END OF EMPIRE

The Second World War left Europe war-ravaged and economically inept. Many eastern colonies had been occupied by Japan and problems arose when the Europeans attempted to claim them back, causing a surge of nationalism leading to independence, and then civil war as factions fought for supremacy.

THE FRENCH EXPERIENCE

Nationalism had surfaced before the war in French Indo China, with Ho Chi Minh forming the Viet Minh. With the Japanese surrender, he declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in September 1945.
Soon the French returned, occupying the towns below the 16th parallel, but the Viet Minh controlled the countryside. In 1954 the French decided to break them by landing thousands of paratroops behind their lines, smashing them.
From January to May some 20,000 paratroops fought at Dien Bien Phu against waves of attacks. The French were annihilated, withdrawing from the country, Ho Chi Minh taking control north of the 17th parallel.
Algeria caused France similar problems, its new Republic deciding that Algeria would become an integral Department of France. Nationalist demonstrations arose, violently suppressed by the French.
However, by 1954 a socialist movement, Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), began attacking French positions in Algeria, troops so fed up they nearly caused a coup in France in 1958. By 1962 Charles de Gaulle became president and recognised Algerian sovereignty.

FALL OF AN EMPIRE

The French had attempted to hold on to their empire. Thus they had trouble. The British realised the futility of the attempt, more concerned with transition to peaceful independence; a policy that led to the continued existence of the British Commonwealth of ex-colonies.
Malaya and Kenya were relative successes. In Kenya the nationalist African Union under Jomo Kenyatta formed in 1947 aimed at peaceful transition, but the Kikuyu tribe formed the secret Mau Mau to cause violent insurrection.
The British response was to form a large colonial police force, which brought activity to an end by 1956, a peaceful transition to government occurring in 1963.
In Malaya, a communist insurrection lasting until 1960 was met with HAM, or ‘hearts and minds’, with small British units fighting when required, but also befriending the villagers, taking away their support for the communists. Malaya also had a peaceful transition to independence in 1963.

END OF THE RAJ

India was more difficult. Nationalist stirrings began in 1885 with the Hindu Indian National Congress, and by 1942 it was realised independence was inevitable. Never a united country, it was plagued with religious animosity between Hindu and Muslim, represented by Jinnah’s Muslim League.
Gandhi did much to stem violence and work for independence with his peaceful civil disobedience, but the answer was partition. In August 1947 Pakistan was created for the Muslims, with India gaining independence led by Nehru.
A mass migration began as Hindu and Muslim found themselves on the wrong side; a bloodbath that led to a million casualties. Kashmir was never adequately sorted out, leading to a legacy of war.
This began in 1965, the problem more dire today, with both India and Pakistan producing nuclear weapons. Pakistan itself had further difficulties, power fluctuating between corrupt democracy and military dictatorship. Today, Pakistan stands on the verge of Islamic resurgence.

THE THIRD WORLD

With the decline of empire, the Third World came into being, particularly in Africa, hindered by European-made boundaries locking incompatible tribes into the same country.
The result has been incompetent government leading to famine and war, as in Ethiopia and Angola, and still on-going in Congo/Zaire. UN attempts to sort the problem out have proved inefficient, with the debacle in crime-infested Somalia and failure to stop the Rwandan massacre.

THE SUEZ CRISIS

Apart from the successful Falklands War of 1982, when a British Task Force reversed an Argentine invasion, British and French world power came to an end in the 1956 Suez Crisis, when Nasser of Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal, forcing an Anglo-French force to re-take it.
US/UN opposition led to a humiliating withdrawal, European powers no longer having the voice to affect world affairs. Africa, in particular, continues to have severe problems, but even here success can be achieved.

SOUTH AFRICA

Following the war a white nationalist government came to power in South Africa, establishing an Afrikaner Republic. A policy of apartheid followed, with complete separation between the black majority and white minority.
Insurrection, despotism and global sanctions followed, resulting in the release of black activist Nelson Mandela from years of incarceration in 1990. Forgiving his captors, his African National Congress was elected to power. South Africa still has problems, but they are black problems as opposed to rule by whites.

© Anthony North, January 2008

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WORLD WAR TWO

Before the war came the Depression. Born in Austria in 1889, Adolf Hitler was to take advantage of the Depression that hit Germany in 1930. Blaming the government – the heavily Jewish Weimar Republic – for the disaster, his National Socialist German Worker’s Party, or Nazis, won a majority in the Reichstag, Hitler being made Chancellor in 1933.
Killing all opponents and opening concentration camps for ‘undesirables,’ he took the title, Fuhrer, and inaugurated the Third Reich.

OPENING SHOTS

Re-occupying the de-militarised Rhineland, in 1937 he moved into Austria and the Sudetanland of Czechoslovakia. Appeased by Chamberlain in September 1938 with the Munich Pact, August 1939 also saw Hitler sign a non-aggression pact with Stalin. Finally, on 1 September 1939, he invaded Poland, beginning the Second World War.
With British troops sent to France, nothing much happened, the period called the ‘phoney war,’ but with Germany’s invasion of Denmark and Norway in April 1940 things hotted up. With Chamberlain standing down in favour of Winston Churchill, May 1940 saw the German Blitzkrieg on Belgium to outflank the French Majinot Line. With forces led by von Runstedt, the German assault was unstoppable, Belgium capitulating and leaving a British army to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk.

WARFARE ALL OVER THE WORLD

Britain was left to face the Germans alone, fighting the Battle of Britain in the skies from July to September 1940, thwarting a German invasion. Unable to beat the RAF, Germany turned to a war of attrition, bombing British cities, whilst U-boats attempted to starve Britain by blockading the Atlantic, attacking merchant shipping. Meanwhile, Italy joined the war, attacking Egypt, and in June 1941 Hitler began Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
An invasion involving hundreds of Divisions on both sides, by November Leningrad was encircled and the Germans were in reach of Moscow. However, the operation stalled as the big freeze came. Meanwhile, German forces under Rommel had joined the Italians and drove British forces into Egypt following battle at Tobruk.

THE TABLES TURN

But the Germans had reached as far as they were going. Under Zhukov, Soviet forces turned the siege of Leningrad and in October 1942 Montgomery beat the Germans at El Alemain. By August 1944 Germans were expelled from Soviet soil and by May 1945 the Russians began the siege of Berlin. Similarly, forces under Eisenhower landed at Casablanca in November 1942, linked with the British in April 1943, invaded Sicily in July and liberated Rome by June 1944.
With America joining the war in December 1941, in western Europe the main war effort came with massive bombing raids and aiding the French Resistance, but on 6 June 1944, ‘D’ Day brought an allied landing on the Normandy beaches, with a million troops landed by July.
With British forces taking on resistance in Normandy itself, Americans under Patton swept south, turned, and raced on. By August, Paris was liberated, with Montgomery advancing through Holland and Belgium. A German counter offensive through the Ardennes in December was stalled, and in January 1945 the Rhine was crossed at Ramagen and the Ruhr encircled. In May 1945, Germany surrendered.

THE FAR EAST AND PACIFIC

The Second World War was also fought in the Far East. In the early 20th century Japan faced over-population, complicated further when America forbade Asian immigration in 1924. With Hirohito becoming emperor in 1926, the country turned militaristic and adopted fascism, invading Manchuria in 1931. By 1940 Japan had an ambitious expansionist policy, but were held back by US dominance of the Pacific.
Hence, on 7 December 1941 they launched a surprise attack by carrier-borne forces on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Temporarily crippling the US fleet, they occupied Hong Kong, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, parts of New Guniea and headed into Burma, threatening both India and Australia.
Under Nimitz and MacArthur, the US combined air, sea and marine forces for a relentless drive against the Japanese, with victories at Coral Sea (1942), Midway Island (June) and Guadalcanal (August). Reconquest of the Philippines followed, a crushing defeat suffered by the Japanese at Leyte Gulf in October 1944, allowing island hopping operations, taking the war to Japan itself.
Meanwhile, the British re-occupied Burma by May 1945. On 26 July, the Potsdam Proclamation was made, threatening Japan with total destruction as the Manhattan Project was successful in making an atom bomb. With no response, on 6 August 1945 an atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a second dropped 3 days later on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered, bringing the Second World War to an end.

UNITED NATIONS

Following the Second World War moves were made to stop conflict arising again. The San Francisco Conference of 1945 produced the UN Charter, furthering the League of Nations into the United Nations, with its HQ in New York.
The organisation is headed by a Secretary General and includes the International Court of Justice and the UN Assembly. Its main role is the maintenance of international peace and security, and to this end the Security Council sits with 5 permanent members – USA, Britain, France, Russia and China – and 10 other members on 2 year rotation. Issuing Resolutions to validate military and peace keeping operations, member states provide troops who operate around the world.
Other agencies have developed, including the World Health Organisation (WH0) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), co-ordinating relief from disaster and poverty in the Third World.
However a new global system began to form following the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, setting up several organisations and agreements. These include the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, set up in 1948 to reduce trade barriers; the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, set up in 1947 to promote international monetary cooperation; and the World Bank, set up in 1945 to borrow from commercial markets and lend to member states.
These organisations are geared towards furthering a world economy, thus laying the roots of modern global capitalism.

(c) Anthony North, January 2008

Elements of this post have been extracted from Second World War - see History page – which has a deeper analysis of why the war happened.

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

On 4 July 1776 the American Continental Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, and war with Britain resulted in the United States of America.
Canada remained in British hands, with much of western and southern America remaining Spanish. 1789 brought in a new style of government with George Washington as the first President.

THE CONSTITUTION

Based on the written United States Constitution and subsequent Bill of Rights containing the first 10 amendments, this new government was revolutionary in itself, based on the initial philosophy of John Locke.
Guaranteeing total separation between the executive, judiciary and legislature, it confirmed at the centre of its being the freedom of speech, religion and assembly as well as the right of all to be tried by their peers and to petition the government.
Federal in nature, at all levels of administration, elections were to take place, the system hoping to be the ultimate form of democracy.

EXPANSION

Deteriorating relations with Britain led to further war in 1812, and following this, the US began an expansionist policy, moving out from the initial colonies. Spain ceded Florida in 1819, Louisiana being purchased from France 16 years earlier.
From this point onwards the colonisation of the ‘wild west’ began. 1845 saw the US annex Texas from Mexico, leading to war. The state had been an independent republic sine 1836, the time of the Alamo.
American victory led to the acquisition of California. Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado followed. Future years were to see the gold rush to the Rocky Mountains and the subjugation of the Native American tribes.

SLAVERY AND ECONOMY

Much of US wealth came from the plantations of the south, worked by slaves, but the slavery question arose in the early 19th century with the move to bring Missouri into the Union.
The North wanted to prevent admission to states who dealt in the slave trade. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 allowed this state to join, but slavery was banned above the 36th parallel.
The issue resurfaced in 1860 when South Carolina held a convention in which they declared their intention to leave the Union. The example was followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
In 1861 Abraham Lincoln became President and asserted that no state could leave the Union. By this time the states had rebelled and the American Civil War became inevitable, following the declaration of the Confederate States of America on 8 February 1861.

CIVIL WAR

Fighting began at Fort Sumter on 12 April, followed by the rebellion of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. The North attempted an invasion of Virginia but were repelled by the South at Bull Run in July.
Although massive volunteer armies had formed, they were a rabble, not getting it together until the following year, the first war of attrition being the outcome when the North began to starve the South by naval blockade whilst taking the major river routes.
Lee turned back two invasion attempts in 1862, carrying the war into the North, finally stopped at Antietam, Maryland, in September.
A further crushing defeat of the Southern forces in July 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, led to Northern control of the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers, allowing invasion of the lower South.
In 1864 Grant invaded Virginia whilst Sherman marched through Georgia and South Carolina, the South defeated by the Spring of 1865.

A RISING ECONOMY

The American Civil War led to unification and social advantages vital to the future of the nation. Although cultural differences continued to stew under the surface, economic growth could now begin.
The west was opened up, the Native Americans were totally subdued and the pioneers gave way to farmers. Urban growth advanced, fuelled by immigration from Europe, and the US industrial revolution ensued.
By 1890 they had the largest railway network in the world and the period 1877-92 saw production tripled, the US rising as the largest world economy following the First World War. Then tragedy struck.

DEPRESSION

The problems began following the First World War with non-European nations increasing their productive capacity. However, demand did not increase in kind. This led to a decrease in prices with a corresponding, drop in the level of earnings.
Home markets slumped and the new industries, such as the automobile factories, found themselves struggling. To ease the situation the Gold Exchange Standard replaced the pre-war fixed exchange rates, but to no effect.
In October 1929 the bubble burst. Stock prices slumped and Wall Street crashed. Billions were wiped off the economy, worldwide a quarter of the working population was unemployed and the Great Depression of 1929-39 hit. And in Germany, itself in economic crisis of Depression, a painter-cum-war veteran smiled. His chance had come.

© Anthony North, January 2008

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WAR AND PEACE

On 28 June 1914 a Serbian student named Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria at Sarajevo in Bosnia. It was the last straw for a Europe in political turmoil.
Feeling protective of the Balkans, on 30 July Russia mobilised against Austria. On 1 August Germany – ally to Austria – declared war on Russia and France 2 days later. And on 4 August the Great War was on as Germany invaded Belgium as a prelude to the invasion of France.

WORLD WAR ONE

Britain joined in on the same day, soon to be followed by Turkey on the other side. The First World War had several fronts. In the east, the Russian advance into East Prussia came to an end at the battle of Tannenburg, the Germans going on to threaten Russia, resulting in Russia leaving the war in December 1917.
The predominantly Australian Gallipoli Campaign beginning in 1915 against the Turks proved a disaster. The Mesopotamian Campaign failed to hold back the Turks in the Middle East, their only real problem being an Arab revolt, led by a junior British officer who became known as Lawrence of Arabia.
In the Atlantic, Germany took a great toll on British merchant shipping, and the Battle of Rutland of May 1916 ended indecisively, but proved Britain to no longer rule the waves. But the major war was fought on the Western Front.

THE WESTERN FRONT

When Germany attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914 the idea was to outflank the French and attack Paris. However, the British Expeditionary Force brought them to a halt at Marne. Joined by the French, a further assault was halted at the first Battle of Ypres, resulting in stalemate and the picture of the war to come with barbed wire, trenches, machine guns and mud.
The next four years would become a battle of attrition. The following year saw 3 major battles – Neuve-Chapelle, the second Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Loos – but the stalemate continued into the 1916 Battle at Verdun and the Somme, which saw over a million casualties.
By 1917 the Germans were pushed back to the Hindenburg Line, a series of prepared defensive positions. Soon the Americans were to enter the war and at the Third Battle of Ypres (Flanders), Passchendale was taken.
The spring of 1918 saw another German assault, brought to a halt at the Second Battle of Marne, the British commander, Haig, breaching the Hindenburg Line in September. Germany began talking of peace, hostilities ceasing on 11 November 1918. At the resulting Treaty of Versailles the Germans lost Alsace Lorraine and were made to pay a heavy financial price.

INDUSTRIALISATION

The First World War was fought chiefly because of the failure of bluff by leaders who wanted power, not realising the abomination they were about to unleash. Industry had produced the ability to make more and more weaponry, thus requiring a more bloody effort to beat an enemy, the war of attrition attempting to weaken the very industrial base.
And industrialisation was to have a greater political and social effect as the war ended, the middleclass already empowered, and the working classes about to seek their own emancipation. Indeed, the combinations unleashed by industrialisation were to make the Great War the first stage of a European civil war.

COMMUNISM

With industry highlighting the problem, and philosophy directing the mind, troubles in Russia had propelled the country to revolution before the war was over, instituting communism.
A socio-economic system, communism is designed to abolish private productive property, thereby preventing the individual from profiting by capitalist means, and eradicating the class system by doing away with oppressive class domination. With the classless society introduced, all become equal in economic terms, the wealth of society shared by all.
In theory communism is the perfect state, free from inequality and oppression. But of course, the Soviet Union HAD oppressive domination. Why is this? Because the leadership forgot the means by which Marx saw communism attained. Begun by violent revolution, he envisaged a dictatorship would rise. But after a time the dictatorship should disappear as equality emerged. This is the theory. In reality, when men get power, they will keep it.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

A revolution also needs a reason to fuel anger and frustration. Russia gave reasons in abundance. By the 19th century Alexander II reversed the westernising process begun by Peter the Great, returning Russia to the old ways in the ‘Great Reform’.
By the early 20th century, Nicholas II found himself at the helm of an old-style monarchial order. In January 1905 a protest was held in St Petersburg. Nicholas had soldiers turn their rifles on the crowd. It was remembered as Bloody Sunday.
Strikes and revolts broke out, aided by activist Leon Trotsky from the Social Democratic Party, and Lenin, a member of the Bolshevik faction.
By October Nicholas allowed the formation of a middleclass elected Duma, or Parliament, while the workers began organising regional Soviets, or worker’s councils.
An unsteady peace emerged, but by March 1917 war and hunger saw more disturbances in St Petersburg; the garrison mutinied and strikers stopped Nicholas from going to sort it out.
In April, Lenin arrived in St Petersburg, declaring revolution throughout Europe. Peasants seized the land and the Bolsheviks gained control of key Soviets. Then, on 7 November 1917 the Bolsheviks struck, arresting the government and taking power.
Nicholas had abdicated in March, and soon he and his family were to be killed.
The Bolsheviks took Russia out of the war and then fought a 3 three year civil war against White Russians loyal to the Czar.
In March 1921 Lenin announced his New Economic Plan for a communist industrial state, but with his death in 1924, Josef Stalin became leader. The newly created Soviet Union became a massive work camp, Stalin’s hold secured by his Great Purge of 1937, with thousands disappearing without trace.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The Great War left Europe broke, the Treaty of Versailles leaving Germany hurt and ridiculed. However, initially the world turned to peace, the Treaty setting up the League of Nations.
Rising to 60 members, the League was formed on l January 1920, fuelled by the fear of industrialisation again causing a war of attrition. Open to any self-governing state which honoured international obligations and the league’s ruling on military affairs, it did, however, prove impotent.

FASCISM

Industrialisation and war had taken its toll, particularly on Italy, with left-wing groups rising and about to take power. To counter them, 1919 saw the creation of the Fasci di Combattimenti under Benito Mussolini.
In October 1922 he marched on Rome in a great bluff, stopping the communists with a coup d’etat. Consolidating his position, he became dictator of Italy, invading Ethiopia in 1936 and Albania 3 years later.
This was the first major success of Fascism, the political fall-out of Hegel’s ‘divine’ state, demanding the individual be subjugated to the needs of the state defined by the general will of the people through an absolute leader.
Totalitarian in nature, fascism allowed private production but only under the overall control of the state, overall good of the state coming before individual liberty. Fascist movements became militaristic and nationalistic, often anti-Semitic, and arose in Portugul, Austria, the Balkans, France, South America and in Britain, characterised by the black shirt.

SPANISH CIVIL WAR

In most of these countries the movement was not large enough to do lasting harm, but Spain was a different matter. In 1923 a right wing coup had taken power. Corrupt, it fell in 1930, leaving Spain split between the Monarchists/Falangists on the right, and Republicans on the left.
In February 1936 a left wing Popular Front was elected, leading General Franco to attempt a right wing coup in July, Unsuccessful, Spain descended into civil war, the soul of Europe being fought out between the opposing systems of left and right.
The right won, the fascist Franco becoming dictator in 1939, the damage done to Spain guaranteeing their neutrality during the Second World War.
However, by this time another form of fascism had arisen in Germany. In the Nazi, Europe was to reel, their seizing of power aided by the economic climate of the 1930s – a climate to be found, as we shall see in the next post, in the history of the United States of America.

© Anthony North, January 2008

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EUROPEAN THINKERS

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As we saw in an earlier post, the Renaissance forged a new form of enquiry, slowly breaking the chains of Christian dogma. In 1492 Columbus’ need to know had led him to discover a New World of America.
This was not referred to in the Bible, suggesting that Christian doctrine could be incomplete in itself. Such doubt, led to humanism – a system of thought that dealt with human affairs in the real world. Leading humanist scholar Erasmus travelled Europe disseminating this new mood.

CHANGING CHRISTIANITY

As humanist philosophers rose throughout Europe, questions began to be asked about the Catholic Church. The only authority for so long, it was becoming increasingly clear that this had led to complacency and corruption.
The German reformer Martin Luther was aware of this and in 1517 instigated the Reformation, leading to the Protest-ant Church in northern Europe, where Christianity was to be found in the Bible rather than Catholic ritual.
Although Protestantism could be equally as dogmatic, forming into many Puritan movements, this new religious view did offer a new outlook to learning, seeing new knowledge as enhancing rather than threatening.

THE UNIVERSE

In the 15th century the scholar Copernicus had investigated problems in the calendar and come to the conclusion that Aristotle and the Bible were wrong in saying that the Earth was centre of the universe and unmoved. Rather, the centre was close to the sun, and the Earth revolved around it.
This blasphemy was ignored, but in 1632 Galileo proved the idea after turning his telescope to the heavens and noticing the movements of planets and moons that could only be explained by accepting a sun centred system.
Galileo lived and worked in the Catholic south and faced the Inquisition for his blasphemy, just escaping death. But his observations severely damaged the authority of the Bible.

WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

This image was exploited in the Protestant north. In 1637 the philosopher Rene Descartes published his ‘Discourse on Method’, becoming the father of modern western philosophy.
Although Descartes believed in God, he realised faith inhibited new knowledge. Hence, he separated spirit from body, the spiritual from the physical. In this way, faith remained important for spiritual salvation, but was removed from enquiry into the physical world.
Introducing his idea of Radical Doubt, he refused to believe anything unless it could be supported by incontrovertible proof. This was the beginning of the scientific method of inquiry, immortalised in his dictum: I think, therefore I am.

TWO FRIENDS

Descartes opened up the mind to new knowledge. And no one exploited this more than the 17th century English philosopher John Locke. Devising empiricism, he denied the existence of innate knowledge. To him we are born with a mentally clean state.
Knowledge comes from observation and reflection upon those observations alone.
Such views soon predominated and instigated the rise of science, immortalised by Locke’s friend, Sir Isaac Newton, who devised the theory of universal gravitation, as well as doing work in optics and calculus.
However, Locke was also a vital political philosopher, a great liberal who devised the separation of powers into legislative and executive, where those who make the law have no say over those who administer the law.
Laying the foundations of modern democracy, he emphasised the person’s right to life and property, and argued that government could only be instigated to better the lot of the individual. In an intellectual stroke, he banished the idea of monarchy.

ENLIGHTENMENT

This was the birth of the Enlightenment, with intellect directed to the scientific understanding of nature and improving the political lot of the individual. Locke’s political philosophy was crowned with the American Declaration of Independence.
However, as the Enlightenment’s greatest tool – reason – fragmented the world into separate specialisations for study, an intellectual cry of agony went out.

THE ROMANTICS

The cry was that of the Romantic. Beginning in the late 18th century, the Romantics are best known by the poetry of Byron and Shelley, but the movement was much deeper than artistic endeavour.
The Enlightenment had led directly to the Industrial Revolution, and all around them the Romantics saw the result as being counter to the aspirations of the ordinary man. Rather, it had become a method of exploitation of nature and the poor by the powerful.
In ‘Frankenstein’ Mary Shelley offered a metaphor of this new world – this new fragmented world ruled by science and incorrect reason.
Romantic philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau had developed direct democracy invested in the people echoing the cry of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. But it ended in blood and tears with the Terror of the French Revolution and ascendancy of the dictator, Napoleon.
The Romantics were anti-industrial, anti-science and anti-Enlightenment. They realized, intuitively, that reason alone is unsatisfactory. Reason cannot be separated from the emotions, leading them back to a new medievalism and fantasy, enshrined in the Gothic tradition that arose alongside the movement.

EVOLUTIONARY INFLUENCE

How true was this anti-Enlightenment stance? Surely the Enlightenment stood for everything that was good about humanity? Yes. But how easily reason can be stood on its head. In 1859 Charles Darwin virtually banished God with the publication of his ‘Origin of Species.’
Rather than being a Godly Creation, life was a process of evolution through natural selection, where fitness in a ruthless world was the main aspect of survival. ‘Survival of the fittest’ became the new social and political battlecry.
Such a cry gave licence to the capitalist to become the fittest in a ruthless world of business. Then, as revolts erupted throughout Europe, the cry formed the foundation of a new breed of radical political philosopher.

DIALECTICAL PHILOSOPHY

Typical was the German, Georg Hegel. Writing before ‘Origin,’ he devised the dialectical interpretation of history. The dialectic was devised by Plato as a form of enquiry. It begins with a statement which becomes a thesis. This is opposed by the antithesis, or opposite argument.
The two are debated to produce a synthesis of the two stances, which becomes the new thesis for the process to begin again. However, to Hegel history was subject to the same processes, with a civilization clashing with an opposing civilization to produce synthesis.
This view of history became the rockbed of the philosophy of Karl Marx, who saw a dialectical clash through history between classes as opposed to civilizations. Adding Darwinian survival to the concept, his philosophy led to violent overthrow of the existing order, first in Russia in 1917, and then on to many parts of the world. The outcome of pure reason was communism and a new collectivist but totalitarian regime.

THE NATION STATE

Hegel’s dialectical interpretation of history was not his only contribution to modern politics. The Napoleonic Wars led to a new conception of politics throughout Europe. During the wars the idea of modern political nationhood grew, and with an industrial base the concept of the Nation State came into being.
With the continuing decline of religion, a power vacuum existed in Europe, and this was filled with a specific ideology of the state, defined by Hegel.
Hegel saw the Nation State as an organism in its own right, endowed with reason which he saw as ‘spirit.’ Arguing that the state is Divine in its own right, it was the individual’s purpose to serve the state. Such an idea subtly transformed theology into a distinct national ideology.
However, once Darwinian survival infiltrated the concept, the whole idea was perverted into the supremacy of, not just the State, but the race endemic to the particular State. The ‘reason’ of the Enlightenment was thus transformed to Fascism, and the credibility of Enlightenment thinking died in the butchery of Auschwitz and the ruins of Hiroshima.

MIND LET LOOSE

The reasoning mind did, infact, intuit the coming storm. In 1900 Sigmund Freud published ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’, discovering the unconscious mind and the emotions and anxieties that dictated our actions.
His interpretation was pessimistic, our unconscious drives propelling us to near destruction. The European had arisen and displaced God from heaven. And in his His fall, the world was Hell.

© Anthony North, January 2008

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THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Following the Napoleonic Wars, with the exception of Germany the geography of Europe was redrawn to the modern political states of today. Nationalism rose with new middleclass parliaments beginning to adopt democracy and displacing popular religion, with monarchial rule taking second place.
Stirrings of a smaller scale continued in France. Several less harsh revolutions finally brought to an end monarchial rule there in 1848, re-imposed after Napoleon, leading to a new republic with a president as head of state. Indeed, 1848 saw a revolutionary spirit hit other European countries as the modern state was sculpted.

EASTERN EUROPE

As for the rest of Europe, 1827 saw Greece move to freedom from the Ottoman Empire, and 1830 saw the creation of the kingdom of Belgium. Hostilities broke out in 1853 when Russia attempted to lay claim to the guardianship of the Holy Places of the Turks.
The Crimean War ensued, with Britain, France and Turkey fielding against Russia, fearing Russian expansion in the Balkans following the withdrawal of the Ottomans.
The war hinged on the taking of Sevastapol in the Crimea. Following British victory at Balaclava the war formed into a winter siege. The Russians surrendered Sevastapol in 1856 but the cost was evidenced by the ‘lady of the lamp’, Florence Nightingale, who had been present and dedicated her life to changes in health care.

SOCIAL CHANGE

The 19th century was also a time of social change. Evidenced by our memories of Victorian Britain, with the coming of industrialisation the cities had advanced from cultural centres to huge urban connurbations.
Agricultural workers had flocked to them in search of work and were downtrodden. It was in this climate that Karl Marx was to inspire the proletariat. The year 1889 saw the first glimmer of power of the newly modelled trade unions, changing from organisations to protect crafts and skills to stand up for the rights of the workers.
There were coordinated strikes in the London docks and Ruhr coal mines. A realisation was growing that ‘laissez faire’ – the regulation of social standards by the free play of economic forces – would not work, and by the 1890s governments in general were beginning to look at the social questions, decreeing the final blow to feudalism.

THE RISE OF GERMANY

However, stirrings of another kind were to concern the European as the century drew to an end – stirrings that were to very much bring the modern world into being.
In 1870, becoming paranoid of the steady rise of the German state of Prussia, France declared war, beginning the Franco-Prussian War, in the hope of driving the southern German states into neutrality.
However, they under-estimated the preparedness of the Prussians who, following the battle of Weissenburg, rushed on to take Paris in January 1871. The peace terms, as well as war indemnity, included the French ceding Alsace-Lorraine to Prussia. A flame had been kindled.
William I had become Kaiser of Prussia in 1861 and, with Bismarck as his Chief Minister, had set about the creation of a German Empire following the previous fall of French predominance in Europe.
After the Franco-Prussian War the North German Confederation – formed in 1867 under Prussian leadership – was renamed the German Empire. Germany was united, beginning an arms race between Germany (who wanted a great navy) and Britain (who were worried about this development). This policy was carried on in earnest when, in 1888, William II succeeded to the German throne.

TOWARDS THE GREAT WAR

In 1878 the Treaty of Berlin had given independence to many of the Ottoman possessions in the Balkans, including Bosnia, which immediately came under the military occupation of Austria, finally being annexed in 1908.
Wrangling had gone on for years over this area between Russia and Austria, leading to the kindling of yet another flame. Throughout Europe tempers were becoming frayed, leading to the Triple Entente between France, Russia and Britain.
In reply Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the Triple Alliance. Europe was becoming a powder keg which, when it blew, would change the world beyond recognition.
The fuse was lit on 28 June 1914. But before proceeding, in the next post we should look at the intellectual achievements of Europe and see that the real driving force of the European was intellect.

© Anthony North, December 2007

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NAPOLEON AND CO

Following the Seven Year’s War France was awash with dissent, the monarchy, aristocracy and Church decadent and fanning hatred. Louis XVI – who married Marie Antoinette in 1770 – took the throne in 1774, finding his country bankrupt.
He summoned the States-General (legislative council) to find answers to the problems, but his refusal to agree major reforms led them to form a national assembly. This middleclass authority – an authority that was at the heart of the new Europe now emerging – incited the peasants further, who revolted against the whole system.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The storming of the Bastille symbolised the French Revolution, making it impossible for Louis to reassert authority, and his continued opposition led to the abolition of the monarchy in 1792. He and his wife went to the guillotine soon afterwards.
The French Revolution was under way and power soon passed to a Committee of Public Safety under Robespierre. Middleclass authority at its worse, the Reign of Terror followed, aristocrats by the thousand being executed, but by 1794 the moderate elements of the Committee ordered the execution of Robespierre himself.
The year 1795 saw control fall into the hands of the Directory and a Republic was constituted. However, in 1799 an up and coming army officer overthrew the Directory and seized power. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

The late 18th century was a time of upheaval throughout Europe due to the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment a rejection of the old authority of religion and aristocracy; in its simplest form a resurgence of the Humanist spirit, this time fuelled by middleclass enquiry of a world released from God-centred dogma.
The French Revolution, politically inspired by the American War of Independence, was a natural consequence of this state of mind and, as well as the internal revolution, French armies carried on the battle outside France.
Born in 1769 and made Lt Colonel by 1793, Napoleon thrived in this army, becoming popular and being able to act independently of the Directory. Following his successful Egyptian Campaign he returned to France, overthrew the Directory and declared himself First Consul.
Ending weak rule, and with the backing of the people, he began a series of campaigns, declaring himself emperor in 1804. However, prior to his long line of victorious campaigns, he was to suffer his first major blow when his plans for an invasion of Britain were ruined by Nelson with the destruction of the French fleet at Trafalgar in 1805.
The French navy never recovered, with Napoleon losing all power over the seas, forcing him into a land-locked strategy; a factor that would lead to his defeat.

NAPOLEONIC WARS

However, in the same year he violated the neutrality of Prussia and overwhelmed the Austrians, marching into Vienna and beating the Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz. He dealt another blow to Prussia at Jena (1806) and on the Russians at Friedland (1807). The Napoleonic empire came into being.
In 1808 he invaded Spain, driving a British army to the sea at Corunna, beginning the Peninsula War with Britain. Renewed hostilities by Austria in 1809 resulted in another defeat for them at Wagram.
Napoleon appeared untouchable. He annexed territories in the borders of France, and Switzerland came under French protection. He created kingdoms ruled by members of his own family. Only the much reduced nations of Prussia and Austria remained free in continental Europe, with Russia behind them.
However, he was now at the height of his career and decline began as the Peninsula War gained momentum with the landing, in 1809, of a British army under Wellington in Portugal. Slowly he fought his way through Spain and broke into southern France in 1813.
Further ambition led Napoleon to embark on his ill fated invasion of Russia in 1812. His defeat in this campaign led the three eastern powers to ally themselves and deal a crushing blow over the French at Leipzig in 1813, forcing Napoleon across the Rhine. The allies then went on to invade France itself, forcing Napoleonic abdication in 1814.
Napoleon was exiled to Elba. However, in 1815 he escaped to France, rallying his former army. Britain and Prussia immediately declared war on him and his 100 Day Rule came to a decisive end at Wellington and Blucher’s victory at Waterloo. Napoleon was exiled to St Helena where he died in 1821.

© Anthony North, December 2007

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INDUSTRY

Through colonization and advances in politics, Europe was beginning to rise as the future. But another factor was fundamental to the process – a factor that became known as the Industrial Revolution.
Britain led the way, beginning with the textile cottage industry. But the major stumbling block to advancement was the lack of a suitable transport network to get goods to market.

TRANSPORT AND POWER

So the turn-pike came into being – its income used to pay navvies to improve the roads. But this was inefficient. Hence, Britain – ideally placed, being an island nation with a strong navy and empire, and built upon a treasure trove of coal – looked to her navigable internal waterways, improving them with a network of canals.
Man-made power was advancing in kind. With Darby producing high quality metal by switching to coke, Newcomen had, by 1712, designed the first pumping-engine, enhancing steam, to assist in controlling flooding in ever-deepening coal mines.
Industrialisation was beginning to take shape, aided further by the cessation of the Seven Year’s War in 1763, releasing government from a great financial burden and causing them to drop the rate of interest to such a degree that money-lenders proliferated, making London the banking capital of the world by 1770.

URBANISATION AND INDUSTRY

By 1775 a canal system connected coalfields to ports, with embryo urban conurbations beginning to form around the expanding iron and textile industries now established in the towns.
Availability of cotton from India caused a further explosion in the textile industry, with innovation meeting demand with the loom shuttle, spinning jenny, water-frame and mule. Mass production was born, soon to be followed by the pottery and steel industries of Wedgwood and Wilkinson.
Power was still a problem, but eventually the modern ‘fire-engine’, utilising steam, was devised by Black. In 1765 Watt improved this design with the separate condenser and the first steam engine propelled machinery. The later sun and planets wheel mechanism, and its resulting rotary motion, revolutionised industry.
The result of all this was that soon the canals were swamped so coal, steam and iron came together to build the railways, the principal innovators being Trevithick,
Stephenson and Brunel.

FURTHER AFIELD

Industrialisation expanded from the shores of Britain, first to the Ruhr in Germany, and transport networks shrunk the world. Electricity brought the night shift, as well as the telegraph and telephone. Then came the radio, internal combustion engine, car and aeroplane.
Extraction of oil, as well as aiding transport, brought about man-made dyes and plastics, leading on to the hi-tech, microchip and computerised world of today, with technologies such as the car, television and computer changing the nature of society in a way once only achieved by religions or wars.
A revolution as great as when man first turned to agriculture had taken place, bringing together the financier, entrepreneur and innovator. And the world could never be the same again.

© Anthony North, December 2007

This post is taken from Industrial Revolution on History page.
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A HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS

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The Chieftain lit the bonfire. Around him, his tribe waited, huddled in their inadequate clothes against the chill. Earlier, they had satisfied their gods, represented by the Sun at its highest, most southerly point. But now the warmth of the flames stayed the chill and a glow grew in their bellies and groin.
Festivities were now to be had, stories were to be told, and the winter respite was with them.

PAGAN FESTIVALS

We can imagine a pagan midwinter, celebrated at the solstice of 22 December. It was one of the most important times of the year. Required to get them through the hunger and cold, a whole culture developed around the festival, complete with mythology to identify themselves with their gods.
And running through it all would be a story to tell, usually based on a real event, but embellished to make the tribe unassailable and complete. The story was the very heart of who they were.
It is impossible to say what these early pagan stories were, but in one of their last forms, we know of the Roman Saturn, god of agriculture and father of the gods. Based on the Greek Cronus, the Romans celebrated him on the seven days beginning 17 December.
Known as Saturnalia, it was a holiday period. An orgy of feasting was had as the stories were retold, and in this climate of merriment, presents were given to those important to the celebrants.
Whether the orgies were really of a more carnal nature, we cannot be sure. Maybe it was simply propaganda – another set of stories made up by the more austere story that was to take over Saturnalia and man’s psyche from that day to this.

FROM PAGAN TO VICTORIAN

That story was the Nativity – the Christian story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Remembered as Christmas, it is celebrated on 25 December, a date fixed in the Christian calendar by the 4th century. And the celebration absorbed more than just the Roman Saturnalia.
Holly, ivy and mistletoe were really brought to it by the pagans. Indeed, the celebration was changed much over the centuries. In Medieval times Christmas was a social gathering, with games to be held, such as archery.
The traditions of Christmas we tend to remember today began to appear with the Victorians, and the stories of Charles Dickens, such as A Christmas Carol. The ‘family’ had become important to the Victorian middleclass due to inheritance as society became wealthy.
Hence, Christmas changed from a communal event to a family event. This reinforced the idea of ‘family’ in a Christian perspective.

CULTURE OF CHRISTMAS

The festival centred around the religious aspects of celebration. But then the family ate a traditional meal, decorated tree close by (another pagan influence), and prior to the event, cards were sent for the first time.
Our image of the bringer of joy had not been defined by the Victorians. Initially, joy came from the birth of Christ. But a new character was entering the story. Based on St Nicholas, a 4th century saint from modern day Turkey who used to distribute gifts, Santa Claus had no definite dress in Victorian times. Neither did he have a magic sleigh pulled by reindeer.
These came from European folk tales and only attached to the story following the Victorians, as a new influence began to infiltrate Christmas.
This was the spirit of enterprise. And the story fell into the businessman’s hands perfectly. After all, what could fuel consumerism more than the idea of bringing gifts? And thus, by the early 20th century, the red costume of Santa appeared in American adverts.

THE NATIVITY

The actual story of the Nativity is rich in the symbolism of the storyteller’s craft. Mary and Joseph are poor and are required to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for a census. There is no room in any of the Inns but, seeing Mary is with child an innkeeper offers a place in a stable. In this part of the story, charity and compassion are enshrined in human nature.
The child, when He is born, is of supernatural parentage. Given to Mary, a Virgin, by God, the story encapsulates the older ideal of heroes born from a human and a god, enshrined in many a pagan myth.
The story has two themes – that of poverty not being a barrier to greatness; and in providing a spiritual link between man and the God-head.

SYMBOLISM

The sense of the pagan is continued in the Star of Bethlehem which appears above the stable. The most likely explanation of this is that an astrological alignment has been discovered around the time of Christ’s birth of three planets – in astrology a time of fate.
Indeed, paganism is captured by the Christian with the story of the Three Wise Men – almost certainly three Magi, or occult magicians. In the story, they bring gifts and pay homage to the child, a new king. And thus, Christianity is seen as more important than paganism.
An angel appears before some shepherds to tell them of the good news. The symbolism, here, is vital. This new religious system instigated by the birth is for all people, both rich and poor. Hence, emissaries from the rich and poor go to the stable, embodied in the Three Wise Men and the shepherds.
But every story has its nasty bit. And this is found in King Herod who, whilst visited by the Three Wise Men, was told that a new king was foretold to be born. Herod fears for his throne, so sends his men to kill all new born babies. Mary and Joseph do, of course, escape with their child. And in doing so, evil is vanquished.

CHANGING TIMES

These are the themes of the Nativity – universal themes of the storyteller. They confirm life as miraculous, taking away the hum-drum elements of existence and making us all special in sharing in the tale through custom and tradition. But the story constantly changes to represent the times.
Initially required to provide a respite to the ravages of winter, today it has become an orgy of greed, with little interest in the spiritual message. But this itself provides a story with a message – for in atheistic times, where the material is all important, the spiritual WOULD be forgotten.
So even now the message is true to who we claim to be. This factor can be seen in the universality of the good story, in that it is adaptable to all times and all moods.
Initially grounded in family values, with Mary and Joseph providing for their child, new themes arise today, such as the fact that Joseph is not the father of Jesus, thus confirming the validity of single-parenthood, or Madonna and Child.
In this way, the story captures what we are, and becomes central to our existence. And thus the giving of gifts during Saturnalia changed to the Three Wise Men bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And finally to today, and the clamour for consumer goods to be given as presents, sealing our present aspirations towards wealth within the story for our new times. The story may have changed, but it continues to define what our society is.

© Anthony North, December 2007

ENGLAND AND GOVERNMENT

The success of Europe was more than simple discovery and colonization. Going alongside this was industrialization (dealt with in the next post) and an increasing complexity of government.
In order to understand such processes, and how they affected the modern world, I think it best to concentrate on the experience of one country. As England stands out at the forefront of this process, we will concentrate here.

EARLY GOVERNMENT

As we saw in an earlier post, pre-Norman England had created the Witan to assist the monarch in decision making. With the Norman Conquest the Great Council was instituted, extended to include bishops and knights.
In the early 13th century it became known as ‘parliament’, meaning a ‘talk’, extended soon to include two elected ‘commoners’ from independent towns and boroughs. Edward I finally instituted the first Model Parliament on the principle that ‘what touches all should be approved by all.’
The Model Parliament was split into the Lords and the Commons, and by the 14th century the Commons had elected a ‘speaker’ as a go-between with the king. However, a king did not need to listen to his parliament, only calling them when he needed more taxes.

THE TUDORS

However, whenever the king asked for taxes the Commons submitted a ‘bill’, which involved requests for change in the law. Bartering would begin with power slowly beginning to shift to the people.
Under Henry VII bills became ‘statutes’. With the stability following the Wars of the Roses the Tudors slowly began to build a centralised administration, which gave more power to adminers in government, the process increasing with the split from Rome and creation of the Church of England.
The inevitable plot and counter plot began which was the struggle for supremacy in England between Catholic and Protestant. Elizabeth I seemed to decide the issue, but leaving no heir, the Stuarts arrived, with their obvious Catholic leanings.

THE STUARTS

This, and meddling with Parliament, led to the English Civil War, beginning in 1642. With Oliver Cromwell victorious for the Protestants, a short Commonwealth was activated before the Stuart Restoration of 1660.
Further Catholic/Protestant intrigue followed, the result being the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the Dutch William and his wife Mary (a Protestant Stuart descendant) were given the throne by parliamentarians.
The following year the Bill of Rights guaranteed ultimate power in Parliament.
With the union of England and Scotland in 1707 the need for administration increased, and when the last Stuart died without an heir, the Hanoverians took the throne with George I.
Unable to speak English, throughout the Georgian period, Parliament continued to outmanoeuvre the monarch, grasping more and more power, thus preparing the way for democracy proper. And it came just in time, for the Industrial Revolution demanded such freedom – for the middleclass, at least.

© Anthony North, December 2007

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