The Dispatches On War: Part X

Ferozk,

I am deliberately not reading this series... and here is the reason: When the book comes out, I want you to give me a crisp autographed copy as a gift :).

Aur how is life man?

Re: # 13

Your points/comments are noted and appreciated. The problem is that the topic is so vast that it needs to be ``pigeon holed`` into an specific area otherwise the inclusion of various details tends to obsecure the narration. For example, the topics of the Industrial Revolution and the social issues have to be addressed, but the general idea is that to provide the political parameters to establish the context and then to explain the economic and social factors within a period. It is for this reason that social and economic will discussed apart from the ``political-historic`` articles so that they can be rightly placed in the correct sequence of historic developments.

Ciao

>>>``I am really thankful to the editors of Chowk for allowing a forum for these articles especially when the topics covered are of trival interest to most Chowk readers``.

Dear Mr. Khan:

Thank you Chowk; but more so I am thankful to you for providing such a rich and vivid picture of history that has made the world the way we have come to witness it.

Since I have no formal education in history, your articles are of great interest to me. I most certainly learn from them. However, as a lay person, my feeling is that you narrate history as if events unfold like moves of chess where people in power plan to make things happen, which is true for sure. In your articles, in general, I do not see much reference to political economy of the periods when history was moving its pawns to make events to take shape. I suppose it may add to the perspective of lay-readers of Chowk like me.

By the way, where do you teach? I wish its somewhere in my backyard, I’ll sure show up in your lectures. Thanks again.

Re: # 1

The next installment (Part XI) will cover the period from 1850 to 1875. It will include the period of Napoleon III and the process of Italian and German unifications.

Part XII will cover the period leading to the First World War; imperialism and nationalism.

Part XIII will be an article on the gensis of military theories, pertaining to Clausewitz and Jomini, which influenced the battle plans of European nations prior to the First World War.

Part XIV will an indepth look at the social and economic influences which have shaped Europe and will trace the focus back to 1500s and from there, draw comparsions leading up to the inter-war years (1919-1939). Due to the extensive nature of material covered, Part XIV will be divided into 3 or 4 parts itself.

Part XV will be an exclusive look at Nazi Germany and its policies and influences and as it was influenced by the ideas of Italian facism in the 1920s and how these influences shaped the politics of Europe before Second World War.

Part XVI will cover the development of military thought prior to the Second World War and how it influenced the concepts of Blitzkrieg and how the idea of strategic air bombing orginated and how it was implemented; the use of technology in war.

Part XVII will cover the Second World, but with an emphasis on the political and economic policies of the nations involved in the fighting in order to explain the non-military rationales of the war.

Part XVIII will cover the Cold War, from 1945 to 1989 in detail and this part will be further divided into 3 parts; 1945 to 1955, 1955 to 1975 and 1975 to 1989 in order to cover the events in a reasonable manner.

Part XIX will cover the period from 1990 to the present.

Realistically speaking, I am looking at another 2 to 3 years of writing the articles in this series and this series has been going on for the last 2 years. I am really thankful to the editors of Chowk for allowing a forum for these articles especially when the topics covered are of trival interest to most Chowk readers. Since the articles are supposed to help my AP European History students, they have to follow a certain guideline with a particular emphasis to an idea/explantion and thus, have to remain focused to an event and its antecedents and its consequences. The aim of the articles is to provide the students with an ``outside information``; an interpretation of an event for the betterment of their own understanding of the issues involved.

I will try to meet your expectations as much as possible, but will not make any promises! :)

Ciao

I am afraid that I have not read the previous dispatches on war, but I did go through the painstaking process of reading this whole piece. It reminds me of the time when I read a book on Balkan history (during the Bosnian crisis). My attempt was a complete failure; who was doing what to whom? I didn’t know any of the players, any of the issues nor did I know their aims. From a desi’s point of view, this is pretty obscure history with very little relevance to us. I wish Feroz sahib had connected some dots so that we could appreciate it a little better.

Re: # 9

swarrier,

Interesting link. By the way Marx did not get his labor theory of value from Owen (as the writer suggests) .... he got it straight from Smith and Ricardo. Nevertheless an interesting read, imagine Hamid solving trillions of equations to pay his gardener :)

It seems people still refuse to learn from the Soviet experience.

Re: # 8
GT
I found this link.
Yes, Marx fell out with Proudhon and being German would have no time for anarchists. In fact during the Paris commune he actually supported the Prussian forces against the Frenc.

Re: # 7

I did not know that Marx was influenced by Owen. He definitely fell out with Proudhon. Remember the `Philosophy of Poverty` and the `Poverty of Philosophy` tiff?

Re: # 5
Yes but then each of these little groups or perhaps utopian socialists if you will had some impact later. Marx was influenced a bit by Owen and Fourier I think. What exactly happened to the Proudhomists anyway. I thought they became very right wing after the Paris Commune. Maybe Feroz you can cover them in the Franco-Prussian wars.

Very informative, Feroze K (as usual, of course). In particular, I am struck by how frequently statecraft was influenced by personal relationships (e.g., Napolean’s marriage proposal). It is also quite clear that the technique of “divide and rule” is not a new discovery and the Europeans were old hand at it.

I read on Wikipedia that the Metternich fascinated Henry Kissinger, who idolized him and made him the topic of his doctoral dissertation. I wonder what part of Kissinger’s own set of foreign policy initiatives was influenced by the Metternich (especially by what you have called “the Metternichian concept of a balance of power based on the status quo” which probably explains why the U.S. tilted toward Pakistan during the 1971 war). Also, like Metternich, Kissinger was quite willing to dump erstwhile-allies willy-nilly (the examples of Taiwan and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) come to mind) to save own skin.

Re: # 4

swarrier,

I guess Feroz will reply by tomorrow. I too like his work, but am a bit frustrated by his exclusive focus on (masadi`s) elites. Small groups (the Owenists, Proudhonists, Fourierists etc.) were revolting all over Europe around this time. It was a kind of `war`. In Vienna cannons were used to quell the uprising. The Paris incident is well known. The groups were unorganized and often did not know what to do after their `victories`. Soon the elites were back and with arrogance ..... Federick William IV refused to accept the crown from commoners when it was offered to him by the constitutionsl assembly!

GT
It`ll show up in a few days. It has happened before. Maybe on the Pandora box thread. All I wanted to know was whether the next installment would be on the Franco-Prussian wars or on Bismarck. I like Feroz`s pieces. Bet this post is going to be filtered too. -)

Khan:

Informed but very terse. Why did you leave out ``(the) spectre (that was) haunting Europe`` at that time. Was it deliberate?!

On a different issue, why is swarrier being filtered?

Khan yar:
I haven`t read this article yet. But it is about 6123 words long. 10 issues will be perhaps 60,000 words. I won`t read the stuff aqnyway!

Can you reduce to about 600 words maximum? Wa Salaam!
Kamath

Nice to read this Feroz. Will you be focussing on Bismarck in the next article or more on the Franco-Prussian wars?