I have enjoyed history for much of my life. Particularly when such profound consequences occur on the actions of one individual or act. From watching the Netflix miniseries The Crown and knowing that Edward VIII was a Nazi sympathizer, I have suggested that Wallis Simpson, the woman who he chose over being King, was just as important as Winston Churchill in saving Britain during those dark days.
After Dunkirk, Churchill was under tremendous pressure to seek an accommodation with Hitler. Could he have persevered with a King also urging him to seek that accommodation?
Similarly, how one act can have such profound consequences has amazed me. Surely the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand which was the fuse that plunged much of the world into “The Great War” fits that category. We are still living through the change that war brought – from the introduction of communism to redrawing the face of Europe, to Empires lost.
I remember during the early 70s, when I was in the Army stationed in Germany, I went to Vienna. It was such an eerie feeling, knowing that the population a third less than 1900, when it was the capital of 100 million people. Now it is the capital of tiny Austria. It was a strange feeling, walking around The Ring, and seeing these half-empty palaces.
So, yesterday I was reading my Wall Street Journal and their op-ed page had the money quote in regards to the falling of Syria’s Assad regime.
“…The October 7 Hamas massacre is turning out to be the miscalculation of the ages, leading to defeats of Mideast mayhem…”
Russia, who was close to Syria since the 1960s, was depleted and drained from their fighting in the Ukraine. They were unable to come to his aid when this rebel group achieved in 11 days what couldn’t be done in the last 13 years.
HAMAS and Hezbollah are, if not decimated, down on the canvas for the count. Israel has destroyed most of their leadership and stored munitions.
It remains to be seen if Russia can keep their port at Tartous which allowed them to project their power over the Mediterranean.
Iran is weakened, Syria’s future is at this time in flux, HAMAS and Hezbollah are severely weakened.
The leader of Syria’s rebels, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, was affiliated with al-Qaeda in years past, but he claims to have left that behind.
Time will tell.
We are certainly living in “interesting times”.
I was in Vienna a little while back and my impression was that it was a “hallowed out” city, once a capital of a great European empire now shrunk. I was in Bratislava later in the week ( a city I enjoyed though not as much as Prague) and when I mentioned it, one of the locals said the city was a great museum for tourists, international orgs, and secret negotiations but that’s about it
The Prater is alot of fun though, especially on a nice weekend afternoon for people watching