The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [308]
[201] P. 187, Against Leviathan, Government Power and a Free Society, Higgs, Robert, 2004, The Independent Institute.
[202] War economies are hard to judge because the employment and production are skewed; however, when the production is being blown apart in some far away land it cannot really add to the domestic product. How to measure a war economy is still up for debate, but many economists say WWII was not a period of economic recovery.
[203] The Forgotten Man, A New History of the Great Depression, Shlaes, Amity, 2007, Harper Perennial.
[204] The Forgotten Man, Shlaes, Amity.
[205] p. 110, 111, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal, Murphy, Regnery, 2009. Fun book to read, easy for the non-economist.
[206] We are all captives of our theories. Theories set the framework for analysis of various problems, and a lack of theories—or faulty theories—can hamper the ability to respond to events effectively. When Keynes came up with his monetary theories about how to end the depression they presented the decision makers with a new way of looking at events, and new ways of solving the crisis.
[207] p. 166, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal, R. Murphy, Regnery, 2009.
[208] Stalin supported the spread of communism to China and planned and supplied the North Korean invasion of South Korea, among other violent acts perpetrated throughout the world. We are talking total deaths, not percentages. Mao might be able to claim more murders, but it is hard to tell. The current count is Hitler killed 21 million, Mao killed 34 million, and Stalin killed 62 million. These numbers are from a study by the University of Hawaii in 2008.
[209] This was the combined arms doctrines developed by the British on the Western Front in WWI.
[210] Japan was fighting in China right up until the end of World War II in 1945, because that was a major focus of the military government—winning in China.
[211] Japan’s War: The Great Pacific Conflict, by Edwin Hoyt.
[212] See: John Keegan, The First World War, 2000, Vintage Press.
[213] There are large problems defining fascism. Most of their economic programs were socialist as the government controlled industry and tried to ensure the populace made a decent living; however, the fascists were militarists and ardent nationalists advocating expansionist policies. Fascism in Italy was much different than Germany where racism was a key element of the mix. Socialism is not automatically expansionist; however, Communism is expansive in nature. All these interlacing ideas make fascism difficult to pin down
[214] In Eastern Europe, two similar dictatorships struggled for triumph. Ironically, this totalitarian clash determined if democracy would survive in Western Europe. The purpose for war was clear in the Persian Wars also. Maybe I should say the modern purpose for war was never clearer.
[215] See: Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm.
[216] When I say violence as a part of government control, I do not mean some police officer kicking a rioter. The kind of violence adopted included executing or forever imprisoning people who were opposed to the government. If a person even talked about disliking an official in the regime they could be, and often were, executed.
[217] Ultra: the British broke the German Enigma code, a machine code which the Germans believed unbreakable; thus, seldom changed. Magic: the United States broke the main Japanese code, a traditional “book” code that was often changed, thus destroying the US ability to read the code until new keys were found. One might say the invasion of the USSR was the most important event of the war, but that was a decision by Hitler and thus absorbed into the first reason given in the list.
[218] We must acknowledge Adolf Hitler’s brilliance as a politician. He went from a corporal in the army, to the leadership of a penniless Nazi Party, to ruler of all of Germany, and then ruler of Europe in a very short time. One must also