The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) is a guerrilla movement in Mexico, led by the mysterious masked figure of Comandante Marcos, it has campaigned especially for the rights of indigenous people (the Maya) in Chiapas Province since 1994. EZLN and government representatives signed the first of six peace accords in February 1996, recognising the right of Indians to adopt traditional forms of government within their communities, and to have adequate representation in the national parliament. Research Zapatista National Liberation Army
The Basques or Biscayans (properly the Euscaldunac) are an ancient people of the Pyrenees of south-west France and northern Spain. They are probably descendants of the ancient Iberi, who occupied Spain before the Celts. They preserve their ancient language, former manners, and national dances, and even in the 19th century were renowned for making admirable soldiers, especially in guerrilla warfare. Their language is highly polysynthetic, and no connection between it and any other language has as yet been made out. There are four principal dialects, which are not only distinguished by their pronunciation and grammatical structure, but differ even in their vocabularies.Legend tells that the Basques visited America prior to Christopher Columbus in pursuit of whales and fish. During the 20th century an independence movement formed in northern Spain seeking independence from Spain for the Basque people, the campaign being often punctuated by terrorist attacks directed at the Spanish people. Research Basques
Che Guevara (real name Ernesto Guevara) was an Argentinean revolutionary. He was born in 1928 and died in 1967. A qualified doctor, he left Argentina in 1953 because of his opposition to the dictator Peron. He became a communist after seeing the poverty in many South American countries and fought under Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution of 1956 to 1959. Although he became a government minister in Cuba, he later disappeared to resume his guerrilla activities. He was eventually captured and shot by the army in Bolivia while training a guerrilla group there. His dedication and death made him a hero among young Western revolutionaries in the late 1960s and 1970s. Research Che Guevara
Edward I was King of England from 1272 to 1307. He was born in 1239 at Winchester and died in 1307. Edward I was the son of Henry III and an able administrator and law-maker. He re-established royal power, investigating many of the abuses resulting from weak royal government and issuing new laws. Edward was an effective soldier, gaining experience from going on crusade to Syria before he became king. In 1277 Edward I invaded Wales where Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, prince of Wales, had built up considerable power. In a series of campaigns Edward I gained control of Wales, building strong castles to secure his conquests. Llewelyn was subdued before his death, by the 1277 treaty of Conway. In 1284, the Statute of Wales brought Wales under Edward I's rule. In 1301, he created his eldest surviving son, Edward, the first English Prince of Wales. Wanting to unite the country behind him and to raise money for his campaigns in Wales and Scotland and another war in France, in 1295 Edward called what became known as the 'Model Parliament'. To this meeting he summoned the aristocracy, bishops and abbots, and the knights of the shires, burgesses from the towns and the junior clergy.
Nikita Khruschchev was a Sovietstatesman. He was born in 1894 at Kursk and died in 1971. A coalminer, he joined the Communist Party in 1918 and fought in the Civil War. After rising to full membership of the Politburo in 1939 he was assigned to organise the guerrilla defence of the Ukraine against the Axis forces during the Second World War. From 1947 to 1949 he was chairman of the Ukraine Council of Ministers and in 1952 he became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. And in 1953 Secretary General of the USSR. He opposed Stalinism, believing naively that Communism could survive by peaceful means. In 1958 he became chairman of the council of ministers, but resigned in 1964 following a row with Mao Tse-Tung of China. He was responsible for the despatch of missiles to Cuba which prevented the American invasion of Cuba, but which almost resulted in a massive pre-emptive nuclear strike by the USA against every Communist country in the world. Research Nikita Khruschchev
Pavel Sudoplatov was a Soviet spymaster. He was born in 1907 at Meltiopol in the Ukraine. As a Soviet intelligence officer responsible for 'special tasks', Pavel Sudoplatov was responsible for the assassination of Leon Trotsky and during the Second World War was in charge of guerrilla warfare and disinformation in Germany and in German-occupied territories. Following the Second World War, Pavel Sudoplatov ran networks of 'illegals' whose job was, in the event of a NATOattack on the Soviet Union, to engage in sabotage of NATO military establishments. Pavel Sudoplatov also was in charge of networks of spies providing the Soviet Union with information on atomic weapons - which, despite his claims, were not 'convinced' to provide information but rather many of the spies he controlled were happy to provide information to the USSR in support for the Soviet Communist philosophy. Research Pavel Sudoplatov
Thomas Edward Lawrence (T E Lawrence also known as 'Lawrence of Arabia') was a British soldier. He was born in 1888 and died in 1935. Educated at Oxford, he took part in archaeological expeditions to Syria and Mesopotamia between 1910 and 1914. Later he was appointed to the military intelligence department in Cairo and took part in negotiations for an Arab revolt against the Turks. In 1916 he attached himself to the Emir Faisal and led Arab guerrilla raids against the Turks and encouraged an Arab revolution. In 1922 he joined the RAF under an assumed name, and upon discovery of his true identity transferred to the tank corps in 1923 under the name T E Shaw before returning to the RAF in 1925 and in 1927 changed his name legally to T E Shaw. He was killed in a motorbike accident in 1935. Research T E Lawrence
William Clarke Quantrill was an American Confederate guerrillacommander. He was born in 1837 at Canal Dover (now Dover), Ohio and died in 1865. Before the American Civil War he was a gambler and, occasionally, a schoolteacher in the West and Midwest. Warrants for his arrest were issued several times on charges of murder, theft, and horse thievery. When the Civil War began in 1861, Quantrill, aided by the notorious outlaw Jesse James, headed a band of Confederate guerrillas in Missouri and Kansas, raiding farms and communities sympathetic to the Union. In 1862 he was commissioned a captain in the Confederate army; that same year he was declared an outlaw by Union authorities. On August the 21st 1863, he led his guerrillas on their most infamous exploit when they burned and pillaged the town of Lawrence, Kansas, killing more than 150 unarmed men, women, and children. In October, they killed about 100 Union soldiers at Baxter Springs, Kansas. Two years later the guerrillas were looting in Kentucky when a small force of Union soldiers
surprised them and fatally wounded Quantrill. Research William Quantrill
The Achinese War was a war between Dutch colonial forces and the Muslim kingdom of Achin in northern Sumatra, lasting from 1873 to 1904. By the Sumatra Treaty of 1871, the British recognised Dutch hegemony over Sumatra in return for Dutch claims to the Gold Coast, Africa. The Dutch subsequently moved against the Achinese in 1873, who had long resisted Dutch control and were actively engaged in piracy. The Dutch defeated the sultan of Achin that year, but local leaders carried on a protracted and costly guerrilla war, which lasted until 1904. Research Achinese War
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Zapatista National Liberation Army
