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Category Archives: War
Hitler, Chamberlain and Clausewitz
Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement failed in 1939 and was replaced with something worse. He decided Britain was a lion. Chamberlain threatened Hitler with war if Germany attacked Poland. The German High Command knew Britain couldn’t defend Poland and Hitler believed … Continue reading
Posted in History, Philosophy, Politics, War
Tagged appeasement, Clausewitz, Second world war, the fog of war
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Heinrich Himmler’s analysis of a perfect SS man and sub-humans
For the SS Man, one principle must apply absolutely: we must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood, and to no one else. What happens to the Russians, the Czechs, is totally indifferent to me. … Continue reading
Posted in History, Politics, War
Tagged Heinrich Himmler, Nazi philosophy, sub-humans, The SS
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Book Review: Philip Kerr ~ Hitler’s Peace (2005)(2020)*
Sometimes an author strikes lucky and invents a character which is utterly compelling and becomes the motif of their entire career. Lee Child’s Reacher, Ian Rankin’s Rebus are excellent examples. The reader looks forward to the next Reacher novel almost … Continue reading
Posted in History, Literature, Review, War
Tagged assassination attempt, German separate peace, Tehran 'Big Three' Conference
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The Importance of the Incheon Landings: Korea 15th September- 15th October, 1950
“I predict,” said general of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley, “that large scale amphibious operations will never occur again.”* Background Amphibious landings were critical in the Second World War. In the Pacific war, they were the strategically brilliant ‘Leapfrogging’ technique … Continue reading
Posted in History, Politics, War
Tagged 'A' Bombs, amphibious landings, Chairman Mao, Cold War, MacArthur
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Book Review: Short Notices
Robert Dallek ~ Franklin D Roosevelt: a political life (2016) The title says everything you need to know about Roosevelt. Everything that he did was filtered through a meticulous political calculation. Sometimes the outcome was gruesome and unconscionable such as … Continue reading
Posted in History, Poetry, Politics, War, wildlife
Tagged FDR biography, Heydrich's biography, Risk in a global setting
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Book Review: Norman Mailer ~ The Naked and the Dead (1949)
How do you review a masterpiece? This is a work of staggering genius and, if possible, was better for a 50 year gap between readings. Obviously I bookmarked sections in preparation for this review, which is very easy in Kindle … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Review, War
Tagged attack on an island, grim reality, US Pacific War
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Karl Marx as a journalist
The ethos of the [Russian Crimean] army was dominated by the eighteenth-century parade-ground culture of the tsarist court, in which promotion, to quote Karl Marx, was limited to ‘martinets, whose principal merit consists of stolid obedience and ready servility added … Continue reading
A J P Taylor on the Nuremberg Trials
Twenty years ago [1963] I published a book about the origins of the Second World War. At the time it was dismissed as wrong-headed and controversial. Now it has become the accepted version for most people. But there still lurks … Continue reading
Posted in History, Literature, Politics, Prison, War
Tagged causes of WW2, counter-intuitive history, Hossbach Protocol, LRB
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Book Review: P J O’Rourke ~ Holidays in Hell (1988)
Satire notoriously ages badly. So much of it depends on the readers knowledge of the setting and personality of what is being satirised. Once the moment is gone so has the point of the humour. Consider the cartoon below. It … Continue reading
Posted in History, Humour, Politics, Travel, War
Tagged historical satire, political satire, satire
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