9th of May - Victory Day

[ordos45]

Thanks, been looking for that pic for quite a while. I've saved it to the "My Pictures" folder. Its right next to the trick of light that made a cross appear in an American Flag.

[Caid Ivik]

Genghis-Han had a good tactic: he spared the ones that surrendered and masacred the ones that opposed him. In this way he gained the 'benevolence' of the people he spared, and, in the same time he could make sure no one of his former enemies will rebell. He was bloody, I know, but a skillful tactician, and a formidable soldier.

People, which weren't slaughtered were enslaved and sold, or died very soonly. Conquered lands had no administrative, only raiding armies which looted reserves of towns. Very precisious is our saying: "Where Mongol steps, no grass grows again..." Mongols came, murdered half of our population, destroyed half of cities and castles, and get back, without any defeat.

[Davidu]

See? That very efficient for them!

[Edric O]

- one year later -

Has it been one year already? It seems like almost yesterday I posted this topic...

Well, it hasn't attracted much discussion the first time around, but hopefully it will this time. We've got a few new forum members around here, too.

(sorry for the megabump, but I thought it's better than posting a whole new Victory Day topic)

[Andrew]

lol at first I thought it said Victoria Day. That is also in May and is pretty much a time to party or something as we have Monday as a holiday. http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/jfa-ha/victoria_e.cfm

Let's not forget Canada's Participation in World War 2 :)

[ordos45]

Another year.  I can remember when this was posted too, and it does seem like yesterday. 

Hitler is dead, yet his ideals live on in many forms.  I find this regrettable...for though the head is long dead, some appendages still flap.  We can only hope that with each May 9th, that Hitler's ideals of a perfect race and such fade, until one day they disappear from this planet.

[Wolf]

Happy Victory Day to you all!

[Andrew]

*Gives the peace sign to everyone /*  oh wait that actually came from v day. As in v for victory with the 2 fingers not peace :).

[Caid Ivik]

We should spare something for next year, it would be 60 years since it...

[Anathema]

Well, what's there to discuss about it? I'm pretty everybody would agree it's a good thing the allies won.

By the way, Russia cut a deal with Hitler too (the Molotov- Von Ribbentrop pact) before the Germans stabbed them in the back. I understand that you're crediting the soldiers who died and not their leader Stalin, but then what makes the Romanians accomplices?

[Dude_Doc]

Actually, I've read that the majority of the German people didn't know about the Holocaust until after the war. Any ideas about this?

[Dante]

Well much of it was done in remote areas a lot of the time (though by no means all of the time). Still, things like the sterilisation of the deaf were carried out in, admittedly hushed, public view; so there must have been some awareness. Unless people just didn't want to know.

[Caid Ivik]

Actually, I've read that the majority of the German people didn't know about the Holocaust until after the war. Any ideas about this?

A lie.

[Anathema]

I'm not so sure about that actually. The Germans also had secret eugenetics laws in place that the people had no idea about, so I wouldn't put it past them to cover up the murdering of 12 million people either.

[Caid Ivik]

It was a common hate against Jews what caused holocaust, not a personal responsibility of Hitler. When there were first antisemitic laws established, it was usual in villages, that people, which were sunk in debts in local pub (owned by a Jew), took sticks and beated him out. And this wasn't only in Germany, you had same acts of hate in Slovakia, Hungary, Poland or any other jew-filled state. Well, I'm saying about 1930s, in older times it used to be even worse... But of course, not everyone held this fashion.

[Edric O]

Sorry to bump this topic, but I thought it deserved a little more discussion before being put on ice until next year. ;)

By the way, Russia cut a deal with Hitler too (the Molotov- Von Ribbentrop pact) before the Germans stabbed them in the back. I understand that you're crediting the soldiers who died and not their leader Stalin, but then what makes the Romanians accomplices?

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was one of non-agression, not one of alliance. The wording was "neither of the two signatory governments shall engage in military actions against the other" and "neither of the two signatory governments shall ally or provide any support to a third side that engages in military actions against the other signatory government". In other words, they were declaring their neutrality towards each other. The Soviet Union took the position of Switzerland.

Romania, on the other hand, was an ally of Nazi Germany. We had a fascist government at the time...

[Wolf]

So, was Romania used as a staging ground for the Reich when it finally decided it was time to move on the USSR?

[Edric O]

Yes. Army Group South was stationed in Romania before Operation Barbarossa. They also kept a chunk of Romanian territory "hostage", just in case we decided to double-cross them... which we eventually did, but only after the Red Army arrived at our borders and only after Antonescu (the military dictator of Romania, 1940-1944) was deposed in a coup.

[Anathema]

They weren't allies, but they also agreed to attack Poland and split it.

[Edric O]

True, but it's not as if they actually helped each other in any way. They only agreed not to interfere with the other's conquests.