Canada in World War I: Part 2 - The Second Battle of Ypres

Ypres, for the Germans, was as difficult to take as it was to pronounce. The last major Belgian centre standing against the advancing German army, the city was a major spot of warfare due to its strategic importance. Immediately adjacent to ports critical to supplying the Western Front, it wasn't something that could be readily given up. The French, British and Belgian forces would fight tooth and nail to keep it. And fight tooth and nail they did.

"They're over there!"
"We know, Jim. Sit down."

I believe it's safe to assume pretty well any trench was going to be a tough place to be. Let's for a moment forget the fact that the place was getting bombed, shot at and showered with shrapnel. It was also cold, frequently muddy and wet (causing the oh-so-terrible "trench foot" ailment of which I strongly urge you to refrain from google image searching) and full of rats. Worse yet, those rats were gorging on the fallen; soldiers freshly (or worse yet, not so freshly) killed by artillery shells, gunfire or otherwise. All of this you can expect in the average trench, but when it's one of critical importance and a place of frequent battle, you can take all that and amp it up tenfold. The trenches at Ypres were of an unimaginable condition. One soldier described traversing the place: "we were walking on oozing bodies in the bottom of the trench. There'd be a hand or a foot sticking out of the trench in front of your face".


This is what the Canadian forces, yet to be truly tested, would be sent into. It would prove to be a great source of Canadian pride. Well, that is until we no stopped learning Canadian history properly.

Day 1: 

In the battle of Deadly Chlorine Gas vs. Thin Cloth I'd be
betting on the former, but apparently it helped.

On April 22nd the Germans changed the face of warfare to something much uglier than it already was. Considering just how awful the situation was in World War I, that's quite the feat. Defying Hague Conventions (the handy guide of the Do's and Do-Not Do's of World Wars) the Germans utilized, for the first time ever, gas as a weapon. They released 160 tonnes of chlorine gas (as I understand it was in a liquid form for transportation purposes, if you're wondering how they measured that) into the defending French line. It caused a large number of casualties, and those it didn't kill or wound were instantly forced to retreat. While a scummy tactic, it was wildly successful. Now, with a hole to fight through in the lines, the Germans would capture or close off a vast number of Canadian, British and French forces.

Out of desperation, the Canadian forces charged into the dissipating gas. If the haphazard, spur of the moment defense didn't hold, the French and British would be forced to blow up the bridges leading to the Ypres salient and effectively cutting off two French divisions and three Canadian ones.

The place to make the stand was at Kitcheners Wood, a spread of oak trees northeast of the city of Ypres. It was a spot of high ground over the other Canadian forces, which meant giving it up would allow the Germans to bombard the remaining army from above, a much more strategic and effective position. This would be the first major Canadian operation, made with low levels of intelligence (the intel kind, not stupidity). The plan was to storm the woods, charge in blindly, and force Fritz out of the trenches with bullets and bayonets. They would be doing this without knowing what was on the other end against an enemy that was properly dug in and prepared for an attack. The only hope for surprise was to attack at night, as the defenders were quite certain the assault was on its way.

Soon enough, 1,600 Canadian troops stalked towards the German lines. Stealth was of the utmost importance, as every second was critical. For every moment the defenders didn't know they were coming meant fewer shots fired by the time they got there. Staying quiet could literally mean life or death. That being said, it's darn near impossible to bring over a thousand men to another waiting army without them noticing (perhaps if they pretended to gift a gigantic horse?) and eventually flares illuminated the fields. Machine guns, artillery and small arms tore through the Canadian forces. Any form of command was left in shambles as officers as well as front line infantry were killed, meaning many of the pockets of soldiers fighting towards the trench were forced into finding new, temporary leadership under the most competent man who happened to be there at the time. With a lack of telephones or lights to help with cohesion, direction was difficult. However, they managed to retake the lost land as well as regaining some previously taken British artillery. It wasn't without cost, though - two thirds of those that stormed the trench ended up as casualties.

That number, two thirds, is really shockingly high. It's a testament to the change in quality of weaponry over the course of the century prior to the first World War. When writing on the War of 1812, the guns were so poor that in spite of occasionally fairly large battles (relatively, at least) not that many would be shot. But when you go from firing with a musket that shoots once every second fortnight to a machine gun that fires literally multiple times a second, warfare changes.

See? No doors. No anything, really, but also no doors.

In spite of the victory at the woods, there was another German assault coming at Mauser Ridge. If they succeeded, they would be knocking at the door of Ypres (although the consistent bombing probably left a precious few doors standing there, to be fair). The Canadians basically had to block the advance with whatever force they could muster. Due to inadequate command from the higher ups (which will be frustratingly common for the next several blog posts) they decided to attack over flat ground with inadequate artillery support instead of simply digging in and letting the Germans come to them, taking the defenders' advantage. In spite of a lack of coordination with the French who had seemingly just left without really telling the Canadians all that much about it (surprise, there were a lot of angry Germans) they managed to hold. With only twelve hours since the gas attack, the Canadians lost over 2,100 men. They did, however, earn the respect of both the Germans and the rest of the allied forces. One prisoner told the Canadians "you fellows fight like hell".
I bet the British said "jolly good show", or something.

Day 2:
The following day saw more fighting, finding limited reinforcements due to every reserve battalion now being sent to the front. Outnumbered, outgunned, and weakened by the constant fighting, the Canadians along with British forces managed to hang on. Many hadn't eaten or slept in two days, occasionally falling asleep standing up or face first in the dirt.

Day 3:
By the start of the third day the defenders were holding with twelve battalions plus their British allies against twenty-four German ones. With few reinforcements, they were left to fight on outnumbered against what they knew would be a monumental attack coming in short order. It was 4 a.m. when the second gas attack came, and to stay alive many men would urinate on cloths to hopefully prevent it from seeping into their lungs. The gas attack wasn't as powerful this time around, but it fell to the bottom of the trenches where, typically, the wounded were kept. The gas mostly killed the already weak, subjecting them to a much more painful and terrible death than they would already likely receive.

By 6:30, many attacking forces had broken through. A tenacious Canadian defense, however, managed to stay and defend to the last many times over. The Germans advanced cautiously and in groups, fearful of the remaining gas, and those that stayed cut their numbers down drastically due to their apprehension in following the cloud of poison. With little communication and few commanding officers, small groups of men would fight until out of ammunition or the crappy Ross rifles would inevitably jam, proving that not only were the Canadians a force to be reckoned with, but would keep fighting even if they were sure to be defeated.

Mostly.

Richard Turner, a brigadier, ordered his men to retreat to the safety of a trench further back in the line. He was the only one to do sure, meaning that he left the British and Canadians on his flank to be attacked on multiple fronts. Now, before we place blame, he had been gassed, shelled, and pushed to the point of exhaustion and told to keep him and his men in a meat grinder he didn't believe was winnable. He also wrongfully believed it was an order from command.

While Turner may not have won the
battle at Ypres, he sure had a
winning smile.

Meanwhile, one of those flanks was led by Arthur Currie. Desperately needing reinforcements, he raced back to a line further back and pleaded with the command to supply him with more men. This was really out of the ordinary, but his men had defended five frontal assaults that day, were low on ammunition, and were almost in sight of a number of British soldiers that were milling about instead of being ordered to support them. If he were to retreat, it would mean the British would be completely left open and sure to be annihilated. Regardless, the British general Douglas Haig (who had a strong feeling of resentment towards the Canadians whom he saw as weak) told Currie to return to the front without his men. However, sometime after he left he must have changed his mind as the British did support them a short time after.

Turner, on the other hand, initially refused to return for fear of the lives of his men. He was almost relieved of duty, but due to the fact that, first, there was no one to replace him, and second, it would be poor form to kick out a man who had previously earned a Victoria Cross, he stayed on. All told, the Canadians held but the wounded, captured or dead numbered in at 3,058.

Day 4:
No matter how valiant the British and Canadians fought, a retreat was inevitable. Having most of their groups blasted apart, small patches of men would form up and go together regardless of which battalion they belonged to. This would soon be a part of how much of the Canadian forces would fight over the next few years - damaged, but quickly responding by grouping together with whomever was around them.

Fortunately, the French and British forces finally arrived in full, supporting the retreat and ensuring that the salient was held. In a time that spanned a little over half a week, a massive total of men were killed. However, the Canadians had earned a great deal of respect as soldiers that would hold on strong regardless of the opposition against them. It was at the salient (but not this fight) that John McCrae would write "In Flanders Fields".

Canada in World War I: Part 1 - Rowdy and Undisciplined

If there's a war you don't want to be in, it's probably World War I. Sure, its thrilling sequel gets more attention due to the fact it had more casualties, is more recent (which typically means more relevant), and has a much better good vs. evil story. (Say what you want about the Nazis, but from a purely historical interest standpoint they made the best villains; a strong, frightening accent and language, uniforms made by Hugo Boss with the most evil of colour schemes, and a plan for world domination.) But for sheer horrible wartime conditions, there is nothing I've come across - and correct me if I'm wrong here - that sounds like a worse wartime situation to be in as a soldier than being sent to participate in trench warfare. Through that, with the backwards fighting style of sprinting into machine gun fire, the multitude of diseases and otherwise caused by the trenches, and the near constant concussive blasts of high powered explosives, Canada went from being a colony to a country with spilled blood, grit and courage.

So, how did we get there? 

When the war began we were very much a British colony. With our large-and-in-charge father Britain and sassy mother France going to fight it out with Germany and Co. over in Europe, it was our duty to step in and provide whatever support we could. However, since we were still a self-governing body, it was up to us to decide just how many men we were going to send their way. We certainly wished to help Britain, but at the same time didn't want to cripple our fledgling population and economy - plus, who knew how many would show up to answer the call? Canada, after all, had a population that was 65% rural and many thought that the war had more of a "big city" feel to it, and continuing the work on the farm was of greater importance. Also, who would think of World War I and think "yeah, I'm in"? Well, as it turns out, a heck of a lot.

A picture of Valcartier, the largest military base in Canada
at the time. It's probably bigger than it looks here. This angle
puts it slightly above "hobo shanty town."

Canadians were exceptionally excited, eager to go to war for whatever reasons they may have had. Some wished for adventure, others felt a strong sense of duty, some needed the guaranteed albeit small stream of income, and others were actually British and had just recently settled in Canada. The prevailing thought was that they wouldn't be there for very long; it would be a quick trip, they'd kick some German keister, be lavished with praise and head on back. So many men felt this way and turned up at the recruitment armories that they were turning men down left right and centre. They would have to meet the standards for a good soldier, and if they didn't, they'd get the boot. You would need to have good lungs, good teeth (I mean, why not?), high arches (no flat footed weirdos mutants in our army), be between the ages of 18-45, and have a minimum height of 5'3". Pass those tests and you've got a shot. Unfortunately for the recruitment centres, electronic recordings wasn't yet a thing, and that many people attempting to sign up flooded their system. That meant that a number of people would get rejected, take a look at the proper requirements, return to the back of the line and lie their way through the next time; they could claim previous military status, or older men could dye their hair (but they had to make sure they remembered to dye your chest hair too - really - it was a thing).

As for the types of men that were chosen, Sam Hughes, the Minister of Militia and Defense, decided to shirk recruitment recommendations and build the military with a mostly civilian force. Sending the 30,617 chosen to a newly created military base called Valcartier, it was about as ragtag as a group could be; they showed up in suits, bowler hats, uniforms of their local militia, and many of them had to begin training in such, as uniforms were not as of yet distributed. It didn't help that Hughes himself was a bit on the crazy side, frequently interrupting training, demoting people at random, and shrugging off the need to have experienced soldiers take the lead on instruction to create a cohesive force. By military standards Valcartier was a mess; the men were insubordinate, more brawlers than soldiers, and typical military stuff (saluting, spotless boots, doing pushups while being called a "maggot" and so forth) was mostly dismissed as nonsense. Practical jokes were common and typically if there was a major problem it would be settled by a fistfight.

The brave men leaving Toronto for battle in Western Europe.
I mean, I know Toronto is expensive, but this?! Hiyo!!!!

Canadian military equipment proved to be little better. The famous Ross Rifle, proudly Canadian made, would frequently jam on rapid fire exercises. Also, the bayonet would have a nasty habit of simply falling off. The uniforms themselves, with much of the gear distributed in Europe once they got there, was not created all that well either. An ammo pouch on the front made it difficult to crawl and the goatskin they were given for warmth frequently still had the blood or flesh of the animal on it. 

Nevertheless, in spite of everything, the Canadian forces set sail with the men, artillery, and seven thousand horses, carried across the waters by ocean liner. Arriving at Salisbury Plain, a military camp quite near to Stonehenge, they were given a week before more training would continue. During this time they drank: a private described the unruly force as thinking "of nothing but drinking and getting into all the trouble they can." Some of that trouble came in the form of loose women; 1,249 (keep in mind only 30,617 came over) picked up a venereal disease during that time. Eventually they allowed booze in the camp, mostly to slow the tide of rampaging Canadians causing a ruckus across Britain.

One of the Canadian battalions. Or perhaps a division.
No, a unit! That's not right... Anyways, here's a group of
Canadian soldiers.

As for the conditions in the camp, well... the training was effective but the weather was brutal. Pounding sheets of rain hammered the men day after day, making training a muddy, sick, unpleasant experience. However, the awful conditions helped to toughen them up, and the difficulties served as a bonding time for the inexperienced force. It's beautifully summed up by this lieutenant and former war correspondent:

"On Salisbury Plain, chastened by suffering, saddened by yearnings for home, wounded to the quick by misunderstandings with our English instructors, torture by the vilest winter climate on earth, often prostrated by sickness of the body, or by deeper sickness of the spirit, out of all of this man-breaking and heart-breaking we were being hammered and wrought into an army unit. Out of hell fire, came an Iron Division for service in an Iron War."

It wasn't long before Canadians got their first test in battle. After the training was complete, they were sent to the western front to support British soldiers in trying to break the unbreakable; trench warfare had begun, and it was up to the Triple Entente's forces (the Russians, British and French) to break the line. Defenses wouldn't hold; the Germans had broken into France and had already stormed through Belgium, meaning a defensive position would be in Germany's favour. 

After shadowing experienced British soldiers for some time, they got their first real taste. The initial deaths, through exploding artillery fire or snipers, shook the men to the core. They weren't mentally prepared, but to be fair, how could one be? Their first major battle to test their nerve came at Neuve Chappelle on March 10th, 1915. Basically, the Canadians were used as a diversion force to ensure the Germans couldn't mass a large number where the British, with their Indian allies, hoped to attack. They lost one hundred men, but did their duty. 

In spite of the inferior rifles, sloppy training, frequent insubordination and liquor issues, the Canadian army would soon prove to be one heck of a formidable fighting force. Suffice to say, I bet no one saw that coming. 

The War of 1812: Part 2 - War Declared

We left off with emotions running high, and shortly after the president declared war on the British, claiming they were taking their men from their very ships, and inciting the natives to go to attack. This they were mostly correct on, and justifiably upset about it. However, they weren't right about everything; Thomas Jefferson believed that taking Canada would be a "mere matter of marching". They were thinking they would bring their ideals to the oppressed citizens of a British colony and tell them how lovely life is in America, and the inhabitants would throw out their tea sets, grab a beer, and settle into being American for the rest of their lives. It's to be noted that it wasn't called "Operation Enduring Freedom", but at times eerily familiar.

Meanwhile, Canada was preparing to defend itself under the watchful eyes of Isaac Brock (our aggressive, 6'2" hero) and governor general and military commander George Prevost. Their army consisted of well-trained British regulars serving as the backbone of the army, a number of militiamen, and a large number of native warriors. They didn't really want to fight this war, but the Americans didn't really want to either; the States only passed the decision to go to war with a win of 19-13 votes, making it the least popular war in American history. Even as far as wars go, people barely wanted to fight.

Prevost was a little dumpier than I expected.

Leading the advance into Canada was 59 year old William Hull, striking out from Fort Detroit. He walked into Sandwich - yes, the town of Sandwich - and asked for the British subjects to join. To be fair, many of them did. It seemed like the Americans might just be the winning side, and it would be wise to be on the right side of history. However, once the American soldiers started taking provisions from the town, many of them no longer saw them in a positive light. At best, they were poor quality guests; at worst, they were considered thieves.

Once Tecumseh arrived to really bring the fight to them (at this point resistance was pretty much nothing thus far, at least in this segment of land) Hull began to worry. Fighting small skirmishes with hit-and-run tactics, the native force showed that the inevitable takeover of Canada just might not be so. With a number of advantages in the field (a fast, mobile force allowing them to skirt around the larger American army and take shots at their supply lines and stymie their advance with skirmishes and other such tactics that don't involve a large scale assault) Hull stopped moving quickly and adopted a much more cautious approach. Not only was he frightened about his supply lines being hit, but he was worried about what the natives would do if they captured his forces. They had a reputation of scalping and torturing their prisoners, and his fears of being overcome by them played heavily in the events to come.

The fast moving native army meant that open terrain and ambushes weighed heavily in their favour, and they used them to great effect. One such ambush carried out by Tecumseh's men found a note written by Hull detailing his fears of a large scale native attack. Not only was this of critical importance to supporting the morale of the warriors, but it would play into the strategy of the British in the weeks to come. However, lacking artillery meant that approaching a fort would be certain death. If they were to truly break defensive fortifications, that would require a combined effort of British and native armies, rather than simply one or the other. A critical part of the War of 1812 is the degree in which the two sides utilized their native allies - the British particularly well, and the Americans not so much.

Brock arrived a short time later to bring the British into the fight for the land around Niagara. His first meeting with Tecumseh seems like something out of an action movie; two very different soldiers, both leaders, meet and unite against a common foe, sizing each other up and developing a mutual level of respect. Tecumseh saw him as a brave, respectable man, and Brock saw his counterpart as both critical to his success and a wise leader. Brock would say this about Tecumseh:
"A more sagacious or a more gallant warrior does not, I believe, exist. He was the admiration of everyone who conversed with him. From a life of dissipation he is not only become in every aspect abstemious but likewise prevailed on all his Nation, and many other Tribes, to follow his example." After some dictionary searching, I was pleased to see it was very complimentary.   I assume it went something like when Arnold and Carl Weathers met in Predator - you can watch the scene here.

Both believed that an aggressive assault on the American fort would be necessary, in spite of their inferior numbers. They had just above half the forces of the enemy, and they were also playing with the defender's advantage of sitting in a fort. What won the battle for Tecumseh and Brock was nothing short of brilliant military deception. Playing on the fears of Hull, he sent warning of a native force coming to the fort and advising them to surrender or prepare for war. Upon arrival, he moved his native warriors just within eyesight of the fort, and having them double back through the trees and pass the same stretch of land time and time again to make them appear like there was a much larger force than there actually was. He also gave old British regular uniforms to his militiamen to, again, deceive the enemy into thinking they were a more daunting fighting force than they actually were. Had they attacked they would have been slaughtered, but fearing for the lives of not only the men of Fort Detroit, but the nearby village of Detroit itself, 2,500 Americans under Hull surrendered. The surrender was so shameful Hull was  forced to attend a court martial and was nearly convicted of treason. A newspaper hilariously titled the National Intelligencer described the event as such: "The nation had been deceived by a gasconding booby."

Portrait of William Hull. Not pictured:
white flags of surrender.

America, filled with anger over the surrender of Fort Detroit, sought to quickly retaliate in the Battle of Queenston Heights at the foot of Niagara. Large forces came to battle on both sides: 2,300 regulars and 4,000 militia for the U.S., and 1,200 regulars, 800 militia and 600 native warriors for the British North Americans. The Americans took the offensive but poor coordination and a lack of respect between the first and second in command resulted in the forces not attacking in conjunction with each other. The British held, and nearly a thousand U.S. soldiers deserted, resulting in a victory for the defenders. However, the British lost a key component of their military force - the man of the hour, the inspiring, tactically strong Isaac Brock was shot in the chest and killed during the battle. Brock was knighted before he died, but the word didn't reach him in time.

After licking their wounds the Americans attacked again, and this time took the capital (albeit the lowly populated and not-of-critical-strategic-importance capital) of York. The British, in retreat, set off an explosion of their gunpowder that killed a few of the invaders, including their beautifully named commander Zebulon Pike. That same commander had been the one demanding his forces refrain from pillaging and looting the town, so upon his death, that order seemed to pass by the wayside. Government buildings and parliament were burned, and the government's ceremonial mace wasn't returned until 1934. It does make me wonder what the Americans were doing with that mace for so long. Did they have it in a museum? Did they crack walnuts with it? Perhaps they returned it thinking that we might need a weapon for the war in a few years time.

Meanwhile, one of Canada's great women, Laura Secord (now lovingly associated with being chocolatastic) overheard discussions of a surprise attack by some American soldiers and warned of the coming assault. The news allowed for a rout of the attacking American force, making her one of Canada's first heroines. She's Canada's Paul Revere!

"Blimey! The Yankees want a scuffle? We'll give them
the what for, we will!" the British soldiers said to Laura Secord.

In spite of a number of battles, for the next while the fighting seemed to reach a stalemate. Land was taken, then returned, taken again, and pressed further elsewhere. However, an event oversees that could very well change the tide. Napoleon had, as the French say, screwed le pooch, attacking Russia and losing pretty darn close to his whole army. This meant that the British no longer had to worry about the French as much as they had, freeing up their forces for overseas interests. That means you, North America! Bring a sweater, British soldiers. You'll be moving to Canada.

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.
______________________________________

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. 

__________________________________________

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

The Atomic Bomb: Part 2 - The Bomb in Use

"Hooray," thought the Americans. "We have the bomb! So... now what?"

What happens when you detonate a nuke underwater.
The centre is a massive column of water. They sought to test
"what happens when we blow up a bomb under the ocean?"
and came up with "it explodes". 

Bombing Germany was no longer necessary. They had just surrendered a few months prior to the full development and trial of the nuke, and unless the Americans wanted to prove a point, they weren't planning on using it on them anytime soon (unless in an unlikely Zombie Hitler scenario). So that leaves Japan, the never surrender, everything for the Emperor fighters that in spite of everything around them refuse to back down. The scientists were fifty-fifty with the rather obvious moral implications. Dropping a bomb on a Japanese city is no longer attacking soldiers - it's all civilian casualties, and a massive number of them in one fell swoop. However, to perpetuate the war for however long the Japanese were planning on holding out for (which may well have been to the very last able bodied soldier went down) would have meant losing a great number of American soldiers and postponed the end of the horrors of war. That might not play well with a public (and army) that is weary of battle and believes they have an option to eliminate the enemy without the loss of their own. It's a loaded question with no easy answer - but that's not what we're here to discuss.

Years later, Apollo Creed called out the
Russians in a similar fashion. Living
in America...

The much better route would have been negotiating an unconditional surrender. There was just one burning word in there that the Japanese couldn't accept; "unconditional". They wished to oversee their own war crimes trial, to keep their Emperor, and avoid occupation. The Americans disagreed with the terms, and the "Little Boy" was placed in a B-29 bomber and dropped over Hiroshima. Exploding well above the ground, a ten thousand degree blast levelled a whole quarter mile with a shockwave that pushed out much further. 80,000 die in something that has never been seen in war before; that many losses from one person flying one bomb with one plane - it wasn't an army and there were no risks, but that level of destruction was now on the table at a moment's notice. Even then, the Japanese would not surrender and the "Fat Man" bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. 70,000 were killed. 

This is all common knowledge. What isn't as well known is that Nagasaki wasn't the original target; Kokura was meant to be the victim of the Fat Man but a cloudy day prevented it. Clear skies in Nagasaki is what doomed those people to a fiery death, the blast strong enough to sometimes leave haunting shadowy imprints from where their bodies absorbed the heat. The Japanese Army still did not wish to surrender, but deferred to the Emperor's wishes to finally give in. President Truman says it was unconditional in a speech to the public, but that isn't entirely true - they accepted the condition of keeping their Emperor in which the Japanese held so dear.

The arms race officially begins once Stalin sees pictures of the devastation wrought at Hiroshima. Stalin was not surprised at the knowledge that the Americans had the bomb as he had not one but two men on the inside at Los Alamos. Klaus Fuchs was a communist that sent information back to Stalin. One could say he was Klaus to Fuchs-ing up the operation until the Americans focussed on Stalin the flow of information to the Soviets. (YES!) A second soviet in disguise, Theodore Hall, was also found to be sending information. He must have had a Hall of a time explaining that one. (DOUBLE YES!)

"Sweet Enola Gay, son!"
It was said the bomb was detonated from the height of the man's
shorts on the left.

The post-bombing world effectively started the Cold War, full of proxy battles, Doomsday Clocks, and a whole bunch of movies about Vietnam (Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now 2: Apocalypse Yesterday). Russia was eager to get the bomb and had their own team working on it, and the Americans were eager to perfect it. The Los Alamos lab grew rapidly and tests become far more common. The first mass produced bomb is created, and suddenly you have something capable of dealing out massive quantities of death indiscriminately and all the time it takes to make them is about a week (or half a fortnight). 

To make matters worse, and when the Cold War really kicks off, is when Russia produces their first atomic bomb. Suddenly, they're on the same level as the U.S. again, capable of destroying them just as surely as the States could destroy the Soviets. Nuclear arsenals mount for decades, and fear becomes the predominant emotion of the civilian population as the idea that their lives could be snuffed out at any given moment. That prospect is not only a possibility but a very real and not unlikely one. 

Plus, in the early '70s, Canada heroically defeated the Soviet Union in hockey, which left them really cheesed off. 

The Atomic Bomb: Part 1 - Putting it Together

Thankfully, there aren't a lot of things in the world that could wipe out humanity. Sure, nature has a few tricks up her sleeve (I'm looking at you, Yellowstone National Park) but we've for the most part limited our self-destruction to non-human-race-ending mechanisms. That is, until the bomb. No, not the classic Nintendo game Bomberman 64 - nor Bomberman Ultra, nor Bomberman Jetters, Bomberman Generation, Bomberman Hero, Bomberman Quest or... well, any of the Bomberman series that's put together in the 40 minute YouTube clip about the series' history. I mean the atomic bomb, the one that is capable of knocking out cities and irradiating what it doesn't flatten. The kind of bombs that the world had 60,000 of at one time, and still has well over 10,000. It wouldn't be the blast that would kill the Earth - more so, it would the the drastic changes it atmosphere. Think of global warming, but sped up, but only after a nuclear winter. Similar to volcanoes, dust would cloud the sky and block out the sun, lowering the Earth's temperature enough to cause crop yields to drop, leading to horrible famines. It would also knock out the o-zone, which, if you haven't been listening to the news lately, is really nothing but a negative. 

So how did we come to possess these weapons, and why?

Robert Oppenheimer with Albert Einstein, working
diligently on a crossword puzzle.

In Germany, 1938, scientists discovered they could split the nucleus in the uranium atom - discovering fission. Out of a very small amount of material, they could now produce an absolutely enormous amount of energy. Out of that information, the Allied countries feared that the Nazis were on the verge of creating an atomic bomb. Nazi atomic bombs is about as fear-inducing a stretch of words that could be said while on the brink of a world war. (It would also make a great band name!) Even the U.S., despite not entering the war for some time, were wary of this. Any major power with an unmatched weapon is going to cause an alarm. Right away, Roosevelt authorized a project to get down and dirty with uranium in an attempt to get that bomb before anyone else could. He tasks General Leslie Groves to do this, although it seemed at the time like an impossible task, and perhaps a bit of a career killer. Regardless, Groves then scoured the U.S. in an attempt to round up the best scientists America had to offer, choosing to place Robert Oppenheimer at the helm. It was a team of America's best and brightest, with the average age being... wait, 25?! Groves must have chosen the scientists like television would have cast them - choose mid-twenty year olds regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

Originally thought to be a picture taken within the first
few milliseconds of the Trinity Test, this photo has
been proven to be a pimple.

They took the team of scientists and sent them to Los Alamos, a place built for them to work on the bomb in solitude. The British sent over a number of scientists as well, one of them a German-born communist by the name of Klaus Fuchs. (Remember him for future blogs; I'll likely make a pun on his last name.) They had to be isolated and completely in secret because any slip of information could turn the tide of the whole war. Communication with the outside world was minimal, as there had to be no distractions. This is where the this rag-tag bunch of youngsters begin to build what they refer to only as "the gadget" - the bomb's blueprint and shell, as well as the method in which it detonates. After a while, they figured out how it would work but they had one major hang-up; what are they going to put in it that was actually going to explode?

What they used to drop the bomb in the Trinity
Test. The clouds, sensing the danger, are
bidding a hasty retreat.

It was no easy task; fuel for these explosions was not very easy to come by. Uranium was the prime candidate, but it takes a very long time to strip what you need from it to make it useable. Naturally occurring uranium doesn't cut it (because science) and you need this special kind of uranium that is within regular uranium. Or something. Again, science. Anyways, Groves had a giant complex built to extract it but when you're getting this stuff one atom at a time, it wasn't going to be able to destroy anything any time soon - even if you only needed a few pounds of it. Out of luck on that front, they searched for a new substance to replace uranium and arrived at the more spacey sounding plutonium, which would serve the same explosive purpose. However, plutonium can be manufactured (harvested? created? conjured? I'm not sure how plutonium comes to be) much faster, so Groves went and had another set of buildings created to produce plutonium instead. Remember that this is wartime here; if something needs to get done, it gets done. Cost is irrelevant. It's like giving a credit card to a teenage girl in a shopping mall; you're going to have a lot more things, a lot less money, and you're not entirely sure if you need any of it.

The bomb was created and ready for testing after three years and two billion dollars (but old two billion dollars, so think of a much larger number to convert it to modern day currency, then add a zero). The Trinity Test was the first run at a nuclear bomb, and it was hoisted up a short drop from the ground - notably without the explosive inside (they had mattresses underneath it in case it fell - the whole operation costs billions and they use the same method of cushioning that boys use to practice backflips as teenagers). They then brought in the plutonium, delivered by car in the most casual fashion, and placed the explosive material inside. They retreated to a safe distance and ran the test.

From there, they watched a monumental moment in history. Now, I know, I know, that's a cliche - but if ever there's a time to use it it's then. The atomic age was upon them in a massive blast of ash and fire, and from then on war would never be the same.

Winston Churchill: Part 3 - Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

So the World War is over and all of Europe is abuzz about this Hitler fella. Many of the Brits thought he was a bright young chap, and the kind of person they could get behind - the Nazis could be a good friend of the British. One politician praised Hitler, even going as far as comparing him to George Washington. Most people were more scared of the Bolsheviks at the time, even going as far to think that the Nazis and Fascism might stand to hold off the reds to some degree. As we have it in the 1930s, Britain seems to be growing ever fonder towards Hitler; Churchill is seen as a man prone to mistakes who had gotten his party kicked out of leadership, and then scuttled back to the Conservatives. It made him appear as an opportunist, and judging by some of his decisions and history, perhaps a bit of a warmonger.

Churchill's smile could light up a room.

It speaks to his character that he could bounce back the way he did. He was frequently controversial, but he was incorruptible and believed in his values. Say what you want about Churchill, but when he was in on something, he was in wholeheartedly. He was also one of few that distrusted the Nazis many years before they went full crazy.

Fast forward to World War II, and it would seem the world had turned topsy-turvy from what many of the citizenship (as well as a number of high ranking politicians) would have imagined. Hitler is destroying Europe, and things are looking bleak. I mean, really, really spectacularly bleak. Neville Chamberlain, then Prime Minister, had grossly underestimated Hitler's power. Appeasement of the Nazis was not only on the table but seemed a very reasonable course of action. The press was lobbying for talks with the Nazis, and the beleaguered forces of Britain would find it difficult to find the resolve to state that yes, they wished to continue fighting on what seemed like steadily diminishing odds. Think about what that would mean - appeasement would likely lead to disarmament, meaning Britain would be effectively taken out of the war. Who is to say how history would have changed had that occurred?

Chamberlain, acknowledging that he is not fit to lead Britain through those trying times, steps down. He advises the king on appointing Churchill, whom at that time was the Lord of the Admiralty as he had been in the first war, and back in those days, the word of the king was something that meant a heck of a lot more than it does now. Shortly after, Britain is on the brink of giving in to the might of the Nazi war machine, and Churchill takes the reins on May 10th, 1940. On the 18th, Churchill gives an impassioned speech to inspire the troops and politicians alike in fighting on, containing this powerful quote: "If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground." Holy crap, I think that just made me want to go to war for Britain. Well, in a video game maybe... and as a Canadian fighting with the British... but still, it's a great line.

One cannot overestimate the gravity of that decision for the British people. Within a year, thirty-thousand British were dead, mostly by the hands of the Germans. The stress must have been so strong one can hardly imagine, but war energized him, reportedly looking healthier and more alive than in decades. That spirit gave him the ability to make another unthinkably difficult choice in July of the same year; this one with the handling of a French harbour. In July of 1940, France was essentially Nazi territory, and the Germans were rapidly approaching their shipyards. The French ships were state of the art, top class vessels that could very well turn the tide of a war if they fell into the wrong hands. Churchill demanded that they either sail the ships out or scuttle them (pop a hole in the bottom of the boat) rather than risk them being used in helping their enemy. It was a dreadfully tense situation, and French reinforcements were coming and would find a number of British ships with their weapon sights locked-on to their own boats. Churchill urged the French, but they wouldn't listen; they didn't believe the Nazis would be able to overtake the harbour and steal their ships before they sailed them out. Churchill didn't want to take the chance, and time was of the essence.

The horrible tragedy that launched the Milton Bradley game.

The British fired upon the harbour, killing 1,297 Frenchmen, damaged five ships, and sinking a battleship. The French saw it as nothing short of a betrayal, and it's easy to understand why. It remains to this day a controversial move. If anything, it shows that Britain was in it to the last, would fight to the end, and any other cliched statements that are now used predominantly in sports movies.

Amidst all the war preparations and strategizing, he had to rally the public and the soldiers through his speeches. Fortunately, Churchill had to be one of the greatest speakers of all time. Both his willingness and history of being up close and personal in battle adds authenticity to when he calls for Britain to stand tall. Take this speech for instance:

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old. 

Chief Clancy Wig- I mean, Winston Churchill
during an air raid.

I'm not typically one for quoting whole paragraphs, but it's really something else. Plus, it leads me into the next section of Churchill's ambitions: to bring America into the war (and maybe work on reducing run-on sentences in his speeches). Churchill met with Franklin Roosevelt countless times during his run as P.M.. He had a strong relationship with F.D.R., which meant that the U.S. helped provide the British with close military help if not direct aid in manpower. Of course, it was Pearl Harbour that brought more than just American weapons to the European theatre, ultimately turning the tide against the Germans, but in the times leading up to the attack it was Churchill that had them shipping weapons.

Right when the Allies won the war (spoiler) Churchill lost his seat as Prime Minister. From there, he continued warning against the Russian powers (turns out he called that one too) before once again being elected as Prime Minister.

Winston Churchill died in 1965, leaving quite the legacy. He had been of critical importance in both world wars, served twice as P.M., won the Nobel prize, and fought in armed combat personally on multiple occasions. I don't think we've seen another politician quite like him. I don't think we ever will.