#treaty of versailles ww2

[warpedia]

Treaty of Versailles

#WWI, #TreatyofVersailles, #worldWar1

The Treaty of Versailles – Warpedia The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, marked the official end of World War I and aimed to establish a lasting peace. However, its terms and consequences would shape the course of history, setting the stage for future conflicts. This blog post delves into the events leading up to the treaty, for example its key provisions, and the impact it had on…

[fruitpunchnoice]

I was trying to get him to guess the Treaty of Versailles

[2econd2ight2aver]

One man ALMOST killed all humanity.

[my-pjo-stuff]

IRL Historians: The causation of WW2 were very diverse and can't really be boiled down to a single reason. It is important we view the events and changes in the zeitgeist and context of their time to properly understand the delicate processes that caused the conflict. Among others being the results of the First World War, the built-up of the German society and the Treaty of Versailles aswell as commonly held beliefs of the time. One should not attempt to "dumb it down" as it hurts the culture of remembrance.

IRL Germans: The Second World War and the atrocities committed during it are truly horrifying. We should not let this become a footnote in history or reduce it to one or two facets. The rise of the NSDAP and Hitler is a cautionary tale of how easily normal people can become radicalized and commit crimes. Because Hitler, at the end of the day, was just a normal person who was democratically elected into office. He was not some mystical wizard, the German people of the time had a choice and they chose him.

Rick motherf*cking Riordan: Actually the reason WW2 happened is that the world leaders of the times were beefing because they were kids of fictional versions of the Greek gods! And the fact that the main reason it happened was that those leaders were beefing as demigods is not only heavily implied but actually STATED in my book! The society, actual history and ideology of Germany and other countries had absolutely nothing to do with it, it was all demigods!

[lickthecowhappy]

Is Aziraphale an Accidental War-Monger?

Aziraphale mentions three years in which he was compelled to do the “I Was Wrong” dance. The three years he lists (1650, 1793, and 1941) were all years during which historically significant wars occurred. I submit that Aziraphale contributed to events leading to the wars. That he did these things against the advice of Crowley, who either told him it would backfire, or simply said to let it be. And when he and Crowley met up after the events unfolded to result in war, Crowley said, “I told you so” and demanded the dance.

See some theories below the cut, and please feel free to continue the discourse if you are more knowledgeable in these areas of history. I think there could be so many good theories out there for people more learned than myself.

1650 | The Anglo-Scottish war / The English Third Civil War

Oliver Cromwell, a prominent figure in this war, was pretty zealous. Maybe Aziraphale thought that a staunchly religious man like Cromwell would make righteous and just decisions, only later to find that zealotry wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Or maybe he tried to avoid conflict altogether by convincing the northern leader, David Leslie, to fall back and refuse to fight. Either way, a war started. 

1793 | The French Revolution / War of the First Coalition

What if Aziraphale influenced people in the French government to assist with the American revolution, thinking it was a noble cause to help out this burgeoning nation with ideals of “liberty and equality.” The debt France incurred by allying against the British contributed to the political instability eventually leading to the war. 

1941 | World War 2

Maybe Aziraphale was influential in the drafting of the Treaty of Versailles and convinced them to put in Article 231; a controversial article of the treaty requiring that Germany accept legal responsibility for WW1. In an effort to convince people to take responsibility for their actions, he may have inadvertently created something later used to radicalize german sentiment and fuel fascism leading to WW2.

2023

He blew up his halo fighting the demons in the bookshop which could constitute an act of war.

Post Script Disclaimer: The above is a comedy-based analysis based on the concept of folly. This is not an attack on Aziraphale’s character, just an analysis on what I think would be excellent comedy writing.

[kaurwreck]

The Great War in bsd amalgamates WW1 and WW2 but is temporally WW1. For every argument I've seen hyperfocus on the references to WW2, I haven't seen any touch on the references to WW1 — such as (but not limited to) the implied existence of either ongoing or only recently suspended Port Treaties; the introduction of novel warfare and post-WW1 rush towards nuclear research; the aberrations such as the telegraph rack in the Agency office and the slightly-off United Nations logo and the United Nations existing at all without an apparent preceding League of Nations; the existence of an entirely fictional nation state, the Republic of Nalis, the youth of which is reminiscent of the crop of republics created from the dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires after WW1 (but which of course wouldn't be familiar to us since Japan, France, Germany, and England factionalized in bsd's Great War very differently than in our own, resulting in different terms within bsd's Treaty of Versailles analog).

This isn't to say that there aren't many references to WW2, such as the presence of foreign military police in Japan who wear uniforms resembling those of the US military police that occupied post-WW2 Japan. But, I've noticed that the WW1 references are rarely if at all recognized, even after Fukuchi described the specter of a temporal WW2, leading to lots of concluding that the Great War is WW2 rather than WW1 when it's neither and it's both.

[viktorviolettaenterprises]

WW2 German Wehrmacht (Luftwaffe+Fallschirmjäger)

Disclaimed: This Content Is For Education Only, No Political Stuff Intended..

DOWNLOAD

One of My Patreon Request.. Man That was hella of Worked out there Since This Particular Wehrmacht Branch 3D Models Quite Hard To Found... but hey Atleast I Did It.. so Enjoy..

Wehrmacht Luftwaffe was the aerial-warfare branch of the German Wehrmacht before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Imperial Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force.

Meanwhile The Fallschirmjäger  were the paratrooper branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first German paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. Throughout World War II, the commander of the branch was Kurt Student.

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe Officer

(Contain Officer Uniform & Officer Schirmmütze Field Cap)

-1 Color Swatches (Uniform & Cap)

-Age Range:Teen-Elder

-Category: Costume (Uniform), Cap (Schirmmütze)

-Custom Thumbnail

Luftwaffe Pilot

(Contain The Pilot uniform & LKpW101 Flying Helmet)

-1 Color Swatches (Uniform & Helmet)

-Age Range:Teen-Elder

-Category: Costume (Uniform), Brimless (LKpW101)

-Custom Thumbnail

Fallschirmjäger

Fallschirmjäger Soldaten Splittertarnmuster 31

Fallschirmjäger Soldier Equipped With Early Phase Of War Splittertarnmuster Camo that Later Applied on Luftwaffe Branch. Also Known As "Splinter A"

-2 Color Swatches (Uniform, Consist Of Light and More Darker Version of Camo),

1 Helmet (Official Luftwaffe M38 Helmet With Luftwaffe Insignia)

-Age Range:Teen-Elder

-Category: Costume (Uniform), Brimless (M38 Helmet)

-Custom Thumbnail

Fallschirmjäger Soldaten Splittertarnmuster 41

Fallschirmjäger Soldier Equipped With Late  Phase Of War Splittertarnmuster Camo  Also Known As "Splinter B"

-2 Color Swatches (Uniform, Consist Of Light and More Darker Version of Camo),  

1 Helmet (Official Luftwaffe M38 Helmet With Luftwaffe & National Decal Insignia)  -Age Range:Teen-Elder   

-Category: Costume (Uniform), Brimless (M38 Helmet)   

-Custom Thumbnail

[beardedmrbean]

[Huey Zoomer anon]

You know I been thinking about the handling of abuse and dysfunctional family and how for some reason a lot of people just realizing the generational trauma…is there any millennials abuse survivors around? Were you taught to be narcissistic as fuck?

Me getting in social media: Man I hope I can find other people like me- why the fuck do most supposed abuse survivors have MY abuser narracism and victim complex?

Also people complain about how many villains these days have a sob story or a “redeemable” enough…actually I think a figure out

You see a lot of leftists are upper middle class people who grew up in a black and white society. They didn’t see the flaws of America until the 08 crash and going to college. Hence why they bitch about American imperialism

But when you a black person who learn their grandmother was a crackhead…and seeing generation after generation of single mother raising…

The left: You know that America did a lot of evil shit?!

Me: I was born on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr ASSASSINATION! And my elders hammer down the rights I was born with were the PRIVILEGES during their childhoods

Sorry set up, so imo a lot of leftists grew up in the Hollywood oversimplified views of history, especially WW2, its miracle that allies didn’t start killing each other after Hitler died

But anyways, I think a lot of writers was to show that many villains have legit grips…but that like many fractions in history

Germany was fucked over by the Treaty of Versailles hence why Hitler and the Nazis gain power. Many criminals organizations was created to the lack of support and resources government created

Didn’t we all learn that but mid teens…or did these modern writers only knew the PG versions of historical events because of their shitty colleges and schools.

Thank fucking god assassin creed and hetalia encourage to research history and society more than the coastal fucks (not you) who make more in a month than I do in a year

There's trauma and abuse in every generation, we all just process it differently, tail end Gen-X and millennials were the ones who managed to finally make getting help a bit more ok, we still had things like Prozac Nation but managed some big strides there, but we were also guinea pigs for treatment and coping styles as well as classification.

There's that and the internet has a think about making all that shit currency you can trade for validation points.

Also people complain about how many villains these days have a sob story or a “redeemable” enough…actually I think a figure out

That's not new, though people have gotten more aggressive about it lately.

Post on here years back 'the only good nazi is a ex nazi' that one started up a whole world of discourse from the 'I want to hold people responsible for life' crowd, they get mad when someone turns their life away from hate and then proceeds to get other people to walk away too.

Not sure why, instead of one less nazi there might be dozens less as a result of their actions, some people would rather go with violence I guess.

Look at the folks that called Daryl Davis a white supremacist.

Sorry set up, so imo a lot of leftists grew up in the Hollywood oversimplified views of history, especially WW2, its miracle that allies didn’t start killing each other after Hitler died

Stalin knew better, given how much of his stuff was lend/lease.

Didn’t we all learn that but mid teens…or did these modern writers only knew the PG versions of historical events because of their shitty colleges and schools. Thank fucking god assassin creed and hetalia encourage to research history and society more than the coastal fucks (not you) who make more in a month than I do in a year

gotta look round and find the good stuff, then get other people involved in it.

If you do things like YT music or Spotify and take the free option you'll sometimes get a advert that's just some bands song, the record companies pay for that so they can wear people down and try to get that song stuck in their heads no matter how bad it is.

The idea crosses over into a lot of media, if they can make something seem like something everyone is involved with peer pressure and the need to be included takes over.

There's so much psychology involved in marketing, it's nuts.

Gotta manage to grass roots the actual good stuff, or at least the stuff you like and would like to see more of, if there's money to be made off of it someone will make it.

[shortsweetespresso]

joe biden is not the worst president we've ever had

he might be in the top 20? I'd have to really do some digging

however, trump is in the top 10 at least, top 5 most likely

our worst president was woodrow fucking wilson. fuckin lyin ass bitch who started ww2 with his goddamn fourteen points punishing germany in the treaty of versailles so badly that it allowed mustache bitch to gain power

[warsofasoiaf]

Why were the Germans so successful against Russia in WW1, but failed in WW2?

There's plenty of reasons.

Soviet morale and willingness to fight in World War 2 was much higher than Tsarist Russia's morale in the First World War. The Soviets had been betrayed by their ally Hitler and invaded, and believed (not without reason given his rhetoric on Slavic people and Bolshevism) that Hitler had every intent to exterminate them, and so viewed the war as a matter of existential survival. By contrast, the Imperial Russian army was poorly motivated, not believing that a war to invade German soil was necessary for the survival of Russia.

Speaking of, the distances travelled in the First World War were far more modest. By the high-water mark of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazis were deep into the Soviet Union's territory, giving the Soviets home advantages and exacerbating the German supply lines. In the First World War, the battle lines for the Kaiserreich's Eastern Front were in modern day Poland and the Baltics, a far shorter distance which meant a far lighter logistical load.

By the end, the Bolsheviks were so weary for peace, and needing the resources to fight the Whites in the Russian Civil War that they were willing to accept the harsh terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but they lucked out when the Entente was able to force a withdrawal from those lands following the Treaty of Versailles.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[pattern-recognition]

WW1 revisionism was one integral aspect of Nazi rhetoric (and I am not talking about the Versailles Treaty, which is vastly overvalued in regards to the rise of fascism) that plunged the world into their genocidal crusade, and WW2 revisionism could very well be what propels us into a third go at it

[centrally-unplanned]

What do you think of Burton Wheeler and William Borah?

I certainly don't have a strong grasp of Wheeler's full career or anything, I know of him along two axes - court packing & isolationism. As the leading opponent of FDR's attempt to increase the Supreme Court to make it friendlier to his New Deal policies, I think he was right on the merits. I don't view FDR's initiative as some grand sin like some claim - Congress has always controlled the structure of the Supreme Court, its always been political, the idea that FDR could stack it with "lackeys" when congress would retain its approval powers was a claim without evidence imo, and the lifetime appointment system is ofc very dumb. But FDR's court was not overtly politicized, ruling in his favor on many cases, it wasn't widely seen as partisan or that some party had at the time rigged it in its favor via lucky deaths, and his amendments to the system were haphazard. This was also an era when constitutional amendments were still passed, so valuing that workaround had more merit. I have read Wheeler's speech of opposition, and I agree with the majority of it.

As for his role in WW2 Isolationism & the America First Committee, I'm sure its no surprise to anyone that his stances were some of the most dangerously ignorant policies of the era. America ideally would have joined the Allies sooner, but I won't begrudge the people of the time their hesitancy for war. But Wheeler opposed nearly every step of US support for the Allies; he opposed Lend Lease, he opposed Destroyers-for-Bases, he opposed aid to China (iirc correctly on that one). This level of apathy to the fate of people outside the US's borders is a dark stain on the history of many in this era, and he shares it.

Borah I know less on so I won't speak much but to say as a similar isolationist he falls into the same camp - opposition to the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations was something that was never logical because their wasn't an alternative on offer, they weren't trying to build their own peace. In particular, his opposition to the League was entirely based on these ideas that it would create "great foreign entanglements" binding the US, but also that the League would be toothless and violators would simply walk away. So...which one is it?? It is the latter, btw, it was no risk to the US, but diplomacy forums have their place and US isolationism hamstrung that place. He strikes me as a classic "political orator" in that he was famous for his words, but privileged prose over political analysis, and often said little with an awful lot of much. But I have only been exposed to a few of them so I won't go too far on that route.

[echo-s-land]

@unhonestlymirror i need to go to sleep

This was halfly popularize

Let's start off with Angyalistan and Užupis, since I don't have anything to add to what you already know about them x)

+only thing I added is the infinity symbol under Angyalistan's bc I felt like it+had to find a way to nod to the concept of horizon/infinity

Next are Mùnegu (Monaco in Eng, Italian, and everyday life French, Monègue in older French, Mónegue in Occitan) and Andorra (Andorre in French):

Mùnegu:

while she indeed depends on France for military defense, she's very much capable and doesn't rely on him for everything! (dammit!) - she's quite rich (altho the fact she doesn't have many citizens must help)

seem to have a relationship with the Holy German Empire, Spain Kingdom and Italian kingdoms but it made my head hurt with how much dates there are) - gained independence from Genoa in 1247, independence from Holy German Empire in 1524 and becomes a protectorate of the Spanish Kingdom until 1641 where Mùnegu becomes a protectorate of the French Kingdom, then becomes a protectorate of the Sardinia Kingdom from 1815 to 1860. In 1918, becomes a sort of protectorate of France anew

During WW2 scared to be invaded by Italians, went to ask (then Vichy) France what to do to which France replied 'just let them'. So Mùnegu was occupied by Italians in 1942 and then by German in 1943. Helped to deport Jews

christian, catholic (freedom of religion for the people, but the State is still catholic)

abortion became legal (2019) but it's still a mess so the women are encouraged to go to France, Italy or another country where it's legal and less of a mess

Speaks Monegascan/Monegasque, French, then Italian (and English for business ofc)

tried to draw her more 'classy' and organized (?) I still haven't understood the purpose of the hairstyle she canonically has

Andorra:

Actually much more closer to Spain (and Portugal), part of the Iberian Peninsula

For an old reason, both French's government representative (nowadays, the President) and the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia in Spain are ruling over Andorra as co-prince (since 1607)

Has been around since at least the X-XI century

got annexed by the French Empire from 1812 to 1814

His territory has remained unchanged since 1278

Speaks Catalan, then Spanish and Portuguese and then French (but less)

He wasn't invited to the Versailles Treaty so he was officially at war with Germany between 1914 and 1958

during both World Wars and their aftermaths was used as a way to cross the French-Spain border by lots of different people for different reasons (deserters, nazis, Jews, Spanish people fleeing Spain...)

Abortions are illegal (so you have to go to France or Spain to have them)

christian catholic

legend says that Charlemagne gave Andorra a charter

(+Andorra is in the middle of nowhere in the Pyrenees)

is to France and Spain what Liechtenstein is to Switzerland - but they care less about him than Switzerland can care about Liechtenstein

Aigues-Mortes:

It's kinda hard to talk about Aigues-Mortes because the micronation was created in 2011 but the city has been around for several centuries

'Aigues-Mortes' literally means 'Dead Waters' (reference to the fact there are several ponds and swamps in Aigues-Mortes and around the city. The bodies of water stay still)

In 1248, Louis IX named the city 'Bona per Forsa' ('Good despite fate'?) after the inhabitants' request but the name Aquae Mortuae, later Aigues-Mortes will stay

After the Revolution in 1789, the city changed its name to 'Port Pellier' but once again, the name didn't stick around

August 1893: 'Italian slaughter.' (7 deaths, 50 injured, not a single culprit will be sentenced). Biggest slaughter of immigrants in French contemporary history

More about the micronation now!: motto can be translated as 'Love thy neighbor and steal/drink their wine!' - says her religion to be 'Catalcoolisme' ('Catalcoholism'; play of word between 'Catholicism' and 'alcoholism' I suppose); worship rosé (type of wine)

Was created when two friends got drunk (drinking rosé, ofc)

Looks up to Monaco; wants to become like Monaco (hence why she tries to dress up with the same type of clothes Monaco dresses with (classy) and why I made her dyed her brown hair in blonde)

has the French south accent!

Corsica:

was ruled by Genoa from 1284 to 1755 (fought for independence from 1729 to 1755). Became a Republic until France annexed Corsica in 1769

several historical ties with (what is nowadays) Italy

Got a bad reputation bc of FNLC (National Liberation Front of Corsica) mostly. From 1974 to 2014, the nationalist group bombed (public buildings, banks..), made several armed robberies, as well as aggravated assaults and murders/assassinations against French symbol and government and advocated for independence + presence of organized crime

renowned for her beauty

bonds with Breizh over France+luxury tourism destroying their lands and their languages dying out

otherwise doesn't have any ill intention toward continental French people (if you're respectful with her, she'll be respectful with you)

is known to have a strong sense of community/family

isn't going to scream at every opportunity she gets that Napoleon (Napoleone Buonaparte) was Corsican but she's never going to forget it+little pride

wants more independence from France but numbers show that Corsican people do not wish for full independence

occupied by Italy and Germany during WW2; first French territory to be freed

mainly catholic

Frioul:

Already talked about him!

he's the one where you have to have a permit to wear flip-flop lol

Drink respect women juice everyday

insolent but never insulting

doesn't like the heat (he is a bit tan because he is in the south of France but tries his best to stay in places where there's no sun) (most than likely carries a mini-ventilator around and stays indoors+carries a sunshade/parasol outside)

Prankster with calm energy

hates unnecessary commotion/noise (also hates the necessary one but understand it)

has the French south accent!

Was Naple's at first (until the XIVth century where he went from Frenchman's control to Frenchman's control; until he eventually became part of France)

Micronation since 2011

Saugeais:

Created in 1947 as a joke by a prefect and a hotelier (in a abbey?)

at the border with Switzerland

anthem is written in old patois/dialect which France can barely understand

it seems like the dialect has been dying since the last century so I don't know if he can still speak it? Probably has an accent

organizes a sport competition every year (mountain biking, kayaking, running..)

Dracystan and Anthophilia are next! They were both created in 2020 so I made them quite young+They were the only newly micronation that had enough personality for me to work with them - which means France has about 20+ children (but they're 1 or 2 dimensional? kinda ghosts? how would they (not having a defined identity) be portrayed in hetalia/how can they be personified)

Dracystan:

does a lot of clean-ups and gardening; carries gardening and clean-up tools around

any person loitering will be sanctioned/sentenced to remove stinging nettles with their bare hands. it's the law

loves fairy tails! It is said that Once upon a time, the king of Dracystan turned into a frog

gave him frog pins (+ didn't draw it here but he has a frog hat, you know the ones!)

being honest, i thought about The Little Prince while drawing him so that's why he got a scarf and a fox on his overall-

Anthophilia:

SYMMETRY. insects love symmetry, Anthophilia loves insects, so she wears symmetrical clothes and keeps her hair symmetrical too + you can't see it since I didn't color but she's wearing nails polish (orange-red-black-red-orange on each hand))

particularity cares about bees, but also butterflies, bumblebees, birds, nectarivore mammals...

[us-military-unofficial]

79 years ago this month, The US "liberated" the Japanese island of Saipan. I'll describe here why, of many territorial changes during WW2, Saipan most certainly was not "liberated"

[Trigger warnings]: Most any triggers associated with war. Including but not limited to: racism, oppression, US internment camps, suicide, infanticide, truly horrific propaganda, explainations (NOT excuses) for the Imperial Japanese Government and Military's actions throughout the war

Note: I've written the intro and this post has already become excessively long. Please realize it will not be exhaustive, complete, or perfect. I intend primarily to call attention to the US' past mistakes, especially that we have buried the history within our own country. If you feel something is important to add, be it context, corrections, or anything else, I invite you to leave it in the notes. My research and understanding of history is constantly evolving, as everyone's should be, and more information should be accepted but also fact checked.

Final (after writing) Note: You will find some trace humor in this post. Not because the situation is humorous or light, but in fact the opposite. Any joke or humorous organization, or what have you, is because I've been writing this for (checking and doing math) around two hours. I've cried, I've been angry, I AM angry, and I needed to make it emotionally readable and writable. (although I did stop myself from an outright joke or two, to not make light of the situation) There are points where I am utterly unserious around this terribly serious event. I do not handle uninterrupted seriousness well--

-- All comments, information, questions (though perhaps you can research for yourself and com back to comment what you learned!) and yes even opinions and thoughts are welcome in the notes. Hate is not. No one who reads this post will interact with any hate in the notes, and everyone who read will block you. This is not strictly a no-trolls-allowed-zone, but it is a no-troll-food zone. You have been warned, and thank you for reading this already too-long Tumblr post

The Battle of Saipan took place in June and July of 1944. The US army, particularly the air force, wanted the island as a staging point to send bombers on raids to Tokyo

With US victory in the battle impending, the Imperial Japanese leaders redoubled propagandizing to the citizens of the island. Most of these citizens were native to the island and didn't consider themselves "racially" (the term used by the Imperial government) Japanese. Many more were Korean slave laborers deported from territory occupied by the IJA.

This propoganda was largely focused on convincing soldiers and civilians not to surrender. They accused American soldiers of using their (IJA) own terror tactics. Mutilation of the dead, enslavement, and worse.

But as I'm wont to do, I'll be going into the details of the good ol' USofA's role in the mass suicides in Saipan. The Japanese Empire bears enormous blame, and I will not trivialize that. The US also bears enormous blame. Since calling out my country is why I'm here, and because the US' role in Imperial Japan's policies and culture is very unknown in the US, that's my focus

In early 1944- hmm nope we gotta go back further.

In February 1942- wait. fuck. a little further.

in July 1941 the USA- okay I promise this is the last one. deep breath, this is quite a time jump.

In 1919 Japan proposed an amendment to the Treaty of Versailles. It was called the Racial Equality Proposal. It did gain widespread support. Several countries, notably the USA, opposed the proposal and prevented its acceptance.

Japan was the only non-western world power allowed to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The Japanese Empire's government sought closer relations with the western powers and integration into their systems.

Details on the proposal, as with most aspects of political history, could be a series of posts in itself. Here are what I consider the most important points and context for my discussion:

Japan was seeking equality among races only of UN-predecesor, the league of Nations, states. This proposal came in 1919, and legal segregation existed in the US until at least 1968. The US, Australia, New Zealand, and Canda had taken or did take steps to inhibit Japanese immigration.

I will note that The Japanese Empire did hold ideas of their own racial superiority over other Asian people and people further abroad as well. Also that one driving force behind the proposal was Japanese suspicion that the predominantly white and western empires of the LoN would use it to exercise control over the Japanese people they themselves considered inferior. The proposal was intended largely to convince opposition within Japan to join the LoN.

-----

In July 1941, the second great war is raging. France has fallen. Less than a month has passed since Hitler broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and invaded the Soviet union. The US population is reluctant to enter another world war (although FDR, for his myriad upon myriad faults, sees that the world must stand together) but is sending enormous amounts of supplies from military to basic necessities to the Allied Powers. The Germany-Japan-Italy axis won't be broken until 1943

Then the US makes what some call a strategic blunder, and others call FDR's 4D chess mastermind gambit to end the war. The truth is somewhere in between, or perhaps on a different scale altogether.

On July 28, 1941 the US freezes all Japanese assets that they hold and cease all oil shipments to Japan, which is using oil to maintain sea lane supplie routes to Indochina, where the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) is taking yet more territory, as well as powering their war planes and armor.

Japan sees the western colonies in Asia as strategic encroachment, as unjust rule by ideas of white racial superiority, and most importantly, a potential source of resources. Food, oil, rubber, slave laborers, comfort (sex slave) women, and on and on.

I cannot go into the strategic ideas of pearl harbor and the invasion of the Philippines and other European Asian colonies in detail here. The overall IJA strategy is thus: delay American reaction, take territory, make retaking it too expensive for the Allies, negotiate peace.

---

February 1942. The US is recovering from the total shock of pearl harbor. Colonies have been lost. Soldiers and non-combatants massacred and worse. The Allies have agreed at 1941's end: none will make seperate peace with any Axis power, and nothing short of unconditional surrender will be accepted.

This month, the US creates internment camps for all Japanese-americans. Citizens, recent immigrants, children, people with power, people with money, people with nothing. Multiracial families are broken apart. The US propagandized these camps as places where Japanese-Americans could live normally without the ability to accrue intelligence or pass it to the Japanese Empire. In reality, they were mass prison camps.

Since then, the US has committed repeated instances of what are now recognized as war crimes against Japan. The US hasn't been much, if any, better to the people in territories it has retaken.

---

The Battle of Saipan begins in June 1944. D-Day has passed, Allied Normandy, France beacheads have become captured harbors and inland positions. Attrition among Japan and Germany's forces point to total defeat without a real change, and the Allies greatly outproduce them in war material. The Japanese Empire, civilian government and armed forces alike, is putting its endgame into practice.

The Imperial Japanese Army (and other branches) is in fact independent from the government, although both are subordinated totally to the emperor.

The endgame? Cost the Allies, America in particular, more lives than domestic support can tolerate. Force a negotiated peace. Fight to the last soldier on every island, on every hill, with every bullet, and with bayonets and rocks when the bullets and shells run out

Unfortunately for the Empire, the US is going to take Saipan. The deep problem here? If news of American soldiers bringing gifts and befriending the people of the island, the mandate to give their lives for the emperor might falter. Why fight to the last when the Americans only seem to want the war to end?

So American soldiers must be portrayed as horrifically as American propogandists portray Japanese people. American soldiers must be killers, monsters, rapists, anything that will keep the people of the island from letting themselves be taken.

Eventually no war supplies remain. So the Empire gives the soldiers, civilians, slaves, and other inhabitants their final order. Die in the name of the emperor. So the population of Saipan, soldiers and non-combatants, committed mass suicide.

Here I will leave another trigger warning. If you do not wish to read graphic details, please skip the next paragraph.

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Soldiers on Saipan pulled grenade pins and held them. People threw themselves from cliffs onto the rocks by the thousands. Parents walked into the sea, or jumped with, or threw their children ahead of them. Because surely even this was better than what the American barbarians would do to anyone captured.

This was proven largely false as time went on, but the will of the Japanese people did not break. The will of the Army Staff didn't break after two atomic bombs. They tried to prevent the emperor from surrending, but they failed.

But why did the people of Saipan, not primarily people who called themselves Japanese, believe what they were told? The reasons are many of course, and probably impossible to truly ever completely understand. But I posit the following

America forced Japan's partial surrender with inhuman threats via Admiral Perry's "gunboat diplomacy" in the 1850s, and forced the nation the rejoin the international community that had already treated the nation horrifically.

American policy was that Asian people were inferior to white people.

America invaded other Asian island nations and made them colonies, despite their semi-recent anti-imperialism bent

America participated in bombing to intentionally create murderous firestorms in German and Japanese cities that killed more civilians than both atomic bombs.

America sent pilots on near-suicidal, never before seen raids of Tokyo from carriers at maximum distance to punish Japan for Pearl Harbor. The intention was to burn down the most flammable targets: civilian housing

Germany and the Allies traded war crime for war crime like it was a game of chicken where enemy civilian lives, white civilian lives, superior in importance within America by law, were worth less than nothing.

America classified anyone with a traceable Japanese heritage in the United States as a hostile agent and imprisoned them. Right down to the children and the proud American citizens who happened to be from Japan, or have a great great great grandparent from Japan.

What if you were on Saipan? Would you have said "surely we can trust the Americans? Surely they're here to liberate, to save, to restore peace?"

Would you have said that after a hundred of your friends chose death with and for their families? How about after a thousand?

around 26,000 civilians were on the island before the battle. American soldiers interned around 18,000 after the battle ended.

The US government will still cite justifications for Japanese-american internment, even if it isn't totally unapologetic. Many Americans believe we were the liberators and even the primary or sole heros of the war.

We don't talk about the abhorrent propoganda the US put out about Japanese people, as a race. Terrifyingly similar propoganda to how the Nazis portrayed their enemies, in particular Jewish and Slavic people: untermensch. subhuman.

In the few documentaries I've ever found that mention Saipan, the evil is the Japanese Empire. The government, the armed forces, the emperor.

I've never heard so much as one sentence about the role of the US. the 100 years our country spent boring their racial, their cultural, their religious, their might, their moral superiority into the minds of friend and foe alike.

Not so much as "The people of Saipan, caught between their government's propoganda and American hate"

I've never heard "These people who knew that every Japanese person in America was declared a criminal by default, acted in fear"

I've never heard "The people trapped on the island who wondered if the war crimes that happened on the mainland would happen here. They knew that America answered war crime with war crime, and Japan had committed plenty itself"

So in this anniversary month of the suicides of as many as 8,000 civilians ahead of the approaching American forces, I wanted to share the context that I had to dig for and piece together myself.

I'm aware this is a nigh unreadable post. But if one American skims it and questions what they've been taught, it was worth writing

if one person anywhere reads this and thinks "we should try harder to consider the causes, and effects, and context of our actions" it was worth writing.

I hope you'll take a moment to remember the people who came (and those who come today) to America for a better life only to receive discrimination and then imprisonment. A moment for the people whose government found it all too easy to radicalize them.

And a moment for the eight thousand people who were so afraid of America, and rightfully so, that they chose to die pointlessly lest they become yet more Japanese victims of American hate.

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and of course: this is a Tumblr post. I have not sited my few barely used sources. I have not covered this one event even, in any real depth. And I certainly haven't covered it without bias. I'm not sure anyone who knows the truth could do that.

so do your own research. don't take me at my word, but go look into the context named here and otherwise. Learn about the history my government hides, and the history yours hides too. Because it's there

and know that the words "Never Forget" and "Never Again" about the Holocaust, the war crimes, and the rampant disregard for humanity are just that, words.

You can't "Never Forget" if you don't know what happened. We can't ensure "Never Again" if we don't understand the causes, the mistakes, and how we avoid them.

[littlegreenhouseplant]

WW2 wise what’s a fact you randomly think about more than you should?

Mine is how critical easy company was to D-day and how lt winters straight up invented a strategy for taking a position.

That’s a good one! I like the one where Hitler made the French surrender on the same train the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the Germans at the end of WW1 and then proceeded to blow up said train. Dude was crazy and evil to say the least.

[msbarrows]

Not formally schooled in WW2 history and most of what I have read is related to European theatre not Pacific but stuff related to their reasons, off the top of my head beyond checking some dates?

This is going to be long because I surprised myself with how much I knew that I didn't realize I knew, and it goes back to almost a century before the attack itself. Ack.

(Also yes 'I just followed orders' is never a defence, and that's why people are not supposed to follow illegal orders. Though it's rather a Catch-22 since depending on whose orders it is you might well end up being punished in either case.)

Forced opening of Japan's previous closed borders by a fleet of US battleships (see the Perry Expedition in the mid 1800s) is the earliest history related to why Japan was not favourably inclined to the US to start with (ever heard the phrase 'gunboat diplomacy'? Yeah. Because the US has pretty much always seen itself as Hot Shit and felt that its perceived interests overrode everyone else's sovereignty - look up 'manifest destiny' and the Monroe Doctrine while you're at it for further evidence of US attitudes to everyone not US).

The US and Europeans overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy and then the US annexes the Hawaiian kingdom in the late 1800s giving them a mid-Pacific foothold for expansion further westwards. Note that Japan is also a monarchist island nation, who have already been forced to interact with the US. If you don't think they (and everyone else in the Pacific theatre area) saw this as red flags, you're not putting yourself in their shoes.

At about the same time Spain cedes Guam and the Phillipines to the US as part of the ongoing Spanish-American war (beef between the US and Cuba traces back to then). The Philippine-American war results, with the US eventually winning control of the area. More Pacific footholds even further west.

1900-1911 - US annexes parts of Samao, forming what is now known as American Samoa. (Oh look, even more aggressive US actions in the south-west Pacific area.)

Early 20th century saw boat-building infrastructure built on Hawaii centred on Pearl Harbour. It's mid-Pacific location makes it a very key foothold (and bottleneck) to US trade and military function further westwards.

1919 - Japan proposes that the post-WW1 Treaty of Versailles include a bit about the racial equality of all members of the League of Nations (they're the only non-western Great Nation). The US and the UK slap it down (what, let PoC be equal to their lily white purity? How ludicrous!) The US enacts a bunch of racist anti-Japanese laws.

1930s - Japan goes to war for a mix of reasons, largely economic (wanting to claim areas with resources of metal and oil they need and therefor feel a right to take - just like the western Great Nations have been doing all along). They withdraw from the League of Nations and ally with Germany and Italy. The US levies trade embargoes and restrictions that largely cease the trade of scrap metal and oil to Japan and prevent their ships from using the Panama canal, cutting them off even further from resources they feel they need to support themselves and their war effort.

1940 - US Pacific fleet does exercises off the Hawaiian coast and then remains at Hawaii.

Feb 1941 - Pearl Harbour designated the permanent base for the fleet. The US starts or continues greatly expanding the facilities at Pearl Harbour in support of it.

The US and the Japanese are in negotiations for much of the year. They both have mutually exclusive points they're not willing to give way on. Negotiations are failing.

Japan wants the Philippines, which would both give them resources and remove a major US foothold in what they see as their own area of interest. If they take the Philippines then the US would attack from Hawaii.

Dec 1941 - Japan makes what it considers to be a pre-emptive strike against an obvious US threat. While this is always described as a 'surprise attack' it's worth noting that the US President knew of the possibility of an attack at least three days before it occurred (there's a declassified memo from Dec 4 of that year that predicted it); but much like the warnings of 9-11, they had a 'failure of imagination' to believe that it could actually occur).

So yeah there's basically a long history behind why Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, and it very much was not because they wanted the US to enter the war. In light of both countries expansionism into the SW Pacific and the US's attitudes towards their nation, they saw the war as inevitable. I don't believe they were necessarily wrong. Though that doesn't put them in the right, either.