It’s hard to comprehend just how massive an event the Second World War was. There’s a fascinating story here about one man still trying to come to grips with his past, and how his early life was completely shaped by the Nazi conquest.
Archive for the ‘History’ Category
Repercussions of World War 2
Friday, January 9th, 2009Cool Picture
Friday, January 9th, 2009Regardless of what it really was, this picture from the Telegraph is pretty cool looking:
"Searchlights converge on an unidentified object over Los Angeles on February 25, 1942. The bright blobs around the flashes are anti-aircraft shells exploding."
Russian Resurgence
Saturday, December 27th, 2008Whatever you think of the new resurgence of Russia, this is rather unnerving.
Ahmadinejad vs. Reality
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008There’s an interesting news story here about Ahmadinejad’s speech to the UK. It includes some interesting lines:
“If Christ was on Earth today undoubtedly he would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers,” Mr Ahmadinejad will say in a speech to be shown in Farsi with English subtitles.
“If Christ was on Earth today undoubtedly he would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over. If Christ was on Earth today undoubtedly he would fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as He did in His lifetime.”
This is really fascinating, and should be quite a revelation to anyone who has read the Bible. Somehow we all must have missed the part where he actively opposed the Roman occupation (which was a REAL occupation — taxation, brutal repression, crucifixion, and all), as well as the part where he fought “prevailing global economic and political systems.”
Then again, these things seem to be easy to miss, considering that Jesus’ followers included radical Jewish separatists (zealots — the type of people who today would support the “Zionist entity” that Ahmadinejad so strongly opposes), as well as Jews who worked for the Roman empire (as tax collectors). Not only that, but some of the Romans themselves followed him. Apart from “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s,” (which, as a matter of fact, followed a middle path between support and opposition to the “prevailing global economic and political systems”), Jesus never really got into politics.
It’s also interesting to consider his death. Yes, Jesus was executed by the Romans, but at the behest of the politico-religious Sanhedrin. Pontius Pilate wanted nothing to do with executing an innocent man, but was forced to (literally) wash his hands of the matter when religious leaders operating in the political sphere began to incite the crowd to revolt. Which government — Roman or Sanhedrin — does the religious rule of the mullahs in Iran really resemble more?
This Christmas, perhaps the Britons who have the opportunity to watch this speech should do so. Perhaps, in proper context, the facts of the past might illuminate the present.
And we can be sure that the facts of the past are not on Ahmadinejad’s side.
Old Newspaper Headline
Monday, December 15th, 2008I’ve recently been cleaning up some of the stuff laying around in my room, and I came across some notes I took while reading the New York Times from June 28, 1914. One headline in particular amused me:
“Pope Carefully Watched. He Keeps Very Well, but Persists in Exposing Himself.”
No wonder interest in religion was stronger back then.
(The New York Times website has a freely available copy of the article.)
History In Color
Monday, November 17th, 2008I had seen color photographs of the first world war before (the Heritage of the Great War site has some excellent examples), but most of them seemed to be from the allied side of the lines. The Telegraph has put up some examples on their site from the German side of the western front. For those of you interested in the history, there’s a post at Damn Interesting on color photography of the same era. There are many other examples of WWI color pictures on the internet — one of the larger collections I’ve seen is here.
There’s something about color photos that really seems to bring history to life for me. Black and white pictures are good, but at the same time they don’t seem to capture the immediacy of the photograph in the same way. I suppose that’s because growing up when I did, black and white pictures were almost always of something that happened in the past, while color photos were contemporary. Color seems to bring these images forward in time, allowing you to see these things not as something that happened in the distant past, but something that was terribly real to other real people.
I really like the stereoscopic images that were so popular at the time of the First World War, and even without the viewer, it’s possible to see the same effect. I took the stereoscopic example picture from the Telegraph’s site and cropped it, and switched the image halves. This makes it so you can use the cross-eyed technique for viewing the picture in 3D — cross your eyes while looking at the picture just enough to make it look as though there are three images. Look at the middle image, make sure everything matches up, and slowly let your eyes focus on it (I find it helpful to pick something in the picture to focus on). It takes some trying, but it’s great to see these men appear as they really were 92 years ago:
German Soldiers