Orwell’s press card portrait, 1943
I have little direct evidence about the atrocities in the Spanish civil war. I know that some were committed by the Republicans, and far more (they are still continuing) by the Fascists. But what impressed me then, and has impressed me ever since, is that atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection. Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence. Recently I drew up a table of atrocities during the period between 1918 and the present; there was never a year when atrocities were not occurring somewhere or other, and there was hardly a single case when the Left and the Right believed in the same stories simultaneously. And stranger yet, at any moment the situation can suddenly reverse itself and yesterday’s proved-to-the-hilt atrocity story can become a ridiculous lie, merely because the political landscape has changed.
In the present war we are in the curious situation that our “atrocity campaign” was done largely before the war started, and done mostly by the Left, the people who normally pride themselves on their incredulity. In the same period the Right, the atrocity-mongers of 1914-18, were gazing at Nazi Germany and flatly refusing to see any evil in it. Then as soon as war broke out it was the pro-Nazis of yesterday who were repeating horror stories, while the anti-Nazis suddenly found themselves doubting whether the Gestapo really existed. Nor was this solely the result of the Russo-German Pact. It was partly because before the war the Left had wrongly believed that Britain and Germany would never fight and were therefore able to be anti-German and anti-British simultaneously; partly also because official war-propaganda, with its disgusting hypocrisy and self-righteousness, always tends to make thinking people sympathize with the enemy. Part of the price we paid for the systematic lying of 1914-17 was the exaggerated pro-German reaction which followed. During the years 1918-33 you were hooted at in left-wing circles if you suggested that Germany bore even a fraction of responsibility for the war. In all the denunciations of Versailles I listened to during those years I don’t think I ever once heard the question, “What would have happened if Germany had won?” even mentioned, let alone discussed. So also with atrocities. The truth, it is felt, becomes untruth when your enemy utters it. Recently I noticed that the very people who swallowed any and every horror story about the Japanese in Nanking in 1937 refused to believe exactly the same stories about Hong Kong in 1942. There was even a tendency to feel that the Nanking atrocities had become, as it were, retrospectively untrue because the British Government now drew attention to them.
But unfortunately the truth about atrocities is far worse than that they are lied about and made into propaganda. The truth is that they happen. The fact often adduced as a reason for scepticism — that the same horror stories come up in war after war — merely makes it rather more likely that these stories are true. Evidently they are widespread fantasies, and war provides an opportunity of putting them into practice. Also, although it has ceased to be fashionable to say so, there is little question that what one may roughly call the “whites” commit far more and worse atrocities than the “reds”. There is not the slightest doubt, for instance, about the behaviour of the Japanese in China. Nor is there much doubt about the long tale of Fascist outrages during the last ten years in Europe. The volume of testimony is enormous, and a respectable proportion of it comes from the German press and radio. These things really happened, that is the thing to keep one’s eye on. They happened even though Lord Halifax said they happened. The raping and butchering in Chinese cities, the tortures in the cellars of the Gestapo, the elderly Jewish professors flung into cesspools, the machine-gunning of refugees along the Spanish roads — they all happened, and they did not happen any the less because the Daily Telegraph has suddenly found out about them when it is five years too late.
George Orwell, “Looking back on the Spanish War”, New Road, 1943 (republished in England, Your England and Other Essays, 1953).
July 16, 2019
July 7, 2019
Do the Brits hate the French?! – WW2 – 045 – July 6 1940
World War Two
Published on 6 Jul 2019The repercussions of the fall of France are not yet seen in full. But this week Britain makes it clear it isn’t about to give up, even if it will mean some really hard decisions.
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Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Post production director: Wieke Kapteijns
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: EastoryColorisations by Daniel Weiss, Norman Stewart and Julius Jääskeläinen https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.Sources:
WM: H 4610, A 3589
Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
Jacques Mulard
Colorization of Göring by Klimbim
Romanian National ArchivesA TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
June 27, 2019
Tank Chats #50 Ha-Go | The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum
Published on 18 May 2018The Type 95 Ha-Go tank was produced by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1935 and used throughout the Second World War.
The Tank Museum’s Type 95 was captured in Malaya and was examined in Calcutta before being sent to Britain. Surviving Japanese tanks from the Second World War are extremely rare.
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June 18, 2019
Ōkuninushi’s Tale – Japanese Myth – Extra Mythology
Extra Credits
Published on 17 Jun 2019Download the World of Tanks game for free https://tanks.ly/2WjU75T and use the invite code
EXTRATANKS1to claim your starter packJoin the Patreon community! http://bit.ly/EMPatreon
Last we saw Ōkuninushi, he showed kindness to a hare in distress, and the hare of Inaba had foretold that he would be the one that the princess of Yakami would desire. And this was true, because when his 80 brothers showed up at court and declared their intentions, the princess insisted she would only marry him — so thus, his brothers began trying to kill him off…
June 3, 2019
The Hare of Inaba – Japanese Myth – Extra Mythology
Extra Credits
Published on 1 Jun 2019Join the Patreon community! http://bit.ly/EMPatreon
A small white hare stood alone on the Isle of Oki, yearning to cross the deep waters to Japan. He was a clever hare — crafty, if not always wise — and he had a plan.
Thumbnail image for social media:
May 5, 2019
Retreat in the North, Preparations in the West – WW2 – 036 – May 4 1940
World War Two
Published on 4 May 2019Allied plans to take Trondheim in Norway to allow for larger reinforcements and even bigger aerial support to come in are disbanded as the troops approaching Trondheim are pulled back from Norway. While the Allied efforts in Norway lose force there, the Allied forces in Western Europe are prepared for a German invasion through the Benelux countries. The Japanese too are determined to continue their campaign in China, and send thousands more young men into the battlefields.
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Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: EastoryColorisations by Norman Stewart and Julius Jääskeläinen https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
Some photos depicting Norway are from the Jonatan Myhre Barlien’s photo collection.Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.comA TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
The situation in Norway looks grim for the Allied forces, and the Norwegians are steadily losing faith in the Allied capability to turn things around. And even though all is still quiet on the Western Front, the Allies have a plan ready to counter a German invasion of France and the Benelux countries. This episode is, again, very heavily filled with top notch maps and animations. These are all made by Eastory, who has a YouTube channel on his own as well! Check out and subscribe to his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCElybFZ60Hk1NSjgCf7I2sgCheers,
Joram
April 30, 2019
Japan’s monarchy
Colby Cosh looks at the astonishingly successful Japanese monarchy over the last few centuries of change:
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda Ward, Tōkyō Metropolis on April 24, 2014.
US State Department photo by William Ng, via Wikimedia Commons.
Most everybody knows how the office of the Japanese Emperor became “ceremonial” for the better part of 700 years, and how the archipelago was governed in isolation by what we call the shogunate. The first Westerners who established diplomatic relations with Japan in the 19th century did not think of the Emperor as analogous to Queen Victoria at all. For years they thought of the Mikado as primarily a religious functionary, a sort of pope performing funny, tedious rites in seclusion. (As anyone who has been watching Japanese news in the run-up to Golden Week knows, there is some truth to this.)
Even as reality dawned on those foreign barbarians, their presence in Japan led to social breakdown, civil war, and a sharp, sudden revival of the power of their monarchy — the Meiji Restoration. This is still an awe-inspiring event. Japan was confronted by a little-known and hated outer realm, and was able to adapt with inexplicable confidence. It did not descend into psychic and economic malaise, but almost immediately began to compete with obtrusive Western “powers.” After centuries in abeyance, their constitution somehow allowed them to conjure a enlightened despot of enormous ability, the Meiji Emperor, at the precise moment one was required.
This led in time to the war in the Pacific — and to a second miracle of the same kind. If matters had been left up to American public opinion in 1945, or to the allies of the United States, or even to the American executive branch, the Japanese monarchy would have been abolished and the Emperor given a humiliating trial and death. Such a procedure could have easily been justified then, and can be justified in retrospect now. U.S. foreign policy almost always, in practice, seems to follow the country’s republican instincts.
But while Japan was defeated, it had not been invaded. So Gen. Douglas MacArthur and a few foreign-policy brainiacs reached a magnificent, cynical modus vivendi: they would exploit and reshape the Japanese monarchy rather than smashing it. As a soldier, MacArthur, made Supreme Commander of occupied Japan, would have shot the Emperor with his own sidearm and never lost a minute’s sleep. But he and others somehow managed to overcome racial and political prejudices, and perform an act of American “nation-building” that was not a cruel joke.
April 21, 2019
The Scramble For Norway – WW2 – 034 – April 20 1940
World War Two
Published on 20 Apr 2019The German Invasion of Norway is still very much in full swing. The German Wehrmacht is moving north from Oslo, where a Norwegian force is trying to halt them in anticipation of Allied reinforcements. The British do land in Norway, but don’t necessarily rush to relief the Norwegian army. Meanwhile, Norwegian “traitor” and “failure” Vidkun Quisling rises to be the new leader of Norway – only to get rejected by Hitler again. Numerous powers are now trying to grab, restore or consolidate military or political power in Norway. It’s a mess.
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Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: EastoryColorisations by Norman Stewart and JuliusJaa (https://www.flickr.com/photos/juliusjaa/)
Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.comSources:
© IWM (N 159)
© IWM (HU 104676)
© IWM (HU 104684)A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
April 13, 2019
March 22, 2019
“Shiroyama” – The Satsuma Rebellion – Sabaton History 007
Sabaton History
Published on 21 Mar 2019What will you do when your traditional way of life is threatened by a powerful force in your native lands? The samurai didn’t hesitate to answer this question with: our swords. During the Satsuma Rebellion, the samurai and its leader Saigō Takamori fought the Japanese Imperial Government. Their rebellion ended with the Battle of Shiroyama, where in 1877 the samurai prepared for a last stand.
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Watch the official music video for Shiroyama here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKW6g…
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Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShopHosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Astrid Deinhard and Wieke Kapteijns
Produced by: Pär Sundström, Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Maps by: Eastory
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek KaminskiEastory YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by Sabaton.An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.
© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.
From the comments:
Sabaton History
2 days ago (edited)
In the 19th century, Japan transitioned from a feudal society to a modern constitutional monarchy shaped after its western counterparts. A constitution was introduced which made every Japanese man equal under the law. This effectively ended the privileged status of the samurai in Japan. However, many samurai didn’t take this kindly. A group of them rebelled against the Imperial government, which is what the Sabaton song “Shiroyama” is all about.The fact that we can research, film and produce this with Indy and his team is only thanks to the people who support us on Patreon. If you don’t already, please do consider supporting us – which also gives you some cool rewards as well as early access to all our episodes!
March 13, 2019
Marie Kondo as a “Mr. Miyagi for the anxious, late-capitalist, consumerist age”
At Aeon, Amy Olberding is not impressed with the pseudo-philosophy of the Marie Kondo cult:
Inspired by an episode of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix, I cleaned my dresser drawers this weekend. It was a generally satisfying way to shirk work duties (the reason I watched Netflix in the first place). Yet, despite my neater bureau, I find the popularity of Kondo’s ‘tidying’ unbearable. We are awash in stuff, and apparently so joyless that the promise of joy through house-cleaning appeals to us. The cultural fascination sparked by Kondo strikes me as deeply disordered.
As a scholar of East Asian philosophies, one pattern in the Kondo mania is all too familiar: the susceptibility of Americans to plain good sense if it can but be infused with a quasi-mystical ‘oriental’ aura. Kondo is, in several ways, a Mr Miyagi for the anxious, late-capitalist, consumerist age. Unlike the Karate Kid, we are bedevilled by our own belongings rather than by bullies – but just as Mr Miyagi could make waxing cars a way to find one’s strength and mettle, so too Marie Kondo can magically render folding T-shirts into a path toward personal contentment or even joy. The process by which mundane activities transmute into improved wellbeing is mysterious, but the mystery is much of the allure, part of what makes pedestrian wisdom palatable. Folding clothes as an organisational strategy is boring. But folding clothes as a mystically infused plan of life is alluring. It’s not about the clothes. It’s about everything, all at once.
Popular uses of East Asian philosophies often tend this way: toward making the circumscribed expansive, toward making small wisdoms carry water for all the wisdom. This is how the ancient military theorist Sun Tzu might end up guiding your retirement savings, coaching your kid’s football team, improving your marriage, or even raising your kids. Sun Tzu’s Art of War has been leveraged into self-help advice on all of these subjects and more. Superficially, and also for trained scholars of early Chinese military history, it might seem that Sun Tzu is in fact only really interested in managing violent conflict well. But at a deeper level – which is to say, at the level of what might be marketed to gullible Western consumers – he is actually addressing all of life’s mysteries. What reads like straightforward instruction on wartime espionage might yet have something to teach us about our children. To access this deeper meaning, we need to assume that ‘oriental’ wisdom is never about this or that, but always about everything. And importantly, at root, it is reassuring.
H/T to Amy Alkon, who offers her own take on tidying:
March 10, 2019
Finnish Winter is Almost Over – WW2 – 028 – March 9 1940
World War Two
Published on 9 Mar 2019The French promise to send troops to aid Finland, though the majority is planned to go to Norway or Sweden. In return, the Finns postpone their peace talks with the Soviets. It is at that moment that the Finns realise that the French are playing tricks and the Soviets are not to be messed with. It’s deal or no deal, and they need to decide quick.
Thumbnail depicts an unnamed Red Army PoW towards the end of the Winter War – colorisation by Jared Enos
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Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: EastoryThumbnail and portrait colorizations by Norman Stewart.
Photos of the Winter War are mostly from the Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive (SA-Kuva).
Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.comA TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
2 days ago
It doesn’t look too good for the Finns this week. Peace talks are more and more becoming their only way out of this war. The Soviets are looking to gain as much leverage to benefit their position in the talks. Meanwhile, the Finnish try to do the same, and focus their defence on diplomatic key points instead of long term defensive strategies.Note that we have launched our first episode of the War Against Humanity this week, in which we will discuss the war crimes committed by all sides. The first episode covers the first six months of the war up until March 5 1940, the day on which Joseph Stalin and Beria order the Katyn Massacre. You can find that episode right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd5YhhNcC44&
March 7, 2019
Outbreak of the War Against Humanity – WW2 – WaH 001 – 5 March 1940
World War Two
Published on 6 Mar 2019When the Second World War breaks out, it is at first largely a war between one side of totalitarian aggressors against a portion of the democratic countries of the world defending other totalitarian states. From the first day of the war in Poland, as it already is in China, this will be a war against humanity.
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Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Spartacus Olsson
Produced and Directed by: Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Spartacus Olsson
Edited by: Spartacus Olsson and Wieke KapteijnsArchive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
47 minutes ago (edited)
READ THIS AND OUR RULES BEFORE COMMENTING Here it is with some slight delay – the first episode of War Against Humanity, written and hosted by Spartacus Olsson. Due to the delay, this video went public on YouTube and was not in Preview for the TimeGhost army – we apologise for this – the next WaH video will be given in advance. To be clear it is the support of the TimeGhost army that enables us to continuously expand and improve our coverage – if you haven’t already, consider signing up on timeghost.tv or https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory – Now, we have age-restricted this video of our own accord because of the extremely graphic content in some sections. While we are of the opinion that it should be available for anyone over the age of 15, YouTube does not offer us that possibility. We apologise to our viewers that are in that bracket, but we felt that it was more important to protect children from exposure to this kind of violence without the help of an adult to digest it.
February 18, 2019
Forgotten history of India’s Thermopylae
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered
Published on 20 Jun 2017The History Guy tells the forgotten history of the World War II battle of Imphal also known as India’s Thermopylae.
The History Guy uses images that are in the Public Domain. As photographs of actual events are often not available, I will sometimes use photographs of similar events or objects for illustration.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheHistoryGuy
The History Guy: Five Minutes of History is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.
The episode is intended for educational purposes. All events are presented in historical context.
February 10, 2019
Stalemate in China, Bombs over Finland – WW2 – 024 – February 9 1940
World War Two
Published on 9 Feb 2019While the Winter War rages on in Finland, Japan is confronted with a dilemma. Keep fighting the Chinese and face huge problems feeding the populace in Japan and their newly conquered territories or withdraw and face your own populace to whom you’ve promised a glorious victory.
Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
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Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: EastoryColorizations by Norman Stewart.
Thumbnail Colorization by Olga Shirnina aka Klimbim.Photos of the Winter War are mostly from the Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive (SA-Kuva).
Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.comA TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
2 days ago (edited)
New week, new video. A special one, since this one covers my birthday. Well, it would have if i were 54 years older… Anyhow, the Japanese are in trouble this week. At the same time, the Finnish are not as much in trouble as the Soviets would like them to be, but the pressure of the Soviet attacks is building up. Meanwhile, the Allied forces present a plan to actually intervene in the Winter War, in favour of Finland. A – for the Allies not at all unconvenient, side-effect would be an extra bonus. Talking about a convenient side-effect: If you support us on Patreon, we will be able to create ever more content. Right now, we’re working on the first biographies and more specials. We love to be able to bring those to you weekly, but we’re not there yet. Check out or Patreon page on https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory.Cheers,
Joram
