the Naval Museum (Museo Naval) of Madrid, Spain). Piri Reis' map is centered on the Sahara at the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer.<br/><br/> In 1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map, of which a small fragment (showing Greenland and North America from Labrador and Newfoundland in the north to Florida, Cuba and parts of Central America in the south) still survives. According to his imprinting text, he had drawn his maps using about twenty foreign charts and mappae mundi (Arab, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and Greek) including one of Christopher Columbus.
Ali Pasha was commander-in-chief of the Ottoman naval forces at the Battle of Lepanto on 7 October 1571. Selim had entrusted him with one of the most precious possessions of the Ottoman Sultans, the great 'Banner of the Caliphs', a huge green banner heavily embroidered with texts from the Qur'an and with the name of Allah emblazoned upon it 28,900 times in golden letters. It was intended to provide an incentive for him and his men to do their best in battle.<br/><br/> Still quite young, like his counterpart Don Juan, he was more of a land soldier than a naval tactician, and his failure to keep his lines together and keep his individual squadrons from charging like cavalry units in a land battle allowed the Christian forces to penetrate his battle line in various places and to surround and defeat the isolated ships.<br/><br/> He was also somewhat of a firebrand and almost immediately sought the direct confrontation with his opposite number. His flagship, the galley Sultana, battled head-to-head with Don Juan's flagship La Real, was boarded and, after about one hour of bloody fighting, with reinforcements being provided to both sides by other galleys in their respective fleets, was captured.<br/><br/> Ali Pasha died at the hands of a Macedonian employed by the Venetians. He was shot in the head by a musket ball, fell to the deck and was beheaded by a zealous Spanish soldier. His head was then displayed upon a pike. This, and the capture of the Banner of the Caliphs by the Real, led to a collapse in Turkish morale, greatly contributing to their defeat in the Battle of Lepanto.
For centuries Venice was Europe’s prime trading partner with the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire in particular. Venetian naval and commercial power was unrivalled in Europe until it lost a series of wars to the Ottoman armies in the 15th century. The city lost some 50,000 people to the Black Death in 1575-77, but remained a major manufacturing center and port well into the 18th century.
Chen Huacheng (Chinese:ι™ˆεŒ–ζˆοΌ‰(1776-1842), was a native of Tongan, Fujian. He became naval forces commander of Fujian in 1830 (10th year of the Daoguang reign) and provincial military commander of Jiangnan in 1840. He cast bronze cannons, made gun powder, built batteries, and prepared for the defense of Wusong.<br/><br/> In 1842 when the British fleet came to attack, he opposed Jiangnan and Jiangxi governor-general Niu Jian's fear of the enemy and seeking of peace, waving the Qing banner and shelling British ships. He was killed in battle at the Western Wusong Battery during hand-to-hand fighting with the British invaders.
Guan Tianpei (simplified Chinese: ε…³ε€©εŸΉ; traditional Chinese: ι—œε€©εŸΉ; Wade–Giles: Kuan T'ien-p'ei; 1781 – 26 February 1841) was a Chinese admiral of the Qing Dynasty who served in the First Opium War. His Chinese title was 'Commander-in-Chief of Naval Forces'.<br/><br/> In 1838, he established courteous relations with British Rear-Admiral Frederick Maitland. Guan fought in the First Battle of Chuenpee (1839), the Second Battle of Chuenpee (1841), and the Battle of the Bogue (1841). A British account described his death in the Anunghoy forts during the Battle of the Bogue on 26 February 1841:<br/><br/> 'Among these, the most distinguished and lamented was poor old Admiral Kwan, whose death excited much sympathy throughout the force; he fell by a bayonet wound in his breast, as he was meeting his enemy at the gate of Anunghoy, yielding up his brave spirit willingly to a soldier's death, when his life could only be preserved through the certainty of degradation. He was altogether a fine specimen of a gallant soldier, unwilling to yield when summoned to surrender, because to yield would imply treason'.<br/><br/> The following day, his body was claimed by his family and a salute of minute-guns was fired from HMS Blenheim in his honour.
Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, GCB, USN (February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was a five-star admiral of the United States Navy. He held the dual command of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CinCPac), for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA), for U.S. and Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II.<br/><br/> He was the leading U.S. Navy authority on submarines, as well as Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation in 1939. He served as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 1945 until 1947. He was the United States' last surviving Fleet Admiral.
The Tonkin Campaign (French: Campagne du Tonkin) was an armed conflict fought between June 1883 and April 1886 by the French against, variously, the Vietnamese, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and the Chinese Guangxi and Yunnan armies to occupy Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and entrench a French protectorate there.<br/><br/> The campaign, complicated in August 1884 by the outbreak of the Sino-French War and in July 1885 by the Can Vuong nationalist uprising in Annam, which required the diversion of large numbers of French troops, was conducted by the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, supported by the gunboats of the Tonkin Flotilla. The campaign officially ended in April 1886, when the expeditionary corps was reduced in size to a division of occupation, but Tonkin was not effectively pacified until 1896.
Phuc Kien is the Vietnamese for Fujian, and this, the richest of the several Chinese Assembly Halls in Hoi An, was founded by merchants from Fujian Province. It also serves as a temple dedicated to Thien Hau, a goddess who specially cares for seafarers like the Fujian merchants in times past.<br/><br/> The small temple complex is set back from the street beyond a courtyard. Here the Sea Goddess Thien Hau presides at the centre of the main altar in the first chamber. Her attendants on either side inform her whenever there is a shipwreck, so that she can intercede on the part of the mariners.<br/><br/> To the right of the altar is a large model of a Chinese sailing junk. In the chamber at the back, another altar honours six seated figures representing the founding fathers of Hoi An’s Fujian community, who fled to Vietnam after the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty in 1644.<br/><br/> The small but historic town of Hoi An is located on the Thu Bon River 30km (18 miles) south of Danang. During the time of the Nguyen Lords (1558 - 1777) and even under the first Nguyen Emperors, Hoi An - then known as Faifo - was an important port, visited regularly by shipping from Europe and all over the East.<br/><br/> By the late 19th Century the silting up of the Thu Bon River and the development of nearby Danang had combined to make Hoi An into a backwater. This obscurity saved the town from serious fighting during the wars with France and the USA, so that at the time of reunification in 1975 it was a forgotten and impoverished fishing port lost in a time warp.
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS (né Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (the husband of Elizabeth II). He was the last Viceroy of India (1947) and the first Governor-General of the independent Union of India (1947–48), from which the modern Republic of India would emerge in 1950.<br/><br/> From 1954 until 1959 he was the First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. In 1979 Mountbatten was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who planted a bomb in his fishing boat, the Shadow V, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in the decline of the British Empire in the mid to late 20th century.
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS (né Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (the husband of Elizabeth II). He was the last Viceroy of India (1947) and the first Governor-General of the independent Union of India (1947–48), from which the modern Republic of India would emerge in 1950.<br/><br/> From 1954 until 1959 he was the First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. In 1979 Mountbatten was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who planted a bomb in his fishing boat, the Shadow V, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in the decline of the British Empire in the mid to late 20th century.
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS (né Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (the husband of Elizabeth II). He was the last Viceroy of India (1947) and the first Governor-General of the independent Union of India (1947–48), from which the modern Republic of India would emerge in 1950.<br/><br/> From 1954 until 1959 he was the First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. In 1979 Mountbatten was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who planted a bomb in his fishing boat, the Shadow V, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in the decline of the British Empire in the mid to late 20th century.
Also referred to as Prince Abhakorn of Chumphon, or the Prince of Chumphon, Kromluang Chumphon Khet Udomsak was a son of King Chulalongkorn, Rama V. He was educated at the Naval Academy in the United Kingdom and served as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy. His statue has been erected in several coastal provinces and is highly revered by the people of Thailand, especially by mariners.<br/><br/> Admiral Prince Krom Luang Chumporn Khet Udomsak was the first member of the Thai royal family to graduate in naval education (1919). He was the commanding officer of HTMS Phra Ruang that sailed from Britain to Bangkok. This was the first time a Thai navy officer had ever commanded a royal gunship in a voyage between continents.
Also referred to as Prince Abhakorn of Chumphon, or the Prince of Chumphon, Kromluang Chumphon Khet Udomsak was a son of King Chulalongkorn, Rama V. He was educated at the Naval Academy in the United Kingdom and served as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy. His statue has been erected in several coastal provinces and is highly revered by the people of Thailand, especially by mariners.<br/><br/> Admiral Prince Krom Luang Chumporn Khet Udomsak was the first member of the Thai royal family to graduate in naval education (1919). He was the commanding officer of HTMS Phra Ruang that sailed from Britain to Bangkok. This was the first time a Thai navy officer had ever commanded a royal gunship in a voyage between continents.
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was the first great war of the 20th century which grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea.<br/><br/> The major theatres of operations were Southern Manchuria, specifically the area around the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden, the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea. The resulting campaigns, in which the Japanese military attained victory over the Russian forces arrayed against them, were unexpected by world observers. As time transpired, these victories would transform the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage.<br/><br/> The embarrassing string of defeats inflamed the Russian people's dissatisfaction with their inefficient and corrupt Tsarist government, and proved a major cause of the Russian Revolution of 1905.
Chin Peng (born 1924), was born Ong Boon Hua (Mandarin: Wang Yonghua or Wang Wenhua) in Sitiawan, and was a long-time leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP). A determined anti-colonialist, he was noted for leading the party's guerrilla insurgency in the Malayan Emergency and beyond.
Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall, KCB, FRS (c. 1797 – 25 June 1878), was a British officer in the Royal Navy. He served in the First Anglo-Chinese War and Crimean War. In China, he commanded the iron steamship Nemesis of the East India Company.<br/><br/> In November 1839, Hall obtained command of Nemesis of the British East India Company in China, where he served in the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–43). The ship's first engagement was against Chinese forts and a fleet of junks in the Second Battle of Chuenpee on 7 January 1841. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his part in the battle. He was also present at the Battle of First Bar on 27 February.<br/><br/> In commemoration of his service, he was commonly known in the navy as 'Nemesis Hall'. William Dallas Bernard, an Oxford graduate who studied life and customs in China, used Hall's notes to write an account of the war in the 'Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843' (1844).
Born the third son of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, 1st Baronet, Michael Seymour entered the Royal Navy in 1813. He was made Lieutenant in 1822, Commander in 1824 and was posted Captain in 1826. From 1833 to 1835 he was captain of the survey ship HMS Challenger, and was wrecked in her off the coast of Chile. In 1841 he was given command of HMS Britannia and then of HMS Powerful. In 1845 he took over HMS Vindictive.<br/><br/> From 1851 to 1854 he was Commodore Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard. In 1854 he served under Sir Charles Napier in the Baltic during the Crimean War. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral that same year and, when the Baltic campaign was resumed in 1855 under Admiral the Hon. Richard Dundas, Seymour was second in command.<br/><br/> On 19 February 1856 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the East Indies and China Station. Flying his flag on HMS Calcutta, he conducted operations arising from the attack on the British Coaster Arrow, helped destroy the Chinese fleet in June 1857, took Canton in December, and in 1858 he captured the forts on the Baihe (Hai River), compelling the Chinese government to consent to the Treaties of Tianjin.<br/><br/> He was made GCB in 1859. He sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Devonport from 1859 to 1863. In 1863 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, a post he held until 1866. He retired in 1870
Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. The Yongle emperor designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin and extend the empire's tributary system.<br/><br/> Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of up to 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen, with each ship housing up to 500 men.<br/><br/> Zheng He's fleets visited Arabia, Brunei, East Africa, India, the Malay Archipelago and Thailand, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk; in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, ivory and giraffes.
For centuries Venice was Europe’s prime trading partner with the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire in particular. Venetian naval and commercial power was unrivalled in Europe until it lost a series of wars to the Ottoman armies in the 15th century. The city lost some 50,000 people to the Black Death in 1575-77, but remained a major manufacturing center and port well into the 18th century.
Shen Du's poem:<br/><br/><i>In the corner of the western seas, in the stagnant waters of a great morass, Truly was produced a qilin, whose shape was as high as fifteen feet. With the body of a deer and the tail of an ox, and a fleshy, boneless horn, With luminous spots like a red cloud or purple mist. Its hoofs do not tread on living beings and in its wanderings it carefully selects its ground.</i><br/><br/><i>It walks in stately fashion and in its every motion it observes a rhythm, Its harmonious voice sounds like a bell or a musical tube. Gentle is this animal, that has in antiquity been seen but once, The manifestation of its divine spirit rises up to heaven’s abode.</i>
Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. The Yongle emperor designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin and extend the empire's tributary system.<br/><br/> Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of up to 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen, with each ship housing up to 500 men.<br/><br/> Zheng He's fleets visited Arabia, Brunei, East Africa, India, the Malay Archipelago and Thailand, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk; in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, ivory and giraffes.
The Atlas Maior is the final version of Joan Blaeu's atlas, published in Amsterdam between 1662 and 1672, in Latin (11 volumes), French (12 volumes), Dutch (9 volumes), German (10 volumes) and Spanish (10 volumes), containing 594 maps and around 3000 pages of text.<br/><br/> It was the largest and most expensive book published in the seventeenth century. Earlier, much smaller versions, titled Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, were published from 1634 onwards.<br/><br/> Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter is the most famous, and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history, and is particularly renowned for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century.
Sultan Suleyman I (1494-1566), also known as 'Suleyman the Magnificent' and 'Suleyman the Lawmaker', was the 10th and longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman empire. He personally led his armies to conquer Transylvania, the Caspian, much of the Middle East and the Maghreb. His admiral, Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa, known as 'Barbarossa' or 'Red Beard', commanded a fleet of galleys that dominated the Mediterranean as far as Spain for years. In this painting, Suleyman is seated on the left while an aging Barbarossa sits on a lower seat and is depicted with a white beard.
Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. The Yongle emperor designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin and extend the empire's tributary system.<br/><br/> Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of up to 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen, with each ship housing up to 500 men.<br/><br/> Zheng He's fleets visited Arabia, Brunei, East Africa, India, the Malay Archipelago and Thailand, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk; in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, ivory and giraffes.
On 8 December, 1941, Netherlands declared war on Japan. On the night of 10-11 January, 1942, the Japanese attacked Menado in Sulawesi. At about the same moment they attacked Tarakan, a major oil extraction centre and port in the north east of Borneo. On 27 February, the Allied fleet was defeated in the Battle of the Java Sea. The following day, Japanese troops landed on four places along the northern coast of Java almost undisturbed. On 8 March, the Allied forces in Indonesia surrendered. The colonial army was consigned to detention camps and Indonesian soldiers were released. European civilians were interned once Japanese or Indonesian replacements could be found for senior and technical positions.
The Dutch East India Company, or VOC, was a chartered company granted a monopoly by the Dutch government to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock. It was also arguably the world's first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, coin money and establish colonies.<br/><br/> The VOC was set up in 1602 to gain a foothold in the East Indies (Indonesia) for the Dutch in the lucrative spice trade, which until that point was dominated by the Portuguese.<br/><br/> Between 1602 and 1796, the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, and netted more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods.
Vasco da Gama (1460 or 1469 – 1524) was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery, and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. Under the reign of King Manuel I, Portugal discovered Brazil in 1500. Meanwhile, da Gama set sail from Lisbon on July 8, 1497, with a fleet of four ships and 170 men. He sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, impersonated a Muslim in Mozambique, resorted to piracy in Kenya, and finally landed in Calicut in India on May 20, 1498. For a short time in 1524, he was Governor of Portuguese India under the title of Viceroy.
Guan Tianpei (simplified Chinese: ε…³ε€©εŸΉ; traditional Chinese: ι—œε€©εŸΉ; Wade–Giles: Kuan T'ien-p'ei; 1781 – 26 February 1841) was a Chinese admiral of the Qing Dynasty who served in the First Opium War. His Chinese title was 'Commander-in-Chief of Naval Forces'.<br/><br/> In 1838, he established courteous relations with British Rear-Admiral Frederick Maitland. Guan fought in the First Battle of Chuenpee (1839), the Second Battle of Chuenpee (1841), and the Battle of the Bogue (1841). A British account described his death in the Anunghoy forts during the Battle of the Bogue on 26 February 1841:<br/><br/> 'Among these, the most distinguished and lamented was poor old Admiral Kwan, whose death excited much sympathy throughout the force; he fell by a bayonet wound in his breast, as he was meeting his enemy at the gate of Anunghoy, yielding up his brave spirit willingly to a soldier's death, when his life could only be preserved through the certainty of degradation. He was altogether a fine specimen of a gallant soldier, unwilling to yield when summoned to surrender, because to yield would imply treason'.<br/><br/> The following day, his body was claimed by his family and a salute of minute-guns was fired from HMS Blenheim in his honour.
Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, GCB, USN (February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was a five-star admiral of the United States Navy. He held the dual command of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CinCPac), for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA), for U.S. and Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II.<br/><br/> He was the leading U.S. Navy authority on submarines, as well as Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation in 1939. He served as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 1945 until 1947. He was the United States' last surviving Fleet Admiral.