rise zero

4y

A lot of the Japanese higher ups never wanted the war. It was all a product of extreme Japanese nationalism and the belief that they were superior. They straight up had to denounce their Emperor's "demigod" status when they surrendered.

Elric

4y

The first time they had ever heard their demigod emperors voice was when he announced Japan's surrender over the radio

Elric

4y

Another especially crazy fact is that none of the allies were really pushing to charge the Nazi higher ups with war crimes at first (other than Stalin obviously who wanted to execute the entire high command and 20 thousand officers immediately)

It was CIA founder "Wild Bill" Donovan (DeNiro in Good Shephard) who insisted on the Nuremberg Trials etc because so many of his OSS agents and been killed and tortured during the war

rise zero

4y

Lots of Sudoku that day I imagine

Elric

4y

One of the craziest aspects of the 22-hour WW2 documentary I just watched was the fact that almost all the Japanese military dudes they interviewed admitted America basically had no choice but use the nuke because they were fully prepared to fight until the last Japanese person was dead they were actually low-key relieved when it got used because it gave the emperor solid enough reason to surrender that the rest of the country might actually accept it the propeganda was insanely strong in japan

Fella

4y

Based Stalin

Koala

4y

Yea dude the Japanese were committed to their cause, it wasn't like they were a just about to surrender before it

Fella

4y

Based Stalin

Elric

4y

Just watched Letters From Iwo Jima last night

rise zero

4y

20k executions? That ain't s*** for Stalin

internet buddy

4y

So much better than its companion film

Elric

4y

· edited

Yeah a big part of the reason the Russians got their ass whooped at first is because Stalin had already done this to all his own officers out of paranoia military brain drain right before nazis invade ffs

internet buddy

4y

You seen The Death of Stalin?

rise zero

4y

Most Historians, like Stephen Wheatcroft and Stephen Kotkin, acknowledge that the Purge was driven by a combination of Stalin’s paranoia and his desire to “shake things up” and remind everyone who was boss. Many of the Purge’s victims were Stalin’s protégés and so called “friends”. For example, Ukrainian Communist party first secretary Stanislaw Kosior and Kharkiv Bolshevik party chief Pavel Postyshev, not to mention Ukrainian NKVD leader Vsevolod Balitsky.

All three men enjoyed Stalin’s favor. Kosior was a high ranking Politburo member, and Stalin personally appointed Postyshev and Balitsky to take charge of Ukraine and increase repression during the 1932/33 famine. Postyshev would remain the highest leader in Ukraine until his downfall in early 1938, and even Kosior would have some level of influence after he fell out of favor during the Famine. They and others were purged to send the rest of the USSR party structure a message/reminder: Stalin is the boss. He made them, and he can easily unmake them, due to the absolute loyalty and NKVD had for him. Getting rid of the old guard with the purge would also make room for more fanatical up and comers. Indeed, the new leader of Ukraine would be none other than Nikita Khrushchev, formerly the Moscow party leader and the Man who would lead the USSR after Stalin’s downfall.

Stalin’s excuse was certainly Kirov’s assassination, but his motives were both his paranoia of imagined enemies, and his desire to assert control over the Bolshevik party apparatus. He did the latter by shaking things up and getting rid of followers who had outlived their usefulness (E.g. Kosior, Balitsky and Postyshev), and making room for new, more fresh up and comers (Krushchev).

Elric

4y

This was literally my first history lesson on russia. Took a while before I figured out who this Lenin zombie was.

rise zero

4y

Most Historians, like Stephen Wheatcroft and Stephen Kotkin, acknowledge that the Purge was driven by a combination of Stalin’s paranoia and his desire to “shake things up” and remind everyone who was boss. Many of the Purge’s victims were Stalin’s protégés and so called “friends”. For example, Ukrainian Communist party first secretary Stanislaw Kosior and Kharkiv Bolshevik party chief Pavel Postyshev, not to mention Ukrainian NKVD leader Vsevolod Balitsky.

All three men enjoyed Stalin’s favor. Kosior was a high ranking Politburo member, and Stalin personally appointed Postyshev and Balitsky to take charge of Ukraine and increase repression during the 1932/33 famine. Postyshev would remain the highest leader in Ukraine until his downfall in early 1938, and even Kosior would have some level of influence after he fell out of favor during the Famine. They and others were purged to send the rest of the USSR party structure a message/reminder: Stalin is the boss. He made them, and he can easily unmake them, due to the absolute loyalty and NKVD had for him. Getting rid of the old guard with the purge would also make room for more fanatical up and comers. Indeed, the new leader of Ukraine would be none other than Nikita Khrushchev, formerly the Moscow party leader and the Man who would lead the USSR after Stalin’s downfall.

Stalin’s excuse was certainly Kirov’s assassination, but his motives were both his paranoia of imagined enemies, and his desire to assert control over the Bolshevik party apparatus. He did the latter by shaking things up and getting rid of followers who had outlived their usefulness (E.g. Kosior, Balitsky and Postyshev), and making room for new, more fresh up and comers (Krushchev).

Elric

4y

Sounds like what Putin's doing this year like 7 or 8 of his oligarchs and their families got killed and their fortunes consolidated