Quotulatiousness

February 12, 2020

Guderian – Myth & Reality

Filed under: Books, Germany, History, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Military History Visualized
Published 24 Apr 2018

Heinz Guderian, the father of the German Panzerwaffe, is one of the best known German generals from the Second World War. He is also known for his opposition to the Battle of Kursk (Operation Zitadelle) and the early deployment of the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther, yet some historians noted recently that many of Heinz Guderian’s claims are not backed up by archives. Well, time to take a closer look.

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» SOURCES «

Pöhlmann, Markus: Der Panzer und die Mechanisierung des Krieges: Eine deutsche Geschichte 1890 bis 1945 (Zeitalter der Weltkriege)

Corum, James S.: The Roots of Blitzkrieg. Hans von Seeckt and German Military Reform

Macksey, Kenneth: “Generaloberst Heinz Guderian”; in: Ueberschär (Hrsg.) Gerd R.: Hitlers militärische Elite – 68 Lebensläufe (3. Auflage), S. 351-358

Guderian, Heinz: Panzer Leader (English Version of Erinnerungen eines Soldaten)

Guderian, Heinz: Erinnerungen eines Soldaten

Munzel, Oskar: Die deutschen gepanzerten Truppen bis 1945

Schacter, Daniel L.: The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers

Citino, Robert M.: The German Way of War. From the Thirty Years’ War to the Third Reich

Citino, Robert M.: The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943

» CREDITS & SPECIAL THX «
Song: Ethan Meixsell – “Demilitarized Zone”

#ww2 #panzergeneral #Guderian

February 10, 2020

The coup that toppled Margaret Thatcher

Filed under: Books, Britain, Europe, History, Politics — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Charles Moore published the third volume of his Thatcher biography last year (I’ve read the first two volumes, but not the final one). In Quillette, Johan Wennström reviews the book:

This November will mark 30 years since former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher left office. After she had narrowly failed to secure an outright win in a 1990 leadership contest triggered by a challenge from Michael Heseltine, her former defense secretary, the majority of Thatcher’s Conservative cabinet colleagues withdrew their support and forced her departure following what she described as “eleven-and-a-half wonderful years.”

For Thatcher, the “coup,” as she referred to the events of 1990, had been unexpected. But as journalist Charles Moore explains in the third and final volume of his authorized Thatcher biography, Herself Alone (2019), the writing had been on the wall for some time. Thatcher’s style, which some considered abrasive, had turned senior figures against her. And many younger party members believed that if the party were to win a fourth consecutive election victory, in 1991 or 1992, it should be under a new standard-bearer (who turned out to be John Major).

An important underlying factor was the long-standing policy conflict regarding the European Community (or the EC as the European Union was then known), which pitted Thatcher against many in her own government, as well as against continental European leaders and George H. W. Bush’s White House. She was perceived as a “Cold Warrior” who was overly cautious in regard to the future of Europe, especially the project of European political and economic integration.

To some modern observers, that criticism of Thatcher remains apt. In a recently published book on international relations authored by former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, The Age of Disorder (Den nya oredans tid, 2019), Thatcher’s reluctance to endorse a speedy German reunification is attributed to her obsolete anxieties regarding “the dangers of a strong Germany.”

Moore’s latest volume, which focuses extensively on Thatcher’s views about Europe, shows her in a more nuanced light. In some ways, in fact, she was actually ahead of her time. And some of the current problems facing Europe, and the West more generally, might have been mitigated had her opinions been given a more generous audience.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the money for new hardcover books these days so I’ll have to wait until this volume gets a paperback edition or [shudder] get a library card and wait for it to show up at the local library.

January 29, 2020

The Roman Triumph

Filed under: Europe, History, Military — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Historia Civilis
Published 5 Dec 2018

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Sources:
The Jewish War, by Josephus: https://amzn.to/2Ub8JRq
Parallel Lives: The Life of Pompey, by Plutarch: https://amzn.to/2BP6vjq
Parallel Lives: The Life of Julius Caesar, by Plutarch: https://amzn.to/2BP6vjq
Letters to Atticus, Book 13, by Cicero: https://amzn.to/2Qa9SKv
The History of Rome, Book 1, by Livy: https://amzn.to/2PbCkX7
Natural History, Book 3, by Pliny the Elder: https://amzn.to/2PhX3Za
Roman History, Book 43, by Cassius Dio: https://amzn.to/2PgJ99C
Roman History, Book 44, by Cassius Dio: https://amzn.to/2PgJ99C
Roman History, Book 53, by Cassius Dio: https://amzn.to/2Pgdq8Q
Roman History, Book 54, by Cassius Dio: https://amzn.to/2Pgdq8Q
Roman History, Book 55, by Cassius Dio: https://amzn.to/2Pgdq8Q
The Life of Julius Caesar, by Suetonius: https://amzn.to/2QuwULE
The Fasti Triumphales http://www.attalus.org/translate/fast…
The Roman Triumph, by Mary Beard: https://amzn.to/2UafiDD
Rubicon, by Tom Holland: https://amzn.to/2E0x5HX
Cicero, by Anthony Everitt: https://amzn.to/2PgJJnO
Julius Caesar, by Philip Freeman: https://amzn.to/2DXortC
Caesar: Life of a Colossus, by Adrian Goldsworthy: https://amzn.to/2Q9rtlO
The Rise of Rome, by Anthony Everitt: https://amzn.to/2PeSEGw
“Circum Metas Fertur: An Alternative Reading of the Triumphal Route,” by Ida Östenberg. From Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, vol. 59, no. 3: https://bit.ly/2SpsjHJ

Music:
“Honey,” by Nctrnm
“XY,” by Nctrnm
“The House Glows (With Almost No Help),” by Chris Zabriskie
“Hallon,” by Christian Bjoerklund

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Patton | Based on a True Story

Filed under: History, Media, Military, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

The Cynical Historian
Published 30 Aug 2018

It’s finally time to review Patton! I have a lot to say about it, as you can tell by the time stamp. Way back when I started the Based on a True Story series, the second episode was a bit about what I considered to be the best ones — and this movie was at the top. I love this film, but for more reasons than most of you could know — so this is going to be a deep dive into the film and its subject matter. It’s ambiguous, narrowed in subject, and just a perfect examination of the man. As the New Yorker said during the movie’s release, “[Patton] appears to be deliberately planned as a Rorschach test.”
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references:
Brian Sobel and George S. Patton IV, The Fighting Pattons (Westport: Praeger Publishing, 1997). https://amzn.to/2u2WI57

MacMillan Compendium, America at War (New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1994), 726-727. https://amzn.to/2m6o4mx

John Keegan and Andrew Wheatcroft, Who’s Who in Military History: from 1453 to the Present Day, (London: Routledge, 1996), 231-232. https://amzn.to/2KWv53M

Paul Fussell, “Patton”, in Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies, ed. Mark Carnes (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996). https://amzn.to/2J5iGc7

Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen, Based on a True Story: Fact and Fantasy in 100 Favorite Movies, (Chicago: A Cappella Books, 2005), 269-272. https://amzn.to/2m2sSZQ

Frank Sanello, Reel v. Real: How Hollywood Turns Fact into Fiction (Lanham: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003), 177-181. https://amzn.to/2N072BB

http://www.historynet.com/patton-film…

https://dailyhistory.org/How_accurate…

http://jbell2ja.umwblogs.org/history-…

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008…

https://www.moviemistakes.com/film960

Special thanks to my mom, dad, and uncle for making sure this was accurate and providing media for the end bit, especially my father (Mark Hall-Patton), who proofread the script as well.
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Wiki:
Patton is a 1970 American epic biographical DeLuxe Color war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, who based their screenplay on the biography Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago and Omar Bradley’s memoir A Soldier’s Story. The film was shot in 65 mm Dimension 150 by cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp and has a music score by Jerry Goldsmith.

Patton won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Scott won Best Actor for his portrayal of General Patton, but declined to accept the award. The opening monologue, delivered by George C. Scott as General Patton with an enormous American flag behind him, remains an iconic and often quoted image in film. The film was successful, and in 2003, Patton was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. The Academy Film Archive preserved Patton in 2003.
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#History #Patton #Review #Accuracy #GeneralPatton

January 13, 2020

MANNERHEIM | History and his Line

Filed under: Europe, History, Military, Russia, WW1, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

TIK
Published 22 Jun 2017

Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim towers over all other characters of the Winter War, and of Finnish history in general. This video is a brief introduction to one of the great leaders of the 20th Century (and according to a TV poll in 2004, the greatest Finn of all time). Full script is available as captions/subtitles, and the source I used for this video is –

Trotter, W. The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish War of 1939-40. Aurum Press Ltd, 2003.

If you’d like to help me make these videos, consider supporting me on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TIKhistory

January 10, 2020

Pierre Poilievre’s bid for federal Conservative leader

Filed under: Cancon, Media, Politics — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Chris Selley on the varying reactions to the notion of Pierre Poilievre as Andrew Scheer’s replacement:

Glee is spreading among Liberal partisans at the thought of Pierre Poilievre succeeding Andrew Scheer as Conservative leader. The theory is he is so pugnacious, so obnoxious, so poisonously, sneeringly partisan as to be literally unelectable.

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre at a Manning Centre event, 1 March 2014.
Manning Centre photo via Wikimedia Commons.

It is true that the man longtime Conservative cabinet minister John Baird nicknamed “Skippy,” in tribute to his enthusiastic Question Period performances, does not suffer from an excess of gravitas — though Poilievre’s reported support for his leadership bid from Baird and Jenni Byrne, a former senior adviser to Stephen Harper, lend him some within party ranks. His candidacy hasn’t made any measurable dent thus far in public opinion polls. And the opposition war rooms would certainly have fun unpacking his baggage.

Never mind Poilievre questioning the value-for-money proposition of compensating residential school victims (for which he apologized), or his use of the term “tar baby” in the House of Commons (for which he did not, and nor should he have, because it was a perfectly apt and inoffensive analogy in the context he used it), or the dreaded Green Light from the Campaign Life Coalition. Having been Harper’s parliamentary secretary, Liberals will blame him for every supposed atrocity of the Harper era.

All that said, the notion that people widely viewed as pugnacious, obnoxious and partisan-to-a-fault can’t win in Canadian politics is belied by reality. A quick glance around the federation brings Jason Kenney, Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau immediately to mind.

That’s not to say they won because of those character traits: Kenney’s and Ford’s leadership opponents would likely have fared just as well. Trudeau hoodwinked many with his Sunny Ways fraud, but he might well have won as the classic born-to-rule Liberal he turned out to be. If his government continues venting credibility at the rate it established late in its first mandate, the next Conservative leader could well become prime minister no matter who he is.

After recounting the dismal tale of Sheer’s “leadership”, Selley recounts a favourite story about Boris Johnson which contrasts strongly with the Milk Dud’s occupancy of the job.

Again, that degree of swagger and eloquence is far too much to ask of Canadian politicians. But it shouldn’t be too much to ask a party leader to have enough confidence in his party, his members, his movement and his ideas to arouse him to at least some degree of annoyance when they’re unfairly deprecated. If Conservative members aren’t excited by the prospect of a Poilievre leadership, they shouldn’t be half as mortified as Liberals think they should be.

January 7, 2020

History Summarized: Alcibiades

Filed under: Europe, History, Humour, Military — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published 11 Jan 2016

The oracle at delphi simply tells him, “congratulations”. The standard of nudity was his idea. Narcissus gets shy around him. Patroclus was his boyfriend first. He is … the most interesting man in Ancient Greece.

Extra special thanks to Blue’s professor, Mr. Samons, who taught him about Greek history and the comedic potential of marshmallows and triremes.

January 3, 2020

The Battle of Alesia (52 B.C.E.)

Filed under: Europe, France, History, Military — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Historia Civilis
Published 24 Apr 2015

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Music is “The Life and Death of a Certain K. Zabriskie, Patriarch” by Chris Zabriskie. (http://chriszabriskie.com/)

December 15, 2019

The Nine Situations | The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Filed under: Books, History, Military — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Eudaimonia
Published 26 Nov 2017

Support the channel: https://www.patreon.com/EudaimoniaCha…
Buy the book on Amazon: http://geni.us/xgng

November 22, 2019

Battle of Savo Island 1942: America’s Worst Naval Defeat

Filed under: Australia, History, Japan, Military, Pacific, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Montemayor
Published 26 Aug 2017

(Animated Map) – WARNING: lower the volume if you are using headphones. sorry for the audio.

I do not own the rights to the songs or images. This video is purely for educational purposes.

No copyright intended, all image rights go to:

-Wikipedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ba…

-Naval History Heritage and Command
https://www.history.navy.mil/

-Portrait of Richmond K. Turner
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Onli…

–USS Jarvis
http://www.navsource.org/

Images contained on this site that are donated from private sources are © copyrighted by the respective owner. Images credited to the National Archives (NA, NARA); Naval History & Heritage Command (NHHC), formerly Naval Historical Center (NHC); and U.S. Navy (USN) are believed to be in the public domain. Some images credited to the United States Naval Institute (USNI) are from © copyrighted collections, the rest are believed to be in the public domain.

All songs by Ross Budgen https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQKG…
-“Welcome to Chaos”
-“House Lannister Theme” – Game of Thrones Season 4 (Original composition)
-“Run”
-“Parallel”

Sources-

Hammel, E. (2017, March 6). “First Battle of Savo Island: The U.S. Navy’s Worst Defeat”. Retrieved August 25, 2017, from http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/dail…

Hornfischer, J. D. (2011). Neptunes Inferno: the U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal. New York: Bantam Books.

Newcomb, R. F., & Newcomb, R. F. (2002). The Battle of Savo Island. New York: H. Holt.

Stille, M. (2013). The Naval Battles for Guadalcanal 1942 (Vol. 225). Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing.

Toll, I. W. (2016). The Conquering Tide: war in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

USMC Casualty list taken from:
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC…

October 25, 2019

QotD: Command and control in the US military

Filed under: Military, Quotations, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

A book excerpt in Foreign Policy caught my eye. It is by Thomas E Ricks, a long time critic of the US military’s leadership, and it is about the US Army’s failed command and control (C²) system which has been adopted, holus bolus, by Canada. I’m guessing that the article was written for American military officers because it is full of the bafflegab and jargon that is characteristic of their system ~ never use a short, simple, English word when a long, fancy one, with French or, preferably, German roots will do.

The crux of the author’s complaint is that military commanders have been relegated to the status of administrators and managers because the US Army is all about process and seems to care too little about results. The author complains, with reason, that headquarters, from battalion to the highest levels, have gotten larger and larger and more and more complex but appear to actually accomplish less and less. I think the same complaints can be, validly, made about Canada.

It is not surprising that Canada, like Australia, Britain, Chile and Denmark, has adapted at least some of the US military’s system ~ the USA has, after all, the most powerful military in the world. They must be doing something right, right?

Actually, since about 1950s, the US military has been distinguished by blunders and defeats at least as often as we have seen periodic displays of operational prowess: Viet Nam, Bay of Pigs, the failed hostage rescue in Iran, the invasion of Grenada, the second Iraq War all come to mind. The American military legacy has even spawned American satirical films about (constantly failing) American military command. That’s something I though only the Brits could do.

Ted Campbell, “Military command and control”, Ted Campbell’s Point of View, 2017-09-16.

September 24, 2019

Bill Belichick’s secret is that he doesn’t have a secret

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

I’m not a Patriots fan so I don’t think of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick as some sort of demi-god … although I have wondered if he’s got some sulfur burns from suspicious handshakes with diabolical representatives … but Severian makes the case that his big secret is that he doesn’t have one:

Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots watches the preseason game against the Washington Redskins at FedExField on August 28, 2009 in Landover, Maryland.
Photo by Keith Allison via Wikimedia Commons.

Belichick isn’t some kind of super-genius. Nor does he have some unique insight into the game. He’ll never write a book on “The Bill Belichick System,” because unlike every other celebrity coach, he doesn’t have a “system.” He simply does what he needs to do to win, one game at a time, with the pieces he has. That’s just leadership, in the traditional sense of the term, but so few people in our modern Media-driven culture have seen it that it totally fries our circuits. Surely he must have some double-secret grimoire of football excellence that he consults on the sidelines …?

Nope. Belichick’s secret is what he doesn’t have: A huge ego, a “system,” the my-way-or-the-highway mentality that infects nearly everyone given the tiniest smidgen of real power. An example: He once countered (and, of course, defeated) a ferocious defense on crappy field conditions by lining up a sixth offensive lineman as a tight end. Perfectly legal, but nobody else would’ve ever dreamed of doing it.

The Patriots are famous for using their (perennially excellent) tight ends more than any other team in the league, so naturally the opponent spent all week scheming to take away the TE. When Belichick kept his tight ends off the field, the opponent had no idea what to do; their quick cover linebackers got plastered by the extra linemen, and the Patriots’ running backs ran wild.

The lesson from this is twofold: First, that he would think to do it in the first place. Again, it’s perfectly legal. Teams do it all the time, actually, except they do it in goal line situations — instead of cramming the ball up the middle, they send a soft-handed lineman over into the corner of the end zone. He’s too big for anyone back there to cover, so if the QB can get it to him it’s an easy score. All Belichick did was run the same personnel out in the middle of the field. Simple, but football is the most conservative sport in existence — nobody does anything that hasn’t been done a million times before.

The second takeaway is that Belichick had enough control to pull it off. Nobody likes getting his playing time reduced, and tight ends in the modern game are highly-paid gentlemen accustomed to frequent success. Even if they wanted to, most coaches wouldn’t be able to take their glory boys off the field for an extended period — the players would riot, the Media would crucify him, and the fans would go nuts. Belichick’s guys bought in enough to follow the gameplan without complaint. He gave them the credit when the team won, but he would’ve taken the heat if they’d lost. Again, that’s not some special football coaching technique; it’s just leadership.

September 14, 2019

QotD: America and its army

Filed under: History, Military, Quotations, USA — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

Before 1939 the United States Army was small, but it was professional. Its tiny officers corps was parochial, but true. Its members devoted their time to the study of war, caring little what went on in the larger society around them. They were centurions, and the society around them not their concern.

When so ordered, they went to war. Spreading themselves thinner still, they commanded and trained the civilians who heeded the trumpet’s call. The civilians did the fighting, of course — but they did it the Army’s way.

In 1861 millions of volunteers donned blue or gray. Millions of words have been written on American valor, but few books dwell on the fact that of the sixty important battles, fifty-five were commanded on both sides by West Pointers, and on one side in the remaining five.

In 1917 four million men were mustered in. Few of them liked it, but again they did things the way the professionals wanted them done.

The volunteers came and went, and the Army changed not at all.

But since the Civil War, the Army had neither the esteem nor the favor of public or government. Liberal opinion, whether business-liberal or labor-liberal, dominated the United States after the destruction of the South, and the illiberal Army grew constantly more alienated from its own society.

In a truly liberal society, centurions have no place. For centurions, when they put on the soldier, do not retain the citizen. They are never citizens to begin with.

There was and is no danger of military domination of the nation. The Constitution gave Congress the power of life or death over the military, and they have always accepted the fact. The danger has been the other way around — the liberal society, in its heart, wants not only domination of the military, but acquiesence of the military toward the liberal view of life.

Domination and control society should have. The record of military rule, from the burnished and lazy Praetorians to the juntas of Latin America, to the attempted fiasco of the Légion Étrangére, are pages of history singularly foul in odor.

But acquiesence society may not have, if it wants an army worth a damn. By the very nature of its mission, the military must maintain a hard and illiberal view of life and the world. Society’s purpose is to live; the military’s is to stand ready, if need be, to die.

Soldiers are rarely fit to rule — but they must be fit to fight.

The military is in essence a tool, to be used by its society. If its society is good, it may hope to be used honorably, even if badly. If its society is criminal, it may be, like the Wehrmacht, unleashed upon a helpless world.

But when the Wehrmacht dashed against the world, it was brought to ruin, not by a throng of amateurs, but by well-motivated, well-generaled Allied troops, who had learned their military lessons.

T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness, 1963.

September 2, 2019

The Inca Empire – Earth-Shaker – Extra History – #2

Filed under: Americas, History, Military — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Extra Credits
Published on 31 Aug 2019

Join us on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon

Pachacuti, the Earth-Shaker, was the ninth leader of the Inca and the one who took the ambitions of the city of Cusco into an all-out military campaign to expand the empire — alongside bribing and engineering and negotiating their way to expansion.

Pachacuti turned out to be a good name for this ninth ruler of the Inca, because while the name did mean “earth-shaker” it was also a philosophical concept. In Quechua, the Inca’s primary language, a pachacuti was a historic event, a cataclysm that overturns space and time, remaking the world. It was a good title for the man who would forge the Kingdom of Cusco into an empire.

August 6, 2019

QotD: Sheep and goats

Filed under: Australia, Britain, Cancon, Humour, Quotations, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 01:00

… the major English-speaking countries of the world (England, the USA, and to a lesser extent because of their longer history as colonies, Canada and Australia (no, New Zealand isn’t “major” yet, but it’s getting there)) have tended to be more inclined to view their people as citizens who can make their own decisions in most things than as subjects who need to be told what to do. Despite the depredations of power-hungry bureaucrats and politicians, all these nations are still in many ways more free than almost the entirety of the rest of the world. None of us have official bodies telling us what words we can use or what the proper spelling of new words is.

It’s the little things like this that point to the mindset under them. Or as Pratchett memorably put it in Small Gods: “Sheep are stupid and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led.” European nations treat their people like sheep. The USA treats its people more like goats, although the would-be shepherds keep pushing. Pratchett did not add that trying to drive goats will often earn the would-be driver a kick in the nadgers, but it’s worth remembering. Because Americans are goats. We can be led by the right people for the right reasons. Try to drive us, and you will find your family jewels suffering.

Kate Paulk, “The Difference Between Citizens And Subjects”, Kate Paulk, 2017-07-17.

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