Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

Sunday, February 4, 2024

February 4, 1824. Thomas Jefferson to Rev. Jared Sparks.

 



The topic was African slaves in the United States, and what to do about/with them.  Jefferson advocated for establishing an American colony in Africa.

Sparks was a very early Unitarian minister who had served as the Chaplain for the House of Representatives, and who would go on to serve as the President of Harvard.  He died in 1866 at the age of 76, having therefore had a life span which would have overlapped the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War.  Fairly typically for the era, he'd been married twice, his first wife having been taken by death when they'd been married only three years.


Sunday, January 21, 2024

What Western European cultures are fascinated by, and what the rest of the world is not.

Terry Mattingly's Get Religion blog, which have linked in here on the side, states something that we've already stated, but in a more in-depth article.

Or maybe it's something we've posed as a question.

Christianity is not a European religion.  Indeed, Europeans, in the form of Romans and Greeks, at first opposed it.

Christianity, and certainly the original form of Christianity, Apostolic Christianity, of which all the Orthodox and Catholics are part, came out of the Middle East and in fact it never left it.  The first Catholics, which is to say the first Christians, were at the very first all in the Roman province of Palestine.  Pretty soon they were in Syria, where they were first called Christians, and Egypt.  In the Apostolic Age Christianity, which again is to say Catholicism, made it all the way to India, and of course it also made it to Rome.  Rome was the early site of the head of the Church, because it was the center of the most powerful secular entity in the world, the Roman Empire, but other localities were major diocesan seats as well.  The last Apostolic Christian church in North Africa prevailed until the 1400s, the same century that the Moors were expelled from Spain, and the same century that the Church was established in Sub Sarah Africa.  Catholicism was so strong in Angola that pre Revolution slave rebellion in the Southern English Colonies of North America saw a Catholic Angolan band rise up and bolt for Catholic Florida.

So why, some of us have asked, is there so much attention on homosexuality in today's Church?

Seem unconnected?  It isn't.

Homosexuality is relatively rare in the world, but it is most common in European cultures.  There are a number of reasons for this.  For one thing, the Western world is rich, and it's used its wealth in pecular ways impacting living arrangements.  Basic aspects of adult life common throughout human history and in every culture have been badly warped in post World War Two, or maybe post World War One, or maybe as part of the Enlightenment, European cultured world.  While consumption of food, working, and the basic reproductive nature of humans is the same at an elemental level for people everywhere, and at all times, in the rich society of post 1945 Western Culture, there's an entertainment element to all of it.  People do these things to be "fulfilled", which in the end often tends to mean that their reproductive organs pretty much play the same role as a Nintendo joystick.  People have completely lost the connective and reproductive aspect to sex itself, which naturally leads to all sorts of bored playing with it.  We have, in this context, all become characters on MXC.

Additionally, as the West developed it got into warehousing of men, and sometimes women, for various reasons.  In the movie version of Pasternak's classic, Dr. Zhivago, the Orthodox Priest, in taking Lara's confession, warned her that sex was strong and that "only marriage can contain it".  As we've built societies that postpone marriage by operation of social pressure and economics, we can't be surprised that premarital sex became common.  Likewise, as we warehoused young men in various fashion. . .all male schools, all male institutions, etc., a certain percentage seek relief where they can find it.  Like most disordered behavior, the initial inclination probably isn't really very strong, but once people find relief in it, that takes over.  People don't take up drinking a quart of Jim Beam all in one setting.

So at this point the rich West has a pretty messed up relationship with sex in general, and for that matter, with nature and life in general.

And it's in a rocketing decline.

So why so much attention to the Fr. James Martin's of the world?  Why does the Papacy address this small demographic rather than, so far, addressing the effective schism of the German church, which has gone even further?

Mattingly notes:

"The Church of Africa is the voice of the poor, the simple and the small," wrote Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, the former head of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. "It has the task of announcing the Word of God in front of Western Christians who, because they are rich, equipped with multiple skills in philosophy, theological, biblical and canonical sciences, believe they are evolved, modern and wise in the wisdom of the world."

Mattingly also notes:

Catholic debates over LGBTQ+ issues are crucial, he [ Rev. Chris Ritter] said, "because if you want to spot low-fertility, low-faith cultures in Europe and elsewhere, you look at how and when they legalized and legitimized same-sex marriage. That will give you a good idea of what is happening. … Just look for large numbers of secular old people."

And that gets back to what I noted the other day. The West, in every fashion, is in decline.  By mid-century that will be more obvious than it is now, and that's not long.  In our feebleness, we've become self obsessed and lost a grasp of the existential.

This won't last forever.  Our self extermination by confusing entertainment with living is assuring it will not.  And, by extension, the unique tragedy of homosexuality, and the related plagues that endorsing rather than sympathizing with that tragedy has brought on, won't last long as major issues much longer either.  Society really doesn't need to be wringing its hands so much over this.

For that matter, we can suppose it won't be long until the occupant of St. Peter's Chair was born in Africa once again. . .and that will not be a bad thing.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Lex Anteinternet: The West. Was, No, he didn't.

In an age of relativism, orthodoxy is the only possible rebellion left.

Dr Peter Kreeft

Lex Anteinternet: No, he didn't.:  A headline: Pope Francis signals openness to Catholic Church blessing of same-sex unions. Marriage remains off table He didn't say that...

It's striking how much of the angst those of us in the West endure on a daily basis, in everything, is unique to us.

The Western world, that is.

The entire gender based who is attracted to whom, and gender confusion, is a Western, largely European (of which European Americans are part) thing.

We aren't the entire world.

And we're an eclipsing part of it.

In terms of religion, it's orthodoxy, not what we in the west are experiencing at some levels (but are on others), that's on the rise.  In Africa, the churches, Catholic and Protestant, are orthodox.  And in terms of Catholicism, on the rise.

Culturally, the entire self obsessed gender thing, well that's our deal too.

And economically, we're not once we once were, and will get less so.

And perhaps that's a good thing.

In the Catholic world, it's already the case that parishes are often served by orthodox African priests.  In the Anglican World, the conservatives look towards Africa as well.  As the generation that came of age in the 60s and 70s ages out, much of this will be much more evident.

As will the rise of cultural conservatism in younger generations.  Just the other day, a survey of Australian Catholic women revealed that younger women were more conservative and less willing to make changes in the Church than older ones. And while this may surprise, it's large the case that post Boomer generations are weary of the experimentation to a larger degree than might be suspected, where they aren't being ripped up by it in the secular world.

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Movies In History: The Wild Geese

Some time ago I started listening to the excellent Fighting On Film podcast by two British gentlemen.  It's excellent.

This 1978 movie is one of the first movies they reviewed, and apparently it has an enormous cult following in the UK, particularly amongst military movie fans and British servicemen.  It's a guilty pleasure of mine, and I was surprised to find that I'd never reviewed it.

Set in the 1970s at the tail end of the mercenary era in Africa, the plot involves a group of British mercenaries, all with British Army backgrounds, who are recruited to serve in a commando mission to free a secretly imprisoned African leader.  Outfitted with merchant banker money, the band assembled in the UK and trains in Africa, outfitted in period British uniforms (but with the members retaining the berets and cap badges of their old units), and generally European NATO firearms of the era.  They preform their mission of rescuing the president, only to be betrayed, and then must fight their way, basically, to Rhodesia.

Coming just at the end of that period in time in which there had been in fact a lot of European mercenaries with roles in Africa, and in fact advised by "Mad" Mike Hoare, who was one of the more famous ones, the film had a certain air of credibility to it.  It's loved, as noted, by British military film aficionados.

Frankly, the film ain't great.

It has a good cast, including Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Kruger.   The rough outline of the plot, taken from a novel, isn't bad.  The equipment is fascinating.  

But, the production values are frankly low, and the actors, save for Kruger and Moore, are past their prime and not credible in their roles at all. Burton, as Col. Faulkner, was well into his alcoholic demise at the time and looks like he'd not make it more than a few 100 yards into the bush.  Harris, who looked vibrant a decade prior in Major Dundee, doesn't look much better.  It just doesn't work.

Still, like Major Dundee (which is much better), there's just enough there, there, that the film is worth watching and somehow compelling.  It's heavily flawed, but you can almost see the move that might have been.

In terms of historical accuracy, we'll just note that there was a lot of mercenary action in Africa in the 60s and 70s as the old European empires fell apart.  Professional European soldiers, not all of them the most reputable, found roles in those wars, most notably in the Congo.  A certain cache developed about them that found itself expressed in novels and films, with this being one of the better known ones.

In terms of material details, the producers of this film chose to outfit the actors as if they were a British army unit of the time, and they look like one.  That probably isn't how an actual mercenary outfit would look, but as is often noted about this film, these guys do look good in the uniforms, physical decline aside.  The weapons chosen are a mixture of older British pattern uniforms and selective fire FALS, which are clearly not being really fired, as the recoil from a FAL on full automatic is pretty heavy.

All in all, it's entertaining, but not great.

Friday, September 9, 2022

Donkeys


Donkeys transformed human history as essential beasts of burden for long-distance movement, especially across semi-arid and upland environments. They remain insufficiently studied despite globally expanding and providing key support to low- to middle-income communities. To elucidate their domestication history, we constructed a comprehensive genome panel of 207 modern and 31 ancient donkeys, as well as 15 wild equids. We found a strong phylogeographic structure in modern donkeys that supports a single domestication in Africa ~5000 BCE, followed by further expansions in this continent and Eurasia and ultimately returning to Africa. We uncover a previously unknown genetic lineage in the Levant ~200 BCE, which contributed increasing ancestry toward Asia. Donkey management involved inbreeding and the production of giant bloodlines at a time when mules were essential to the Roman economy and military.

Abstract, The genomic history and global expansion of domestic donkeys.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Thursday, July 20, 1922. Echoes of wars.

A press photographer in Washington, D. C. took a photo of men on motorcycles.

Another took a photograph of the dedication to Lt. Samuel J. Harris, U.S. World War One veteran who had died during an insurrection in Lithuania, where he was serving as a volunteer.

Around 1,000 Americans had volunteered to serve the Baltic nation against the Reds in the same time period.



German colonies were transferred officially to European powers under League of Nations' mandates.

Limerick was taken from the IRA by the Irish Army.  The Irish Army also shelled IRA held Waterford.

Saturday, October 23, 2021

A giant Shelley's Owl. . .

an African species standing about two feet high, has been clearly seen and photographed for the first time in 150 years.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

August 20, 1619. Slavery comes to British America

The date isn't known with precision.  Only that it occurred in August.  But this date, August 20, is used as the usual date for the event when a slaver arrived off the port at Port Comfort, Virginia, carrying 20 to 30 African who were held in bondage and sold into slavery.

The event marked the return of the English to being a slave owning society.  Slavery had been abolished by the Normans after conquering Anglo Saxon Britain in 1066 and while it's common to see claims of other types of servitude, including involuntary servitude, equating with slavery, they do not.  Slavery is unique.

And late European chattel slavery, which commenced with the expansion of European powers into African waters and into the Americas, was particularly unique and in someways uniquely horrific.

Slavery itself was not introduce to African populations by Europeans; they found it there upon their arrival, but they surprisingly accommodated themselves to participating in it very rapidly.  Europeans had been the victims of Arab slavers for a long time themselves, who raided both for the purposes of acquiring forced labor, and fairly horrifically, for forced concubinage, the latter sort of slave having existed in their society for perhaps time immemorial but which had been licensed by Muhammad in the Koran.  Arab slave traders had been quite active in Africa early on, purchasing slaves from those who had taken them as prisoners of war, an ancient way of dealing with such prisoners, and the Europeans, starting really with the Portuguese, seemingly stepped right into it as Europe's seafaring powers grew.

Having waned tremendously in Europe following the rise of Christianity, European powers somehow found themselves tolerating the purchase and transportation for resale of Africans for European purchasers by the 15th Century, with most of those purchasers being ultimately located in the Americas.

The English were somewhat slow to become involved.  It wasn't clear at first if slavery was legal under English Common Law and the English lacked statutory clarification on the point such as had been done with other European powers.  Early English decisions were unclear on the point. However, starting with the 17th Century, the institution worked its way into English society, even as opposition to it grew from the very onset.

The importation of slaves to English populations was not limited to North American, but it was certainly the absolute strongest, in the English speaking world, in England's New World colonies.  While every European seafaring power recognized slavery by the mid 17th Century, the really powerful markets were actually limited to the Caribbean, English North American, and Portuguese Brazil.  European slavery existed everywhere in the New World, and no country with colonies in North America was exempt from it, but it was strongest in these locations.

And slavery as reintroduced by Europeans was uniquely abhorrent.  Slavery, it is often noted, has existed in most advanced and semi advanced societies at some point, but slavery also was normally based in warfare and economics nearly everywhere.  I.e., it was a means of handling conquered armies, conquered peoples, and economic distress.  The word "servant" and "slave" in ancient Greek was the same word for this latter reason.  In eras in which resources were tight and there was little other means of handling these situations, slavery was applied as the cruel solution.

But it wasn't raced based.  The slavery that the Europeans applied was. Even Arab slavery, which was ongoing well before the Europeans joined in and continued well after, was not based on race but status.  If a lot of Arab slaves were black in the 17th Century, that was mostly due to an environment existing which facilitated that. Earlier, a lot of forced concubine Arab slaves, for example, were Irish.  The Arabs were equal opportunity slavers.

Europeans were not.  European slaves were nearly always black, and even examples of trying to note occasions in which Indians were held as slaves are very strained.  And because it was raced based, it took on a unique inhuman quality.  Slavery wasn't justified on the basis that the slaves were prisoners of war that had fallen into that state, but that the state was better than death, nor were they held on the basis that they had sold themselves or had been sold into servitude due to extreme poverty, and that was better than absolute destitution.  It wasn't even justified on a likely misapplied allowance granted by Muhammad for slaves that were held due to war, and could be used for carnal purposes, reinterpreted (I'm guessing) for convenient purposes.  It was simply that they were black and, therefore, something about that made them suitable for forced labor.

And forced labor it was.  Servants in the ancient world had often been servants and even tutors.  While it did become common in North America to use slaves as household domestics, most slaves in North America performed heavy agricultural labor their entire lives.  It was awful and they worked in awful conditions.

And it tainted the early history of the country in a way that's ongoing to this day.  With opposition to its reintroduction right from the onset, but the late 18th Century it was clear that its abhorrent nature meant it was soon to go out everywhere.  Almost every European country abolished it very early in the 19th Century, which is still shockingly late.  It was falling into disfavor in the northern part of the British North American by the Revolution, in part because agriculture in the North was based on a developed agrarian pattern while in the South the planter class engaged in production agriculture (making it ironic that the yeoman class would be such a feature of the American south).  The pattern of agriculture had meant that there were comparatively few slaves in the north.  This is not to say it was limited to the South, however.  Slavery even existed in Quebec.

With the Revolution came the belief that slavery would go out, but it didn't.  By that time the American South had a huge black slave population.  Slavery would if anything become entrenched in the South, where most of the American black population lived, and it would take the worst war in the nation's history to abolish it.  So horrific was that war that even today the descendants of those who fought to keep men slaves sometimes strain the confines of history to find an excuse for what their ancestors did.  And following their Emancipation, the nation did a poor job of addressing the racism that had allowed it to exist.  It wasn't until the second quarter of the 20th Century that things really began to change, with the Great Migration occurring first, followed by a slow improvement in status following World War One, followed by a rapid one after World War Two that culminated in the Civil Rights Era of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

But the stain of slavery lingers on in innumerable ways even now.  Having taken to slavery in 1619, and having tolerated it for over two hundred years thereafter, and having struggled with how to handle the residual effects of that for a century thereafter, we've still failed to really absorb the impact of the great sin of our colonial predecessor.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?"
We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our chlidren are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exhalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Rev. Martin Luther King, August 28, 1963.

Saturday, March 2, 2019

March 2, 1919. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in Berlin and Lila Lee in Puppy Love.

On this day in 1919, the German survivors of Germany's commitment to East Africa marched under the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin under their commander, General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck.  Berlineres put aside their internecine strife to turn out in huge numbers to welcome them as returning heroes.

War time poster featuring Von Lettow-Vorbeck.

Von Lettow-Vorbeck, who had entered the German army in 1890, had commended German forces, which contained 3,000 German troops and 11,000 African troops, highly successfully against British and Portuguese forces in Africa.  He is regarded as largely undefeated in a wide ranging war that had guerrilla aspects.  His success caused him to be widely admired by the Germans and the Allies at the time, ignoring the fact that his troops lived off the land and were responsible for stripping the countryside where they were to the detriment of Africans, who had little real stake in the outcome of the war.  This resulted in famine in some instances which produced predictable results when the Spanish flu struck Africa.  In his defense, his forces were grossly outnumbered the entire time, facing 300,000 combined Allied troops (including colonial troops) which left his options somewhat impaired.  365,000 civilians are estimated to have died by famine and disease in areas in which his troops operated due to the stripping operations of his troops.  He surrendered under orders following the war.  His surviving German troops were ultimately repatriated by the British shortly before this date.

Von Lettow-Vorbeck thereafter took command of a unit in the Reichswehr and subsequently put down a Sparticist uprising in Hamburg without bloodshed, an impressive feat.  He also married for the first time at age 49, and started a family.

He was associated, at least by his right wing sympathies, with the Kapp Putsch, however, and thereafter lost his commission in the German republican army.  He thereafter took up a civilian occupation as an import export businessman.  He served in the Reichtag as a conservative politician in 1928 through 1930 and was offered the ambassadorship to the UK by the Hitler in in 1935 but he rudely declined as he was adamantly anti Nazi.  He was rendered destitute by World War Two but his finances recovered after the war.  His two sons were killed in the war, but his two daughters survived.  He died in 1964, having out lived his wife who was ten years his junior, by a decade, the same year the Bundestag authorized the back back of his former African troops to be paid, by which time there were less than 400 living.

The romance that's been attached to the war in Africa, which was no doubt not very romantic for those who endured it, and his subsequent rejection of the Nazis at a great personal cost to himself, has lead Von Lettow-Vorbeck to have a lingering positive reputation both in Germany and outside of it. 


Paramount released the film Puppy Love on this day in 1919, featuring Lila Lee in one of her first roles.  Lee would go on to be a major film star.  She was just 14 at the time that this movie premiered.  Lee made the transition to sound pictures, but her star did fade a bit during that time, in part because of alcoholism, and in part because she had a long diagnosed condition of tuberculous.  She stopped making  movies in 1938, only to return to film for one final time in 1967.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

And the war ends . . . in Africa. Prosperity means abolishing the eight hour day? Kaiser to be "brot" (the German word for bread . . . or a sandwich) to justice? Wilson taking jars? Eh? November 14, 1918.

As odd as it may seem, it was this day, November 14, 1918, when the Germans surrendered in Africa.

It took that long for news to reach British and German forces in Zambia, where they were still engaged in hostilities up until that time.

Paul von Lettow Vorbeck, commander of the German forces in Africa who would return to Germany a hero in March 1919 and actually be allowed to lead his returning troops through the Brandenburg Gate in full German African regalia.  He went on to be an anti Nazi monarchist right wing politician in the Reichtag and was reduced to poverty during World War Two, living for a time after it, on packages from his former enemies Smuts and Meinertzhagen, although his fortunes recovered before he died in 1964.

The same day was one for sort of odd headlines, or at least oddly spelled headlines, in the Casper newspaper.



Elsewhere various types of celebrations were going on.

Red Cross sponsored play "Democracy Victorious" being presented in France at Base Hospital No. 10.




Friday, May 25, 2018

The Organization for African Unity formed, May 25, 1963



Yes, usually we track events occurring in 1918 or 1968, but not always.  For reasons of our own, we looked into events of 1963 a bit today.

The big event today was the formation of the Organization of African Unity.  The left leaning organization was Africa centric and came in as colonialism went out.

The OAU itself went out in 2005.  It's results were pretty mixed, but then most similar organizations had mixed records as well.  Worth noting, while hardly ever noted, Africa all in all is doing very well today and is really a rising region of the globe. . .and a giant one at that.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Portugal enters into participation in World War One: August 7, 1916

Portugal entered World War One on the Allied side on this day in 1916.

We don't think much of Portugal's role in the war, but one of them would be take part in the combat in Africa, which we also tend not.  A good thread (I think there are actually several) on this topic is found on the excellent Society of the Military Horse website.

 Portuguese soldiers disembark in France,December 1916.

Twelve Thousand Portuguese soldiers died in World War One, including African soldiers serving Portugal in  Africa.   That's a small number compared to most other combatants, but it was a significant number in the context of their role in the war.  The war, additionally, caused food shortages at home resulting in 82,000 deaths.  The Spanish flu killed an additional 138,000, but that likely would have occurred anyhow.

 Portuguese solders leaving for Angola.

This date is a bit confusing, as technically Portugal had been at war since March 9, when Germany declared war on it due to it having confiscated German ships in Portuguese ports upon request of the British.  Portugal had a long running friendly connection with the United Kingdom dating back to the Napoleonic Wars.  This understandingly provoked a German reaction.  Portugal replied with its own declaration of war and began to organize its forces for Western Front action.  It did not immediately send troops however.  Still, a war aim of its own, the return of Kionga Mozambique from German occupation, occupied since 1894, was incorporated in the Allied war aims by June 9, 1916.

 Portuguese soldiers loading a mortar.  In combat the Portuguese in Europe resembled the British in appearance from whom they had secured some equipment.

On this date the Portuguese accepted a British invitation to actually participate in the war, which may seem odd, but it required the act of the Portuguese parliament.  It's participation in the war in Europe was always limited and in some ways its participation in Africa was more significant.  Perhaps the most famous event associated with Portugal and World War One did not involve combat at all, however, and was the apparitions at Fatima, which commenced with the visitation of an angel in the Spring of 1916, and which continued in May 1917 with the visitation of Mary. The final apparitional phenomenon was  the October 1917 Miracle of the Sun which was witnessed by a large number of people.

Monday, August 3, 2015

While the world is wringing its hands over a Zimbabwean lion. . .

the horror of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe goes on largely without notice.

This story broke while I was away from the news for an extended time (which I have come to more and more appreciate).  So, I return to the news with the story in full swing.  Many are in a frothy righteous indignation over the shooting of "Cecil the Lion".

I haven't followed the story that closely, but it does appear that the stalking of this lion was out of bounds.  He appears to have been tagged and if what little I know about the story is correct, it was an illegal hunt.  But the real news broke because the lion was known and so it's a convenient foil for the "animal rights" movement, a deeply unnatural, indeed anti natural, movement that despises people, and animals as they really are.

But the really amazing aspect of this is that people are seriously stating that the alleged law breaker should be extradited to Zimbabwe.  Seriously? People didn't work themselves into a lather about Amanda Knox, who is accused of killing a human being, in such a fashion and demand that she be extradited to democratic Italy, and they're arguing somebody should be extradited to the madness of Zimbabwe?

If anyone should be extradited in association with Zimbabwe, it's the president of that failed pathetic state, Robert Mugabe.  Mugabe took over the leadership of the country when Rhodesia surrendered itself to the inevitable, and the country looked to be full of democratic promise.  He took a prosperous land, with multiple ethnicities, and has presided over a government that has used violence against its political opponents (including his movements former brothers in arms), and which has engaged in the expropriation of land. He's destroyed the economy and made life miserable for its inhabitants, so that a person can truly say that, unlike South Africa, the country was truly better off before the revolution.

Africa has progressed enormously over the past 30 years.  Zimbabwe, however, has regressed and is a joke.  Extradite?  Yes, do so, but extradite Robert Mugabe to the Hague.

How is that people can care so much for one animal, while ignoring so much about their fellow human animals?  And how is it that people can stand, at least in theory, for the bringing of democratic rule to a nation, and then care so pathetically little when it fails to take root?  Africa is full of hope, Zimbabwe full of despair, and we should be full of shame over our misdirected priorities.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Wednesday, January 14, 2024. Endless chain production and Out Of Africa.

Ford Motor Company introduced the endless chain for manufacturing vehicles, turning out a Model T in 93 minutes.  It was already using the assembly line.


Karen Blixen arrived in Kenya and, on the same day, married her Swedish cousin Bror Flixen-Finecke, thereby becoming a baroness.  She famously became the author of Out of Africa.


Blixen's father was a Danish army officer and parliamentarian who loved the outdoor life, and who authored a memoir featuring that which became a bit of a Danish classic, so she came by her writing skills naturally.  Like her to be husband, he also was given to affairs and had a daughter from a pre marriage affair in the United States with a Chippewa woman.  He suffered from having contacted syphilis in the United States.  He killed himself following impregnating one of his household maids, at which time Karen was only 9.

Blixen is still widely admired for that writing, and Out of Africa is an excellent book which was turned into an excellent film, so it's hardly noticed what a symbol of late state monarchy and empire she was.  A Dane who gained admittance to British Kenya, she did so only because she was a white immigrant at a time in which the benefits of flooding non-European lands with Europeans was not questioned.  Her marriage was really one of convenience, and it did not last with her husband being unfaithful, something that was so common amongst nobility that it was practically expected, but which also resulted in her being infected with syphilis.  Her farming activities were not really successful as much of the land that had been acquired was not suitable for it, with the original intent to have been ranching.  The land actually belonged to a family corporation, and not to the couple individually.

Baron Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke went on to marry three times, having asked for divorce from Karen and having obtained it against her wishes.  He was an author in his own right.