Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/May 2011/Articles

Your military history newsletter – Issue LXIII, May 2011

Front page • Project news • Article news • Op-ed

New featured articles

Ernst Lindemann (MisterBee1966): Otto Ernst Lindemann (1894–1941) was a German naval captain and the only commander of the battleship Bismarck during its eight months of service in World War II. Born in 1894, Lindemann joined the German Imperial Navy in 1913 and served on a number of warships during World War I. On board SMS Bayern, he participated in Operation Albion in 1917. After World War I, he served in various staff and naval gunnery training positions. One year after the outbreak of World War II, he was appointed commander of the battleship Bismarck, at the time the largest warship in the world and pride of the German Navy. In May 1941, Lindemann commanded Bismarck during Operation Rheinübung. Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, under the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens, were to break out of their base in German occupied Norway and attack British merchant shipping in the Atlantic. Their first major engagement was the Battle of the Denmark Strait which resulted in the sinking of HMS Hood. Less than a week later, on 27 May, Lindemann and most of his crew lost their lives during Bismarck's last battle. He was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Peace dollar (Wehwalt): The Peace dollar is a United States dollar coin minted during 1921–1928, and 1934–1935. Designed by Anthony de Francisci, the coin was the result of a competition to find designs emblematic of peace. Its reverse depicts an eagle at rest clutching an olive branch, with the legend "Peace". It was the last circulating United States dollar coin to be struck in silver. The Peace dollar was approved by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon in December 1921, completing the redesign of United States coinage that had begun in 1907. The public believed the announced design, which included a broken sword, was illustrative of defeat, and the United States Mint hastily acted to remove the sword. Just over a million were coined bearing a 1921 date. In 1928, the Mint ceased to strike the coins, but more were struck in 1934 and 1935. In 1965, the Mint struck over 300,000 Peace dollars bearing a 1964 date; these were never issued and are believed to have been melted.

SMS Bayern (1915) (Parsecboy): SMS Bayern was the lead ship of the Bayern class of battleships in the German Imperial Navy. Launched in February 1915 and entering service in July 1916, Bayern arrived too late to take part in the Battle of Jutland. Her main armament consisted of eight 38 cm (15 in) guns in four turrets, which was a significant improvement over the preceding König's ten 30.5 cm (12 inch) guns. As she had been commissioned late in the war, Bayern had a limited service career. Her first operation was an abortive fleet advance into the North Sea on 18–19 August 1916, just a month after commissioning. She also participated in Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga, but shortly after the German attack began on 12 October 1917, Bayern was mined and had to be withdrawn for repairs. She was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow in November 1918 following the end of World War I. On 21 June 1919, Bayern was scuttled. In September 1934, the ship was raised and towed to Rosyth, where she was scrapped.

USS New Ironsides (Sturmvogel 66): USS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship spent most of her career blockading the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina in 1863–65. New Ironsides bombarded the fortifications defending Charleston in 1863 during the First and Second Battles of Charleston Harbor. At the end of 1864 and the beginning of 1865 she bombarded the defenses of Wilmington in the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher. Although she was struck many times by Confederate shells, gunfire never significantly damaged the ship or injured the crew. Her only combat casualty occurred when she was struck by a spar torpedo carried by the CSS David. Eight crewmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865. The ship was destroyed in a fire in 1866 after she was put in reserve.

RAF Northolt (Harrison49): RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force station 3.7 km east by northeast of Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Approximately 10 km north of London Heathrow Airport, the station also handles a large number of private civilian flights. Northolt pre-dates the establishment of the RAF by almost three years, having opened in May 1915. Established for the Royal Flying Corps, it has the longest history of continuous use of any RAF airfield. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the station was the first to take delivery of the Hawker Hurricane. It played a key role during the Battle of Britain, when fighters from several units, including No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron, engaged enemy aircraft as part of the defence of London. During the construction of Heathrow Airport, Northolt was used for commercial civilian flights, becoming the busiest airport in Europe for a time and a major base for British European Airways. More recently the station has become the hub of British military flying operations in the London area. RAF squadrons, including No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron are based there. The station has also been used as a filming location for productions made at Pinewood Studios.

William Brill (Ian Rose): William Brill was a senior officer and bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Born in the Riverina district of New South Wales, he was a farmer and a member of the Australian Militia before joining the RAAF as an air cadet in 1940. Training in Australia and Canada, he was posted to Britain in 1941 to take part in the air war over Europe. Brill first saw combat as a member of No. 460 Squadron RAAF, flying Vickers Wellington medium bombers. Following a spell as an instructor with the Royal Air Force (RAF), he returned to the bombing campaign in January 1944 as a flight commander with No. 463 Squadron RAAF, operating Avro Lancaster heavy bombers. Returning to Australia, he remained in the Air Force after the war and commanded No. 10 Squadron in 1949–50. He went on to lead air bases at Rathmines, Canberra and Townsville during the 1950s and 60s. Brill served two terms as RAAF Director of Personnel Services, in 1956–59 and 1960–63, by which time he had been promoted to Group Captain. His final posting was at the Department of Air in Canberra, where he died of a heart attack in October 1964.

Pigeon photography (Hans Adler): Pigeon photography was an aerial photography technique invented in 1907 by the German apothecary Julius Neubronner, who also used pigeons to deliver medications. A homing pigeon was fitted with an aluminum breast harness to which a lightweight time-delayed miniature camera could be attached. Neubronner's German patent application was initially rejected, but was granted in December 1908 after he produced authenticated photographs taken by his pigeons. He publicized the technique at the 1909 Dresden International Photographic Exhibition, and sold some images as postcards at the Frankfurt International Aviation Exhibition and at the 1910 and 1911 Paris Air Shows. The lack of military or commercial interest in the technology after the First World War led Neubronner to abandon his experiments, but his idea was briefly resurrected in the 1930s by a Swiss clockmaker, and reportedly also by the German and French militaries and the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The construction of sufficiently small and light cameras with a timer mechanism, and the training and handling of the birds to carry the necessary loads, presented major challenges, as did the limited control over the pigeons' position, orientation and speed when the photographs were being taken. In 2004 the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) used miniature television cameras attached to falcons and goshawks to obtain live footage, and today some researchers, enthusiasts and artists similarly employ small digital photo or video cameras with various species of wild or domestic animals.

Charles Holden (DavidCane): Charles Henry Holden, Litt. D., FRIBA, MRTPI, RDI (12 May 1875 – 1 May 1960) was a Bolton-born English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, for Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the University of London's Senate House. He also created many war cemeteries in Belgium and northern France for the Imperial War Graves Commission.

The Red Badge of Courage (Yllosubmarine): The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound—a "red badge of courage"—to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as standard-bearer. The novel is known for its distinctive style, which includes realistic battle sequences as well as the repeated use of color imagery, and ironic tone. Separating itself from a traditional war narrative, Crane's story reflects the inner experience of its protagonist—a soldier fleeing from combat—rather than the external world around him. Also notable for its use of what Crane called a "psychological portrayal of fear", the novel's allegorical and symbolic qualities are often debated by critics. Several of the themes that the story explores are maturation, heroism, cowardice, and the indifference of nature. Adapted several times for the screen, the novel became a bestseller. It has never been out of print, and is now thought to be Crane's most important work and a major American text.

USS Chesapeake (1799) (Brad101): USS Chesapeake was a 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction was authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young navy's capital ships. Chesapeake was originally designed as a 44-gun frigate but construction delays, material shortages, and budget problems caused builder Josiah Fox to alter her design to 38 guns. Launched at the Gosport Navy Yard on 2 December 1799, Chesapeake began her career during the Quasi-War with France and saw service in the First Barbary War. On 22 June 1807 she was fired upon by HMS Leopard of the Royal Navy for refusing to comply with a search for deserters. The event, now known as the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, angered the American populace and government and was a precipitating factor that led to the War of 1812. As a result of the affair, Chesapeake's commanding officer, James Barron, was court-martialed and the United States instituted the Embargo Act of 1807 against England. Early in the war she made one patrol and captured five British merchant ships before returning. She was captured by HMS Shannon shortly after sailing from Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 June 1813. The Royal Navy took her into their service as HMS Chesapeake, where she served until she was broken up and her timbers sold in 1820; they are now part of the Chesapeake Mill in Wickham, England.

Sack of Amorium (Constantine): The Sack of Amorium by the Abbasid Caliphate in mid-August 838 was one of the major events in the long history of the Byzantine–Arab Wars. The Abbasid campaign was led personally by the Caliph al-Mu'tasim (reigned 833–842), in retaliation to a virtually unopposed expedition launched by the Byzantine emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842) into the Caliphate's borderlands the previous year. Mu'tasim targeted Amorium, a Byzantine city in western Asia Minor (modern Anatolia), because it was the birthplace of the ruling Byzantine dynasty and, at the time, one of Byzantium's largest and most important cities. The Caliph gathered an exceptionally large army, which he divided in two parts. The Abbasids penetrated deep into Byzantine-held Asia Minor, while the northern army defeated the Byzantine forces under Theophilos at Anzen. The Abbasid troops then converged upon Ancyra, which they found abandoned. After sacking the city, they turned south to Amorium, where they arrived on 1 August. Faced with intrigues at Constantinople and the rebellion of the large Khurramite contingent of his army, Theophilos was unable to aid the city. Amorium was strongly fortified and garrisoned, but a traitor revealed a weak spot in the wall, where the Abbasids concentrated their attack, effecting a breach. Unable to break through the besieging army, the commander of the breached section privately attempted to negotiate with the Caliph. He left his post which allowed the Arabs to take advantage, enter the city and capture it. Amorium was systematically destroyed, never to recover its former prosperity. Many of its inhabitants were slaughtered, and the remainder driven off as slaves. Most of the survivors were released after a truce in 841, but prominent officials were taken to the Caliph's capital of Samarra and executed years later after refusing to convert to Islam, becoming known as the 42 Martyrs of Amorium.

New featured sounds

1906 – "Anchors Aweigh" (1929 recording)

(8 May)

2011 – President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden

(8 May)

1908 – "Fairest of the Fair"

(10 May)

1899 – "Hands Across the Sea"

(10 May)

1914 – "Colonel Bogey March"

(10 May)

1940 – Be Ye Men of Valour

(21 May)

New A-Class articles

1971 Scottish soldiers' killings (Kernel Saunters): On 9 March 1971, during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Provisional Irish Republican Army ambushed and shot dead three British Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Fusiliers, in Belfast. Two of the three were teenage brothers; all three were from Scotland. They were killed off-duty and in civilian clothes having been lured from a city-centre bar, driven to a remote location and shot while relieving themselves by the roadside. Although three British soldiers had been killed prior to this event, all three had been on-duty and killed during rioting. The deaths led to public mourning and protests against the Provisional IRA, and precipitated a political crisis for the government of Northern Ireland, which led to the resignation of Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark. The British Army raised the minimum age needed to serve in Northern Ireland to 18 in response to this incident. In 2010 a memorial was dedicated to the three soldiers near to where they were killed in north Belfast.

John McCauley (RAAF officer) (Ian Rose): Sir John Patrick Joseph McCauley, KBE, CB (1899–1989) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). A Duntroon graduate, McCauley spent four years in the Australian Military Forces before transferring to the RAAF in 1924. During World War II, McCauley commanded RAAF forces in Singapore and served in a senior operational role with the Royal Air Force's 2nd Tactical Air Force in Europe. Later, he was appointed Chief of Staff at British Commonwealth Occupation Force Headquarters in Japan. His final posting was as Chief of the Air Staff, which he served in from 1954 to 1957, when he retired. In retirement, he chaired various community and welfare organisations, serving as Federal President of the Air Force Association for ten years. He died in Sydney in 1989, aged 89.

Valston Hancock (Ian Rose): Air Marshal Sir Valston Eldridge Hancock KBE, CB, DFC (1907–1998) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). A graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Hancock transferred to the RAAF in 1929 and qualified as a pilot. During World War II, he saw combat in the Aitape–Wewak campaign during 1945, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, Hancock became commandant of the RAAF College before undertaking a variety of command positions. In 1961, he was promoted to Air Marshal and was appointed as Chief of the Air Staff and served in this role until 1965, when he retired. After his retirement from the military in May 1965, Hancock co-founded the Australia Defence Association. He died in 1998, aged 91.

Alister Murdoch (Ian Rose): Air Marshal Sir Alister Murray Murdoch KBE, CB (1912–1984) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He served as Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) from 1965 to 1969. Joining the Air Force in 1930, Murdoch trained as a seaplane pilot, and participated in an Antarctic rescue mission for lost explorers in 1935. During World War II, he commanded No. 221 Squadron RAF in Europe and the Middle East, and later occupied senior positions on the staff of RAAF formations in the South West Pacific. His post-war appointments included Commandant of RAAF College from 1952 to 1953, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command from 1953 to 1955, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from 1958 to 1959, and AOC Operational Command from 1962 to 1965. He retired from the Air Force in December 1969, and died in 1984.

Action of 28 January 1945 (Nick-D): The Action of 28 January 1945 was an inconclusive naval battle of the Second World War fought between two British Royal Navy light cruisers and three Kriegsmarine (German navy) destroyers near Bergen, Norway. The battle was both the last of many actions fought between British and German warships off Norway during the war and the second last surface engagement fought by the Kriegsmarine, and resulted in heavy damage to one of the German destroyers and light damage to another destroyer and both British cruisers.

Singapore strategy (Hawkeye7): The Singapore strategy was a strategy of the British Empire between 1919 and 1941. It was a series of war plans that evolved over a twenty year period to deter or defeat aggression by the Empire of Japan by basing a fleet of the Royal Navy at Singapore. Ideally, this fleet would be able to intercept and defeat a Japanese force heading south towards India or Australia. Such a fleet required a well-equipped base and Singapore was chosen as the most suitable location in 1919. Work continued on a naval base and its defences over the next two decades. The Singapore strategy was the cornerstone of British Imperial defence policy in the Far East during the 1920s and 1930s. By 1937, according to Captain Stephen Roskill, "the concept of the 'Main Fleet to Singapore' had, perhaps through constant repetition, assumed something of the inviolability of Holy Writ". A combination of financial, political and practical difficulties ensured that it could not be implemented.

Brazilian battleship São Paulo (The ed17): São Paulo was a dreadnought battleship designed for the Brazilian Navy by the British company Armstrong Whitworth. She was launched on 19 April 1909 and commissioned on 12 July 1910. Soon after, she was involved in the Revolt of the Lash (Revolta de Chibata), in which crews on four Brazilian warships mutinied over poor pay and harsh punishments for even minor offenses. After entering the First World War, Brazil offered to send São Paulo and her sister Minas Geraes to Britain for service with the Grand Fleet, but Britain declined since both vessels were in poor condition and lacked the latest fire-control technology. On 6 July 1922, São Paulo fired her guns in anger for the first time when she attacked a fort that had been taken during the Tenente revolts. Two years later, mutineers took control of the ship and sailed her to Montevideo where they obtained asylum. For the rest of her career, the ship was reduced to a reserve coastal defense role. When Brazil entered the Second World War, São Paulo sailed to the port of Recife and remained there as the port's main defense for the duration of the war. She remained as a training vessel until 1951, when she was taken under tow to be scrapped in the United Kingdom. The tow lines broke during a strong gale on 6 November when the ships were 150 nmi (280 km; 170 mi) north of the Azores and São Paulo sank shortly thereafter.

Skanderbeg's Italian expedition (Gaius Claudius Nero): Skanderbeg's Italian expedition (1460–1462) was undertaken to aid his ally Ferdinand I of Naples, whose rulership was threatened by the Angevin Dynasty. George Kastrioti Skanderbeg was the ruler of Albania who had been leading a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire since 1443. In 1458, Alfonso V of Aragon, ruler of Sicily and Naples and Skanderbeg's most important ally, died, leaving his illegitimate son, Ferdinand, on the Neapolitan throne; René d'Anjou, the French Duke of Anjou, laid claim to the throne. The conflict between René's and Ferdinand's supporters soon erupted into a civil war. Pope Calixtus III, of Spanish background himself, could do little to secure Ferdinand, so he turned to Skanderbeg for aid. Skanderbeg landed in September 1461 and upon arriving, Skanderbeg continued to pursue his ally's enemies with great success. Ferdinand's adversaries thus began to retreat from his territories and Skanderbeg went back to Albania; a troop of his men stayed until Ferdinand managed to finally defeat the pretenders to his throne at the Battle of Orsara, although it is not known if Skanderbeg's men participated.

Colin Hannah (Ian Rose): Air Marshal Sir Colin Thomas Hannah KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB (1914–1978) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and a Governor of Queensland. He joined the RAAF in 1935 after previously serving in the Militia and during World War II commanded a number of units including No. 6 Squadron and No. 71 Wing. In 1950s, he was Senior Air Staff Officer at RAF Far East Air Force Headquarters, Singapore, during the Malayan Emergency. In January 1970 he was promoted to air marshal and became Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), the RAAF's senior position. Hannah concluded his three-year appointment as CAS a year early, in 1972, to become Governor of Queensland. He attracted controversy in this role after making outspoken comments regarding the Federal government of the day. Hannah retired in 1977, and died the following year.

Lockheed D-21 (Sturmvogel 66): The Lockheed D-21 was an American Mach 3+ reconnaissance drone. The D-21 was initially designed to be launched off the back of its M-21 carrier aircraft, a variant of the Lockheed A-12 aircraft. Development began in October 1962. Originally known by the Lockheed designation Q-12, the drone was intended for reconnaissance missions deep into enemy airspace. The D-21 was designed to carry a single high-resolution photographic camera over a preprogrammed path, then release the camera module into the air for retrieval, after which the drone would self-destruct. Following a fatal accident when launched from an M-21, the D-21 was modified to be launched from a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Only four operational D-21 flights were made over the People's Republic of China before the program was canceled in 1971.

Michael Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham (HJ Mitchell): General Michael John Dawson Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham, GCB, CMG, CBE, ADC, DL (born 1944) is a retired British Army officer. Commissioned in 1966, he served in Cyprus, Northern Ireland, and in a variety of staff posts in the United Kingdom. He commanded the 20th Armoured Brigade before becoming I Corps chief of staff. Later, he took command of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in the Balkans in 1995. Walker then spent three years as Commander in Chief, Land Command, before being appointed Chief of the General Staff in 2000. In 2003, he was promoted to Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS). While CDS, Walker attracted controversy during the modernisation of the armed forces, over allegations of prisoner abuse during the Iraq War, and over comments that the media coverage of Iraq may have endangered British troops. He retired in 2006.

Siege of Vyborg (1710) (Interchange88): The Siege of Vyborg took place in the spring of 1710 during the Great Northern War, as a second attempt by the Russians to capture the fortress town of Vyborg after a failed attempt in 1706. After the outbreak of the war, Swedish forces had fortified themselves in the port of Vyborg. In order to assure safety for the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg, Peter the Great ordered the Swedish fort to be secured. These plans were put on hold because of other ongoing conflicts but, after the Russian success at the Battle of Poltava, the men and resources were available to capture the town. Thirteen thousand troops under General-Admiral Fyodor Apraksin marched to Vyborg and laid siege. Magnus Stiernstråle, the Swedish commander at the fort, waited in vain for Finnish assistance, while a stalemate ensued because the Russians lacked sufficient artillery. In April, Peter the Great managed to bring through a fleet of 250 ships to deliver guns and supplies, and to help perform a final assault on Swedish positions. After these Russian attacks, the Swedish garrison surrendered on 12 June 1710.

HMS Hood (51) (Sturmvogel 66): HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. She was involved in a number of flag-waving exercises between her commissioning in 1920 and the outbreak of war in 1939; these included training exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and a circumnavigation of the globe with the Special Service Squadron in 1923 and 1924. She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet following the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until she had to return to England in 1939 for an overhaul. At this point in her service, Hood's usefulness had deteriorated because of advances in naval gunnery. She was scheduled to undergo a major rebuild in 1941 to correct these issues, but the outbreak of World War II forced the ship into service without the upgrades. When war with Germany was declared in September 1939, Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, and spent the next several months hunting between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea for German commerce raiders and blockade runners. After a brief overhaul to her engine plant, she sailed as the flagship of Force H, and participated in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Relieved as flagship of Force H, Hood was dispatched to Scapa Flow, and operated in the area as a convoy escort and later as a defence against a potential German invasion fleet. In May 1941, she and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck which was en route to attack convoys in the Atlantic. On 24 May 1941, Hood was struck by several German shells early in the Battle of the Denmark Strait and exploded; the loss had a profound effect on the British. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the Royal Navy to "sink the Bismarck", and they fulfilled his command on 26–27 May

Vidkun Quisling (Jarry1250): Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (1887–1945) was a Norwegian politician. The son of a Church of Norway pastor, Quisling blended Christian fundamentals, scientific developments and philosophy into a new theory he called Universism. Before going into politics, Quisling proved to have strong military potential before joining the General Staff in 1911 where he specialised in Russian affairs. He was posted to Russia in 1918, then worked with Fridtjof Nansen during the 1921 famine in the Ukraine, returning to Russia to work with Frederik Prytz in Moscow. When Prytz left in 1927, Quisling stayed on as the Norwegian diplomat responsible for managing British diplomatic affairs. For this he was awarded the British Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), though it was later rescinded. He returned to Norway in 1929, and served as the Norwegian Minister of Defence during the Agrarian governments (1931–1933). Although Quisling achieved some popularity after his vicious attacks on the political left, his party never polled well and was little more than peripheral at the time of his coup. On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in a Nazi-backed coup d'etat which garnered him international infamy. From 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, working with the occupying forces. His government, known as the Quisling regime, was dominated by ministers from Nasjonal Samling (the party he had founded in 1933). The collaborationist government participated in Germany's Final Solution. Quisling was put on trial during the legal purge in Norway and found guilty of charges including embezzlement, murder and high treason. He was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress, Oslo, on 24 October 1945.

Livonian War (Grandiose): The Livonian War (1558–1583) was fought for control of Old Livonia in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia when the Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of Denmark–Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Union (later Commonwealth) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. During the period 1558–1578, Russia dominated the region with early military successes at Dorpat (Tartu) and Narva. Russian dissolution of the Livonian Confederation brought Poland–Lithuania into the conflict while Sweden and Denmark both intervened between 1559 and 1561. Swedish Estonia was established despite constant invasion from Russia and Frederick II of Denmark bought the old Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, which he placed under the control of his brother Magnus of Holstein. Magnus attempted to expand his Livonian holdings to establish the Russian vassal state Kingdom of Livonia, which nominally existed until Magnus' defection in 1576. In 1576, Stefan Batory became King of Poland as well as Grand Duke of Lithuania and turned the tide of the war with his successes between 1578 and 1581, including the joint Swedish–Polish–Lithuanian offensive at the Battle of Wenden. This was followed by an extended campaign through Russia culminating in the long and difficult siege of Pskov. Under the 1582 Truce of Jam Zapolski, which ended the war between Russia and Poland–Lithuania, Russia lost all its former holdings in Livonia and Polotsk to Poland–Lithuania. The following year, Sweden and Russia signed the Truce of Plussa with Sweden gaining most of Ingria and northern Livonia while retaining the Duchy of Estonia.