Dimitri > Recent Status Updates

Soviet influence was on the rise by the 70's, with "Padshahgardi" or leader shuffling in favour of the KGB. Tribal and islamic influence was allowed to strengthen short-sightedly to further disturb pro-US of non-alligned policies. This accumulated into the murder of U.S. ambassador Adolph Dubs (14.2.1979) during a KGB-led assault on the hotel where he was held hostage...from KGB calibre shotwounds.

war is a violent teacher. The restraints on violence traditionally ingrained by a common religion eroded into faction-fueled cruelties down to fratricide and murder at the altar. A Cold War logic seeped into some low-level initiatives by cash-starved Athens, such as a Sicilian expedition "by invitation" to deny the Peloponesos the control over the grain supply.

the Sudetenland crisis: It's astonishing how preoccupied people can be with extramarital affairs and stomach cramps and how disappointed at territorial gains by conference. That's a war too. It's called a cabinet war. What most rulers did while Frederick the Great was perfecting the Niederwerfung by necessity.

Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan made the mistake of trusting the Russians once the British India buffer split into a hostile India & Pakistan. For the moment, Russian aid and the U.S. Peace corps fueled bit of a "golden age of new democracy" under king Sahir Shan in 1963-1969. The droughts of 1969-72 coincided with a decline in foreign aid, as both superpowers became bigger spenders on the Vietnam War.

Not just fuel was short. In 10 years the size of the Japanese empire had grown twelvefold. The Home Islands lacked the manpower to garrison it and the economy only extracted enough to keep things level, even on full war footing. The logistics of occupation would stretch it. The war with China and the U.S. combined would tear it to pieces.

"between them, the belligerents so slighted European strength that the repercussions lasted decades."
Make that a century; we're still cleaning up post-colonial consequences.
1) Independence,
2) nascent communism ?
3) anti-communist dictator
4) civil war, Islamism.
IRAN RIOTERS RULE !!

Wie België met zijn gemeenschappen, gewesten, regeringen, Voerstreken en BHV's vermenigvuldt met tien krijgt bij benadering een idee van het aantal ballen dat de [Habsburgse] keizer in de lucht moest houden na de Ausgleich [van 1867].

Wie België met zijn gewesten, gemeenschappen, parlementen, Voerstreken en BHV's vermenigvuldigt met tien krijgt bij benadering een idee van het aantal ballen dat de keizer [Franz Joseph van het Habsburgse rijk] in de lucht moest houden na de Ausgleich.

How does a Tommy on foot communicate with an RAF plane ? the plane toots a foghorn; he answers by launching a flare. Accurate progress report for HQ and artillery guaranteed !

Athens didn't lift a finger to help strategically isolated Platatai; Sparta left the town in the hands of her ally Thebes, who razed it to the ground.Good alliances were becoming more important than bad reputations; Demosthenes steered a more aggressive course. As Thucydides summarized: "War is a harsh teacher". The island of Korkyra saw a faction war, stoked by Spartan agents provocateur, colour the streets red.

In the meantime, the famous Order N° 1 established Soviet control over Army officers. For now, there was little class violence and little anti-war mood: most units stayed their post. The Soviet focused on internal politics, better working conditions, the bread supply... The Russian soldier still believed in victory, even if Grand Duke MIchael was as unpopular as Nicholas. But one more defeat would crush his loyalty.

The Japanese Navy ended up eating its own black tail: the trickle they managed to squeeze from the Dutch East Indies failed not only to sustain the stock but even the annual consumption of its ships and airplanes.

By 1950, Kabul saw its third generation of a western-educated middle class come into the world. They staffed the central bank and a growing industry under state monopoly which promoted export to nurture the economy.

Mohammed Zahir Shah lived to see the renewed inclusion of secular tribal custom and religious law in the 2004 constitution, even though tribal rivalry had ultimately devoured his dynasty.

Fondly termed the “Era of Tranquility”, it puts the 1978 coup in dark perspective. Zahir’s clever use of gradualism and accommodation towards the established powers implied a continued degree of decentralized authority, with slight favoritism towards the Pashtun.

Still, 40.000 students enrolled in secular schools and girls of the elite even studied at universities abroad. While Tomsen does not put this into its proper demographic perspective, it’s a nice example of how Nadir Shah Musahiban (1928-1933), despite the violent shortness of his reign, ushered in a half century of peace and nation-building in Afghanistan under his son Mohammed Zahir Shah.

Without a solid taxation base or an urban population it was hard to successfully implement a modernization based on the contemporary Atatürk and the Pahlavis. As Tomsen frankly says: “Afghans as a race are fanatical, bigoted and conservative. It was unsafe to ride roughshod over their cherished customs and dragoon them into civilization on the European standard.”

The liberal Duma established on 15.03.17 already counted two socialists in its ranks, most notably Kerensky. In any case they needed the support of the Petrograd Soviet to function. There was a lot to do at once, The reorganization of the Army was linked to the improvement of the railways to transport deliveries from Europe inland, in the hope that Russia could participate in the "Chantilly II" offensives in spring.

The Dutch authorities carried out the demolition of their refineries with the same thoroughness as they built dykes; the Japanese lacked the high-tech repair capacity to restore them to the pre-war production level. Also they did not have enough tankers. This was a serious defect: the entire Strike South strategy predicated on the thesis that the Dutch East Indies reservoir could replace the oil imports from the USA.

(pre)Dreadnoughts could give tactical naval support against Montenegro but not stop the Serbian Dunkirk. Small ships are more at home in a narrow sea: torpedo boats, U-boats, including Germans disassembled & shipped overland, to pester the Allied fleet at Brindiso Problem: clever Italian wooden anti-sub speedboats and that eternal narrow at Oranto...

The Russians, when they weren't nurturing the nautical daydreams op seizing Constantinople, also toyed with the idea of crushing Bulgaria first with the aid of the Romanian army and the Allied formations stuck at Salonika, to separate Turkey from her German support overland.

Chiang understood better than Stilwell or Alexander that a fighting retreat north via 3 main rivers from a superior enemy preserved a fighting capability. By contrast the British call for aggression risked annihiliation... of course, the main front of North China was not their colony, so it was easy for them to say.

We're at the Sudetenland and for all its intricate detail, it's still a dozen frustrated nobodies or has-beens in adoration of a Führer some one-time sought to control....

Yamasita's conquest rested in part on sheer bluff, but he destroyed Britain's reputation as a colonial power and the trust of Australia in her as a protector.

"It can only be imagined how the war might have developed differently if Churchill had taken the realistic course of openly abandoning Malaya, Burma and Singapore to concentrate instead on a defence centered on India."

It sounds just as bad.

So much Russia, so little Luftwaffe & so few tanks. Again and again. Constantly rerouting armour between Army Groups to man the pincers & never a strategic bomber force to hit those T-34 factories.

The armoured reconaissance divisions were beefed up after Poland: their MK I & II tanks were supplemented w MK III & Czech "Panzer 35(t)". They had 3 instead of 4 battalions but together they gave 10 panzer divisions for Fall Weiss w 7 via the Ardennes.

Coming down the mountaineous jungle terrain of the Malayan peninsula in a reverse amphibious ratio of 1:2 but with air supremacy quickly established by the swift Zero, Yamashita was able to concentrate his forces against a scattered defence, even if it meant wading hip-deep through muddy mangrove swaps. Atrocities gave a further edge: the beheading and bayoneting of 320 wounded POW's induced the others to surrender.

Could abdication contain the revolution and replace it with internal reform under liberal guidance while the war carried on?
The Tsar pondered as Stavka commanders pushed abdication:
"the essence is that in the name of saving Russia and maintaining calm in the army, it is necessary to take this step. I agreed."
It was easier for him to accept gracefully than to submit to the constraints of a constitutional monarchy.

Next, Malaya's defences were not in the best shape, either. Static positions and road-bound truck movements were to prove no match for infiltration by bike through the jungle. The worst part was, its airfields provided cover for Singapore, Britain's symbol of virility in the region. But like all Asian colonies it suffered from a low priority ranking, behind the Middle Eastern theatre and aid to the USSR.

The Fall of Hong Kong may be an iconic moment in the fall of British Asia, but strategically speaking it was an indefensible sideshow of China. The equally traumatic sinking of the battleship Prince of Wales was illustrative for the changed nature of sea power. The hot climate broke down the electronic AA system, leaving the vessel without adequate air cover.