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Strange Defeat
2 Apr 2016 19:58I had always wondered how Hitler came to power...and now I see Trump, and I totally get it!
I mean, fuck. When people vote their fears instead of their heads...it totally makes sense how Hitler came to power!
The thing is...Weimar Germany was in way, way, way worse shape than the US today. Generally, the US is doing okay compared to the rest of the world. And yes, the middle class has been having a hard time over the last 30 years, but Trump is not the answer. I mean, fuck, really?
When people feel powerless, voiceless, they resort to violence -- and voting for a Hitler, or a Trump is really no different in my mind that rioting on the streets -- both violent actions, both stemming from voicelessness.
Along the WWII line, another thing I had always wondered was why France fell so quickly to the Germans. So, I have been reading a book called Strange Defeat.
The author was a historian who served in the French army during the defeat (surrender?) that led to the Vichy government. He wrote the manuscript (a "statement of evidence") when he came home. But later, he was arrested, tortured and killed by the Nazis.
The explanation he mostly gave for the defeat was that the French military leadership was not prepared for modern wars. They seemed to be planning and behaving like it was still the time of Napoléon or even WWI, but those rules did not apply to WWII.
One example he gave was that when they had to retreat and re-group, they retreated a distance that would have been plenty in the time of Napoléon and would probably have been enough for WWI, but that in WWII the Germans would reach the retreated troops before they were ready to fight again.
He also noted that the various branches of the military were siloed and competing against each other instead of fighting together, that they did not share information at all.
And basically, peacetime "paperwork" replaced military strategy.
Lots of WWII themes lately!
I mean, fuck. When people vote their fears instead of their heads...it totally makes sense how Hitler came to power!
The thing is...Weimar Germany was in way, way, way worse shape than the US today. Generally, the US is doing okay compared to the rest of the world. And yes, the middle class has been having a hard time over the last 30 years, but Trump is not the answer. I mean, fuck, really?
When people feel powerless, voiceless, they resort to violence -- and voting for a Hitler, or a Trump is really no different in my mind that rioting on the streets -- both violent actions, both stemming from voicelessness.
Along the WWII line, another thing I had always wondered was why France fell so quickly to the Germans. So, I have been reading a book called Strange Defeat.
The author was a historian who served in the French army during the defeat (surrender?) that led to the Vichy government. He wrote the manuscript (a "statement of evidence") when he came home. But later, he was arrested, tortured and killed by the Nazis.
The explanation he mostly gave for the defeat was that the French military leadership was not prepared for modern wars. They seemed to be planning and behaving like it was still the time of Napoléon or even WWI, but those rules did not apply to WWII.
One example he gave was that when they had to retreat and re-group, they retreated a distance that would have been plenty in the time of Napoléon and would probably have been enough for WWI, but that in WWII the Germans would reach the retreated troops before they were ready to fight again.
He also noted that the various branches of the military were siloed and competing against each other instead of fighting together, that they did not share information at all.
And basically, peacetime "paperwork" replaced military strategy.
Lots of WWII themes lately!