As an historian, I read a lot about the atrocities committed by man. Castrations, raids, violence physical, verbal and social. The brutal tactics of conquest, the simple ruthlessness of family, the never ending power of greed, lust and rough, brutal, boring, apathy. But out of all of these, there are a few periods, a few acts, so pointless, so brutal, so unbelievably and terribly human, that I cannot read about them without crying. Even after six years of academic studies, even after a dozen years of personal research and reading, I cannot think about the waste and terror and pain and not cry. They are: the Terror, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the invasion of Normandy, Operation Barbarosa and the American Civil War. Tonight, it was the Civil War, as I am reading a journal that my good friend Rony bought me. One of the worst things about the Civil War is the gap between how it is perceived and what it actually was. It is filled with the myth of brave leaders, mighty men and un-moving ideology. Im not saying those things werent real. Im not saying that acts of courage were not committed and Im not saying that some of them were not justified. But that war was won more by the ruthlessness of the North than by anything else (discipline, resources, logistics and superior firepower aside, all the technical means). The ruthless tactics of Grant and his subordinates, Sherman and Sheridan (both enshrined as tanks by the American military organization) left huge swaths of the country burned, razed and decimated. None were spared their men; civilians, farms, rail ways that were the veins that pumped the lifeblood of the area. Who knows how many died of the resulting hunger and deteriorating conditions? And the worst part is, they hated none of them. They hated none of them, remember that. They were calculating, they had found a new formula (actually, they had pretty good lessons from the Europeans in the 17th century, but leave me this narrative please) called the total war. And in the face of the cold calculation of that idea, none were to be spared in order to bring the South to their knees. Near the end of the campaign, their men descended on Shenandoah, in Virginia. There, in what was the bountiful and prospering breadbasket of the South, their men razed countless farms, killing, pillaging and raping as they went. On Shenandoah is one of the most famous American folk songs. There are many renditions of it online, some of them too sweet to bear. None of them convey my thoughts and feelings as well as this one, with Keith Richards and Tom Waits on the microphone. Just...listen to this, OK? Listen to this and picture me sitting in a room, charts of battles that speak of death and bloodshed spread before me. And I cant. I hate my fellow man and I cant. Not with this. https://youtube/watch?v=hJgWaqwZml4
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 23:08:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015