German History – Page 15 – General History

The Fall of France: “for you, the war (of 42 days) is over!”

France´s surrender / learning.blogs.nytimes.com

For many, if not all, of our seasoned history-lovers, the fact that the Second World War might have been over by the middle of 1940 is unknown. But for the dogged determination of certain European nations, Hitler’s Germany could have been the military victor of the War, not just, as has indeed happened, the political and economic leader it has become. The United States need never have entered the War at the end of 1941. Russia could have stayed Russia instead of being under the Soviet yoke until the fall of the Berlin Wall. German could have been the obligatory second language in all European schools. Berlin might have been the capital of a different kind of European Union. To find the reasons why this did not happen we must look at France. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-30T08:45:58+00:00 July 30th, 2012|English History, French History, German History, History of the Cinema, US History, World History|0 Comments

More about Finland

In our last post (No. 300) we took a brief look at the Finnish-Russian War of 1939/40. This war was incalculably important in the history of the twentieth century, but few historians have applied themselves to it. Here we take a broader look at Finland itself. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-29T08:59:23+00:00 July 29th, 2012|EU History, German History, History of Finland, Russian history, World History|0 Comments

The Finnish-Russian War: David & Goliath?

/ english.ruvr.ru

Not really, because this war was not won by ‘David’. Otherwise, the similarities are notable. In November, 1939, only a couple of months after the beginning of World War II, Soviet Russia decided that her frontiers should be moved back on the Karelian Isthmus, in order to make Leningrad more secure. The Soviets also wanted a long-term lease on the important port of Hanko, commanding an entrance to the Gulf of Finland, as well as territory in the north (near Petsamo) to protect the sea-route to Murmansk. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-27T17:06:36+00:00 July 27th, 2012|German History, History of Finland, Russian history, Spanish History, World History|2 Comments

Hiroshima and later

Hiroshima after the atmoic bomb / taringa.net

Hiroshima after the atomic bomb / taringa.net

Hiroshima had a population of roughly 300,000 in 1945. It was a military base, port, and popular seaside resort in the western part of Honshu Island, Japan. The Potsdam Declaration on 26 July was the last of the conferences attended by the leaders of Russia, The United States, and Great Britain – those countries whose empires were considered to have been the victors at the end of the Second World War. Previous conferences, at Yalta and Casablanca had been attended by Winston Churchill (Britain) and Roosevelt (USA), but the latter was dead, and Churchill had been defeated in a General Election. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-24T10:46:11+00:00 July 24th, 2012|French History, German History, Philosophy, Russian history, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

What is Isolationism?

Well, very soon we will know what it is. And I might add it is a great pity there is not more of it around. Loss of it caused the Korean and Vietnam wars; too much of the opposite caused Britain, France and Israel the opportunity to deal practically with the Middle Eastern Question. Far too much of the lack of it allowed the United States to enter, and encourage others to enter, an unwinnable war in Afghanistan. But these are merely examples. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-21T11:09:47+00:00 July 21st, 2012|English History, French History, German History, History of Korea, Italian History, Jewish History, Philosophy, South American History, Spanish History, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

Ernst Rohm & the Night of the Long Knives: the end of the SA

Rohm, once a great friend of Hitler’s / lasegundaguerra.com

Rohm was born in 1887. By twenty-six he was an Army captain, thrice wounded in the First World War. His views on the old bougeoisie of the Weimar Republic were well known. He detested them. But he disliked Communism too, and fought in the Free Corps to squash the communist government of Bavaria in 1919 when he was thirty-two. It was at that time that he formed a special political intelligence unit which would later become known as the SA (Sturm Abteilung, formed 1921). (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-18T10:23:19+00:00 July 18th, 2012|German History, World History|0 Comments

The Gestapo: a brief history

A family group photograph / elnacionalista.mforos.org

With movies made about the Second World War as popular as ever, the name ‘Gestapo’ is familiar to almost everyone. Exactly what it was and its functions are not necessarily made clear in every movie however.

The official name of the Nazis’ secret police was the Geheime Staatspolizei. Its origin was the Prussian plain-clothed political police, much feared in Prussia, but not as feared as it became when re-organised by, of all people, the pompous, loud-mouthed Hermann Goering. Cinema- goers have become too accustomed to associating evil, mean-looking personalities like Himmler with the foundation of the Gestapo, but in reality it was started as a purely Prussian arm of the secret service, probably by Bismarck. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-16T09:57:33+00:00 July 16th, 2012|English History, German History, History of Czechoslovakia, World History|0 Comments

Georges Boulanger (1837 – 91)

Georges Boulanger / en.wikipedia.org

If Georges had been, as his surname suggests, a pastrycook by profession instead of a wholly political general, his patisserie would have been the pride of Paris. Indeed, there might have been Boulangeries Boulanger in every provincial town in Victorian France, packed with customers.

Georges was born at Rennes in Brittany, went to school there, and got into the Army. He served notably in both Algeria and Italy, and fought in the Franco-Prussian War (q.v.) in which he became a Brigadier at only forty-three. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-11T12:15:59+00:00 July 11th, 2012|French History, German History, World History|0 Comments

The Franco-Prussian War (1870/71)

Artist’s impression of a battle in the Franco-Prussian War / en.wikipedia.org

These modern days of a loving relationship between Germany and France force a wry smile. First we watched with a certain quantity of concealed amusement as Frau Merkel exchanged kisses with the slightly smaller M. Sarkozy; now that the French have replaced the Monsieur with the socialist cipher M. Hollande, the Merkel smile is falsified a little more, as she shoves François in the right direction at one of those ‘G’ Meetings our leaders like so much. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-09T12:08:07+00:00 July 9th, 2012|French History, German History, Spanish History|0 Comments

The Vichy Government (Vichy France)

The irony of a Vichy gendarme saluting a Nazi official before the Arc de Triomphe / es-wikipedia-org

Three-fifths of France fell to Nazi Germany soon after World War II was declared, though the French army and navy were larger than those of the aggressive Germans. The government moved to a spa town in unoccupied France called Vichy, and on the 10 July, 1940 the National Assembly authorized (by a vote of 569 to 80) the assumption of full powers by the elected Prime Minister, a hero of the First War called Marshal Pétain, pending promulgation of a new constitution. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-07-06T10:02:48+00:00 July 6th, 2012|Austrian history, French History, German History, Jewish History, US History, World History|2 Comments