1941 blitzkrieg in the Americas

In 941, during WWII, Ecuador and Peru went to war with each other. It had nothing to do with the conflict between the Axis and the Allies, rather it was born of long-standing border dispute between the two countries.

The dispute stemmed from the wars of independence period of South America, with Peru and Greater Columbia (which is what Ecuador was to branch off from) as well as Portuguese Brazil being in the mix to the east. Several wars were fought in the 19th century, and by the 1920s an uneasy truce prevailed between Ecuador and Peru.

In the early 20th century Peru's army greatly enlarged improved, with modern equipment including artillery, tanks, and aircraft. Ecuador relied on diplomacy to fend them off, but with the U.S. being increasingly focused on the wars in Europe and Asia, South American affairs became lower priority and the crisis deepened.

Still the Ecuadorians thought they had a surplus of fighting spirit in their troops over the Peruvians. From Ecuador and Peru, 1941:

With all this [Peru’s significant numerical superiority], I should affirm that Ecuador is superior to Peru in terms of race; the Ecuadorians have a warring nature, while the Peruvians are pacifists. Peruvian officers are good because regular contingents of young men study in military schools abroad. Consequently, the Peruvian General Staff is efficient and well-trained, but the troops are inferior to those of Ecuador.  

That turned out not to be the case and based on that misjudgment Ecuador began reinforcing troops in the disputed territories. This led to heavy skirmishing during July 1941 which led to a full Peruvian invasion of Ecuador. In a South American version of a blitzkrieg, which even included parachuters, it was over quickly. By August the Ecuadorian resistance collapsed.

They signed a truce of sorts, although Peru massively violated it at least twice, and then they settled down with the border dispute still simmering. Two more small wars broke out in 1981 and 1995, but the final peace treaty was signed in 1998.      

   

Ohara Koson prints

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Ohara Koson (1877 – 1945) Was a Japanese artist, mainly doing prints. He subjects were primarily birds and flowers. He was influenced by Western art, but he didn't adopt its use of perspective. Rather, he used Western color palettes and also folded in some impressionistic use of lighting effects. Regardless, his compositions were in the traditional Japanese style.  

Ohara Koson

Timonia

Get ready for a carefree weekend with Otava Yo.

 

21 years

Bored and Drunk by Oliver Perry Rauch
(click image to enlarge)

Today is my blogiversary. Flares into Darkness turns 21 years old. It occurs to me the blog is now old enough to drink, so I assume it will be off on a bender tonight. Hopefully it will have a designated driver, so it doesn't end up on the side of the road making a fool out of itself doing a field sobriety test. And, if that should happen, we can only hope the body cam footage doesn't end up on the internet.

As for Flares, it started out as a group blog, but gradually, one by one, the other posters drifted away. At one time it was largely dormant with me posting very erratically, only once every couple of months. Eventually, for reasons even I can't fathom, I started posting more regularly. It also used to be more focused on politics and current events, but I think other sites do a much better job than I of covering such matters, so I just focus on whatever amuses me: art on Sunday, music on Friday, and whatever catches my eye on Wednesday. 

That's the state of this blog today. I thank my small cadre of regulars that drop by, and I hope that the visitors who wander in are at least momentarily entertained by my nonsense. Have a good one all.

 

Paintings of tea drinking

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I'm a coffee drinker although occasionally I will drink tea. These are paintings of teacups, tea pots, and people drinking tea. Americans associate tea with daintily upraised pinky fingers, but tea culture varies widely in the places where it is pervasive: England, the Middle East, India, and East Asia. There is a mix of paintings from different times and places. Enjoy, especially the last one if you're American.

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Get ready for a steadfast weekend with The Petersens.

 

Never forget

First responders on 9-11

From Queen Elizabeth II's message after 9-11: 

"My thoughts and prayers are with you all now, and in the difficult days ahead. But nothing that can be said can begin to take away the anguish and the pain of these moments. Grief is the price we pay for love."

Walking in Bratislava

This is a walk through the old town section of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It starts in the late afternoon and progresses through twilight. The area has no motor traffic. It is a very pleasant looking area, with nice architecture, churches, sidewalk cafes, and a lot of fountains and statues. There are many people out and about enjoying themselves.

As an aside, Slovakia is one of my ancestral homelands. My maternal grandmother immigrated from there early in the 20th century. Who knows, maybe one of my distant relatives wandered past the camera. 

Amusingly, when asked if she would ever return to Slovakia my grandmother replied, "No, why would I ever go back to that dirty little country?" Seesh, a little cranky or what? From the video the city is very clean and well maintained. Then again, she left it over 100 years ago and besides, she came from a village in the mountains, not Bratislava.