Glyndŵr Day

On 16th September 1400, Owain Glyndŵr was proclaimed Prince of Wales and proceeded to attack Ruthin. His revolt lasted 15 years; this may not seem that shocking now, when experts expect counter-insurgency wars to last a decade, but few revolts in contemporary Europe lasted more than a few months. For some of that time he controlled almost all of Wales beyond the English castles, secured the support of a French expeditionary force, held the first — and only — Welsh parliaments, and corresponded as an equal with the kings of France and Scotland. At one point, the kingdom of Henry IV seemed about to be torn into three, but by 1408 only a fragmentary guerilla struggle remained.

Nothing is known of Owain after 1412. He was never captured, and despite enormous rewards being offered he was never betrayed, unlike so many other Welsh princes. He was offered pardons but never responded: of course, he may have alreay died. One tradition has that he retreated to the Scudamore estate at Kentchurch (Owain’s daughter, Alys, had married Sir Henry Scudamore, the Sheriff of Herefordshire); if so then this was probably some informal accomodation.

Very many said that he died; the seers maintain he did not. (Panton MS 22)

And therein lies his power.

war protest

I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.
…
I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow-soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.
…
I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.
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I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.
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On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize.
…
Siegfried L Sassoon
(published in The Times newspaper on 31 July 1917)

Siegfried Sassoon was one of the the greatest poets of the First World War. He was an officer, wounded twice and twice decorated for bravery, receiving the Military Cross and Bar. After his protest was published Sassoon was sent to a mental hospital to be treated for ’shell shock’.

While on convalescent leave in 1917 after winning the Bar, he learned that his brother Hamo had died at Gallipoli; in Memoirs of an Infantry Officer he recorded that in response he hurled the medal into the Mersey. But it seems it was only the medal ribbon he tore off his chest as the medal itself has been found in a box in the attic at the author’s family home on the Isle of Mull: it was to have been auctioned but a private agreement has ensured the medal will now be displayed at the Royal Welch Fusiliers’ museum at Caernarfon Castle in Gwynedd.

Tiananmen Square

The tanks, armoured personnel carriers and soldiers with fixed bayonets began moving into Tiananmen Square at 10:30pm on 3 June 1989. approached from various positions. The BBC’s Kate Adie reported ’indiscriminate fire’ within the square — but then again she spoke of British Army atrocities on Bloody Sunday so maybe she was over-reacting to the use of reasonable force. 

Protestors attempting to leave the square were beaten. By dawn the Square had been cleared. The famous photographs (Jeff Widener, The Associated Press) of a lone man in a white shirt attempting to stop a column of tanks were taken on 5 June as the tanks were attempting to drive out of the Square. The ‘tank man’ continued to stand defiantly in front of the tanks for some time before being pulled aside by onlookers. His fate name and fate are unknown: it has been reported both that he was executed later that month, and that he is still alive and hiding in mainland China.

What is certain is that the assault on the Square, and the crackdown which followed left many dead; as few as 200 according the Chinese government, as many as 3,000 according to the Chinese Red Cross.

red flag over Merthyr

We regret to learn that a serious riot broke out at Merthyr Tydfil yesterday. (The Cambrian, 4 June 1831)

For a week in 1831, the authorities lost control of Merthyr Tydfil.

In early May Cyfarthfa iron-master William Crawshay called out his workforce to demonstrate support for the 1830 Parliamentary Reform Bill. A public meeting on the subject of Parliamentary reform on 30 May turned to the more immediate issue of the grievances caused by the Court of Requests — a court for the recovery of small debts. Later some of the crowd marched to Aberdare to seek support from their fellow workers while the rest, mostly women and young unemployed men and boys, paraded through Merthyr, forcibly repossessing goods seized by the bailiffs. The following day, Crawshay announced that wages at Cyfarthfa would be cut due to a slump in iron prices and the protests escalated.

Troops were sent for to control the rioters  and, on the morning of Friday 3 June, 93rd Highlanders and the crowd confronted each other outside the Castle Inn. The crowd attacked the soldiers, who fired and killed at least sixteen people, and for the next few days Merthyr was in a state of siege. Eventually the authorities gained control and began to arrest the supposed ringleaders, including Dic Penderyn who was later hanged.

It is claimed to be the first time that workers raised a red flag — reportedly dyed with calf’s blood — as their banner.

Mynydd Hyddgen

The place, Hyddgen;
The time, the fifth
Century since Glyn Dwr
Was here with his men.
He beat the English.
Does it matter now
In the rain? The English
Don’t want to come:
Summer country.
The Welsh too:
A barren victory.
Look at those sheep
On such small bones
The best mutton.
But not for him,
The hireling shepherd.
History goes on;
On the rock the lichen
Records it: no mention
Of them, of us.

La Semaine sanglante

The last barricade of the Paris Commune fell to the troops of Marshall MacMahon in the afternoon of 28 May 1871:

To the inhabitants of Paris. The French army has come to save you. Paris is freed! At 4 o’clock our soldiers took the last insurgent position. Today the fight is over. Order, work and security will be reborn.

Some freedom — it was reprisal time. Some of the Communards were shot against what is now known as the Communards’ Wall in the Père Lachaise cemetery, others were slaughtered in the Luxembourg Gardens and the Lobau Barracks — with or without the benefit of summary courts martial. Some 30,000 were killed in the fighting; perhaps as many as 50,000 were later executed or imprisoned; 7,000 were exiled to New Caledonia; thousands more fled into exile.