If the link doesn’t work, then you need to copy and paste it into your browser. For some reason my ability to create hyperlinks stopped working on my WordPress several months ago, but I figured out a back door.

The Chinese historic and museum photos are placed first, beginning with Beijing, then Xi’an, Chengdu & Sanxingdui, Henan Province and its many sites, and then the other provincial capitals. Then I have all the albums from the rest of the world. This includes recent visits to Cambodia and Vietnam, Mesoamerica, Egypt, Europe, and the Philippines. American photos are next, followed by the airplanes, ships, trains, and large weapons. Finally I have photos of personal collections like Chinese weapons and coins. My essay postings will remain on the WordPress site. They include six essays by Lee Rorex (after whom I received my middle name) about fighter missions he flew in World War II with my Dad in the 389th Fighter Squadron of the 9th Army Air Force.

In all outfits there are paragons – paragons of virtue, paragons of vice. In our outfit we had a paragon of intellect. His name was Bengie.

Bengie looked ordinary enough: five-foot seven, sandy hair, blue eyes and a shy smile. He walked and talked like the rest of us, but, there all resemblance ended. Inside Bengie’s head was a brain that soaked up information like a present-day computer. He could pursue two conversations at once, and his thought processes were so swift as to leave good minds boggling.

I’m quite sure that in his training time, Bengie had soaked up the airplane, all components, navigation, including the great sidereal system upon which all is predicated, maps, charts, graphs, manufacturer’s specifications, superiors and instructors. Where Bengie went a mental vacuum must surely have followed.

By the time of my arrival overseas, he had completed forty combat missions, was serving as squadron leader and was respected as a proven combat pilot. However, in combat Bengie was competent but no master, as is often the case with genius.

But, mental genius is a twenty-four hour-a-day thing. And, flying a plane did not keep Bengie’s mind fully occupied. Oh, if he were tangled up in a nose-to-nose dogfight, or doing a bombing/strafing run, he undoubtedly gave his full attention and mental faculties to the task. He was conscientious.

But, think of it; an hour and a half out to a target, fifteen minutes work, an hour back to base. Those long hauls could get to be a bore! So, Bengie took along something to relieve the boredom, whatever current-interest best seller was available in paperback.

Word got out. His fellow pilots didn’t like it! Their leader sitting up there reading lusty historical novels, while they just managed to fly right, search for bogeys, take time to be scared and sweat. What the hell kind of war was this?

So, they laid traps. Half way out to the target someone would push the mic button and ask, “Slipshod Red Leader, Blue Leader here, where are we, anyway?”, trying to sound nonchalant. Then all the rest of us would listen intently.

“Uh, Blue Leader,” would come the reply, “on your left is Dazzleburg, on your right is Stuttsmesson, and the point on the river up ahead is Dusseldorf. We’re at map coordinates X-2, G-21. Uh, sixteen minutes to target.” Bengie would then sink back into the glutz and glitz of his porny vice book, having been more specific than any one of us who was navigating full time. The rest of us would sink back into our defeated desire for justice, not the least bit willing to admit that we envied our precise leader ever so much.

But justice, if that is the proper word for it, would prevail, and the horny-headed beast doesn’t always cast the chips evenly, discretely or even fairly. Such was to be Bengie’s downfall.

Pilot’s Log Entry: 11/21/44 Dusseldorf. Encountered E/A for first time. Jumped thirty ME-109s. 30 for top cover. Russ got one. Squadron total 10-3-4.

Bengie led the squadron today. Twelve ships, we went out into Mr. Hitler’s gigantic production fields of coal and iron and blew away another thirty or forty of his hauling trucks, many tons of his precious supplies and no telling how many of his faithful workers. From the position of the Allies fighting this war, this was a hugely successful mission. Destruction, destruction, destruction!

So, here we were on our way home, Bengie with Red Flight in the lead, Yellow Flight behind and below, Blue Flight behind and higher. This was standard operating procedure, except for the lead position of Bengie’s porn book. It was leading us back from a very successful bombing mission, all excitement behind us.

But, fatefully, not so! Suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, both Yellow and Blue Flights were up to their butts in German ME-109s and FW-190s. No one saw them, they were just there! No one called them in on the radio. I guess when your psyche bluntly switches from serene to fight you forget little details like a radio call. There went Red Flight, none the wiser.

In about three minutes all was over. An estimated sixty Germans and eight Americans spewed thousands of rounds of death-dealing ammunition at each other. Scores of man-type human beings strained, and sweated, and feared death. Ten Germans tasted it because that’s how many were shot down. Three more were MAYBEs because we couldn’t confirm them as kills. Three minutes of hell.

And Red Flight pursued its happy way home, the porn book not having spotted the fracas behind. Yellow and Blue formed up, after a fashion, and came on in, too.

I don’t remember, exactly, all the reasons given for the late arrival home of Yellow and Blue, but for sure no one said anything near the truth as everyone came straggling in from the flight line. At the debriefing meeting, after Red Leader had given his account of a very successful bombing and strafing mission, Yellow and then Blue Leaders gave their accounts of one helluva dog-fight mission on which they shot down ten German planes and probably three more. No enmity, mind you, just all in a straightforward manner. But, I’ll leave it to your imagination what kind of meeting we had from there on out!

Bengie took it all in good grace. The Colonel surely chewed him out good and proper, but he was saved much ribbing and embarrassment by being furloughed home after completing fifty combat missions.

Since no one wished Bengie anything but good, and now admitted that he was simply envious, we now found that we missed him. Very few outfits are privileged to have a genius aboard. And, there was absolutely no chance, whatsoever, that we’d get another one as a replacement! No, for us, there could be only one Bengie; and we were the losers!

**********          **********          **********

Just an ordinary guy doing a job. But then, all jobs that big are done by ordinary guys. And each one, like the pilot, expending that Universal Spiritual Soul which all of us share. Martin Buber called it THEOPHANY – the meeting of man and God.

The location is Laon-Couvron, France. It is northeast of Paris. Funny, I have never seen the town, just the patched up runway. It has been filled and refilled while serving as a German air field. But, patched or not, we now have a runway for the first time in my seventeen missions. Heretofore, we’ve used a steel mat rolled out over the dirt for our takeoffs and landings.

We moved up closer to the front lines three weeks ago. Our daily flight missions take us up to and across the beautiful Rhine River. We’ll move up again soon in order to give close support to the dogface soldiers.

Of necessity, we fly low and slow. Low because we knock out ground targets; and slow because we’re always loaded to the gills with bombs and rockets and machine gun ammo. We work from a thousand feet, fly in all kinds of nasty weather and do our best to help those mud-sloggin’, bullet-dodgin’ G.I.s on the ground. Sometimes a different kind of thing comes along.

Pilot’s Log Entry:  11/9/44.  Rhine River. Dive bombed oil dump. 20-40-50-88 Flak. Most flak I ever saw.

All days are memorable, after they are over. From the time I got up at six this morning, this one has had memorable written all over it. The clouds, solid and a little black, are hanging low and ominous. I recognize this as a sign; not one learned from my old country grandpa and his trick knee, but one learned from the Colonel which he very carefully threw out at our mission briefing last night.

“Boys, we’ve got a chance at a big one tomorrow. An oil dump, right here,” stabbing the wall map with a finger. The thump of his finger hitting the wall caused some pilot-type muscles to jump reflexively. Any sound that comes suddenly and with a thump does that to us. We’re flak-happy from being shot at day after day; losing buddies; telling unfunny jokes to take up the slack in dead conversations.

“Boys, we’re being given this mission because there is no Heavy Bomber Group available right now. If we take out one of Hitler’s main oil supply stations we’ll shorten this war, and how!”

Yeah, and how! We’re ready for it to be shortened, like yesterday! And then came that omen, that sign marked memorable, remember?

“Boys,” he always calls us boys – Lt. Colonel Harvey W.C. Shelton, 7^th, the old man – he’s twenty-four years old. “Boys, this one is so big, we’re taking a thirty-six ship group. We’ll go, no matter what. The weather doesn’t look good, but it’ll take a hurricane to keep us on the ground.”

As I look this morning, those clouds not only are NOT hurricanes, they have left a gap of maybe five hundred feet between them and the ground. Plenty of room for a fighter-bomber pilot! Right? Yeah, an ominous day.

The 390^th Squadron fires up first. They are leading the group and the rest of us watch as they put twelve ships into the air. I can’t help a wry laugh as I watch twelve ships take off, and suddenly disappear into those ominous clouds.

The 391^st Squadron goes next; fire up, take off, disappear. Funny how those ominous clouds can swallow up group after group and never even seem to get a full stomach. So, there they are, waiting.

So, here goes the fightin’ 389^th, old Slipshod by radio code, anything but slipshod in its gory work. Fire up, take off, disappear into those ominous clouds. We pray it will be a short instrument climb.

On the radio: “Cougar Red Leader, Slipshod here. Are you out of the soup yet? Over.”

“Negative, Slipshod, and I’m at 9,000 feet. Cougar out.”

Nine thousand feet! We haven’t been this high in our last five missions all added together! Who we gonna bomb, anyway?

On the radio: “Slipshod, this is Red Leader. Better slip into some of that oxygen. We’re going through 10,000 feet.”

Ten thousand feet! Has the world gone mad? Not only ten thousand feet up, but we’re still in those ominous, kinda black clouds, remember?

“Cougar Leader to group. We’re out on top at 17,500 feet. Cougar out.” His voice holds a slight touch of disbelief, with just a snitch of humor. He knows what all of us are thinking. Why, man! We have started bombing and strafing runs from a thousand feet! Most of the time! And now, 17,500!

It always happens all of a sudden. Old Slipshod bursts out of those ominous, kinda black clouds. Just as in the movies, in the blink of an eye we are in a world of sparkly bright sunshine. Below are those now fairy-like clouds, bubbling, pushing up in beautiful, convoluted, rolling patterns; reflecting the sun back in priceless sparkles of gold, magenta, blue and white. It is a wonderland, the proportions and color of which Disney never could have matched. A description of my feelings at this point is impossible.

I check my altimeter. Sure enough, 17,500 feet above terra firma. And out there, all over it seems, are little black specks struggling along with two five hundred pound bombs under the wings, four air-to-ground rockets alongside, and a huge gasoline belly tank slung underneath to get home on. Thirty-six of us in all. Today I’m number thirty from the front.

“Cougar Leader, Slipshod Red Leader here. Who we gonna bomb from way up here, anyway. Over.”

“Cougar Leader here. I don’t know unless they come up here with us.” We hear him laugh.

“Cougar Leader, Indian Red Leader here. There at about two o’clock is a pretty good hole. It might help us. Over.”

“Roger, Indian. We’ll have a look at it. Cougar out.”

It is all sorta like a dream play. For old number thirty up here, way back from the front end of the line, I am immersed in a powerful drama consisting of romancing a responsive P-47 Fighter/Bomber up through 17,000 feet of solid clouds, zooming around startlingly beautiful cumulus formations, and, at age twenty-two, observing more natural beauty than most people are permitted to see in a life time. To a romantic like this, war and life-threatening danger are a world away.

“Cougar Leader here, listen up.” We listen. “You’ll find this hard to believe, but it’s true. This damn hole is a couple of miles across, and it sits right on top of our oil dump! So help me God!” we can hear his amazement.

“Cougar, Slipshod here. What’s the plan? Over.”

“Well boys, just like we planned. Cougar will go in by flights; Indian will follow, and Slipshod last. Everything’s the same except that we’re starting a bomb run at 17,000 feet. Good luck. Cougar out.”

That didn’t sound so bad, did it? But, think of falling from 17,000 feet and those ground gunners have all that time to blast away at you! Normally we start from about a thousand, or so. Makes a difference. Yeah, ominous.

Old number thirty sitting up here with his rose-colored glasses on, hypnotized by the romantic beauty of it all, watches as Cougar Red Leader peels off and down, followed by his three chicks. Then Yellow Flight peels off and down, and old number thirty comes out of his romance trance. Coming up are black puffs, and more black puffs. Some red streaks appear, fade and reappear. It’s a little like the 4^th of July, except that these fireworks are of a different nature and spell death, no matter what color!

Cougar Blue Flight peels off and down. I have trouble following them through the smoke. Indian Squadron starts their bomb runs and I can see multiple red flashes on the ground as Cougar’s bombs begin to burst. I see Indian Blue Flight go down and disappear into the smoke. Damn, it’s black down there! And the air is filled with millions of pieces of shattered iron, just waiting for a plane to run through.

By now, rising from the ground are a succession of smoke plumes. Black and angry and filled with burning oil, flak and all kinds of ground debris, they rise three thousand, five thousand feet into the air. Cougar and Indian are doing their jobs, and how!

I have now counted twenty-four of those seemingly tiny black bugs as they dropped off into the black hole in pursuit of death and destruction. Of a sudden, a thought hits me: all those Germans on the ground have to do is to take a gun, any gun, point it up into that hole and pull the trigger. No aiming necessary! How could you miss? And, how many Germans guard an important oil dump? 1,000? 5,000? Maybe. And every kind of gun from a Luger to a 105 howitzer! That’s one thing it means to be number thirty from the front!

I watch, now, as Slipshod Red Flight peels off and down. By now the sky is so black as to appear solid. I’d swear that a man could land his plane at 10,000 feet and just get out and walk away!

Number 25, 26, 27, and 28. Slipshod is on its way down.

Slipshod Yellow Leader peels off and down. Being right behind him, I have the best seat and, so help me, my leader momentarily disappears in the black smoke! So help me!

I am peeling off and down. The black envelops me, then breaks. I immediately see a horrible thing one doesn’t usually live to tell about. At ground level, I see a huge shell leave its gun barrel and traject an upward path. I am well aware that to see this I must be sitting precisely on its trajectory path. In other words, I’M DEAD! “Dear God, save me today,” is the prayer which parts my lips.

My plane is now screaming down at 350 miles an hour. Zig-zag so as not to be hit, you hope. Press off a few rounds so as to keep those German heads down. The shell hasn’t hit me; exploded below me, obviously. My eye lines up what looks like an oil tank grouping. Switch on, bombs armed. Living a life often charmed. Air black, filled with flack. 10,000, 5,000, altimeter spinning, death grinning. Noise, ringing, sweat, fear. Can’t hear. Press that bomb release! Pitch! Pull up,               SON-OF-A-BITCH! Don’t get hit now!

And then, amidst all that hell and indiscriminate death, a miracle of humor, perhaps the only way to stay alive in times like this!

It lasts only a few seconds, much less time than it takes to tell. Just as I release my bombs, I look to the right; why, I don’t know. There, in plain sight, is another P-47. An eighth of a mile over, it flies a path similar to mine. It pulls up, it zigs and zags. But, all this without the benefit of a fighter pilot. I’ll swear I can’t see him! Just the plane!

And then, as we come up, and up, and away from the indiscriminate death and destruction, it happens. I know who’s in that plane, old number thirty-one, Pinkerton. As I watch, spellbound, amidst all the black, and horror, and terror, and fear and death, a leather covered head appears above the bottom window sill, followed by a pair of goggles. They pause, look. I burst out into uncontrollable laughter and shout, “Peek-a-boo, Pinkerton.”

The man has found his own way of coping with death. I wish I had thought of it.

Thirty-six planes dived into that black hole filled with sudden, bloody death. Thirty-six planes pulled up, flew home and deposited thirty-six fighter-bomber pilots alive, happy and thankful. Why? How? Huh! You TELL ME!

The oil supply station? It simply ceased to exist. The German ground gunners? Them, too. I was told they were my enemies.

**********          **********          **********

Just an ordinary guy doing a job. But then, all jobs that big are done by ordinary guys. And each one, like the pilot, expending that Universal Spiritual Soul which all of us share. Martin Buber called it THEOPHANY – the meeting between man and God.

Pilot Log Entry: 2/2/45 Dedenborn (Germany). Time 1 hour 15 minutes. Had 50 mile winds. Bombed bridge and missed.

In the mission briefing that morning, the Colonel had been very specific about getting that bridge.

“Gentlemen, this bridge supports a double railroad and a paved highway. Now, the Germans are moving tons of frontline supplies across it every hour, every night. Those supplies have to be stopped! Allied lives and the success of the entire war effort in this sector depend on your success!”

The sky was cloudy; there was frost on the ground and the crisp air was cold. A mean wind whipped from the east and boded trouble from the start. A twelve ship squadron went out, unloaded twenty-four 500 pound bombs on that bridge and returned, never having hit that bridge once!

“There are no excuses, Colonel, “ Lt. Bates said in the debriefing, “but, one good reason; that damn wind, forty to fifty miles an hour, and ninety degrees cross the bomb run!”

Try hitting any target when your bomb platform is screaming down at 300 miles an hour; shoved to the left by an irresistible wind force; skidded back to the right by an overapplied foot rudder, fifty caliber guns blazing.

“And, man,” Blaker piped up in his tenor voice, “you should have seen the flak out there! And the smoke! Black as the front hinges of Hell!”

Yeah, flak. Unseen thousands of pieces of jagged metal, produced from shell explosions, seeking to tear the airplane and the pilot apart! Shot up from the ground, it’s called flak. Well, we just didn’t get the bridge, that’s all!

Pilot Log Entry: 2/8/45 Dedenborn. 1 hour 20 minutes. Bombed RR bridge and missed!!!

Yep, same bridge, same place, same results! Flak? The sky was black with the smoke. One flight came in high and unloaded; one tried it from down low. The third flight defied all the rules of safety and flew parallel to, and directly over the tracks! Right down the throats of those huge guns! Cut the rails on both ends of that bridge and never hit the bridge itself once!

Our debriefing that day was a brooding affair; our only consolation being that another squadron had given that same bridge a good old Yankee try that same morning without any better luck.

I was incredulous! How could I have been so close and miss? And twelve of us? The location had to be protected by one of those bomb-proof umbrellas we suspected the Germans had invented!

My sense of failure that day was a curious mixture of chagrin, disbelief and disgust, leavened by an hour and a half of gut-wrenching fear of death, ever present when in the company of a P-47 Fighter-Bomber engaged in the job of war! And the Colonel’s butt-slashing comments hadn’t added anything nice to the day.

Pilot Log Entry: 2/13/45 Dedenborn. 1 hour 15 minutes. Bombed RR bridge. Kaput. Barkley hit. Price bailed.

Yep, same bridge, same place. But, this time, results different! Kaput – that’s German for finished, wiped out, the end.

The poor Colonel, he wasn’t getting off scot-free, either. Some General up there was on his back. His Big Brass butt wasn’t in any better shape for sitting than was my Little Brass butt. So, he had a plan, brought into being by the General’s last and final admonition, I’m sure, to get that damn bridge, or “I’ll find someone who can!” – or something to that effect.

“Men,” said the Colonel at the briefing, “all of you are seasoned combat pilots. That’s why you’ve been picked for this mission.” A curious predictive feeling began a warm sort of glow down in the region of my tail bone. “Today, we’re going to GET THAT BRIDGE!”

How, today? All minds signaled. The Colonel answered the unvoiced question, “We’re going to skip bomb it!”

No, the Colonel wasn’t crazy! No, skip bombing wasn’t unheard of; just the most dangerous tactical bombing maneuver known to man! The Colonel continued, “I’m sure each of you will remember how the river comes toward the bridge from the east. Just a few hundred yards away, it curves to the south, passes under the bridge and wanders off to the southwest.” He was right, we remembered. I could close my eyes and see every detail of that terrain plain as day.

“Now then,” this was his way of saying FOR THE LAST TIME – the warm spot on my tailbone got hotter -“we’ll take two flights of four planes each. Red Flight will stay high as top cover. Yellow Flight (that was me) goes after the bridge.” Still hotter. “Yellow Flight, you men will let down to the ground about ten miles east. You’ll fly up the river just above the water. At this point, (stabbing the map), you’ll do a turn of about thirty-five degrees right. You’ll straighten out; in about one minute you’ll be over the bridge. As you approach it, you lift your nose, release your bombs, break right and up fast (yeah, fast) and get the hell out of there.” He was stealing my lines. But, there it was; sounded simple enough?

Well, consider: here are four airplanes as described earlier; I’m in one of them. Along with my three cohorts, I fly out into enemy territory; let that thundering ball of steel and explosives down to within ten feet of the ground. How’s that for a Sunday A.M. stroll? At that height you rise for fence posts, let down for potholes and hope that the frogs aren’t jumping today! It’s called CONTOUR FLYING.

Now, there’s a small complication. As I make my turn into the target, I’ve got sixty seconds to spot the bridge and release my bombs, right? But, the Colonel didn’t mention that other guy, the one in front of me whose bombs will be exploding under the bridge just as I come thundering in! And the pilot behind me? And behind him?

This is taken care of by spacing, right? If I’m spaced back far enough behind the guy in front of me, his bomb blast won’t hit me. Fine. But, suppose he makes a perfect hit on that bridge? Up in the air will be parts of everything! Bridge! Trucks! Concrete! Rocks! You name it! — How high do they go? — How long to get back down before I thunder in?

But, all the logic is on our side. By coming in so low to the ground, the Germans won’t be alerted. We’ll surprise them. Besides, we’ll be flying so low to the ground that they can’t depress those big guns low enough to hit us. Besides, our speed will be such that they won’t have time to fire at us anyway. Piece o’ cake! Besides, even the Germans wouldn’t believe that any American would be fool enough to try a stunt as dangerous as this! Besides, it’s Sunday.

For some curious reason, we always hurry out to the planes as though on the way to Coney Island instead of a death circus. I get a quick look at the weather and climb in. The roar of that huge engine tends to quell the small fingers of fear which have replaced the warm glow around my tailbone. Red Flight gets off first and Yellow Flight rolls out in order. I am number three man. That means that out of four planes, I’ll follow two into that bridge. The leader will follow no one; the number two man will follow one; the number four man will follow three. Do I ever calculate whose chances are what? Only about a hundred times!

Red Flight takes off and goes high. That’s where you go to look for enemy planes looking for you. Yellow Flight takes off and stays low. That’s where you go to search out a Sunday morning’s sport. It occurs to me that as soon as we are back, I must hurry over to the Chaplain’s tent for late services. Perhaps, with his connections, he can arrange a pardon for all of us who are out killing Germans this Sunday A.M.

Scared? No, that’s not the name for it. My mind is working too fast to absorb fear. Tense? Yes, but mainly in the stomach; good training has taught the arms, hands, legs and feet to perform without thought conscious directions. A little fear nibbles away at the back of the mind; fear of death perhaps, but not enough weight behind it to be distracting. Mostly, just absorbed; fly this beast right every minute; every moment look for those bogeys; they can jump you, shoot you down and be gone in less than a minute flat. Hope old Red Flight is on the ball today.

“Yellow Flight, this is Slipshod Red Leader. Time to hit the deck. We’ll be watching you all the time. We’ll keep the Jerries off your backs. Good luck.” The radio lapses into silence.

Who has anything to say?

Yellow Leader signals for a left echelon formation by a dip of his left wing. All of us take up a position on his left, stepped out and away. Here is that SPACING. All of us have the bridge in sight, again! We see Yellow Leader nose over and start down. We follow in order. The ground comes up fast. Part of the maneuver is to come down with close to full throttle to gain speed. At ten feet above the river we level out. Or is it eight? We push the throttle to the firewall and wish for more power. A minute and a half to go.

All thinking of a superfluous nature stops here. Concentration, that’s the name of the game. Flip on the gunsight and firing switches; flip on the bomb-ready switch; push the bomb ARM button. I am now a parcel of steel, oil, gas, death-spewing guns and totally destructive explosives, streaking along at three hundred miles an hour, ten feet off terra firma, a blur of indistinguishable objects. Only up ahead can I see. And, I see Yellow Leader lean his right wing over, ever so slightly, as he starts his bomb run. For him, sixty seconds now.

As Yellow Two turns in, I am aware of blast flames and black smoke up ahead. For Yellow Two, sixty seconds now.

With hardly a thought as to the bunch of trees that mark the turn point, I bend my right wing over and start my own bomb run. For Yellow Three, sixty seconds now. Flames, smoke and dirt fill the air in front of me.

The smoke is already a hundred feet in the air. My mind, wholly on the task of execution, nevertheless registers objects other than smoke in the air – solid objects, flying. THERE IS THE BRIDGE! Or, part of it. Nose up slightly. Press the bomb release button and then start fighting for my life. Bend that right wing over; pull back on the stick and go up, up, the sudden G Forces forcing my body down into the seat, my breath momentarily crushed to a standstill; rock the wings back and forth; skid right, left, right; that’s just in case some smart jasper on the ground has figured out how to shoot at me as I leave the target. Roll out left, look back and down. There comes Yellow Four up off the bridge. Hey, NO BRIDGE!

“Red Leader, Yellow Leader here. I’m hit bad! Gotta go quick! I’m bailing out!” SHOCK! I look ahead, but can’t spot my flight leader. Nerves screaming for relief, I force myself to pull back on the throttle and slow down that overworked engine. The flak is no longer bursting around me. I start a lazy circle to allow Yellow Four to catch up. Look! Look, damn you! Yellow Leader’s out there somewhere.

“Red Leader, Red Three here. Look to the south, just over those trees and you’ll see a parachute. Over.”

“Roger.”

All of us are looking! And, there he is! And, alive! Good old Price, from Indiana, they couldn’t kill him!

“Red Leader, Yellow Four here. I’m hit bad! Still flying, but my engine is running rough and I’m losing oil pressure. Over.”

SHOCK!

“Roger, Yellow Four (he’s right behind me), do you think you can get all the way back? Over.”

“That’s Roger, Red Leader. I’ll be show, but I believe I can make it.”

Those bogeys can still be up here. Yellow Four is now a sitting duck. Yellow Two and I drop back, one on each side of wounded Yellow Four. Old buddy Barkley is just a black helmet and a pair of dark goggles to my vision. But I experience the condition of his body and mind. My frustrated desire to lend help forces a near scream from my lips. After all, it has been only two minutes since I flew through that killing hell down there. But, aside from heart palpitation, gut strain, post bomb-run terror and the bogey threat, all of us make it back to the field and land safely.

“General,” the Colonel said into the phone, “we got that bridge. (Pause) Thank you, sir.” He hung up, and smiled as he looked at the rest of us.

Three days later, old buddy Price walked back into our ready room, the same big grin on his face. When he landed in his chute, he had shed it and started running. His senses were good because he ran smack into a camp of the French Infantry. They had watched the whole show as Slipshod knocked out the bridge, the one that had supplied the German ground forces opposing them for the last eleven days. The Frenchmen were so thankful for the help that they kept Price drunk for two days toasting the American Air Forces. And, all this as they moved up to rout the Germans.

What does it all mean to me, forty years later? Well, I don’t know, but for sure, that gutwrencher is still a permanent part of my psyche. And, the pictures are just as clear; the feelings just as real; the destruction just as numbing; and the death? Well, I was too late to make that late church at the end of that mission. Oh, God, where is thy forgiveness?

**********          **********          **********

Just an ordinary guy doing a job. But then, all jobs that big are done by ordinary guys. And each one, like the pilot, expending that Universal Spiritual Soul which all of us share. Martin Buber called it THEOPHANY – the meeting between man and God.

In 1985, an airliner flying through heavy cloud cover is a thing of extremely sophisticated technological accomplishment. There is the radar to set the path and provide for any changes en route; and then the computer, fully programmed before the flight to handle take-off, all flying en route and landing at the destination, all without the pilot’s assistance. We have actually heard of cases where an airline pilot quit simply because the job became too boring for him.

In 1944 and ’45, while flying with the Ninth Air Force in Europe, the pilot who lived this episode learned a different story about instrument flying. His P-47 Fighter/Bomber was a one-man operation. He flew alone, but worked in groups of four to sixteen planes. They never asked for that cloud flying, but occasionally they couldn’t avoid it. And so, they flew the soup.

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Location Y-29, Belgium

“By God, Gather [Gaithey in the first essay], what I ought to do is bust you down to private and send you packing! I’ve been flying combat for a year and a half, and this is the first time I’ve ever had a wingman leave me in the soup! And, by God, IT HAD BETTER BE THE LAST!” To say the very least, the Colonel was mad.

Twelve fighter/bomber pilots had just returned from a mission over Germany. The weather was bad all over and they had been forced to fly in much heavy cloud cover. Gather, with maybe twenty missions under his belt, was no neophyte and he had committed the unforgiveable sin; inside the soup, he had broken formation and left the wing of his leader, endangering his life and those of his comrades.

I could remember my instructors back in the States explaining the flying-the-soup technique. “This is done in flights of four ships. The leader is here (putting a mark on the board). On his left wing is the Number Two man, and on his right wing is the Number Three man. It makes your basic “V” shape. On the right wing of Number Three, we put another man, Number Four. Number One and Number Three are always experienced men. They are leaders. Number Two and Number Four are usually new men. They always have a leader to stick with in case of trouble.”

In this team, then, only Number One, the flight leader, actually flew by the instruments. Inside the clouds his eyes were glued to those instruments. Every continuing second, those instruments told him rate of climb, airspeed, rate of turn and compass heading. The pilot’s concentration was absolutely amazing. He could never waver, speculate or hesitate; every second he had to be right! All our lives depended on that. It was a grind and the responsibility awesome.

What of the other three team members? They simply tucked in close to the ship they could see and hung on for dear life. How close? So close that the wingtip of one plane was overlapping the wingtip of another. This could easily put a wingtip within four feet of a fuselage, another wingtip and another tail fin. And there the pilot flew. No matter his wishes, feelings, state of mind or desires! All this required consummate skill.

Talk about faith! And trust! When you slipped your wing in next to your leader’s, you put your life into his hands. And, you took his life into yours, because, if you screwed up out there you could ram him and kill him!

All of us were proficient enough for the job; the real threat came to us in the form of a physical/mental nemesis called VERTIGO.

“Gather,” said Capt. Theis, “the Colonel almost sacked you this afternoon. You know that?”

“Yeah,” was Gather’s only reply.

“Well, we’re gonna go over this again, and this time it had better take! Now, when you broke off up there today, did you have Vertigo?” The Captain’s voice was softer now.

“Yes,” Gather answered.

“Alright, you review it for me. What is Vertigo, and how does it affect you?”

“Well,” Gather began, “the affliction comes when the eye is robbed of all its signal points. When the ground is gone, the horizon doesn’t exist, there are no reference points like trees, or buildings, or any object to cue the eye as to what is straight, or what is level, right, left, up or down.” He was practically quoting the book.

“Right,” Theis added emphasis. “And when Vertigo hits, what’s the effect on the man?”

Gather responded with the same command of the subject: “He might have perfectly normal response mechanisms, but now they go haywire. In straight and level flight, he will swear he’s going up, or turning. His whole body takes up this feeling and tells him to make a correction, fast!”

“And if he does, he’s had it, right?” Theis prompts.

“Probably,” Gather replies defensively. “If he makes a correction on his own, he breaks formation. This could cause a collision and kill people. Or he might fly into the ground and kill himself.”

“Right.” Theis’ voice fairly stabs the air. “Today, you were lucky. Just damned lucky! When you broke off, you managed to get oriented to your instruments in a hurry. If you hadn’t, you would have continued to fly your Vertigo and you would have crashed for sure!”

“But I didn’t!” a defensive Gather answers.

“No, you didn’t,” Theis replies, “this time!” He was solemn. In dead earnest, he continued, “Gather, I’m laying it on the line for you, don’t let there be a next time! You’re a good pilot! The others respect you for that. But this!” Theis broke off, shaking his head. “Gather, right now your fellow pilots are asking themselves a question, ‘What if Gather flies my wing tomorrow? Will he foul up again? Will he take me with him?’ You know this as well as I do, don’t you?”

“Yeah, sure,” a despondent Gather replies, “and they’re right!”

“You bet they are! We are a team, man. Each one of us depends on the other. Now, I want you to go to your sack. Sit down there and put your mind on this incident. Think it through step by step. This time, in your mind do everything right. See yourself hanging in there; feel yourself returning to normal and beating that Vertigo; feel your normal responses returning. Now, DO THIS, DAMMIT! It works!”

Gather was no coward; nor was he any kind of exception. Vertigo produced large panic for all pilots. Of course, the ability to control panic was a character trait, for sure. But, was the inability to control this kind of panic a character flaw? Had Gather been a mud-faced Marine, this supposed flaw might never have been discovered. Perhaps, too, any pilot, new or old, might not have controlled the panic at a given moment.

I’m sure Gather did exactly as he was told. And, he knew all the reasons. YOUR LEADER IS ALWAYS RIGHT! STAY WITH YOUR LEADER! THE INSTRUMENTS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT!

And so the dictum: STAY WITH YOUR LEADER. You may not like him personally; you may not respect him for personal reasons; but, trust him you will! STAY WITH YOUR LEADER! If you don’t, wartime combat has a grisly way of pointing up your mistakes.

Pilot Log Entry: Duren (Germany) Had to turn back. Bad weather. Landed with 200 foot ceiling.

The briefing this morning was a total tongue-in-cheek affair. “Boys,” this was our Colonel, “we’ll have to fly some soup today. The clouds are low here, but Stormy (all weathermen are called Stormy) assures me it will raise as we go east.” (Yeah, raise! 1,000 feet? 100 feet? 10 feet? How much?) “Our target is in this area and —,” most of us lost him about here. All of us had gotten a look at those clouds out there. They were so low the birds were walking; you think they’re gonna raise? Fat chance! On the way out to the planes we gauge those clouds; maybe two hundred feet at the base. We’ll be in the soup by the time we form up.

No one is at my plane today but Sgt. Riorden, the Crew Chief. “Good morning, Lieutenant. You guys really gonna fly in this stuff?” Man, what a war! Even a ground man knows better! But, an old axiom holds sway: Your heart may belong to God, but your ass belongs to the U.S. Army! We fly!

Today we have three flights, Red, Yellow and Blue. We take off in that order. I’m flying in the second flight, so I’m Yellow Three. My leader is Capt. Koff, a seventy-eight mission man. Thank God! My wingman, Yellow Four, is Wright, a seven mission man. As we taxi out for takeoff, I’m playing the old combat game of worship-your-leader with Koff. He holds my life in his hands. It occurs to me to wonder what Wright is thinking of me. We don’t know each other that well. And his life is in my hands; he knows it and I know he knows it.

After takeoff, as Yellow is scrambling to get up into formation, I just happen to be looking at the right place to spot Red Flight. All four planes tucked in so close they look like they are tied together! And, in the span of my fleeting glance, all four simply disappear into the soup. As simple as that.

Now, Yellow Flight has formed up. I’m tucked in on Koff’s wing, close. When he looked at my plane I’m sure he thought I was a piece of flypaper, stuck on! Once Yellow Four is on my wing, I forget him. He’s on his own, to stay or not. Yellow Two is tucked in; that’s the team. And we disappear into the soup.

Inside, it’s a semi-white, dirty-water world. My eyes are riveted on Koff’s ship, just where the canopy joins the fuselage. Beyond his ship I can see Yellow Two, plainly; and, beyond him that dishwater sky, a sea of complete and utter nothingness. I mentally reassure myself that my leader is the best. I see a picture in my mind of these four ships going up in beautiful formation, see the angle to the earth, see the steady climb. This is my way of establishing a reference in this nothing world so the old nemesis Vertigo won’t get to me too badly when it hits. Because, hit it will! I’ve got thirty-four missions, but I never fly the soup without my old friend Vertigo horning in.

Blue Flight is the last to take off and form up. All of us hear the radio transmission: “Blue Four, come in closer. You can’t fly the soup ‘way out there!” Blue Four is Gather, being too cautious. And my heart goes out to Gather (without taking my eyes off my leader!). Back in the States all Gather wanted to do was fly; now he’s saying to himself, “Why the hell didn’t I join the Marines!”

As Blue Flight enters the soup, a thing is happening in Gather’s mind. He is rehearsing all those aphorisms: YOUR LEADER IS ALWAYS RIGHT; THE INSTRUMENTS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT; STAY WITH YOUR LEADER! Each sentence comes on a little louder. He knows he’s building to breakpoint. His old friend Vertigo will poke his head in any time now. Any time!

Without taking his eyes off his leader, Gather searches the perimeter of his vision for some blue sky that will tell him they are through this cloudy nightmare. But no, not so. As he stares at the side of his leader’s ship, suddenly it seems to roll over to the right and pull up as if going for a loop. His entire body convulses into a bundle of straining, groaning nerves, his stomach starts a nauseating slow roll and a pinching pain grabs his spinal cord. He can actually feel himself hanging upside down at the top of that loop! My God! These guys are crazy! His mind says. They’re going up much too fast! HOLD! EASY LAD! VERTIGO! STAY FAST! DON’T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR LEADER!

It’s possible that at the same exact moment, some or all of us were suffering the same torment; but, for Gather it was a brush with the Grim Reaper. And, if Gather had to reach out and grab a hand, that was the only one available.

“Yellow Leader, Red Leader here. We’re out in the clear at 8,200 feet. Red out.” There’s no reply from Yellow Leader, nor does anyone expect it. Yellow Leader is too busy, too concentrated to reply.

To a man, every pilot in every one of those thundering planes still inside the soup, fights back a pressing desire to grab a look at his altimeter. 8,200 feet. Wonder how high we are now? How much longer? Man, can I hold on, or not? DON’T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR LEADER!

“Blue Leader, Yellow here. We’re out at exactly 8,200 feet. Yellow out.”

Blue Four doesn’t hear this last transmission his mind is too occupied with thoughts of its own. My God! Here we go again! Pull out! We’re gonna crash! Sweat runs freely into his face mask. I’m gonna break off! I’ve got to break off!

“Red Leader, Blue here. We’re out. Over.”

“Roger, Blue. Red out.”

Out? We’re out? The laughing tears spatter down the face of Blue Four. No one could ever describe the relief!

“Slipshod Red Leader to squadron, these clouds seem to stretch as far as the eye can see. There’s not much use going any farther.”

So much for all those assurances of raising weather! And Blue Four? All this for nothing? Just practice?

“Slipshod Blue Leader, Red here. What do you see from ‘way up there? Anything different? Over.”

“Negative, Red. Clouds as far as I can see. And they get thicker up ahead there. Over.”

“Roger Blue. Well, Slipshod, we turn her around and go home. Red Leader out.”

Go home; welcome thought. Blue Four thinks so, too. But his second thought hits him like the explosion of a 500 pound general demolition bomb! “Oh, No! Not back into that soup again! NO, NO! I CAN’T DO IT!”

“Blue Four, come in a little closer. A LITTLE CLOSER!”

And there goes Red Flight back into the soup. And Yellow, and Blue.

At the end of what seems like an hour, but probably more like fifteen minutes: “Yellow Leader, Red here. We’re out at about 500 feet. Red out.”

And shortly: “Blue Leader, Yellow here. We’re out at 500 feet. Yellow out.”

And shortly: “Red Leader, Blue here. We’re out. Over.”

“Roger Blue. Red out.”

So there it is. The song has been played again. Everyone is clued in. each of us knows that everyone else is out and safe. Muscles begin to uncoil from the white-knuckle strain. Nervous eyes glance out to the side, furtively, as if committing a serious crime. DON’T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR LEADER! But it’s O.K. That’s clear air out there, if not sunshine. You can relax now.

“Blue Three, Blue Leader here. Over.”

“Roger, Blue Leader, what’s up? Over.”

“Uh, Blue Three, aren’t you supposed to have a wingman behind you? Over.”

In split-second consternation: “Hell, yes!”

“Well, Blue Three, he’s not there now.”

We were brothers, Blue Four and me. All of us were. And, I’m not talking rhetoric brothers, either! As my body breathed, so did all breathe; and for the same purpose, to sustain life, the common life. And, as Blue Four died, so did we all die, a little.

And the folks back home? Without knowing exactly why, or when, they all died a little, too. A part of that Universal Spiritual Soul broke away from each of them today.

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Just an ordinary guy doing a job. But then, all jobs this big are done by ordinary guys. And each one, like the pilot, expending that Universal Spiritual Soul in which all of us share. Martin Buber called it THEOPHANY – the meeting between man and God.

Imagine being twenty-one, a brand new 2^nd Lieutenant searching for fighter pilot glory, and getting this announcement: “Lieutenant, you’ve been assigned to a P-47 Training Unit.” P-47! The Thunderbolt! 2,000 horse power radial engine, big as the side of a barn, slow as a truck! What happened to that sleek, pointed-nose P-51? Or that fighter pilot’s glorious dream the double pointed-nose P-38? F-O-U-L!!

“Men, welcome to the P-47 Training Unit. I’d ask how many of you volunteered for this Unit, except that all of us here are well aware that every one of you probably wanted to fly the P-51, right?”

Yeah, right! But, that’s the army for you! And, THIS IS the U.S. Army Air Corps, Feb. 1944. They say it, I do it! Me and this 12,000 pound aluminum wasp are stuck with each other!

So, here I sit in this bucket of bolts at the end of the runway. Ease the throttle forward, lock the tail wheel, now give her the gun. Whee-e-e doggie! The power pins me to the seat! In the air, Hey! It handles like a baby! Dive it; get maneuvering speed and pull it up into a loop. Man alive! It handles beautifully! And that power! Who wants to fly a P-51? Quickest first flight conversion ever performed!

And, it will carry more weight, deliver more fire power, take more punishment and still fly, than any airplane ever built! Yeah, and back home, I’ll bet you could plow with it!

“Well, boys, welcome to France and ground-support combat.” Listen now! This is me; the same guy with his nose stuck up in the air; only, eight months, twenty-three combat missions and a lot of smarts later. “Are you still sulking because you aren’t a P-51 glory boy?”

“Oh, sometimes I guess. But, Lee, will we NEVER get a chance at air-to-air combat? Will it always be just air-to-ground support?”

“Well, I’ll level with you; I flew my twenty-third mission yesterday and met enemy aircraft for the first time.”

“Oh, no!” “Hell!” “I was afraid of that!” (Lousy replacements! They never get here with an appreciation of the P-47 and close ground support!)

“Well, I sympathize with you, boys. But then, there’s Capt. Koff. He’s been over here a year and a half; he has 124 missions and 320 hours of combat time and has encountered enemy aircraft only once.” (Now listen to ‘em yell.)

“Oh, hell!”  “What a way to go!”

Now it’s time to get them indoctrinated. “Let me tell you what it’s like over here. Every mission takes us to, and across, the Rhine River now. And, on every mission we take ground fire like you wouldn’t believe. And, we do get hit once in a while.”

“Yeah, with what?”

“Well, I could answer that; but, here’s somebody who can do a better job. This is Lt. Gordon who owes his life to the endurance of the P-47. Listen to his story.”

“Hi, fellows. It’s true, what Lee says. There were eight of us up around Dusseldorf, doing a bombing and strafing job on a railroad marshalling yard. Those transportation centers are guarded like they were oil wells. Every caliber gun you can name is in use when you go down on them. From a hand held Luger to a 180 Howitzer, they are shooting at you! Well, I took a hit in the left wing, just outside the wing root. It exploded what ammunition was left, and when the smoke cleared away I saw a hole three feet wide and running from the front wing spar to within four inches of the trailing edge. I’m telling you, any three of us could have stood inside that hole.” Gordon stopped and let this sink in.

Somebody said, “Geez!”

Gordon continued, “Well, my first impulse was to jump. But then, I saw I was still flying, and the wing was still on there. So, I brought her home.”

A new man gasped in amazement. “And landed? With a wing like that?” he asked.

“Yep,” Gordon replied, “and walked away and that wing was still on there. My life was spared because this old Thunderbolt could take it.”

Looks of wonder adorned those new faces and, while they were engaged in being dumbstruck, I called up another man to incite some more admiration.

“Boys, this is Lt. Crusan. He flew back from a mission with one cylinder shot completely away. Tell us about it, Charlie.”

The new men were really dumbstruck as Crusan began.

“It’s true; the cylinder at the one o’clock position was gone. The piston and push rod were gone, along with all the oil! It was all over the windshield! I hung my head out the side and landed that machine, taxied into the revetment and shut off the engine just like normal. Nobody watching could believe it. Well, as soon as that power was turned off, the old engine gave a loud groan and simply stopped. With all the oil gone, all the metal was so hot that every piece of that engine simply welded itself to whatever it was touching! The whole engine was a solid mass of fused metals. But you know, that didn’t happen until that old P-47 brought me home safely.”

Wish you could have seen the astounded looks on those faces.

And, with that kind of built-in reliability, we blow Hitler’s trucks, trains, guns, supplies and soldiers all to hell! We follow the American dogfaced soldiers as they mop up the Ruhr Valley, Germany’s most heavily industrialized area. We clear the way from the air so the ground soldier doesn’t get hung up. If there is such a thing as glory in an air war, this is certainly not it!

We seldom get into an air-to-air dogfight – the kind that produces ACES and instant HOMEFRONT BOND SALESMEN. We always leave home loaded with bombs, rockets, and enough fifty caliber shells to decorate Washington, D.C. at Christmastime. We fight dogfights when we get jumped by the Jerries, or when flying escort for our big, four-engine brothers. Although trained for aerial combat, we are not efficient at the task nor apt to get that way. The following accounts, then, must, of necessity, be accepted for exactly what they are – stories of dive bomber pilots fighting for their own lives under the stress of air-to-air combat – “when it was nose to nose, him or me, live or die.” If you can discount the fact that in many of these cases pilots die, friends are lost, we extract the humor where it is to be found.

Today my friend Russell took his first step toward becoming an Ace. He shot down an enemy plane in mortal combat. Four more and he’ll join the magic circle.

Russ was flying Trombetta’s wing on a regular dive bombing mission. From out of nowhere the Germans swarmed in. The P-47 boys jumped into the fray. Trombetta, the leader, went after an ME-109. Russell, his wingman and tail protector, hung back. The 109, followed by two P-47s, racked into a tight left turn, drawing all three into a left circle. Suddenly, coming in from the right, another ME-109 slid into the circle between Trombetta and Russell. Why he chose to latch onto the front man instead of the last man no one knows. But, his choice sealed his doom! Russell opened up with his eight fifty caliber machine guns and blew the errant German Airman out of the sky. Russ called it, “fortuitous ace-making.”

And sometimes there is just no humor to be extracted. McCauley, from Florida, has been in the outfit for maybe a week. He tends to be quiet and, with his hands in his pockets, he listens a lot. Since he had only his training time behind him, he’ll have maybe two-hundred and fifty hours total flying time. Perhaps I’ve seen this man a half dozen times. His personality appeals to me and, I think I may have found a new friend. But, find in vain! Today, Mac flew his first combat mission in the European Theater of Operations, was shot down by a German flyer, and died. Tonight I’m looking for another new friend! That’s the way it is.

And Struth. He came in about the same time as Mac, but he was different. He had remained in the States as an instructor pilot after getting his wings. His total hours may run up as high as three or four thousand, with about fifty in the P-47. Today, Struth flew his first combat mission in the European Theater of Operations, was shot down by a German flier, and died. I never had a chance to learn his first name!

And then, sometimes, there is just the opposite: instant hero.

This one’s name is Driesler; Dries for short. Fresh in the outfit from Kentucky, with a crooked Dick Tracy nose, and a smile as big as his home state. On this day Dries flew his first combat mission and shot down a Focke-Wulf 190. He knocked the German off his leader’s tail, just as Russell did a few days before.

So, we tease Dries, accusing him of taking the easiest way into making friends in the outfit. For sure, he has one lifetime friend – his leader on that mission.

Pilot Log Entry: 3/2/45 South of Bahn. Strafed motor transport. Met ME-262.

We are on a regular bombing mission today. We’re loaded down and struggling out to the target at 150 miles an hour. Someone calls in, “Bogies, two o’clock high.”

We look and, sure enough, there they are: black, sleek and fast, with that big Swastika flashing the danger signal. There are only two of them and, since we are a twelve ship squadron, we figure they’ll stay away. So, we watch as they circle.

“Hey, Slipshod Red Leader,” comes a call, “do you identify those Bogies? Over.”

“Negative.”

“Hey, Red, I believe they’re jets. Over.”

“Jets?”

“Yeah, the brand new ones, the ME-262. Over.”

“Red Leader, Blue Leader here. He’s right. That’s the 262, alright. Over.”

In our powerful P-47s we are King of Air-To-Ground. But, facing aerial combat with the new German jet? Well, that’s an equine of a different hue! Of course, we’ve only heard the stories: 600, 700 miles an hour; more maneuverable than a P-51; and nobody, but nobody, could ever hit one in flight! As we look, we know fear.

Sure enough, the two sharks high above dip and start a run on us. They are going to take on all twelve of us at the same time. With twelve ships to shoot at, how can they miss?

Our Red Leader today is Kelly. Long and lanky, an easy smile, and with an air of confidence.

As the Germans turn in and down, Kelly’s confident voice comes over our radios: “Slipshod, Red Leader here. Now, listen up! Do exactly what I do, nothing else! Don’t jettison any bombs or rockets. We’ll beat this one.” Smooth and confident. He obviously has a plan, and, you can bet every one of us is ready to follow it.

The Germans, taking advantage of altitude and speed, are dropping in on our tails. Different pilots keep reporting their exact position as the angle changes. When Peterson calls in, “Bogies high, six o’clock, dead on,” (directly on our tails), comes the still confident voice of our leader: “O.K., Slipshod, do a tight turn left, NOW!”

And, we do. We stand those air-ground tanks up on their wingtips, pull back on the stick and advance the throttle. Those heavy old Thunderbolts respond with a slowdown and a very small diameter turn. Immediately, every pilot grins, or laughs out loud. The German Jets, positively rocketing in at 600 or 700 miles an hour, can never hope to turn inside of us; and this they must do in order to hit us in the air. It’s called curve of pursuit. With guns throwing bullets ‘way off into space, the Jets slide right on past us like someone grasping for the brass ring in a merry-go-round. Totally ineffective.

We watch as they pull up, and up, and finally just perch up there, looking. At which point comes Kelly’s voice over the radio again: “Slipshod, Red Leader here, you got the picture. These boys can’t stay here more than three or four minutes; they don’t carry enough fuel.” Ah, ha! A leader who has done his homework!

And, here they come again! Same speed, same direction. They can’t be very experienced. We watch, turn, avoid and laugh as the highly touted, newly developed German Jets slide away and disappear. And, twelve pilots of the heavy, waddling old P-47, the overweight aluminum wasp, breathe a thankful prayer, realizing we are alive to be a little smarter.

Our twelve planes, rockets and bombs still ready, guns still heavy with unwasted ammo, go our lumbering way and blow up two truck convoys, along with multiple tons of supplies and equipment, and send along a few hundred Germans to their everlasting, freedom-destroying rewards. The highly advanced technology of their air wing did them no good this day.

And, I’ve racked up another forty or fifty German-type humans, dead under my guns.

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Jan. 1, 1945, a memorable day for everyone, more memorable for some. This day the German Air Force makes a glorious, all-out effort and hits Allied Lines north and south, clear across Belgium and Germany. Allied estimates put the figure at 10,000 planes launched by the Germans today, most probably flown by teen-age boys for lack of properly trained pilots. One can only guess that their intent is to scare us out of the war.

But, cunning is the German mind. Last night, New Year’s Eve, he kept all of his pilots cold sober. Meanwhile, at least every other Allied pilot, mechanic, dog-face, paddlefoot and cook was smashed to the gills!! Came daylight, this A.M., a slight inequity in manpower stability existed.

My group is based on Location Y-29 near Watershei, Belgium. Muddleheaded and still celebrating, a bunch of us are sitting at breakfast swilling large amounts of black coffee. From far off, it seems, we hear what could be the bark of machine guns. But, we don’t really pay much attention.

Suddenly, someone bursts into the mess tent. “Hit the deck,” he yells, “we’re under air attack!”

Air attack? Impossible! That’s something we do to them. So, do us cocky and confident American pilots hit the deck? Hell no! We amble out for a look.

Outside, we look. There are a few planes around. But, man, that’s what an airfield is all about. P-51s, P-47s, a few Focke-Wulfs and Messerschmitts, and — A FEW FOCKE WULF’S AND MESSERSCHMITTS!!

“HIT THE DECK! HERE THEY COME AGAIN!” and, sure enough, here they come! An FW-190 is flaggin’ it low right over our heads, machine guns chattering. With this added persuasion, us cocky and confident American pilots dive into holes, under tarps, trailers, or whatever! The bastards are actually strafing our field!

I raise my head and look up just as a P-47 is rolling for his takeoff. As his wheels break ground, about midpoint on the runway, the pilot opens up with his eight fifty caliber machine guns and blasts a low flying ME-109 right out of the air. My vision registers a pilot and plane, an explosion, bits and pieces. It will do things to you, friend.

“Here they come again!” comes the cry. We dive again, but can’t resist another look. Here comes another ME-109, low, fast and blazing away at anything and everything. The pilot is either dedicated or dumb! On his tail are two P-47s, blazing away at him, and kicking up the dirt all around us!

ZOOM-M-M, they go over. WHOOM-M-M, the 109 disintegrates, not over 100 feet off the ground!

“Anything else comin’ in?”

“Naw.”

We stand up. I see two P-51s latch onto a German plane in the air. In about fifteen seconds his goose is cooked. The leader shoots the German in a left turn; the wingman shoots him in a right turn; and POW! Gone.

Our Group manages to get up maybe a dozen P-47s. A P-51 Group, billeted across the field, gets up a few, no one knows how many. Together, they go up against an estimated 100 Germans intent upon wiping our field off the face of the earth. Result? No American losses. Germans? 22 planes shot down, with three possible but not verified.

For the next fifteen minutes, we on the ground are treated to the doggondest airshow ever staged as each victorious pilot roars in low and up with his victory roll.

In the midst of all the celebration a P-47 lands and the pilot jumps out of his plane, yelling at the top of his voice, “I got the bastard with my air-to-ground rockets!”

Sure enough, out of ammo and still up there with all the action, he’d seen a 190 crossing his path in front and out of range. So, in his own words, “I just pulled my nose in front of him, lifted it up until it blanked him out, and let go my rockets. I let the nose down just in time to see that son-of-a-bitch blow into a million pieces!” Air-to-ground rockets? No aerodynamic qualities, no control, designed to do only one thing and that’s FALL, STRAIGHT DOWN! And half the time miss! Well, heroes are born, not made.

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The Battle of the Bulge is in progress. Based at Liege, Belgium, we’re only minutes away. We sit here under a solid blanket of fog, unable to move.

Day after day we have waited. Some days we have even gone out to our planes, climbed in and just sat! Just so we could be ready if that fog lifted! But, no luck.

Today things broke up a bit, but only a bit. The overhead ceiling is three to four hundred feet. Above that is maybe six tenths cloud cover (meaning that the holes cover only four tenths of the sky). The weather is good only for desperation effort; and, in this weather we have gotten off two missions. I’ve drawn the third one and we’re ready to go.

PILOT LOG ENTRY: 12/27/44 Malmedy. Jumped by 190s and 109s. Got one twenty MM in left gun bay.

We are down around Bastogne, at about a thousand feet, dodging clouds and looking for Germans on the ground. This is a helluva way to go! All of a sudden, rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Machine gun fire, and I can hear it! Inside my heavy, loud, noisy P-47, I can hear it! And, I know why! In the air, a pilot can hear machine guns only if they are being shot from directly behind him. Old TAIL END CHARLIE has had it again!

A look back confirms the worst. A huge white and black propeller spinner is parked right on my tail, and, by deductive reasoning, I arrive at the conclusion that the rest of that FW-190 is right behind. The logic of my reasoning process is proved immediately. Bullets by the hundred start streaming past my cockpit and I can see the every fifth one which is a tracer, red and fiery. There is a pilot on that trigger and he is bent on my doom!

In addition to saving my life here, I have a duty to my fellow flyers; so, I push the mic button, scream, “BREAK, SLIPSHOD, BREAK!” like any good Tail End Charlie should, at the same time racking into a tight right turn, the German’s bullets flashing to my side.

Now, it’s just him or me, nose to nose, live or die. And, at the moment, he’s got the upper hand! I go up; he goes up. I sweat. I chop the throttle and skid left; he stays right behind, still shooting. I sweat! Having started at only a thousand feet, I am suddenly down to treetop level. I dive into a small valley and pray he has a thing about valleys. He obviously doesn’t; he’s still shooting and I’m still sweating.

Contour flying now, I pull up and over a small hill and down into another valley. My adversary is still blasting away but it is a fact that I have awareness enough to observe a jeep apparently stalled in the middle of a small river. There are four soldiers out in the water, perhaps trying to push it. As we scream overhead, I hope that the bullets miraculously missing me don’t hit them. I am still sweating, the German still shooting; by all rights, he should have had me by now.

I am forced to pull up for another hill, and do so reluctantly. The higher I get, the less he has to worry about the ground. But, where are the bullets? I look back and, thank God, there is the full belly silhouette of the German plane as he pulls up and does a turnaround. He is breaking off! He is quitting! In seconds we are far apart. The death threat is gone!

More an automaton than a person, I reach out to the throttle and slow that overheated and pounding engine. Reality creeps in on my consciousness; I’m not going to die! Not going to die! My breath is coming in labored gasps. My eyes blur and I actually black out for a brief instant.

Another reality creeps in. My stomach and thighs are wet, oppressively wet. Oh, no! Wounded and didn’t know it! Damn! I look down, expecting to see blood all over, but there is none. Just wet. But, in my fear, had I simply urinated all over myself? But then, awareness; there on my stomach hangs the loose end of my oxygen hose, dangling from my face mask. When not in use for oxygen, it simply dangles, serving no purpose, except to conduct all the sweat from my face and dump it in my lap! I burst out in a laugh, one third amusement, two thirds sheer mental and physical relief. More relaxed now, I wonder, for the first time, what kept my mother’s little boy alive this day.

Out of chaos, humor. In reliving this incident many times over the last forty years, a pertinent factor stands out in my mind. Sometime during this gut-wrenching ordeal, while death lurked only one explosive bullet away, I had felt the need to communicate my plight to my flight leader, miles away and probably engaged in a fight for his own life. At this juncture, I had pressed my mic button and yelled, “Slipshod Red Leader, this is Yellow four. I’m on the deck, headed west with an FW-190 on my tail!” My death scream.

From out of nowhere had come faithful Red Leader’s reply. “Stay with him, big boy!”

**********          **********          **********

Just an ordinary guy doing a job. But then, all jobs that big are done by ordinary guys. And each one, like the pilot, expending the Universal Spiritual Soul which all of us share. Martin Buber called it THEOPHANY – the meeting between man and God.

Civilian’s Memory Log: 4/20/84. Nightmare Mission. Bombed Factory Tonight! Again! 146 Heads, 284 Hands, 198 Legs, 264 Feet.

“AH-H-H! NO! NO! MY GOD! ISN’T FORTY YEARS ENOUGH!” I sat straight up in bed, screaming! My face was wringing wet; every muscle as tight as a spring. Around me floated heads and arms, legs, hands and feet! And, one of those heads was mine, grinning!

“Lee,” my wife called. She shook me. “Wake up! Are you all right?”

Noise, like explosions, all around. I’m floating up high; there’s smoke and swishing sounds. And, half awake, I cry; the sobs are wrenched away from deep down in my psyche, the storehouse of so much guilt and grief for forty years now! And the words stagger out, unbidden: “Dear God, isn’t forty years enough?”

Feb. 1945. Location Y-29, Belgium.

The German Air Force doesn’t give us as much trouble these days. It is short of planes, pilots, oil, everything.

And during these days, we get in close to the soldiers on the ground. We come in from above, and with machine guns blazing we rout out the Tiger Tanks; make them defend themselves; with 500 pound bombs blow them all to smithereens; destroy them so our ground forces can keep going. KILL THOSE GERMANS!

We also do interdiction missions. We cross over the Germans’ lines, go way back behind him, find a vital target in his supply link; like a bridge, railroad, highway or factory. Whatever, we blow it up! Powder it! This interrupts the Germans’ supply line; slows down his war; makes him afraid; makes him lose!

My days are spent now, blowing up trains; killing Germans. Or, strafing long columns of motor truck transport; killing Germans. Sometimes a bridge comes up for destruction, maybe holding a train, or trucks, and I blow it up; killing Germans. One tries not to think of the death and destruction; but when it’s right there in front of one’s eyes, well?

As with most Americans, I was taught from scratch to be respectful: of my elders, of others’ feelings and possessions. Later, when I could understand, came DO UNTO OTHERS, and THOU SHALL NOT KILL. I took them to heart. They became law. But, today, I violate the Godly rules! I kill, kill, kill! With abandon, I KILL! Punishment is sure to come.

Pilot’s Log Entry: 2/24/45 Dulken. Bombed Factory. Good Hits.

Today we have what we call a simple mission. Go out to the front lines, contact a ground forces radio, get directed to whatever target they want splattered, and go splatter it. Almost a ho hum, right?

I’m leading Slipshod Yellow Flight today. And, we’re out for blood and vengeance, as usual.

I take off, set an easy turn which allows my three wingmen to catch up and fall into formation. This done, we now scoot up behind Red Flight, and bingo, we’re off on another jaunt. We’re now a squadron mission, headed out on an official U.S. Army Air Corps assignment; conceived, approved and ordered by XXIXth TAC Headquarters; on our way, once again, to kill Germans.

The navigation is easy. I’ve flown this territory many times. Most of us know all the major checkpoints and rarely need emergency aid navigation. Just the same, all of us are alert. All too well, we know how quickly things can change in combat situations.

We spot our ground lines locations by the cerise panels the dogfaces lay out on the ground. We can see heavy gun emplacements, tanks, and soldiers. As long as we don’t hit them, they’re always glad to see us arrive.

We switch over on our radios and listen as Red Leader makes ground contact: “Hello, Sitting Duck, Slipshod Red Leader here, do you read? Over.”

“Yeah, Slipshod, this is Sitting Duck. Over.”

“Roger, Sitting Duck. What can we do for you today? Over.”

“Well, Slipshod, I’m sorry we can’t accommodate ya today. We had a bunch o’ Tigers in them woods east uv us this mornin’. But our big guns took ‘em out just a few minutes ago. We’re movin’ out, right now. Over.”

“Roger, Sitting Duck. Do I read you correctly, you don’t need us? Over.”

“That’s right, Slipshod. But please don’t go back to Tennessee, yet, there’s always tomorrow. Over.”

“Roger, Sitting Duck, we’ll be around. Catch you later. Slipshod out.”

Ho hum, not much of a war anymore. So, follow procedure. Call Big Crow. He’s up at some general’s HQ. He may have a target for us. We listen as Red Leader makes the second contact.

“Hello, Big Crow, Slipshod Red Leader here. Do you read? Over.”

“Roger, Slipshod. I was listening to you talk to Sitting Duck and would have called you. Over.”

“Real good, Big Crow. What can we do for you today? Over.”

“How are you armed today, Slipshod? Over.”

“Big Crow, we have 500 pound general demo and rockets. Over.”

“Good! Slipshod, Good! We have a target for you. Here are the coordinates: G-1, X-29. Crossroads, single building, looks like two big barns side-by-side. Positive ident will be a large white cross on top. We just learned it’s not a hospital. The Krauts are making rocket propellant in there. Go get it. And good luck. Over.”

“Roger, Big Crow. Confirm G-1, X-29. Over.”

“That’s affirmative, Slipshod. Over.”

“Roger, Big Crow. Slipshod out.”

A used-to-be hospital? Or not? Now a factory for making rocket propellant? Seems farfetched; but all’s fair in love and war. Besides, orders are orders. So, we go splatter it.

A few simple adjustments in our navigation and Old Slipshod is bound for G-1, X-29. Since all of us listened in as Red Leader made his contacts, all of us know the score. We need no briefing.

A few minutes now to think. Yesterday I blew up a supply column. Killed 50, or 75 Germans? My enemies. The day before I was free. No dead Germans that day. Day before that I helped blow up three or four Tiger Tanks. Maybe 12 or 15 Germans. My enemies, they tell me. And now, a factory. How many workers in a factory? A dozen? 100? 200? Or, what if it is a hospital? How many people in a hospital? 300? 400? Oh, but what the hell! They’re my enemies, too! Aren’t they? Besides, Big Crow said splatter it.

“Slipshod Yellow Leader, Red Leader here. Over.”

My heart skips a beat. I know all too well what his message is!

“Roger, Red, yellow here. Over.”

“Yellow, I see our building up ahead there. Red Flight will go up and give top cover. Take Yellow and blow that place off the map. Over.”

What could I say? But, “Roger, Red. Yellow out.”

And there it was; big as life. And to think those crummy Germans were using a white hospital cross to hide the manufacture of rocket propellant! Dirty Bastards! They’ll deserve everything they get!

I give a look at the rest of Yellow Flight, dip my left wing. The two planes on my right move under and over to the left and fall in on a left echelon. I look at the building which we’ve been circling. Sitting there like a little kid’s playhouse; waiting; vulnerable. Another couple of minutes before we’re in the right position.

I wonder if the Germans protect a hospital, or a rocket juice factory, the way they do an oil dump? With 5,000 guns! Or do they depend on us honorable Americans to honor their dishonest white cross?

In position now. I peel off and start down. A few bursts from the guns to encourage the Germans to keep their heads down. But no return fire. How many people in a factory? Or a hospital? Line up the crosshairs on that big roof. How many men? How many women? Thumb on the bomb release. How many children? Factory, or hospital? Now! Push the button! Bombs away! Pull up! Cram that throttle forward; give her all the power she’s got. Let’s go!

At that moment, I feel a concussion that seems to rock the earth, sky and especially tiny little P-47 Fighter-Bombers. I look back and down and, thank God, there are my three buddies coming up off the target. But, they fly like I’ve never seen any airplane fly; up, sideways, backward! The blast hurls us about.

Black smoke boils up and obscures much of the ground. I can actually see large objects floating in the air! How many people in a factory?

“Slipshod Yellow, Red here. I’ve seen a lot of explosions; but this one takes the cake! We saw every piece of that building come up! And now we see them falling! Over.”

“Roger, Red,” was all I could say. Pieces of the building? How about people? Them, too?

“Yellow, there had to have been a propellant factory there, to get an explosion like that! You didn’t hit any hospital today. Over.”

“Roger, Red. Let’s go home. Yellow out.”

“Roger. Red out.”

Yeah, go home. Good boys. We didn’t hit a hospital today; with doctors, nurses and patients. No, just a factory with workers, and supervisors, and bosses. People with all their heads, and hands, and feet, and arms and legs in the right places! My enemies, they tell me. What do you suppose my tally is, so far? 1,000 Germans? 3,000 Germans? Yeah, my enemies.

And one of them, in there somewhere, with my face.

**********          **********          **********

“Lee, are you all right?” my wife calls again.

HEAVEN/EARTH Log Entry: 8/21/45 Separation Mission. You go that way. You two go this way. You go that —

Am I the lucky one? As I killed Germans, so they tried to kill me, and my comrades. Fate sealed the bargain, spared me, but not others. So, who was lucky?

There were Angove and Morris: both shot down, rescued by U.S. Troops. Were they the lucky ones?

And, Stinson: laughing, singing, happy man. He landed with a 500 pound fragmentation bomb hung up on his wing. It fell off, exploded and demolished his plane from the pilot’s seat on back. Stinson ended up that landing hanging on to a 2,000 Horse Power Engine dragging his butt down a steel mat runway. His shakes were so bad he couldn’t speak for days. They sent him away from us. Was he the lucky one?

And Purdy: tough, but nice guy. He quoted asinine poetry; funny. On a mission, a hit opened a leak in his gas tank. In one minute his cockpit was three inches deep in 100 octane, high explosive fuel! He bailed out! And walked back. Was he the lucky one?

And Conserva: gentle, a smile as big as all outdoors, adventuresome. Returning from a mission he cracked up on the landing end of the runway; cracked up his head and face, too. Permanently! Was he the lucky one?

And Gaithey, Meyer, Tanzell: victims of the clouds while flying the soup; crashed and found dead by our ground troops. Were they the lucky ones?

And Struth, McCauley, Pease, Peterson: shot down in dogfights and killed; Struth and McCauley on their first missions. Were they the lucky ones?

And Taylor, Gross, Barkley, Early, Pitts: shot down by ground fire and killed. Were they the lucky ones?

And Boehm, a trumpet player: crashed and killed in a bad weather landing. And Grounds, who had completed his tour of duty but refused rotation home. Hit by ground fire on a straight in bomb run. I was right behind him, and watched him die! Were they the lucky ones?

And Steinfelt: one of my roommates. Short, slight of build, just my size. He owned a military short coat. I kidded him, “When you move up as Group Commander, will you leave me that coat?” And we’d laugh. One day Steinfelt failed to return; shot down by ground fire. Sad, I went back to our bunk room. There on Steinfelt’s bed lay his military short coat, normally always on its peg, nice and neat. Did he lay it out for me? Was he the lucky one?

Some stayed at home and fought the economic battles with pliers and wrenches instead of guns. Were they the lucky ones?

Some paid the supreme price immediately, quick and with finality. Some suffered their obvious disabilities in front of all of you for the rest of their lives. Some see their own grinning heads amongst the nightmarish dreams of human slaughter. Some stayed at home and suffered the onslaught of these losses, mostly in silence. All made up a team; shared spirit and soul; received from each other; gave to each other, lived and died for each other.

So, who were the lucky ones? You tell me.

**********          **********         **********

Just ordinary guys doing a job. But then, all jobs this big are done by ordinary guys. And each one, like the pilot, expending that Universal Spiritual Soul in which all of us share. Martin Buber called it THEOPHANY – the meeting between man and God.

[FYI: KIAs mentioned are Joseph C. Meyer, Richard Tansell, Henry J. Struth, William McCauley, Stephen Pease, Elmer R. Peterson, James I. Taylor, Edward H. Gross, Rufus Barkley, Joe C. Early, Robert F. Boen, William Grounds, Bernard J. Steinfield, and POW Garfield Angove. I was not able to locate Gaithey (sp?) and Pitts on the casualty roster of the 366^th Fighter Group, which maintains an excellent website.]

The basic understanding is really quite simple:  Rich and powerful people work hard to further their own interests. That is, they work hard to gain more riches and power. They collude with other rich and powerful people, and generally trample on the lives of those who are not rich and powerful. Some people call this a conspiracy view of history. For the sake of argument, I shall use the term conspiracy and attempt to show how it helps explain the major events of history. At the onset, I will note that some of these ideas are tentative and subject to clarification and correction. But the overall theme is, I believe, sound.

Let’s start with economic panics, recessions, and depressions, since we are currently (2010) in the midst of a serious one. I’ve never liked to study or even think about economics before, but I think one must, if one would understand the driving forces of history. I had always accepted the view that these evils were accidents, or part of impersonal cycles. They just happened, and there was nothing much anyone could do about them. I knew how J.P. Morgan had “rescued” the United States economy in the Panic of 1907, and that he had made a tidy fortune doing so. It never occurred to me that he might have been the one who caused the panic in the first place. Yet that is pretty much what happened. In fact, I would say now that every one of those economic disasters was to a large extent planned and promoted, because the same group of bankers and economic powerbrokers always came out richer than ever when things returned to “normal.”

So who has all this economic power? Bankers, mostly, and not just your little local bankers, but those who control the powerful banks whose clients are the nations which have borrowed from them to finance their wars, social programs, and anything else the bankers have contrived to drive them further into debt to themselves.

At this point I must introduce the Rothschild family, a name central to all modern conspiracy theories. The first ancestor of this banking dynasty, Meyer Amschel Bauer, discovered back in the 1700s that he could make far more money by lending to nations than he could by lending to farmers. Bauer, who later changed the family name to Rothschild for the Red Shield that hung over the door of his business, became good friends with a German prince and made a fortune handling his finances. He also made a fortune renting German soldiers to the British to help suppress the American Revolution. (The prince pocketed the money and left the soldiers dead, stranded in America, and/or unpaid.) Rothschild had five sons, and put each in charge of a large national bank in England, Austria, France, Italy, and Germany. It was Nathan Rothschild in England who made the most of this, though all the family continued to amass untold billions over the years.

During the wars of Napoleon in the early 1800s, Rothschild banks operated a courier service which was able to pass easily through enemy lines. This gave them access to crucial intelligence, often before the military or the governments knew what was going on. This was one key to their success. Another was that Rothschild banks were financing both sides of the war, and were obviously delighted the longer the war continued, and the more the belligerent nations piled up debts. But the economic coup for Nathan Rothschild came with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Rothschild couriers informed Nathan of Wellington’s victory over Napoleon a day or so before anyone else in London had any idea of the outcome. Nathan shrewdly walked into the financial exchange looking like he knew England had lost. The stock market plummeted. As stocks dropped in price, Rothschild agents quietly bought them at a fraction of their former prices. When the official couriers reported that Wellington had won and that Napoleon was finished, the stock market soared, and Rothschild made a fortune. I think today we would call that something akin to “insider trading,” which is both illegal and unethical. Whatever the case, he amassed a huge profit at the expense of other people whom he had duped.

That’s one key point about rich and powerful conspirators:  They have no moral scruples. They answer to no higher authority, and they do whatever they can get away with to increase their wealth and power. What the history books usually ignore is the fact that their wealth comes from the impoverishment of other people. They don’t create wealth, they don’t make our lives better, they don’t provide work for people, except in a peripheral sense – they only transfer wealth from productive people to themselves.

Waterloo was a very good start for Rothschild banks, and they only got richer over the next two centuries. One sore spot was the United States. Rothschild tried to create a national bank in the U.S. under his control. Americans twice chartered a national bank, and twice they let its charter expire. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson vigorously fought the imposition of a national bank. Indeed, the first assassination attempt on a U.S. President was a failed attempt against Andrew Jackson. It is quite likely that the assassin was an agent of the banking interests. Abraham Lincoln later issued money without the use of a central bank, which certainly made the international bankers furious. Some serious scholars have suggested that the real reason for his assassination was his refusal to follow the dictates of the central banking interests, although this probably can never be proven one way or the other.

At one time we thought the massive J.P. Morgan interests were strictly American. Morgan supposedly never did business with Jews (Rothschilds were at least nominally Jewish, although I doubt if any of them ever took the fundamental tenets of Judaism seriously). That was a masterful hoax. We now know that Morgan was directly tied to Rothschild interests. Essentially he was one of a number of “front men” who operated secretly on behalf of the Rothschild banks. One thing historians have failed to do in American history is to “follow the money trail.” Apparently it is a taboo topic. No one will ever get tenure or retain any serious teaching position if he talks about Rothschild banking influences in American history. Yet that is precisely where the money trail leads. Of course, one can make a convincing case that our entire public education system is under their control, which explains the wall of silence. People with this much wealth and power rarely want the public to be aware of their wealth and power.

I used to think that our economic policies were the result of stupidity. I don’t think so any more. Nor do I see the real debate as between Democrats and Republicans or Liberals and Conservatives. The bankers appear to be in control of both political parties and both liberal and conservative think tanks. They created the great stock market crash of 1929 and the resulting Great Depression, while the New Deal played perfectly into their hands by the government contracting billions of dollars of loans. This is a key point. Debt is good for the banks. The banks own the debt; hence, they own the country. The more debt, the better it is for the banks. Wars, deficit spending, and massive waste are all good for the banks. So the policies I formerly thought were the height of stupidity, I now believe to be brilliant – both brilliant, and evil. Massive waste means massive loans, and even greater power for the banks. So it’s no accident that we can spend tens of thousands of dollars for a toilet on an Air Force transport.

I think all of our modern wars have a Rothschild connection. I know that European interests were positively delighted when the War Between the States (erroneously called a “civil war”) threatened to break up the United States of America. Of course there were causes pretty much unique to America, but there were also foreign bankers pushing things in the direction of war. Conspiracies are seldom perfect, and often are but one part of a bigger and more complicated picture. What I realize now is that they are a very big part of most major events, and that this particular conspiracy has continued to manipulate world events for more than two centuries.

The Boer War was quite obviously a Rothschild grab for the gold and diamonds of South Africa. The victims were the Dutch Boer farmers, to whom the official histories have not been particularly kind. As an aside here, the diamonds were not particularly valuable in themselves. They make excellent industrial cutters, but the demand for industrial diamonds is not all that high. So to make diamonds more valuable, the diamond merchants created a false need. Ivy Lee, who remanufactured the reputation of fellow Rothschild collaborator John D. Rockefeller from an avaricious monopolist into a benign uncle dispensing shiny dimes to poor children, was the genius behind the diamond hoax. He engineered the campaign to make every woman in the world insist she had to have diamonds with such slogans as “diamonds are forever,” and “diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” That campaign raised the demand for diamonds along with their price – that plus the fact that hoards of diamonds are intentionally kept off the market in order to maintain an artificial scarcity. If diamonds were sold on a free market with prices that reflect their intrinsic value, prices would fall drastically, along with the profits of jewelry dealers.

The two world wars, however, are probably the most egregious and flagrant examples of the exercise of raw power to serve the interests of the International Bankers and those of the arms manufacturers they control. Rather than continuing to focus on the Rothschilds as the villains of history, let’s broaden this to the World Order, or the New World Order. They are mainly different names for the same phenomenon, but I think World Order gives a better idea of their motives and ultimate plan for us. Rothschilds are key players, but by no means the only ones. Conspiracies evolve over time. Players come and go, and sometimes form rival conspiracies. I believe the idea of one all-powerful conspiracy in absolute control of all the major world events is probably a myth. But there is nevertheless a relatively well-defined group of families which have wielded considerable political and economic power throughout the western world for at least the last two centuries.

When I was a graduate student, my professor of European Diplomatic History taught me the “Galloping Gertie” model of the origins of the First World War. Galloping Gertie, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, was a suspension bridge which opened in 1940 and tended to rise and fall when caught in a crosswind. Four months after completion the wind got so bad that the bridge literally tore itself apart. Once the bridge had started to sway in the wind, internal forces caused the undulations to steadily increase in intensity until the final disaster. So it was in Europe in 1914 that secret treaties and mobilization plans set in motion a chain of events which no one could stop once the process had begun. Nonsense!

Again, follow the money trail. Rothschild banks financed both sides of the war. When Germany appeared exhausted and starving and threatened to end the war before America got involved,  Herbert Hoover, who almost certainly was tied to the Rothschilds, was appointed to set up the Belgian Relief Commission, ostensibly to feed the starving Belgians, but in reality to feed the starving Germans (and apparently also, the Russians, at least after the Bolshevik Revolution). The war was deliberately prolonged to increase the profits of the arms merchants. The U.S. was enticed into the war through a series of frauds, though things did not always work according to plans. The Lusitania was sunk in 1915, but failed to arouse American pro-war sentiment to the point of commitment. The Zimmerman Telegram was almost certainly a British forgery (Rothschild agents, almost for certain). And, by the way, Wilson’s 1916 campaign slogan, “He kept us out of war,” was the height of hypocritical deceit. Wilson had long planned for the war, and for its hoped-for consequence of creating a One World Government. Therein lay the heart of the conspiracy. The war was managed to maximize profits, but even more so, to bring the world into a New World Order. That has been the primary goal of the conspiracy from the beginning. But this attempt failed, so a second world war was contrived.

I used to think that the Treaty of Versailles was one of the stupidest and most malevolent treaties ever perpetrated upon the world. I missed the big picture. The treaty guaranteed a second world war, but that was not an accident. It was all part of the plan. But back to the First World War.

The Rothschilds had long hated the Romanovs, the Russian royal family, whom they helped to overthrow in 1917. No informed person believes that the Russian Revolution was a spontaneous uprising of the downtrodden masses. What’s interesting about the Romanovs, though, is the enormous wealth they had deposited in Rothschild banks before the war. With the family wiped out, guess who got to keep those billions? And guess which banking family still has all of them? A couple of claimants to the Russian throne did arise some years later. If they could prove their claims, they could claim those billions. The traditional view is that they were frauds. This is possible. But the British Lord Mountbatten, a relative of the Romanovs and a Rothschild agent, went to a lot of trouble to fight one of those claimants in a British court. This is not the conduct one would expect of a British lord toward an obvious fraud.

We have long known that American capitalists had financed the Bolshevik Revolution and had repeatedly bailed out the USSR when it was frequently on the verge of collapse. Most people – myself included – have just wondered why capitalists would spend their resources to preserve their avowed enemies, the communists. Again, follow the money trail. The Cold War was another managed conflict, where the real power behind both sides was the International Bankers. Since the ultimate goal is One World Government with them in control, communism provided a useful model of how to proceed. I don’t think any of the World Order ever actually believed in communism. But it proved useful to their ultimate ends. Not only did it provide a model for total control over a population, but it also provided another opportunity for massive rearmament and massive profits for the arms merchants.

While Liberals had been the most useful allies of the World Order in demanding increased government spending during the Great Depression, Conservatives proved their most useful allies during the Cold War. They took the leadership in demanding increased military spending and promoting military ventures around the world. I’m not so sure that the demise of communism was totally planned, though. I tend to think the system just did not work because it was based on bad economics and a faulty view of human nature, and that the World Order had not actually engineered its collapse. Conspiracies do not always go according to plan. What does seem to go according to plan is their amazing resiliency to change tactics when unforeseen changes do occur. We no longer have the fearsome specter of communism to terrify us into massive military spending and into giving up our liberties in the name of security. We now have Islamic terrorism. And while Islamic terrorism is real, it is also something that conspirators have played a major role in creating and encouraging.

The CIA has been a major player in all sorts of conspiracies. I was once courted by recruiters from the Intelligence Community, so I did some homework and asked a lot of questions. I believed they were genuinely patriotic cold warriors, which is probably generally true. What I didn’t know then, but know now, is that the predecessor OSS was largely a creation of British Intelligence in World War II, and that British Intelligence was largely managed by – no surprise here – Rothschild interests. I had long wondered why so many communists or “fellow travelers” served in the CIA in the early years. I think the answer is obvious now.

What I found particularly shocking was that General George Patton – one of my heroes – was assassinated by the CIA (technically, at that time, the OSS). Bill Donovan himself ordered Patton’s murder to, in Donovan’s words, “save him from himself.” Apparently Patton knew too much about Allied complicity in giving Eastern Europe over to the Russians, and about Eisenhower’s possible role in the matter. Had he retired, he would have been compelled to remain silent. So instead, Patton threatened to resign his commission and expose what he viewed as treason. To prevent this, Donovan ordered one of his top operatives, Douglas Bazata, to do the job. In 1979 Bazata publicly admitted before a banquet hosting several hundred people that he had set up the auto crash, which had actually been minor. Then he shot Patton with a low velocity round, breaking Patton’s neck. But Patton refused to die, and began to make a remarkable recovery. The murder itself took place in the military hospital, when an NKVD (predecessor to the KGB) agent was allowed inside to administer a fatal injection of cyanide. All this is readily verifiable – no conjecture on my part here. Bazata took a stress test, or polygraph, and passed with flying colors.

But the strange death of America’s first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal is a little more problematic. The official view says he committed suicide by jumping out a 16^th floor window while confined to Bethesda Naval Hospital for “mental illness.” Highly unlikely. He almost certainly was murdered. The only real question was who did the murder. Some think communist agents, while others think the Mossad, as Forrestal was an avowed enemy of both communism and Zionism. (Another view suggests a more personal motive.) Senator Joseph McCarthy, who also died in the same hospital, quite possibly was murdered as well. People in high places who know too much and threaten the World Order frequently end up dead. The rest are written off as cranks, mentally unstable, and “conspiracy nuts.” Once you can apply a label (like “racist” in other contexts), that pretty much ends all rational discussion.

I must also introduce General Smedley Butler, who coined the expression “gangster for Wall Street.” A Marine two-time Medal of Honor recipient, he should have become the Commandant of the Marine Corps. He had been involved in every U.S. Marine action from the Boxer Punitive Expedition (Eight Power Invasion) of 1900 to multiple invasions of Latin American countries which were about to default on their loans to International Bankers. He spoke out, and it cost him his career. Later in life he admitted that his military career had been one of mostly being an enforcer for Wall Street. He also noted that the Great War had largely been a war for the profits of arms merchants.

The Korean War introduced a new twist. For the first time American soldiers were fighting for an international organization, the United Nations (the next attempt at creating a World Order after the failure of the League of Nations). A major goal of the World Order is to break down loyalty to God, the family, and the nation, and replace it with unquestioned obedience to the new Masters. This was a major step. While American generals still directed the war effort, the groundwork was being laid for American soldiers to fight for an organization other than the United States of America. I had long thought that it was a fortunate coincidence that the Soviet Union had been boycotting the U.N. Security Council at the time the vote for war was taken, and that the Soviets had stupidly missed their opportunity to stop this war by using their veto power. Again, I missed the big picture. Their absence at that key vote was planned all along. The entire war was managed by the conspirators. No U.S. national interest was at stake here, and there was never a declaration of war by Congress. It wasn’t even a proxy war between communists and capitalists. It was a managed conflict controlled by the people who controlled both the communists and capitalists.

The label “capitalist,” however, is not accurate here. The World Order is not made up of true capitalists. Capitalists thrive on competition. Competition forces capitalists to improve their products and sell at lower prices. Consumers benefit. The world bankers don’t want true competition. They want a monopoly, with themselves as the monopolists. That is why so much legislation in America today targets small businessmen, the only true capitalists. A major goal of the World Order is to destroy the middle class. So again, our anti-business laws are not just a matter of stupidity and corruption. They reflect a conscious attempt to destroy the nation’s only truly free enterprises and take them over by the powers of monopoly and World Government.

Vietnam was yet another controlled war in which no national interests were at stake, and where victory was not allowed. It represented a betrayal of America’s own heritage as a nation founded on the overthrow of colonialism. President Roosevelt, before he died, stated that he had no intention of helping the French reclaim their old colonial empire after World War II. Yet within a year of his death United States ships ferried a French army back to Indochina and indelibly painted the U.S. as a bulwark of dying colonialism. Over the next three decades, nearly everyone who knew anything about Southeast Asia counseled America to stay out of its internal affairs. To make matters even more interesting, our chief adversary, Ho Chi Minh, had been trained by the OSS during World War II.

Vietnam is probably too personal for me to write objectively about it. But for the sake of this essay I will resurrect two things which particularly bothered me at the time, apart from the whole business of killing people and making body counts. One was the tanker ships off Cam Ranh Bay. They came in riding high in the water, anchored off shore a few kilometers, and sat there. A day or two later they departed riding low in the water. I have always thought there were underwater pipelines filling the ships with oil, though I have never been able to confirm my suspicions. I think many of us believed at the time that the war had something to do with oil.

Even more sinister, though, were the shipments out of Long Chen Airbase in central Laos. I believe that Long Chen was the busiest airport in the world, though almost no one had ever heard of it. It was an Air America field, that is to say, a CIA operations base. Tons of “smack” (the word we used at the time for heroin) were shipped out of there on Air America transports. The explanation we heard was that opium was the cash crop of our Montagnard friends, whose help we needed in interdicting supplies shipped down the Ho Chi Minh trail to Viet Cong operating in the south. We needed their good will, so we graciously helped them market their “crops.” The result was a massive amount of drug use among American GI’s by the late 1960s. Though I personally never shot smack, I know a few guys who did, and roomed with one who became a severe addict.

So who profited from all this? Probably the CIA. Certainly Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky, the head of the government we were fighting for. But ultimately, I’d bet it was the bankers again. Back in the early 19^th century those same families were reaping huge profits from the misery of the Chinese people. The Opium Wars were one consequence. President Franklin Roosevelt’s own father was born in China because FDR’s grandfather was an opium smuggler. A list of the major opium-smuggling companies reads like the list of directors of Rothschild-controlled enterprises. So the World Order has made drug trafficking a major part of its criminal operations. Small wonder that the big pharmaceutical companies are all controlled by the same gangsters.

The Gulf Wars – well, suffice it to say that the Bush family has for several generations been major players in the international World Order cartel. There is already much information available connecting three generations of Bushes with Arab oil, Halliburton Industries, and Planned Parenthood. This essay is not meant to be definitive. Many serious researchers have delved far deeper into this stuff than I have. I’m basically a history teacher who was looking for a deeper and more accurate understanding of the way things are. Since I’m interested in many more things than just historical conspiracies, I leave more in-depth study to the specialists.

There is one more area I wish to mention – foundations and education. The Foundations, that is, the tax-exempt “charitable” foundations, are central to the World Order’s recruitment and indoctrination. All such foundations, conservative or liberal, are run by the same elite group. This should tell you that the real issue in the world is not the battle between Democrat and Republican, between Liberal and Conservative, but, rather, between the World Order and those who would be free. None of the charitable foundations actually engage in charity. They are a means whereby the superrich can maintain their empires without paying the taxes they expect the rest of the people to pay. And they are a means of recruiting the next generation of technocrats who will carry out their orders. Quite possibly, an occasional bright star might even make his way into the inner circle of the ruling elite, someone heretofore unknown like, perhaps, an Obama.

But even more importantly, the foundations shape public policy and educational policy. It is not an accident that the most famous of these foundations – Carnegie, Ford, Rockefeller – are all major contributors to Big Government organizations and scholars, and to those who advance the agenda of the World Order. It is all a matter of controlling populations.

George Orwell’s classic book, 1984, is an excellent study in totalitarian world orders. Ironically, I had always thought he was warning people of the future in the hands of the World Order. This is probably at least partly true, but in fact, Orwell seems to have been somewhat sympathetic to their motives and methodologies. His book may not have been so much a warning of how to avoid but rather, was a statement of how things will be under the Order. The unspoken advice is that we had all better submit because there is nothing we can do about it.

But is there nothing we can do? As I understand it, one of the biggest obstacles to the World Order’s plan to control the world, is America’s Second Amendment and some 200,000,000 firearms in private hands. America’s Founding Fathers had created the Second Amendment as the basis for the protection of the liberties of the First Amendment. Government was created by the people in the interest of the people, and was to be severely limited in scope and power. Knowing that government would sooner or later abuse its power, responsible citizens were to be armed so that the government would fear to take away the liberties of the people. This is the greatest single obstacle to the World Order, and the reason why gun control is so prominent in their agenda.

Population control. Planned Parenthood is heavily subsidized by the World Order. It was created out of the Eugenics Movement in the early 20^th century. Margaret Sanger, its founder and close collaborator with Prescott Bush, promoted birth control in order to limit the size of the population of the “lower races.” It’s no accident that today Planned Parenthood does most of its business in African-American neighborhoods. What is frightening is the often-repeated goal of the World Order to reduce the world’s population to about one billion, about what it was in the early days of the Rothschild Empire. Some sources say a half billion, while Bill Gates, I believe, stated he thought that the goal should be two billion. While Gates said he merely wanted to let the population decline through non-replacement of existing people, one frequently encounters speculation about genetically-engineered diseases, experiments on controlling weather, volcanoes, and earthquakes, and the likelihood of a third world war. Some World Order folks apparently don’t want to wait for natural attrition.

I always used to list Rachel Carson among the great mass murderers of the 20^th century. Of course, that was mostly hyperbole to emphasize a point. The author of Silent Spring certainly had no desire to murder millions. Carson’s premise that thin-shelled eggs would lead to the ultimate extinction of birds was largely “junk science,” but was a major factor in the U.S. campaign to eliminate DDT. As a direct consequence of its worldwide ban, millions have died needlessly from malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses. Scientists themselves are now arguing for a re-evaluation of DDT policy. Again, I used to think this was merely another example of monumental stupidity, or greed on the part of manufacturers of the inferior and expensive chemicals which replaced DDT. I missed the point. Most of the victims come from Africa, a main location of the more “expendable” of the world’s surplus population. I think this also explains why world leaders generally sit by idly while Africans commit genocide upon each other. It fits the agenda. (I’m aware also that many people think AIDS was engineered similarly to reduce the supply of Africans.)

Needless to say the whole Global Warming scare is a scam. There is no Global Warming, or at least nothing which can be proven to result from human causes. There are only the natural fluctuations of the world’s climate. One of the biggest problems for Global Warmers is the fact that the earth’s temperature was considerably higher from about 800 to about 1300 AD than it is today. There were no hydrocarbon emissions to blame then. The last two winters and the exposure of the East Anglia Climate Research Center internal memos have helped to demonstrate the fraud here. Global Warming is not about science. Global Warming is about control and about wealth transfer. Frightened people readily give up their liberties to those who promise to take care of them and/or protect them from real or imagined dangers. When I started college, we were all taught that the earth was entering a new Ice Age. Naturally, if people are the reason why we have destroyed the environment, then limiting the number of people is essential to the preservation of the environment.

Problems. People who understand something of the conspiratorial nature of the New World Order, or whatever it is called at any given time, will be marginalized. Educators, academics, and those with vested interests will ridicule such people as “conspiracy nuts,” or perhaps as mentally unstable. That is the external threat. The internal threat is that many people who study conspiracies are genuinely nutty. Moreover, there is often an overlap between genuine understanding of the machinations of the ruling elites, and racist reductionism. Anti-Semitism runs rampant through the conspiracy writings. This is almost certainly because the Rothschilds and many of their allied banking partners are Jews and major supporters of Israel. But I doubt if many of them are real Jews in the sense that they read and follow the Torah. It is grossly wrong and unfair to paint all Jews as contributors to the World Order because many of its leaders are nominally Jewish. Websites which feature generally accurate studies of the World Order all too frequently contain racist diatribes and Holocaust-denying theories. It’s difficult for the uneducated, or the barely educated, to make the distinction between unorthodox views of history which are accurate or at least reasonable, and unorthodox views of history which serve no greater purpose than hate-mongering.

What makes matters more confusing is that the Holocaust-denial industry and many of the conspiracy theories are being promoted by radical Islamists. During World War II the Nazis recruited their SS Handschar Divisions from Muslim communities by appealing to a common hatred of the Jews. Former Nazis and their sympathizers led the way in trying to deny that Germany had murdered millions of Jews (the exact number murdered, does, however, remain a legitimate ground for discussion and difference of opinion). But today, when one navigates the labyrinth of conspiracy and Holocaust-denying theories the trail almost invariably leads back to the Middle East. The current leader of Iran is one of the more public deniers of the Holocaust and one of the most eager to place the blame for all the ills of the world on the International Jewish Conspiracy. This should serve as a serious warning about conspiracy theories in general. But guilt by association does not negate the fundamental premise that genuine conspiracies exist in the world. It should come as no surprise that one of the more popular conspiracy scenarios of the 9-11 attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon portrays the perpetrators as agents of Israel’s Mossad. One group claims that Mossad agents murdered the 19 Mohammedans before the hijacking and used their own agents or drugged dupes to take over the four airliners and crash them into the buildings. While this is theoretically possible, it is highly improbable.

What, then, should we think about 9-11? I used to think that those who believed in the theory of thermite-induced destruction of the World Trade Towers were a bunch of wackos. But answer this question:  Who has benefitted from 9-11? The Patriot Act was a massive step away from freedom and toward the consolidation of power by the World Order. Either they were extremely lucky in being able to capitalize so quickly upon a tragedy which just happened to take place without warning, or some of them were complicit in one way or another. Certainly there are issues demanding a genuine explanation. One curious piece of evidence which does lend credibility to the Mossad theory of Twin Tower destruction is the film of Israeli agents dancing in glee and pointing to the burning Twin Towers. After that film was made they were quickly whisked out of the country. Perhaps this has been already explained – I am not obsessed with conspiracies and have not done an exhaustive analysis.  By itself this episode probably means nothing, but I remember the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty which was deliberate, pre-meditated, and repeated, and resulted in the deaths of dozens of American sailors. Cover-up would be a euphemism.

It is certainly possible that a fuel-laden jumbo jet could bring down a skyscraper. But the collapse of all three buildings really did look more like controlled demolition than anything resulting from a plane crash. I think some engineers have given a satisfactory explanation regarding the collapse of the two Twin Towers, but then there is the troubling issue of the collapse of WTC #7. This was not even hit by an airplane. Many other skyscrapers have burned without collapsing, and yet 3 WTC towers collapsed after being hit by 2 aircraft. I’m not satisfied with official explanations. Not long ago I stumbled upon the wreckage of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Beijing. It is a gutted mess, thoroughly burned from top to bottom. Yet it is still structurally stable. Are the Chinese much better engineers than Americans, or is the explanation to be found elsewhere? I understand, though, that some of the fault may be of our own doing, in that EPA regulations prohibiting the use of asbestos in construction may have been a major contributing factor in the buildings’ collapse. Even if events transpired exactly the way the official version claims, the government is certainly doing a poor job of making accurate information available, and thereby lending credibility to the most extreme of the conspiracy theories.

This essay is not meant to be definitive. It raises more questions than it answers. Far more detailed information and analysis can be found on a multitude of websites and in dozens of books. My purpose is mostly to stimulate thinking and questioning of the traditional and/or official explanations. This is partly a confession of my own past gullibility in accepting uncritically the “facts” I was taught in school. My considered opinion is that understanding the conspiratorial nature of powerful elites goes a lot farther toward understanding the workings of history than does the alternative view that most everything happens by chance.

A final observation:  Conspiracy enthusiasts often talk about the satanic nature of the World Order. The Illuminati and the Masons figure prominently into most conspiracy theories, and generally in the context of some satanic plot. Some theories trace the World Order back several thousand years to ancient Babylon. Whatever is the precise role of the Evil One, the Illuminati and Freemasonry are historical organizations with a track record of secrecy and intrigue. At least some of what has been written about their role in World Order conspiracy intrigue is true. Some, however, is problematic. But one thing that I read about the Great Deceiver in a different context struck me as profoundly relevant. When Jesus was fasting in the wilderness, Satan tempted Him with worldly power and wealth. “All these kingdoms of the world I will give you,” he said, “if you will only bow down and worship me.” Jesus refused. Maybe, just maybe, the New World Order elites have so much wealth and power today because they accepted the offer.

Gary L. Todd, Ph.D.

Professor of History

Sias International University

Xinzheng, Henan, China

www.GaryLeeTodd.com (Chinese and World History)

Dr. Gary L. Todd, Ph.D., Professor of History

ž  Peter Hall Room A310

ž  Phone 62607770

ž  Office Hours by Appointment

ž   email: LeeFoxx1949@gmail.com

Lecture 2: Great Britain: The Country and the People; British Government

Britain: a tiny country with an enormous impact on the world

British Isles

Ireland

Great Britain or United Kingdom (officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland):

–        England

–        Scotland

–        Wales

–        Northern Ireland

Maritime Climate

• Influences on Britain’s climate:

–        Gulf Stream

–        North Atlantic Drift

–        Southwesterly prevailing winds

Early explorers followed ocean currents & prevailing winds

Results of ocean currents & prevailing winds

• Warm winters
• Cool summers
• Changeability
• Abundant rainfall
• Long twilight in summer due to high latitude

British People

• Great Britain is made up of successive waves of invaders and/or immigrants
• The earliest inhabitants of Britain are unknown
• Most likely they built Stonehenge 4000 years ago
• Celts (Scots, Irish, Welsh) invaded Britain c. 500 BC
• Romans invaded England in 1^st century
• Romans brought both Christianity & Roman pagan religion
• Romans built Hadrian’s Wall to keep out northern barbarians (Scots)
• They abandoned England when Rome was threatened in 5^th century
• Romans left behind many buildings, but little other lasting influence
• Angles, Saxons, Jutes (Germanic tribes) invaded & settled England during the 5-7^th centuries
• They made significant contributions to the early English language
• Old English language is Germanic
• Vikings (also called Norsemen or Danes) plundered England & settled in the 9-10^th century
• Vikings come from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, & Sweden)
• Normans led by William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066
• Normans are descendants of Vikings who settled in Normandy in France
• Normans made French the language of government and the ruling class
• 1066 was the last successful invasion of England
• Immigrants from all over the British Empire (Indians, Arabs, Africans) settled in Britain in the 20^th century
• They brought many changes in language, culture, & religion
• Some have created serious problems of terrorism

Religion

• In the past England tried to enforce religious uniformity
• Members of other religions or sects were often persecuted or even killed
• Today religious freedom in Britain is guaranteed by law
• Established (official) church: Church of England (or Anglican Church)
• Protestant
• Founded in 16^th century when King Henry VIII left the Roman Catholic Church
• Head of Anglican Church: Archbishop of Canterbury
• Canterbury Cathedral: Home of Archbishop of Canterbury
• York Minster Cathedral: Home of #2 Anglican Archbishop

Scotland

• Established church: Church of Scotland
• Protestant
• Presbyterian (a specific type of Protestant church ruled by elders rather than by a single head)
• Founded by Protestant Reformer John Knox in 16^th century

Ireland

• Roman Catholic Church
• Head of Catholic Church: the Pope in Rome

Free Churches of Britain

• Members of Free Churches were formerly called dissenters or nonconformists
• Principal Free Churches:

–        Methodist

–        Baptist

–        Quaker (Society of Friends)

–        Salvation Army

Language of Britain

• English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages
• It evolved in three stages
• First stage: Old English (Anglo-Saxon or Germanic)
• 5-12th centuries
• Second stage: Middle English (Norman French influence)
• 12-15^th centuries
• 1400: Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
• Modern English: 15^th century to the present
• Major influences:
  • William Shakespeare (late 1500s-early 1600s)
  • 1611 King James Bible
  • 1755 Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary
  • British Empire & spread of English: 19^th & 20^th centuries

Government

• Britain today is a Constitutional Monarchy
• King or queen reigns but does not rule
• Cabinet of government officials called ministers actually rule
• The system of government has evolved for over 1000 years
• 9^th century: the king had absolute power
• 12^th century: law courts established
• 1215, King John signed Magna Carta granting limited rights to nobility
• Magna Carta is the foundation of constitutional government
• 13^th century: Montfort Parliament major step in evolution of that body
• 17^th century civil war, Parliament vs. King Charles I, resulted in limited constitutional monarchy
• First political parties born shortly afterward
• King lost importance; ministers gained
• 19^th century: growth of government responsible to the people
• Representative government

Parliament Today

• Prime Minister: leader of majority party
• Cabinet: appointed by Prime Minister (heads of executive departments)

House of Lords

• Upper house of Parliament
• About 1170 members – none elected
• About 800 hereditary nobility, 2 Anglican archbishops, & 24 Anglican bishops
• About 20 law lords appointed for life to handle legal matters
• Remainder are life peers given rank of baron in honor of some accomplishment – title & seat in Lords dies with them
• Presiding officer: Lord Chancellor
• Limited Veto power: can delay but not defeat bill passed by Commons
• Highest court of appeal
• Moral influence, but little real power

House of Commons

• Britain’s real governing body: makes laws
• Representative assembly
• Elected by people in general elections
• Based on population
• Almost all British citizens age 18 or over may vote except peers & mentally ill
• Currently 650 seats
• Power of the purse
• Each member represents a voting district called a constituency
• Members need not reside in their constituency
• General election must be held at least every 5 years
• An election may be called at any time

Civil Service

• Civil Servants run government departments
• Selected by impartial examinations
• Not based on party membership

Local Government

• 3 levels of government:

–        Central government

–        County government

–        District government

–        1997: Scottish Parliament

–        1997: Welsh Assembly

British Monarchy

• Over 1000 years old
• Queen can trace ancestry to England’s earliest kings in 800’s
• Throne passes from king or queen to oldest son (Prince of Wales)
• Throne passes to oldest daughter if no son
• Queen Elizabeth II, 1952-present
• King or Queen has no real power
• Ceremonial functions only
• English people overwhelmingly love their monarchs
• Monarchy great asset to tourist industry
• Windsor Castle: Main residence of Queen Elizabeth II
• Buckingham Palace: Queen’s Residence in London

Lecture 3: Politics and Law; Economy, Culture, and Social Life

British Politics

• Two party system:
  • Conservative Party (formerly Tory Party)
  • Labour Party (formerly Whig Party)

• Minor parties exist but are unimportant

Conservative Party

• Formerly Tory Party
• Basic beliefs:
  • Pragmatism
  • Free enterprise
  • Privatization of business & industry
  • Individualism
• Better educated
• Middle & upper middle class
• Greatest modern leader: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 1979-1991

Labour Party

• Formerly Whig Party
• Basic beliefs:
  • Nationalization of key industries
  • Welfare state
  • Rejection of class struggle
• Traditional membership:
  • Unionists, liberals, socialists, Fabians
  • Working-class & poor
• 1995: Labour Party abandoned socialism
• Few significant differences today between Conservatives & Labour
• Current Labour Party Prime Minister Gordon Brown (recently replaced Tony Blair)

Elections

• Nationwide general elections for seats in Parliament
• 650 electoral districts called constituencies
• MPs need not reside in their constituencies
• Age 18 & over to vote
• General elections every 5 years
• Prime Minister may call for early elections
• Independent candidates may run
• Media & campaigning important for gaining votes
• “Safe seats” for each party
• Majority party selects Prime Minister

British Law

• Sources of law:
  • 1. Common Law (centuries of experience & precedents)
  • 2. Acts of Parliament
  • 3. European Union law

Liberty and Justice

• Magna Carta, 1215, Great Charter of English liberty
• British and Americans both consider the Magna Carta the foundation of their freedoms and their justice system
• Important Principles of British & American law & justice:
  • Due process of law
  • Individual rights
  • Trial by jury
  • Writ of habeas corpus: no arbitrary imprisonment
• Levels of law courts:
  • Magistrates’ courts
  • County courts
  • Supreme Court
  • House of Lords: Final court of appeals

Jury Trial: a fundamental right

• Trial by jury of peers (equals; usually 12)
• Unanimous verdict or hung jury
• Rules of evidence: all evidence must be legally obtained

British Economics

• Capitalist, Supply Side, or Free Market System
• Theoretical basis: Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, 1776
• Underlying principle of capitalism: Entrepreneurs pursuing self-interest benefit everyone
• Example: Bill Gates & Microsoft

Principles of Capitalism

• Economic freedom
• Individualism
• Equality
• Competition
• Role of government: Laissez-faire
• “Hands off the economy”

Abuses of Capitalism

• Greed
• Exploitation
• Child labor
• Oppressive working conditions
• Low wages
• Dishonesty in marketing

Personal Opinion

• Deng Xiaoping understood economics better
• But Mao Zedong was correct when he said, “Serve the People”
• Capitalism must be tempered with compassion
• Helping others is always more important than getting rich
• Getting rich is all right, but use your riches to help others

Public vs. Private Sector

• Labour Party policies 1946-1979:
  • State-owned enterprises – but they proved to be very inefficient
  • Welfare state – led to very high taxes
  • British economy suffered greatly under Labour economic policies

Conservative Party Reforms

• Began in 1979 under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
• Denationalization (or privatization) of key industries
• Abandonment of socialistic policies
• Private sector more efficient but more abuses

Industry in Britain

• Industrial Revolution began c. 1750
• New inventions contribute:
  • Spinning & weaving machines
  • Farm machinery
  • Steam engine
• Industrial Revolution made England the greatest world power of 19^th century
• Deposits of iron & coal promoted great steelmaking industry
• Cheap American cotton & domestic wool promoted textile industry

British Manufacturing Industry Principal Products

• Clothing & textiles
• Foods & beverages
• Machinery & metal goods
• Motor vehicles & ships
• Glass & glassware
• Chemicals
• Pharmaceuticals
• Electrical goods & electronics
• Printing & publishing
• British economy largely post-industrial
• Offshore oil fields in North Sea – greatest oil resources in Europe
• Fishing still important
• Growth of service industry & high tech
• Service industry accounts for more than half of GDP and employs over 2/3 of all workers
• Invention of railways, 1820s
• Shipping & merchant marine – Britain is an island nation
• Concorde & Airbus
• Royal Mail, first post office, 1635
• Growth of high tech industry today
• Importer of raw materials
• Exporter of finished goods

Agriculture

• Very intensive & highly productive
• ¼ of farmland devoted to crops:
  • Grain (wheat, barley, oats, rye)
  • Potatoes
  • Sugar beets
• 3/4 of farmland for grazing
  • Cattle for beef & dairy
  • Dairy industry: milk & cheese important to British diet
  • Sheep-farming supplies woolen industry
  • Pigs
  • Poultry & eggs
• Government policies to raise farm prices:
  • Land taken out of production
  • Government subsidies
  • Production quotas (maximum allowed)
• Result is high taxes & higher prices for consumers
• Government policies are very controversial

“British Disease”

• Labour Party Socialist policies:
  • State-owned industries inefficient
  • Welfare state very expensive
  • Productive people heavily taxed to pay for non-productive people
  • British economy unable to compete in world market

Margaret Thatcher Reforms

• Supply-side theory: free markets rather than government control
• Popular capitalism: give workers a share in the company that employs them
• Britain, America, & China all faced similar economic hardships in the 1970s
• All 3 countries adopted similar free market solutions:
  • Deng Xiaoping 1978 reforms
  • Margaret Thatcher 1979-1991
  • Ronald Reagan 1981-1989
  • Free market reforms proved very successful in all three countries

British Cities

• Britain is highly urbanized
• London: more than 11% total population; capital of England & the United Kingdom
• Edinburgh: capital of Scotland
• Belfast: capital of Northern Ireland
• Cardiff: capital of Wales
• Dublin: capital of Ireland (not in UK)

British Society

• Reputation for decency & fair play
• Gentleman ideal (contrast to America’s cowboy ideal)
• Pioneer in democracy
• Primogeniture: eldest son inherits nearly everything; leads to small nobility class
• High social mobility
• Rejection of class struggle
• Large middle class
• Influence of Christianity
• Influence of Queen Victoria: personal morality & devotion to family
• Nuclear family
• Families patriarchal
• Strict monogamy
• Liberation of women
• Complete independence of children at 18
• Great social problem today: assimilation of foreign minorities
• Example: recent Muslim terrorism

Great British Scientists

• Modern scientific research method: Francis Bacon, 16^th century
• Sir Isaac Newton: laws of motion & gravity
• Michael Faraday: electric generator
• Charles Darwin: theory of evolution, 1859

British Education

• Literacy rate over 99%
• 2-tier system of government & private schools
• Premier British Universities: Oxford & Cambridge

Lecture 4: Earliest Inhabitants and Roman Occupation

Earliest Britons are unknown

• No one knows when first people arrived in England
• From c. 8000 to 3000 BC people from Spain & France settled on hilltops in southern England
• They made tools of flint, grew crops, made pottery, and raised cattle & sheep
• C. 2000 BC: people from Rhine & Danube River regions of Europe migrated to England
• They wove cloth, mined tin, & made bronze tools
• They also built stone monuments

Stonehenge, on Plain of Salisbury

We have recently discovered many graves at Stonehenge

DNA tests of burials show some came from Germany, France, Switzerland, & Mediterranean

Modern theories about Stonehenge

—  First monument begun c. 3100 BC using timber

—  C. 2600 BC: builders began replacing timber with stone

—  C. 1600 BC: last known construction at Stonehenge

—  No one left written records and scholars are uncertain how Stonehenge was used

—  It was used for burials from the beginning

—  The design has astronomical uses

—  It may have been used for ancestor worship, healing, & other religious activities

Celts

• Celts began crossing the English Channel c. 500 BC
• They were warlike tribal people from Europe
• Gaels were the earliest invading Celtic tribe
• They settled in west & north of Great Britain
• Britons (or Brythons) were second wave of Celtic invaders
• They occupied most of today’s England & Wales
• Worshiped nature gods & practiced human sacrifice
• Priests were called Druids
• Celts used iron, mined tin, & made woolen cloth
• They traded with Gauls in France and Celtic tribes in Ireland
• Celts are ancestors of Scots, Irish, & Welsh
• Gaelic & Welsh languages are Celtic

Roman conquest

• Julius Caesar conquered Gaul (France) in 55 BC and crossed English Channel with small force to explore Britain
• Returned next year with army
• Defeated some Celts & then returned to Rome
• Julius Caesar did not follow up his victory
• Emperor Claudius invaded Britannia in 43 AD & defeated Celts
• Romans put down major revolt by Iceni tribe, 61 AD
• Completed conquest of England by 80s AD
• Rome conquered the entire Mediterranean
• Rome controlled most of Europe, including much of Britain
• The Roman Empire was contemporary with Han China
• Hadrian’s Wall built in 120s AD to keep out wild Scots & Picts from North
• Hadrian’s Wall separated England from Scotland
• Another wall in the west protected England from the Celtic Welsh
• Roman roads connected much of England
• Roman baths were centers of social & political life
• Romans built a fort on the banks of the Thames River
• They named it Londinium
• Londinium became London
• Romans left in 410 AD when Rome was threatened by barbarians
• Roman influence was limited & short-lived
• England was now at mercy of new foreign invaders
• Anglo-Saxons invaded England after the Romans left

King Arthur

• Semi-legendary king
• C. 5^th or 6^th century
• Possible Roman officer or son of Roman officer
• Legends may be based on local chieftain who united Britons against Anglo-Saxon invaders
• Arthur fought with mighty sword named “Excalibur”
• Arthur was the ideal king
• Arthur founded the Knights of the Round Table

Early Christianity

• Traditionally brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea in 1^st century
• Celtic communities developed a strong Christian tradition
• During next few centuries the Bishop of Rome gained more power & became Pope (“Papa”) or supreme leader of Western Christendom
• Celtic Christians did not recognize Pope’s authority
• This will lead to later conflict

England after the Romans left

• Almost no written records for this period
• Much warfare and confusion
• Cities mostly abandoned
• Civilization gradually died out
• Christianity nearly disappeared
• Latin and Celtic languages ceased – only a few words remained a permanent part of the language of England
• Only roads, walls, bridges, and buildings remained
• Anglo-Saxon invaders will soon transform Britain

Lecture 5: Anglo-Saxon England: Beginnings of English Society, 5^th – 11^th Centuries

Anglo-Saxon invasion & conquest of England

• Angles, Saxons, Jutes from Germany
• 5^th – 7^th centuries
• Fierce warriors
• Pagans worshiped Germanic deities
• England means “Angle Land”

Anglo-Saxon influence on English language

• Old English is Anglo-Saxon
• Place names:
• Sussex (south Saxon)
• Wessex (west Saxon)
• Essex (east Saxon)
• East Anglia, Mercia, & Northumbria
• Hundreds of towns throughout England
• Tiu
• God of war
• Tuesday honors Tiu
• Woden (Odin)
• King of heaven
• Wednesday honors Woden
• Thor
• God of storms
• Thursday is “Thor’s Day”
• Freya
• Goddess of peace
• “Freya’s Day” is Friday

Anglo-Saxon Words (gh, ch, & ght endings)

• Cough, Enough, Tough, Rough, Laugh
• Teach, Reach, Fight, Right, Sight

Anglo-Saxons were warlike

Anglo-Saxon gods were warlike

Pagan Anglo-Saxons soon converted to Christianity

Reintroduction of Christianity

• 597 – Pope in Rome sent Augustine to Canterbury
• Converted Ethelbert, King of Jutes & nobles
• Established convents & monasteries
• Monks convert common people
• Roman missionaries convert much of southern England
• Celtic missionaries convert northern tribes, Picts & Scots
• Roman missionaries: Pope supreme
• Celtic Christians: Local church supreme

Synod of Whitby, 664 AD

• Synod of Whitby debated the differences between Roman & Celtic Christians
• Roman view prevailed – England became officially Roman Catholic
• Celtic Christians continued from monastery on island of Iona
• Relations between Iona & Canterbury remained harmonious

Christian Influence on Anglo-Saxon Poetry

• Caedmon: author of earliest datable English poetry, 730s AD
• Caedmon was a peasant who guarded cattle of abbey of Whitby
• One night he saw a vision of a man who told him to sing of the Creation
• He composed this poem in his sleep and repeated it the next morning

Caedmon’s Poem in Old English (Anglo-Saxon)

• Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard,
• metudaes maecti end his modgidanc,
• uerc uuldurfadur, sue he uundra gihuaes,
• eci dryctin, or astelidae;
• he aerist scop aelda barnum
• heben til hrofe, haleg scepen.
• Tha middungeard moncynnaes uard,
• eci dryctin, aefter tiadae
• firum foldu, frea allmectig.

Caedmon’s Poem in Modern English

• Now we must praise the guardian of the heavenly kingdom,
• the powers of the Creator and his thoughts, the works of the Father of glory,
• as he, the eternal Lord,
• appointed the beginning of every wondrous thing;
• He, the holy Lord, the Guardian of mankind,
• first created for the children of men the heaven as a roof.
• Then the eternal Lord, Ruler Almighty,
• afterwards adorned the world, the earth, for men.

Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

• German tribes formed separate nations
• Saxons occupied southern England
• Saxons became East Saxons, Middle Saxons, South Saxons, & West Saxons
• Angles lived in central, N. & E. England
• Angles formed Mercia, East Anglia, & Northumbria
• Tribes slowly formed 7 separate kingdoms called Heptarchy: East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex, & Wessex
• From c. 500-800 AD Northumbria, Mercia, & Wessex controlled other 6 in turn
• King Egbert of Wessex: last king to control Heptarchy – often considered first king of England
• Britons were most likely enslaved
• The term Briton is often synonymous with slave
• By 700 AD pagan Anglo-Saxons had converted to Christianity
• Monasteries became centers of religion, scholarship & education
• They had large libraries and schools
• Religion, education, and the arts flourished in this time

Classes of society

• Thanes or nobles
• Churls (ordinary free men)
• Slaves
  • Many Britons were enslaved
  • Also war captives & criminals
  • Sometimes people sold children (or themselves) into slavery to pay debts
  • Christianity lessened harshness of slavery

Duty to one’s lord

• Lords provided weapons, horses, & feasting for their retainers
• Retainers were prepared to die to protect their lord
• Loyalty to one’s lord was the Anglo-Saxon’s highest honor

Anglo-Saxon (English) law

• Different classes had different standards
• Penalty for killing a man varied with his class or social status
• Usually it involved payment to the man’s kin, but it could involve killing the killer
• If his social rank allowed, an accused might swear an oath of innocence
• Sometimes the oath of an accused was not allowed
• Then he would undergo “trial by ordeal,” or the Judgment of God
• The Church handled the ordeals
• An ordeal began with a 3-day fast
• The accused was admonished to confess his guilt, before taking Catholic mass

Ordeal by hot water

• Accused must remove a stone from a pot of boiling water (or oil)
• The hand was then bound up
• If the wound healed after 3 days without festering, accused was cleared of charge
• If not, then he was declared guilty
• But his punishment was still less than if he had been caught in the act

Ordeal by hot iron

• Accused must carry one pound of hot iron for 9 feet (3 meters)
• Hand was examined after 3 days
• For a serious charge, weight of iron was increased to 3 pounds
• For hot water ordeal, accused must plunge arm to the elbow instead of wrist
• Trial by Combat probably pre-dates English law

Vikings (Danes) invaded England in 9^th & 10^th centuries

Vikings (Danes) easily conquered Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, except Wessex

• Vikings destroyed the monasteries and schools
• Danes began to settle in England
• Vikings added Danish elements to English language
• Danes controlled nearly half of England
• Viking/Danish England was called the Danelaw

King Alfred the Great, 849-899

King Alfred built the first English navy

• Alfred was a devout Christian
• He defeated the Danes in 886, forced them to withdraw to NE third of England, and converted many to Christianity
• Established schools & repaired monasteries
• Invited scholars to come to England
• Learned to read and write Latin & English
• Translated Scriptures into language of his people

Death of Alfred, 899 AD, and Rise of the Danes

• During 100 years after Alfred’s death, Danes gradually expanded Danelaw
• 1016 AD: Canute (brother of King of Denmark) defeated King Ethelred II (Ethelred the “Unready”) of Wessex and became ruler of England

King Canute, 1016-1035

• King of England, Denmark & Norway
• Wise & just ruler
• Danes & Anglo-Saxons share power
• Forced Scots to submit

King Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066

• Canute succeeded by 2 sons who were unable to continue his kingdom
• Edward restored Anglo-Saxon rule
• Appointed many Normans to top jobs
• Called “Confessor” because of his devout Christian faith
• Built first church on what is now site of Westminster Abbey in London
• Death led to power struggle

Norman Invasion 1066

• Vikings=Northmen=Norsemen=Normans
• Settled France early 900s
• English nobles chose Harold, Earl of Wessex, as king
• Norman French relative, William, Duke of Normandy, claimed Edward had promised him the throne
• King Harold took throne of England & defeated another rival named Harold
• His victorious army was weakened
• William, Duke of Normandy, saw an opportunity
• Battle of Hastings, October, 1066
• Harold’s English army meets William’s Norman French army
• Harold is killed at Hastings
• Norman army victorious
• On Christmas day, 1066, William the Conqueror crowned first Anglo-Norman king of England
• William established strong central government
• Appointed Normans to top positions
• Divided conquered land among Normans
• Forced most Anglo-Saxons into serfdom
• William built many cathedrals & castles like Tower of London
• Beginnings of English Feudalism
• William replaced English bishops with Normans
• King became head of bishops
• King William ordered a survey of land & property in England in 1085
• Used it to set taxes & divide large estates among his followers
• “Domesday Book”
• Anglo-Saxons mostly became serfs at first
• Kept their own language & many of their customs
• 2 languages in England until c. 1400
• Oppression, then intermingling
• Normans & Anglo-Saxons gradually became united people

Lecture 6: Norman England, 1066-1307

William the Conqueror

• First Norman king of England, 1066-1087
• Ended Anglo-Saxon rule by defeating King Harold at Battle of Hastings, 1066
• William ruled autocratically – brought church & barons under his personal control
• Replaced English bishops with Normans
• Distributed land to reward his followers
• Built castles throughout England to control hostile population
• Beginnings of English Feudalism
• William had no permanent residence
• He travelled around England to survey his domain and demonstrate his power
• He held court & a major festival 3 times a year in 3 different towns
• Normans were a foreign army of occupation
• They built many castles to protect themselves and control the population
• King William ordered a survey of land & property in England in 1085
• He used it to set taxes & divide large estates among his followers
• Anglo-Saxon nobility mostly killed or fled
• Anglo-Saxon commoners mostly became serfs
• Kept their own language & many of their customs
• 3 languages in England: French (spoken by nobility), Old English/Anglo-Saxon (commoners), Latin (scholars & church)
• Some oppression, then intermingling
• Normans & Anglo-Saxons gradually became united people

William II, 1087-1100

• William the Conqueror succeeded by 2 sons
• William II was illiterate, brutal, & an excellent warrior & hunter
• His nobles revolted in 1088 & he invaded Scotland in 1097
• Killed by an arrow while hunting
• Clergy refused him a church funeral

Henry I, 1100-1135

• Youngest son of William the Conqueror
• Suppressed serious revolt of barons, then ruled land in peace for over 30 years
• Helped unite Saxons & Normans
• Wise & just ruler

King Stephen, Empress Maud, & the period of anarchy, 1135-53

Empress Matilda (Maud)

• Daughter of Henry I
• Henry wanted her to succeed him
• Nephew Stephen took throne instead
• Maud’s attempt to seize throne led to civil war

King Stephen, 1135-1153

• “Of outstanding skill in arms, but in other things almost an idiot, except that he was more inclined towards evil” – contemporary view
• “…by his good nature and by the way he jested and enjoyed himself even in the company of his inferiors, Stephen earned an affection that can hardly be imagined.”
• “Basically he was a kind and amiable man whose friends would not abandon him when he was in trouble.”
• Stephen’s reign full of strife – called “the Anarchy”
• Stephen & Maud both gave away land & titles to buy support
• Stephen finally forced to recognize son of Maud as his successor

King Henry II, 1154-1189

• Grandson of Henry I & son of Maud (Matilda)
• Father was Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou
• Henry II founded Plantagenet Dynasty
• Henry & successors sometimes called Angevins (from Anjou, France)
• Married Eleanor of Aquitaine, most famous woman of the age
• Acquired western France through marriage to Eleanor
• Also claimed Scotland, Wales, & eastern Ireland
• Continued grandfather’s policy of limiting power of nobles & centralizing his power
• Made Anglo-Saxon common law supreme law of land – based on precedent decisions of circuit courts
• Introduced jury system to replace trial by ordeal or battle
• Tried to force Roman Catholic Church to submit to his authority
• 1162 made Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury
• Power struggle between king & church
• Becket murdered by 4 of Henry’s noble
• Becket made saint
• English begin pilgrimages to his tomb
• King does public penance

Geoffrey Chaucer, c.1340-1400

• Greatest English poet of middle ages
• Collected stories told by pilgrims on way to shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury
• Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 1400
• Written in Middle English
• Major  influence on evolution of English language

Oxford was an important crossroads since Roman times

Oxford University began there in 12^th century

Cambridge was the site of a second medieval university

Sons of Henry II

• In his later years, Henry’s sons often rebelled against him
• Two of them became the next 2 kings
• Statue of King Richard I, the “Lion-Hearted”

Richard I, 1189-1199, spent most of his reign overseas

King Richard Coeur de Leon (“Lion-Hearted”) led crusade to capture Jerusalem

• Richard captured Acre and tried to recapture Jerusalem from the Moslems
• He spent only six months of his reign in England and did little for the good of England
• Kidnapped by Austrian duke on way home from crusade
• Held as prisoner & released for ransom
• Fought war with France & killed during siege of a French castle, 1199

King John, 1199-1216

• Became king on death of brother Richard I
• Tyrannical & greedy – generally viewed as one of England’s worst kings
• Lost nearly all of England’s holdings in France in 1205
• Legend of Robin Hood dates to reign of King John
• Barons revolt & force John to sign Magna Carta, 1215

Magna Carta (Great Charter)

• 1. King observes rights of barons; barons observe rights of their vassals
• 2. No taxes without consent of Great Council; farmers & merchants protected from too harsh fines
• 3.  Right to jury trial
• 4. Merchants can move freely
• Protects only freemen (12% of population)
• Later extended to serfs
• Social order now regulated by law – begins to end feudal despotism

King Henry III, 1216-1272

• Eldest son of King John
• Became king at age 9 but did not rule until 1227
• Fickle tyrant who surrounded himself with foreign influences
• Taxed & robbed the people
• Obeyed Pope at expense of his people
• Foolish policies alienated most people

Simon De Montfort

• King’s brother-in-law
• Defender of Magna Carta
• Led rebellion of barons – defeated king
• Reformed Great Council
• 1265 established model English parliament
• Invited commoners for first time
• House of Lords most important at first
• Advice & petitions only at first
• Major step in evolution of parliamentary government

King Edward I, 1272-1307

• Son & successor of Henry III
• Conquered Wales, 1277-1283
• Eldest son & heir given title Prince of Wales
• Built many castles along Welsh border
• Devoted most of his reign to conquering Scotland
• Edward I invaded Scotland 1296
• William Wallace (Braveheart) opposed him
• Wallace known for great strength & courage

William Wallace

• Scottish national hero made famous by movie “Braveheart”
• Defeated English at Stirling Bridge
• Edward I returned with a great English army which defeated Scots at Falkirk
• Wallace continued fight for Scottish freedom for 7 years
• He led guerrilla forces operating in Scottish highlands
• English captured Wallace & executed him for treason

Robert the Bruce

• Claimed throne of Scotland
• Led army against Edward II (son of Edward I)

Bannockburn, 1314

• Great Scottish victory against English army
• Scots led by Robert the Bruce
• Preserved Scottish independence for many more years

Lecture 7: England in the late middle ages

King Edward II, 1307-1327

• Son of Edward I
• Incompetent ruler
• Loss at Bannockburn guaranteed Scottish independence
• Forced by Parliament to abdicate, 1327
• Brutally murdered shortly afterward

King Edward III, 1327-1377

• Son of Edward II
• Claimed throne of France, 1337
• Landed army in Normandy to begin Hundred Years’ War

Hundred Years’ War 1337-1453

• English loss of Normandy in 1204 basic cause of war
• French support of Scots also cause
• War lasted during reigns of 5 English & 5 French kings
• Great English victories at first

Edward, the Black Prince

• Son of King Edward III
• Father of King Richard II
• Wore black armor
• Commanded wing of army at Crecy at age 16
• Defeated French army at Poitiers & captured French king

Battle of Crecy, 1346

• France had 3 times the wealth, supplies, & manpower of English
• France had many knights
• English fought mainly with archers & infantry
• Great English victory

Black Death (Bubonic Plague)

• 1348-1349 in England
• Wiped out a third to half the population
• Deaths from plague created labor shortage
• Peasants demanded better wages & working conditions
• Government responded with reactionary laws to preserve serfdom
• Widespread peasant unrest

Richard II, 1377-1399

• Son of Edward, the Black Prince
• King at age 10
• John of Gaunt (Duke of Lancaster) real ruler at first
• High taxes led to peasant rebellion

Peasants’ Revolt (Wat Tyler’s Rebellion), 1381

• Peasants object to forced labor & heavy taxes
• New tax touched off revolt
• Blacksmith Wat Tyler led protest movement
• Riots & violence broke out all over England
• Tyler led 100,000 peasants who marched on London & demanded to see king
• 14-year old king faced mob alone (royal advisors had deserted him)
• King listened to peasants’ demands
• Peasants demanded end to serfdom, low rents on land, & end of oppressive labor laws
• King agreed to demands
• Most peasants went home
• Tyler remained with 30,000 supporters to gain further concessions
• Mayor of London murders Wat Tyler
• Troops come to support of king & drive away rebels
• Promises of king were ignored
• Oppression of peasants continued
• But serfdom slowly begins to die out after revolt
• Labor shortage from Black Death & peasant revolt weakens feudalism
• New class of yeoman (free) farmers begins to emerge
• Capitalism slowly begins to emerge

John Wycliffe & the Lollards

• Oxford professor
• Challenged corruption & some beliefs of Roman Catholic church
• Movement diverse and increasingly radical
• Lollards preached equality of men before God & communal ownership of all things
• Opposed tyranny, especially in the church
• Beginnings of democratic ideas & practices
• Priesthood of all believers
• Wycliffe produced first English translation of Bible
• Lollards promoted many beliefs & practices taken up later in the Protestant Reformation

King Henry IV, 1399-1413

• King Richard II seized estates of his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke (John of Gaunt’s son)
• Bolingbroke raised army & forced Richard from throne
• Became King Henry IV
• Richard died in prison – probably murdered
• Henry IV , first ruler of House of Lancaster (one branch of Plantagenet family)
• Parliament elected him king
• Henry admitted that Parliament had right to choose king
• Important increase in power of Parliament
• Revolts & conspiracies dominate first 8 years of reign
• Encouraged towns & trade to develop
• Persecuted Lollards

King Henry V, 1413-1422

• Eldest son of Henry IV
• Deeply religious (Catholic)
• Persecuted Lollards
• Renewed Hundred Years’ War with France
• Won great victory at Agincourt, 1415
• Very popular warrior king
• Early death saved him from disastrous consequences of war
• French soldiers bragged on eve of battle
• Henry & his men prayed
• French army greatly outnumbered English at Agincourt
• Another triumph for the English longbow
• Over 7000 French killed including many great nobles
• About 500 English killed
• Agincourt led to Treaty of Troyes: Henry declared heir to French crown
• Henry married daughter of French king, but died 2 years later
• Early English victories were won by archers & infantry with long pikes
• Hundred Years’ War led to evolution of artillery
• Gunpowder changes nature of warfare

King Henry VI, 1422-1461

• Last English king of House of Lancaster
• Held thrones of both England & France when he was 1 year old
• Pious & gentle ruler, but weak, with attacks of insanity

Joan of Arc

• French peasant girl who claimed saints spoke to her
• Led French army to rescue Orleans from English, 1429
• Escorted French king to coronation at Reims Cathedral
• National heroine
• Captured by Burgundians & turned over to English
• Convicted of witchcraft & burned at the stake
• Martyrdom inspired French peasants to victory
• But English army already exhausted & country nearly bankrupt

Results of War

• English kings lost nearly all their French possessions
• English kings now free to focus on England
• English language now spoken by all classes in England
• England exhausted, bankrupt, & on eve of civil war

Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485

• English nobles took advantage of weakness of Henry VI & misgoverned England in their own selfish interests
• Popular uprising in 1450 further divided & weakened England
• 2 rival branches of Plantagenet family:
• House of Lancaster (symbol of Red Rose): ruled since 1399
• House of York (symbol of White Rose): challenged rule of Henry VI
• Wars mostly between “rival gangs of nobles”
• Common people largely indifferent
• Reduced noble class  through death in war & executions
• Hastened end of feudalism
• Strengthened central government & power of king

King Edward IV, 1461-1470, 1471-1483

• Leader of House of York
• Took throne from Henry VI after Battle of Towton, 1461
• Fled to Holland when rival noble supported Henry, 1470-71
• Returned with army & recovered throne
• Imprisoned Henry & probably had him murdered

King Edward V, 1483

• Son of Edward IV
• Became king at age 12
• Uncle Richard made protector, but had Edward & brother imprisoned when mother’s family tried to seize power
• Richard probably murdered Edward & brother

King Richard III, 1483-1485

• Brother of Edward IV
• Last Plantagenet king
• Reign brought on revolt that ended Wars of the Roses
• Governed well, but people tired of civil disturbances
• Lancastrian nobles plotted against him

Henry Tudor

• Earl of Richmond of House of Lancaster
• Exiled in France
• Invaded England
• Won Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485
• King Richard killed in battle
• End of Wars of Roses
• Henry Tudor became King Henry VII
• Descended from House of Lancaster
• Married daughter of Edward IV, uniting Houses of Lancaster & York
• Tudor family replaced Plantagenet family
• Tudors rule England next 118 years

End of the Middle Ages

• Many historians consider end of Wars of Roses as the end of Middle Ages & beginning of modern world history in England
• But Henry VII changed very little
• His son Henry VIII also changed very little during his first 20 years as king
• Both Henrys strengthened the power of the king
• But the Medieval Roman Catholic church still dominated religious beliefs
• Middle Ages really didn’t end until the Renaissance & especially the Protestant Reformation
• This will take place in England mostly in the 1530s

Lecture 8: Tudor England

Tudor Monarchy 1485-1603

• 1485 – Wars of the Roses ends
• Henry VII, first king of House of Tudor
• Sometimes considered the end of Middle Ages & beginning of Modern History
• But Henry VII changed very little
• The great changes took place under his descendants

King Henry VII, 1485-1509

• Killed Richard III at Battle of Bosworth Field to end Wars of Roses
• Married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV, uniting Houses of Lancaster & York
• Tough, cold, shrewd, & sly
• Kept nobles in fear by increasing political power of wealthy middle classes
• Taxed common people heavily
• Eliminated rivals to throne
• Ended several revolts & conspiracies
• Sent first English explorers to N. America
• Arranged marriage between oldest son Arthur & Catherine of Aragon (Spain)
• Secured young widow Catherine & her dowry for second son Henry
• Arranged marriage between daughter Margaret & James IV of Scotland
• “Best businessman to sit on English throne” – left greatest fortune ever

Renaissance

• Began in 14^th century Italy
• Renaissance means “rebirth”
• “Rebirth” of Classical (ancient Greek & Roman) learning, art, architecture, philosophy, languages
• Renaissance coincided with Western invention of printing
• Made books cheap & spreads learning

Leonardo Da Vinci, 1452-1519

• Genius & leading figure of Renaissance
• One of greatest artists of Western world
• Great inventor, scientist, thinker
• Designed many scientific inventions which were centuries ahead of their time
• Kept notebook with writing which can be read only with a mirror

Great Renaissance artist Michelangelo: Sistine Chapel

• Raphael was another great artist of Italian Renaissance (or High Renaissance)
• Directed construction of St. Peter’s Church in Rome
• Paintings influenced artists up to early 1900s

Erasmus

• Dutch priest & scholar
• Tried to reform church
• Published Greek New Testament, 1516, which was of great value for Protestant Reformation

Renaissance

• Philosophy of Humanism emphasized study of humanities
• Great impact on literature & arts
• Study of ancient writings (like Bible) in original languages
• Paved way for Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

• Greatest intellectual movement in Western history
• Fought corruption of Roman Catholic Church
• Wanted to end power of pope & priests
• Gave people Bible in their own language
• Taught priesthood of all believers

Martin Luther, 1483-1546: Leader of Protestant Reformation

• Studied law
• Became priest after powerful conversion experience
• Deeply troubled by his own sin
• Discovered Doctrine of Grace in Bible
• Luther offered to debate 95 theses with other priests, 1517
• Luther defends himself at Diet of Worms
• Luther condemned at Diet of Worms
• Luther “kidnapped” on way home from Diet
• Luther held captive at Wartburg Castle for his own protection
• Luther became matchmaker for liberated nuns
• One nun refused two matches Luther made
• So Luther married her “to spite the devil and the pope”
• Northern European states followed Reformation
• France, Spain, Italy, S. Germany remained Roman Catholic

Henry VIII, 1509-1547

• Devout Roman Catholic & amateur theologian
• Opposed Luther & Protestant Reformation
• Henry wrote pamphlet condemning Luther
• Pope gave King Henry title “Defender of the Faith”
• Henry dedicated his pamphlet to the Pope
• Spent his father’s wealth on foreign wars
• Built navy
• Henry’s Queen was Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish Roman Catholic
• Catherine failed to produce son in 19 years of marriage
• Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn, a Protestant
• Henry wanted to divorce Catherine
• Only Pope can grant Henry’s divorce
• But Pope cannot afford to offend Spain
• Pope refused divorce
• Growing Protestant sentiment in England
• Parliament passed 2 acts, 1534
• Declared Pope had no authority in England
• Act of Supremacy:  King (not Pope) head of the church
• Church under new leadership, but most Roman Catholic ideas and practices remain
• Henry had expanded the power of king
• He spent his father’s wealth on war
• As head of Church, he disbanded the monasteries & took over their land
• Henry raised much money selling monastery land, mostly to rising middle class
• Major social revolution

Six wives of Henry VIII

• Anne Boleyn produced a daughter – future Queen Elizabeth
• Henry sought other women
• Falsely accused Anne of infidelity
• Henry married Jane Seymour
• She gave him a son, Edward VI
• Jane died shortly after childbirth
• Wife #4: Anne of Cleves, a political marriage to a German princess
• Ended in divorce
• Wife #5: Catherine Howard
• Convicted of misconduct & executed, 1542
• Wife #6: Catherine Parr outlived Henry
• Henry died 1547
• Legacy: undisputed supremacy of king
• Church of England under control of king
• Succeeded by his son

Edward VI, 1547-1553

• Child king
• Protestant regents control government
• Made England truly Protestant
• Edward died at age 16
• Protestants attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on throne
• Ruled 9 days
• Later executed
• Edward’s elder sister Mary became queen

Queen Mary I, 1553-1558

• Daughter of Catherine of Aragon
• Devout Roman Catholic
• Married to King Philip II of Spain
• Forced England to return to Roman Catholic religion
• Persecuted Protestants
• Burned 300 at the stake
• Many Protestants went to exile in Europe
• Exposed to leading Protestant Reformers like John Calvin in Geneva
• Mary joined Spain in war with France

Queen Elizabeth I, 1558-1603

• Daughter of Anne Boleyn
• Moderate Protestant: restored church of England
• Policy of religious toleration to all who were loyal to England

Beginnings of Puritanism

• Puritans wanted to “purify” Church of England (of its Roman Catholic beliefs & practices)
• Puritanism began among Marian exiles who studied under Calvin in Geneva
• They will be an increasingly important force in English history
• 3 main religions: Anglicans, Puritans, & Catholics

Elizabeth’s goal was increased power & prestige of England

Elizabeth I never married – said she was “married to England”

Elizabeth was very popular with her subjects

Elizabeth’s Foreign Policy

• Outwardly promoted peace
• Secretly encouraged “Sea Dogs” like Sir Francis Drake to plunder Spanish shipping
• Supported Dutch rebellion against Spain
• Spanish decided to get rid of English (and Protestant) menace

Sir Francis Drake

• Great English pirate
• Plundered Spanish colonies & ships
• Greatest voyage 1577-1580 – second man in history to sail around the world
• Brought back much Spanish treasure
• Drake raided Spanish port of Cadiz, 1587
• Sank 30 ships & seized many supplies
• Heroic venture remembered as “singeing of the King of Spain’s beard”

King Philip II of Spain

• Planned invasion of England
• Reasons: piracy of Sea Dogs, Protestant faith of England, English support of Dutch rebellion

Spanish Armada, 1588

• Great fleet of Spanish ships
• Philip called it the Invincible Armada
• 130 ships total
• 40 men-of-war
• 8000 sailors
• 50,000 troops: half carried from Spain; half to be transported across Channel from Netherlands
• Queen Elizabeth delivered speech to troops preparing defenses against Spanish invasion
• Spanish Armada sailed up English Channel for one week
• English sent fire ships into Spanish fleet
• Smaller, faster English ships attacked scattered Spanish fleet
• Battle is turning point in world history
• Seadogs, English navy, & fire ships attack & scatter Armada
• Armada sailed north to return home
• “Protestant Wind” wrecked more of Armada along Scottish & Irish coasts
• War continued for many more years
• England began to replace Spain as world sea power
• Atlantic Ocean now safe for English colonization of New World
• English colony at Roanoke, Virginia

The Elizabethan Era

• Late period of Elizabeth’s reign a golden age of literature
• Beginnings of Modern English
• But economy got bad, Irish rebelled, & Earl of Essex led a rebellion in 1601 (he was soon captured & executed)

William Shakespeare, 1564-1616

• Greatest of all English writers
• Shaped the modern English language
• Source of many idioms & expressions
• Globe Theater in London: Shakespeare plays were important part of Elizabethan culture

Lecture 9: STUART MONARCHY: 1603-1714 & English Civil War

Queen Elizabeth I, 1558-1603

• Elizabeth I died 1603 without heirs
• End of House of Tudor
• Cousin James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England
• Beginning of House of Stuart , 1603-1714

King James I, 1603-1625

• King James VI of Scotland at age 1, 1566
• Roman Catholic mother Mary, Queen of Scots, forced to give up throne; later executed
• Believer in Divine right of kings – belief that kings get right to rule from God & not from the people
• Headed strong royal government in Scotland
• English parliament opposed James’ attempt to rule as absolute monarch
• Supported Church of England (Anglican)

Growth of Puritanism

• Puritans: purify the Church of England of its Roman Catholic beliefs & practices
• 3 major religious groups in England: Anglicans, Puritans, Roman Catholics
• Many Puritans in Parliament
• Puritans distrust James
• James hates Puritans

Authorized Version of Bible (King James Version), 1611

• James approved new English translation of Bible
• Main reason: to remove Puritan influences
• Example: Bible footnotes say Christians may overthrow evil king
• Bible helped standardize Modern English

Catholic Challenge to James

• Roman Catholic conspiracy: Gunpowder Plot, 1605
• Attempt to blow up Parliament when James addressed it
• Too many plotters to keep secret
• Leader Guy Fawkes arrested
• Englishmen celebrated execution of Fawkes
• Guy Fawkes Day still celebrated in England with bonfires burning Fawkes in effigy

Religious Intolerance

• James opposed both Catholics & Puritans
• Authorized translation of Bible (1611) to get rid of Puritan influence
• Tried to make Puritans conform to Anglican practices
• Wanted all Englishmen to have same religious beliefs & practices
• Puritans began to leave England
• Separatists (Puritans who wanted to leave Church of England) sailed to America on Mayflower
• Established Plymouth Plantation colony in America, 1620
• Non-separating Puritans established Massachusetts Bay Colony (Boston), 1629

King Charles I, 1625-1649

• Son of James I
• Like father, believed in Divine right of kings
• Opposed Puritans
• Dissolved Parliament  3 times in next 4 years
• “Eleven Years Tyranny”-no Parliament 1629-40
• Tried to force Anglican prayer book upon Scottish Presbyterians
• Scots rebelled
• Charles called new Parliament to get money for Scottish war
• Long Parliament: met from 1640-1653
• King tried to seize leaders
• Civil war broke out 1642

English Civil Wars 1642-1649

• King Charles I vs. Parliament
• King supported by nobility, gentry, & Anglican clergy
• Supporters called Cavaliers
• Parliament supported by Puritans & merchants
• Called Roundheads because of short hair
• Parliament divided; almost defeated at first

Oliver Cromwell: Great Puritan General

• Brilliant commander of “Ironsides” – never lost a major battle
• Took over New Model Army & reorganized it
• Disciplined, fearless, sang Psalms in battle
• King Charles captured and tried by Parliament
• Cromwell led king’s trial & death sentence
• King Charles I beheaded 1649
• Supporters saw king as a martyr
• Regicide infuriated Roman Catholics & other European states
• After execution of Charles I, England became Republic called Commonwealth of England
• Cromwell crushed uprisings in Scotland & Ireland
• Defeated army loyal to son of late king
• But Parliament failed to adopt major reforms
• Cromwell dismissed Parliament & ended Commonwealth, 1653
• England became Protectorate; Cromwell made Lord Protector
• Cromwell offered crown and refused it
• Ruled England as a dictator
• Cromwell’s guiding principle: “liberty of conscience”
• Cromwell raised prestige of England
• But Cromwell was hated by many (and still is)
• Oliver Cromwell died 1658
• Richard Cromwell, son & successor, was weak & ineffective
• Forced to resign 1659

The Restoration 1660
King Charles II, 1660-1685

• Parliament invited Charles Stuart (son of late king) to return as King Charles II
• Charles called the “merry monarch” for his lifestyle & his mistresses
• King owed position to Parliament
• Sought moderation & compromise
• Married to Roman Catholic queen
• Fought 2 naval wars (commercial wars) with Dutch
• 2^nd Anglo-Dutch War led to capture of New Netherland (renamed New York)
• Great Plague struck England, killing 68,000 in London alone
• Great Fire destroyed London, leading to rebuilding under Sir Christopher Wren

Beginning of political parties

• Second half of reign of Charles II saw beginnings of English political parties
• Court party supported Anglican Church & king
• Country party opposed the government
• Parties evolved into Whig Party & Tory Party
• Parliament & King’s Ministers gradually gained power at expense of King

King James II, 1685-1688

• Brother of Charles II
• Roman Catholic
• Accepted as king because he was old and his Protestant daughter was next in line for throne
• Promoted pro-Catholic policies which alienated many Englishmen

Glorious Revolution or “Bloodless Revolution” 1688

• Unexpected birth of son changed things
• People feared new Roman Catholic dynasty
• Leading politicians invited James’ daughter Mary and son-in-law William to invade England with their army from Netherlands
• Almost no one supported King James II
• King fled to France

William III and Mary II, 1688-1702

• Protestant
• Reigned as joint sovereigns
• Constitutional Monarchy
• Reign established right of Parliament to control succession to throne & to limit power of king (or queen)
• Parliament banned Roman Catholics from throne
• Made it illegal for king to suspend laws, keep an army in peacetime, or levy taxes without Parliament’s consent
• William led England in war against France

Queen Anne, 1702-1714

• Protestant daughter of King James II
• Sister of Queen Mary II
• 17 children, but none survived for long
• 1707 Act of Union created United Kingdom of England and Scotland
• Led England in new war against France (War of Spanish Succession)
• Died in 1714 without heirs
• House of Hanover in Germany succeeded House of Stuart

War of Spanish Succession

• Peace of Utrecht 1713 led to beginning of First British Empire
• Britain gained parts of Canada, West Indies, Gibraltar, & trade concessions
• Assessment of American Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (architect of American sea power & empire): “Before that war England was one of the sea powers. After it, she was the sea power, without any second.”

Trends and accomplishments of 111-year Stuart Monarchy

• Prosperity of England increased threefold
• Crowns of England & Scotland united
• Beginnings of British overseas Empire
• King’s absolute powers greatly reduced
• Birth of political parties
• Beginnings of modern cabinet (but without a Prime Minister yet)
• House of Commons pre-eminent in State
• Great growth & influence of Puritanism
• Birth of experimental method in science
• Great advance of science under Isaac Newton (astronomy, physics, mathematics & calculus)
• Birth of Royal Society
• John Locke author of new philosophy of Empiricism: All knowledge comes from experience
• Political philosophy of Locke promoted spirit of toleration & rationalism – great influence upon American government

Lecture 10: Great Britain in the 18^th century

King George I, 1714-1727
House of Hanover

• Second cousin of Queen Anne – her closest Protestant relative
• German Prince, House of Hanover
• Barely spoke English
• Rarely involved in government
• Main interests: food, horses, & women

Sir Robert Walpole, 1676-1745

• Leader of Whigs – party which supported Hanoverian succession
• Chief minister; took control of council
• Considered Britain’s first Prime Minister

Constitutional Monarchy

• Britain only constitutional monarchy in world at this time
• Main principles:
• King could not be a Roman Catholic
• King could not suspend laws
• King depended on Parliament for money & army
• King’s ministers answer to Parliament
• Power with Parliament, not with King

King George II, 1727-1760

• Succeeded father George I
• Put down last attempt of Stuarts to regain throne, 1745
• Seven Years’ War laid foundation of empire in India & Canada
• Growing commercial prosperity & increase in political stability

Industrial Revolution

• C. 1750-1850
• Made Britain into world superpower
• Began with spinning and weaving machines
• James Watt, steam engine, 1760s, freed factories from locating near rivers & waterfalls
• Cotton gin, 1790s, provided cheap cotton for industrial machines

James Watt, 1736-1819

• Scottish engineer
• Improved design which made steam power practical
• Led to growth of modern industry
• Steam engines no longer used only to pump water from mines
• Engines used to power factories which could now be located anywhere
• Cotton gin made cotton cheap & fed British textile industry
• Factory system replaced piecework system where people worked in home
• Factories led to growth of cities and urban social problems
• Machines replaced workers: Luddites responded by smashing looms

John Wesley, 1703-1791

• Leader of Evangelical Revival in England
• Emotional & anti-intellectual
• Appealed to working class
• Emphasized personal faith & good works
• Opposed by many Anglicans
• Founded Methodist societies – separated from Anglicans 1780s
• John Wesley traveled over 400,000 km to preach over 40,000 sermons

George Whitefield, 1714-1770

• Anglican preacher & evangelist
• Friend of Wesley -contributed to growth of Methodism
• Visited American colonies 7 times & led Great Awakening, 1740s
• Whitefield preached outdoors when ministers refused to let him preach in their churches

Evangelical Revival

• Before revival, Church of England was formal, boring, & insensitive to needs of poor
• Methodists reached out to working class
• Made faith personal & practical
• Inspired religious enthusiasm in millions
• Some historians say Evangelical Revival prevented violent revolution & reign of terror as happened in Roman Catholic France in 1790s

William Pitt the Elder, 1708-1778

• Opponent of Walpole & later Prime Minister
• Architect of British Empire
• Two aims: supremacy at sea & capture of French trading posts

British Empire

• 1756-1763: Seven Years’ War against France
• 1759: British capture Quebec, Canada
• 1760: British capture Montreal
• British victories in India
• Attack on Manila led to British control of tea trade with China
• Peace of Paris, 1763: Britain retained Canada, India – beginnings of great empire
• North America, 1763: war doubled size of British Empire

King George III, 1760-1820

• Succeeded grandfather George II
• Tried & failed to increase royal power
• Suffered from disease which made him appear mad
• Viewed as tyrant by American colonists

British policy toward colonies

• Philosophy of mercantilism: colonies exist to provide cheap raw materials and markets for mother country
• British Navigation Acts regulated trade & led to smuggling
• Seven Years’ War left Britain with large debts
• Britain tried to pay part of costs of war by taxing colonies
• British taxes provoked American colonies to revolution
• Boston Tea Party, 1773, protested British tax on tea
• Battle of Lexington, 1775: war began when British troops tried to confiscate American arms
• American Declaration of Independence, 1776
• Battle of Saratoga, 1777, led to French alliance with Americans
• Battle of Yorktown, 1781: last battle of war

Adam Smith, 1723-1790

• Founder of modern economics
• Wrote The Wealth of Nations, 1776
• Opposed English mercantile theory
• Advocated free trade & economic liberalism
• Government must preserve law & order, enforce justice, defend nation, & provide a few social needs
• “Hands off” policy toward business
• Foundation for modern capitalism & free markets

Thomas Malthus, 1766-1834

• English economist
• 1798: Essay on the Principle of Population
• Influenced Darwin’s ideas on evolution and survival of the fittest
• Population increases faster than food supplies
• Wars & disease will kill off extra population unless people limited number of their children
• Predictions failed to come true
• Improved methods of agriculture provided food for increased population
• Neo-Malthusians in 20^th century revived ideas on population to promote birth control
• Ideas still very controversial

William Pitt the Younger, 1759-1806

• Son of William Pitt the Elder
• Youngest Prime Minister at age 24
• Greatest challenge: French Revolution & rise of Napoleon Bonaparte

French Revolution, 1789-1799

• Economic crisis from Seven Years’ War & War of American Revolution
• Paris mob inspired by democratic ideals, liberty & equality
• Soon degenerated into mob rule & tyranny
• Executed king & queen
• Thousands more executed in Reign of Terror
• 1793: France at war with England & other nations

Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821

• Military genius
• Promoted to general in 1793
• Seized power 1799
• Soon at war with most of Europe
• 1804 crowned himself Emperor of France
• Won many battles
• Controlled most of Europe by 1812
• 1812: forced to retreat from Moscow with great loss

Horatio Nelson

• Destroyed Napoleon’s navy at Trafalgar, 1805
• Gave Britain control of seas & saved England from invasion
• Napoleon’s response: Berlin & Milan Decrees closed Europe to British trade
• British response to Napoleon: blockade of Europe (provoked war with America)

War of 1812: Britain vs. United States

• Main causes: interference with U.S. neutrality & shipping rights & kidnapping of U.S. seamen
• Napoleonic War far more important to Britain
• Final American victory at New Orleans 3 weeks after war ended by treaty
• Led to spirit of American nationalism & pride in having defeated Britain twice (but Americans overlook French aid in Revolution & British preoccupation with Napoleon in 1812)

Troubles in Ireland

• Irish hated English rule & oppression
• 1798: rebellion in Ireland
• British response: Act of Union, 1801
• Ireland joined with Great Britain to form United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
• Ended Irish Parliament & put British Parliament in control of all British Isles
• But Roman Catholics still forbidden to hold office or serve in Parliament until 1829

Retreat from Moscow, 1812: great French disaster & beginning of the end

Arthur Wellesley, 1^st Duke of Wellington

• Britain’s great general of Napoleonic Wars
• Led Peninsular Campaign in Spain
• Led Britain in final victory at Waterloo, 1815
• Wellington beat Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium
• Prussian army arrived at end of day to finish off remainder of Napoleon’s army
• Napoleon spent rest of life in exile on island prison
• Congress of Vienna, 1815: created “Concert of Europe” & began 99 years without a general war

Results of war

• After 20 years of war, Britain emerged as strongest, richest, & most powerful country in world
• But in 1815 Britain seemed on edge of bankruptcy & social revolution
• Starvation drove poor to destroy machines which they viewed as cause of their misery
• Government responded with brutal repression
• Britain in 1815: fear, envy, greed, and little hope for most British people

Lecture 11: Great Britain in the Nineteenth Century

King George IV, 1820-1830

• Regent for father George III, 1811-1820
• Disgraceful private life
• Had no part in reforms of era
• Artistic taste: persuaded government to buy paintings which became National Gallery
• Commissioned many beautiful buildings

King William IV, 1830-1837

• Son of George III who succeeded brother
• Three of England’s greatest reforms passed during his reign
• He & brother brought much discredit to British Monarchy

Queen Victoria, 1837-1901

• Succeeded uncle who died without heirs
• 63-year reign longest in English history
• Britain reached height of power during her reign
• Colonial empire & industrial expansion
• Reign called Victorian Age
• Restored prestige of Monarchy after reigns of two irresponsible kings
• Hard-working queen concerned with welfare of her people – gained their affection & admiration
• Britain became richest nation in world & controlled largest empire in history
• British Empire controlled ¼ of world’s land & people
• Wise & capable monarch
• Accepted change from active rule to symbolic rule
• Probably reason British monarchy has survived while most other monarchies have not
• Married cousin, Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 1840
• 4 sons & 5 daughters
• Prince loved & respected by people
• Assisted wife
• Albert died 1861
• Victoria never recovered from her loss – dressed in black for many years
• Example of polite society
• Emphasis on high morality
• Strong family values
• Era of imperialism

Industrial Revolution

• Cotton mills & textile industry
• Coal mines
• Blast furnaces & iron & steel industry
• Railways began in 1830
• Canals
• Roads
• Machine tools: machines which make other machines

Contradictions in Victorian England

• Great wealth
• Harsh labor  & inhuman exploitation
• World supremacy
• Appalling slum conditions & immense human misery
• Ideal of political democracy & universal happiness
• Reality of economic distress & oppression
• But many saw these problems & sought to fix them through peaceful means

Era of Reform

• Dissenters & Roman Catholics granted political equality by stages throughout 19^th century
• Slavery outlawed throughout British Empire, 1833
• Local government overhauled and made more responsible to people
• New police force created to replace military
• Free trade thought led to economic growth
• Brutal prison conditions & harsh punishments for minor crimes corrected in 1820s
• Some 220 offenses punishable by death – many ended
• 1824: Parliament removed laws forbidding workers to form trade unions
• 1833 Factory Act said no child under 9 could work in factory; no child under 18 could work more than 12 hours a day
• Parliamentary reform greatest issue

Reform Bill of 1832

• Lowered property qualifications so most of middle class could vote
• But only 5% of people could vote because working class ignored
• Provided model for later reforms

Chartist Movement: early1800s

• First Nationwide working class movement
• The People’s Charter of 1838 demanded:
• 1. Votes for all males
• 2. Secret ballot
• 3. No property qualifications for members of Parliament
• 4. Salaries for members of Parliament
• 5. Annual elections
• 6. Equal electoral districts
• Movement did not achieve these goals, but all except #5 were later adopted
• But Chartist meetings frequently provoked confrontation & violence

Results of 19^th century reforms

• Beginnings of modern forms of:
• Representative parliamentary government
• Party system
• Cabinet system
• Ministerial political responsibility
• Permanent civil service
• Reforms were devised to reconcile theory of “sovereignty of parliament” with movements demanding “sovereignty of people”

Opium War 1839-1842

• Britain sent Macartney diplomatic mission to China, 1793
• Dismissed as barbarians bearing tribute
• Second mission of Amherst likewise dismissed; British insulted
• Britain wanted Chinese products, especially tea
• China didn’t need British products
• Opium from British India reversed the flow of silver
• Chinese Emperor tried to end opium trade & resulting destruction of millions of lives
• British refused to deliver opium until factory besieged
• British assumed confiscated opium would be back on the market
• Chinese destroyed opium before the eyes of the foreigners

British technological superiority

• Great Britain was the first nation to benefit from the Industrial Revolution
• British Empire was the result of Industrial Revolution
• British victory in China in 1842 was due to Britain’s technological superiority resulting from the Industrial Revolution
• Second Opium War fought in part over insult to British flag

Crimean War, 1853-1856, fought to prevent Russian expansion in Black Sea

Britain, France, Ottoman Empire, & Sardinia fought Russia

Crimean War result of religious, commercial, & strategic rivalries

Florence Nightingale

• Born into wealthy family
• Studied medicine to help the sick & needy
• Took over nursing care in Crimea
• Cleaned up filthy conditions & saved countless lives
• Founder of modern nursing profession

Charles Darwin, 1809-1882

• British naturalist who developed theory of evolution based on natural selection
• Theory sometimes called survival of the fittest
• Learned theory from grandfather Erasmus Darwin
• The Origin of Species, published 1859, shocked people who believed God created the world
• Major controversy in religion & science
• Survival of fittest applied to human endeavors
• Led to theories of racial superiority – some races more highly evolved than others
• Used to justify imperialism & colonialism
• Used in 20^th century as justification for genocide (by Hitler, for example)

Colonialism

• Colonies seen as proof of national greatness
• Source of raw materials
• Market for manufactured goods
• Africa chief attraction
• Also interest in Far East & Pacific islands as naval outposts
• Africa became focus for European imperialism
• All African nations except Liberia & Abyssinia dominated by a European power
• Britain controlled East Africa from Capetown to Cairo

William Gladstone, 1809-1898

• Served 4 terms as Prime Minister & leader of Liberal Party
• Lowered income taxes & import duties
• Fought to end abuses in Ireland
• Preferred conciliation to war
• 1884 Reform Bill brought GB closer to universal manhood suffrage

Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881

• First person of Jewish ancestry to serve as British Prime Minister
• Conservative leader
• Aggressive foreign policy
• Purchased Suez Canal as link to empire in India
• Worked to improve working & living conditions

Boer War, 1899-1902: British imperialists arrive after discovery of gold

• Nearly all other nations condemned British war against Boer farmers
• Only United States supported Britain
• Many British also opposed war
• Forced British to reconsider policy of “splendid isolation” and consider world public opinion
• British alliance with Japan was one result
• British formed entente with France shortly afterward

Britain in the 19^th Century

• Prolonged industrial revolution
• Producer of cheap manufactured goods
• Moderate & gradual political reforms
• Model of constitutional government
• Controlled largest world empire in history

Britain’s accomplishments in the 19^th century

• Abolished or diminished evils of:
• Slavery
• Ruthless exploitation of workers
• Poverty & destitution
• Disease & epidemics
• Bigotry & ignorance

Britain’s liabilities in the 19^th century

• Continued squalor of mining & industrial cities
• Rural poverty
• Menace of mass unemployment
• Fear of economic crisis
• Threat of modern, scientific war

End of Victorian Era

• 1815-1914: 99 years with no general European war
• People optimistically believed they were in new era of peace
• Britain had solved peacefully problems which had led to violence, revolution, & war in other countries
• European nations formed rival alliances
• Competition for resources and colonies created tension
• Events moved European nations to brink of war

Lecture 12: Great Britain in the 20^th century

King Edward VII, 1901-1910, House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

• Represented his mother in public during her widowhood
• Patron of arts & sciences & sportsman
• Great interest in foreign affairs – visits brought great goodwill to India, Ireland, & Russia

King George V, 1910-1936, House of Windsor

• Naval vice admiral 1903
• Courageous leadership during WWI made him very popular
• Conscientious attention to his duties
• Devoted much time to strengthening ties with vast empire
• 1917 adopted House & Family name of Windsor

British Advances in Science

• Nuclear physics: J.J. Thomson revealed structure of the atom
• Ernest Rutherford’s research into radio-activity revolutionized understanding of matter
• Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge laid foundation of modern nuclear physics

World War I, 1914-1918: political & economic rivalry

Central Powers

• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Ottoman Empire (Turkey)

Allied Powers

• Britain
• France
• Italy
• Russia (until 1917)
• United States (beginning 1917)
• Japan
• China & others

• British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, August, 1914, when Britain declared war on Germany:
• “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”

Costs of the Great War

• 1915: 300,000 British casualties in France
• July 1, 1916, beginning of Somme Offensive cost Britain 60,000 casualties (20,000 killed)
• Offensive lasted five months
• 400,000 British, 200,000 French, and 500,000 German casualties
• Passchendaele, 1917: British gained 8 km at cost of 400,000 men
• Before 1917 one French soldier was killed on average every minute
• Total dead from British Empire: almost 1 million (744,000 from United Kingdom)
• Total wounded: nearly 3 million
• Total shipping sunk: 6 million tons & loss of 40% of merchant fleet
• Taxes, loans, indebtedness to U.S., etc.
• Debased moral standards: poison gas & hate propaganda – victory at all costs

Battle of Jutland, 1916

• Largest battleship battle in history
• Minor German tactical success
• Major British strategic victory
• Germany changed strategy
• Turned to unrestricted submarine warfare

Lusitania: sinking by German U-boat angered neutral U.S.

Over 1000 passengers died; over 100 were Americans

But the British used the ship to smuggle weapons

America began to favor Allies after sinking of Lusitania

American army turned tide of battle

Treaty of Versailles ended war

May 4, 1919: Versailles Treaty Announced in China

• Shandong Peninsula to Japan because of secret treaty
• May 4 Movement began in China
• Birth of CPC
• Disillusionment with Western Democracies

Versailles Treaty

• Established League of Nations
• Gave Britain control over German colonies in Africa & Ottoman possessions in Middle East
• Forced Germany to accept all guilt for war
• Forced Germany to pay huge reparations
• Led to great disillusionment with treaty & results of war
• Laid foundation for rise of Adolf Hitler
• Failure of Versailles directly led to World War II

Results of war

• Massive loss of life: nearly 750,000 British soldiers & sailors died
• End of 4 European monarchies & ruling families
• Destruction of 4 empires:

• • Germany
  • Austria-Hungary
  • Ottoman Turkey
  • Russia

• Two of Britain’s best customers before war – Germany & Russia – could no longer afford British products
• U.S. & Japan took away much of Britain’s export business
• Economic depression follows

Irish Question

• 1919: Irish leaders declared Ireland independent
• Bloodshed followed
• 1921: southern Ireland becomes British dominion, the Irish Free State – independent but officially loyal to British crown
• Total independence by 1937
• Protestant Northern Ireland remained part of United Kingdom

New (mostly American) Technology changes the World

• Internal combustion engine made possible motor cars & airplanes
• Motion picture industry
• Radio
• New industries transform the culture

Roaring 20’s: social rebellion, escapism, & cult of self-indulgence

Rise of Labour Party

• New socialist party rose as alternative to Liberal & Conservative Parties
• Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, elected 1920s
• Depression created coalition of all 3 parties to deal with emergency
• Government raised taxes, abandoned free trade, & cut its own spending
• But it had little impact on ending Depression

King Edward VIII, 1936

• Oldest son of George V
• Widely travelled
• Great concern for underprivileged & working class
• Gave up throne to marry American divorcee
• Spent rest of life as Duke of Windsor

King George VI, 1936-1952

• Became king after brother abdicated
• Popular king with modest personality
• Shared dangers & hardships with people during WWII
• Empire began to die out during his reign
• Beginnings of socialism & welfare state

Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945

• Austrian art student who served heroically in World War I
• Hated Jews and Treaty of Versailles
• Founded NSDAP or Nazi Party
• Wrote Mein Kampf while in prison for treason
• Brutal German dictator

Benito Mussolini, 1883-1945

• Founder Fascist Party
• Ruled Italy 21 years
• Took title Il Duce (The Leader)
• Inspiration to Adolf Hitler

Tojo Hideki, 1884-1948

• Japanese Army general who helped provoke Manchurian Incident of 1931
• Encouraged assassination of Japanese civilian leaders
• Promoted war with U.S.
• Led Japan during WWII
• Hanged in 1948

Munich Conference: policy of appeasement encouraged Hitler

Hitler took Sudetenland, all of Czechoslovakia, then attacked Poland

British Army failed to prevent fall of France

Blitzkrieg (“Lightning War”) conquered most of Europe

Hitler planned to invade Britain

Germans bombed London for months while RAF rebuilt

Winston Churchill, 1874-1965

• Prime Minister, 1940-1945 & 1951-1955
• “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”
• Defied Nazis and gave courage to British people

Atlantic Conference: Germany first target; then Japan

Rommel in Africa beaten by British & American armies

Hitler’s attack on Russia major German blunder

Germans won quick victories at first

Germans began policy of genocide in Russia

Dresden: Bombing campaign targeted German cities

U.S. led invasion of Normandy, D-Day, June 6, 1944

German General Jodl signs surrender, May, 1945

Yalta Conference: Russia agreed to enter war against Japan

Atomic bombing of Hiroshima led to Japanese surrender

Nagasaki was destroyed 3 days later

The Holocaust: German genocide against Jews

Results of World War II

• End of British Empire
• End of colonialism around the world
• Labour government came to power in landslide victory
• Created Welfare State & Socialism
• Labour policies led to “British Disease”
• Labour policies ended by reforms of Margaret Thatcher, 1980s

The Welfare State

• Social security system expanded to care for people “from the cradle to the grave”
• Nationalized many industries: put private industry under state control
• Nationalized industries: Bank of England, coal mines, iron & steel industry, railways & trucking, airlines & aircraft manufacturers, & automobile industry
• Welfare State brought steep rise in crime
• Conditions failed to improve until socialism ended in 1980s

Sir Winston Churchill warned of growing Communist danger

• Beginning of Cold War
• “A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory…. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

Queen Elizabeth II, 1952-

• Became heir apparent at age 10 when father became King George VI
• Married Prince Philip of Greece
• Son Charles, born 1948, is still Prince of Wales
• End of British Empire during her reign
• Rise and fall of Labour Party socialism & welfare state
• But queen largely a ceremonial figure with no real political power

Margaret Thatcher, 1979-1991

• Conservative leader
• First woman Prime Minister, 1979-1991
• Held office longer than any other PM of 20^th century
• Replaced socialism & welfare state with market economy & privatization

Tony Blair & Gordon Brown

Britain Today

• Barriers between social classes greatly reduced
• Leaders no longer drawn from nobility
• Every P.M. since 1964 middle or lower class origin
• Protestant-Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland serious until recent years
• 1982 war with Argentina over Falkland Islands
• Scotland & Wales given own parliaments in 1997
• Once the world’s richest & most powerful nation with the largest empire in history
• No longer a world superpower
• Remains an important political & economic power & a leader in the European Union
• But changes within are transforming Britain into an entirely new nation