Tag: World War II

Key place: CHINA | “The Art of War”, by Sun Tzu

For thousands of years, rulers and governments have used war to reach their political goals. Warfare has evolved, and still does even today, with new tactics and new equipment, although it has developed differently in each country or region. “The Art of War” was written in China, in the 5th century, in a time of chaos. These strategies were game-changing and all kings who used them added territory to their realms. Later, the book left China and travelled the world. Nowadays, it is part of the military curricula of many countries and it is even used in other areas, such as business.

The 5th century was a turning point in warfare. In Europe, the mighty and invincible Roman army was becoming weak and vulnerable. The great Roman Empire, which ruled Europe for about 500 years, had been founded on the fear of his army. They were disciplined and would train intensively, having some manoeuvres planned to defend and attack. In the meantime, in China, battles were unfolding according to some chivalrous-kind-of-rules, where war was more like a game than a way to get a victory.

Sun Tzu changed all that. He viewed war from a strategic perspective and not only as a clash of powerful and bloodthirsty men. Besides discipline, which Sun Tzu thought was essential, he believed that soldiers had to be competently guided, according to a bigger picture. “Little” details like the terrain, the weather, supply lines, the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, needed to be analysed carefully and decisions on the field should be based on such information. Instead of finding a way to kill as many soldiers as possible, the idea was to apply techniques that would undermine the opponent even before the battle would start. War was, thus, the last resource and should be fought in accordance with other initiatives that would lead to the final and total victory.

Unfortunately, we are currently going back to war time. Therefore, there are many military commentators on different TV channels explaining what is going on in different battle fields. If we pay attention, we will notice that many of the strategies they talk about are exactly what Sun Tzu discussed 1500 years ago. For example, tanks cannot circulate through a forest and the battlefield gets muddy in the rainy season [Chapter 10, about the terrain conditions]. This shapes decisions on how to attack the enemy. When Napoleon marched his army into Russian, he did not consider the weather (it was freezing and the soldiers did not have warm enough clothes) nor the terrain (they got stuck in mud). Besides, the army distanced themselves from their supply chains. Therefore, many men were lost on the way to Moscow. This is the opposite of what is stated in Chapter 7 about getting the army as a whole to the final destination.

Sometimes we hear about cities that are won (or lost) by one side of the conflict. The strategic importance can be related, for example, to the terrain (if it is situated on high ground, for instance) or their intersection to supply chains. Attacks on troops’ supply lines and on energy facilities aim to demoralize soldiers and the civilian population. However, in Chapter 3, Sun Tzu states that attacking cities is not advisable at all. Therefore, the best option can be to choose other alternatives. The Battle of Stalingrad, in World War II, is a good example of what could happen if a city is attacked. In that Chapter, Sun Tzu also talks about the ratio of the number of men in each army and what to do in every situation. For example, if the number of enemy soldiers is much greater, the army should retreat without fighting. Otherwise, all men would be dead. What happened in Dunkirk during World War II illustrates this.

Preparation is key and information gathering is paramount to get to know the enemy very well, especially their strengths and weaknesses. Chapter 1 discusses how to get duly ready for war and how to deceive our opponent, making the population ready to support the government and the army. Modern campaigns are also based on years of preparation. Every time we hear about an attack, we also hear commentators saying how many years that attack took to be planned in detail. Propaganda is widely used, especially through media, to get the population on the government’s side (this is valid, of course, for both sides of the conflict).

Chapter 13 refers to spies and how to distinguish them. The information collected by them can be useful for preparation and also to follow what the enemy is doing during the war. There was no more fertile time for spies than the Cold War. They were literally everywhere. All the types of spies mentioned by Sun Tzu were employed by every country (and they still exist, more than we realise).

In a nutshell, “The Art of War” was so complete that current situations were already included in this 1500-year-old publication. Hence its ongoing success.

 
Sources:

 

This article is part of the THE INTREPID BOOK SOCIETY series

The Intrepid Book Society is a fictional book club. Every month, a book (or more) is recommended and/or discussed according to a keyword.

 

 

Extra: Fiction books about a wife in the 1960s (translated into Portuguese)

English version

Isabella Muir is fascinated by history, especially how Britain (and other countries) has changed since the end of World War II. She is using the information she is gathering to write fictional stories, like the Janie Juke Mysteries. At the beginning of this series, we get to know Janie Juke, who is newlywed and has just found a job at the mobile library. She is living in the 1960s, at a time when women were fighting for their emancipation at all levels. We can learn how difficult that fight was (and still is). Janie navigates prejudices of different sorts and overcomes them one by one, while solving different mysteries. Fortunately for Portuguese readers, some of these books are already translated.

Versão Portuguesa

Isabella Muir é fascinada por história, especialmente o quanto a Grã-Bretanha (e outros países) tem mudado desde o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Aproveita a informação que vai reunindo para escrever histórias ficcionais, como os Mistérios de Janie Juke Mysteries. No início da série, ficamos a conhecer Janie Juke, que se acabou de casar e de conseguir um emprego na biblioteca itinerária. Vive na década de 1960, num tempo em que as mulheres lutavam pela sua emancipação a todos os níveis. Podemos constatar o quão difícil essa luta foi (e ainda é). Janie navega por entre diferentes tipos de preconceitos e ultrapassa-os um por um, enquanto vai resolvendo mistérios diversos. Felizmente para leitores portugueses, alguns destes livros já estão traduzidos.

 

BOOK 1: “The Tapestry Bag”

Janie Juke is settling in her married life and as a professional librarian. One day, she crosses paths with Zara, a good friend she hasn’t seen for many years. Their friendship is resumed and reinforced until Zara disappears without a trace. Janie applies all her detective skills to find out what happened.

Janie Juke está a adaptar-se à sua vida de casada e como bibliotecária profissional. Um dia, encontra Zara, uma boa amiga que ela não via há anos. A amizade delas é retomada e reforçada até Zara desaparecer sem deixar rasto. Janie aplica todas as suas competências detectivescas para descobrir o que aconteceu.

TRADUÇÃO para português: “O Saco de Viagem”. Disponível em:
BARNES & NOBLE: ebook | paperback
BOOKSHOP: paperback
BLACKWELL’S: paperback
WATERSTONES: paperback
KOBO: ebook
Quem mora na Austrália e no Reino Unido também pode procurar na app BorrowBox

 
 
BOOK 2: “Lost Property”

Janie Juke is pregnant and everyone is saying she should stop working and prepare herself for motherhood, but she doesn’t listen: she continues managing the mobile library as before. In the meantime, her reputation of solving mysteries spreads out and a stranger is willing to pay her for solving a puzzle that is connected to an old secret.

Janie Juke está grávida e toda a gente lhe diz que ela deve parar de trabalhar e preparar-se para ser mãe, mas ela não quer saber: continua a gerir a biblioteca itinerária como sempre. Entretanto, a sua reputação como solucionadora de mistérios espalha-se e um estranho está disposto a pagar-lhe para resolver um puzzle ligado a um velho segredo.

TRADUÇÃO para português: “Perdidos e Achados”. Disponível em:
BARNES AND NOBLE: ebook | paperback
BOOKSHOP: paperback
BLACKWELL’S: paperback
WATERSTONES: paperback
KOBO: ebook
Quem mora na Austrália e no Reino Unido também pode procurar na app BorrowBox

 
 
BOOK 3: “The Invisible Case”

Janie just became a mother and her Aunt Jessica is returning home after travelling through Europe for nine years. Luigi comes with Jessica from Italy and brings trouble with him: a person dies and he seems the culprit. Janie tries to find out the truth, but this time she has a little help from an unlikely ally.

Janie acabou de ser mãe e a sua tia Jessica está de regresso após ter viajado pela Europa por nove anos. Luigi acompanha-a desde Itália e traz sarilhos com ele: uma pessoa morre e ele parece ser o culpado. Janie tenta descobrir a verdade, mas desta vez ela tem a ajuda de um aliado improvável.

TRADUÇÃO para português: “O Caso do Sr. Williams”. Disponível em:
BARNES AND NOBLE: ebook | paperback
BOOKSHOP: paperback
BLACKWELL’S: paperback
WATERSTONES: paperback
KOBO: ebook
Quem mora na Austrália e no Reino Unido também pode procurar na app BorrowBox

 
BOOK 4: “A Notable Omission”
TRANSLATION into Portuguese by ACPN: ongoing | expected in 2026
TRADUÇÃO para português: em progresso | previsto em 2026

 

 

Keyword: MAIL | “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Ms Clara Smartest began the session summarizing the story of the book: “The author tells the story through the letters that are being exchanged between the main character, Juliet Ashton, and the other characters. Juliet is a writer and, naturally, she loves books. She is on a book tour when she receives a letter from a man living in one of the islands of the English Channel. He is contacting her about a book that used to belong to her. Conversation gets going and Juliet learns about an intriguing book club created unexpectedly during the Second World War. The letters are exchanged shortly after the war has ended and emotions are still running high.”

“It is easy for us nowadays to look back at that time and criticize what people did, during and after the war. I mean, common people. They were living in uncertain times and in fear. No one had any idea when the war was going to be over and they wanted to survive. Some tried to have fun and live to the fullest, without being concerned about the consequences. After all, they could be dead the next day. Others did what they had to do to feed themselves or their loved ones, especially feeding children”, said Ms Johanna Practicewell.

“Very true. But there were also very bizarre episodes as well. I think the book aims to focus on the funny ones, instead on the horror people were living in. In this case, the author focused on how creative people had to be just to be able to live their lives. Hence, the way the book club was created and, especially, its name”, said Miss Amelia Matterfis.

“And how they tried to encourage people by making fun of the war, kind of, like Juliet was doing with her books”, added Miss Martha Lovefeelings.

“The novel also shows how ‘fun’ was hand in hand with tragedy and loss. The story of the child is an example”, said Ms Johanna Practicewell. “That happened a lot. Sometimes the children were the result of love, but sometimes were the result of rape. In both cases, women were labelled as the enemy whores.”

“On the other hand, there were caring communities, whose members would protect the other members when something bad would happen to them. It is the case in this story”, said Ms Abigail Vooght. “Although, I think this is very rosy… Reality probably was crueller.”

“I had no idea that Guernsey had been occupied by the Nazis”, said Mr Matthew Barnepy. “Actually, I didn’t even know that island existed. And it is even more astonishing the fact that it is situated not far from the French coast, but it is in fact British. Occupying it should have made sense as it was a strategic location.”

“My surprise was the way the story was written: through letters. I didn’t even know that you could write a book like that, but then again, why not, right?”, said Mr Jeremy Toughready and laughed.

“It was a very popular genre in Jane Austen’s time. Actually, Jane Austen herself wrote a book using that technique, but she didn’t like it very much, so she dropped it”, informed Mr Mark Mindhearting.

“Wow. I had no idea”, said Mr Jeremy Toughready and many others agreed with him.

“Now, we can perhaps wonder if at that time the mail was that efficient. Naturally, it was more important than it is today. These days, we communicate digitally and the post offices deal more with packages than with letters. However, the war had destroyed most of what societies provided to the population. The mail never stopped being delivered (and a word of appreciation to all those who have succeeded in this great achievement), but may have not been so regular and not so fast”, added Mr Mark Mindhearting.

“I’ve watched the film”, said Sophia Vooght. “It was really good. In the film we can actually see a little clearer the brutality, but also how people would find ways to enjoy themselves, together, as a community. And to support one another, facing that horror. I can’t imagine what must have been like to see the Nazi army marching through the streets all of the sudden.”

“The love story is also interesting, isn’t it? I mean, they started writing to each other and then they fell in love… As a writer, Juliet was in her element, and Dawsey, the shy book worm, also found a way to express himself”, said Miss Martha Lovefeelings. “Plus, there’s the kid who found adoptive parents.”

“A nice story with a happy ending”, noted Leo Weave.

“But all traumatised, one way or the other”, added Ms Johanna Practicewell.

“War is always an awful thing. Even the positive, isn’t really, because it’s tainted by horror”, said Mr John Booklish, wrapping up.

 

** YOUR WORDS AND IDEAS **

By Isabella Muir | On 06 June 2025 at 07:59
Thanks so much for the excellent summary of the novel. I haven’t read the book, but I have seen the film several times. The story shines an important light on how dreadful it must have been for the people of Guernsey to suffer Nazi occupation for five long years. The story also highlights the threat of starvation that the people suffered, a threat that was only relieved when a Red Cross ship arrived with food supplies – but not until December 1944./p>

By Words in Ideas | On 06 June 2025 at 18:10
Thank you for pointing that out. Actually, that is related to the name of the book club. The film is really good and, although the book provides more details, it is very faithful to the book.

 

World domination

Thucydides is considered the “father” of history because of his book “The History of the Peloponnesian War”, which he wrote in the 5th century. Besides describing the war itself, in which he was an active participant, he also describes the context and behind-the-scenes political manoeuvres, portraits both sides of the conflict, and makes other considerations. The book is not finished, but the story of this war is known. In a nutshell, the Peloponnesian War was a conflict between a declining power (Sparta, home of the famous 300) and an emerging power (Athens). They were both fighting for world domination, which, in this case, was Greece.

Graham Allison studied Thucydides’ book and compared what was written there with other similar conflicts. Then, he coined the term “Thucydides’ Trap” to explain the phenomenon theoretically (which is to say, academically). His goal was to understand how the rising of China could impact the world and lead to a war with the USA. The conclusions were presented in two TED Talks: one in 2018 and the other in 2021. Graham Allison was born in the USA, thus, a national of the current challenged world power, but he has been working with Chinese academics to develop the concept and apply it.

The question Graham Allison posed was: is war inevitable in the fight for world domination? And the answer is: no. Looking at the last 500 years, he concluded that 4 out of 16 confrontations of this kind did not end in war. Will this be the case between the USA and China? Nobody knows. The USA seems to want the war, but China does not. The USA does not want to lose their dominant position in the world, but will they manage it? The truth is: no empire ever survived. They all ended at some point.

Maybe the most original solution to avoid war was the one found between the Kingdom of Portugal (the declining power) and the Kingdom of Spain (the rising power) in the 15th century. The Age of Discovery had been initiated by the Portuguese at the beginning of the 15th century and the Spaniards soon followed them. Both Kingdoms were competing for routes and even for captains to lead expeditions to what would come to be “the new world”. After tough diplomatic negotiations, the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed in 1494. It basically divided the whole world into two parts. This was only applied to “newly found” lands (basically, everywhere outside Europe). Obviously, native people were not consulted and the other European powers soon would contest this bilateral agreement.

The line separating the world was established based on the map of the known world. For example, Brazil had not been “discovered” yet and “luckily” fell under Portuguese domain (some say the Portuguese knew about it before signing the Treaty). Before the Age of Discovery, the known world for Europeans was basically Europe and North Africa, which was what Romans tried to dominate. Beyond that, “there would be dragons”. “Here be dragons” is an expression it is believed was written on old maps to indicate a land that was unexplored and unknown. Little evidence of the veracity of this exists, but what is certain is that maps would often include images of monsters to mark uncharted places.

Usually, domination of the world means a State taking land from the known territories around its initial borders. The image we see in films of one evil mastermind, plotting ways to rule us all and surrounded by loyal followers who do whatever he/she commands, is very far from the truth. However, one man did it. Alexander, the Great, was a restless man who wanted to explore (and govern) all land. He started in Macedonia, passed Greece and Turkey and went down to Egypt. Then, he came back up, and continued through Iraq until he reached India. There, he wanted to keep going, but his army said enough. Climate and geographic conditions made the progression too painful.

Geography matters for matters of world domination, as world leaders (past and current) are well aware. The Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote in his book “The Art of War” how geography, climate, and demographics must be taken into consideration for a successful win in each battle. Invasions, for example, are easier in flatlands (like those in Ukraine) than if one has to overcome a mountain rage (Iran is surrounded by mountains). That is what Tim Marshall explains in his books about geopolitics: “Prisoners of Geography” and “The Power of Geography”.

Let’s take a look at the case of Russia, mentioned by Tim Marshall in the first book. The Rus people initially settled around Kiev and the Dnipro River, but, after being invaded by the Mongols from the south and the east, moved their capital to Moscow. As their land had been founded on a plain, it was highly vulnerable to other invasions (which happened several times for centuries). They realized that the best option was to expand their territory. This is called “strategic depth”: the longer the enemy would have to “walk” from the border to the capital, the further away their supply lines are and the more defensive lines they would have to overcome. This was a lesson that Napoleon’s French army and Hitler’s German army learned the hard way when they decided to invade Russia. Not only did they have to “walk” a very long distance, they also had to deal with the weather, especially snow or mud. This was the “west front”. In the meantime, to avoid invasions from the east and the south, the Russians conquered the Siberia region, thus eliminating the Mongols’ threat (or any other threat from that part of the world). In the north, there was the Arctic, so nothing to worry about (yet). Russia may not rule the world, but it is currently the biggest country in the world and definitely has a huge influence on East Europe and Asia.

Just as Portugal and Spain divided the world in two, so Russia (then the Soviet Union, integrating many other countries nearby) and the USA also divided their influence in two throughout the world. If there was a conflict, the Soviet Union would support one side and the USA would support the other side. When in peace, the countries would be an ally whether to one great power or to the other. Therefore, each great power dominated half the world.

The Cold War was prolific in books, films, and TV series (back then and nowadays still) about State espionage, world domination, end of the world, or the hero who saves the world of total destruction at the last minute. The films of James Bond were (and are) probably the most famous and had all of these ingredients. They were based on the books of Ian Fleming, a former MI6 secret agent who was in active duty during World War II. Based on himself and his work, he wrote 12 novels and 2 short stories where James Bond is the lone hero who fights against the evil organization SPECTRE. Started as a relatively small terrorist organization, at some point the goal became to dominate the world. Obviously, it was defeated by… James Bond!

Then, the Soviet Union fell and the USA became the indisputable ruler of the world… Indisputable? Well, not so fast. There have been many countries wishing to overthrow it. As all Empires before it, the USA Empire is supported by a mighty military force, which imposes the country’s will everywhere, crushing those who stand in their way. Yet, there are still people (or States) daring to defy them.

We can see a shift in books, films, and TV series. Now, the “bad guys” are no longer Russians. Now, they are Arabic and Chinese. The focus has changed as well. We see more terrorist attacks, sabotage acts, and, especially, cyber threats. Contrary to what happened in the Cold War, there is no need to have human spies in the enemy country. Everything goes online and the “new spies” do not need to leave their home. Today, world domination is cyber dominance and warfare is “hybrid warfare”. Most of the time, “normal” people do not see it at all and the perpetrators can easily deny their wrongdoings. The war that is actually “seen” is mainly made with drones, which can be remotely controlled. So, nowadays, it is not enough to have a mighty military force and physically invade the surrounding territories. Besides an Army to dominate the land, you need a Navy to dominate the seas, an Air Force to dominate airspace… and an excellent cybersecurity department to dominate the virtual world.

China has understood this a long time ago. It has not only heavily invested in technology, but also in the military forces. Their focus is on trade, establishing partnerships with countries from every continent. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that China does not want to dominate the world, China wants a multipolar world living in peace and where countries can work together for the benefit of humankind. Naturally, China is making great profits from their trading deals… Since 1978, when they decided to open the country to international trade, China’s economic and social evolution has left the world in astonishment. It is still a communist country, but it has learned how to play the capitalist rules for their own benefit. Little by little, they have been gaining ground in other countries’ economies, like ninjas. No one saw them coming. Or, better yet, they did see them, but they thought they would submit to the ruling power. They did not.

President Donald Trump, who took office in January this year, has declared a (trade) war with China. Not so explicitly, but that is his goal. He is cleaning all other matters to focus on this particular subject. Graham Allison often quotes Thucydides on this: “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable”. Is the USA afraid of the rise of China? If you ask them, they would answer “no, the USA is afraid of nothing and no one”. But still, they want to bring down China just in case they might think they can overthrow the USA as the world master. China has been preparing itself for this combat for many years and the odds, as we can conclude from history, are against the USA.

“Looking back into the future”, by Isabella Muir

I’ve been looking back as a way of looking forward! Studying history is a useful way to reflect on the past, to discover lessons that may be learned to prepare ourselves for the future. The more I look back, the more I can see that so many world events recycle themselves in a never-ending repetition of gain and loss.
My personal fascination with history is in events that affected Britain during and after the Second World War, and the more I learn, the more I see a familiarity in the arguments being posed today about the way forward for our increasingly fractured world.
But for now let’s focus on the 1960s, when more than a decade after the end of the Second World War, Britain was still reeling from the loss of life, the devastation, and the underlying fear that such hard-earned peace might be short-lived.
The sixties brought with it a generation of youngsters who believed they could put the past behind them and surge forward to a better life. Social and political attitudes began to change, with significant events acting as forerunners of even greater change.
I explore some of those changes in a series of fictional stories, entitled the Mountfield Road Mysteries where we meet some tenants who come to live in a tiny bedsit at Number 1, Mountfield Road, in the Sussex seaside town of Hastings. The tenants have little in common, except for their decision to rent a room from a certain Mr Humphrey, a landlord who is a stickler for traditions and protocols that were fast disappearing.
The first book in the series, Storms of Change [external link], is set in 1960. We meet Marcus Chase, a young man keen to throw off the constraints of his childhood and teenage years, breaking free from his home in London and moving south to Hastings.
He meets Fred and Gilly Barnes, the couple who rent the flat below, and is soon absorbed by their tales of adventure, impressed by their carefree attitude to life. But like everything in life, all is not as bright as it would first appear…
One year on, in Whispers of Fortune [external link], we meet Sally Hilton, a young woman who is certain 1961 could be her year.
‘You can be whoever and whatever you want to be,’ are her mother’s words to Sally throughout her childhood. But Sally doesn’t know who she wants to be. That is the problem.
When the thirty-fifth President of the United States is elected to office, Sally Hilton is worrying about the ladder in her stockings. It’s her only pair and needs to last until payday on Friday. In his augural speech, John F. Kennedy promises significant change to his fellow Americans. In Britain, the sense of euphoria is contagious. If not us, then who? If not now, when? Powerful words spill out from the skilled orator, and Sally Hilton, with her laddered stockings and empty purse, wants to believe they will make a difference. Change is coming, not just for Americans, but for the ‘free world’, whatever that means.
Then Sally notices a card in the newsagent’s window. It feels like a sign…
In the third book in the series, Flashes of Doubt [external link], we meet William Arnold. Forced into retirement, having to leave his cosy cottage and move to a tiny bedsit in Mountfield Road, Hastings, William Arnold wants nothing more than to remember the past, a time when he understood the world, when he had a role to play, a purpose. Then William meets sixteen-year-old Peter, a young lad who challenges William to revise his thinking completely…
The 1960s was a decade when young people were finding their voice and older people were struggling to come to terms with the newly defined ‘generation gap’.
Some say the ‘swinging sixties’ really took off in Britain in 1964, the year that saw the Beatles rise to international fame, but it was 1960 when the group first got together, playing sessions in the now world-famous Cavern Club in Liverpool by 1961. An explosion of talent emerged during the next few years, with a host of pop and rock artists, many whose music is just as popular today.
Mary Quant, among others, transformed the way young people dressed, as interior designers, such as Terence Conran, transformed the way many people furnished their homes, offering contemporary furniture at affordable prices.
As well as music and fashion, the growth of consumerism and the widespread availability of labour-saving devices meant people had more leisure time to enjoy.
It was also the decade when car ownership took off, with estimates suggesting the numbers of people owning cars rose during the decade from around nine million to fifteen million. Thinking back to my childhood, I recall so few cars passed by our house there was no danger for me to cross the road on my own at the tender age of eight. And yet, that same road now sees tens of thousands of vehicles pass along it every day, with young and old taking their life in their hands should they decide to venture from one side to the other.
A typical 1960s house was difficult to heat, with windows that let in as much of the weather as they kept out. Central heating hadn’t arrived for most families, leaving them with few options – a coal fire (with coal being an expensive commodity), a two-bar electric fire, which would eat up any money being put into the meter, or a paraffin stove with its fumes.
Young people had grown up in the shadow of war, with new threats being posed by the Cold War and growing tensions between the East and West. National Service was still in place, an experience that brought up conflicting emotions for many young men. What was right and what was wrong when it came to conflict? There were no easy answers then and many would say, there are no easy answers now.
With the threat of nuclear armaments circling, many young people joined the peace protests taking place across Britain. The term ‘teenager’ only entered into common usage in Britain during the 1950s. Around that time young people started to find their voice, with two distinct groups emerging: beatniks and teddy boys.
Both groups were strongly influenced by American music, Teddy Boys loving rock and roll, wearing long, draped jackets, and sporting the kind of hairstyle worn by Elvis Presley with his slicked back quiff, all kept in place with plenty of Brylcreem. Beatniks, by contrast, wore duffel coats and berets, long hair and preferred jazz. The ‘beat generation’ was said to have been inspired by writers such as Jack Kerouac, among others. Reacting to the experiences of the Second World War, this was a movement that sought to promote peace. Later in the sixties, the ideals promoted by beatniks were taken forward by another aspect of the counter-culture of that period – the hippies.
Both groups frequented coffee bars, vying over the jukebox. In the 1950s and 1960s, coffee bars were popular meeting places for teenagers. They were often the setting for live music, as well as the ubiquitous jukebox. Skiffle music was popular at that time, a type of jazz and blues-influenced folk music that was the precursor to British rock ‘n’ roll.
British teenagers made coffee bars their own; they were a cheap place to ‘hang out’, after all, coffee had no legal age limit. It’s said that London’s most famous 1950s coffee bar – the ’21s’ – famously launched, among others, Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard. In Liverpool, the Jacaranda club in Slater Street was a haunt for the Beatles in their early days, while Cilla Black waitressed at the Zodiac coffee bar in Duke Street, another musicians’ favourite.
Many women in their middle years who survived the Second World War came to realise they could achieve more with their lives than previously imagined. With so many men away fighting, women had taken on vital roles as mechanics, engineers, air raid wardens, bus and fire engine drivers. They took on dangerous work in munition factories and helped to build ships and aeroplanes. The end of the war brought an enormous change for them, as well as for the men who returned from the front. Attitudes had shifted, new horizons had opened up, and the years that followed confirmed that nothing would be quite the same again.
Aside from the changes that a strengthening youth culture brought about, Britain began to see the problems brought about by intensive farming, with nature beginning to suffer. Alongside the rise in car ownership, new towns were built where there was previously agricultural land. How much consideration was being given to the environment? We see the longer term effects now, with our loss of wildlife habitats and the very real fears about climate change.
Across the world, in China, as part of Chairman Mao Zedong’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ initiative that ran from 1958 to 1962, the Chinese people were ordered to eliminate rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows. The order came as the authorities decided that these ‘pests’ were damaging crops and the sparrows were eating too much grain. Over that period some one billion sparrows were killed, including the total population of tree sparrows. However, it seems the Chairman’s plan would backfire. The sparrows were a vital part of the Chinese ecosystem, as well as eating grain, sparrows ate locusts. Without the sparrows the locusts flourished. By 1960, locusts decimated the rice crops, resulting in one of the worst man-made famines ever experienced. The exact numbers of people who died during the famine is unknown, but it’s suggested that it was between twenty and forty million people. It’s certainly a reminder that tampering with nature will inevitably create problems for our whole ecosystem, mankind included.
I will continue to explore the past, to learn from the good and the bad, and above all, continue to hope for a positive future. •

Isabella Muir [external link] writes novels, novellas, and short stories about post-Second War World Britain and she runs an independent publishing company, Outset Publishing. Some of Isabella Muir’s books are translated into Italian [external link] and Portuguese.

 

Keyword: WAR | War’s Propaganda

In 1622, the Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith (known as Propaganda), was established to regulate the work of missionaries. Their mission was to spread the word of the (Catholic) Lord to the entire world. It was not always peaceful and the word was sometimes more imposed than spread. The term Propaganda evolved to mean “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumour for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person”. Nowadays, it pretty much means making people believe in ideas or false information for a certain purpose. The difference between propaganda and marketing (or advertising) is the aim. The first aims to make people believe in governmental lies for political purposes, the second aims to make people believe they need to buy products or acquire services they don’t really need.

War is an especially fertile ground for propaganda. Governments need to make people believe that war is absolutely necessary and, thus, they twist the facts or simply lie about them. Arthur Ponson was a Member of Parliament in Great Britain and he was one of the few who stood against the participation of his country in World War I. In truth, he spent his life advocating for peace and he was even physically and psychologically attacked because of it. In 1928, he published the book “Falsehood in War-time”, where he stated at the beginning of the introduction:

      Falsehood is a recognized and extremely useful weapon in warfare, and every country uses it quite deliberately to deceive its own people, to attract neutrals, and to mislead the enemy. The ignorant and innocent masses in each country are unaware at the time that they are being misled, and when it is all over only here and there are the falsehoods discovered and exposed. As it is all past history and the desired effect has been produced by the stories and statements, no one troubles to investigate the facts and establish the truth.

In this book, Arthur Ponson exposes the lies told by governments during the World War I. Based on this, in 2001, Anne Morelli summarized his work and published the book “The Basic Principles of War Propaganda” *. She explains each Principle and gives examples from other wars that took place after World War I, showing that the same techniques are still used today. This is also confirmed in a documentary from Spiegel TV called “Fake War”, under the perspective of the use of mass media in war propaganda. The first episode is about World War I and mentions some of the false events described by Arthur Ponson.

Before World War I began, photography was used to complement articles published in newspapers. Film, which had been discovered by the end of the 19th century, was also used for the first time for propaganda purposes. Staged scenes of atrocities carried out by the enemy served Principle #3, showing the enemy as evil and full of heartless creatures. It also prepared the population for war. In fact, the British Government had created the first (secret) propaganda department with the aim of conveying false information in a way that looked objective and true. The target was the Germans and the Germans failed to properly respond to this campaign. However, years later, the Nazis took propaganda to another level. Inspired by the corporation advertising, the Minister of Propaganda conceived a coordinated plan using newspapers, photography, radio and film to influence the minds of the German population (they also tried to influence foreign countries, but failed), feeding them with lies and manipulating their thinking.

In the Vietnam War, the situation was reversed. There were no restrictions on journalists’ movements and there was not any kind of governmental censorship. This did not mean that the USA Government had given up on official propaganda. By this time, television was widespread throughout the world and journalists were no longer limited to written articles, outdated photos, and staged films. The problem was that the lies conveyed in official statements were being systematically debunked on a daily basis by the images that were shown on television and by the photographs that were published in newspapers. The discrepancy between these images and the official statements was considerable, which resulted in huge demonstrations and protests in the USA.

This was a lesson that the USA learned very well. In the Gulf War and in the Iraq War journalists were no longer authorized to go to the front line and they had no information on what was actually happening. This time, all the Principles were successfully applied. Both the general public and the journalists were fed with lies they could not dispute. Therefore, the war looked perfectly justifiable. It was only later, when the USA finally left Iraq, that journalists were made aware of the consequences of the US invasion and all the atrocities committed.

The Internet, especially social media, is making it increasingly difficult to control information. Yet, it is also making it increasingly easier to spread false information. Nowadays, propaganda is more than ever being confused with authentic information, even when it is proven to be false. Furthermore, there is this idea that propaganda is something that is only produced by the other side. People from “the other side” are the ones who are being brainwashed. Those in “our side” who disagree with what is said about the other side are liars and traitors. If we look closely, this is Principle #10.

As Aeschylus, the Greek and so-called father of tragedy, said: “in war, truth is the first casualty”.

 

* The 10 Principles are:
1. We do not want war.
2. The opposite party alone is guilty of war.
3. The enemy is inherently evil and resembles the devil.
4. We defend a noble cause, not our own interests.
5. The enemy commits atrocities on purpose; our mishaps are involuntary.
6. The enemy uses forbidden weapons.
7. We suffer small losses, those of the enemy are enormous.
8. Recognized artists and intellectuals back our cause.
9. Our cause is sacred.
10. All who doubt our propaganda are traitors.

 

Keyword: WRITER | Ernest Hemingway

Instead of going to study in a university, Ernest Hemingway preferred to go and work in a newspaper as a journalist, where he learned how to write objectively and to-the-point. Then, before turning 20 years old, he tried to be recruited by the army to go and fight in World War I. As he was refused, he found another way to be involved in the war: as a driver for the Red Cross. He was injured in the war and, after spending a long time in a hospital and being rejected by the nurse with whom he had fallen in love, he returned to the USA. These events forged his whole life.

As a journalist, he went back to Europe many times as a foreign correspondent. He was stationed in Paris, France, for some time, but Spain was his favourite country. He covered the Spanish Civil War and World War II, when he landed in Normandy with the American troops on D-Day. In the meantime, he went to Africa to do a hunting safari and bought a boat to go fishing. He lived life to the full, survived wars and plane accidents, and travelled extensively, soaking everything and turning it into masterpieces, before he died in 1961. He had been born five months before the 20th century started and witnessed all major (and terrified) events of the century.

Deep inside, he saw himself as a writer. Reporting was a way to achieve this (and make some money) and all his adventures were food for his novels and short stories. He wrote them in a style that was innovative at the time and had been inspired by his reporting: objective, without sentiment, with short sentences and without adjectives and adverbs. His mastery was in the rhythm of the words. Besides inspiring many subsequent writers, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize, mostly due to his best work, named “The Old Man and the Sea”. This was the last work to be published while he was still alive and it is considered his best work. It tells the tale of a fisherman that goes fishing and his struggle to catch a fish. The story is very simple. It’s in the way it is written, what it tells and what it implies, where genius lies. However, other books written by Hemingway are as good (or, at least, almost).

“A Farewell to Arms” is a vivid description of his experience in World War I and aims to show the reader how war is in reality. It is heavily based on his own experience. The main character drives ambulances like he did and he falls in love like Hemingway did. Although the descriptions of the war are authentic, the romantic connection is not (maybe he wrote what he wanted to have happened).

Also about war, but this time in the guerrilla point of view, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is about an American who joins the Spanish resistance during the Civil War. It’s an intense account on how it is like to face death on a daily basis. These fighting men and women live lifetimes during short periods of time, living each day as if it could be their last, which would prove to be correct in most cases.

Inspired by his time as a foreign correspondent stationed in Paris, “The Sun Also Rises” (or “Fiesta”) is about how young people got lost after World War I ended. Starting in Paris, the narrative takes the reader (via characters) to Spain and the bullfighting, an event very dear to Hemingway’s heart. They also go to the south of France and Madrid, roaming from place to place without purpose and without feeling.

Those who wish to know how Hemingway’s hunting safari was, can read “The Green Hills of Africa”, his journal of the journey. However, if you don’t want to know details of chasing and killing animals, skip it. In any case, it is a beautiful view of the Africa landscape, and an insight on how humans can preserve (or destroy) nature.

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Keyword: DECEIT | “Fatherland” by Robert Harris

What if Hitler had won the war and succeeded in achieving his terrible plans?

The story of “Fatherland” starts in 1964. Preparations are ongoing for a glorious celebration of Hitler’s birthday. We are presented to Nazi Berlin and its grand new monuments built in honour and to serve the new regime. In the meantime, a body is found and Xavier March is called to investigate it. He is a regular German policeman who is not very happy with his job. His lack of enthusiasm with Nazism leads his colleagues to avoid him and his family to desert him. That’s the reason why it is Xavier March investigating the murder; everyone else is too busy with important things: the celebration of Hitler’s birthday.

The case is deemed unimportant, but soon he realizes that it is not an ordinary murder. During the course of the investigation, he meets a foreign journalist who tells him disturbing things about the regime, something about massive murder in concentration camps… At first, he does not believe her, but he keeps on thinking about what she said and tries to uncover the truth.

Robert Harris tells the story from the point of view of a regular person, fully integrated in the system, but one that can pay attention to what lies beyond. As a “normal” person, he believes in the Nazi propaganda, partly because he has no reason not to. After all, there are no other sources of information. When he meets a foreign person, with information unavailable in his country, he starts questioning everything. What she is telling is too unbelievable. He doesn’t even comprehend it. However, he starts thinking, connecting the dots… and he goes on investigating although he is not allowed to do so. The investigation puts his life in danger, but he pushes forward. Until, one day, he discovers the horrifying truth.

The book is based on the fact that the German population was completely unaware about the concentration camps and portraits how people were required to comply with the regime. Those who did not were sidelined, maybe even arrested by the Gestapo and tortured. Eventually, they were killed. Even those who would comply could be killed anyway. No one was safe and people would do anything to survive.

As a former journalist, knowingly or not, Robert Harris shows how important free press is, to investigate in depth and denounce all wrong doing of the State, regardless of the regime. Authoritarian regimes want their populations to be kept in the dark, and be ignorant. So, they feed people with propaganda and they force them to be part of organizations where they can mould their brains. We can see this in Xavier March’s son. He thinks he is doing the best he can do for his father, believing his father needs to see reason. He doesn’t know better, but he should.

The role of the American journalist is the opposite of Xavier March’s son. She represents the free press that investigates and denounces. She shows the truth and how it is important for people to be informed.