Posts
My continual work-in-progress; more is missing than is
included, and will forever be the case!
I have updated the timeline.
It has grown so large that I have had to split it into two pages for the
blog, as follows:
Book references will be found at the bottom of each page,
for convenience…(well, relatively speaking).
This update includes relevant dates from the books “The
Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable,” by George Victor; “The
Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War,” James Bradley; The
China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia, James
Bradley. The new
items are in red.
All three books focus primarily on Asia; until now I have
had very little in the timeline that reflected contributory events outside of
Europe. In doing so now, I have decided
that this timeline should not end with V-J day.
While for the most part the war in Europe after 1945 was a Cold War,
events in Asia – preceding and during World War II – shaped the hot wars that
continued until at least the end of Vietnam – to include the Chinese Civil War
and Korea.
Items in parenthesis refer to (book:page); book references
can be found at the end of the post.
Where helpful, I have added hyperlinks in addition to page
references. I have also added
specificity to several previously unspecific dates.
I'd like to say that was a good read, because it was. But this well-documented timeline leaves my curiosity satisfied while at the same time making me feel a little nauseous.
ReplyDelete"400,000 Vietnamese gather in Hanoi’s central square, celebrating their day of independence. Ho Chi Minh reads an almost direct copy of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence opening: “All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights….”
Which shows how much words mean. The concept of freedom being read by concentrated governmental heads-of-power rings empty indeed. Soon thereafter came the execution quotas and the starving masses...
"The US dropped more than three times the tonnage of bombs during Vietnam than they did in both the European and Pacific theaters of WWII."
The whole countryside became a Dresden, and no doubt many new McMansions were built along the Potomac River with the proceeds.
As always, a superb job with the new timeline info. Fascinating stuff; should be part of Gary North's school curriculum. It's certainly part of mine.
Brutus, thank you for the comment.
DeleteWords like "democracy" and "equal" can also apply to communism, I have found. I have come across this in my reading, and therefore wonder what even western political leaders like Wilson or FDR actually meant by the terms.
Equal negative rights = unequal lives and livelihoods
DeleteEqual positive rights = unequal use of force
As de Tocqueville quipped: "There is in fact a manly and legitimate passion for equality that spurs all men to wish to be strong and esteemed. This passion tends to elevate the lesser to the rank of the greater. But one also finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the strong down to their level, and which reduces men to preferring equality in servitude to inequality in freedom."
As for democracy, I came across the following snippet some years ago and saved it, never knowing if it is true or not. You may have already read this:
{The following are excerpts from a 156 page citizenship manual issued by the US War Department, November 30,1928, explaining the difference between a democracy and a republic.
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt White House later ordered all copies of this manual withdrawn from the Government Printing Office and all US Army posts and destroyed without explanation:
Prepared under the direction of the Chief of Staff.
CITIZENSHIP Democracy:
A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic – negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether is be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. Results in demogogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.
CITIZENSHIP Republic:
Authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them. Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences. A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass. Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy. Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress.
By order of the Secretary of War: C.P. Summerall, Major General, Chief of Staff. Official: Lutz Wahl, Major General, The Adjutant General.
That was 1928. By 1952 however, the new Army Field Manual read:
"Meaning of democracy. Because the United States is a democracy, the majority of the people decide how our government will be organized and run – and that includes the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The people do this by electing representatives, and these men and women then carry out the wishes of the people.}
What's that Orwell said about the revolution being complete when the language is perfect? If true, it's an interesting side story to the many stories already out there concerning FDR.