The Brutal Hun.

This is coolbert:

With regard to the atrocity links from my recent blog entry, let me ask you this?

Why such a widespread occurrence of atrocities in World War Two [WW2], BUT NOT in World War One [WW1]?

Am I imagining things, or was this sort of thing, the atrocity, NOT prevalent in WW1?

Why did “things” in WW2 get so far out of hand?

I know that there WERE atrocity stories that were in circulation during WW1. Widely believed, but for the most part NOT TRUE.

These were the “stories” of the BRUTAL HUN!! The German bad guy acting “true to his basic nature”.

“Stories” such as: [“stories” in the sense of a novel - - fiction.]

* The rape of English nurses.

[rape in particular really has a strong emotional effect upon an intended target audience. Good propaganda always should include rape stories.]

* The crucifixion of Canadian soldiers.

* The use of Belgian babies for bayonet practice. [toss the little baby into the air, stick him with the bayonet on the way down!!]

Those DAMNED GERMANS!!

In the aftermath of the war, most if not all of the most lurid “atrocity” stories WERE found to be fiction. The BRUTAL HUN was found NOT to be so brutal. At least in WW1.

I am sure that there WERE acts committed in WW1 that could be classified as atrocities. Barbara Tuchman in her book, “The Guns of August”, describes the deliberate arson to the library at Leuven, Belgium. Burned down by the German in retaliation for the killings of German soldiers by franc-de-tieurs [irregulars]. This particular library was a repository for many of the original works from the masters of the renaissance.

"The Francs-tireurs partisans (FTP, 'Partisan irregular riflemen')"

[there seems to be something in the nature of the German military [not necessarily confined to them?] that detest with a particular hatred the franc-de-tieurs. The irregular combatant. The guerrilla, the insurgent, the terrorist, etc. The "Hun" reacts in a disproportionate manner when confronted with the actions of the irregular!]

The burning of libraries does resonate as the act of the BARBARIAN!! The BARBARIAN attacking the civilized and destroying something that he, the BARBARIAN, cannot understand or appreciate, or even WANTS to!!

Such was the case when the Mongol under Hulagu burned the libraries of Baghdad in 1258. The Mongol took a particular relish in destroying all the books they could find, destruction for the sheer sake of destruction, and done with GLEE!! Such relates the Arab who chronicled the events that transpired.

"The Mongols . . . conquered Baghdad in the 13th century. At that time, Baghdad was a center of learning and culture with 36 public libraries. The Mongols eagerly sacked them, ripping the leather covers from books to resole their shoes, burning manuscripts, and dumping thousands of volumes into the Tigris River. According to contemporary accounts, the water ran black with the ink."

So too the burning of the great library in Alexandria, Egypt by the Romans under Julius Caesar can also be considered to be an act of BARBARISM. This act of the SAVAGE, while not perhaps intentional, still did occur. The destruction of this library was a calamity. The single largest depository of ancient works of literature, history, science, in the world, at the time. When we speak of the ancients, we are talking about people that were ancient in the time of Caesar!!!

"It has been estimated that at one time the Library of Alexandria held over half a million documents from Assyria, Greece, Persia, Egypt, India and many other nations. Over 100 scholars lived at the Museum full time to perform research, write, lecture or translate and copy documents."

[among the works lost in the great library at Alexandria were the history of the world, from 40,000 B.C. to present [present in this case was just prior to the birth of JESUS!!], by Berossus.]

And let us not forget in the year 2003:

"So yesterday was the burning of books. First came the looters, then the arsonists. It was the final chapter in the sacking of Baghdad. The National Library and Archives ?a priceless treasure of Ottoman historical documents, including the old royal archives of Iraq ? were turned to ashes in 3,000 degrees of heat. Then the library of Korans at the Ministry of Religious Endowment was set ablaze."

[Let me make it perfectly clear. It was the Iraqi, the Iraqi, the Iraqi themselves that did the damage. THEY ALONE, acting with malice aforethought and total reckless disregard, did all the damage. Foolish, ignorant, hate filled Iraqi vandals and looters and NO OTHER! DO NOT BLAME the American forces!!]

Atrocity in WW1? Yes, must have occurred. But compared to WW2, a nothing?

[go here and see a very fine Masters degree paper by Penelope Hamblin on the historical burning of libraries in war time.]

coolbert.