History

Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday

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zweig World of Yesterday

I asked for one thing for Christmas, Stefan Zweig’s book The World of Yesterday. Jacques Barzun, in his book From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present spoke highly of the Zweig book, and I have wanted to read it ever since reading Barzun. My wife got the Zweig book for me, and I finished it this morning. It is the first book I finished in 2010, and the bar has been set very high for the rest of the year. It is one of the best books I have ever read.

Zweig tells his life story, growing up in an intellectual Jewish milieu in Vienna before World War I, in a golden age of peace and freedom (as only became clear after it was gone), becoming a successful writer and friend of many famous people, the ensuing destruction of European civilization in World War I and its aftermath, and ultimately his flight from Austria to escape the Nazis. He committed suicide in Brazil in 1942. He mailed this book to his publisher the day before he died.

This book now holds a noble place beside Joseph Roth’s The Radetzky March and Gregor von Rezzori’s The Snows of Yesteryear as depictions of the final years of Austria Hungary, and the cosmopolitan, open, secure, lawful and liberal European world order which ended in 1914 and has never returned.

The Human Face of War

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The Human Face of War by Dr. Jim Storr

An important new book on military theory and history by British defense expert Dr. Jim Storr, a retired Lt. Colonel, King’s Regiment and an instructor at the UK Defence Academy, was reviewed in Joint Forces Quarterly ( hat tip Wilf Owen) by Col. Clinton J. Acker III:

The Human Face of War

….Surveying an array of disciplines including history, psychology, systems theory, complexity theory and philosophy, Storr (a former British officer) looks at what a theory of combat should include, then provides one. He goes on to apply that theory to the design of organizations, staffs, leadership, information management and the creation of cohesion in units. In doing so, he takes on many currently popular theories such as Effects-Based Operations, the observe-orient-decide-act loop, the use of postmodern theory and language.

….Storr’s position is best summed up with this passage:”Critically, military theory should not be a case of ‘this is the right course of action’ but rather ‘doing this will probably have beneficial outcome’

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Afghanistan: 1897

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… a continual state of feud and strife prevails throughout the land. Tribe wars with tribe. The people of one valley fight with those of the next. To the quarrels of communities are added the combats of individuals. Khan assails khan, each supported by his retainers. Every tribesman has a blood feud with his neighbor. Every man’s hand is against the other, and all against the stranger.
 
Nor are these struggles conducted with the weapons which usually belong to the races of such development. To the ferocity of the Zulu are added the craft of the Redskin and the marksmanship of the Boer. The world is presented with that grim spectacle, “the strength of civilization without its mercy.” At a thousand yards the traveller falls wounded by the well-aimed bullet of a breech-loading rifle. His assailant, approaching, hacks him to death with the ferocity of a South-Sea Islander. The weapons of the nineteenth century are in the hands of the savages of the Stone Age.
 
Every influence, every motive, that provokes the spirit of murder among men, impels these mountaineers to deeds of treachery and violence. The strong aboriginal propensity to kill, inherent in all human beings, has in these valleys been preserved in unexampled strength and vigour. That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword — the tenets and principles of which are instinct with incentives to slaughter and which in three continents has produced fighting breeds of men — stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism. The love of plunder,always a characteristic of hill tribes, is fostered by the spectacle of opulence and luxury which, to their eyes, the cities and plains of the south display. A code of honour not less punctilious than that of old Spain, is supported by vendettas as implacable as those of Corsica.

Winston Churchill, The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War (1898)

Happy Isoroku Yamamoto Appreciation Day

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America’s desultory participation in WWII began on December 2, 1941 when Imperial Japanese forces attacked the Dutch East Indies in order to seize vitally needed oil, tin and rubber resources. The Dutch could put up only a token resistance with five cruisers against Japanese battleships and aircraft carriers.

Throughout the operation, the Japanese were scrupulous to avoid harming any British or American interest. Nevertheless, the British felt forced to defend the interest of the Dutch government in exile and declared war on Japan on December 28th 1941. There quickly followed the loss of the battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales and the fall of Singapore.

FDR did not wish war with Japan because he was focused on the threat of Fascism in Europe. American public opinion remained stubbornly isolationist until February 14th 1942 when the American cruiser Indianapolis was torpedoed by an unknown submarine with substantial loss of life. Using the incident, FDR narrowly won a declaration of war against the Empire of Japan on March 7th 1942. Many have since argued that FDR hoped that Hitler might follow through on his Tripartite treaty obligation and declare war on the U.S but Hitler never rose to the bait.

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Great Demos of All Time

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Product demonstrations can sometimes be useful in convincing prospective customers that your product is a Good Thing, or in convincing prospective investors that your company represents a substantial opportunity. (Although many demos are so badly executed that they do more harm than good.)

In business history, there are a few examples of demos that stand out for their dramatic nature and their impact. Here are the ones that come to mind:

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