The clash between peoples and their ideas
Was neither new, nor unexpected in roots
The revolutions and wars planted bitter seeds
And the conflict between them was to bloom
One side slaughtered others to create room
For colonies of workers the foe would bleed
And time doesn't forgive, nor does it forget
The world isn't a story one man tells
The struggle to the death of two groups
Left a world broken, and in debt
But heroes still rose, people found hope
Even if in the end there was regret
For in the middle of the battle
There is much to distract
But to defeat a machine, one must act
When slavery and death are the normal
People with fire must stand up and fight
When hatred and slaughter continue
Then a liberator must rise to the task
Author note:
I've had a number of people ask me why do I fixate upon the Second World War. Some of them also point out that I seem fascinated by the war between the Soviets and Nazi Germany. The observations are perfectly accurate. The reasons for my interest and fascination might surprise the reader.
The last global conflict, of at least 7 years of actions upon many continents was the Second World War. As such, the amount of historical documents, images, commentary and analysis is extreme, compared to any other mass conflict. I tend to have read so much about WW2 that on a daily basis I have new angles of interest for research.
The research for one interested will find aspects of war plants, the seeds of future war crops to consume... various issues and ideas regarding the conflict never stop being valid, but even then, new information will modify the ideas and knowledge I have. The best historians of the era allow in depth consideration of the politics, of the purely military aspects of that conflict's history, or social history of the home front, all of these allow the reader or researcher to bear more fruit of the investigation harvest.
(Click to enlarge images)
I've also an interest in the specific area of conflict featuring Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. This has existed since my earliest years, as, I was told growing up that the Soviets were America's enemy, and yet, it was America that had invaded and fought Russians on Russian soil and in WW2 the US and UK would not have won or would have won with worse results without the Soviet Union's participation in the conflict as an allied nation.
For me the most deeply intriguing issue with the conflict, was what happens when modern war is fought with the savage, nearly bestial, violence that few wars show in such stark detail. Fighting with clubs or sword, armor or shield, is violence, but tanks, flamethrowers, fighter planes, bombers, rockets, and more, with the same sort of abandon, is awe inducing from a standpoint of history, political ideologies, and a lack of concern for civility or honor in combat. To put it simply, the war between the USSR and Nazi Germany was so extreme, it allows a greater understanding of all wars, due to the clarity of motives, the large scale of battle and the extremes of bad behavior found in it.
Lastly, as an American I've regretted the fact that most people and theorists in the West, until the Cold War ended and the Berlin Wall fell, as well as in the recent present, look at the Soviets or Russians as being the present enemy with a purity of view. The reality is far more nuanced.
"For more than two decades the Jewish Bolshevik regime in Moscow had tried to set fire not merely to Germany but to all of Europe ... The Jewish Bolshevik rulers in Moscow have unswervingly undertaken to force their domination upon us and the other European nations and that is not merely spiritually, but also in terms of military power ... Now the time has come to confront the plot of the Anglo-Saxon Jewish war-mongers and the equally Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik centre in Moscow!" Adolf Hitler
"Comrades, Red Army and Red Navy men, commanders and political instructors, men and women guerrillas! The whole world is looking to you as a force capable of destroying the brigand hordes of German invaders. The enslaved peoples of Europe under the yoke of the German invaders are looking to you as their liberators. A great mission of liberation has fallen to your lot. Be worthy of this mission! The war you are waging is a war of liberation, a just war." Joseph Stalin
