How did the Jews founding mythology play out over time?

 The Jews have never been a large people in number but they have played an outsize role in World History through their influence on Christianity, Islam and the moral framework of Western Civilization. . It is certainly on the mark to argue that Jewish history has been cursed with a litany of horrors and it is correct to note that Judaism with a history over three thousand years ultimately survived these horrors. Jewish history like that of any civilization has an origin rooted in mythology that I will outline.

 Its foundation story traces back to the Mesopotamian figure Abraham who was seen as the father of an ethical monotheism that contrasted with polytheism of the time. It was through Abrahamic lineage that followed through his descendants Isaac and Jacob that the Hebrew nation would emerge, developing in exile and then transforming into a people upon the Exodus from Egypt. 

Driven by the divine law granted to the people at Mount Sinai - with the inspired contribution of the greatest of all  prophets Moses -  the Hebrews gradually took over the promised land. It was Moses’ successor Joshua who led the war campaign as the 12 tribes - all claiming descent from  Abraham - conquered the land of Canaan that roughly comprised the territory between the Jordan River  in the East and the Mediterranean Sea in the West. Dates differ as to the time of the events that the mythology rests upon but the common wisdom is that they fall within the last half of the 2nd millennium BCE.

Although they adhered to the early codified law received at Sinai the tribes were not united and frequently clashed with one another. In addition there was external pressure from the various surrounding nations viz. The Philistines (or sea people), the Midanites, Amalekites and others. At the time heroic Judge figures arose to fight off the enemy. Samson, Deborah and Gideon are three of many who stood firm against the outsider enemies.  Prophets such as Samuel provided the moral authority and he would honor the later request by the people to anoint a monarch for a United Kingdom.

Saul from the tribe of Benjamin was selected but despite his  earlier success fighting the Canaanite foe he struggled against his own demons of depression and jealousy that led ultimately to his demise in the battle of Gilboa against the Philistines. His chosen successor was his former rival David, whose bravery versus the Sea People- in particular the slaying of the Philistine giant Goliath - had afforded him legendary status. It was David who finally put to an end the Philistine menace. He also expanded the United Kingdom of tribes building on from Saul’s gains by capturing  the city of Jerusalem from its Jebusite holders. This would serve to be his future capital with a perfect location in the heart of the land of the tribe of Judah from which the Jewish people gain their name.

Although he was a spiritual man and a very accomplished musician - legend has it that he wrote the book of Psalms -David’s reign was also marred by turbulence. He struggled with his own lustful urges  and showed misplaced  favoritism in  specific offspring. A rebellion by his son Absalom proved to be a traumatic event in his reign but ultimately and despite much repentance he was not deemed worthy by G-d of building the First Temple. His blood soaked reign disqualified him from such an honour even if he is regarded as arguably the greatest of all the Hebrew monarchs.

David’s successor Solomon built up his father’s kingdom to reach its zenith. He was a master of negotiations establishing numerous trade alliances as Israelites emerged as a dominant player in the region.  Legend has it that he formed a  strong relationship with the African Queen of Sheba .It was Solomon who built the elaborate First Temple in Jerusalem to house the Ark of the Covenant. He spared no expense in bringing in world class craftsmen and using some of the finest timber from Phoenicia (the famed cedars).

As a philosopher king Sololomon was known for his wisdom and there are indeed several books in the Jewish Tanakh (and Christian Old Testament)  that attribute legendary authorship to him.  But he also introduced ideas into his kingdom that were foreign to the Israelites. Many of these were the belief systems that his wives - of which he had many- brought to the Kingdom  from their exotic homelands. Like David much of the Solomonic stories are intertwined in the nebulous area where fact meets fiction but he does like his father come across as a larger than life character.

However after Solomon the situation in the Unified Kingdom deteriorated. Reheboam his  son and heir was a tactless and poor ruler. He ran into conflict with the  Northern tribes who would subsequently  break away under the leadership of Jeroboam to  form the Kingdom of Israel in 930 BCE. Excessive taxation was the prime driver for such a division although the accommodation of idolatry played an important role as well. The remaining tribes - Judah and Benjamin would form the kingdom of Judea with Jerusalem as their capital. The historical trajectories of a now divided kingdom would show different paths of development.

Israel for one was strongly influenced by the cult of Baal as described in the Elijah narrative. Judah adhered more strongly to the principles inherent in the Sinai revelation. 

It  would continue to be governed largely by rulers from the House of David (although some have disputed this). The Kingdom of Israel existed from 930 -772 BCE and was finally destroyed by the Assyrians (leading to the mythology of the Ten Lost tribes) in 722/721 BCE. Judea survived until the Babylonian exile of 587/586 BCE that followed the destruction of the First Temple. Today’s Jews are believed to be the descendents of the Ancient Kingdom of Judea.

In 538 BCE the Persian king Cyrus the Great allowed some Jews to return from exile in Babylon. Influenced by such figures as Ezra and Nehemiah they would go on to build the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Was the American Civil War worth it?

This topic continues to be a source of debate even in the modern era for it is difficult to place a metric onto the cost of human life. More Americans in fact died during the Civil War than all other conflicts that the nation has been involved in aggregated together (The Department of Defense claims that 1.1 million Americans have died in wars from the Revolutionary War to the conflicts of 2026 inconclusive).

The victims were not only the dead but their families. Lives were shattered and entire infrastructures and economies were destroyed. Sherman’s march to Savannah wrecked much of the South for decades to follow, rendering the challenge of the Reconstruction that followed to be a task of significant magnitude.  In fact one could easily make the case that the South spent the next century in recovery mode. While Slavery did end and the full benefits of the Constitution could be enjoyed by a greater swath of the population the necessary changes did not happen immediately. 

Southern States resisted integration and the backlash against the freed Black population was seen in the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and on a much more extensive level the Jim Crow Laws that followed. It would take until the Civil Rights era - almost a century later - for these vestiges of discrimination to be swept aside by both Legislative and Judicial action.

Yet the war did save the Union as Lincoln intended. He of course wouldn’t live long enough to see the outcomes of the immediate transition as he was assassinated by the Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, in 1864 but there is no doubt that if the Union had lost the United States would have undergone a binational fission setting up a scenario of differential north and south development. This in all likelihood would have limited the American influence globally with dangerous consequences if we extrapolate to the World Wars of the 20th century. A weakened United States offering a truncated stance for liberal democracy would undoubtedly play into the hands of the totalitarian ideologies of Fascism and Communism - both of which based on the death numbers alone took a tremendous toll on humanity several decades after Lincon’s death.

Some have made the point that the war was unnecessary in that Slavery,  being the flawed moral and economic system that it was, would have died a natural death in the United States as it held elsewhere. Given enough time slavery would have disappeared into detritus of history as it did in the British Empire. Perhaps this is true but time is a cruel demon and history offers little guarantees. Millions suffered as a result of slavery and the US could not saunter along as the divided nation it was through a likelihood of one ‘Bleeding Kansas’ after another as populations moved into expanding territories. These prolonged conflicts were just not worth it. The Civil War destroyed slavery, it came at a high price but the United States is better for it.

What were the principal events of the American Civil War?

 More Americans died in the Civil War (1861-1865) than any other conflict involving the United States. The number is estimated to be somewhere between 665,000 to 750,000 or  2% of the population. This would forever alter the landscape of American history impacting the nation’s political development even in the modern era.

The Confederate States were already identified in the previous answer (numbering 11 altogether). The Union was considerably larger and consisted of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. 

However divisions were not always that clear with many volunteers in Tennessee choosing to fight for the Union for example. Nevada and West Virginia (who broke away from Virginia proper) would later join the Union as well.Territories on the Union side also included: Colorado, Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah and Washington

Initially the South took advantage of their superior military leadership and more defined organizational skills by securing victories. The First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) was such a success. Although the Eastern theatre provided much of the fighting the war had a Western, Trans-Mississippi, Pacific and Lower Seaboard side to it as well. The battle of Hampton Roads (1862) that featured the ironclad battleships the Monitor and  Virginia was once such a sea battle. It was inconclusive in the end.

Phase One of the War saw the Confederates push the offensive with several victories as Lincoln reorganized his staff to select the most suitable candidates for the Union campaign. An early Union victory took place at Fort Donelson in 1862. This was followed up by a win at Shiloh where more Americans fell in battle  than in all previous wars combined.

However the South was not to be undone and they soon fought back with Robert R,Lee blocking the Union advance on the Southern capital of Richmond, Virginia. On September 17th, 1862 the bloodiest single day battle was fought at Antietam, which while technically a Union victory was not exploited in the immediate  aftermath by the North. However it was after Antietam that Libcoln issued the famous Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves across both sides.

 The South would hit back with a strong win at Fredericksburg in December of the year.but the Union were given a morale injection  with a strong showing at Stones River soon afterward. The Union though were not going to have it their own way as Lee Scored his most impressive victory at Chancellorsville in July 1863. Although it did come at the expense of the life of General Stonewall Jackson the victor at First Bull Run.

At the siege of Vicksburg, Union General Ulysses defeated the Confederate, essentially cutting the enemy's lines into two. This set the stage for the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest battle of the war. Fought between the 1st and 3rd of July 1863 Gettysburg ended the Confederate thrust northward permanently., However it came at the cost of 51,112 lives.  On November 19th, 1863 Abraham Lincoln would deliver the Gettysburg Address at a National Cemetery in Pennsylvania honouring the war dead, In it he reframed the war as a fight to preserve the Union and provide ‘a government for the people by the people.’The address placed strong emphasis on the 1776 Declaration of Independence.

The post-Gettysburg period was frustrating for the Union. They were defeated at Chickamauga in Georgia, had success at Chattanooga (opening the deep South) but came up against Confederate resistance at Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Wilderness, The War was appearing to settle into one of attrition as Lincoln faced a re-election vote in 1864. The common belief was that the Confederacy was hoping to cut a deal with what could be a John Frémont  presidency. 

Fortunately for Abe he had one ace up his sleeve - whose momentum building drive to the sea captured Atlanta in August 1864 virtually ensuring Lincoln of a Presidential victory. It was Sherman’s scorched earth policy that laid waste to the South that would break Confederate opposition. The Union’s manpower and industrial advantage was dominating the outcome. The South was outnumbered two to one in manpower and had a knife slash though its home front.

In April 1865 Confederate supplies were exhausted at Petersburg and on April the 9th of that same year Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant at the Appomattox Court House, The war was over. 

The number of Union dead has been estimated at  364,000.  260,000. Confederates lost their lives, About a third of those dead were as a result of being killed in action, The rest succumbed to disease. African Americans made up 1% of the northern population but supplied 10% of the Union's troops. About 3500 Native Americans fought in the war. 

It is worth noting that the war itself was not always popular in the North. There were draft riots in New York in particular and the difficulties of fighting the costly war forced the Government to issue notes known as Greenbacks.

Important Union generals included Key Union Generals: Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, George Meade, Winfield Scott, Joseph Hooker, George McClellan, John Pope, William Rosecrans and Ambrose Burnside (known for his side burns).

The most prominent Confederate generals were Key Generals of the Confederacy: Robert E.Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Braxton Bragg. James Longstreet, George Pickett, John Hood, John Pemberton and Pierre Beauregard.

Many of these generals knew each other on both sides from time spent at military academies such as West Point and Virginia.

What events accelerated the move towards the coming American Civil War?

The United States prior to the Civil War was a nation of two countries that straddled the slavery divide. Expansion westward in the era of Manifest Destiny exasperated the differences. Between 1812 and 1861 (the antebellum period) the nation wrestled with slavery. The Northern and Southern economies were following two different pathways with the latter  very much reliant on slavery for their agricultural (especially cotton) cultivation. The North was evolving into an industrialized economy to eventually rival Western Europe. It took an anti-slavery position that y clashed with base in the South.

On March 3rd, 1820 the Missouri Compromise banned all slavery north of  36°30′ . Missouri was admitted into the Union as a slave state while Maiine gained entrance as a free state. The 1831 Nat Turner Slave rebellion highlighted tensions in Virginia leading to more brutal slave laws in the South.

A national split was further highlighted by the Wilmot Proviso of 1846 (which passed in the House but failed in the Senate). Its intention was to ensure that slavery was not permitted into the territory captured from Mexico.

In 1850 another compromise granted admission to California into the Union but also introduced strict anti-fugitive slave law that angered the pro-abolitionist North. The anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe further inflamed Northern opposition to slavery.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 (ill-conceived with hindsight) gave permission to the settlers in these territories to choose on a local level whether they wished to permit slavery. The end result of such a reality was regional conflict best epitomized by the phrase ‘Bleeding Kansas’.

Then in 1857 the US Supreme Court ruled on the infamous Dred Scott decision that effectively invalidated the citizenship protection for Blacks. Congress could not ban slavery in their territories.

Sentiments on both sides festered when in 1859 an abolitionist by the name of John Brown attacked an armory in Harpers Ferry. The intent was to ignite a slave revolt. The attack was put down by the marines and Brown was later hanged but the hostility between North and South was reaching a high point.

In November 1860 Abraham Lincoln won the Presidential election on a platform that took a hard line against slavery. For many in the South the writing was on the wall. South Carolina seceded in December 1860 from the Union. They were soon followed by six other Southern States - Mississippi, Florida, Alabama; Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.

The Confederacy was formed in February of 1861 with Jefferson Davis as its first President, Two months later the US Civil War began with the Southern attack on Fort Sumter. Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee would join the other Confederate states  within a further two months of the war’s beginning. Maryland and Kentucky had slave populations but chose to remain in the Union.

Cold War Vibrations

 Did Turkey consider invading and occupying Greece after World War II?

No. The British had a strong presence in Greece that they maintained from late 1944 to 1947 as a consequence of the Greek Civil War that followed the withdrawal of Axis forces from the country. The rebel ELAS troops (the military wing of the Communists National Liberation Front - EAM) had backing from Tito’s Yugoslavia and were extremely battle hardened. Although they stood in opposition to the Greek government, a Turkish invasion would not be tolerated by all sides. After 1947, the Greek government was further strengthened militarily by equipment and supplies coming from the United States as part of the Truman Doctrine. The Greek Civil War itself would last until 1949.

Worth noting is that in 1945 Turkey had to tread very carefully as her relationship with the Soviet Union was strained as a result of the Turkish straits crisis. It was this crisis that would encourage Turkey to eventually join NATO.

Why didn't Joseph Stalin suffer a fate similar to Benito Mussolini or Nicolae Ceaușescu?

He died in 1953 at a time when the Soviet Union was on the upswing in terms of international power. It was also basking in the glory of victory in WWII with the nation having amassed a huge sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. Neither Mussolini nor Ceaușescu had such a legacy to protect them (whether it was justified in the case of Stalin is another question altogether).

In addition both Stalin’s cult of personality and his suppression of opposition voices was far more widespread and effective than that of the other two. He knew how to play the ruthlessness card very well and did so frequently.

Did Mao Zedong have any dangerous aspects to his personality?

He had several. Like most dictators he likely had strong psychopathic traits that pandered to a sense of narcissism. You don’t carry out the destructive and genocidal policies of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution without a full and unquestioned sense of your own moral superiority and the disdain of the other. The fact that he is lauded by so many is a classic case of using the cult of personality to pull the wool over people’s eyes.

Why didn't any country except Russia have an empire after World War II?

The question is based on a false assumption. Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands still had empires after WWII. However over the next three decades following the war these would be drastically reduced in size as the cost of administration (both economically and militarily) would prove to be burdensome for the respective powers. Soviet Hegemony over its included states and satellite nations would continue for the duration of the Cold War (1945–1991). However with the demise of its economy and a weakening military grip on its holdings this too would fall by the wayside.

How long does it take for a rising power to become a super power in history?

Super power status is a rarity. The US and the Soviet Union reached the status after WWII and China may still do so in the future. In the 19th century one could argue that Britain and to a lesser extent the French scaled the height but in reality virtually every rising power never reaches the summit. Balance of power checks, internal conflict and the twists and turns of history take care of this. For a nation to reach superpower status many ducks have to line up in a row nothing is predetermined based on the original trajectory of growth.

Reflections LXXI - History Highligted

 It is only natural that the brave Persian people should seek to overthrow the yoke of a belief system enforced on them by conquest. This sits at their heart of the rebellion against the Islamist overlords.

I seek a world where many of the so-called cultural acting elites can return to their role as court jesters and entertainers rather than political know-it-alls.

The flaw in Laissez-Faire Free Enterprise is that there is no built in safe guard that the market can invoke to protect themselves from the cutthroat monopolist. This is why it inevitably relies on the mechanism of good government. Unfortunately the latter has become all too scarce.

The doctrine of the welfare state will ultimately crumble as it is predicated on human decency and contentment. Both of these are easily steamrolled by greed.

It is a sad quirk of history that the only time the Indian sub-continent was united under a single authority was during the British Raj.

It astounds me as to how few people are aware of how close Fascism is to Socialism in terms of economics. Benito Mussolini and Oswald Mosley were at one point socialists. Peron oscillated between the two. So did many Nazis including the Strasser brothers and Goebbels. At their core they are both statist and advocate for coercion based politics.

There is no group more vilified by social engineers in the contemporary than Asian Americans  whose obvious success in the modern milieu dispels the cherished myth of a fundamentally  rigged white dominated system.

Reflections LXX - Saturday Hurrah

 If the Jew didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent him as failed ideas and evil need a scapegoat to redirect attention away from their lack of success. The Jew, is the convenient other for all types of charlatans, of which there is no short supply.

The great Hegelian lie is that history has an endpoint . This is no more true than the intended directionality of natural selection . Cause and effect shreds such a simplification.

A deep concern is not that we may never learn the truth but that so many people have no desire or need to ever want to find it.

A person whose sole motivation is pleasure in the afterlife will likely do great harm to themselves in their present life, as they chase a reward for goodness instead of acting with moral intent for the righteous act in and of itself.

It's difficult to not take seriously the notion that the success of the American Revolution wasn’t so much a patriotic victory but a move by the British to minimize their losses.

One can always rely on mathematics to find a safe way of hiding a model from criticism if the evidence in its support is lacking.

The devil is always in the quality and validity of the assumptions.

The success of the British Empire lay with its ability to delegate. It therefore made great use of local networks of administration, designated ‘poobahs’, foreign mercenaries and regional businessmen. The failure of the Mongol empire outside China itself  (with the Yuan dynasty) is that it never came to terms with this idea.