Endnotes

[1]    The four fundamental forces in the universe: gravity, the strong and weak nuclear forces, and the electromagnetic force.

[2]    The repeated word sapiens—meaning wise—is correct, but hereinafter we will stick to one sapiens after Homo.

[3]    There are some indications in Java that Homo erectus was still around forth to fifty thousand years ago. For a completely different take on ancient man and the case for different time frames for human existence, see Bones of Contention, Lebenow, Baker Books, 2004 or Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth, Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong, Wells, Regnery Publishing, 2002. Another alternate explanation is Darwin’s Black Box, The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Behe, Free Press, 2006.

[4]    Used fire, but they did not make fire. It seems the art of creating fire from scratch was not mastered.

[5]    Prior to this, art in any form is nearly nonexistent. It seems proto-humans were not able to create art or what they did create was lost. Note this art is a form of communication and can tell us a lot about the world at the date it was made. These wonderful cave paintings, in full color, are at http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_painting.

[6]    Current theory (AGAIN). Please note that the current theory means the current widely accepted theory. There are always many other theories around, but one is generally the current accepted theory (meaning widely accepted). EVERYTHING is open to better theories, but most never make it because they cannot overcome the current widely accepted theory. I now theorize this is getting dull . . .

[7]    China’s ability to keep secret how silk was made for 2,000 years also contributed to the monopoly.

[8]    Another choice is to defend behind your walls, but that means a siege during which the population faces starvation and numerous assaults from the invader attempting to breach the walls. If your city was well prepared with lots of stored food and ample water it would be wise to try and hold out inside the walls. What would you do if you led the city?

[9]    The term Pharaoh comes from the New Kingdom. In earlier times Egyptian rulers were just kings. I will use the term Pharaoh for all the Egyptian rulers.

[10]    The architect, Imhotep, is one of the few names of lesser officials surviving into our time.

[11]    We should note the stone part of Stonehenge in England was constructed about 2900 BC, nearly 400 years before the Great Pyramid. 400 years is nearly twice as long as the USA has been a nation. One of our greatest challenges is understanding Stonehenge. What makes it so hard is its complexity, as it is tied into the surrounding countryside and other local ceremonial monuments.

[12]    In ancient Egypt, the east was associated with life and the west with death. This was because the sun rose from the east giving life, and set in the west bringing darkness and death. By going east, the Hebrews were symbolically traveling toward life. Dr. Richard Buehrer’s concepts.

[13]    The Rosetta Stone, a slab of stone with Egyptian hieroglyphics and two other later known languages carrying the same message, enabled the hieroglyphics to be deciphered.

[14]    The sarcophagi in all three great pyramids are gone, apparently stolen by grave robbers in the distant past. In the Great Pyramid everything is gone except the lower stone shell of the sarcophagus. The Valley of the Kings is the burial place of over 60 Pharaohs.

[15]    Inside the Great Pyramid, there is a kind of graffiti above the vault in the kings’ chamber saying a certain group of workers built it for Khufu; however, the discovery of these markings is in question. Originally, the markings were in candle smoke that may have been made by the workers on the expedition finding the markings, but this too is speculation.

[16]    Tigris and Euphrates—Tigris being the upper river (T = top). The irrigation systems lasted until the Mongols murdered everyone in the area about AD 1200, then they silted up never to be repaired. (See the Mongols in the Dark Ages section)

[17]    p. 21, Bauer, The History of the Ancient World, 2007, WW Norton & Co

[18]    One exception may be the Philistines who are spoken of in the Bible and whom the Israelites engaged in constant warfare.

[19]    P. 276 et seq, Bauer, The History of the Ancient World, 2007, WW Norton. Ms Bauer calls them “Sea Peoples”. The problem with a migration is the people in a mass migration normally settle down in the conquered areas. No settlement took place after the Sea Peoples came through.

[20]    The Urnfield culture cremated their dead and placed the ashes into urns. These urns (clay) were buried in cemeteries (fields); thus, the Urnfield culture. (urn in a field? Now do you get it? Come on, wake up! Swill down some coffee.) The Penguin Atlas of World History, Vol 1, p18.

[21]    p. 106-107, Bauer, The History of the Ancient World, WW Norton publisher

[22]    See: China for a more complete discussion of Buddhism.

[23]    Normally, I will use the term “god” for “the gods” or “gods” interchangeably. So when reading the word god, understand that it means gods or the gods as well, because most societies in the ancient world were polytheist Poly = many, thus many gods. Pantheist were also about. Pan = all; thus a god in everything, including the person.

[24]    In Egypt the Pharaoh was considered a god on earth, plus he was backed by a powerful priesthood.

[25]    As shown by godless Communist governments that have destroyed well over 94 million lives in their short history (The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, by Stephan Courtois, 1999).

[26]    OK, this is somewhat overstated since the raid was designed to kick Athens sideways and then leave. It was a punishment raid to teach the Greek snobs a lesson to stay out of Persian affairs; instead, it made them even more confident. We must still consider the idea that a successful raid may have encouraged the Persians to continue the conquest, one cannot know. In addition, other historians give an entirely different account of the battle (See p. 72, With Arrow, Sword and Spear . . . Bradford, 2001, Fall River Press). All these millennia later, it is tough to know exactly how it happened.

[27]    So, naturally, we try to measure it even though we were not there. The general consensus is Xerxes fielded about 250,000 to 300,000 men, a truly vast army for 480 BC.

[28]    They had united during the first invasion by Darius, but the Athenians won the victory before the Spartans, or other city states, could arrive. The Spartans were also consulting soothsayers about the timing of battle (they always did), and they did what these magicians ordered.

[29]    The trireme was the principle warship of the ancient world at this time, being made up of three decks of rowers and a metal ram to the front which would sink or heavily damage ships when it was driven into their sides. The crew was about two hundred.

[30]    Alcibiades was not there for the defeat in Sicily. Athens wanted him back to stand trial for desecrating the gods. He fled to Sparta and gave them good advice about how to defeat Athens. Then, after being caught with the wife of a Spartan King, he fled to Persia, and gave them good advice about how to defeat the Greeks. After all of this, he returned to Athens where he was again given a command (!!), and suffered an immediate defeat. He fled again to Persia, eventually being killed in Persian Phrygia after Lysander (a Spartan) asked that he be killed. Guess the Persians owed Lysander a favor. This fellow Alcibiades was the mother of all traitors. How dumb were the Athenians to take him back? Sounds like Eva Peron in Argentina(oops, we don’t cover that. You’ll have to look it up elsewhere—Wikipedia maybe).

[31]    Father of Alexander the Great

[32]    Not every opponent was smashed. The Gauls (Celts) sacked and burned Rome around 390 BC. Rome had been engaged in a brutal war with two cities near the city of Rome, Fidenae and Veii, and the arrival of the Gauls simply overwhelmed their exhausted and depleted legions. Rome often lost, but the Romans were amazingly tenacious. 10 year wars were nothing to them. And they were willing to replace losses by bearing higher taxes almost endlessly as well. Could we do that? Nah . . .

[33]    The main ship of this war was the quinquereme which had five banks of oars. This ship was larger than the trireme which had three banks of oars and had been the mainstay of the Persian Wars.

[34]    These figures are difficult to compute. A legion was six thousand men, so four legions would be twenty-four thousand troops; however, the Romans also had auxiliary troops to assist the legions, and they may have numbered another twenty-four thousand plus supply units. At any rate, a lot of people died.

[35]    One ship was purported to be 400 feet long. Such large construction requires great expertise in ship building.

[36]    Originally, the head of each clan making up the Roman Republic would comprise the Senate. As time went on, the power of the person was as important as the clan he or she came from.

[37]    Another widely used unit, a century, consisted of 100 men led by a centurion. Note that every centurion Jesus encountered in the Bible was an upright man of great personal character. Maybe that is the fundamental reason Rome lasted so long.

[38]    p. 200, With Arrow, Sword, and Spear . . . , Bradford, 2001, Fall River Press.

[39]    In the city of Rome, the poor constituted a huge percentage of the population. Politicians had given patronage to these poor for years in return for their votes; thus, from the start, the wealthy had gained and maintained power through buying votes from the poor. The net result was Rome was ruled by a few wealthy families who could pay the patronage. Hannibal added to the problems, because as he ravaged the countryside the rich bought up the land of the destitute farmers sending them into the city to join the poor while the rich grew ever richer. After the defeat of Hannibal, the rich used slaves to work the farmland on their massive estates thus increasing their wealth further and driving up the number of poor in Rome itself. Caesar had made a name for himself redistributing land to the poor, so he was one up in the bidding war as crossed the Rubicon.

[40]    Caesar lived from 100 BC to 44 BC. His life was ended by murder in the Roman Forum.

[41]    Modernly, someone who has crossed the Rubicon has committed himself to an unalterable course of action.

[42]    Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, last of the Ptolemies, played a role in this part of the drama. She was impregnated by Caesar, had his child by caesarean section (note the name), and returned to Rome with him. None of this endeared him to members of the Senate. After Caesar’s death she returned to Egypt, became the lover of another famous Roman general, Mark Anthony, had twins by him, and committed suicide after her armies were defeated by Octavian in 31 BC. Who could make this stuff up?

[43]    Caesar began to mean prince or king, and the words Kaiser (German) and Czar(Russian) came from the word Caesar.

[44]    This the only major religion started by a penniless dead man, with no children, and zero followers remaining out of only twelve to begin with, one of which had sold him out to the authorities.

[45]    Nero liked to burn Christians lashed to poles along the streets at night as street lights. Imagine the smell. If no one complained the city must have smelled pretty bad beforehand.

[46]    It was under the Emperor Trajan in AD 117 that the empire reached its greatest geographic extent. After Hadrian took over he began to reconsolidate the empire and went over to the defense.

[47]    The fall of the Western Roman Empire took decades, so the date of 455 is somewhat arbitrary, but by this date the governmental protections (army) and bureaucracy (administration) were gone forever.

[48]    Some philosophers say the world outside our brain cavity is nothing but chaos, and we mentally impose order on a disordered world.

[49]    Genesis 4: 1-16

[50]    Freud would say human beings were irrational, and this may prove it. See Sigmund Freud under 1900: The Dividing Line to the Modern World in this tome.

[51]    Not so in Meso-America. The Mayan, Aztecs, and Incas—just to name three—did not establish their great cities on major rivers. As time went on in the ancient world many cities would be established away from great rivers (Hattus, the Hittite capitol, and Nineveh, the Assyrian capitol for example).

[52]    Here is an example: assume a civilization grew up before 15,000 BC in the area of present day Moscow. Then the latest ice-age hit and the massive mile thick glaciers scraped the area clean. How could such a civilization be found? The moraines in front of the glaciers might contain some evidence, but it would be shattered & pulverized evidence, to say the least.

[53]    Science has not explained how life can come from dead matter, or how human consciousness developed, or where races of people came from. to name a few items. Plus, science does not answer why, it answers how.

[54]    God’s truth is “revealed” to man; that is, the gods tell man what is good or evil as man cannot discover the god’s truth on their own. Note how virtue differs: in Norse society killing the enemy is a large virtue, in Christian society one is encouraged to love ones enemies.

[55]    Israel, Syria; India, Pakistan; Iran, Iraq . . . etc.

[56]    From this point forward, dates will be rendered with the year only, unless we specifically are referring to BC dates; thus, a date with no AD or BC is assumed to be AD.

[57]    Note that in spite of the Mongol invasion and conquest of China, its culture, language, and administration remained nearly the same right into modern times.

[58]    “Witch hunters” as they styled themselves. One stated that his book on how to detect witches was covered with the skin of a witch. The killing began about 1250 and lasted until 1712 (the last witch trial in England). In 1487, the height of the witch hunts, a book was published describing witches’ habits and how to detect them namedMalleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches). Thousands died from these inquisitions across Europe, and men were often killed as well as women, but women seemed to have borne the brunt of the mania.

[59]    Through Islam, oddly enough. Islam never took these ancient ideas into their philosophy. In the West they caused a revolution, in the Islamic world, nothing.

[60]    Ancient Egypt stayed as it was for four thousand years for a reason; new ideas were avoided to maintain the status quo.

[61]    Devout Muslims say the original language of the Koran is pure, and even translations to another language corrupt the book. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades, Spencer, 2005, Regnery Publishing, Inc

[62]    Note this was 5 years before Columbus sailed for India in 1492. All of Europe knew the Portuguese had turned the south coast of Africa, and everyone figured the way to India around Africa was now a Portuguese monopoly.

[63]    This was one of the most important naval engagements in history. Vasco de Gama was brilliant in the handling of his fleet, and the victory ended Muslim dominance of the Indian Ocean till this day (2010).

[64]    The Discoverers: a History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself by Boorstin, Daniel J. 2001, is one of the best books on this subject.

[65]    They were called Indians because Columbus thought he had reached India, or the Indies. The inappropriate name stuck.

[66]    Cortez conquered the Aztecs in 1521, and Pizarro conquered the Incas in 1532.

[67]    Atlantis is the most commonly referred to point of origin for cultures that are thousands of miles apart but manage to think and build much the same. Plato aside, there is no physical or other proof for the existence of Atlantis as a continent or a culture. Too bad, because it would be a lot of fun if such a place had existed.

[68]    Although in Egypt they advanced to a smooth-sided pyramid.

[69]    Understand that this blood sacrifice entailed cutting the heart out of a living human victim and holding it up to the sun while the organ was still beating. Now that’s a blood sacrifice!

[70]    The Catholic Church demanded the natives not be enslaved, so the Spanish just called it by a different name and did the same thing.

[71]    Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond, 2005.

[72]    The Black Death is reported in China about 1341; and by 1347, it had reached Europe. This was the last of several plagues to sweep over Europe.

[73]    The Shang dynasty was founded in 1600 BC, and the Chou was founded about 1050 BC. All dates in this section must be considered approximate; thus, when it says the dynasty lasted 200 years please be aware that means it lasted approximately 200 years.

[74]    P. 41, The Penguin Atlas of World History, Vol 1, Kinder & Hilgemann, 1978, Penguin Books.

[75]    Christians may argue this is “self-salvation.” In Christian theology, Jesus Christ alone can save a person’s soul, and one must confess Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for their sins. A Buddhist (or Hindu) would see this as somewhat foolish, in large part because it avoids the question of conforming one’s mind to the necessary attitude to reach the oneness of the universe. Hindus think there are many paths to truth so they accept Jesus as one way to the truth; however, Christians argue there is only one way, Jesus. In both Buddhism and Hinduism there are many complexities that go far beyond the ability of this text to explain them.

[76]    These “nomads” from the center of the Asian land mass were a problem for everyone. They attacked, under various names, China, Europe, the Middle East, and India. Their ability to use cavalry to defeat the civilized world on all sides of them is amazing. As historians, we have a problem understanding their background because they left very little written information about themselves. No writing, no history. The Huns were the great problem for the Han and constant wars were fought between the two “civilizations”. The Great Wall was constructed to keep the Huns out more than anyone else.

[77]    This date is highly variable.

[78]    It can be argued that China’s entry into the Korean War and the Vietnam War was for the purpose of keeping foreigners out of its sphere of influence.

[79]    Please see the previous chapters on India and the Aryans.

[80]    “upper” here means southern. Egypt considered the mouth of the Nile at the Mediterranean Sea the “lower” Nile.

[81]    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, Penguin Classics, ISBN 0140433945, p.563; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodora_(6th_century)

[82]    None-the-less, this success was marred by civil war, in which split the Muslim world into two sects: Sunni, the majority of Muslims, perhaps 80 percent belong to this sect, believing the Muslim leader does not have to be a descendent of Muhammad, and the Shiites who believe Muhammad’s son in law Ali should have been the leader of the Muslims. This division in the Islamic world continues today, and the consequences have been chaotic and bloody. Each sect believes the other is reprobate and in need of extermination. This led to conflicts of the most violent character which continue into 2010.

[83]    Acre fell in 1291, and this was the last of the major Levant Crusader strongholds; however, the island of Rhodes held on until 1522 and the island of Malta until 1798.

[84]    This was the discovery of America because it was publicized. The Vikings and others may have arrived first, but they did nothing with the knowledge. Columbus came back and let everyone know how great he was; unfortunately, he failed to understand where he had been. Nonetheless, everyone in Europe knew that new lands had been found; thus, it was Columbus who discovered America because one who discovers something and keeps it secret has discovered nothing—except for himself.

[85]    OK, OK . . . . So they were not ALL English colonist, but I just can’t type English, German, Irish, Dutch, French, Russian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Belgian, Italian, Sicilian, Swiss, Portuguese, Scottish, Welsh, and Lord knows how many others every time I type “colonist” . . . so . . . English colonist it is. They were the majority after all.

[86]    Self-made meaning they had earned their money themselves and did not inherit it. Many in England enjoyed wealth by inheritance, and they also enjoyed power and position by inheritance. In the New World, they didn’t like people showing up acting as if they deserved something because of their birth. The New World expected people to earn their money and position, and not inherit it from an ancient ancestor. Many men in Parliament were there because of an inheritance of one kind or another.

[87]    This name, the Intolerable Acts, came from the American propagandist. The Adams cousins were especially good at this kind of thing.

[88]    December 16, 1773. A group of men dressed like Indians boarded an English ship loaded with tea and threw the cargo overboard. This was a protest against English taxes on tea. Americans then began drinking coffee as a replacement for tea (tax avoidance) and never stopped. When you drink coffee, you are drinking to tax avoidance and revolution.

[89]    p. 720, The New Penguin History of the World, Roberts, J., 2007, Penguin books.

[90]    The “shot heard round the world.” Note that the British troops, who wore bright red coats, were called the Red Coats the world over.

[91]    A musket is a long gun with no grooves in the barrel to spin the projectile. A rifle has grooves in the barrel to spin the projectile (a ball of lead in this case), and it makes the projectile more accurate over a longer distance. A musket had a hard time hitting something the size of a man at one hundred yards; a rifle could do that easily, and in experienced hands could hit such a target at two hundred yards or more.

[92]    It was actually Breeds Hill, but who cares at this point.

[93]    1776, David McCullough, 2006, Simon and Schuster

[94]    In fact, the world was still in the so-called Little Ice Age.

[95]    p. 148 et seq Great Rivals in History, When Politics Gets Personal, Cummins, J, 2008, Metro Books. The chapter is entitled “Benedict Arnold and Horatio Gates, A Clash for Control.” And the title says it all.

[96]    It would seem that after two hundred plus years calling someone a “Benedict Arnold” wouldn’t be such a mighty insult, but it is. Arnold now has the recognition he craved, but recognition of the wrong kind.

[97]    The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777, and were used throughout the Revolutionary War. They were used after the war (1782) until the adoption of the Constitution in 1789.

[98]    And later said in the Tenth Amendment that any power not specifically named in the document was given to the states, or the people.

[99]    Two hundred plus years now, just a blink in time from a historical perspective.

[100]    Two states had unicameral legislatures, meaning they had only one house, and that house was elected by population.

[101]    Note this is nearly 100 years before the American Revolution, showing the idea of fundamental rights was already an established part of the English thought process. Also, this document establishes individual rights against the government. The Greek ideal of the individual being above the state lived on.

[102]    An attempt to build monasteries in nearly inaccessible places and live apart from the world

[103]    Bibles of the day were written in Latin which only the priests could read. The Catholic Church wanted biblical interpretation in the hands of the church alone, because they feared a fragmentation of Christianity if everyone could read and interpret the scriptures. They were right. Note the bibles were printed. The printing press had a major impact on the Protestant Reformation.

[104]    The pope was under the power of the first wife’s nephew, Emperor Charles V. Charles had sacked Rome and held the pope as a virtual prisoner. The first wife was Catherine of Aragon, next was Ann Boleyn, then Jane Seymour, Ann of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and, finally, Catherine Parr.

[105]    Sort of Protestant. The Church of England retained much from Catholic teachings. Note the year. This is about 500 years after William the Conquer carried a flag into battle against the Saxons and Britons which had been blessed by the pope. 500 years is a LONG time. The US has been around less than 250. Thus, Henry was really running against a long tradition of Catholicism in England. This was a world changing event.

[106]    How did the public become literate so fast? Almost overnight, huge numbers of people in Europe learned to read.

[107]    His words are now beamed into space, which could mean they will survive until the end of time as we know it, although the SETI project has stated radio beams disintegrate after a few years of traveling through space and become static. So why are they still looking for signals from space? The government must be paying.

[108]    The “Divine Right of Kings” is a philosophy that holds the king is appointed by god; thus, he/she can do no wrong, and they rule by Divine Right. Only god can replace the king. Europe’s intellectuals were starting to think this kind of belief was pure hogwash and had to be reevaluated.

[109]    Land and buildings are good things to tax because they are very hard to hide, and their ownership is normally very clear. The Catholic Church had been immune to taxation all over Europe for centuries, and a lot of the new leaders were fed up with that arrangement. Obviously, the Church had decreased in power.

[110]    The First Estate was the clergy, the Second Estate was the nobility, and the Third Estate was the commoners—the ones that were starving.

[111]    King Louis XVI was put to death on January 21, 1793, and his queen on October 16, 1793.

[112]    For all his victories on land, Napoleon failed to win at sea; and this isolated him on the European landmass. Several key English naval victories by Admiral Nelson—Trafalgar in 1805 being the most famous—sealed Napoleon’s fate.

[113]    Of course, it is hard to kill religion by decree. The Catholic Church survived the decree, although its political power was much reduced.

[114]    Rome had industrial-level factories using waterwheels to grind flower and do other chores. These overshot waterwheel-driven factories turned out impressive amounts of grain for the vast empire. When the Dark Ages arrived, this Roman technology was lost.

[115]    By 1399, the effects of the Black Plague were over; and the population was expanding again.

[116]    Literature, music, and other artistic forms were expressing the same themes.

[117]    In spite of the splotchy, close-up look, each stroke had a purpose, each color was exactly placed; and even when standing far away from the painting, the subject could still be discerned. When a person gets too far away from a painting by the old masters, the subject becomes indistinct. The Impressionists were showing the world that even though confusion seemed to be the scheme of life, in fact that confusion was organized into a solid, coherent whole when looked at in concert.

[118]    As Will Rogers said during the Great Depression, “We (the US) will be the first nation to drive to the poor house.”

[119]    Jefferson, the third US president, was elected in 1801, and this was the first power transfer between political parties. And yes, this is the same Thomas Jefferson that penned the Declaration of Independence. Note that political parties were not anticipated by the drafters of the US Constitution. Jefferson wanted Congress and the president to stay within the specific powers given them in the US Constitution, and since the ability to buy land was not specifically given to the president he worried that he was, by his actions, going to expand the power of the executive. Of course, he did expand the power of the executive, but it would make little difference given the massive expansion of power that would come later.

[120]    Old Iron Sides was her nickname because metal sheeting placed over the hull caused enemy cannonballs to ricochet off.

[121]    It was in one of these engagements that John Paul Jones, aboard the Bonhomme Richard, was asked to surrender by the British commander. Jones replied “I have not yet begun to fight,” and then went on to win the battle. His ship sunk after the battle, but he captured the still afloat British ship and continued on his way.

[122]    It was in this war that the famous stand at the Alamo took place in San Antonio, Texas. Davy Crocket and several other well-known American frontiersmen died fighting for Texas and freedom.

[123]    Ok . . . Ok. I did not tell you Montezuma was the Aztec emperor Cortez captured and defeated. Come on . . . it is the SUPER summary after all. The Halls of Montezuma is a reference to the Aztec ruler and his capitol of Mexico City. The “Halls of Montezuma” = Mexico City. Get it??

[124]    Many would point out the Seminoles were never defeated by the United States, and the War of 1812 was probably a tie at best, so things are not clear-cut in the won-loss department of US history. In addition, the US did not lose the Vietnam War. South Vietnam lost the war. See the Chp on Vietnam.

[125]    The US would place tariffs on incoming goods, then the foreign nations would place tariffs on US goods coming to them. Result: cotton and tobacco sales would suffer.

[126]    Like the Dark Ages, there were the very rich and the very poor. The middle-class merchants were a small part of society in the Dark Ages and in the pre-Civil War South. Typical in an agricultural society.

[127]    Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe published in 1852 was the bestselling novel of the nineteenth century and was a significant piece of northern propaganda that incensed people of the North and the South.

[128]    Louisiana was one southern state that was not rabid about leaving the Union and perhaps could have been brought back. If Louisiana stayed Union, the Mississippi would be under Union control, and Texas split off from the rest. This might be a death blow to the Confederacy.

[129]    Literally the man power barrel because women did not fight in this era. During World War II, the Soviets made extensive use of female units; however, the Western Allies did not send women into combat. They were used extensively in noncombat roles.

[130]    Casualties include both the dead and the wounded.

[131]    The rivers of the west moved into the south, thus providing highways to penetrate the defenses. Rivers running across the line of advance would have helped the South immensely.

[132]    Some of the Union generals may not have been so clear on the goals. McClellan was accused of wanting the South to suffer as little as possible. McClellan’s actions were so incompetent he brought these rumors upon himself. How else could his actions be explained, except by treachery, many thought. Of course, it is always possible he was incompetent in battle. Several Union generals proved to be his equal in this department.

[133]    Of course, other possibilities abound. The South may have requested to join England or Mexico; but in either event, they would have to abandon slavery. If they had to end slavery why not ban it and then try to rejoin the Union? The scenarios are endless.

[134]    You will hear more about this later, but logistics are the key to victory in a long modern war. When the South lost its ability to trade by sea, it lost its ability to supply itself. Thus, no supplies and no victory.

[135]    Many historians disagree. The brilliant Bevin Alexander in How Great Generals Win, thinks Lee was mediocre. I will disagree based on Chancellorsville, and his ability to defend the South for years against an army that outnumbered his, had more and better equipment, and was well fed if not well led. It is true that Lee did not see the early potential of a northern invasion, as suggested by Stonewall Jackson, and he may not have had the vision of Sherman, but he did accomplish a lot with very little and for that he should be remembered as an excellent commander. By the way, very few generals have had the vision of Sherman or Jackson.

[136]    The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution ended slavery, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth protected the civil rights of the former slaves.

[137]    For reasons unknown, Robert E. Lee never wrote a book about the war; thus, many of his decisions go unexplained. This is a great loss to history. Grant’s memoirs are highly useful because we get to look into the mind of the man making the decisions.

[138]    The Union cannons had rifling, and the Confederate cannons did not. Rifling makes a projectile fly straighter.

[139]    Compare this to George Washington at Boston. He had wanted to assault the city but listened to his fellow commanders when they told him they were against it, which was excellent advice. Lee did not listen to his fellow senior commanders and his men, and his cause, paid dearly.

[140]    At Waterloo, the total losses were about fort-seven thousand men killed and wounded between all three armies (English, Prussian, and French). After more than 3 years fighting in Iraq the US lost about 5,000 men and the public wanted an end to it. Time does change things.

[141]    More proof of how incompetent they were.

[142]    This would have forced Sherman to attack well-prepared Confederate positions blocking his supply lines, thereby costing him dearly in men.

[143]    Sherman’s march to the sea. This was truly modern war. The target was the civilian population of the South. After this operation, there would be no such thing as civilians in war. Everyone was now a target. In spite of treaties and other documents trying to say otherwise, the fact is that every member of the opposing state is now a valid target for death and destruction. The bombing of civilians in WWII by both the Axis and the Allies, the atrocities of the Japanese, Germans, Soviets involving not only soldiers in uniform but civilians as well, and the latest terrorists attacks of the 21st Century, clearly show there are no civilians. The slaughter of Christians by Muslims, the slaughter of everything and everyone by the Mongols, the complete destruction of ancient cities by the Assyrians, show that this has long been the case, but somehow people cannot accept this blatant fact.

[144]    The Carpetbaggers were northerners who moved south during Reconstruction for economic and political advantage. They bought plantations, became wealthy landowners, and managed, with the help of Freedmen in the state legislatures, to buy up southern railroads. By 1870, the Carpetbaggers controlled 21 percent of southern RR by mileage. By 1890, they controlled 88 percent of the RR by mileage and held an average of 47 percent on the boards of directors for the southern RR.

[145]    P. 184 et seq, The Stakes of Power, 18945-1877, Nichols & Berwanger, 1982

[146]    Women are not a “minority” because they outnumber men; however, the US Supreme Court classified them as a minority (granting them the status of a protected class) because they have traditionally been treated as a minority. Once again, we have a court imposing a total fiction on the people through the use of its power to tell the nation what the Constitution means.

[147]    “Only” one war, the Spanish American War in 1898 . . . oh . . . and a small invasion of Mexico when Pershing was chasing Poncho Villa.

[148]    For example, the Illinois legislature passed laws controlling railroad rate setting because railroads favored large terminals over smaller ones, and either would not service small terminals or would charge a lot more to service them. These kinds of practices favored larger shippers over small ones, and effectively gave the large city merchants a decided advantage over the small merchants due to the price of transporting goods to market. See p. 210-226 et seq, The Stakes of Power 1845-1877, Nichols & Berwanger, 1982.

[149]    US battleships were named after states.

[150]    Note that the internal combustion engine is still the mainstay of automobile transportation in the twenty-first century (2010), and it was invented in the eighteenth century. It seems that we managed to perfect the mechanical dinosaur.

[151]    Notice that the Rose Bowl was being played before the invention of powered flight!

[152]    In 1903 the first powered aircraft flight took place, and in 1969 men landed on the moon; thus, in 66 years people went from a flying a few seconds to a space flight of incredible complexity and distance. This kind of progress is commonplace in the world today. In fact, it may be the most significant thing in the 21st Century.

[153]    Through the so-called Concert of Europe.

[154]    A holdover from King Louis XIV, the French Revolution, and Napoleon.

[155]    The term “battleship” means the largest fighting ship afloat carrying the most guns. In 1900, naval war planners envisioned battleships as the key to gaining and maintaining naval superiority at sea. Because these ships had the largest caliber guns that could fire further than the guns on lesser ships they would rule any sea battle. The battleship could start firing sooner, and even one battleship shell could devastate an enemy vessel. It was thought columns of these huge ships would line up and fire away at each other thus determining who would rule the oceans. The importance of better cannons had been recognized since the invention of artillery and its placement on ships. King Henry VIII of England invested in developing the best cannons in the world, and the best ships to carry them; thus, putting England ahead in the early naval race. Until WWII, England held that lead. During WWII it became evident that the time of the battleship was passed.

[156]    The joke was that Prussia was an army with a state, rather than a state with an army.

[157]    Immediately after the Civil War the North had a massive army and navy, among the largest in the world. This was quickly reduced in size because of American isolationist policies.

[158]    The Redeemers were southern whites who wanted to end Reconstruction and take over the reins of power in the Old South. The goal was to put the future of the South back into southern hands and get the North out of southern affairs. As the Redeemers took over southern governments, they attempted to re-establish the culture of the pre-civil war South where the rich ruled and the poor did what they were told. The only substantial differences were the rich now constituted more than the planter classes as new industrialists were prominent in the social order, and they were careful not to openly offend the powerful North for fear of the legislative consequences.

[159]    Oddly enough, the terrible Civil War in America had given black men the vote, but not women of any race.

[160]    In the United States, the press may outright lie and not be in violation of liable laws. The US Supreme Court has set an “absence of malice” standard; that is, the press may lie about a public figure if they do not act with malice—knowing the story is false and publishing it with the expressed purpose of harming the individual. Under this standard, the press may print almost anything about a person as long as they qualify as a public figure.

[161]    Why the change was always for additional complexity is hard to explain.

[162]    If this sounds like god, you are right. The government was god on earth (Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan, 1651) and the overman was the natural outcome of that fact. To Nietzsche, god did not exist; only the human existed, and the superior human’s will was everything. Note how “the will” has replaced rationally, morality, and logic. All that is irrelevant, only the overman is relevant. Sounds like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, etc etc

[163]    This morality changes with the whims of the majority; thus, no truth. The Christian religion holds there is one truth, that truth which is revealed by God in the Bible. By definition, for Christians, man cannot know truth—it must come from God.

[164]    Yes, it can be manipulated, even in 1864, by moving things in the scene; however, even in 1864 this was discouraged.

[165]    In 1895, France Lumiere opened the first public cinema.

[166]    The Triple Entente because the original parties were England, France, and Russia

[167]    Many smaller nations were involved.

[168]    Except for the Panic of 1873 previous depressions or recessions had lasted one to two years on average. The Great Depression lasted about ten years and was worse in the United States of America than other Western countries. Some claim the US did not recover from the Great Depression until the 1950s (it depends on how war production is calculated).

[169]    How warring parties define victory can control how the war and its aftermath are handled. Remember Carthage? And when we get to WWII think about how “unconditional surrender” effected the Allied war effort. Same for Vietnam and Korea.

[170]    Russia apparently made this promise to support its Slavic “neighbor,” as Russia was also a Slavic nation; however, it makes little sense. Russia was not in a geographic position to render sufficient aid to Serbia before it was overrun. The only reason to support Serbia was to prevent a war, and this Russia could not do if Germany was in the picture. The smart move was to threaten mobilization and then do nothing. If Serbia was crushed so be it, but somehow the Czar thought a war with Austria-Hungary AND Germany was OK. Could it be the alliance with France gave him false hope? Anyway, his actions were stupid. So were the Kaiser’s, the British, and later the USA. With so many dumb guys ruling major powers maybe the war was inevitable.

[171]    World War I, Keegan, 2000, Vintage Press. Keegan, excellent, as always, on WWI and its causes, and the importance of time.

[172]    “Everything” meaning the survival of the German nation.

[173]    The all-important factor to the involved nations, it seems.

[174]    See: John Keegan, The First World War, 2000 Vintage Press.

[175]    The disconnects are many: the jump from the German plan to the battle of the Marne is too attenuated—who knew a gap would open up? Also, push the argument to the extreme; if the Marne was most important battle, then the gap was the most important gap, and the aircraft flight spotting the gap the most important airplane and flight in history, and the pilot the most important pilot, and the gas in the tank the most important gas, and the truck that delivered the gas the most important truck, and the truck driver the most important driver, and his mom the most important mom, etc It get ridiculous very quickly.

[176]    The same thing happened in the American Civil War around Petersburg—and they were using rifled muskets.

[177]    “No man’s land” was the area between the two opposing trench lines, so called because neither army controlled it.

[178]    These figures are all approximate.

[179]    Literally. British posters depicted gorillas wearing German helmets grasping fainting women while their teeth dripped blood.

[180]    This was conditioned upon US entry into the war on the English and French side.

[181]    The two German generals had been promoted to head the entire German war effort because of impressive successes against Russia.

[182]    The previous Allied attacks had been on relatively narrow fronts; this allowed the Germans to shift reserves to the endangered area without having to worry about assaults elsewhere.

[183]    Some call this the Spanish flu. Earlier estimates of deaths were in the 50 million range, but newer estimates raise the total to 100 million.

[184]    If we multiply the 1919 dollar amount by forty to try and adjust for inflation since that year we get: (32 x 40 = 1,280 billion dollars. You can see the amount is gargantuan, especially when we recall Germany spent herself into bankruptcy during the war just like the Allies. Where was Germany going to get that amount of money? Why the multiple of 40? A new car in the 1920 era was about $500, and a new car today is about $20,000. 20,000 divided by 500 = 40. A very rough estimate and filled with assumptions . . . I know. It is just a way to get an idea of how much money we are really talking about.

[185]    USSR = the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

[186]    Europe was showing signs of recovery by 1932, and some recovery was underway in 1933. In the USA these years were among the worst of the depression era. See: p. 332 et seq, The Third Reich in Power, Evans, R., Penguin, 2005

[187]    The same year Hitler came to power in Germany.

[188]    Or anyone for that matter. In our world humiliation of nations doesn’t seem to matter so much; however, in 1919 Europe it mattered a lot. The war guilt clause in the Versailles Treaty infuriated the Germans. A popular song in Germany was Deutschland uber Allies (Germany over the Allies); now, that thinking comes from people seeking revenge. Be smart reader, do not humiliate anyone and your life will be much easier. And you were told history couldn’t teach you anything . . .

[189]    The Germans did not actually pay the repatriations. Loans from the US and England allowed the Germans to pay with the loans rather than their gross national product. The Germans received more in loans than they were required to repay. The amount of repatriations was also adjusted down several times.

[190]    Churchill was lord of the admiralty until the disaster at Gallipoli, which he had underwritten, and was then fired; later, rehired (appointed) head of munitions. As one can see, in 1900’s England the same leaders just stayed on in new roles. Recall the Versailles treaty said Germany could not have an army, an air force, or a navy of any size. IF the Allies would have prevented Germany from re-arming, no WWII. How hard would that have been? Once the Allies became aware that Germany was acquiring arms just go in and take over. After all, what would they stop them with?

[191]    After 1919, a fellow could be out of work AND sober. What could be worse?

[192]    Remember the abolition of slavery? This is the same concept.

[193]    For statistics on the 1920s through the Great Depression see http://www2.census.gov/; however, this site is hard to use as the data is simply in a list by year, and it is difficult to tell what you are calling up until it is on the screen. Typical government operation.

[194]    Devaluation means their money was worth less than it was before the change.

[195]    This screed remains popular today (2010) in Muslim nations, probably because of its anti-Jewish statements.

[196]    When the United States buys foreign goods money leaves the US system, thus lowering the money supply. It is the same when immigrants send money out of the United States back to the home country.

[197]    p.127 The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal, Murphy, Regnery, 2009. Note: if a nation sets its price on gold redemption at 20 dollars per ounce, then the amount of money it can print is limited by its supply of gold. If a nation has 1 ounce of gold, it can print twenty dollars worth of paper money. With no gold standard (or silver or other precious metal that holds a stable value) a nation can print all the money it wants, and the money’s value with rise and fall with the amount printed and the strength of the nation’s economy. How the money men figure a nation’s economic strength vs the amount of money in circulation is beyond me, and, naturally, there are other factors.

[198]    During the 1930’s in Germany, inflation became so bad that a wheelbarrow full of money would not buy a loaf of bread. This happened because the German government printed too much money. When there is a lot of something, like air in an open field, it has little value. When you have very little of something, like air in a collapsed mineshaft, its value rises dramatically. Of course, the item must be wanted or needed. Who cares about an abundance of cockroaches?

[199]    This is an often misunderstood point about capitalist economies. Corrections must take place if the capitalist system is to work. Irregularities are shaken out by periodic corrections so the economy can continue to expand. If the irregularities are allowed to go on, they can cause depressions and a lot of economic hardships. Andrew Mellon, secretary of the Treasury under Coolidge, believed this and adjusted his economic program accordingly with excellent results.

[200]    The US Constitution does not say how many justices are on the Supreme Court. It just establishes the court. Roosevelt was threatening to add enough justices to the court to overcome the rather conservative majority that was striking down his New Deal programs.

[201]    P. 187, Against Leviathan, Government Power and a Free Society, Higgs, Robert, 2004, The Independent Institute.

[202]    War economies are hard to judge because the employment and production are skewed; however, when the production is being blown apart in some far away land it cannot really add to the domestic product. How to measure a war economy is still up for debate, but many economists say WWII was not a period of economic recovery.

[203]    The Forgotten Man, A New History of the Great Depression, Shlaes, Amity, 2007, Harper Perennial.

[204]    The Forgotten Man, Shlaes, Amity.

[205]    p. 110, 111, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal, Murphy, Regnery, 2009. Fun book to read, easy for the non-economist.

[206]    We are all captives of our theories. Theories set the framework for analysis of various problems, and a lack of theories—or faulty theories—can hamper the ability to respond to events effectively. When Keynes came up with his monetary theories about how to end the depression they presented the decision makers with a new way of looking at events, and new ways of solving the crisis.

[207]    p. 166, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal, R. Murphy, Regnery, 2009.

[208]    Stalin supported the spread of communism to China and planned and supplied the North Korean invasion of South Korea, among other violent acts perpetrated throughout the world. We are talking total deaths, not percentages. Mao might be able to claim more murders, but it is hard to tell. The current count is Hitler killed 21 million, Mao killed 34 million, and Stalin killed 62 million. These numbers are from a study by the University of Hawaii in 2008.

[209]    This was the combined arms doctrines developed by the British on the Western Front in WWI.

[210]    Japan was fighting in China right up until the end of World War II in 1945, because that was a major focus of the military government—winning in China.

[211]    Japan’s War: The Great Pacific Conflict, by Edwin Hoyt.

[212]    See: John Keegan, The First World War, 2000, Vintage Press.

[213]    There are large problems defining fascism. Most of their economic programs were socialist as the government controlled industry and tried to ensure the populace made a decent living; however, the fascists were militarists and ardent nationalists advocating expansionist policies. Fascism in Italy was much different than Germany where racism was a key element of the mix. Socialism is not automatically expansionist; however, Communism is expansive in nature. All these interlacing ideas make fascism difficult to pin down

[214]    In Eastern Europe, two similar dictatorships struggled for triumph. Ironically, this totalitarian clash determined if democracy would survive in Western Europe. The purpose for war was clear in the Persian Wars also. Maybe I should say the modern purpose for war was never clearer.

[215]    See: Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm.

[216]    When I say violence as a part of government control, I do not mean some police officer kicking a rioter. The kind of violence adopted included executing or forever imprisoning people who were opposed to the government. If a person even talked about disliking an official in the regime they could be, and often were, executed.

[217]    Ultra: the British broke the German Enigma code, a machine code which the Germans believed unbreakable; thus, seldom changed. Magic: the United States broke the main Japanese code, a traditional “book” code that was often changed, thus destroying the US ability to read the code until new keys were found. One might say the invasion of the USSR was the most important event of the war, but that was a decision by Hitler and thus absorbed into the first reason given in the list.

[218]    We must acknowledge Adolf Hitler’s brilliance as a politician. He went from a corporal in the army, to the leadership of a penniless Nazi Party, to ruler of all of Germany, and then ruler of Europe in a very short time. One must also acknowledge it was Hitler’s support for the new tactics of Blitzkrieg—the use of tanks and aircraft in massed formations—and the development of the tanks and aircraft themselves, that allowed this to happen. Hitler’s ready acceptance of the new ideas changed warfare.

[219]    The USSR occupied Poland after WWII and covered up their murders of the Poles until the fall of the USSR in 1989-1991.

[220]    By mining the coastal waters, the English would force ships out of neutral waters into the North Sea where the Royal Navy could intercept them.

[221]    They were using motorcycle messengers, just as they did in World War I.

[222]    Just another very bad decision by the Fuehrer. Why he gave the order is unknown. Lots of speculation, but no one knows because he did not write it down or tell anyone that a historian could trust. He left a will and Mien Kampf but no diary as such.

[223]    Royal Air Force

[224]    Vichy France named for its capital city.

[225]    ON WAR, 1833. Clausewitz’s book was the primer on war and its execution—at least prior to 1970. Some today argue it is out of date, others think it is still relevant and anyone ignoring its precepts is going to face hardships or outright defeat. I think it is still THE primer on war.

[226]    Killed in Action

[227]    In fact, they would have sailed in without any air support if necessary (my opinion)

[228]    I know others, even German generals, have said otherwise; but I still hold my opinion. Also, remember logistics. How could the Nazis get supplies to their troops once they were on the beach? The British navy could easily have cut the sea supply line through night actions alone.

[229]    Most of the material in this section comes from: Hitler’s U-boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942, by Clay Blair, Modern Library, 2000; and Memoirs, by Carl Doenitz, Da Capo Press, 1997 . . . note the author of this book.

[230]    One-third at sea, one-third in transit, and one-third in for repair and resupply. SEE DONITZ, Memoirs.

[231]    Similar ship construction was accomplished in WWI as well.

[232]    Seventeen knots underwater speed which was faster than the Type VII surface speed.

[233]    The designer of the AK-47( Kalashnikov ) denies he took the design from the German model; however, he does admit the idea came from the German gun. In my opinion, looking at both weapons, they are very similar. The Panzerfast was another German weapon, and was developed into the RPG (rocket propelled grenade) that is widely used and extremely deadly.

[234]    The Sherman does get an undeserved bad reputation because people do not understand it was not supposed to fight other tanks. The tank destroyer was designed for that task. In pre-war doctrine, the Sherman would punch a hole into the enemy infantry line (trenches and the like), the Germans would then counterattack with tanks. The tank destroyer was to move in and deal with the counterattack. After the tank destroyer defeated the counterattack, then the Sherman would be on its way once more and exploit the breakthrough. These pre-war ideas were brought into Europe in 1944, and, unfortunately for the US and UK, the Sherman was often forced into tank to tank combat with superior German tanks.

[235]    Suicide attacks in which the pilot stays with the aircraft and rams it into the target. In essence, this is a (man) guided missile.

[236]    The Third Reich in Power, Evans, 2005, Penguin Books. Section 4: pages 352-454, esp pages 410-411.

[237]    Remember Kesselring from the Battle of Britain? He was one of the Luftwaffe team who designed the assault on RAF airfields that nearly succeeded.

[238]    For a while, the Germans did have critical information on convoy sailings through insurance companies in Switzerland that kept records of the sailings

[239]    The Suez Canal allowed the transport of oil, men, and material to and from India (the key British colony), Iran, and Australia. Closing it would mean the ships carrying these key supplies would have to round Africa to reach England. This voyage would be longer, use more fuel, and expose the ships to German attacks for a longer time.

[240]    Kesselring knew of the supply problems all over the Axis theaters of war, and he knew logistics would be a key factor in victory or defeat everywhere.

[241]    Montgomery had fought in WWI, and this is definitely a WWI attitude. Plus, such overwhelming force is difficult to come by since most nations cannot field that kind of army.

[242]    The German general staff had sent General Von Paulus to Africa, and he recommend an immediate withdrawal. Rommel decided against this, but it was one of his worst decisions. Von Paulus would surrender the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad.

[243]    Three hundred of these tanks were American Sherman’s with its new 75mm gun that outclassed most of the German tanks available to Rommel’s men and all the Italian tanks

[244]    So why attack? Politics mostly. This was the last pure English victory of the war. Well . . . kind of pure. They used American equipment.

[245]    Some argue there was no two-front war since Britain had no forces on the continent; however, Hitler had troops in France, the United Kingdom was bombing the continent, the war at sea required a large number of resources (submarines), and North Africa was an active front; thus, many resources were committed to the contest with Britain.

[246]    This is an important process whereby the generals set up their cardboard units and the supposed enemy units to fight one another over the same terrain the battle (s) will be fought on. Generals take sides and then fight it out with referees watching the game. In this way, armies are able to discover flaws in their plans before implementation. Interestingly, German logistic experts predicted the limits of the invasion with good accuracy before it was launched.

[247]    Hitler did not realize the code breakers read the German codes and warned the defenders of the impending attack; thus, surprise, a key element in any airborne assault, was totally lost. Was this the reason Hitler did not want to attack Malta? No one knows.

[248]    Page 138, The Great Crusade, Willmott, 2008, Potomac Books

[249]    “Lost” in the sense that the USSR would not be conquered. Many German generals thought the Soviets could still be fought to a standstill, and Germany could achieve a stalemate and a truce which would release German units to fight in the west.

[250]    After the advance on Moscow failed, German generals wanted to retreat to better defensive positions and prepare for possible counterattacks; but Hitler refused to give up any ground even for tactical advantages.

[251]    Japan’s War: the Great Pacific Conflict, Edwin Hoyt.

[252]    Some think 260,000 civilians died in Nanking. Estimates at the time put the death toll at 50,000.

[253]    Poor planning and thinking on Japan’s part. Japan signed the Tripartite Pact to keep the United States from interfering with Japan, but in fact it convinced the Americans that Japan had to be stopped. This was a major foreign policy blunder.

[254]    Japan’s War: the Great Pacific Conflict, Edwin Hoyt

[255]    Yamamoto was the commander of Japan’s Combined Fleet.

[256]    The movie Tora, Tora, Tora does this, but the viewer must have enough knowledge to appreciate the magnitude of the Japanese errors.

[257]    At Dawn We Slept: the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, Prange, Gordon., 1981, McGraw-Hill, The Pearl Harbor Papers: Inside the Japanese Plans, Prange, Gordon W. (1999), Brassey’s, ISBN 1574882228

[258]    Some of the trouble stemmed from lack of preparation because of the impact of the peace movements, but poor leadership was the main cause of the Allied debacles.

[259]    Note the Japanese landed on an undefended beach. They landed far from Singapore to avoid British resistance during the landing.

[260]    Aircraft carriers. It should be noted the aircraft that sank the two British ships were land based. Since the 1600s battleships or ships of the line had ruled the waves. The attack off Singapore changed all that forever.

[261]    Nations prepare for war against all other nations of any consequence by war gaming the conflict and then drafting plans based on those war games. These plans are updated constantly.

[262]    War Plan Orange was updated to the Rainbow Plan that assumed a war with Germany and Japan, but still called for the defense of Bataan in the Philippines. War Plan Orange, by Edward S. Miller,1991, US Naval Institute.

[263]    The “initiative” is a term that means the power to determine what to do next. The attacker decides when, where, how, and with what forces to attack. The defense then responds. Thus, the attacker has the initiative. Note there is both a strategic and tactical initiative.

[264]    He also received a huge sum of money from the Philippine government . . . for some undisclosed reason (want to make a guess?).

[265]    US Army thought he should have said, “WE shall return . . .”

[266]    The Japanese had aircraft spotters to help direct their shell fire and they had the Long Lance torpedo. The Japanese Long Lance torpedo had a twenty-mile range, one thousand pounds of explosives, was very accurate, and always worked, which made this the best torpedo of the war by far. Four Japanese destroyers defeated a larger Allied force in an action at Badung Strait with these superior torpedoes.

[267]    This was a daring raid by B-25 aircraft flown off of the carrier USS Hornet. The air crews successfully bombed Tokyo and flew on to China.

[268]    The emperor was a god on earth to the Japanese, and he had to be protected.

[269]    See, The Shattered Sword, the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, by J. Parshall and A. Tully.

[270]    Admiral Halsey’s place at Midway in command of the USS Enterprise was taken by Admiral Spruance due to Halsey’s being ill. USS Yorktown, in a different task force, was commanded by Admiral Fletcher.

[271]    There is some dispute about this: see, The Shattered Sword: the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Parshall and Tully; Midway, the Battle That Doomed Japan, by M. Fuchida, M. Okumiya, R. Spruance and C. Kawakmi; Miracle at Midway, by Gordon Prange; Incredible Victory, by Walter Lord, among others.

[272]    This destroyer had been depth charging the US submarine Nautilus that was trying to get in on the battle. The Japanese destroyer was heading back to the main fleet.

[273]    SBD was the Dauntless designation meaning Scout, Bomber, Dive (or, slow but deadly).

[274]    Nagumo was badly served by his staff during these critical moments in the battle. Constantly changing orders caused the ordinance crews to rush, leaving bombs and torpedoes just lying on the deck. When the fire reached the ordinance it exploded helping to sink the carriers. One bomb was enough to sink one of the Japanese carriers.

[275]    Because of outstanding damage control efforts, it took two Japanese air strikes hitting the Yorktown with four bombs and two torpedoes, plus torpedoes from a Japanese submarine, to put the Yorktown under.

[276]    Sounds like the battle for Malaya and Singapore.

[277]    The Japanese force was starving as it advanced up the Kokoda Track because of inferior logistic support. Still, they went forward.

[278]    See: Guadalcanal: the Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle, by Richard B. Frank

[279]    See p.977 The Oxford Companion to World War II, editors Dear, & Foot, Oxford University Press, 1995.

[280]    As the battle went on, the Japanese became much worse off. Even with fast destroyers as the delivery method, little food got through. Japanese troops were literally starving to death and eating grass trying to stay alive. Again, we see the importance of logistics in warfare.

[281]    Hitler wanted fascist Spain to join the Axis, but Franco (Spain’s leader) wanted no part of another war. Sub-rosa, Spain did aid the Axis, but stayed neutral. Spain joining the Axis would increase the Axis power base substantially.

[282]    Reserves were available on the Eastern Front in early 1942 IF no further offensives were undertaken.

[283]    General Von Paulus commanded the German Sixth Army fighting at Stalingrad.

[284]    After the attack, Germany’s Army Group Center ceased to exist. It was wiped from the German order of battle as completely as the Sixth Army had been after Stalingrad. And this was an ARMY GROUP of twenty-five divisions or more, not just one army.

[285]    Operation Drumbeat.

[286]    German Type VII submarines carried twelve torpedoes

[287]    In fact, there were barely any escorts for convoy duty. The United States failed to construct or even design ships suitable for convoy duty or fighting submarines. Convoy escorts are normally smaller ships with a large carrying capacity so they can haul a lot of fuel and depth charges and stay on station for long periods of time. The larger and faster destroyers are not well suited for that kind of duty, but they could have been used for convoy protection given the state of the emergency in 1942.

[288]    Horton was one of the most important and least known men of WWII. He was the key man in the defeat of the German U-boat menace. He was in charge of the Western Approaches to England.

[289]    This shows how essential supply is to war. Logistics are THE first priority.

[290]    Well . . . not everything. In the category of armor missteps occurred. Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the US Army, 1917-1945 (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) by David E. Johnson (Paperback—Mar 2003). The Germans had better tanks, and both the British and American troops knew this by 1943. Somehow, the Allied generals did not get the message until late 1944. Better Allied steel, slopping the armor, better ammunition, and a high-velocity 75mm gun could have made a substantial difference for the main Allied battle tank, the M-4 Sherman. The Sherman was inferior to the German tanks but was not upgraded until sometime in late 1944 (Battle of the Bulge saw some improved Shermans). Some of this was due to Allied battle doctrine wherein the Tank Destroyer was to fight other tanks; however, anyone should have seen, as the Allied troops did, that the Sherman was totally outclassed at D-Day and needed immediate improvement or replacement. The tank crews were simply riding in their coffins as they faced German Tiger and Panther tanks. On the plus side, the Sherman was fast and reliable, and once up gunned it did a little better against the German tanks. The German Panther was an excellent tank, but it too had problems stemming mostly from design flaws that were caused by Nazi infighting during the production process.

[291]    In later years, Montgomery said the invasion of Italy was planned in the men’s room at Allied HQ. The results certainly make it look like the plan was drawn up in the men’s room.

[292]    The landings in Sicily were about as large in terms of men committed to the initial assault; but at D-Day, the follow-on forces were much larger and the stakes far higher.

[293]    Large British raid of 18 to 19 August, 1942 on the German-held French coast at the town of Dieppe involving some five thousand Canadian troops. The raid was a colossal failure resulting in the loss of two-thirds of the invasion force.

[294]    In one location, the Americans found a buried chest full of Japanese code books enabling US code breakers to read Japanese transmissions more extensively, thus giving US commanders better intelligence on Japan’s actions.

[295]    General McKinney is largely unknown because he served under MacArthur, who was a fanatic about keeping his name ALONE in the news. It was “MacArthur’s air force sinks convoy.” McKinney was never mentioned. Most military men didn’t care. They were fighting to win the war, not gain accolades from the press

[296]    The Higgins boat was a landing craft with a flat bottom, a shallow draft, and a bow ramp that dropped to let the troops rush ashore, but it needed four feet of water to float and the reef was three feet below the surface on invasion day.

[297]    The admiral led at Pearl Harbor and Midway, but had been demoted after Midway. He died on Saipan.

[298]    Lost in the sense they could not achieve their war aims; however, they might prevent an invasion of their homeland. Thus, they would lose the war but “save” Japan, if not successfully invaded.

[299]    Kurita HAD to know the plan was to draw the US fleet away from where he was, so why was he surprised to be told the US fleet was elsewhere? It was supposed to be elsewhere. Even if it was not, his mission was to destroy the supplies, not to attack carriers.

[300]    US submarines had seen and reported the Japanese ships.

[301]    Some, like the California, had been raised from the mud of Pearl Harbor to rejoin the fleet.

[302]    Defeat Germany first then Japan, defeat submarines first then the Luftwaffe second, keep China and USSR in the war, take North Africa, invade Europe in 1944, put massive emphasis on technology, keep full war production from the outset of the war, listen to the generals not the politicians about how to wage the war, etc.

[303]    Memoirs, by Carl Doenitz, Da Capo Press, 1997.

[304]    Insightfully, this was exactly what Stalin had planned when France, England, and Germany went to war. Stalin was going to wait until the Western powers were exhausted in a World War I kind of confrontation, and then he would invade from the east and conquer all. But France buckled, and everything changed.

[305]    Several ships and men were lost to a surprise German e-boat attack while they were practicing for the invasion. The loss of several LST’s worried the generals as they were low on landing ships.

[306]    See: Cross Channel Attack, by Gordon Harrision for detailed review. This is the best book on the D-Day invasion. Lots of maps and detailed background information—it’s all there.

[307]    In making a WWII movie in England, a film company had to apply for a permit to tow the authentically constructed gliders behind aircraft. The permit was denied because the gliders were deemed not airworthy. Wonder if the guys knew that in 1944?

[308]    Note how difficult this invasion was and compare it to Germany’s ability to cross the English Channel in 1940. The Allies had ten times the power of the Wehrmacht in 1944, and it would still be hard to accomplish. How could the German’s have pulled it off in 1940 against a nation with a strong navy on top of everything else?

[309]    War gaming and the actual events show Rommel was correct about Allied airpower.

[310]    Except for the wading tanks that had to get ashore on their own. Launched from LSTs, high seas sunk nearly all these specialized tanks, and many crews were lost.

[311]    Goodwood and Charnwood were the largest of these attacks and were complete Allied defeats. Charnwood did manage to take a portion of Caen; but as long as the Germans held the high ground above Caen, the town itself was nearly meaningless. See: Decision in Normandy, by Carlo D’Este, for a detailed look at the planning and fighting for Normandy.

[312]    The British were on the left flank of the Allied advance across France where the port cities such as Dunkirk were located, but Montgomery failed to order their seizure thereby exacerbating the Allied supply problems.

[313]    Patton had argued he should get the supplies on his claim that he could reach Berlin if he got them. Typical of Patton; however, he may have had a better chance than Montgomery, given the speed with which he did cross the Rhine; and German forces to his front were not as accomplished as those Montgomery found on the way to Arnhem.

[314]    German tanks in 1944 were MUCH larger than the German tanks of 1940 which had traversed this forest to attack France.

[315]    I say this a lot, but good plans, without false assumptions attached, and good preparations are critical to achieving victory.

[316]    It was even hard to locate a city, much less a few factory buildings.

[317]    The reader may want to compare this logic to (1) The English blockade of Germany in WWI, the German U-boat campaigns in WWI and WWII, and the terrorist’s attacks of the late twentieth century.

[318]    The P-51 was a long-range fighter that could escort the bombers to the targets and back. Even targets deep in Germany could be reached by the P-51. In addition, even though it had tremendous long-range capability; it was also a superb combat aircraft.

[319]    I can hear you now . . .”What about Vietnam?” . . . well, what about it? The United States won virtually EVERY battle. Even after US forces were all but withdrawn, a major communist invasion from Cambodia employing many heavy tanks was turned back by a few US helicopters and the South Vietnamese Army. Also, the fall of Saigon may be traceable to the withdrawal of US air power.

[320]    Germany could have used a long-range bomber, especially for supply interdiction and reconnaissance.

[321]    Command of the Air (1921) by Giulio Douhet

[322]    See: p152 et seq, Panzer Battles, von Mellenthin, 1956, Konecky & Konecky

[323]    This massive attack began on June 22, 1944, which was sixteen days after the Allies landed at Normandy. The pressure on the Wehrmacht was increasing beyond all imagination.

[324]    Soviet losses were underreported throughout the war. Even after the war, the true number of Soviet losses in men and equipment remained unknown. Most think it was double or triple what was reported after the war (triple is probably more accurate). It may be that Stalin simply did not have the resources to keep track; however, given Stalin’s attitude toward people, it is likely he did not care.

[325]    Apparently, this was some kind of pseudo-Viking funeral for the Fuehrer and his bride.

[326]    Another outstanding general a few know about. He brilliantly reversed English misfortunes in the Southeast Asian Theater and completely defeated the Japanese.

[327]    6,821 Marines dead, 494 missing (7,315 total), 20,703 Japanese dead.

[328]    Japan was saved from a Mongol invasion when a great storm blew up and sunk the Mongol fleet. The Japanese named the storm the Divine Wind because it had saved Japan from invasion. They now hoped the new mechanized Divine Wind would do the same.

[329]    Nazi Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.

[330]    Casualty ratios on Okinawa were about ninety to sixty or three to two; thus, for every two American casualties, there were three Japanese, NOT counting civilians. If civilians are included it is 4 to 1. An assault on mainland Japan, using the same ratios and assuming 3 million Japanese casualties, there would be 2 million American casualties (or 2 million Americans to 8 million Japanese if civilians are included). It is thought that 3 million Japanese casualties is a very low figure. In other Pacific island battles the US was killing its enemy at a 12 to 1 ratio in most battles. At Tarawa it was 1:5, and the ratio became more favorable for the US until the Japanese changed tactics in the Palau islands. (12,500 US soldiers dead, 40,000 US soldiers wounded, 5,000 US Navy dead = 57,000 rounded to 60,000; 66,000 Japanese dead, 17,000 wounded, 2,000 Kamikaze dead = 85,000 rounded to 90,000; thus a 2:3 casualty ratio.)

[331]    This is another battle I have war gamed. I landed where the Americans would have; and after a month of heavy fighting, I decided to abandon the invasion because of dramatically high losses of troops and ships. My biggest victory was just managing to evacuate my troops without further losses.

[332]    Other calculations say 7 million Japanese would have died for 500,000Americans, but I don’t know how they did the calculations. Note these totals are for deaths only, not casualties. The 2 million Japanese deaths were calculated by the American military prior to the planned invasion.

[333]    Einstein emigrated from Germany to the United States of America before the war started. He was warned by physicist friends still in the Reich that Germany had started making heavy water, and Einstein then knew Germany was trying to manufacture an atomic bomb.

[334]    See The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill,1949, various publishers.

[335]    Older computers operated off magnetic tape systems. The large rolls of magnetic tape, such as seen on reel-to-reel tape recorders, held the data and the instructions for operating the computer. No floppy disks or CDs in 1955.

[336]    Remember, England and America believed the Germans had started World War I and World War II.

[337]    Given the size and combat power of the USSR, the only way to stop a Soviet advance was the atomic bomb.

[338]    Eisenhower was extremely worried about the last flight and reluctantly gave the OK after CIA assurances it was still relatively safe. The aircraft suffered an engine flame out causing Powers to descend to try a re-start, and the Soviets were able to reach him before he could adjust back to his safe altitude.

[339]    The blockade did not get rid of the missiles that were already there, but at least he was “doing something.” Americans like action. Sitting doesn’t please Americans when problems arise.

[340]    Some interesting side notes: the day Kennedy was shot an investigator was briefing powerful republican lawmakers on financial misdeeds of Vice President Johnson, and a Mr. Baker, previously associated with Johnson’s political team, was running a prostitution ring that included call girls that had “visited” President Kennedy, Vice-President Johnson, and many top democrat leaders in Washington DC. After Johnson became president, he killed the investigation through the committee the investigators were reporting to. On a straight party line vote the democrat lawmakers on the committee voted to stop the investigation—and they had the votes to make it stick. It is now clear that President Kennedy had been seeing prostitutes while he was president, and one of them was an east German spy. Also, Kennedy had let it be known that Johnson would not be on the ticket as vice-president in 1964. It is not a secret that Johnson despised the Kennedy clan, especially Robert Kennedy the attorney general. Johnson had been the most powerful man in Washington, and was still a tremendous force in Texas his home state. Many conspiracy buffs think it is compelling evidence that Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, where Johnson was all but a king. Many of the conspiracy theories trace the murder back to Johnson, whose hatred for the Kennedy brothers was fierce, who did not want to be forced out of the government, who did not want to be exposed as a criminal or a user of call girls, and had powerful friends in Texas who wanted more business directed to the Lone Star State.

[341]    In my opinion, he will end up as the worst US president in the 20th Century and perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States, at least up to 2010.

[342]    This was another assassination with a lot of holes in the investigation. Once more, critical evidence was destroyed or lost by the LA Police Department (door jams and ceiling tiles) which may have shown there was a seconded shooter involved with the murder.

[343]    The term “invasion” is accurate. South Vietnam fell to a full-scale Korean-style invasion from North Vietnam. The communists had numerous tanks, large numbers of men, supporting artillery, and all the rest. Saigon’s fall was not the result of a guerrilla action.

[344]    He is the only president to hold office never being elected as president or vice president.

[345]    Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This was (and is) a cartel controlling world oil supplies.

[346]    The dictators of communist Russia (the USSR) and communist China (People’s Republic of China) respectively.

[347]    In 1950, both North and South Vietnam were controlled by the French as one colony.

[348]    The Secretary of State, in a speech about US interests in the east, omitted mentioning South Korea. This may have led the communist dictators to conclude that South Korea was not a vital interest of the USA; thus, the US would not defend the little nation if it was invaded.

[349]    The terrorist attacks of 9/11/01 were another elephantine intelligence failure for the United States. No change from 1950 to 2001.

[350]    The United Nations would fail to act when North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam in 1975. It would act to repel the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990.

[351]    I have always wondered why the air theorists thought bombing would work against a totalitarian government where the will of the people means nothing.

[352]    Communist spies working on the docks in San Francisco and Japan had warned that something was up, but the North didn’t listen.

[353]    Here is the rub of not fully discussing MacArthur’s plan. The move north should have been considered then, not later after the landings and the move north had started.

[354]    Satellite surveillance was not available in the 1950s.

[355]    Seoul would change hands four times and be reduced to ruin by the time of the cease-fire in July of 1953.

[356]    The Chinese and North Koreans did not use the AK-47 in Korea; they used the PPSh-41. This was a submachine gun with a 71-round drum magazine that fired a pistol round. It was very effective in spraying bullets all over the landscape, especially at night when they could get in close.

[357]    For all my complaining about MacArthur, he was skillful in his management of Japan after World War II.

[358]    Which US intelligence did not know about (wow, that’s news). The MIGs were a complete surprise.

[359]    It should be noted this is the WWII kind of set-piece battlefield, not the “modern” battlefield of indiscriminate murder by people with bombs strapped to themselves firing them off in a crowded marketplace.

[360]    As a side note, the US Marine 1st Division was in the line, yet no major communist assault was mounted against it. For the rest of the war, the communists would not frontally assault a US Marine position. When reviewing maps of this communist assault, look at the center of the UN line and look for the abbreviation 1st MarDiv (First Marine Division), and you will see the arrows of the communist advance hitting units on both sides of the division, but no attack on the position of the 1MarDiv.

[361]    In my opinion, the Chinese communists lost almost 1 million men in its attempts to push the United Nations off the Korean peninsula. Since WWII, most wars are categorized as “small” because by comparison they are small.

[362]    Note the Soviets did not use nuclear weapons in Afghanistan. Were they somehow constrained by Truman’s decision?

[363]    Technically, a cease fire just means the shooting has stopped for a time. N Korea repudiated the cease fire in June of 2009, but what this means is uncertain. N Korea has been developing nuclear arms. Pressure from the US to cease nuclear arms production has caused N Korea to lash back, and the repudiation of this agreement is part of the blowback.

[364]    This Kind of War: the Classic Korean War History—Fiftieth Anniversary Edition by T.R. Fehrenbach

[365]    The French have a way of dealing with others that seems to make everyone feel inferior, and this did not go over well after the Japanese had departed. The Japanese were far worse, but that did not mean the French were viewed as good.

[366]    Stalin died in 1953.

[367]    Many of them still maintain these were civil wars.

[368]    By miserly, I do not mean insubstantial. I simply mean not enough was given in military aid and support troops. US airpower alone may have given Chang enough of an edge to survive.

[369]    A set piece battle is a conventional battle. Two armies clash with lines of men, flanks, artillery and the rest. Guerrilla warfare entails avoiding set piece battles until the guerrilla units are strong enough for a set piece fight. The goal of turning to set piece battles is to finally destroy the government’s army and take over.

[370]    Street Without Joy, Bernard B. Fall.

[371]    The United States believed the days of colonialism were over—and how right Washington was; however, the politicians did not see the end results of this quick collapse which brought turmoil and death on a grand scale as small nations went to war with one another over the unrealistic boundary lines drawn by the colonial empires.

[372]    For example, T. Roosevelt had interfered in other government’s internal affairs to get the Panama Canal constructed.

[373]    Vietnam, Kosovo, Iraq, and others.

[374]    Johnson defeated Senator Goldwater by claiming Goldwater was a warmonger and implying he (Johnson) was a man of peace. It was Johnson that committed hundreds of thousands of US troops to Vietnam. Shows how much a person can trust the claims of a politician. LBJ also overcame Goldwater’s charges of corruption, mainly because the press ignored them.

[375]    Documents show that no attack took place on the night in question; but Johnson said otherwise, no doubt knowing the truth. Johnson was very used to lying to the public for his own gain. See: Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2) by Robert A. Caro, 1991, Vintage Press.

[376]    The United States would face the same problem in the War in Iraq under President George W. Bush (Bush number 2).

[377]    UH stood for Utility Helicopter. The troops nicknamed it the Huey. It was the “jeep” of modern warfare.

[378]    The neighboring nations to both Vietnams and controlled by the Communist along the area of the trail.

[379]    Giap was the overall communist military commander for North Vietnam.

[380]    It should be well noted that other nations were in Vietnam. Australia, for example, perceived it was in their national interest to keep communism as far away from them as possible and so assisted in the war.

[381]    By 1972, only sixty-nine thousand US Troops were in Vietnam. South Vietnam held out longer than normally remembered.

[382]    The former secretary of defense who figured largely in starting and managing the war in Vietnam under Kennedy and Johnson. McNamara was one of the reasons the war was fought so poorly.

[383]    Proof that Clausewitz was right when he said war was political (a continuation of policy by other means).

[384]    Kennedy and Nixon bookended another US endeavor, the race to the moon. Kennedy announced it was Americans’ goal to reach the moon by the end of the decade. When the landing was made, Nixon was president.

[385]    An estimated 1.7 million people were killed by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge. The estimate is probably low.

[386]    For an excellent Post-modern view of history read The Times History of the World, by Richard Overy, 2008, Times Books. Especially interesting are pages xviii and xix where historical theory is discussed from the Greeks to the Post-modern era. Overy does not say his view is Post-modern; however, when he says there are no true turning points in history, and progress is a false concept, he is adopting the Post-modern view of no mega-narratives, or no overarching patterns.

[387]    The branch of philosophy studying the nature of knowledge and in particular its foundations, scope, and validity.

[388]    Note that rationalism sounds a lot like Descartes, and empiricism sounds a lot like objectivism.

[389]    Notice the West had not adopted eastern ideas of totalitarian governments and individual subservience to the state. If we do not adopt their ideas, why do we believe they will adopt ours?

[390]    Isa 65:20. When it speaks of easily living past 100, the era spoken of is thought to be in the millennium, after the return of Christ.

[391]    I say “seems” because most of this is contained in the book of Revelations, and this last book of the Bible is exceedingly hard to decipher.