About Woodrow Wilson's concentration camps......

PGA Weblog ^

[Stonewall Jackson]

No problem. Grant's Memoirs are a very interesting read.

I'm on vacation this next week and will be heading to a couple of Bragg's near-victories; Chattanooga and Chickamauga Military Park and Stones River Battlefield.

[donmeaker]

I would like to see the railroad cutting where Sherman’s corps got lost. One of Sherman’s few bad performances. The good news is Sheridan’s holding attack couldn’t be held.

My understanding is that Sheridan raised a cup of liquor to toast Mr. Bragg on his way up, and a chance bullet knocked it out of his hand. “That’s damned ungenerous!” and so he continued the attack.
,

[BroJoeK]

Sam Gamgee: "British officers fought with the Jordanians against Israel in the 1948 war for one example."

Here's what I know about that:

"Jordan's Arab Legion was considered the most effective Arab force.
Armed, trained and commanded by British officers, this 8,000–12,000 strong force was organized in four infantry/mechanized regiments supported by some 40 artillery pieces and 75 armoured cars.[74]
Until January 1948, it was reinforced by the 3,000-strong Transjordan Frontier Force.[77]
As many as 48 British officers served in the Arab Legion."

On the other hand, Israelies:

"...also managed to obtain stocks of British weapons due to the logistical complexity of the British withdrawal, and the corruption of a number of officials"

I don't know if actions of British lead Jordanian units were sanctioned by the British government, but I do know:

"The Arab Legion joined the war in May 1948, but fought only in the areas that King Abdullah wanted to secure for Jordan: the West Bank and East Jerusalem."

I also know that Britain formally recognized Israel on May 13, 1949, a year after the US and USSR, but about the same time as other European countries, like France and Italy.

Clearly the Brits were hoping to keep friends on all sides, and help make Britain's various partitions of the old Ottoman Empire work as nations.

The Brits also deserve some credit for the 1917 Balfour Delcaration, and for help to Jews in general.
Sure, if like many, you feel that such aid was grossly inadequate, the fact remains it compares favorably with aid from other countries -- Franklin Roosevelt's USA notably.

For a more favorable view of British relations to Jews, I recommend Martin Gilbert's "Churchill and the Jews, a Lifelong Friendship".

Yes, I have to recognize the following claim:

"Britain, along with Spain and France, are among the least sympathetic countries to Israel in the world.[120]"

But first, I doubt if it's true, even today, and second to whatever degree true, it surely reflects influences of those countries' Muslim populations.
Or perhaps just of anti-Israel posters at Wikipedia!

Finally I don't see, how can this particular incident in 1948 cause you to blame the Brits for starting the First World War in 1914?

[donmeaker]

For a while France was a great friend of Israel. Many of Israeli Super-Shermans came from France, where the French built a copy of the Panther 75mm gun and mounted it onto the Sherman. (The Panther 75mm gun had better armor penetration than the German 88mm or the US 90mm guns.) They also provided Mirage jets, and would sell ships to Israel when the US wouldn’t.

The 1956 Suez Crisis had Israel invade Sinai while Britain and France invade along the Suez canal. At least in that part of the 1950s France was an Israeli Ally.

[Stonewall Jackson]

Two points of interest at Chickamauga will be the spots where Union Brigadier General William Lytle and Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm were killed.

Lytle was one of America's greatest poets during the 1850's, and his poem "Antony and Cleopatra" was found in school readers well into the 1900's. After he was killed, the Confederates placed an honor guard around his body and hundreds of Confederate soldiers came by to pay their respects. That evening, many Confederate troops recited his poetry around the campfires in tribute. Even though the Union Army was under siege at Chattanooga, an honor detail from his old regiment (the 10th Ohio) was allowed to escort his body home to Cincinnati, where over 25,000 people lined the streets to witness the funeral procession.

Helm was from a prominent and influential Kentucky family, and the brother-in-law of Abraham Lincoln. When the Civil War had started, Lincoln had tried to convince his friend and relative to accept a commission as the Union Army paymaster, but Helm turned this offer down and instead headed south. As commander of the 1st Kentucky "Orphan" Brigade, Helm was beloved by his troops for his concern over their welfare and his ferocity in battle. Mortally wounded while leading his brigade, Helm was originally buried in Georgia, but his remains were returned home after the war. His grave is less than two miles from where I am currently sitting.

[donmeaker]

Most aggressors want surrender, not war.

There is a sadly naive book named “Peace with Honor” written between WWI and WWII by Englishman A.A. Milne. In it he despaired of the use of either alliances or sanctions to put an end with war. He eventually comes to the conclusion that all of England should resolve to not go to war, no matter what the provocation.

After all, what would the Hun do? Murder millions of people?

To literary types, the name A.A. Milne may sound familiar.

[BroJoeK]

donmeaker: "To literary types, the name A.A. Milne may sound familiar."

Oh, bother...

[donmeaker]

got it in one!

[rockrr]

I can’t for the life of me see what was offensive about that post but someone did - and several others upstream.

Someone has some incredibly think skin.

[donmeaker]

Perhaps it was the picture showing the Disney version of Pooh Bear that stirred the copyright honoring nature of Free Republic to remove the picture.

The heirs of AA Milne sold the characters of his Pooh world to Disney for about 325 million. Such a property should be reasonably protected.

[donmeaker]

The Kaiser won WWI against Russia, and used German troops to install the Bolsheviks.

The price: Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Bylorussia.

[Stonewall Jackson]

I just got back from the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

I absolutely loved the Chickamauga side of the park. It was well-maintained and the National Park Service is in the midst of restoring the forest to its original condition (extremely dense trees with little underbrush).

Unfortunately, I was unable to visit the Lookout Mountain (Chattanooga) part of the park. A severe thunderstorm had cropped up and they were ushering everyone out for safety reasons. I didn't have four or five hours to hang around, so I headed home.

I plan on heading through that area in a few months (heading to Kennesaw Mountain), so I'll try again.