The War of 1812: Part 1 - Tecumseh and the Aboriginals

Two things have occurred since the War of 1812 that are, one, so very Canadian and the other so very American. For the former, two great Canadian heroes are neither Canadian nor did they really wante to be a part of Canada (Tecumseh, a First Nations leader, wanting a separate native state and British military leader Isaac Brock desperately wished to return to Europe to live and fight there). As for the later, the fact that the U.S. invaded and came away with no territory and nevertheless claimed victory by saying "yeah, well, we won that fight at the end, so, America!" feels just about right as well. But that's a long way off - we have to start a little over fourty years earlier, just after the States told the British that they were going to be moving out of their parents' place and declaring independence.

Back then, land was of the utmost importance. Expansion and the retention of taken lands was critical to the plans of all three parties: the British wanted to establish a colony oversees, hoping to drink tea in a decidedly colder climate; the Americans, again typically American, wanted pretty well everything - land, power, wealth, and future fast food destination spots; the natives really just wanted to rewind things at least to a time where things were somewhat less bleak. The British were kind of on board with the natives' plan, deciding that they would give them a large section of reserved land. This would do two major things for the British colonies of Upper and Lower Canada; one, it would placate the large number of aboriginals that didn't seem on board with the whole "we're taking your stuff" strategy of the newcomers, and two, it would create a buffer zone between the increasingly large and menacing American threat that may just decide to step over into their yard and plant their flag in Canadian lands.

Tecumseh dressed like a modern day hipster,
and looked good doing it.

Tecumseh, the hero of the native peoples, was born around this time into the Shawnee people. The Iroquois just took over their Ohio land, displacing them and later selling it to the Americans - something that the Shawnee would not honour as it was not them that had sold it. The next decades of his life were predominantly focussed on surviving constant displacement by settlers forcing them out or surviving raids by the same on his newfound towns. His father died in one of these raids in a last, desperate stand of the dwindling numbers of warriors that were defending. Tecumseh was born into war, and it would be that war that he would eventually die in.

By the time he was eighteen, Tecumseh became a leader of his tribe. He was a great hunter, a provider, handsome and charming, and seemed to be the kind that would do well in the war with the Americans. His first taste of battle, however, didn't go exactly as one would hope. Upon joining the fray, he panicked and ran, deserting the fight. He vowed never show such fear again, but considering the method of warfare at the time was standing some distance from the enemy, loading your rifle, firing at him, and repeating the process until enough are dead that you can cause a retreat or be the one to turn tail, I can't say I blame him for getting out of there. Nevertheless, he returned and started causing quite the raucous - he staged hit and runs, became a respected warchief, and a proven warrior. In spite of his father (and his brother) being killed by the Americans, he still showed restraint when dealing with the enemy. There are a number of accounts of Tecumseh stopping tortures or slaughters of prisoners. However, being a respectable warrior and excellent leader could only go so far. Having so many disparate tribes within the native armies, they lacked a cohesive leader to properly mobilize their forces. If one leader disagreed, he could simply bring his people with him, meaning that without a head the tribes lacked a united front.

But the War of 1812 was between the British and the Americans, with the natives allying with one side or the other, and therefore not the focal point. So what caused them to have such bad blood? The fighting started with more than just a disagreement over what, exactly, is "football". The roots of it began over in Europe, and oddly enough, with Napoleon. The French leader was at war with Britain, and America could obviously trade with both sides, which when left to their own devices was quite lucrative. However, they were playing both sides of the war between the two, and this meant that the European powers would take out American ships that weren't going to a friendly port to stifle supplies to their respective enemy countries. Worse yet, the British would often board these American ships and bring back former British subjects that had deserted and joined the United States, placing them once more in the military of the British crown. The process of taking these soldiers, called impressment, was critical to supplying the large British navy with men to run the ships - regardless of the low morale that must have caused.

Impressment and reduced trade enraged many Americans. A group titled the Warhawks, led by Henry Clay, saw Upper Canada not only as great farmland rife for the taking but also as a means of taking some revenge on those that put a blockade on the trade goods of the U.S.. They thought they could clear the British out of all of America.

An early version of Mortal Kombat. Player one chose Tecumseh.
Player two chose William Henry Harrison.

Meanwhile, Isaac Brock, a British soldier, was placed in charge of the army and sought to defend Canada. However, he wasn't a big fan of the place. He frequently wrote letters wishing to return to England, thinking of the Canadas as some kind of backwater - and he wasn't even placed in Newfoundland. Nevertheless, he worked tirelessly shoring up the defences and preparing for a war that very well may be coming. At 6'2", Brock was an imposing and inspiring man, and if there was a Brit that could get the job done it would be him.

His worries came to fruition when Tecumseh met with the Americans, claiming they were taking their land by force and he wouldn't stand for it. He informed them they were going to be accepting gunpowder from the British, and with that, the chances of ending the disputes without bloodshed were effectively ended. War was coming. A large number of natives sided with the British on the grounds that they were friendlier to their plight, but many others went the American route hoping to be on the winning side. The British refused to back down on their methods of impressment, believing it necessary to fuel the war effort in Europe. The Americans had enough of these pushy, snobby Brits. Fortunately for Canada, this happened before America's bloated military budget came to be.

The Byzantine Empire: Part 5 - Crusades and the Fall of Constantinople

1042-1453
Yes, yes, I recognize that 1042-1453 is a long stretch of time, but while Rome wasn't built in a day, Byzantium didn't fall in one either. It went through a slow, painful decline in power through two major issues. The first was the split of the church, through one side believing the west wasn't well represented and the east believing it was fine. The split created the Catholic (universal) and Eastern Orthodox (true) churches, the separation meaning they no longer supported each other. The other major problem - and this one the more violent, scary one - was the rise of the Seljuk Turks. Originally nomadic, they banded together and caught the Muslim world by surprise, taking large sections of territory. They set their sights on the Byzantine Empire, and with the mismanagement of previous emperors and the military being stripped in fear of uprisings, it was right there, ready to be trampled.

The crusaders taking Jerusalem. Upon hearing this news
the Pope proclaimed he was "totally stoked" and was
glad the soldiers could "git 'er done."

With the Turks rampaging across the lands, the Pope needed to do something, and while he wasn't yelling "terrorist!" or forcing people off airplanes, he ignited the western civilizations of Europe in a fervor of anti-Muslim sentiments. With that, the first Crusade was born, and taking up the banner of Christ they went to kill all the non-Christians they could find in the most Christian way they could. But how did Constantinople feel about this? Alexius, the emperor, was wary of the men coming through his lands on the way to attack the Turks. First, they might make the Pope more powerful, thus weakening his own position. Second, that many people coming through the city would need food and hospitality, and not being willing to provide might not work out too well. I'm betting you wouldn't like to be the one to tell a massive number of angry, violent men that they're going to be well fed during their travels.

Saladin: Upon trampling an enemy soldier,
he would shout back at his troops, yelling
"look, no hands!".

Fortunately, they passed through on their way to take Jerusalem, but Alexius was still supposed to send soldiers. The lands were, after all, meant to be returned to Constantinople's influence once they were liberated from the Turks. So, when a massive army was descending upon a number of crusaders, Alexius took his men and ventured out to support them. That was when he came across a man fleeing from the battle who informed Alexius that by the time they arrived all would be lost - so Alexius, not wanting to go fight a war that's already concluded, went back to Constantinople. This is one of those historical "what if?" moments where you have to wonder what would have happened if that man had never escaped. Well... Byzantium would probably still go down, but it would likely be a fair while later.

The reason this was so bad for the empire was the crusaders didn't lose. They fought on valiantly, and as things go with having the advantage of being the defender, they shut themselves off in their fortifications and defeated the superior numbers of the Turks. This destroyed the reputation of the empire, and the crusaders would no longer return the lands to Constantinople, instead keeping them for themselves.

Some time later, the Turks, who had taken the role as vassal states instead of being entirely eliminated, started to rise up again. Under the banner of the great Saladin (so great I've seen him in Age of Empires and the Civilization series - really the benchmark for a top level historical ruler) the Turks stole Jerusalem back and sparked another Crusade against him. The Turks were much more successful this time, however, and the Ottoman Empire was created and running largely unopposed. As for the crusaders that went out to fight them, they also ended up brutalizing Constantinople. Due to infighting between emperors and would-be emperors, one hired the crusaders to get him the crown. They were successful, but discovered he couldn't afford to pay them all that he had promised. As a result, the crusaders rampaged across the city, looting, burning and destroying much of Constantinople. Looking back on it, the crusaders didn't seem to be the holy rollers they claimed to be. Who knew?

With Constantinople in shambles, they soon became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans frequently shamed the emperor and his people, forcing them into the indignity of living underfoot. They finally pushed the emperor Manuel II a little too far, forcing them to declare war. The Ottoman army was much, much greater, but they had the walls of Constantinople to protect them and the Turks lacked an adequate navy to attack from the sea. They managed to hold on, and the Mongol, Timur the Lame (what a name to go down in history with) forced them to retreat as he was attacking Ottoman territory. It was good timing, and it gave them a reprieve, but this was grasping at straws and the empire was on the outs.

A statue of the last emperor of the Byzantines. I mean, don't
get me wrong, he fought well and all, but he did just get
a statue of him for having the empire die under his watch.
Just sayin'.

Eventually they returned, and they attacked once more with the emperor Constantine at the helm. While it seemed like they could shield themselves behind the walls of Constantinople forever, the introduction of the cannon spelled the end. The walls were repeatedly bombarded, and while they would restack the rubble during the nighttime, their soldiers were outnumbered ten to one. Regardless, they held on valiantly, turning away advance after advance of the Ottoman troops. Constantine was told to flee as the city was sure to fall, but he chose to stay, rallying the troops and going down with the ship. In what must have been a surprisingly nice moment (considering both sides were displaying the corpses of their enemy outside their walls) the split churches both met in the Hagia Sophia and had a communal service. The speech the emperor gave was more a funeral service than a inspiration.

After 1123 years, the Byzantine Empire fell as the Ottoman troops ransacked and set fire to the city, raping and pillaging everything in sight. The 88th and final emperor charged into battle with his troops and was never seen from again.

The Byzantine Empire: Part 4 - Political Intrigue

800-976
The problem with covering hundreds of years of history is it tends to jump around from wild
successes to massive failures with the flip of a page. Since the previous blog, it's been a little while. Constantinople's power had gone up and down - and, at the beginning of the 9th century, it was just starting to turn around again, this time for the better. The Byzantine empire stumbled upon a number of (literal) gold mines, teaching religion outside of the Latin language helped to solidify ties with their territories, and education began to find importance again. Then came the time of Michael the Drunk - a man whose name tells you almost entirely everything you need to know about him. Almost. What's just as important is he had an uncle who was much smarter and more capable than the frequently inebriated emperor. His uncle would be slated to take the leadership once Michael's death came through either an assassination, an unfortunate drunken tumble down the stairs, or a liver that finally collapsed under the weight of so, so much abuse - or so it seemed. Michael was impressed by a peasant whom he believed was a particularly talented wrestler, and decided that being able to pin someone was a good enough reason to pass the crown on to him. The uncle warned him against this, both because it was obviously ludicrous but also because he didn't trust the wrestler. As it turns out, similar to the rest of his life, he should have listened to his uncle. They were murdered by the would-be successor, and with that the Macedonian dynasty began under the leadership of Basil I. That's assassination one. There are plenty more to come.

There's Basil on the left, wrestling a man. The crowd are all politely watching,
yelling for a suplex, or at the very least, a beheading.

Basil I was a capable leader, but you could say what felled him was karma. He disapproved of the woman his son hoped to take as a wife, and eventually Leo (his son) would take the throne after Basil found an unfortunate death similar in the way to the mob's enemies have "accidents" while out on a hunting trip. Unfortunately for Leo, the wife his father had planned for him wasn't anyone he was interested in. Fortunately for him, his wife died and he was free to marry his longtime mistress of whom Basil disapproved of. This wife also died from a fever. Upon marrying a third wife, she died in childbirth (along with the baby). This means that he would have to marry a fourth woman, but he himself had forbidden the marrying of multiple women in this way, which was a seemingly endless streak of bad luck just piled on by his own doing. So, he slept around outside of marriage a little and had a son whom couldn't be fully recognized as legitimate. It was basically an emperor using the "easier to ask forgiveness than permission" idea. However, avoiding his conundrum with his inability to marry another woman over the graves of his multiple dead wives did little to solve the problem of how a child born outside of marriage would affect his succession. It would take plenty of time with political maneuvering (he was a terrible military leader, but boy could he get his way out of trouble) he managed to get the Pope to recognize his son, and Constantine VII would be set to lead. So to that tally, add another assassination and throw three dead wives in the mix.

Unfortunately, since Constantine VII was only six, he didn't really rule anything, even after Leo died. Leo's uncle, Alexander, who had lived in his shadow long enough took the true role of leadership instead of the title and started to undo much of what Leo had completed. However, after only thirteen months he died while playing a game of polo - perhaps the lamest death of an emperor since the guy who suffocated himself almost immediately after taking hold.  Even then, Constantine VII wouldn't rule. The general Romanus had won the hearts of the people through killing that special number of people to warrant moving up the political ranks, and while he promised to "protect" the emperor, he soon became it himself. He had a large number of sons and it looked like he was going to start a dynasty of his own. But here's the kicker - his favourite son died, and he believed his other ones, well... sucked. So he returns the leadership to the at least sort of rightful Constantine VII (how rightful can you be when pretty much everyone finds their way through assassinations or usurping?). To keep with the tally, that's a polo-related death, a death of a son who would be emperor, and the hundreds of non-important deaths of military campaigns that are always glossed over in the wake of rulers.

Look! There she is, Theophano, poisoning her husband!
I think. How can anyone tell? Maybe that's why it was just a rumour.

Constantine's son, Romanus II, seemed to be following in a similar fashion as the son of Basil I. He didn't like his son's wife, Theophano, but instead of stepping in, he let the marriage happen. A short time later, Basil II was born to Theophano and Romanus II, and within a year, Constantine VII found his end through a fever and Romanus II rose to emperor. In spite of all the deaths passings of the throne, things were going fairly well, specifically because of the general Nicephorus who had recently retaken Crete, a sore spot on the empire that they had lost some time ago. Upon his return, however, he found that Romanus II had been poisoned (another assassination!), leaving their six year old son as the next in line. Theophano (who was dealing with rumours that she did the deed) sent for the general to return to help solidify his rule, and after a fight with a chamberlain who was also vying for power, Nicephorus took the throne and married Theophano.

He was well suited for it; capable and proven in military prowess (which is kind of the Byzantine Empire's man thing, as with most empires) and he proved to be a success. However, he was a successful jerk, and his nephew, Tzimiskes, was growing ever popular. More than that, he was particularly popular with Theophano whom Nicephorus had married, and in a Days of Our Lives-esque betrayal, he was sleeping with her. In a more violent version of Days of Our Lives, Theophano and Tzimiskes brutally murdered Nicephorus, (fourth assassination?!) and took the throne for themselves. By this point Nicephorus was so strongly disliked by the general population, this takeover went about as smoothly as brutal, savage murders could.

Nicephorus: either this is how he
looked, or it's an action figure.
Look at the base at the bottom -
that's so he doesn't fall off your shelf.

Once the dust settled (and soaked up the increasing pools of blood that had been occurring in the empire in the past while) Tzimiskes went on to succeed time and time again in military assaults on the then collapsing Arab caliphate. Upon his return, however, he would prove to be yet another casualty, but this time from the aristocracy. Finding fields and fields of land, he questioned who it belonged to and found that it belonged to Basil Lecapenus. Not fond of the idea of losing his lands or being thrown in jail for what I'm sure was some shady dealing, Lecapenus poisoned the emperor to save his skin. Assassination number five. Whoever was hired as the personal bodyguard of the emperors must be absolutely atrocious at their job.

It was a wild two-hundred years or so. Massive military campaigns, assassinations galore, and more Basils than an over-spiced spaghetti. All in all and in spite of all of that, the Byzantines came out rather strongly. But, that wouldn't last for long. The Crusaders were coming, and the fall of the power of the empire was nigh. So, so nigh.

The Byzantine Empire: Part 3 - Justinian and his General

518-566

In 518 the emperor Justin came in at a time where things were going fairly well. And no, that's not Justinian whom you may have heard of, but rather his uncle, the first of the dynasty. He's probably best known for his nephew Justinian, but who at the time of his birth was named Peter Sabbatius. The emperor saw potential in the boy and gave him the best possible education and advantages, and Peter, never forgetting that, eventually took the name Justinian in recognition of all that his uncle had done for him. Through Justinian's reign Byzantium would see massive amounts of construction, an influx of wealth, a system of laws finally put together properly and at long last some success in wartime. But all that had to be paid for.

Justinian really amped up the taxes, which, true to modern day, angered pretty well close to everyone. In spite of winning land outside their borders (his general Belisarius, who I will show to be one of my new favourite historical figures, was winning fight after fight in Persia) the general population just couldn't stand to be having that kind of money stripped from them. The people got progressively more frustrated until all the anger culminated into a revolt while Justinian was visiting the hippodrome (an arena for horse racing, and to my disappointment, hippo-free). He was forced to flee to his palace, and very well may have been killed were it not for Belisarius who was waiting to be deployed to go clear out the Vandals who had defeated the aggressively stupid Basiliscus not long ago. Belisarius then went to the hippodrome and, as the Roman youth say, kicked their faces in. Except with swords. While there would be no chance at a rebellion of the like again soon, as if you kill all those willing to revolt it tends to leave a very small number willing to give it another go, the idea that the people were so enraged as to rise against him must have shaken Justinian.

The Hagia Sophia is quite the building. I wonder if I could buy
a Belisarius bobblehead there.

He loosened the reigns on the lower class, giving them heavy tax breaks in comparison to what it was like before, but the nobility were not so lucky. Believing that they were hampering him at every turn, he overtaxed the nobility excessively or, more simply, had them murdered. And in the wake of all of this bloodshed...

Another Byzantine golden age! With the treasury overflowing, Justinian builds the massive, beautiful Hagia Sophia, a marvel of architecture and cultural beauty amidst a number of other construction projects. But it wasn't just the home life he was taking care of - he had a few scores to settle, and he had just the man to take care of it.

Sending Belisarius against the Vandals worked brilliantly. They happened to attack at a good time, managing to catch them out of sorts as they were returning from quelling an uprising within their borders. Belisarius pretty well wiped them out entirely, returning the entire treasury and the piles of plunder they had stolen from raids on the empires over the ages. For this he was given the highest honour a general could receive. Of course, this is Belisarius. Belisarius! He wasn't done yet.

Justinian set his sights on retaking the Western Roman Empire, or at least the territory that formerly held that name. Deciding on a two-pronged assault, one general would attack from the north while Belisarius would attack from the south. The gothic king was almost ready to surrender on the spot but was spurred on to battle by the northern general's foolish death (he attacked too recklessly and ended up getting himself killed). The southern advance (of course) was going much better, however. With many supporting the Roman traditions, the doors of Rome flung open without a drop of blood spilled, but there was a distinct problem; he was taking so many cities that his army was all too rapidly losing size. Not because of the losses in battle (there were few) but because with each takeover he had to leave a small garrison behind to secure it. Before long, he was left with a relative skeleton crew of soldiers, and the gothic king who had fled to the city of Ravenna to regroup had noticed that the general's numbers were surprisingly slim. Horribly outnumbered, Belisarius and company held the line against the intruders, but were in desperate need of reinforcements.

This artist must not have liked Justinian,
giving him a rather profound double chin.
He could have gone by "Justinian
the Big Boned".

Back in Constantinople, Justinian felt about Belisarius the way many emperors felt about their successful generals; fearful of the populace getting behind the winning warlord rather than the throne. Justinian did eventually decide to send reinforcements, but with them he sent a man by the name of Nantes to watch over his every action and "help" him lead. Nantes he didn't have to worry about; he couldn't possibly take the throne because he just didn't have the balls for it. (He was a eunuch.) Unfortunately, all this did was split the forces up and as a result they lost a number of battles. Even then, they were still strong enough to push to the gates of Ravenna.

To the surprise and frustration of Belisarius, he was suddenly recalled to Byzantium. Persia was attacking and he had to be there to defend it. Knowing he had to leave almost immediately, he was given an interesting proposal by the gothic king. The king said that if he were to take the crown and restore the Western Roman Empire, the goths would rally behind him. With his standing army and the force of the goths behind him, he would be infinitely more powerful, have an empire of his own to lead, and finally find the recognition he deserves. Obviously, he took the deal - but Belisarius was loyal to a fault, and he used the prospect of taking the crown as a ruse. It wasn't until he was heading back to Byzantium the king realized he had been betrayed. Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that Belisarius had been nothing but infinitely successful and stunningly loyal, this garnered further distrust from Justinian, and more specifically, his wife Theodora.

Upon returning home he was once more sent to battle Persia. While out east, the dreaded black plague struck home and wiped out a massive part of the population, and Justinian himself was struck by the sickness. Belisarius got word of this, and believed Justinian will likely die and thus a new emperor would have to be crowned, it seems like the reins would pass to Theodora, Justinian's wife. His men in particular couldn't stomach having Theodora lead, whom they were not very fond of. His men thought that, since he has found success pretty well everywhere he's gone, that he should be leading. Unfortunately, Theodora heard this rumour and stripped Belisarius of his title and exiled him. After all what he did for the empire, he got pushed aside in disgrace.

Theodora was, apparently, rather babely. What
is the Latin translation for "hubba hubba"?

Meanwhile the empire had completely gone to crap with astounding speed. The plague had crippled the economy, the hold on the west was collapsing due to too many generals running things and fighting amongst themselves, and with the lack of numbers and poor economy Persia was taking land rapidly upon discovering Byzantium's newfound weakness. In addition to battling Persia, they were dealing with an increasingly distressing presence of the Huns who showed up just thirty miles out of Constantinople while the army was out fighting. With barely any men to fight them off and in desperate need of a military mind, Justinian lifts the exile of Belisarius and calls on him one last time. It's essentially the plot for countless movies.

Justinian: "Belisarius... the Huns have arrived. You're the only one that can stop them!"

Belisarius: "But I'm old now - I'm pushing fifty, and that's really old in ancient Byzantine times, or as we call it, present day."

Justinian: "You're the best there is. You have to do it. For the empire, Belisarius!"

*Belisarius looks at a tattered Byzantine standard, and ponders his role in the army.*

Belisarius: "Fine, Justinian. I'll help. But I'm getting too old for this *$%@."

Anyways - in his last heroic stand, Belisarius defeats the Huns outnumbered with a ragtag bunch of soldiers. Afterwards, he went into retirement and faded out of the limelight, a general so great that some of his enemies would surrender just knowing they were to fight him.

If only the emperors that followed the eventual death of Justinian could be so heroic (or at least competent). While they did inherit the throne at a difficult time (an empire too stretched out and poor) their shortsightedness certainly didn't help the situation. Worse yet, a new enemy in the Muslim army came to their doorstep after having rampaged through a weakened Persia. Upon attacking Constantinople, if it wasn't for a tremendous invention of "Greek fire", a kind of persistently burning flamethrower attached to ships (an invention well ahead of its time) it may very well have fallen.

The Byzantine Empire: Part 2 - Barbarians Knock at the Door

An artist's incorrect depiction
of Julian the Apostate's fate,
apparently mixing him up with
another emperor. So not only is it
wrong, but it looks hilarious.
0/2, ancient Roman artist.

363-491

It's been a bit of a shaky start. Brothers fighting brothers, plenty of infighting, and some poor leadership is causing some troubles for the Byzantines. Unfortunately, it's about to get a heck of a lot worse. A streak of crappy emperors caused a number of difficulties at a time where they needed leadership the most. The worst in particular was Julian the Apostate's immediate successor, only eight months after his passing, left a brazier burning in his sleeping tent and suffocated himself to death. Another would die of a rage-induced brain aneurysm. If only he had Homer Simpson's soothing ocean noises.

What they really could have used a decent emperor for was the massive influx of barbarians looking not to raid but to settle. Terrified of the rampaging Huns, the Germanic tribes simply wished to move elsewhere and join the Romans (I'll try my best to refer to the Western Roman Empire as the Romans and the Eastern Roman Empire as the Byzantines). With 200,000 at their doorstep and promising military support, the empire welcomed in the refugee Ostrogoths and Visigoths - but not particularly nicely. Many were starved, kidnapped or sold into slavery, and being barbarians, weren't particularly keen on going through the official channels and lobbying for support, decided to do what barbarians do best. They revolted.

The Visigoths sacking Rome in the
most uncomfortable and awkward
way imaginable. 

The empire did its best to stifle them and set out to put a swift, violent end to the revolution, but found that the barbarians were more than a match. The soldiers were slaughtered, and the loss paved the way for even more barbarians to flood into the territory. Traditionally, the empire has been fine with either immigrants or the civilians of takeovers. It just means a larger empire. However, the problem with the barbarians is their abject refusal to assimilate into their culture, causing a distinct divide between the barbarians and the Romans. They started to make their way into government positions, the army, and pretty well every facet of everyday life. One particularly important member of the barbarians was the half Vandal general Stilicho.

Stilicho was actually a fairly loyal soldier, but due to his half Vandal status he was looked upon with distrust. So when the Visigoth king Alaric unites his men and plans to attack Rome (he was originally attacking the east, but the Eastern Roman Empire convinced him to slip past and attack the West) Stilicho suggests they pay him off as they didn't have the army to fight him. For this, the rather incompetent Western emperor Honorius had him executed - only to find out that he was correct as the Visigoths then attack and invade Rome and pillages the place. Upon hearing about this, Constantinople builds a massive wall fourty feet high and sixteen feet thick out of fear of invasion - walls that would stand until the very empire would fall.

Leo, likely created immediately after hearing
how poorly his brother in law has fought, which
explains the bug-eyed look and tight-lipped
disapproval. 

By now the west was in desperate need of assistance in purging their lands of the barbarian menace, but no help would be coming from the east. The barbarians were the ones really in power, holding the emperor as more of an official, puppet position. Out east, in a similar fashion, the barbarian general Aspar placed a puppet leader named Leo to sit in the seat as emperor, thinking that he would be a weak man whom he could easily control. Little did he know he had a spark. Accusing Aspar's son of treason, he lowered the barbarian general's position and gathered an army of his own to garner power, effectively retaking the east in more than just name alone. To support the west, he attacked the Vandals in North Africa to hopefully damage the barbarian force enough to allow the west to rise up once more.

It was a sound plan, but - typical Roman nepotism! - he placed his brother in law Basiliscus in charge who by all accounts was a massive catastrophe of not only a general but as a person. He panicked and left after some of his ships crashed upon the shore, causing chaos and confusion in his ranks which resulted in a massive rout of the invasion force. Leo was convinced not to kill him and instead put him in exile, but that's not all he had in store. Basiliscus' sister Verina tricked Zeno (the son in law of Leo who took over in his stead) into thinking the people were to revolt against him, making him flee. Verina wanted the throne herself, but seeing as she had no royal blood, guess who they put in charge? Basiliscus! One of his first actions was to - quite brilliantly - have many of the people who helped with the revolt murdered. Further proving his brilliance, he takes one of the generals who helped with the revolt - who just had many of his friends killed by Basiliscus' hand - and sends him to find Zeno and kill him. Naturally, the general turns sides and leads his army back to knock Basiliscus off the throne. While all of this is going on, the barbarians took the rule of the Western Roman Empire, ending it officially. Way to go, Basiliscus.

Oddly enough, in spite of all of this Byzantium comes out OK. Zeno gets the idea of sending the Ostrogoths to take the now barbarian west from the Visigoths, solving two problems at once; the Visigoths were basically wiped from history, and the Ostrogoths can now rule independently, satisfied that they have land and not needing to attack into the east anymore. While the west may have fallen, the barbarian threat was muted, there were no major political enemies, and they didn't lose an ounce of territory. Things have never looked better, and they were on the up and up.

The Byzantine Empire: Part 1 - Foundations

AD 305-363

Oh boy. The book I read on this covers over a millennium of history condensed into three-hundred pages. Now I'm taking that and condensing it into blog form, further slimming down an entire empire that shaped much of our world as we see it into a few posts. It's not an easy task. However, there is an upside to it - condense that much time and you'll find that basically all you hear about is one of three things; revolutions, warfare, and assassinations. For the Byzantines, and pretty much every other civilization around at the time, that was their jam, so their story reads like something straight out of HBO. That would make sense, because of, you know, Rome. Anyways - the following blogs will show you the most important (or in my mind the most interesting) time periods of Byzantine history - just like you've always dreamed. Enjoy.

The Roman Empire at it's peak, roughly two hundred years before
the separation of east and west. An empire with both Sarmizegetusa and 
Lutetia Parisiorum? Are you kidding me?! Incredible!

So what exactly is the Byzantine Empire? Aside from the fantastic tech tree they had in Age of Empires II, I wasn't entirely sure - I knew they were old, now defunct, and their capital, Constantinople, spawned an intensely frustrating 1950s swing song about its name, but I didn't know much else. As it turns out, it all started out with the Roman Empire.

The Romans had been going through some tough times. While they may have created the greatest system of roads yet known to man, it kind of came back to bite them. Barbarians from the borders of their empire were using those roads, and were using them for things a little more nefarious than trade. I.e. looting and pillaging. Probably some other unpleasantries too, as those that loot and pillage typically are pretty loose in morals to begin with. Perhaps they would have been able to fight off those armies effectively, but they also had the debilitating problem of fighting themselves as well. Civil war was rampaging across the land as a number of would-be emperors were vying for the crown. Even further ruining the empire was the problem of inflation due to many of those emperor wanna-bes producing a ton of coin (or mad skrilla, as the Roman youth called it) causing tons of inflation in trying to fuel their uprisings. Essentially it was one problem creating another and creating another on top of that, ultimately leading to an issue even greater than the sum of its parts. The empire was collapsing, and they needed a hero. (By the way, you're going to be seeing that statement a lot throughout this blog series - good emperors seemed to crop up at opportune times fairly frequently.)

In comes Diocletian. A soldier who rose up and gained an army took the throne the only way someone takes a throne; by assassinations and crushing rival armies. Having the entire empire at his beck and call, he decided on something that few would be strong enough to do in that position, and relinquished some of the power. Proving to be a great show of foresight, he split the land in two with none other than an old drinking buddy of his, Maximian. We can only assume that when they were quite drunk one day Diocletian said "you know, if I ever rule over the entire empire in a bloody coup, I'm totally going to give you half, bud" and his friend took it to heart. Oddly enough, it ended up working very well. It was an easy separation, as the empire was already split across language barriers and culturally different from one another. Considering the empire was so huge, it also helped to better improve efficiency in tax collection and arming soldiers. He took the eastern side, mostly influenced by Greek culture through the wild exploits of Alexander. (Read about him here!)

He also made the role much more important than it had been in the past. Before, they followed in a
system that made it seem like the emperor was just a man, but a particularly smart or talented one that deserves respect and recognition. Unfortunately for the empire, that had meant that men could rise up and attack the throne if they believed themselves superior - which is ironic as that is just the way he rose to power. His solution for this problem was to make himself appear divine, linking himself with the gods, so anyone that dared try to usurp his position would lose the support of the common man and be labeled a heretic. You can attack an emperor if he's just a man, but you best not attack one that's chosen by the gods or you're getting a face full of lightning. Unfortunately for many in the empire, that meant he had to clear out Christianity as that no longer meshed with his beliefs. If he says he is chosen by the pagan gods, Christian followers will still theoretically be able to usurp him as they believe there is only one God (note the capital) and He can't be linked just to one single emperor.

There was a problem with succession, however. It's always been an issue for the Romans, and leaving someone who was ill equipped to lead may ruin all that he has done. Diocletian, thinking beyond his time on Earth, decided to retire (at the same time as Maximian) and left the rule to their Caesars (the rank below them). Those men, Galerius and Constantius, became co-emperors after their departures. Unfortunately, Diocletian made the mistake of giving power to two men who had sons - and sons typically meant a claim to the throne by birthright (ugh - such Roman nepotism). Maximian's son Maxentius and Constantius' son Constantine were made Caesars, but that did not necessarily slate them to become emperors. Once their leaders passed, they would be mere citizens when they believed they should inherit the throne. This didn't sit well with them.

Diocletian post-retirement. He went to go farm cabbage for
the remainder of his life, similar to George Bush painting in
his spare time upon his retirement. I don't want to say Bush
is the reincarnated Diocletian but, yes, yes I am saying that.

When Constantius passed on, a new emperor was chosen to lead by the name of Severus, much to the frustration and disappointment of Constantine. His army, whom he had successfully been leading, believed he was the true leader and Constantine agreed wholeheartedly. Not only did his army win out, claiming the eastern side as his own, but Maxentius took the western throne in a coup as well. However, Constantine wasn't quite done with his mission for power yet. In spite of a successful reign of co-emperors, Constantine wanted it all. He moved to attack Maxentius and gain full control, but just prior to his attack he prayed that the one true god would appear before him. According to his own words, God (like, Christian God - note the capital) showed himself and told him to lead by his banner. Upon the next morning he became a devout Christian, flying the banner of Christianity and attacking Maxentius successfully under the sign of the cross. Victorious, Constantine took the crown as the leader of the entire empire.

Perhaps his greatest achievement was using the massive treasury of the empire and having them produce a capital on an easily defensible position adjacent to a harbour. This would serve as the capital for his empire, having it built in only six years. Of course, he names it after himself, and Constantinople was born, and in turn, the Byzantine Empire. The name comes from the colony that originated there. To further cause confusion, it was also referred to as New Rome. To further cause confusion, in modern times it was renamed to Istanbul. But from now on, to make it clear, I will not call it Constantinople/New Rome/Byzantium/Instanbul but rather simply Constantinople.

Perhaps having a bit of an ego about him (being called an emperor must do that to you - just ask Napoleon) he also named all his sons as variations of Constantine as well. Household conversations must have been an infuriating affair. Worse yet, he didn't properly name a successor. That simple act of leaving one item off his ancient Roman to-do list (I assume some sort of stone tablet or something) meant that the moment he passed his family would be thrown into a civil war. Three brothers each named as a variation of the name Constantine battled it out for the throne. Through actions of slaughtering almost his entire family, the middle son took the helm, and Constantinius II is crowned.

He did, however, let his bookworm cousin Julian the Apostate live. Regardless of having no military experience, he sends the socially awkward, Woody Allen-esque guy named Julian to battle the barbarian Gauls in what was sure to be an absolute disaster. But, lo and behold, somehow it didn't pan out that way. He turned out to be a great leader, and against all odds his campaign was a massive success.

Now here's what's frustrating for the generals of the time; if you do poorly you get excommunicated, shamed, executed, or any number of awful punishments, but it's almost as dangerous as doing exceptionally well. Generals have had a storied history of rising to power in the Roman heritage and the riches and territory brought to the citizenship makes successful ones the most popular man in the... I don't know, public bath or wherever ancient Romans congregated. That means that those that do well, even those that are loyal to the crown (as Julian seemed to be) were looked upon with caution by their emperors that should be reaping the rewards of their generals' success.

Constantine just looked at his men
with those puppy-dog eyes and simply
asked to be emperor. Who could say no?

Constantinus II, in response to these victories and in a sense kind of worried that there would be more, recalled a number of his troops to go and fight in the east. This didn't go over all that well in the camp. Many of the men that had joined only did so on the promise that they wouldn't be going east. Naturally, this led to a revolt, and Julian the Apostate was ready to lead it. Planning to return to pagan roots, he sent messages promising a return to the old beliefs upon coming to power.

Meanwhile, Constantinus didn't really know this was going on. He was falling ill, and knew he was about to pass on soon. Believing Julian was still loyal to him and to Christianity, he named him as his successor.

Julian was not only true to his promise of returning to paganism, but overzealously true. He believed the Christian morals of generosity and forgiveness were making the empire weak and effeminate, and cracked down hard on the religion. Christianity would no longer be taught in schools, and Christians themselves could be killed or beaten with impunity. This didn't sit well with the public, and after a poor campaign against the Persians to the east, he died having lost all the popularity he had gained.

So what's next for the empire? Nothing but smiles and sunshine for the next thousand years until they leave the limelight satisfied? Well... no. Barbarians. A lot of barbarians are coming.

Nanking Massacre: Part 3 - Injustice

Well, that lost blog was a real downer, huh? But hey, at least now you get to hear about how all the Safe Zone members grew to be heroes and the Japanese had to pay massive reparations back to the Chinese citizens and were punished severely for their crimes, so at least that's something, right? At least that's what I thought. Prepare yourself for disappointment!

The defendants at the war crimes trial. Judge Judy
would have ripped them a new one.

What we were left with is a citizenship that has either escaped to the Safe Zone or been slaughtered, or worse. The city itself is in shambles as well, many buildings torched and left in rubble. The worst occurred over the first six weeks, but after that it began to slow down and the city started to rebuild itself. The Japanese established a self-governing body of Chinese officials, and while high taxes and pilfering still happened (it was an occupation of a country, after all) the more brutal crimes began to subside. Vendors popped up on the roads and people came out of hiding again, and for all I know it was probably sunnier. This is how it went until the Japanese lost the war and thus had to head back to their home territory, leaving China once again to its own devices.

But what to do about the soldiers that so devastated the Chinese? Well, it wasn't easy, and it certainly wasn't quick. The war crimes trial for them (International Military Tribunal for the Far East) was three times as long as the more popular Nuremberg Trails. Where Nuremberg really brought down the hammer, including searching for a number of Nazis that had fled Germany when the war started to go south, the IMTFE (or Tokyo Trials, as that's an awful acronym) left many without persecution.

The Japanese Emperor and all of the royal family was left intact. The Emperor's involvement does seem like a bit of a grey area, I'll admit. However, the royal family does include Prince Asaka, who did not even have to appear at the trial. That's shocking. There were heaps of evidence against him and he didn't even have to lie about it. He wasn't the only one, either; much of the Japanese bureaucracy was left intact, and it wasn't for lack of misdeeds. Considering one prisoner of war in every twenty five died under the Nazis, and one in every three for the Japanese, it's infuriating why they weren't cracked down on harder. This is largely due to the changes in China's government, Japan's place in the world as a country of strategic importance being close to the communists as the Cold War closed in, and other such large, sweeping political reasons that leave historical justice ultimately rather unsatisfying.

"This is the courtroom of the International Military Tribunal
for the Far East. The people are real. The cases are real.
The rulings are final!"

China's reaction to Japan was a little different from what most would have expected, as well. The People's Republic of China had just taken over and they were looking for international legitimacy. This meant forgiving Japan, which, as you would expect, didn't sit well with the people of Nanking. Considering what they just perpetrated on their soil, seeing their leader shaking hands with the Japanese head honcho not long afterwards and effectively saying "hey man, don't worry, it's cool" didn't fly. Worse yet, those same people didn't receive proper reparations as they for the most part seemingly didn't know they could or didn't really have the means to try for it. All those atrocities were kind of swept under the rug for the purposes of politics. Boy. My blog has become a real downer, but I'd like to see you try to brighten this mess up.

Oh, and those incredibly helpful foreigners that helped saved the lives of literally tens of thousands of people? Well! Apparently, karma was out taking a leak. Seeing as the communists (darn communists!) weren't particularly fond of the west, they turned their backs on them, saying they actually assisted the Japanese soldiers in clearing out their citizens. Of course, the citizens of Nanking thought of them as saviours, but that didn't fit with the narrative of the west being evil.

A man hanging a banner pleading for textbook reformation.
Canadians do that, but mostly it's students whining about
learning about the fur-trade for the tenth time.

One of the Americans was so traumatized by the events she later committed suicide. As for that one lovable Nazi (don't hear that everyday) he was denounced by the Nazi party as when he returned to Germany he spoke ill of Japan. His timing wasn't great; he came back during World War II, so this news didn't sit well with Germany's leaders. He went into poverty and had difficulties finding work, even struggling to feed his family. Since this is getting too depressing, here's a nice moment; the people of Nanking never forgot him, and once they got word of his plight, they sent him money and food that helped him and his own survive through those tough years.

In more recent history, Japan has developed their own form of "Holocaust denier" types, claiming that the entirety of the Nanking massacre was fabricated. Their claims are just as ridiculous and dubious as, well, those of Holocaust deniers. Regardless, they've had a lot of support; one man, speaking about the necessity of learning about Japan's history during World War II, was threatened and eventually shot. There have also been a fair number of cases of high ranking political officials casting doubt on the events of Nanking and otherwise. The school textbooks have remarkably light and favourable sections about it, at the very least at the time the book in which this information has come from was released.

All told, the war with China caused the deaths of four million people, only 400,000 of them were soldiers. If you factor disease and starvation in there (Japan's area bombing and occasionally dropping plague germs from planes certainly factors into this) the losses total as high as 19 million. But it seems kind of glossed over, doesn't it? It's between World War I and it's highly anticipated sequel, it's been far too easy to forget.
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The information for this blog was taken from Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking. I'd recommend it if you're ever in too good a mood and feel like you should be brought down.

Nanking Massacre: Part 2 - Atrocities

This blog won't be an easy one to write. I've covered some pretty dark stuff, that's for certain, but nothing quite like this before. It poses some unique problems. This entire segment will be about a horrific massacre of an innocent, peaceful city. I've been able to joke around about some truly awful things, but a mass murder that rightfully draws comparisons to the Holocaust isn't something that should be approached facetiously. Worse yet, the degree in which many people still decline to acknowledge what happened in Nanking makes the issue still current, so while saying "too soon" might be off, there have been recent events that have reopened the wound. So, to my avid readers (realistically just my father) this one won't be as fun loving, save for my photo captions - I can't break my mould. In the same breath, I won't go too into detail as many of the stories are too awful for the intents and purposes of this blog. I'll also keep the pictures P.G., but remember - if you search for more information on this independently, brace yourself, because there are things you will not want to see.

Prince Asaka, presumably
before releasing
"When Doves Cry."

Anyways.

The Chinese city of Nanking surrenders to the Japanese in the late months of 1937. The general at the time, Iwane Matsui, wished to take the city but to leave it virtually untouched. He demanded violence only be subjected to those that rebelled against the takeover, and that looting be off-limits. Those that broke those rules would be punished for their actions. This seemed all well and good until Matsui came down with tuberculosis, placing a member of the Imperial royal family in charge - one Prince Asaka Yasuhiko. (Note: it may be Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, and it seems to be written multiple ways due to Japanese naming conventions I do not understand; the same goes for Matsui. From this point on I will refer to them as Matsui and Asaka, as that seems to be most common.) Asaka saw the situation differently; taking that many prisoners (many of them soldiers) would mean feeding and keeping watch over them, which would be an economic strain to the army. Because of this, and with the running feeling of contempt towards the Chinese population, he then put out the order to kill all the captives. It's a matter of some debate whether he directly sent out that order or not, but it did come from a higher up with his seal. Regardless of whether or not the order came from his hand, he certainly did nothing to stop it.

From here, one of the worst, most savage massacres of a large population in history occurred at the hands of the Japanese army. The remaining soldiers, of which there were likely about 90,000 or so, were systematically taken aside and executed. Men were killed in droves in this manner, taken away in groups to limit the chance of an uprising. Many thought they were simply being transported elsewhere until they would see the piles of corpses to which they were being led.

The citizens fared no better. Civilians were killed in the streets and tossed into the adjacent river. Women, children, the elderly - no single person was off limits, and would be killed where they stood. The soldiers would move from house to house, eliminating entire families of Chinese.

The article about the "sword competition". It's like they
knew what Hitler was going to do and tried to match
him on the villany scale.

The women fared the worst; they would be raped regardless of age, sometimes being passed around to up to twenty men. Crimes of that nature would occur openly, and while it was technically against the orders that were sent down, it was shockingly common. It became such an issue that they set up a system of "comfort women" houses, essentially a government sanctioned ring of prostitution, to slow the number of rapes that were occurring. It would be decades before anyone would speak up about this because of the shame that would be wrought on the individual women that had survived the ordeal; Chinese culture placed a strong emphasis on the purity of women, and admitting they were defiled in this manner would be a terrible ordeal in and of itself. The Japanese government would deny that the prostitution ring existed, but documents addressing it from high-ranking officials confirmed its presence.

However, it wasn't only the women that would find hardships. Death from execution is far from the worst that could happen; many of the citizens had to endure much worse. Many were buried alive, mutilated for sport, burned to death, frozen in the river, or ripped apart by dogs. Famously, an article details a competition between two men over who could kill one hundred prisoners with a sword first. While many of the details are simply too grisly to discuss here, I'll leave you with this: one confession from a Japanese soldier is as follows. I warn you, it's not for the faint of heart.

"Few know that soldiers impaled babies on bayonets and tossed them still alive in pots of boiling water. They gang-raped women from the ages of twelve to eighty and then killed them when they could no longer satisfy sexual requirements. I beheaded people, starved them to death, burned them, and buried them alive, over two hundred in all. It is terrible that I could turn into an animal and do these things. There are really no words to explain what I was doing. I was truly a devil."

The death toll skyrocketed in the first six weeks, the most brutal of the killings. The numbers fluctuate, but the best estimates factoring everything in come to around 250,000-400,000 people killed in the city of Nanking alone. Bear in mind that the population of the city was roughly 500,000-600,000 by the time the citizens that had the fortune of getting away had left and by the time the Japanese arrived. These deaths weren't from area bombings or other methods of indiscriminate killing - these were individual and personal, one person killing another. The city itself lay in ruins as well, with $836,000,000 in public property damage and another $136,000,000 in private property. 

John Rabe: One of two Nazis history is
OK with. The other is the guy from
Schindler's List.

What prevented the total destruction of the city of Nanking was a small group of foreigners that were residing in Nanking. A little over two dozen from Europe and America, they set up a safe zone that were off-limits to the Japanese soldiers. They were led by the most unlikely of heroes; John Rabe, a high ranking Nazi. Every last one of them worked tirelessly, bringing members into the safe zone and sending away Japanese that did not respect the boundaries. They did not have weapons, but would scare them off by their status or through physically grabbing soldiers and sending them away. Attacking these individuals would have led to an international incident, so they managed to hold back the army until things began to settle. While the Japanese were not particularly intimidated by the Americans, they were frequently dissuaded by two Nazis (especially John Rabe) that would flash their Swastika badge at every opportunity. Fearful of allied Nazi reprisal, the Japanese held their distance. The zone accommodated 200-300,000 people, saving them from the tortures and brutality of the Japanese army. It's truly a story of incredible heroism, with such a massive number of lives saved by the efforts of so few. 

If this story has your blood boiling, well, I wish I could say it gets better. The response, from seemingly every party, including a number of Japanese officials, the Chinese government, and many others pours salt on the wound. That, however, will be saved for the final installment.

Nanking Massacre: Part 1 - Marching Towards a Slaughter

Chiang Kai-Shek, then the Chairman
of China's government. The problem with
detailing massacres is the pictures are
rather horrible, so... here's just a picture
of a man.

History is chock-full of human misery. At least to some degree it's the byproduct of massive movements; revolutions, rebellions (whether they are toppling something evil or not), even technological or economic surges tend to have more than a pinch of sadness mixed into the soup. Take one look at the industrial revolution and you'll probably find that those factory workers weren't in the highest of spirits. Look into the Great Leap Forward and Stalin's Five Year Plans and you'll find them paved with suffering. Even the Canadian Pacific Railway meant moving through hordes of mosquitoes (although that one might be a push). The most obvious example I haven't mentioned yet is warfare. It's just about the worst thing humanity puts itself through, and gosh darn it do we do it often. Worse yet, there are far too many examples of when countries are going toe to toe with bitter hatreds between them, and those hatreds culminate into the worst, most heinous acts against their fellow man. Nanking is the tragic story of Chinese citizens that felt the brunt of wartime aggression meeting its maximum in the most foul and horrible ways imaginable.

The atrocities that were committed in Nanking cannot be explained by simply stating "well, these things happen in war." The number of civilian deaths and crimes committed on them doesn't allow for that simplistic of reasoning. There's something more there, because this doesn't happen in the average war. The roots of it go way back just before Canada was even a country. Japan had just gone through an extended period of isolation, setting themselves far behind the rest of the developed world technologically. Feeling snubbed, the modern, social world still remembered that the land of Japan was brimming with resources and potential, but were being squandered by closing their borders to the outside. America, in the most typically American fashion, decided that they had had enough and sailed right into their harbours with their giant, imposing, technologically advanced fleet of ships with Matthew Perry at the helm (his name isn't important, but... Matthew Perry). The purpose wasn't to destroy Japan, but to force them into trade agreements. Ultimately they were successful, but it caused the Japanese citizenship to have some qualms with how their leaders dealt with the situation; essentially, they were displeased by the way they were bowing down to these foreigners and giving in so readily. The result was a massive uprising that displaced their leaders, setting up a new government. 

China's military marching. Another riveting picture.
Trust me, you would prefer this to the alternative.

From there, the new Japan awakened, and this time they meant business. Well... not just because of the commerce deal, but that's another matter. They were united under the banner of Japan and the Emperor, seeking to rise to power once more. They learned the technology that had long since surpassed them, studied the military tactics of other countries (they were most impressed by Germany's), and all the while their whole culture became very warlike. Propaganda abounded, and schools had a distinctly military feel to them. There was also a distinct feeling of superiority, and the belief that they were the greatest of the Asian nations, and thus felt a contempt for the countries around them. What helped both stroke the ego of the Japanese and fanned the flames of hatred towards the Chinese was the fact that Japan became exceptionally rich during World War I through dealing weaponry and supplies, but ran into post-war difficulties through tariffs imposed upon them. Suddenly, they were faced with the decision of trying to push into world markets and emigrating out (avenues that were largely shut down by other countries) or taking more territory by force. 

They had what it takes to do it; individual dedication, the weaponry for their soldiers, a strict devotion to their leader, and on top of that, the change in government also reignited the samurai ethic of Bushido. It is that samurai code that made them such a difficult foe in World War II; surrender was exceptionally rare, and they saw their lives as meaningless unless their actions supported the Emperor. To demonstrate with statistics: Allied soldiers surrendered at a rate of one prisoner for every three dead. The Japanese, however, had a rate of one for every 120. So with all their determination, their first step was to set their sights on their very large neighbour. The desire to acquire more territory is what led them to attack China, which meant doing their best to incite an incident to give them an excuse to go to war. They devised a plot in which they bombed their own train and made it look like it was the Chinese who had attacked. Unfortunately for them, the rest of the world did not take kindly to their actions, and Japan left the League of Nations in 1933 to stake their claim in mainland Asia.

The building to building fighting in the Chinese cities.
Those practiced in Call of Duty felt they were better
prepared, but realized shortly after it didn't exist yet.

The Japanese felt they were going to storm through China without much difficulty, planning to have the massive country under their control in what some estimated as a three month stretch of fighting. However, it didn't pan out that way; the Chinese defended their city of Shanghai with the savage vigour of those that, well, are defending their very homes and livelihood. The fighting stretched out to street-by-street battles, plunging both countries into an exhausting, expensive and brutal war. The Japanese emerged victorious, but after suffering a number of losses and spending much more time than they had anticipated. It was with that anger and frustrating they marched upon Nanking.

The defense on the way to the city was poor. The Chinese had no air support, lacked communication (largely because the soldiers often spoke different languages) and many were just drafted, poorly trained, and sick. They were forced to retreat, and even then many died in what quickly turned into a rout as falling back proved difficult as well. From there, the city fell in just four days after having been sufficiently bombed in air raids.

As for the Nanking citizenship, half of the population had already left the city - typically those that had the wealth or the health to do so. With many of the outlying areas moving in, the city's population before the arrival of the Japanese but after many had ran reached somewhere around 600,000, with 90,000 soldiers captured as well. It was those unfortunate people that chose to remain in the city that would find the worst of fates at the hands of the invading Japanese soldiers, some 50,000 of them.

From there, the Japanese army went on to commit six weeks of some of the worst war crimes you'll ever hear. It was 1937, just prior to the second World War.

The Atomic Bomb: Part 3 - Nuclear Stockpiling

A picture the Tsar bomb from (literally) 100 miles away.
Hippies everywhere flocked to the explosion upon seeing
the 'shroom, but were disappointed to discover
it was only a cloud. 

We left off with Russia having the bomb, America having the bomb, and both of them staring at each other flexing like two of the toughest guys at the bar who have had a bit too much to drink, believing that they are indeed the strongest. Now, don't get me wrong, nukes are strong - but are they strong enough? The scientists apparently looked at the bomb and thought, yeah, it can blow up a city, but can't it get any bigger? Well, the answer is yes - it certainly can. You just need to use the power of the sun, but not in some sissy "solar power saving the world" type way. We want the "solar power annihilating the crap out of everything" way! Now, it's not putting a solar panel on a bomb, it's fusing hydrogen atoms in a similar manner to how the sun produces energy. Or exactly the same manner on a smaller scale - I don't know. Either way, the result is an explosion that dwarfs the previous ones.

The hydrogen bomb was developed just a few years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but it wasn't the end of ever increasing bomb sizes. Bombs kept getting larger until the Russians developed the Tsar Bomb, a hydrogen bomb that was (and still is) the most powerful nuclear bomb ever created. The Tsar was dropped in 1961 as one of many nuclear tests. The blast was fifty megatons, or fifty million tons of T.N.T., well over a thousand times more powerful than the ones dropped on the Japanese. 

Well, it's a graph. It explains itself. I don't need a caption
for it, but I would feel so empty without one.

Bomb production skyrocketed as well. The idea was mutual for each superpower; if their enemy had a lot of nukes then they could destroy their country, so they had to ensure that they in turn held enough nukes to destroy them back, thus preventing them from firing in the first place. So on they built, ensuring that even if the Russians wanted to bomb Buford, Wyoming (wikipedia tells me it's the smallest town in America, with a population of one, somehow) they could do it, and if America wanted to bomb the smallest Russian town right back they certainly could as well. It was an arms race, which works perfectly with my metaphor of the two tough guys in the bar, but I'll pass on adding another pun to this blog series.

So just how many bombs did they build? In 1947 the U.S. had 13. 1953 saw that number up to 1,100. Late '60s, 31,000. Between the two of them there were 60,000 nuclear weapons with 36 different types hanging around in the world. 

The nukes weren't just sitting there, though; plenty of them were being used for testing, just not on people. A few hundred were tested but the environmental effects were worrisome, causing the signing of a treaty in 1963 to no longer test the bombs in the atmosphere, space, on the ground or underwater. Great! That just meant that they would test them underground, where another eight hundred or so were tested until they stopped in 1992. Take that, mother Earth!

A crater left by a nuclear test, awaiting the winter to be
once more used as a hill for tobogganing.

While I won't delve deeply into the happenings of the Cold War, both sides eventually pulled out and didn't bomb each other to smithereens, leaving us in some post-apocalyptic video game world. But what would have happened had the bomb not been there in the first place? Would the Soviet Union and the United States have fought with troops instead? It could very well have caused another colossal war. Since, the number of nuclear bombs has decreased greatly, but the number of countries that own them hasn't. The U.S. and Russia obviously still have them, but add to that list India, Israel, China, France, Pakistan and North Korea, according to the Huffington Post. Now, those countries have a very, very small piece of the pie, but Japan would be the first to remind you of what just two nuclear bombs, much smaller than what we have now, can do. 

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The information for this blog was taken from the documentary The Bomb, a PBS program.