Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
The Unspeakable Things That Happened In The Armenian Genocide
Sunday, October 29, 2023
The 20th century had no shortage of terrible events that cast a shadow over people today. The deaths of over a million Armenians is one such tragedy. Few tragedies have faced such bitter political discussion after the fact as the Armenian Incident. , others deny it ever happened, insist it was an accident, or that it was a justified response to a political threat.
In this video, we look at the unspeakable things that happened in the Armenian Incident and how its complicated legacy is still hotly debated today. If you appreciate these videos, leave a like to show your support and subscribe to A Day In History for more content like this.
Setting the Stage
Nestled in the Caucasus Mountains on the border between Europe and Asia, Armenia’s long history has seen it caught between countless empires. By the late 19th century, Western Armenia was firmly under the control of the Ottoman Empire while a smaller Eastern portion was controlled by the Russians. The Armenians of the Ottoman Empire faced many obstacles. As a Christian minority in a Muslim-majority Empire, they were subject to legal discrimination and higher taxes. Over time, racial ideologies that privileged ethnic Turks opened new opportunities for anti-Armenian discrimination.
Another significant obstacle was their role as a middleman minority. A middleman minority is an ethnic group that is overrepresented in occupations like bankers, merchants, and bureaucrats relative to their small overall population. Other middleman minorities around the world included the Chinese in Southeast Asia, the Gujaratis in India, and most famously the Jews in Europe and the United States. Although only a small percentage of Armenians worked in these lucrative jobs, all Armenians were subject to discrimination that described them as parasites, thieves, and leeches who were stealing the wealth of the rest of the population.
This caused outbreaks of violence and persecution throughout the late 19th century. The Ottoman government regularly seized Armenian land to redistribute to Muslim and Kurdish settlers and the Kurdish Hamidian regiments were given free reign to raid Armenian villages as part of their resettlement.
Despite attempts to muster international support, the Armenians were left to defend themselves and formed a number of impromptu militia groups to defend their towns, but the Ottoman authorities interpreted this as a sign of rebellion and cracked down hard in the 1890s.
