Category Archives: War

Bertrand Russell on War

Posted on August 21, 2023 by odeboyz

Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

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How Wars Are Won

Posted on August 17, 2023 by odeboyz

Conventional war is more-or-less equal armies slugging it out. The paradigm is the First World War. This ended when Germany was outnumbered with the entry of the USA. The European Second World War ended with Germany outnumbered once more. Japan … Continue reading →

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Israel’s Medieval Defence System

Posted on July 27, 2023 by odeboyz

The Normans conquered England in 1066 and built castles to protect themselves. Their sophisticated castles were a brilliant, functional response to threats from a hostile population. Castles were successful until the civil wars of the 17th century.1 Cromwell’s New Model … Continue reading →

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Edmund Spenser: 16th century poet and murderous colonialist

Posted on July 24, 2023 by odeboyz

“Great force must be the instrument, but famine must be the mean[s], for till Ireland be famished it cannot be subdued.” Spenser knew exactly what he was advocating. This is his description  of famine in Ireland which he saw. “Out … Continue reading →

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Noel Coward* in World War Two

Posted on July 20, 2023 by odeboyz

“As the tour went on he got into his stride and the reception [by the troops] improved. The conditions did not. He slept in bamboo huts, keeping one eye out for snakes, witnessed the rudimentary medical care available for the … Continue reading →

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Bertrand Russell on saving money: 1932

Posted on March 16, 2023 by odeboyz

One of the commonest things to do with savings is to lend them to some government. In view of the fact that the bulk of the expenditure of most civilized governments consists in payments for past wars and preparation for … Continue reading →

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How the German denazification policy worked

Posted on January 26, 2023 by odeboyz

After the war. Karl Höcker1 was arrested and spent eighteen months in a prisoner of war camp before being released. He returned to his old job with the same bank he’d been employed by before the war. In 1952 he … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Menachem Kaiser ~ Plunder: A memoir of family property and stolen Nazi treasure (2021)

Posted on January 26, 2023 by odeboyz

This quirky book instantly attracted me. The story is straight-forwardly about property in Poland. Jewish Holocaust survivors made it to the USA. Two generations later a grandson tried to prove ownership rights over a house plundered by Nazis. Kaiser’s book … Continue reading →

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The Wehrmacht’s Campaigns of 1939, 1940 and 1941: A Guide

Posted on January 19, 2023 by odeboyz

“It is said that God is always on the side of the big battalions.” Voltaire The fast-striking motorized element of the German army in 1941 consisted of only 35 divisions out of 130. Three-quarters of the German army continued to … Continue reading →

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The Importance of the Battle of Warsaw, 1920

Posted on October 13, 2022 by odeboyz

Tsarist Russia was engulfed in a revolutionary civil war, which led to a Bolshevik government in1917. The leader of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky, wanted to end capitalism in Europe. He believed Germany was the key to this. If the … Continue reading →

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