A Day In HistoryIt's impossible to imagine, but take a second and think about this: during WWII, there was a camp in
the former Yugoslavia that a Holocaust survivor and historian called “worse than even Auschwitz” in
terms of brutality, and about which the Nazis pushed for the camp leadership to be changed due to its
very public and savage daily routine. It might surprise you, but the Germans did not run this
extermination camp, and it was the third-largest concentration camp in Europe during the war in terms
of area.
After World War 1, a new country was created from many of the territories of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire and the country of Serbia. This was Yugoslavia, “the land of the South Slavs.” Included within
the new nation were Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, North Macedonians, Albanians, and
Bosnian Muslims. There were also smaller numbers of other ethnic groups living within Yugoslavia,
including Jewish and Roma people.
At various times throughout the centuries, the different ethnic groups of the region had been at each
others' throats. This was especially true of the two largest groups, the Croats and the Serbs. One of the
many problems between the many groups in Yugoslavia was that for centuries, they had been
dominated and ruled by other nations, kingdoms, and people, most notably the Turks beginning in the
late 1400s and the Austro-Hungarians starting in the early 1700s when they began to slowly push the
Ottoman Turks out of the northern parts of the region.
As you may know, since the beginning of time, conquerors have used the “divide and conquer” policy
to keep their subject people weak and more focused on one another than on their common enemy. This
was the case with both the Turks and the Austro-Hungarians. Making matters even more interesting
was that many people in Bosnia converted to Islam throughout the centuries of Turkish rule.
Genetically, these people are mostly Serbs and Croats, but in the centuries since the Turks, they have
developed their own culture, and obviously, their religion differs from those around them.
From the 15th century to the 20th, foreign rulers pitted the various people of the lands of the former
Yugoslavia against each other to help maintain their own position.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.com
The Concentration Camp That Scared Even The Nazis: Jasenovac Concentration CampA Day In History2023-11-08 | It's impossible to imagine, but take a second and think about this: during WWII, there was a camp in
the former Yugoslavia that a Holocaust survivor and historian called “worse than even Auschwitz” in
terms of brutality, and about which the Nazis pushed for the camp leadership to be changed due to its
very public and savage daily routine. It might surprise you, but the Germans did not run this
extermination camp, and it was the third-largest concentration camp in Europe during the war in terms
of area.
After World War 1, a new country was created from many of the territories of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire and the country of Serbia. This was Yugoslavia, “the land of the South Slavs.” Included within
the new nation were Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, North Macedonians, Albanians, and
Bosnian Muslims. There were also smaller numbers of other ethnic groups living within Yugoslavia,
including Jewish and Roma people.
At various times throughout the centuries, the different ethnic groups of the region had been at each
others' throats. This was especially true of the two largest groups, the Croats and the Serbs. One of the
many problems between the many groups in Yugoslavia was that for centuries, they had been
dominated and ruled by other nations, kingdoms, and people, most notably the Turks beginning in the
late 1400s and the Austro-Hungarians starting in the early 1700s when they began to slowly push the
Ottoman Turks out of the northern parts of the region.
As you may know, since the beginning of time, conquerors have used the “divide and conquer” policy
to keep their subject people weak and more focused on one another than on their common enemy. This
was the case with both the Turks and the Austro-Hungarians. Making matters even more interesting
was that many people in Bosnia converted to Islam throughout the centuries of Turkish rule.
Genetically, these people are mostly Serbs and Croats, but in the centuries since the Turks, they have
developed their own culture, and obviously, their religion differs from those around them.
From the 15th century to the 20th, foreign rulers pitted the various people of the lands of the former
Yugoslavia against each other to help maintain their own position.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comUkraine’s Darkest Secret: The Holocaust They Don’t Teach You In SchoolsA Day In History2024-10-14 | Among the many things that the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine did was bring two groups of people together who, nearly 80 years before, had been at each other's throats - literally. Today, Poland and Ukraine are close allies, and Poland has supplied Ukraine with billions of dollars of supplies, equipment, and weapons to help it fight off Putin's invasion.
There are very few people alive who experienced the events we're going to tell you about today, but if they were, they would likely be shocked that Poland and Ukraine are so close. What's more, they would be amazed that though it took 80 years to happen, the President of Ukraine recognized that during the last half of WWII and for a time after the was over, his Ukrainian countrymen ran amok through the northwestern part of the country and parts of southeastern Poland trying to exterminate every ethnic Pole living in what they believed should be part of a Ukrainian state – made up of Ukrainians – only.
No country lost a higher percentage of its population in WWII than Poland. Nearly 1 in 5 Poles lost their lives during the war, including ethnic Poles, Polish Jews, and others. Almost six million Poles lost their lives during the war out of a pre-war population of 34 million. When you then consider the number of people sent to the Nazi death camps during the war, approximately 10-12 million people were killed in Poland from 1939-45. Poland is about the size of New Mexico, and it became a graveyard.Unfortunately for Poland, its geographic location has put it in the path of many other nations, kings and empires. To the north is Sweden, which occupied large swathes of northern Poland for many years in the 17th and 18th centuries. To the west is Germany, and before 1871, the most powerful German kingdom, Prussia. To the south were the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian empires, and to the east – the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union – which sometimes included the territory of today's Ukraine.From 1772 to 1918, Poland's territory was divided between Prussia/Germany, Austria, and Russia. When World War One ended, the Poles, aided by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, won their independence. In the southeastern region of Eastern Galicia, a large part of the population was ethnic Ukrainian. In the province just to the north, known as Volhynia in English and "Volyn'sko" in Ukrainian and Polish, a slight majority of the people were ethnic Ukrainians. Before the Holocaust, about 30% of the people in Volhynia were Jews. Most of the rest were Poles, along with some Roma and a small ethnic group called the Lemko.Until WWII, most Poles and Ukrainians in Volhynia got along. So many ethnicities had lived, shared, and governed the region for so long that a sense of shared history and interdependence had developed, making the outbreak of violence all the more shocking and tragic.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe US Government Hid This About The Iraq War (Warning* Mature Audiences Only)A Day In History2024-10-06 | On March 19th 2003, US forces led an invasion of Iraq to topple the brutal dictator Saddam Hussein. The list of monstrous things Saddam had done was long, and allegations that he had new chemical weapons offered easy justification of America’s intervention. Saddam’s regime fell within a month, but a stubborn insurgency soon erupted that made the US extend its occupation of the country for another 8 long years. Throughout the invasion and occupation, the US would rack up its own list of abuses, crimes, and massacres to rival Saddam’s and which continue to haunt the US and Iraq to this day.
Join us as we explore the intricate and controversial events of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. This video delves into the historical backdrop, key events, and the ongoing impact of the conflict on both American and Iraqi communities.
Overview of the Iraq Invasion:
On March 19, 2003, the United States, along with its allies, launched a military invasion intended to dismantle the regime of Saddam Hussein, a dictator accused of numerous human rights abuses and of harboring weapons of mass destruction. While the initial objective to topple Saddam was achieved swiftly, the aftermath unfolded into a prolonged and challenging occupation, leading to significant repercussions.
1. **Historical Context**: We set the stage by examining the background and motivations behind the invasion, including geopolitical factors and international perspectives on Iraq's governance.
2. **Military Strategy and Challenges**: Gain insights into the military techniques employed, including precision bombing and the challenges faced with time-sensitive targets, which aimed to minimize civilian casualties but often faced critical scrutiny.
3. **Impact on Civilians**: The collateral impact on Iraq’s civilians, including unintended casualties and the humanitarian crisis that ensued, highlighting stories of survival, loss, and resilience.
4. **Long-term Repercussions**: Explore the enduring effects of the occupation on Iraq's sociopolitical landscape and the legacy of the invasion in U.S. foreign policy.
5. **Controversies and Public Perception**: Analyze the controversies surrounding intelligence reports, military strategies, and differing narratives between U.S. and Iraqi accounts of key incidents.:
We welcome you to share your thoughts and insights in the comments section. Please subscribe for more videos that provide thoughtful analysis on global historical events and their contemporary relevance.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comDisclosing NATOs Atrocities In YugoslaviaA Day In History2024-10-01 | When people think of the Balkans, stability and harmonious ethnic relations aren’t the first things that come to mind. A typical example of this was the conflict between the Serbs of Yugoslavia and the ethnically Albanian population of Kosovo which ignited into war in the late 1990s. This war would be different though when NATO forces stepped in to wield its aerial superiority against the accused war crimes of Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslav regime.
Today on A Day in History, we’re going to look at the NATO bombings in Yugoslavia, how those bombs ended up falling on trains, apartments, and embassies, and the questions it raised about the moral position of NATO in a post-Cold War world.
But before we do that, be sure to leave a like if you enjoy and subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one.
Context
Yugoslavia was a post-WW2 Communist state in the Balkans. Its original incarnation broke up in 1992 leaving Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Vojvodina to form the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This new nation was dominated by Serbia and led by a Serbian Communist Slobodan Milosevic.
This being the Balkans, ethnic tensions were high. The previous century and a half had been filled with reciprocal violence and massacres between Serbs and Albanians that made victims and perpetrators out of both sides. Serbs considered Kosovo to be an ancestral piece of their homeland, while the Kosovar Albanians favored independence.
Milosevic’s government enacted discriminatory and repressive policies against Albanians in Kosovo hoping to undermine any independence movement and drive them out of the region. In response, a Kosovar separatist militia called the Kosovo Liberation Army emerged in the mid-90s and by 1998 was in open conflict with Yugoslav government forces. This fighting escalated to include massacres, mass deportations, and burning of entire villages by the Yugoslav government.
The rest of the world watched on in horror, especially NATO who were seeing an ethnic cleansing unfolding before their eyes on the very doorstep of some of its member states. Political and popular pressure for them to intervene was mounting. NATO spearheaded talks in late 1998 and early 1999 to try to get Milosevic to pull back, but Milosevic merely used the talks as a delaying tactic as his forces continued their brutal campaign.
By late March though, it was obvious that diplomacy had failed. On March 23rd, NATO forces in Europe were given the go ahead to begin military operations to stop Milosevic’s attacks and halt the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo.
Operation Allied Force Begins
Operation Allied Force was launched on March 24th using NATO forces based mostly out of Italy. A wave of cruise missiles opened the attack, targeting major airfields and knocking out the power grid for Kosovo’s capital of Pristina. Planes began their attacks the following day hitting a number of specific military targets across Serbia and Kosovo. Serbian defenses struggled to eliminate any NATO attackers while NATO aircraft successfully shot down several Serbian fighters who attempted to engage them.
NATO was confident in its own technological superiority. The Serbian air force and surface-to-air defenses were decades out of date and badly outnumbered - an estimated 238 Serbian combat aircraft were up against over 1,000 NATO aircraft involved over the operation, which included the formidable F-117 Nighthawk stealth bombers and the new B2 Spirit bombers which would see their first combat use in the skies over Serbia.
#nato #yugoslavia #history
Sources: Alastair Finlan, The Collapse of Yugoslavia, (2004)
Benjamin S. Lambeth, NATO’s Air War for Kosovo: A Strategic and Operational Assessment, (2001)
Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Review the NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, United Nations International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia, (2000)
Michael Parenti, To Kill A Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia, (2001)
Stephen Hosmer, The Conflict Over Kosovo: Why Milosevic Decided to Settle When He Did, (2001)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comExposing Soviet Unions War Crimes In Afghanistan *WARNING Mature Audiences OnlyA Day In History2024-09-22 | ‘The Graveyard of Empires.’ This is a nickname given to Afghanistan for the failures of so many imperial powers to succeed there. The Soviet Union was no different.
Between 1979 and 1989, the Soviet Union sent hundreds of thousands of men to crush Islamist and anti-Communist forces of the Mujahideen. Unpopular, unproductive, and unspeakably brutal, the Soviet occupation was despised by the Afghans, condemned by the global community, and helped to bring about the ultimate collapse of the USSR.
Today on A Day In History, we look at the awful things the Soviets did in Afghanistan and the terrible costs the Afghan people paid for their government’s alliance with the declining superpower.
If this is interesting to you, consider leaving a like on the video, and subscribing to our channel for more videos like this one.
Soviet Invasion
As a staunchly neutral country, Afghanistan had enjoyed the benefits of both US and Soviet friendship for most of the Cold War. This ended in April 1978, when Communist revolutionaries led by Nur Mohammad Taraki overthrew the government and placed themselves firmly in the Soviet camp. Taraki’s brutal reign was short-lived and he was ousted in another coup the following year, this time by his own Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin.
Both regimes shared Communist ideals and were deeply unpopular with the Afghan people. Afghan society was still deeply religious and tribal, at least in rural areas, while Communism was favoured among the urbanites and the political, military, or academic elite. This tension soon spilled over into violence as radical Islamist groups emerged, consciouso f the threat that atheistic Communist rule posed to their religious way of life. By 1979, Afghanistan was gripped by civil strife with whole areas of the country declaring themselves for the rebel factions collectively dubbed the Mujahideen.
For the USSR, this unrest didn’t just threaten a potential allied regime, it challenged the presumptions of Soviet foreign policy. For decades, the Communists had assumed that, once Communism gained a foothold somewhere, it would never fall. Afghanistan shattered that illusion, rallying the common people of the country against Communist rule.
Eager to suppress this unrest, the Soviets intervened to support the regimes. In March 1978, anti-Communist demonstrations erupted in Herat. Even the local soldiers defected to the rebels. The Afghan government turned to the Soviets for support, who responded with characteristic brutality: they sent bombers to put down the rebels, killing 5,000 people. It was an outrage for the Afghan people and only fuelled further unrest, with more military units revolting against the government through 1978 and 79. The following April, Soviet helicopters had a similar brutal response to the rebellious village of Kerala, which claimed another 1,000 lives.
By the end of 1979, Moscow decided they needed a firmer hand. On December 24th, paratroopers dropped into Afghanistan and occupied key strategic points. The Afghan government believed they were here to help, but got a nasty surprise on December 27th when Spetsnaz forces stormed the President’s palace in Kabul, killed President Amin, and appointed the puppet Babrak Karmal in his place.
This began a nearly decade-long Soviet presence in the country, facing down the coalition of Islamist Afghan rebels calling themselves the Mujahideen. Cold War politics meant that the USA and its allies were quick to fund the Mujahideen in a proxy war against the Soviets.
#sovietunion #sovietafghanwar #sovietunionhistory
Sources: Gregory Feifer, The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan, (2009)
Gregory Fremont-Barnes, The Soviet-Afghan War 1979-89, (2012)
Lester W. Garu, The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan, (1996)
Mohammed Hassan Kakar, Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion and the Afghan Response, 1979-1982, (1995)
Rodric Braithwaite, Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89, (2011)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comHistory’s Darkest Rituals: What Really Happened to Inca ChildrenA Day In History2024-09-19 | In 1999 archaeologists in Argentina came across an impressive and shocking finding. At an altitude of 6739m, high on the peaks of the Andes, there lay buried three children, four, six, and 15 years old. They died around 1500, at the high point of the Inca Empire, then the largest empire in the Americas and one of the largest in the world. Due to the extreme altitude, and the cold and dry climate, the children’s bodies were perfectly preserved even after 500 years, making them some of the best-preserved mummies in the world. More than 100 such bizarre burial sites have been found. But… what happened to these children and how did they end up there? Today, in A Day in History, we explore the ritual of Capacocha, a religious sacrifice that claimed the lives of young boys and girls from all around the Inca Empire: a story of pain and death accompanied by religious fervor and the ruthless need to establish imperial authority over vast territories and populations.
Who were the Incas? The Inca Empire is best known today because of its rapid decline and extinction after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. It is associated with gold, civil strife, and the amazing Machu Picchu. The history of the Incas, however, started long before the Europeans set their foot on the newly discovered shores of the Americas. The Incas were the last of a series of pristine civilizations in the Andes that developed independently from other civilizations, even those in Mesoamerica. The first Inca King lived in the 13th century and ruled a kingdom around the capital city of Cusco. This small kingdom grew steadily over the next two centuries and in 1438 King Pachacuti founded the Realm of the Four Parts. He and his successors managed within a few decades to unite the Andean region under one rule. As its name indicates, the kingdom had a central government in the capital Cusco, and four provincial governments, the Four Parts. Following a long tradition of trade and administrative connections, the Inca state was highly centralized and controlled its territory effectively through laws, military and administrative presence, and a complex extensive road system covering thousands of kilometers that allowed easy communication between the different territories. This was indeed vital, as the empire was vast: almost two million square kilometers covering large areas of what is today Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Religion played a crucial role in Incan culture and was deeply intertwined with the state. The first Incan King, Manco Capac, was considered the son of the Sun god, Inti. The Incas sought to integrate newly acquired territories through cultural and religious assimilation, promoting the Sun god, Inti, as a superior deity. Alongside Inti, they also revered the Creator god Viracocha, the Thunder god Illapa, and the Moon goddess Mama Killa. As part of this process, which held both religious and civil importance, the Incas built more than a hundred ceremonial sites from 1470 until the Spanish conquest in 1532.
#incas #history #aztecempire #theinca
Sources: Andrushko, Valerie A.; Buzon, Michele R.; Gibaja, Arminda M.; McEwan, Gordon F.; Simonetti, Antonio; Creaser, Robert A. (February 2011), "Investigating a child sacrifice event from the Inca heartland", Journal of Archaeological Science. 38 (2): 323–333. Besom, Thomas (2009), Of Summits and Sacrifice: An Ethnohistoric Study of Inka Religious Practices, University of Texas Press. Faux, Jennifer (2012), "Hail the Conquering Gods: Ritual Sacrifice of Children in Inca Society", Journal of Contemporary Anthropology, 3: 15. Molina, Cristóbal de; Bauer, Brian S.; Smith-Oka, Vania (2011), Account of the Fables and Rites of the Incas (Reprinted ed.). University of Texas Press. Reinhard, Johan; Ceruti, Constanza (June 2005), "Sacred Mountains, Ceremonial Sites, and Human Sacrifice Among the Incas", Archaeoastronomy, 19: 1–43 Socha, Dagmara M.; Reinhard, Johan; Chávez Perea, Ruddy (2020-12-11), "Inca Human Sacrifices on Misti Volcano (Peru)", Latin American Antiquity. 32 (1): 138–153.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comNazi Experiments SO EVIL They Hid Them From HistoryA Day In History2024-09-14 | Get the “big picture” with Ground News. Go to https://ground.news/adayinhistory and subscribe for 40% off their unlimited access Vantage plan this month only.
The Nazis are today justifiably regarded as the epitome of evil. Their policies, their ideology, the way they conducted war and occupation, and, most notably, the Holocaust are all proof of the criminal genocidal character of their regime It is, however, a common misconception that all this murderous sadism was part of one master plan of destruction. The reality is, as usual, more complicated. Today, on A Day in History, we explore some of the lesser-known horrendous programs born from the Nazis' sick imagination. Through these programs, we'll also glimpse the evolution of their killing frenzy as World War II unfolded..
Nazi policies before and after WWII In most stories about Nazi Germany, we are used to viewing the rise and fall of Hitler and his followers as a comprehensive continuum: the rise to power, the repression of political opponents, the anti-Jewish measures, and the reversal of the Versailles obligations all led to the invasion of Poland and the murderous chaos of the world war. While this narrative is enlightening, it obscures the important fact that the Nazi policies acquired qualitatively AND quantitatively very different features after the autumn of 1939. This was because, starting in 1939 and until at least 1942, the Nazi policies had to be implemented on vast new territories and populations. For instance, the Jews in Germany numbered less than half a million when the Nazis took power in 1933 and were, as known, subjected to extremely racial yet non-murderous policies until 1939. When 3.500.000 more Polish Jews fell into the Nazis’ hands in 1939, however, these same policies no longer applied and were quickly transformed into genocidal. The new realities that the war in the East after 1941 also necessitated new practical policies that did not always align well with the stubbornly inflexible Nazi ideology. Nonetheless, the Nazis did attempt to balance their hateful ideas with the practical need to win the war. Here are six programs they implemented to achieve this balance in their own inhumane way.
Arad Yitzhak (1987/1999), Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press. Beer Matthias (1987), „Die Entwicklung der Gaswagen beim Mord an den Juden" Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 37 (3), pp. 403-417. (English Translation: https://pages.ucsd.edu/~lzamosc/chelm10.htm) Browning Christopher (1992), Ordinary Men: Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, HarperCollins. Browning Christopher (2004), The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942, University of Nebraska Press. Helm Sarah (2015), If This Is A Woman: Inside Ravensbruck: Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women, Little, Brown. Spector Shmuel (1990), "Aktion 1005—effacing the murder of millions", Oxford Journals, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 5 (2), pp. 157–173.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comExposing The Dark American History Of EugenicsA Day In History2024-08-30 | When the Nazis designed their eugenics program to sterilize and abort those they deemed inferior or undesirable, they looked to one nation as their example: the United States of America.
For decades, the United States was a world leader in applying eugenics to its own population. Politicians passed laws to prevent entire races from entering the country, universities taught their students the benefits of selective human breeding, and activists were hailed as heroes for calling for the sterilization of the poor, sick, and mentally ill.
Today on A Day In History, we’ll look at the rise of the eugenics movement in the US, what it believed, who promoted it, and the consequences that so many innocent people suffered before it was wiped away.
The Ideology of Eugenics
Eugenics, meaning ‘good genes’, was a movement that hoped to improve the genetic health of humanity by promoting the breeding of good or desirable people while limiting or preventing that of undesirables.
It is a scientific fact that genes can influence physical health and that certain conditions can be passed between parent and child. However, genetics was still in its infancy when eugenics emerged, and many false beliefs became embedded in the movement. Behavioral genetics, a field coined by Francis Galton in the 1880s, believed that a range of behaviors including criminality and alcoholism were also genetic, and this became accepted wisdom among eugenicists. A number of other negative traits, such as mental health issues, were also attributed to bad genes.
Galton was actually a cousin of Charles Darwin and the eugenicists were quick to apply Darwin’s evolutionary theory and survival of the fittest idea to humanity. Eugenicists believed that society should ‘weed out’ the sick, ill, poor, and those deemed ‘inferior’ and try to ensure only those with good genes reproduced.
Inevitably, eugenics became deeply associated with racism. From the outset, Galton and early eugenicists assumed the innate superiority of Northern Europeans. Those of Nordic, Germanic, or Anlgo-Saxon heritage were believed to be genetically superior in terms of intelligence, morality, and physical prowess, with other races spread out on a scale far below them. It followed that breeding between the superior races and the inferior ones was to be avoided, that superior races should be encouraged to breed among themselves as much as possible, and that the inferior races have their numbers limited as much as possible.
Not all eugenics was race-based. Black eugenicists rejected the racist conclusion of some eugenicists but still targeted the physically, mentally, and morally unfit within the Black community. This included Thomas Wyatt Turner, the first Black American to receive a PHd, and W. E. B. Du Bois, one of the greatest intellectuals of his day, who famously argued that, quote, “only fit blacks should procreate to eradicate the race's heritage of moral iniquity.”
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comJoseph Kony | Africas MOST Twisted WarlordA Day In History2024-08-19 | Lets look into the harrowing history of Joseph Kony, the infamous leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), in this comprehensive YouTube video. Discover the chilling realities of his brutal regime, characterized by heinous crimes against humanity, including forced labor, and widespread violence. This insightful video explores the impact of Kony's terror on thousands of innocent people, detailing the international efforts to capture him and bring justice to the victims. Gain a deeper understanding of the geopolitical and social factors that allowed his reign of terror to persist for decades. Join us in raising awareness and sharing this crucial narrative as we seek to educate and inspire action against global injustices. Perfect for students, educators, and anyone interested in human rights and modern history, this video is a crucial resource for those looking to understand one of Africa's most notorious warlords.
During the Ugandan Civil War, which is usually called "The Ugandan Bush War," the Acholi people of central northern Uganda suffered greatly. The Acholi live not only in northern Uganda but also in the southern tip of South Sudan, which, until 2011, was part of Sudan. Like many other tribes in the area, the Acholi aspired and still aspire to a greater degree of autonomy within Uganda, something Museveni strongly opposes.
It was that way during the Ugandan Bush War as well, and Museveni's forces committed countless atrocities in their attempts to suppress the Acholi people and culture. One of the early leaders of the Acholi in the Bush War was Alice Auma, who became the leader of the "Holy Spirit Movement" and believed herself to be a channel for a deceased army officer called Lakwena - "The Messenger." The Holy Spirit Movement was defeated in 1987, and Auma went into exile in Kenya, where she died in a refugee camp having been, as she claimed, "abandoned by Lakwena" or the spirits in general. She was also implicated in the trafficking of children and claimed to have found a cure for HIV/AIDs, which ravaged Uganda for many years and, to a large extent, still does.
Enter Joseph Kony, who claimed to be Alice Auma's cousin and like her, claimed to have supernatural powers and the ability to speak with and for the dead. And God. He talked to God – which is doubtful because the voice he was hearing was telling him, among other things, to kidnap and use children for cannon fodder and abuse.
Uganda is one of the most solidly Christian countries in sub-Saharan Africa. About 85% of the country is one form of Christian or another, but in some cases, that Christian belief is mixed with indigenous beliefs about spirits and magic. Both male and female shamans are still respected throughout Uganda, especially outside the cities.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comTamil Tigers: Historys MOST Dangerous MilitantsA Day In History2024-08-09 | What happens when a terrorist group becomes a better military force than the army? That was the horrifying reality faced by Sri Lanka as it contended with the legendary Tamil Tigers. The Tigers were prolific assassins and bombers, but at their height they commanded whole districts, a navy, and even an air force which allowed them to conquer military bases and even fend off India’s military might.
Today on A Day In History, we look at the history of the Tamil Tigers, what made them so powerful and so feared, and how they were finally defeated.
Rise of the Tigers
Two ethnic groups dominate Sri Lanka: the Sinhalaese in the South, and the Tamils to the north. After decolonisation, the Sinhalaese dominated Sri Lankan politics and society which resulted in discrimination and inequality for the Tamils. Ethnic tensions flared, which the Sri Lankan government made worse by trying to stamp out Tamil art, language, and culture, and even forcing Tamils to swear an oath of allegiance denouncing Tamil identity.
Unsurprisingly, Tamil separatism grew and soon militant groups emerged fighting for that cause. In 1976, Velupillai Prabhakaran founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - better known as the Tamil Tigers - and quickly supplanted the rival groups to become the dominant Tamil-separatist militant organization.
The Tigers were potentially linked to several small attacks and low-level political assassinations in the 1970s. In 1977, they were probably responsible for the assassination of a Tamil MP, but it wasn’t until July 1983 that the Tigers made a deadly entry onto the center stage.
On July 23rd 1983, Prabhakaran and a group of Tigers ambushed the Sri Lankan army patrol 4-4-Bravo outside of the town of Tirunelveli. 13 soldiers were gunned down and the Tigers slipped away. The blatant attack triggered an angry response with trucks of Sri Lankan soldiers riding into Tirunelveli and attacking the Tamil residents there, killing around 60 people. The anger spread throughout Sri Lanka leading to ethnic riots that killed at least another 300 Tamils in what became known as Black July.
Both sides took the events of Black July as just cause to step up attacks against each other. Thus began the First Eelam War (Eelam being the Tamil name for Sri Lanka).
The brutal treatment of the Tamil minority earned the Tigers a great amount of international sympathy at the start. India with its large Tamil population was an obvious source of support. As well as donations from sympathetic Indians, the Indian government even trained some Tamil fighters in the 1980s to help their fight. The Tamils also enjoyed support from the global Tamil diaspora, mainly in Canada, Australia, and Britain, who donated money and curried support for the Tigers in the Western world.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comMarocchinate: The Darkest Event of WWII *WARNING Mature Audiences OnlyA Day In History2024-08-05 | Today, we are going to tell you about a horrific event – the "Marocchinate" - or "The deeds of the Moroccans." Those "deeds" were r@pe and murder on a mass scale – mostly r@pe What might be even more shocking for people is that the Moroccans were part of the Allied armies moving up the Italian Peninsula in 1944.
Background
In the spring of 1944, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers were slowly advancing up the Italian peninsula toward Rome. In September 1943, the Allies crossed the Straits of Messina from recently conquered Sicily to mainland Italy. In the far south of the country, it was mostly British and British Imperial troops doing the fighting. To the north, mainly American forces landed at Salerno, some 140 miles south of Rome. The intention was to catch German troops in a trap from north and south, forcing their surrender. Another aspect of the plan was to capture Rome, one of the capital cities of the "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis," an enemy the Allies had been fighting since 1939.
Shortly after the Allied landings in their country, the king and the politicians around him made secret overtures to the Allies. They would overthrow and detain Mussolini and make peace in the hope of sparing their country the destruction they knew would come. That's exactly what happened. Mussolini was taken to a deserted hotel in the mountains, and King Victor Emanuel III and his closest adviser, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, formed a new government.
There were Algerians, Moroccans, and Tunisians, countries that today are considered "Arab." They speak forms of Arabic, write Arabic, and are overwhelmingly Muslim. However, among the North African troops, an outsized percentage were Berbers. The Berbers are the indigenous people of North-West Africa, having lived there far longer than the Arabs who arrived in the mid to late 7th and early 8th centuries, bringing the new religion of Islam. Today, being "Berber" or at least counted as Berber by the government is difficult because of urbanization and intermingling in these countries. Berber traditions, customs, and languages differ from region to region. Still, it's estimated that half or over half of Morocco today is Berber, between 15-40% of Algeria, and about 10% of the population of Tunisia.
Most Berbers are Muslims, though there are Berber Christians and a small number of Berber Jews. The culture also includes long, age-old traditions that bear some similarities to the belief systems of tribal people around the world.
"Violentata a 27 Anni Viene Risarcita Quando Ne Ha Quasi 100." Corriere Della Sera. Accessed July 3, 2024. https://www.corriere.it/cronache/15_settembre_23/violentata-27-anni-viene-risarcita-quando-ne-ha-quasi-100-0852be0c-61ba-11e5-a22c-898dd609436f.shtml.
"«Elle Avait 17 ans Et Elle a été Violée Par 40 soldats»." Libération. Last modified May 15, 2015. https://www.liberation.fr/societe/2015/05/15/elle-avait-17-ans-et-elle-a-ete-violee-par-40-soldats_1310075/.
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Step back in time with "A Day in History" as we explore harrowing moments from three different continents and centuries where civilizations faced unimaginable horrors. Imagine 1519 Mexico, where the Spanish expedition led by Hernán Cortés clashed violently with the magnificent Aztec Empire, leaving Tenochtitlan a wasteland of ruins and corpses. Fast forward to Uganda in 1892, witness a brutal civil war in the kingdom of Buganda instigated by European colonial powers, shattering what was once seen as a paradise. Finally, we confront the grim realities of 1945 Germany, where Allied forces uncovered the unspeakable atrocities of the Holocaust in Nazi concentration camps. Join us as we delve into stories of betrayal, rage, vengeance, and sorrow that military personnel across history could never forget. Subscribe now and witness the poignant histories that shaped our world.
Key Topics: - **Mexico 1519:** The Spanish-Aztec conflict and its devastating aftermath. - **Uganda 1892:** Colonial warfare and civil strife in the Buganda Kingdom. - **Germany 1945:** Liberation of Nazi concentration camps and the Holocaust horrors.
Explore these chilling narratives that remind us of humanity's darkest hours and the resilience of the human spirit. Don't miss out—hit subscribe and never miss an episode of "A Day in
#aztec #holocaust #nazi #ww2 #history
Sources: Cocker Mar, Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold: Europe’s Conflict with Tribal Peoples, Jonathan Cape 1998. Friedländer Saul, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945, HarperCollins 2007. Goodell, Stephen, Mahoney A. Kevin; Milton Sybil, 1945: The Year of Liberation, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum 1995 Holocaust Encyclopedia, “Liberation of Nazi Camps”, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/liberation-of-nazi-camps Pakenham Thomas, The Scramble for Africa, Abacus 1991.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Azov Battalion: Ukraines Neo-Nazi Brigade?A Day In History2024-07-10 | Denazification.’ Ever since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this word has been repeated endlessly in Russian propaganda as the central goal of the ‘Special Military Operation.’
It sounds absurd - Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy is a Jew and Nazism is seemingly nowhere to be seen in Ukrainian government, politics, or society - but Putin’s crusade against Nazism rests upon the continued existence of a tiny section of the Ukrainian military known as the Azov Regiment.
One glance at their history makes it obvious why they earned the label: a militia formed by radical fascists and white-supremacists, operating under Nazi symbols, and credibly accused of abuses and outrages upon civilians and captives.
But what is the truth behind Azov? How did it go from extremist militia to an official part of the Ukrainian military? And does it represent the rise of Nazism in Ukraine?
Today on A Day In History, we’ll explore the history of the Azov Regiments, its origins, foundation, military role, and transformation into the force currently fighting in Ukraine today. If that sounds interesting to you, then feel free to leave a like on this video and check out our other content for more insightful historical topics.
The Origins of Azov
To understand Azov, we must begin with Ukraine’s wider far-right movement.
Like any nation, Ukrainian nationalism can attract extremist elements. In the early 2000s, this was represented by groups such as the Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU) and its splinter group Patriot of Ukraine (PU). Some of these groups espoused fascist and pro-Nazi views, invoked Naiz symbols, and made heroes out of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators. Andriy Biletsky, who was a prominent leader in the PU, allegedly declared that Ukraine’s national mission should be to, “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade...against Semite-led Untermenschen.”
#azovbattalion #ukraine #history #ukrainevsrussia
Sources:
Alasdair McCallum, ‘Much Azov about nothing: How the ‘Ukrainian neo-Nazis’ canard fooled the world’, Monash University, 19th August 2022, https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2022/08/19/1384992/much-azov-about-nothing-how-the-ukrainian-neo-nazis-canard-fooled-the-world
Andres Umland, ‘Irregular Militias and Radical Nationalism in Post-Euromaydan Ukraine: The Prehistory and Emergence of the “Azov” Battalion in 2014’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 31, (2019)
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine 16 February to 15 May 2016’, (2016)
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine 16 November 2015 to 15 February 2016’, (2016)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Darkest Side Of Hezbollah: Freedom Fighters Or Militants?A Day In History2024-06-30 | Get the “big picture” with Ground News. Go to https://ground.news/adayinhistory and subscribe for 40% off their unlimited access Vantage plan this month only.
What makes a terrorist? Where is the line between terrorist and freedom fighter? These are the questions that surround Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group. Denounced as a terrorist organisation by dozens of nations from Saudi Arabia to the USA, its reputation for bombings, hijackings, and kidnappings has stood for decades. However, its defenders like Iran, Syria, and Russia insist that Hezbollah are freedom fighters opposing the intervention of imperialist foreign powers like Israel and the USA.
So what is Hezbollah? Where did it come from? What does it want? And what has it done to deserve a terrorist label? Today on A Day In History, we explore the rise and reputation of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. If you enjoy it, don’t forget to leave a like to show your support and subscribe for more videos like this one.
Origins of Hezbollah
The story of Hezbollah begins with the Shia Muslim minority of Lebanon.
Until recently, Lebanon was a Christian majority nation with smaller Sunni and Shia minorities. The Shia have historically been the smaller group with high levels of economic inequality and low levels of political representation or power. They traditionally inhabited Southern Lebanon and the Northern Bekaa Valley, placing them near the border with Israel after 1948.
Unresolved religious conflict in Lebanon led to a civil war between the Lebanese government and several rival factions in 1975 that stretched on for the next 15 years. With Christians, Shias, and Sunnis taking up arms in a multi-factional struggle, backed by various foreign powers including Iran, Syria, and the US, it was one of the most complex conflicts of the 20th century. The chaos allowed Palestinian militants of the PLO, displaced from Palestine itself, to set themselves up in Southern Lebanon. The influence of these Islamist militants would encourage the Shia of the area to pursue their own militant course.
Things were further complicated by two major developments. First, the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1978-9 triggered a wave of revolutionary Islamic fervour across the Shia world. The new Iranian regime was eager to support like minded groups and threw its backing and resources into Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups. Second, Israel’s 1982 invasion of Southern Lebanon in response to attacks launched by Palestinian militants unified Muslims in the region against it.
Hezbollah’s exact origins in this chaos are unclear. It has no single founding date but scholars suggest it emerged no earlier than 1982. Other scholars insist that the elements that made up Hezbollah can’t be called a unified organisation before 1985 or so. However, modern Hezbollah is certainly descended from the tapestry of Shia militant groups that emerged in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion, and we’ll be taking that earlier date for our video.
#hezbollah #history #israelvshezbollah
Sources Augustus Richard Norton, Hezbollah: A Short History, (2007)
Aurelie Daher, Hezbollah: Mobilization and Power, (2019)
Joshua L. Glies and Benedetta Berti, Hezbollah and Hamas: A Comparative Study, (2012)
Michael J. Totten, The Road to Fatima Gate: The Beirut Spring, the Rise of Hezbollah, and the Iranian War Against Israel, (2011)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comBritish Empires MOST Shocking Historical Event (*Warning Mature Audiences Only)A Day In History2024-06-25 | Use our code adayinhistory at the link incogni.com/adayinhistory to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.
Today 6.000 to 23.000 people identify themselves as Tasmanians. Their history goes a long way back and is quite unique. The first people arrived in Tasmania, a peninsula of Australia back then, 40.000 years ago. The region became an island around 6000 years ago and was cut off from the Australian mainland. This resulted in the Tasmanian people becoming completely isolated from the rest of the world for nearly 8.000 years, until the arrival of the Europeans. While the first contact of the Palawa, as they named themselves, with European explorers took place in the 17th century, it was only in 1803 with the first arrival of British colonists that it became permanent. Back then it was estimated that around 3.000 to 15.000 Palawa lived and prospered in this rich island. In 1855 their number was 14.
While pre-colonial populations such as the Australian and Tasmanian Aborigines are many times regarded as homogeneous and are presented in popular culture as uncivilized - people of the Stone Age in many cases - the Palawa actually had developed an advanced society and an excellent relationship with their environment. When the British arrived, there were nine separate nations and at least 48 clans living in Tasmania, having a complex relationship with their country. They had developed agriculture that secured them a rich diet, they demarcated their territories, had clear social hierarchies, and a sophisticated net of tribal relations. It is, of course, difficult to know specifics because all of these functioning communal units were destroyed by the British.
Sources: Ferguson, Niall, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, Basic Books 2002. Lawson, Tom, The Last Man: A British Genocide in Tasmania, I.B. Tauris 2014. Madley Benjamin, “Tactics of Nineteenth-Century Colonial Massacre: Tasmania, California and Beyond”, in: Philip G. Dwyer, Lyndall Ryan (eds.), Theatres of Violence; Massacre, Mass Killing and Atrocity throughout History, Berghahn 2012. Madley Benjamin, “From Terror to Genocide: Britain’s Tasmanian Penal Colony and Australia’s History Wars”, Journal of British Studies, 47:1 (January 2008), 77–106. Ryan Lyndall, ‘Abduction and Multiple Killings of Aborigines in Tasmania: 1804–1835’, Yale Genocide Studies Program Working Paper no.35 (2007). UN corrects 40-year error claiming Tasmanian Aboriginal extinction, News.com.au, https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/un-corrects-40year-error-claiming-tasmanian-aboriginal-extinction/news-story/a4756b1d5bd30e1e7dfed6007763d0b5, 29.08.2023. Unesco removes ‘hurtful’ document claiming Tasmanian Aboriginal people ‘extinct’, The Guardian, 28.08.2023 theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/28/unesco-removes-hurtful-document-claiming-tasmanian-aboriginal-people-extinct http://static.tmag.tas.gov.au/tayenebe/makers/Trucanini/index.html
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comExposing JFK’s REAL Killer: The Final TruthA Day In History2024-06-17 | Check out WORLD OF WARSHIPS and claim your FREE REWARDS from the link below, and don't forget to use code DDAY80TH: wo.ws/3KrqSp9
Perhaps no event in history has inspired as many alternative theories as the assassination of John F Kennedy. With literally thousands of books on the topic, each with their own interpretation of every detail, every member of the crowd, every frame of the infamous Zapruder film, sorting out the truth from the lies has consumed people’s lives for decades.
Today on A Day In History, we’re going to delve into the JFK assassination. We’ll present the official version, then highlight the discrepancies in the story, present alternative theories for some of the major disagreements, and tell you who we think really killed JFK in Dallas that day.
Don’t forget to leave a like on this video, subscribe to our channel, and check out our other videos for more on CIA secrets, government plots, and other controversial historical events.
We’ll start with the official version proposed by the Warren Commission.
President Kennedy was in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd 1963 riding in an open-top vehicle with First Lady Jackie Kennedy beside him and Texas Governor John Connelly and his wife Nellie in the front.
At 12:30pm, the motorcade turned left from Houston Street onto Elm Street on Dealey Plaza, passing the Texas School Book Depository on the right. Shortly after doing so, 3 shots rang out, fired by Marine veteran and former Soviet defector Lee Harvey Oswald from the 6th floor of the Depository. One of those bullets struck Kennedy in the back and then went into Governor Donnelly Another bullet then struck the President in the head causing catastrophic and fatal damage.
Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital where he was declared dead shortly after. His body was taken back to Washington along with new President Lyndon Johnson and Jackie Kennedy for an autopsy at Bethesda Naval Medical Centre which confirmed that two shots hit him, the second fatally.
Meanwhile back in Dallas, Oswald fled the Depository, returned home to grab a pistol before being spotted by Police Officer J. D. Tippit who had been given a description of Oswald from the scene. Oswald shot Tippit and then hid in a movie theatre where he was found and arrested by police. Two days later, on November 24th, Oswald was assassinated in turn by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby as he was being moved through the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters.
Since then there have been literally thousands of books, articles, documentaries, and more arguing other theories for the assassination, but this basic narrative is a good starting point.
#johnfkennedy #jfk #jfkassasination #history
Sources: Dennis McFadden, ‘Why Did the Earwitnesses to the John F. Kennedy Assassination Not Agree About the Location of the Gunman?’, Frontiers in Psychology, (2021)
Gaeton Fonzi, The Last Investigation: What Insiders Know About the Assassination of JFK, (1993)
Gerald Posner, Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, (1993)
J. Edgar Hoover, Reaction of Soviet and Communist Party Officials to JFK Assassination, 1st December 1963
James W. Douglas, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, (2010)
Jim Marrs, Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy, (1990)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comIndias Most Chilling Historical Event: The Kashmir ExodusA Day In History2024-06-11 | For centuries, Kashmir was home to Muslims and Hindus alike. Despite religious differences, historic discrimination, and episodes of violence, members of both faiths shared a common land, language, and culture there. This common identity, known as Kashmiriyat, united Kashmir’s residents with a sense of community and loyalty.
In 1989, this unity was shattered with the outbreak of an insurgency that rages to this day. A wave of monstrous killings and brutal repression created the conditions for a massive exodus of nearly all of Kashmir’s Hindus.
Today on A Day In History, we’ll discover what led to this mass movement of people. We’ll see how the Kashmir Valley unravelled and descended into violence, how public lynchings and sexual violence become the norm, and why this exodus of over 100,000 people is so easily forgotten. If that sounds interesting to you, then remember to leave a like on this video and subscribe to our channel for more interesting historical topics.
Kashmir
When India and Pakistan gained independence in August 1947, the fate of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir was undecided. Kashmir’s Muslim majority were inclined to Pakistan but the Hindu authorities leaned towards India. A Muslim rebellion broke out with assistance from Pakistan, prompting the Maharaja to ask for Indian intervention in exchange for joining India. The First Kashmir War set the tone for Indo-Pakistani relations and when it ended in January 1949, it left Kashmir divided between the two nations.
The majority of Kashmir remained Muslim under Indian rule, but within this new democratic structure they were able to wield power instead of the Hindu minority. Muslims dominated politics, economics, and society in post-1947 Kashmir while Hindus faced mounting discrimination. Hindus had their land taken and redistributed, were denied promotions and jobs, and had little in the way of political power. Meanwhile, Kashmir’s Muslims were partial towards Pakistan which led to tension with Indian authorities and security forces, who reacted harshly to any whispers of Kashmiri separatism and passed oppressive laws to counter it.
In time, Islamic militancy grew in the valley.. The Jamaat-e-Islami group worked its influence through schools, mosques, and political activism to encourage separatist and anti-India feeling in Kashmir. Meanwhile Pakistan was eager to support this - after all, India had helped Bangladesh break away in 1971 and it was eager to repay the favor by splitting off a piece of India. Pakistan began funding and arming militant groups in Kashmir and encouraging violence, most notably the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
#indianhistory #kashmirexodus #indvspak #history
Sources: Shalha Hussain, Kashmir in the Aftermath of Partition, (2021)
Jammu Kashmir Sahayata Samiti, Genocide of Hindus in Kashmir, (1991)
Colonel Tej K. Tikoo, Kashmir: Its Aborigines and Their Exodus, (2013)
Sumatra Bose, Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict, (2021)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comHue Massacre: The Vietnam War Event Deleted From HistoryA Day In History2024-05-30 | Get the “big picture” with Ground News. Go to https://ground.news/adayinhistory and subscribe for 40% off their unlimited access Vantage plan this month only.
Hue' Vietnam: 1968 - The Viet Cong went from house to house, building to building, looking for anyone on their lists. The lists contained the names of actual and suspected "enemies of the people of Vietnam." When the people on the lists were found, many were forced to their knees and shot in the back of the neck – at least during the first hours of the attack. Others, including the secretaries and custodial staff at newspapers, were rounded up and taken to different locations throughout the city – temporary captives. As soon as their captors had gotten together and worked out what to do with them, they were told they would be moved to a location inland and be " e-educated." The "lucky" ones were taken to different Viet Cong camps and some even to camps in the North, but most were told lies, taken to a wooded or isolated place within the city, and clubbed to death. Some were buried alive. Most foreigners, meaning white people, who were caught were also shot. This included reporters, clerks, and minor foreign government officials. When the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were defeated after 26 days of the heaviest fighting of the Vietnam War, they left behind nearly 6,000 victims – men, women, and children, who had been killed as "enemies of the people."
On January 31st, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army, the "VA," and its communist South Vietnamese allies, the Viet Cong, or "C," launched the Tet Offensive, a massive attack on South Vietnamese cities, US and South Vietnamese military bases, and political centers, and much more. The now famous attack began as Vietnam was starting the New Year'sHoliday, or " et," and was planned intentionally for that day when the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese believed the people of the south, along with their armed forces and those of the Americans, to be least expecting an attack, let alone one which took place throughout the country simultaneously.
One of the main targets of the VC and the NVA was Hue, one of the oldest and most important cities in South Vietnam. From 1307 to 1905, the city on the Perfume River was the Vietnamese imperial capital. Even after the capital status was removed when the French took over the country in the early 20th century, Hue continued to play an important symbolic role for the Vietnamese people and a reminder of its former independence.
In 1945, after the Japanese in Vietnam surrendered, North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh made Hue the capital of Vietnam again but was forced out when the French returned in force shortly after that. In 1968, Hue was a small city of about 140,000 people. Compared to the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, nearly 400 miles south, Hue was, and still is, a calm and dignified symbol of former greatness. In 1968, the United States would be 192 years old. Hue had been the capital of Vietnam for 400 years before the United States had become a country.
"Massacre at Hue - North Vietnamese Communist Crime Against Its Own People." Vietnam, Colonel NGO THE LINH, Special Forces Commander, Director of Strategic Technical Directorate (STD) Viet Nam Cong Hoa. Accessed February 6, 2024. ngothelinh.tripod.com/Hue.html.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Darkest Side Of American Soldiers In WWII FranceA Day In History2024-05-23 | On the morning of September 1, 1939, the world was suddenly ripped apart at the seams. With little warning and no provocation, the German military launched a full-scale invasion of Poland. Unleashing a new tactic known as blitzkrieg or “lightning war”, the Nazi forces hit the unsuspecting Polish defenders like a freight train. Dive bombers screamed, tanks unleashed furious salvos, and highly mobile infantry troops swarmed across the border on motorcycles. Within days, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany, finally accepting the size of Adolf Hitler’s ambitions. The people of Poland defended their homes for over a month, but eventually the Polish army was beaten into submission.
The winter of 1939 and 1940 saw a lull in the fighting, but when spring arrived the Germans unleashed another offensive, this time against the Low Countries and France. Outmaneuvered and still weary from the First World War, the French found themselves between a hammer and an anvil. Forcing their way through a gap in the allied defenses, German armored divisions plowed into the French countryside. By June of 1940, they were at the outskirts of Paris. Though some French soldiers managed to escape with their British allies during the evacuation of Dunkirk, the majority of them were forced to surrender. Within six weeks, France had fallen to the German troops. For the next four years, the people of France lived under the boot of Nazi oppression. Though Nazi forces were slowly pushed back by Russian armies in the East and cornered by British and American troops in Africa and southern Europe, France remained fully under German occupation until June 6, 1944: D Day. The allied troops that landed on the beaches of Normandy (and later in Southern France) began the violent struggle that was the liberation of France. Social memory remembers the American troops who mad up the bulk of this counter invasion as heroes; history, on the other hand, paints a different picture. In this video, we will examine the crimes committed by American GIs against the French population during WWII, and the response of the US military command to these crimes. This video is not intended to dismiss the valor shown by the allied soldiers that fought to liberate France, but rather to serve as a reminder that in war, no side is free of crimes and abuses.
#ww2 #frenchliberation #americaww2
Sources: “R@pe By American Soldiers in WWII France,” New York Times Von Rohr, Matthieu, “The Dark Side of GIs in Liberated France,” Spiegel International Kehoe, James & Thomas, “Crimes Committed by U.S. Soldiers in Europe, 1945-1946,” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 47, 2016. Roberts, Mary Louise, What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in WWII France.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comDisclosing USAs Warcrimes In Iraq’s Desert StormA Day In History2024-04-30 | Get the “big picture” with Ground News. Go to https://ground.news/adayinhistory and subscribe for 40% off their unlimited access Vantage plan this month only.
When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, global condemnation and sanctions followed, but when those failed to stop the Iraqi dictator in his tracks, a US led coalition launched Operation Desert Storm to stop his invasion by force.
For 6 weeks between January 17th and February 28th 1991, coalition forces descended on Iraq, using devastating air power to shatter Saddam’s regime and force him out of Kuwait.
The campaign was a success, but it did not come without cost or controversy. Today on A Day In History, we’ll look at the darker side of Desert Storm: at the suffering of innocent civilians caught up in a war they never chose, at the hundreds who died from the coalition's celebrated ‘precision bombs’, and the Iraqi troops who died by the hundreds as they tried to retreat.
Desert Storm launched on January 17th 1991 and was primarily an air campaign. Conscious of the possibility of civilian casualties as their forces descended upon Iraq, coalition forces had a long list of ‘no fire’ targets to minimise civilian casualties which included schools, hospitals, mosques, and historical sites, but the realities of war meant that these places were never 100% safe.
US officials pitched it as a new modern war where sophisticated targeting systems and precision guided munitions would make collateral damage a thing of the past. Such a promise cared more about favourable media coverage than the reality of waging war in a populated country, and it set an impossibly high moral standard that coalition forces were doomed to miss.
These high-flying promises were shattered almost immediately. On the first day of Desert Storm, an air strike on the Diwaniyah telephone exchange went awry and the bombs instead hit a hotel and apartment complex nearby, killing 15 civilians. On January 20th, at least 12 people were killed and 50 houses were damaged in the town of Najaf when bombs again went off-target. Similar episodes happened across Iraq almost every day of the war.
Missile attacks had no less potential to go wrong either. The US deployed its advanced Tomahawk missile at $2 million dollars a shot, counting on their accuracy and high-yield to strike targets in the first 2 weeks of Desert Storm. On February 1st, 6 of these missiles were launched at the Al Rashid Air Base near Baghdad where intelligence sources believed Saddam was keeping chemical weapons. Unfortunately, at least one of the missiles went off target and came down in the Karada neighbourhood where 18 people, including 7 children, were wounded or killed. It ended up being the last tomahawk missile attack of the war as US leadership decided they were too expensive and too unreliable to be appropriate for further use in Iraq.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe “Ethnic-Cleansing” Mainstream Media REFUSES To Talk AboutA Day In History2024-04-24 | Even today, Josef Stalin is making people miserable. One hundred years ago, he was the "People's Commissar for Nationalities" in the Soviet Union – just one of the many positions he held on his way to the top of the Soviet hierarchy. Stalin did not have an easy job because the new "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" was a group of smaller ethnic, cultural, and religious groups. Often, these groups were bitter historical enemies. Two were the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. Despite what most people think, Stalin would listen to the opinion of others, especially in the early years of the USSR, and he listened to leaders from both Armenia and Azerbaijan – then he made his decision – and that was that – even that early in his career, no one was going to gainsay Stalin, at least not anyone from regions that could fit inside Russia 1000's of times over.
Azerbaijan and Armenia sit side by side towards the southern end of the Caucasus. The Armenians are among the oldest Christian groups in the world. Christianity had been spreading in Armenia since the 1st century AD, and in 301 AD, King Tiridates III declared Christianity the official state religion – the very first Christian kingdom on Earth.
The Azerbaijanis are Muslim. From 700 through the early 1300s, Islam gradually became the dominant religion in Azerbaijan.
Within what became the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which measures about fifty miles from north to south and 30 from east to west. Before 2020, when the Armenians found themselves on the losing end of yet another war against the Azerbaijanis, between 85-90% of the people in the region were Armenians. The rest of the population were mainly Azeris living in the territory's north and east. About 1-3% of the population were Russians, Kurds, and ethnic Greeks.
#nagornokarabakh #armenia #azerbaijan #history
Music: Epidemic music
Sources:
"Food Shortages and Fear As Peacekeepers Refused Entry to Nagorno-Karabakh." OC Media. Last modified July 13, 2023. oc-media.org/features/food-shortages-and-fear-as- peacekeepers-refused-entry-to-nagorno-karabakh/.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Chechen Wars Unforgivable CrimesA Day In History2024-04-13 | It’s a familiar story: a former area of the Soviet Union tries to pursue independence from Moscow, and soon Russian tanks are rolling across its borders and killing civilians by the thousands. No, not Ukraine, nor Georgia, but Chechnya, a tiny nation in the Caucasus whose long struggle with Russia was filled with war crimes and atrocities.
The Chechen Crisis
The Chechens themselves are mostly Muslim with a distinct culture that made them a target for persecution throughout history. Stalin had deported and killed hundreds of thousands of them, so when the time came to throw off the Communists, Chechnya was eager for it. They declared independence in 1991 under the leadership of Dzhokhar Dudayev, just as the Soviet Union was unravelling everywhere, but the new post-Communist government did not recognise their claim. Still, Moscow was too distracted with establishing the new Russia to bother with little Chechnya. That was until 1994.
Tired of Chechnya’s insubordination, President Boris Yeltsin funded and supported an anti-separatist Chechen militia to overthrow Dudayev’s separatist government. It failed spectacularly. The Chechynan separatists proved overwhelmingly loyal to Dudayev and his forces crushed the coup and captured Russian soldiers embedded in the groups.
Embarrassed, Yeltsin decided full military intervention was needed, and on November 30th signed Presidential Decree 2137 to, quote, “re-establish law and order in… the Chechen Republic.” The conflicts that followed consumed thousands of lives over the next 20 years.
The First Chechen War Begins
#chechnya #sovietunion #history
Music: Epidemic music
Sources: Anna Politkovskaya, A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya, (2003)
David Hoffman, ‘Chechen Town’s Survivors Live Amid Ashes and Rubble of Russian Attacks’, Washington Post, 27th August 1996, retrieved from ReliefWeb, https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/chechen-towns-survivors-live-amid-ashes-and-rubble-russian-attacks
Mark Galeotti, Russia’s Wars in Chechnya, 1994-2009, (2014)
Sebastian Smith, Allah’s Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya, (1998)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Darkest Side Of ISIS *Warning MATURE AUDIENCES ONLYA Day In History2024-03-25 | Thanks to Private Internet Access for sponsoring this video! Go to piavpn.com/ADayInHistory to get 83% off Private Internet Access with 4 months free!
In 2014, the world came to know the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as it exploded onto the global scene with bloody conquests in Iraq and the Middle East. ISIS became legendary for its barbarism: it beheaded prisoners, forced captives into slavery, and destroyed anything that conflicted with their extremist ideology.
In August 2014, the small Yazidi ethnic group would face the full force of this brutality. Today on A Day In History, we explore a tale of slavery, depravity, and mass murder in the 21st century genocide of the Yazidis of Iraq.
If the topic of this video is interesting to you, consider subscribing and checking out the other videos on this channel, and leave a like to show your appreciation.
Who Are the Yizidis?
Not many people have heard of the Yazidis. After all, even the highest estimates place their global population at no more than 1.5 million, or as low as 700,000.
The Yizidis are a small Kurdish ethnic group who have traditionally lived in small pockets of the area known informally as ‘Kurdistan’ in Iraq, although today they also have a diaspora of a few hundred thousands around the world. The history of the Yazidis mirrors that of other Kurdish peoples - recurring persecution from the numerous states and empires who have ruled over them, but despite it all they have maintained their own communities, language, culture, and religion.
This Yazidi religion is unique. They are monotheists, but not Abrahamic like Christians or Muslims, and instead their religion draws more from the ancient Persian Zoroastrian faith. This religion has been a primary motivation for their persecution. Muslim rulers have oppressed them as ‘unbelievers’ and Yazidi persecution has not been met with the same sympathy in the Christian world that fell upon people like the Armenians. Music: Epidemic music
UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Iraq: 6 July – 10 September 2014, , October 2014
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Disturbing Anti-Communist Killings Of IndonesiaA Day In History2024-03-07 | “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” - ‘Unity in Diversity’ - that is Indonesia’s national motto. But what happens when respect for that diversity collapses? That’s exactly what happened in 1965 when a wave of violence swept across the nation taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Today on A Day In History, we’ll take you through the horrific Indonesian Mass Killings of 1965 and 1966. From the coup that started it all through the mass graves and executions, and the US support that enabled it all.
But first, if you like this sort of content, subscribe to our channel and leave a like if you enjoy this video.
Indonesia under Sukarno
Indonesia in the 1960s was caught in a delicate balancing act at home and abroad. President Sukarno, a hero of Indonesian independence and the President since 1945, had consolidated the political, ethnic, and religious interests of his people into a relatively stable government. He had also forged a successful middle-path in the Cold War, maintaining good relations with both Moscow and Washington while being a leading light in the global Non-Aligned Movement.
At home, Sukarno was concerned with maintaining balance between the three most powerful forces in Indonesian politics, which he once called the “three spirits” of his country: Islam, communism, and nationalism (or more accurately the military).
Indonesia’s Communist Party (PKI) boasted an estimated 2 million or more members, making it the largest non-ruling Communist party in the world. Communists had tried and failed to revolt before in 1948, but their sheer popularity kept them relevant and powerful. While Sukarno himself was no Communist, he had left-leaning tendencies that kept the Communists from outright opposing him.
As a Muslim and the figurehead of the independence movement, Sukarno enjoyed reliable support from devoted Muslims and nationalists, although both had their reservations about him. More importantly, both groups deeply distrusted the communists. The right-leaning nationalists and military brass had a natural distaste for them, and Communism’s alternative morality and hostility to religion made it plenty of enemies among the Muslim faithful.
Sukarno was good at this balancing act for a while, but in 1965, that balance broke down and millions suffered for it.
#indonesia #history #theactofkilling
Music: Epidemic Music
Sources:
A.A.M. Djelantik, The Birthmark: Memoirs of a Balinese Prince, (1997)
Adrian Vickers, A History of Modern Indonesia, (2005)
Geoffrey Robnison, The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66, (2018)
John Roosa, Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto’s Coup d’Etat in Indonesia, (2006)
Katherine McGregor, Jess Melvin, and Annie Pohlman (eds.), The Indonesian Genocide of 1965: Cause, Dynamics, and Legacies, (2018)
Robert Gellately and Ben Kiernan (eds.), The Spectre of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective, (2003)
Vincent Bevins, The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World, (2020)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Deadliest Terror Group In The World: Boko HaramA Day In History2024-02-26 | Who is the deadliest terror group in the world? IS? Hamas? Al-Qaeda? Many names might spring to mind, but for much of the 2010s there was one correct answer: Boko Haram.
Today on A Day In History, we will look at how this small Nigerian terror group became one of the deadliest groups in the world through bombings, massacres, and kidnappings, all while waging a war against the government. If you appreciate videos like this, don’t forget to like and subscribe, and check out our other videos.
The Birth of Boko Haram
Boko Haram emerged in the early 2000s from existing Islamist groups in Nigeria.
Since the 1980s, the dominant Yan Izala movement has shaped Islamist politics in the country. It had strong grassroots support thanks to its itinerant preachers and teachers who spread its message of rejecting un-Islamic ideas and beliefs. These groups took aim at so-called Western institutions and practices, many of them left over from British colonization, and wanted to root them out of Nigerian society. This included things like Western-style education, medical science, democracy, Christianity, and secularism. However, Yan Izala refused to engage in more militant activism in pursuit of this goal, which caused a number of splinter groups to emerge in the late 90s and early 2000s.
One of those groups was named Ahl Al-Sunna Wa-l-Jama’a Wa-l-Hijra, meaning ‘Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad’ in English. Sunnah is the Muslim term for the traditions and practices established by the Prophet Muhammad, Dawah is the sacred duty to convert others to Islam, while Jihad, which probably needs no introduction, meant in this context an active fight to expand Islam and destroy its enemies. Before long, the Nigerian media had another nickname for them: Boko Haram, a name which can be translated as ‘Western civilisation is forbidden.’
Boko Haram was fully established as an independent group by a former Yan Izala member named Muhammad Yusuf in 2003. Yusuf took a harder line against Western ideas than other Muslim leaders and set himself up as an antagonist to the secular Nigerian state.
This boiled over to violence in December 2003 when some of Yusuf’s followers clashed with Nigerian security forces in the town of Kannamma. This had a radicalizing effect on his followers and convinced many of them that the government was its enemy. There were several attacks by Boko Haram on police stations around the country in 2004, which led the Nigerian government to crack down and kill over two dozen Boko Haram members and forced its leaders to flee the country.
#bokoharam #history #isis
Sources:
Brandon Kendhammer and Carmen McCain, Boko Haram, (2018) Jason Warner and Hilary Matfess, ‘Boko Haram’s Demographic Profile in Suicide Bombing’, Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point, (2017) Kunle Daramola, ‘Another Chibok Girl Rescued in Cameroon - Nine Years After Abduction’, The Cable, 12th August 2023, https://www.thecable.ng/another-chibok-girl-rescued-in-cameroon-nine-years-after-abduction#:~:text=The%20army%20also%20disclosed%20that,schoolgirls%2C%20including%2011%20last%20year Roman Loimeier, ‘Boko Haram: The Development of a Militant Religious Movement in Nigeria’, Africa Spectrum, (2012) Virginia Comolli, Boko Haram: Nigeria’s Islamist Insurgency, (2015) ‘Boko Haram Kills 37 in Nigeria’s Yobe State - Police’, 2nd November 2023, bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-67272908 ‘Nigeria Polio Vaccinators Shot Dead in Kano’, 8th February 2013, bbc.com/news/world-africa-21381773 ‘Schools, University Empty After Deadly Nigeria Attack’, Daily Times , 28th February 2014, web.archive.org/web/20140304185341/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/foreign/28-Feb-2014/schools-university-empty-after-deadly-nigeria-attack
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comWhen Britains Colonial Rule Backfired: The Mau Mau RebellionA Day In History2024-02-13 | Sign up for a 14-day free trial and enjoy all the amazing
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On March 26, 1953, 97 men, women, and children were slaughtered in the southern central Kenyan village of Lari. They had been woken up in the middle of the night by screaming men and women armed with an assortment of weapons, from a few WWII-era rifles and pistols to pangas – the Swahili word for machete-like weapons and other farm implements. Then they herded into large huts, which were doused in gasoline and set afire. Those who tried to escape the fire were then set upon with pangas and hacked to pieces. The attackers were part of the Mau Mau movement to free Kenya from British colonial rule.
No one knows where the name “Mau Mau” came from – not even those who participated in the group. Some say it originated with British police and militia from words and chants in Kikuyu, the dominant language and ethnic group of the movement and the largest in Kenya. Others believe it came from Kikuyu words having to do with the all-important oath that members took. “Mauma” means oath, and “muma” means “oath-taking” in Kikuyu. The word became a sort of catch-all term for many of the groups fighting for independence against the British in Kenya and nearby British possessions. The men and women of the Mau Mau never used the term. They were part of the “Land and Freedom Army” and often called themselves “freedom fighters.”
What we know for sure is that for much of the 1950s, the Mau Mau terrified the British in Kenya and their Kenyan supporters, of which there were many. The Lari Massacre was the worst of many atrocities carried out by the Land and Freedom Army during the Mau Mau Uprising from 1952 to 1960, but the British and their followers committed many brutal attacks and persecutions as well.
"The Mau Mau Rebellion." Boston University. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/teachingresources/history/colonialism/the-mau-mau-rebellion/
Reporter, Staff. "Muthoni, the Dread of the Empire." The Mail & Guardian. Last modified April 26, 2013. https://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-26-muthoni-the-dread-of-the-empire/
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comChina’s Population Purge: The Diabolical One-Child PolicyA Day In History2024-02-01 | With the death of Mao in 1976 and the disastrous fallout of both the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, China’s new government under Deng Xiaoping was eager to pivot away from the perpetual revolution of their forebears and move towards stability and economic improvement. China hoped to achieve rapid economic growth in the coming years, aiming to raise China’s per capita GDP from around $250 to $1000 by the year 2000. The CCP believed that China’s rapidly rising population was an obstacle to this and committed itself to controlling it.
Their solution was the infamous One-Child Policy that restricted the number of children a couple could have. Today on A Day In History, we explore the diabolical ways that China enforced this policy through deception, intimidation, sterilization, and murder. If this sounds interesting to you, go ahead and like this video and subscribe to the channel for more historical videos like this.
The One-Child Policy
The One-Child policy was not a single law but a general policy guideline issued by the CCP and enforced by various local and provincial governments. A letter from the CCP’s Central Committee issued on September 25th 1980 which explained the need to control population to avoid economic collapse in the near-future is usually pointed to as the beginning of the policy. The policy was revised and reinforced several times over the years, such as in the creatively titled Document Number 7 in April 1984 and Document Number 13 in May 1986, but local governments had some leeway in how they handled the implementation of these guidelines.
Broadly speaking, Chinese couples were limited to one single child. They could apply for permission to have a second under certain circumstances, such as when the first was disabled, and eventually rural families were permitted a second child if their first was a girl. So-called ‘excess births’ were dealt with mainly with contraceptives which were available for all women. Failing that, a regime of fines, sterilization, intimidation, abortion, and infanticide comprised a sinister tool that China used to keep a tight control over its population.
These laws were enforced by family planning cadres in every region and every town. At half a million strong, they were one of the most extensive arms of state power and had significant power to enforce compliance and punish dissent relating to the One-Child policy.
#onechildpolicy #ccp #chinahistory #history
Sources: Yong Cai and Wang Feng, ‘The Social and Sociological Consequences of China's One-Child Policy’, Annual Review of Sociology, 47(1), (2021)
John S. Aird, Slaughter of the Innocents : Coercive Birth Control in China, (1990)
The Laogai Research Foundation, Better 10 Graves Than One Extra Birth: China's Systemic Use of Coercion To Meet Population Quotas, (2004)
Mei Fong, One Child: The Past and Future of China's Most Radical Experiment, (2015)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comKill All, Burn All, Loot All: The Past Japan Wants To ForgetA Day In History2024-01-21 | Thanks to Private Internet Access for sponsoring this video! Go to piavpn.com/ADayInHistory to get 83% off Private Internet Access with 4 months free!
From the moment Japan set foot in China in the 1930s, it committed countless atrocities. From Nanjing to Wuhan, from monstrous medical experiments to the infamous ‘comfort women’, the Chinese endured terrible crimes that still shape relations between their countries today. However, there was one policy that caused more death and suffering than any other, one that is largely unknown in the West, one that the Chinese would give a simple, descriptive name: the Three-Alls - loot all, burn all, kill all.
Today on A Day In History, we’ll look at where this policy came from and what it meant for its millions of victims.
Atrocities before 1940
The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937 and dovetailed into the wider Second World War. Throughout these conflicts, Japan was known for its excessive brutality delivered to civilians and soldiers alike of all nations. A Japanese military immersed in ideas of its racial superiority, taught to despise so-called ‘weakness’ in enemies and non-combatants, and raised to give complete obedience to their superiors inevitably led to horrors for its enemies.
China knew this better than anyone else. The Japanese had been committing massacres and abuses across China from 1937 - Tianjin, Beijing, and Shanghai, for example, saw all manner of crimes. Of course, nothing compares to the six weeks of horror unleashed on Nanjing starting in December 1937 which left hundreds of thousands dead or raped.
Into 1938, the Japanese continued this pattern of war crimes. For example, during the Battle of Wuhan, the Japanese authorized hundreds, if not thousands, of gas attacks, often on civilians, as they fought to capture the city from the Nationalist forces of Chang Kai-Shek. However, while the Nationalists were the main threat in China, Japan also had to deal with another problem: Communists.
#japanhistory #history #nankin
Sources: Rana Mitter, China's War With Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival, (2013)
Second Sino-Japanese War: A Captivating Guide to a Military Conflict Primarily Waged Between China and Japan and the Rape of Nanking, (2021)
Mark Felton, ‘The Perfect Storm: Japanese Military Brutality During World War Two’, in C. Carmichael and R. C. Maguire (eds.), The Routledge History of Genocide, (2015)
Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook, Japan At War: An Oral History, (2000)
Herbert P. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, (2000)
Tobe Ryoichi, ‘The Japanese Eleventh Army in Central China, 1938-1941’, in M. Peattie, E.J. Drea, and H. van de Ven (eds.), The Battle For China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945, (2011)
Tien-wei Wu, ‘The Chinese Communist Movement’, in J.C. Hsiung and S.I. Levine, China’s Bitter Victory: The War With Japan, 1937-1945, (1992)
Truong Chinh, ‘Policy of the Japanese Pirates Towards Our People’, Tap Chi Cong Sun, August 1945, translated by US Joint Publications Research Service, Translations on North Vietnam: Volume 17, (1971)
Dick Wilson, When Tigers Fight: The Story of the Sino-Japanese War 1937-45, (1982)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comAuschwitz of Africa The Insane Dictator Of Equatorial GuineaA Day In History2024-01-18 | Get a 14-day free trial with our sponsor Aura and see where your personal information is being sold online: aura.com/adayinhistory
When Equatorial Guinea achieved independence in 1968, its new beginning turned out to be the start of a nightmare that continues to this day. Hundreds of thousands of people would be driven into prisons, into exile, or into their graves, at the behest of one insane man: Francisco Macias Nguema. In this video, we’ll show you how this deranged man turned his country into the ‘Auschwitz of Africa.’ So stick around to learn about the mad dictator who dined with the dead and turned Santa Claus into an accomplice in his unspeakable crimes, and don’t forget to like this video to show your support for our content.
Like so many dictators before him, the first thing Macias did was eliminate threats to his power. His rival in the election, a man named Bonifacio Ondo Edu, was accused of coup-plotting and arrested, along with a number of other officials and ministers. They were all executed or left to die in prison. They were the first to be accused of plotting against Macias but far from the last.
In February 1969, Foreign Minister Atanasio Ndongo was accused of a different coup attempt. Macias’ guards cornered him in the cabinet room where the official story claims he leapt from a window to his death. Other witnesses insisted that Macias’ guards killed him, or that Macias himself threw the man from the window. Numerous others were implicated in this supposed conspiracy, including Saturnino Ibongo, the country’s UN ambassador, who was recalled to the country and executed minutes after getting off the plane. Of the 12 men who made up Macias’ first cabinet, only 2 would live to see his fall and by 1971 over 2/3rds of the original 1968 National Assembly had disappeared, never to be heard from again.
Sources: Paul Kenyon, Dictatorland: The Men Who Stole Africa, (2018)
Suzanne Cronje, Equatorial Guinea - The Forgotten Dictatorship: Forced Labour and Political Murder in Central Africa, Research Report for the Anti-Slavery Society, (1976)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Genocide Turkey Erased From History: The Greek GenocideA Day In History2024-01-04 | Play War Thunder now with my link, and get a massive, free bonus pack including vehicles, boosters, and more for new & returning players that haven’t played for at least six months: https://playwt.link/adayinhistory
Greeks had lived in Asia Minor for over two thousand years, but that history came to a bloody end thanks to the genocide committed against them by the Ottoman and Turkish governments.
Alongside the Armenians and Assyrians, the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire faced a wave of deportation, dehumanization, and destruction during and after the First World War which are remembered as some of the bloodiest genocides of the 20th century.
Today on A Day In History, we look at how the Greek population of modern-day Turkey was all but exterminated. This is the third part of our series looking at Ottoman genocides, so check out our earlier videos on the Armenian and Assyrian genocides to see a full picture of the unspeakable crimes committed in the last days of the Ottoman Empire.
Sparks of a Genocide
The Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian Genocides were similar in many ways, but the defining feature of their victims was obvious: Christianity. These three minorities represented the vast majority of Christians who lived under the Muslim Ottoman Empire.
Political events also put the empire’s Greeks in a vulnerable position. Greece has secured independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1823. It was a deep wound to Ottoman pride, made even worse by the continual decay of Ottoman power ever since. As resentment against the new Greek nation simmered, it filtered down and fell upon the Greek minority too.
The sparks of genocide began smouldering as early as 1908 with the Young Turk revolution. The Young Turks were a hyper-nationalist faction who believed in an ethnically Turkish Muslim Empire. Their policy of ‘Turkification’ left no room for non-Turks or non-Muslims and soon every ethnic minority in the empire was in their crosshairs.
In these last years of Ottoman power in Europe, Ottoman authorities harassed ethnic Greeks to encourage them to relocate to Greece itself. Episodes of violence broke out in areas like Thessaloniki and Macedonia, where ethnic Greek leaders were known to disappear, or where the bodies of Greek farmers would be found in the wilderness, left behind by Ottoman authorities, but such violence was intermittent and not yet systemic.
#greekgenocide #history #armeniangenocide #turkey
Sources: Vasileios Th. Meichanetsidis, ‘The Genocide of the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire, 1912-1923’,
Genocide Studies International, Vol 9.1, (2015)
Taner Akcam, The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and the Ethnic
Cleansing of the Ottoman Empire, (2012)
Erik Sjoberg, The Making of the Greek Genocide: Contested Memories of the Ottoman Greek
Catastrophe, (2017)
George N. Shirinian (ed.), Genocide in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks,
1912-1923, (2017)
Kostas Faltaits, (translated by Ellene S. Phufas Jousma and Aris Tsilfidis), The Genocide of the Greeks in
Turkey: Survivor Testimonies From the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-1921, (2016)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comDeath Wouldve Been Kinder: The Bosnian GenocideA Day In History2023-12-27 | On July 11th, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic began the systematic killing of nearly 10,000 Bosnian Muslim (sometimes referred to as “Bosniaks”) men and boys in the area of Srebrenica, a small town located about halfway between the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo and the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Widespread ethnic violence in what had been Yugoslavia led to the outbreak of the largest armed conflict in Europe since the end of WWII (since eclipsed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022). The horrific images beamed worldwide on news programs, newspapers, and magazines shocked the world, bringing back memories of the Holocaust and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, which began in the same region.
Along with the nearly four-year-long siege of Sarajevo, the massacres at Srebrenica reminded the world that despite its modernity and sophistication, Europe still struggled with its dark past, which was made worse with the most modern weapons and technology.
Welcome to a Day in History. Thank you for joining us. Today, we bring you the tragic story of the Srebrenica Massacre during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.
You’ll sometimes hear a word on the news or history books... “Balkanization.” Balkanization occurs when a larger state breaks down into smaller states, usually hostile to each other. The Balkan Peninsula is the large region to the southeast of Austria across to the Black Sea and south to the borders of Greece and European Turkey. The Balkan countries are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. Serbia claims Kosovo, but most nations around the world, except for Russia and its allies, recognize it as an independent state. Greece is sometimes listed as a Balkan country as well.
For centuries, warlords, kingdoms, and empires fought over the rugged landscape: Romans, Huns, Magyars, Turks, Russians, Germans; the list goes on and on. In the late 1300s, the Ottoman Turks began to expand into the Balkans and controlled much of the region by the last half of the 1400s. One of the lasting results of the Turkish occupation, which lasted in various forms until the late 19th century, was the conversion of many people in Bosnia to Islam, which, as you might imagine, brought religious conflict into the region. With tensions high between the westward looking and Catholic Croatians or Croats and the eastward-looking Orthodox Serbs, the introduction of a large number of Muslims in the area only increased tension in what was to become Yugoslavia in the early 20th century.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Slave Trade Mainstream Media Hates To Talk AboutA Day In History2023-12-12 | The Sahara is the world’s largest desert and crossing it is only possible thanks to scattered oases that provide life-sustaining water to travelers along the way. For those untrained in handling it, the Sahara is a place of death and despair.
This was certainly true for millions of slaves who were dragged in chains across that burning desert for a thousand years. This Trans-Saharan Slave Trade is easily overlooked thanks to its more famous Atlantic cousin, but the exchange of unfree people across the desert was a longer lasting and possibly larger system that deserves much ore attention.
Today on A Day In History we look at the brutality of the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade and how this institution of slavery and suffering stood for over a thousand years. Don’t forget to live and subscribe to keep up with more videos on historical topics like this one.
Origins of Trans-Saharan Slave Trade
Slavery within and around the Sahara is as ancient as civilization. Ancient Egyptians extracted slaves from adjacent regions in modern day Sudan and Libya. Later, Phoenician settlers along the fertile Mediterranean Coast, most notably Carthage, established slave trading networks that included slaves taken from all areas of the Mediterranean Basin.
But the scattered inhabitants of the Sahara could not satisfy the growing demand for slaves forever. Eventually, traders began using the Sahara as a passageway to access and enslave the people of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Historians are unsure who began the trans-Saharan slave trade or when. Herodotus writing in the 5th century BC described a people called the Garamentenes from Libya who allegedly used their chariots to hunt down Ethiopian slaves, and some historians say they were the first trans-Saharan slavers. However, there is no material evidence of these vast slave trading networks and it’s more likely these were just slave raids deepers into the Sahara and not a true trans-Saharan slave trading system.
Small numbers of Sub-Saharan Africa slaves existed in Roman North Africa by the 300s. Artwork recovered from Roman villas shows figures who seem to be Black Africans working in fields and hunting, showing that at least some slave trading across the desert existed by this point. However, it wasn’t until the arrival of Islam and the Arabs to North Africa that a larger sustained system of slave trading emerged.
Describing the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade
Arab armies conquered most of North Africa by the early 8th century. The unified ‘Abbasid Caliphate connected the Islamic world religiously and economically, and slaves would soon move along these connections. Like every major contemporary society, the Islamic world had a great need for slaves, and quickly found that the rural berbers of North Africa were not enough to satisfy the demands of their interconnected world. In time, they would also become suppliers to Christian Europe as well.
#transsaharanslavetrade #slavery #history
Music: Epidemic music
Sources: Keith Bradley, ‘Apuleius and the Sub-Saharan Slave Trade’, Apuleius and Antonine Rome: Historical Essays, (2012)
Matthew S. Gordan, ‘Slavery in the Islamic Middle East (c.600-1000 CE)’, in C. Perry et al, Cambridge World History of Slavery Volume II: AD 500 - AD 1420, (2021)
Ralph Austen, Trans-Saharan Africa in World History, (2010)
Ralph Austen, ‘Regional Study: Trans-Saharan Trade’, in The Cambridge World History Volume 4: A World with States, Empires and Networks 1200 BCE-900 CE, (2018)
Ronald Segal, Islam’s Black Slaves: The Other Black Diaspora, (2001)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Yom Kippur War: Where Men Became BeastsA Day In History2023-11-30 | Recent events have shown us how much a few days can change things in the Middle East. Just 19 days in 1973 saw a massive conflict between Israel, Egypt, Syria, and a scattering of Arab allies that still shapes the region to this day.
The Yom Kippur War as the Israelis call it, also known as the October War, the Ramadan War, or the Fourth Arab-Israeli War saw both sides endure devastating defeats and miraculous victories in one of the bloodiest chapters in the history of the modern Middle East.
Today on A Day In History, we look at how Egypt and Syria launched a sudden invasion that ended up with Israeli troops threatening both their capital cities and reshaping the landscape of Middle Eastern politics. If you appreciate videos about challenging topics like this, consider leaving a like and subscribing for more engaging videos like this one.
Origins of the War
The immediate root of the war was Israel’s success in the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel had fended off a coalition of Arab states and massively expanded its own territory, taking control of the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and both the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.
The conflict only hardened existing animosity between Israel and the Arab states and led a coalition of countries including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq to declare the “three no’s” in their dealings with Israel: no permanent peace, no recognition of Israel’s legitimacy, and no negotiations with its government.
Egypt, who had lost the most territory to Israel, continued to engage in skirmishes along the border throughout the late 1960s until President Anwar Sadat agreed to a ceasefire in 1970. Sadat’s government signaled its willingness to break the “three no’s” by recognising the State of Israel in exchange for them returning the Sinai Peninsula and other Arab territories, but Israel turned down the terms. Sadat’s concerns were shared by his Syrian counterpart Hafiz al-Assad who made recovery of the Golan Heights a top foreign-policy priority. Under the guise of diplomatic summits, Assad and Sadat began planning an attack on Israel and both ramped up military training and recruitment.
As always, the Cold War loomed in the background. The United States backed Israel and feared that rising Arab power would increase Soviet influence in the region. Meanwhile, Egypt and Syria were in the Soviet orbit, although not nearly as closely tied to it as Israel was to its own superpower ally. Both Moscow and Washington were in a period of thawing relations after the brinkmanship of the 1960s and neither superpower was eager to see war break out in the region again. However, that did not prevent either superpower funneling arms, armor, and aircraft into their respective allies in anticipation of a potential conflict.
Sources: Abraham Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter that Transformed the Middle East, (2013) Audrey Schul, The Yom Kippur War: The Arab-Israeli Conflict of 1973, (2015) Daniel Gordis, Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn, (2016) Mitch Ginsburg, ‘Prisoners, Still: The Ongoing Trauma of Yom Kippur War POWs’, The Times of Israel 25th September 2012, timesofisrael.com/prisoners-still-the-ongoing-trauma-of-the-yom-kippur-war-pows Treatment of Israeli POW’s in Syria and Their Status Under the Geneva Conventions, United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs, (1974) ‘Israeli Documentary: Egyptians Killed Israeli POWs in 1973 War’, YT News, 19th March 2007, ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3378194,00.html
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThis Slave Owner Did Things Beyond Human Comprehension (Warning* Graphic Content)A Day In History2023-11-25 | Delphine Macarty Lalaurie was the daughter of Louis Barthelemy de Macarty, an officer of the French army. She belonged to the Creole class of people, descended from French and Spanish colonists who had arrived in the United States in the 1700’s. Both she and her family benefitted from the exploitation of enslaved people on their sugar and cotton plantation. Delphine was also wealthy in her own right; following her mother’s death she received a sizable inheritance including a plantation on the Mississippi River, livestock, and farm equipment. Indeed, Delphine was much admired; it was said that the Queen of Spain deemed LaLaurie so beautiful that she granted a pardon to her Spanish first husband, who had married without the permission of the Crown.
Having first been married to prominent soldiers and businessmen, Delphine was twice widowed before she married Dr Louis LaLaurie, twenty five years her junior, who had travelled from France to set up a medical practice. In her first year of marriage, when she resided with her husband on their Mississippi plantation. Delphine was investigated for cruelty towards her slaves; thereafter, she sold six enslaved people to a friend, most likely to avoid further scandal.
In 1831, the Lalauries moved into their infamous house at 1140 Royal street, in the fashionable Vieux Carre district. Here the LaLaurie’s formed a part of elegant New Orleans society, holding extravagant parties for their neighbours. Yet behind this supposedly respectable façade, Delphine hid a cruel and possibly unstable streak. Some accounts report that a young, enslaved girl fell from a window in the LaLaurie New Orleans home and tragically died. A neighbour suggested that Delphine may have been at fault, chasing the unfortunate girl with a cowhide whip in her hand. However, the local authorities deemed that the child’s death was accidental and did not hold the LaLauries responsible
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comNo One Talks About South Vietnams War Crimes (*Warning Mature Audiences Only)A Day In History2023-11-15 | We’ve all heard about American war crimes in Vietnam, but what the South Vietnamese did in their own country is not as well known. From murdering monks to gunning down civilians, the Republic of Vietnam and its army (ARVN) inflicted suffering on innocent people that has been largely forgotten by history.
Join us in this video as we uncover the horrific actions of South Vietnam during and preceding the Vietnam War. If you appreciate videos like this, leave a like and subscribe to A Day In History to keep up to date on future content.
Buddhist Crisis
Most of us consider the Vietnam War to begin with the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, but the conflict actually began in 1955. South Vietnam resisted the Communist North and its insurgencies in the South under the leadership of the controversial US-backed President Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem was widely seen as corrupt and autocratic, but his Catholic faith and fierce anti-Communism was enough for the US to throw their support behind him. At least until one specific crisis shocked the world.
Already on high alert for dissent and division, the Diem regime engineered its own demise with its brutal response to the Buddhist Crisis in 1963.
Vietnam’s Buddhist majority was dissatisfied with Catholic Diem’s discriminatory religious policies. Buddhists were passed over for promotion, excluded from high positions in government, were subject to forced labor demands, and could even be placed in concentration camps for causing public unrest. Meanwhile, the tiny Catholic minority was given special privileges. Diem’s regime armed Catholic priests and villages as a defense against the Viet Cong while leaving the Buddhists undefended. Although the Communists were no friends to the Buddhists either, many Buddhists went on to join the Communist cause in the war simply to escape Diem’s persecution.
#history #vietnamwar #southvietnam
Music: Epidemic music
Sources:
Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix Program, (2000)
Jennifer Harbury, Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of US Involvement in Torture, (2005)
John Schlight, The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia: The War in South Vietnam The Years of the Offensive 1965–1968, (1999)
Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss, Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War, (2006)
Stephen T. Hosmer, Konrad Kellen, and Brian M. Jenkins, The Fall of South Vietnam: Statements By Vietnamese Military Leaders, Report for the Historian of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, (1978)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comRussia Declassified: Secrets Too Evil To ComprehendA Day In History2023-11-04 | The Russian word vranyo means ‘to lie’, but to lie in a way where everyone knows you're lying but pretends to believe it anyway. Since the days of the Soviet Union, this has been an expected part of how the Russian government operates. Dishonesty is just the norm, as is a lack of transparency. Unlike the US or UK, Russia does not have a regular policy of declassification that exposes the nefarious things it has gotten up to. What we know about what goes on behind the scenes in Russia is thanks to foreign intelligence services, defectors, or journalists and activists who risk their lives to expose Russian secrets.
We may not know nearly as much about Russia’s secrets as we do about their American counterparts, but what we do know is still fascinating. Today on A Day In History, we get a glimpse at some of the secrets that Russia has tried and failed to keep hidden. So, stick around to the end to learn how Russia killed someone with an umbrella, how they helped get the Prime Minister of India assassinated, and how Russia tried to manipulate Us politics during and after the 2016 election. Don’t forget to leave a like on this video and subscribe to the channel for more videos like this.
Environmental Disasters
In order to keep things secret, Russia has perfected the art of the cover-up and it seems there’s no disaster too big for them to try and hide from the world.
On several occasions, the Russian government tried to cover-up colossal environmental disasters. The one everyone knows is Chernobyl. Before the 1986 disaster, the authorities had actually covered up several safety issues at the sites to, quote, “prevent panic and provocative rumors.” This culture of dishonesty and lack of accountability contributed to the 1986 disaster and explains the Soviet government’s delayed response. When an explosion during a botched safety test killed 2 workers in April 1986, causing uncontrollable fires and expelling vast amounts of radioactive material, it took almost 2 days for the authorities to inform the local population. They had delayed because they’d hoped to contain the problem without anyone noticing. This delay was fatal: on top of the 30 plant workers and emergency responders who died from radiation poisoning, thousands of people were exposed to dangerous amounts of radiation, causing devastating and sometimes fatal health effects for decades to come.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comAssyrian Genocide: A Fate Worse Than DeathA Day In History2023-10-23 | It seems impossible that we would forget genocides of entire people, but events like the Assyrian genocide show us how fickle human memory can be. Also called the Sayfo, meaning ‘the sword’, the Assyrian genocide was one of three mass campaigns of extermination waged by the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Alongside the more famous Armenian genocide and that of the Greeks, hundreds of thousands of Assyrians lost their lives in racially and religiously motivated atrocities at the command of the Ottoman government between 1914 and 1918.
The struggle of the Assyrians is easily overlooked, but it contains tales of incredible brutality and of admirable resistance. Today on A Day In History, we look at how the atrocities of the Sayfo unfolded, the deplorable ways that the Ottomans deceived their victims, and the stories of the men who took up arms to defend themselves from those who would exterminate them.
Don’t forget to like this video to show your support and subscribe for more dives into overlooked historical events like this
Prelude
The Assyrians are an ethnic group united by their shared languages which derive from ancient Aramaeic. Christianity They are also thorouglhy Christian although split between several denominations, of which the largest are the Orthodox Assyrian Church of the East and Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Unlike the Armenians, the Assyrians have never been politically unified - there is no real link between the ancient Assyrian empire and the modern Assyrian people - and they were treated as a loose ethnic group with no fixed territory. Like other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire, they faced sporadic violence and persecution for decades before the genocide. In 1895, Assyrians were among the victims of the waves of violence that killed thousands of Christians across the Empire and they faced regular discrimination in law and public life. Violence from Turkish authorities and Kurdish raiders continued throughout the early 20th century with land seizures, forced conversion, and mob violence becoming regular features of life.
Things changed with the rise of Turkish ethnonationalism and the First World War. The Empire’s new ruler Talaat Pasha envisioned an ethnically Turkish empire where minorities were excluded, or eliminated. The Ottomans also saw the Assyrians as a security risk, fearing that they would side with Russia once the fighting began.
#assyrian #history #armeniangenocide #sayfo
Music: Epidemic Music
Sources:
David Gaunt, Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, (2006)
David Gaunt, ‘The Ottoman Treatment of the Assyrians’, in Ronald Grigor Suny et al (ed.), A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire, (2011), p244-59
David Gaunt and Naures Atto (ed.), Let Them Not Return: Sayfo - The Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire, (2019)
Florence Hellot-Bellier, ‘The Increasing Violence and the Resistance of Assyrians in Urmia and Hakkari (1900–1915)’, in Talay Shabo and Soner O Barthoma (eds.), Sayfo 1915: An Anthology of Essays on the Genocide of Assyrians/Arameans during the First World War, (2018)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Unspeakable Things That Happened To Christians In JapanA Day In History2023-10-14 | Initially, the Japanese did not see Christianity as a threat, but with every ship arriving in Japan came missionaries. Because the shogunate valued trade with the Europeans and their technologies, they permitted the Catholic Church to build churches, missions, and monasteries in the country, again, mainly, but not only in the south.
Unfortunately for the Christians of Japan, not all European missionaries were concerned with just spreading the Gospel. Many were also concerned with increasing the Church’s political power and that of the Portuguese and Spanish. By 1600, Europeans controlled most of Japan’s trade with China – today, it would be a multi-billion dollar industry. The Spanish and Portuguese also worked to convert and bribe – daimyo into favorable trade deals and for political information and influence. In the historical novel and TV series “Shogun,” a British sailor tells the shogun that the Pope had divided the undiscovered world between the Spanish and Portuguese in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The Pope is “the representative of Christ on Earth” - the discovery of this treaty by the Japanese may not have happened like this. However, Shogun is based on a true story, and we can safely say that the Japanese were not pleased with the treaty or the fact that the Europeans had kept it secret.
For hundreds of years after the crucifixion of Christ, Rome persecuted Christians. They nailed them to crosses, set them on fire by the dozen in arenas, whipped them, beat them, humiliated them and fed them to lions, leopards, bears and dogs. Thousands upon thousands were killed. Others went into hiding. But the persistence, faith, conviction and perseverance and reported miracles, Christianity eventually became the state religion of the Western Roman Empire under Emperor Theodosius I in 380.
By the early 17th century, Christianity had spread or had begun to spread to almost all corners of the world – including the then isolated and remote islands of Japan. It's estimated that there were about 300,000 Christians in Japan, mostly in the south, in 1635. In 1640, the only Christians left in Japan were hiding their faith, hiding themselves, or both.
Sources: Alves, Jorge M. Fernão Mendes Pinto and the Peregrinação: Notes. Lisbon: Oriente, 2010 Boxer, Charles R. The Christian Century in Japan 1549-1650. 2020.
Cary, Otis. A History of Christianity in Japan. London: Psychology Press, 1995.
Dougill, John. In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians: A Story Of Suppression, Secrecy And Survival. London: SPCK, 2016.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comHeres Why England Was HATED By The Irish PeopleA Day In History2023-10-10 | By the 1840s, Ireland was securely under British rule. The tide of nationalism that began on the European continent and the rise of the popular press had energized the nascent Irish nationalist movement, but London’s control was reasonably certain. Ireland itself was a land of contrasts: wealthy developed urban areas like Belfast and Dublin were comparable to major British cities, but millions still eked out difficult lives in the rural counties.
The key to survival for this farming population was the potato. Potatoes were introduced from the Americas in the 16th century and their extremely high yield per acre made them an excellent staple food source. By 1845, Ireland was growing 15 million tons of potatoes per year and they provided most of the calorie intake for about 3 million people. Contrary to popular stereotypes, the Irish also grew many other crops like wheat, oats, barely, and peas, but potatoes were far and away the most important crop for the country.
Enter Phytophthora Infestans, better known as potato blight. Originating in the potato’s homeland of America, blight is a fungal infection that thrives in damp environments and causes infected crops to wither away into inedible black mush. It entered Europe early in the 1840s where it ravaged potato crops in places like Belgium and Holland. However, when it reached the shores of Ireland in 1845, the effects would be apocalyptic.
Famine Arrives
Blight ravaged the 1845 potato crop. This first blight was somewhat sporadic and it took weeks for officials to realize the scale of the disaster. Overall, about 40% of the entire country’s potato crop was ruined. The effect was particularly bad in the eastern, southern, and central regions of Ireland, with many counties reporting that the vast majority of the potatoes were lost. Ireland had faced famines before, there’d been one between 1800 and 1801 and another from 1816 to 1818, but this crisis would be another beast entirely.
Action was clearly needed and this responsibility fell upon the British government. However, in order to understand how the British responded, we need to cover a few things.
#angortamor #history #irishhistory
Music: Epidemic music
Sources: David Ross, Ireland: History of a Nation, (2002) James S. Donnelly Jr, The Great Irish Potato Famine, (2001) Neil Hegarty, The Story of Ireland: A History of the Irish People, (2011) Ruth Dudley Edwards, It's time to get over the fact that the Great Famine was not genocide’, 4th October 2015, Independant.ie, https://www.independent.ie/opinion/its-time-to-get-over-the-fact-that-the-great-famine-was-not-genocide/31580188.html?regToken=st2.s.AcbHMkiVKA.i6veejCfrrfAXRjD7KVSF6GaTePPtb_ZyoTxICCSybgawl3_IeUp_oRidOqgXqLjHWwqsqo1WowS6jy4Trc9wveqhTYSSDQNboohQyDYx5oXxm9UIgbqP0s9cMgYXqk2.xs4Qz1pkXu4OSDodZQUteLasdMhTNlQAKz3DEmel-XryUv_xscenTPz1p62BReAyrnsrDkQeXlWLChaHjsAGUw.sc3 Tim Pat Coogan, The Famine Plot: England’s Role in Ireland’s Greatest Tragedy, (2012)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comDisturbing US Government Secrets Revealed By These DocumentsA Day In History2023-10-01 | The US government has all sorts of secrets, from the absurd to the insane, the hilarious to the horrific. Few governments are as willing to declassify their secrets, especially if it harms their image, which gives us disturbing insight into what the most powerful nation on earth has gotten up to behind everyone’s backs.
Today, we crack open the files to reveal more of America’s most disturbing government secrets. If you like this content, check out our other videos on similar topics and don’t forget to like and subscribe to support our channel.
Meddling in Chile
It’s common knowledge that the US meddled in the affairs of South America throughout the Cold War. A perfect example of this is Chile. The US was concerned about the rise of socialism and communist sympathies in Chile throughout the 1960s, focused mostly around the figure of Salvador Allende. The US spent millions bolstering Allende’s opponents in the 1964 election, which Allende narrowly lost. With the 1970 election fast approaching, President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger feared that Allende would finally take power.
The US’ fears were realized by Allende’s victory in September 1970. Soon after, Nixon authorized Project FUBELT in late 1970 with a budget of $10 million to foment a coup against Allende. It is the only verified record of a US President authorizing the overthrow of a democratically elected leader.
The US reached out to the only group in Chile with the power and potential to overthrow Allende: the military. They found plenty of allies, but also an obstacle: the Commander in Chief, General René Schneider. Schneider was an upstanding constitutionalist who would never support a coup, so the CIA decided to get rid of him.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comExposing Africas Part In The Slave TradeA Day In History2023-09-23 | Slavery has existed in Africa for as long as recorded history. Ancient Egypt had slaves toiling away in its fields and on its monuments, ancient Carthage trafficked in slaves across the Mediterranean, and the Ethiopian kings of Aksum wrote proudly of the slaves they took in war. Slaves were also exported from Africa for centuries before Europeans arrived. The Trans-Saharan slave trade lasted for over a thousand years and dragged about 10 million people across the desert to be slaves in the Islamic world. The Indian Ocean also had a similarly long-lasting ocean-going slave trade with about 5 million ending up in slave ships, bound and branded for use in foreign lands. These slaves ended up as labourers, domestic servants, soldiers, or more. Male slaves in the Islamic world were typically castrated which meant that new slaves had to be regularly imported to maintain the population.
For this video, we’ll focus on Western Africa where the Atlantic slave trade was centred. West Africa was removed from the Indian Ocean trade and mostly secure from Islamic slave raids, but slavery was still a feature of life there long before the Atlantic slave trade began. A succession of powerful empires occupied the region which all rested on complex slave systems. The Ghanaian Empire from the 3rd to the 13th century began a tradition of powerful West African imperial states and built much of its wealth through trans-Saharan trading of slaves or goods acquired through slave labour.
The Salt, copper, and gold that made the Mali Empire and Mansa Musa fabulously wealthy were all extracted with slave labour. Domestic slavery was also common and Mali was known to import female slaves from the Mediterranean to act as domestic servants in the households of the elites. Most of the slaves were acquired through conquest of neighbouring kingdoms or tribal groups who were too weak to defend themselves from the organised imperial militaries. Successor empires like the Songhai, Jolof, and Kaabu inherited the social and economic structures of slavery and continued to acquire slaves as they scrambled to establish their own territories. Elites in these empires used slaves as a status symbol and ownership of slaves came to represent someone’s wealth and power.
Sources: C. Ebert, ‘European Competition and Cooperation in Pre-Modern Globalization: Portuguese West and Central Africa, 1500-1600,’ African Economic History, 36 (2008)
M. A. Gomez, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa, (2018)
P. A. Igbafe, ‘Slavery and Emancipation in Benin, 1897-1945’, Journal of African History, 16/3, (1975)
J. Iliffe, Africa: History of a Continent, (2019)
R. Law, The Slave Coast of West Africa, 1550-1750: The impact of the Atlantic slave trade on an African society, (Clarendon 1991)
J. C. Miller, ‘The Dynamics of History in Africa and the Atlantic ‘Age of Revolutions’, in in D. Armitage and S. Subrahmanyam (eds.), The Age of Revolutions in Global Context, c. 1760-1840, (2010)
J. K. Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800, (1999)
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comBIGGEST American War Crime Cover-Up Of The Vietnam War (Warning* Mature Audiences Only)A Day In History2023-09-19 | What happens when a group of men are let loose in the wilderness with no oversight and a simple instruction: kill anything that moves? Tiger Force is the answer. An elite recon group of the Vietnam War whose war crimes were covered up by the US government for decades.
In this video, we look at the atrocities committed by the men of Tiger Force as they descended into barbarity in the jungle of Vietnam, and how the US government tried to hide it from the world.
Origins of Tiger Force
Tiger Force was a long-range reconnaissance patrol unit of the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. It was formed in November 1965 by Major David Hackworth to, quote, “out-guerrilla the guerrillas.” He put it more frankly to another reporter. “I want 40 swinging dicks,” Hackworth had said, men who were free to use their own judgment, skill, and drive to conduct unrestrained warfare in the toughest areas of Vietnam. It usually numbered about 45 men at any one time, but people would rotate out every few months. For example, 120 different men served in the Tiger Force between July and December 1967.
Usually, Tiger Force would be dropped into an operational area and given effectively free reign to achieve their goal. Military command maintained minimal oversight of their activities - so long as they racked up a body-count, the brass were happy. Many soldiers embraced the freedom and lack of bureaucracy that Tiger Force provided, but the absence of accountability or oversight would lead the men of Tiger Force down a dark path.
Arriving in Song Ve
The events that would enshrine them in the history books began to unfold in summer 1967 when the Tiger Force was sent into the Song Ve Valley.
The Song Ve Valley was an agricultural hotspot that was allegedly a hiding place for the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA). TTiger Force was instructed to clear out remaining residents of the valley to a nearby refugee camp and then sweep the area for VC soldiers and food caches. The valley was declared a ‘free-fire’ area - shoot first, ask questions later. Civilian casualties were still unacceptable in theory, but enforcing that condition was a whole other matter.
#vietnamwar #tigerforce #history
Sources: Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss, Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War, (2006)
Geoffrey C. War and Ken Burns, The Vietnam War: An Intimate History, (2017)
Nick Turse, ‘The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of’, History News Network
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comExposing Pakistans Disturbing Past: Atrocities Too Evil To ComprehendA Day In History2023-09-06 | The Dominion of Pakistan came into existence in 1947. Covering the modern area of Pakistan in the West and Bangladesh in the East, their shared Muslim faith was not enough to bridge the many linguistic, ethnic, and cultural gaps between the two sides of the country.
West Pakistan and its Urdu-speaking elites dominated the entire state, although the ethnically Bengali East were the majority of the population. The Bengali majority was discriminated against in education, the military, politics, and other aspects of life. This discrimination fell especially hard on the Hindu minority, but the Muslim majority was also characterized as a lesser cultural and racial group to the Western Pakistani. The Pakistani government also tried to suppress Bengali culture, arts, and literature as too “Hindu leaning.” On top of this, economic exploitation of the East’s resources with minimal return investment also created resentment and left the East feeling more like a colony than an equal partner.
Despite this, the Bengalis were reputed for their non-violence. Their discontent was funneled through democratic means, namely the Awami League (AL) under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known as Sheikh Mujib. The AL pushed for more autonomy for East Pakistan, but try as they might, the Bengalis did not get the democratic resolution they’d hoped for.
#bangladeshgenocide #history #pakistanhistory
Music: epidemic Music
Sources: Rounaq Jahan, ‘Genocide in Bangladesh’, in Samuel Totten et al. (eds.), Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts, (2012)
Adam Jones, Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction, (2006)
Sumit Ganguly, Conflict Unending: India-Pakistan Tensions Since 1947, (2001)
Sahidul Hasan Khokon, ‘Pakistan Army lined up Hindus, tied their hands, rained bullets and set them ablaze’, India Today, (2021), https://www.indiatoday.in/interactive/immersive/bangladesh-liberation-war-part-4/
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comExposing North Koreas Diabolical AtrocitiesA Day In History2023-08-18 | North Korea is not your typical communist state. It strangely includes racial and social prejudice in how its society is formed, and what's more, includes the unborn in its classification system, called “Songbun.”
Though there are literally dozens of classifications within North Korean, there are three basic categories: “Core,” “Wavering,” and “Hostile.”
People in the “Core” category are desencdants of those who fought against the Japanese from 1910-45, people whose family were workers, peasants or laborers when North Korea became a country, and high-ranking party members and their families, almost all of whom had ancestors from the groups just mentioned.
The “Wavering” group are the bulk of the North Korean population, who are watched not only by the secret police, but by each other, and have their files and lives investigated every two years. The last group are those who are descended from former landowners – considered to have taken advantage of the working classes for centuries, and criminals. Those who break the law, and this includes people who try to flee the DPRK, have tainted their descendants for at least three generations – and there is virtually nothing they can do about it. One other group often categorized in the “hostile” group are those with Chinese or Japanese blood. As you can see, North Korea bears more resemblance to Hitler's Germany in the value it places on “the blood,” than anyone in North Korea would admit.
As in every system, there are likely exceptions, and it's easy to imagine that someone who performs an unusual act of bravery in the military service is going to be moved up the ladder, but there is so much we don't know about the inner workings about North Korea that it's difficult to say.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThis Genocide Was Too Evil To Comprehend (Warning* Mature Audiences Only)A Day In History2023-08-10 | From 1885-1961, Rwanda was a possession of two European countries, Germany, from 1885-1919, and Belgium, from 1919 to 1961. The same held true in neighboring Burundi, which was also populated by Hutu and Tutsi peoples. During this period, European ideas about ethnicity and racial superiority permeated much of Africa. To many Europeans, there was no doubt, white Europeans were superior to black Africans. BUT, people are people, no matter what their color, and it doesn't take much for one group of people to hate another, even if they look very similar to each other.
There is a long complicated history of tribal relations and tribal warfare in Rwanda, and the area around it. To the north, Uganda has had issues between different ethnic groups, and to the south, in Burundi, ethnic tensions got so high in 1972 and 1993 that hundreds of thousands of people were killed. In Burundi and Rwanda, the two dominant ethnic groups are the Hutu and the Tutsi. Caught between them in Rwanda are the Twa, a pygmy tribe who likely are the areas indigenous people.
The Tutsi and Hutu moved into the region hundreds of years ago, and by the 16th century, had established a variety of different kingdoms in the area. From the 16th to the 19th century there were times of ethnic violence between the two groups. Though the level and frequency of this ethnic violence decreased when Europeans took over, tensions often ran high and violence did occur.
There were many reasons for the tensions between Hutu and Tutsi. One of them was simple. Power. Hand in hand with power is economics. And finally there are the illogical reasons that people use to set themselves apart or claim “superiority” over another around the world – appearance, education (or the lack of it), or just plain differences that the two groups simply don't understand, care to understand or willfully put down.
When the Germans, and later Belgians moved in, they largely controlled the ethnic violence in the area, mostly out of concern that large-scale violence would interfere with the economy of the area, which both nations profited from. Unfortunately, a by-product of European control were European ideas about race and ethnicity
#rwanda #history #rwandagenocide
Bibliography
"The Burundi Killings of 1972." Last modified June 27, 2008. https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/burundi-killings-1972.html.
McCoy, Jason. "Making violence ordinary: radio, music and the Rwandan genocide." African Music : Journal of the International Library of African Music 8, no. 3 (2009), 85-96. doi:10.21504/amj.v8i3.1829.
"The Rwanda "Genocide Fax": What We Know Now." The National Security Archive. Accessed April 30, 2023. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB452/.
Yanagizawa-Drott, David. "Propaganda and Conflict: Evidence from the Rwandan Genocide *." The Quarterly Journal of Economics 129, no. 4 (2014), 1947-1994. doi:10.1093/qje/qju020.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Diabolical Brutality Of King Leopold II (Warning* Mature Audiences Only)A Day In History2023-07-31 | The official title of the Belgian kings is “King of the Belgians.” In Belgium, there is a difference between the titles “King of Belgium” and the “King of the Belgians.” The first suggests that the monarch is the owner of all of the country's land. The second title implies that he simply “reigns” over the Belgians in the constitutional monarchy that's existed in the country since it separated from Holland and the “United Kingdom of the Netherlands” in 1830. The Belgian king, and its been a king, not a queen, since independence, was never an absolute monarch, though in the 19th century, the king had considerable more power and influence than King Philippe does today.
The problem for Leopold was that he really wanted to be that king – you know, the “your wish is my command, Sire” type king, and he could not be that kind of a king to the Belgians, who had gone through much debate, internal strife and some bloodshed to prevent that kind of absolute monarchy in Belgium.
Much of Western Europe was going through the “Second Age of Imperialism” in the latter part of the 19th century. Great Britain's empire spanned the globe – the largest empire the world has ever seen. The French controlled a great deal of Africa and parts of the Middle East. Italy had a small African empire. Holland had extensive colonies in the Pacific, most notably today's Indonesia. Even declining Spain and Portugal had colonies in Africa and the Far East in the late 1800s.
Some in Belgium call Leopold II “The Great Builder,” for in Belgium, he sponsored and promoted the building of new roads, public buildings and a variety of public works, many of which are still in existence. Many in the country believe that that was his purpose in attempting to gain the Congo River area for Belgium – to improve and modernize the vast forested territory. He also wanted to spread the Christian faith and to bring Western culture and technology to the area.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comExposing The Diabolical Atrocities Of Francisco Franco Of SpainA Day In History2023-07-23 | Download Rise Of Kingdoms: bit.ly/GreeceRoK_ADIH Fight for your civilization at the Civilization Clash Event to win an Apple Vision Pro and more prizes: https://www.rok.games/?kol=ADayInHistory Use the Promo Code “Greece4ROK" for 20 Silver Keys
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was born in El Ferrol, Spain, on December 4th 1892. His father’s military background and his mother’s devout Catholicism shaped the young Franco into a hardline traditionalist and after an uneventful childhood he entered a military school and progressed into the army. Despite a lackluster performance in the academy, Franco proved to be an incredible soldier in the field. He spent over a decade fighting in Morocco where he soared up the ranks, becoming Spain’s youngest Captain, Major, and then General in 1926. He was admired for his bravery and personal discipline that earned him the respect of his men and others in the military establishment. Franco settled into the command of Zaragoza General Military Academy and spent several years quietly teaching the next generation of Spanish officers, but events were transpiring that would lead Franco down a very different path.
In April 1931, King Alfonso XIII of Spain was deposed by elections and a new left-wing Republican government took power. The Republican government closed Franco’s academy and reassigned him to an insignificant post to get him out of the way. Across Spain, Catholic schools and charities were closed down, Catholic orders like the Jesuits were outlawed, and priests were imprisoned and sometimes killed by spontaneous left-wing violence. Things got so bad that Pope Pius XI publicly denounced Spain for its oppression of the Church. Cuts to the military were one thing, but these attacks of Catholicism infuriated many Spaniards like Franco, but he kept his head down and obeyed his orders for the time being.
Spanish voters made their opposition clear in 1933 when they voted a right-wing coalition into power. However, the existing government blocked the right-wing parties from entering government for over a year. Soon after, Socialist and Communist militias staged insurrections to prevent a right-wing takeover of the country. The worst of these was in Asturias where labor unions rose up and killed dozens of people including priests, businessmen, and soldiers in October 1934. The government needed someone to deal with them: they needed Franco.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comWhat Japan DOESNT Want You To Know About Their Korean InvasionA Day In History2023-07-14 | In 1894-5 Japan defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War. With that victory the Japanese had hoped that Korea, a territory that had been giving tribute to China for centuries, would fall under it's control. It didn't, because Imperial Russia had military and economic interests in Korea that it was willing to go to war to defend. So, in 1904-1905, Japan and Russia went to war, partly over the question of who would be the dominant power in Korea. To the shock of almost everyone except the Japanese, Russia was defeated, and in the Treaty of Portsmouth which ended the war and which won American president Theodore Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in sponsoring and hammering out the treaty, Japan was recognized as having control over Korea, though no one asked the Koreans about it.
The Japanese “control” of Korea fell a little short of outright conquest, however, and by 1910, the Japanese had managed to put themselves in an economic, political and military position that made Korea an occupied Japanese colony.
Korea from 1910-WWII
As we've said before on this channel, we've got nothing against the Japanese people or government of today, or since 1945, but it's important to know that there are parts of Japanese history that are downplayed or even completely ignored in Japanese textbooks, and that's not right. The United States government has played a role in this too, as you know from watching our other videos. After WWII, the USA, while dominating Japan, was still wary of alienating its people, for it needed Japan as an outpost against the Soviet Union and Communist China in Asia, and so the history of the Japanese occupation of Korea is little known outside of the Korean peninsula and China.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comOperation Meeting-House: The Bombing Deadlier Than The Atomic BombA Day In History2023-07-08 | By early 1945, the outcome of the Second World War was obvious to anyone. Italy had been knocked out, Germany was retreating on all fronts, and the Americans were within striking distance of the Japanese mainland.
The question the Allies faced was how to end the war as quickly, and with as few casualties, as possible. This thinking would lead to one of the most controversial Allied actions of the war: the fire-bombing of Tokyo, codenamed Operation Meetinghouse.
In this video, we’ll explore what Operation Meetinghouse was and ask whether it was the right call. If you enjoy this video, don’t forget to like and subscribe for more videos like this one.
Lead-Up
With the conquest of Guam and the Marianas in early 1945, American bombers could now reliably strike Japan itself. Allied leadership began to consider how they might undertake an invasion of Japan once Germany had been defeated in Europe. Certainly, Japan would have to be weakened first. Its industrial capacity had to be crippled and its population demoralized to pave the way for a full-scale invasion.
This was the issue faced by Major General Curtis LeMay, Commander of the 21st Bomber Command in the Pacific. LeMay addressed this problem the same way the Allies had solved the issue in Europe, with the most American solution of all: bombs.
LeMay and the US military leadership knew that a strategic bombing campaign on Japanese cities would cripple their industry and demoralize the population, much as it had done in Germany. These bombing campaigns would inevitably target civilians, but this didn’t phase LeMay or any of the US leadership. After all, the entire conflict had seen atrocity upon atrocity inflicted on non-combatants, and, ultimately, the US believed that the civilian costs were worth the potential saving of military lives.
Sources Curits LeMay and MacKinlay Kantor, Mission with LeMay: My Story, (1965) Edwin Hoyt, Inferno: The Firebombing of Japan, March-August 15, 1945, (2000) Marc Selden, ‘A Forgotten Holocaust: US Bombing Strategy, the Destruction of Japanese Cities & the American Way of War from World War II to Iraq’, in Yuki Tanaka and Marilyn B. Young (eds.), Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth-Century History, (2009), pp77-96 United States Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report (Pacific War), 1st July 1946, anesi.com/ussbs01.htm
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.comThe Unspeakable Things That Happened In Lebensborn: The Nazi Breeding Farm?A Day In History2023-07-02 | The Lebensborn began in 1935, the same year that the Nazis passed their anti-Semitic “Nuremberg Laws.” By 1935, Hitler and Himmler felt strong enough in their position in Germany to begin what would eventually end in the murder of six million Jews and five million other people in the Holocaust. Historians still debate whether or not Hitler and Himmler actually began this process with the idea of killing millions of people, but we do know that at the very least, they wanted to remove all “un-German” people from the lands that Germany controlled or would control throughout the war. If you are a racial eugenicist, someone who believes that unwanted traits can be scientifically or criminally removed or bred out of a population, it's only logical that you would encourage the reproduction of the people you wanted.
What did Lebensborn do?
Officially, Lebensborn focused on three things: providing a healthy and safe environment for healthy “Aryan” mothers, placing children with childless German couples if the mother could not care for them, and canvassing the countries Germany conquered during the war.
The unofficial part is where most people stop learning. Since the end of the war, the Lebensborn has been called the “Nazi Breeding Program,
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.com