Term
| "Suddenly I saw the world from the other side..[I saw] the obvious injustice of a tax system that spared the ones who could best pay and plundered those who already despaired of life in their bitter misery" |
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Definition
Nikolaus Osterroth (Politician in Weimar Assembly)
Called for social reforms, worker's rights, incited workers to skip work on May Day. Emphasized power in numbers of workers and spoke of economic/political exploitation. |
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Term
| "Just as in Darkest Africa it is only a part of the evil and misery that comes from the superior race who invade the forest to enslave and massacre its miserable inhabitants, so with us, much of the misery of those whose lot we are considering arises from their own habits" |
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Definition
William Booth (British Methodist preacher)
"Darkest England" - compared England with the depravity of Africa ("Darkest Africa"). Circa 1890 |
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Term
| "The principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes is wrong in istelf, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other" |
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Definition
John Stuart Mill (British philosopher)
Believed female inequality to be a foolish Conservative principle that hindered progress of humanity. Wanted women to have more of a role in public sphere, particularly in political matters. |
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Term
| "The only justification for violence is the fact that you have tried all other available means and have failed to secure justice, and as a law abiding person, I have felt absolutely guiltless in taking militant action" |
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Definition
Emmeline Pankhurst (British late 19th C.)
Explained why previous women's rights movements had failed and why violence was necessary. No more talk, ACTION |
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Term
| "Race lifts a man above himself, it endows him with extraordinary powers and distinguishes him from other individuals...the mixture of blood must be strictly limited as regards time" |
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Definition
Houston Stewart Chamberlain (German author late 19th C.
Admired by Goebbels, spiritual forerunner of Nazism and superior races. |
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Term
| "[We Germans] hold the view that the Jews are a different race, a different people with entirely different character traits. We, as native Germans, have a duty to take a stand against the Jews who are of a quite different nature" |
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Definition
| Hermann Ahlwardt (Member of German Parliament late 19th C.) |
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Term
| "Oppression and persecution cannot exterminate us. Jew-baiting has merely stripped off our wealkings; the strong among us were invariably true to their race when persecution broke out against them..." |
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Definition
Theodor Herzl (Zionist journalist) (19th C.)
Made a plea for the creation of a Jewish state, strong supporter of the Jewish masses. |
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Term
| "More territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race more of the best, the most human, most honorable race the world possesses" |
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Definition
Cecil Rhodes (British politician 19th C.)
Leader of many British Imperialist projects. Claimed that White Anglo-Saxons were most superior race and that they must conquer as much territory as possible to spread their greatness. |
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Term
| "You cannot have omelettes without breaking eggs; you cannot destroy the practices of barbarism, of slavery, of superstition, which for centuries have desolated the interior of Africa, without the use of force" |
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Definition
Joseph Chamberlain
Author of "White Man's Burden", British statesman who felt that it was the duty of his people to conquer new territory and spread their influence. Took economic approach and appealed to all people, as he said Imperialism was good for workingmen too. |
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Term
| "The path of progress is strewn with the wrecks of nations; traces are everywhere to be seen of the slaughtered remains of inferior races, yet these dead people are the stepping stones to [a] higher intellectual and deeper emotional life" |
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Definition
Karl Pearson
British professor of Math, outlined idea of Social Darwinism, argued that there must be a struggle between inferior and superior races, called for extreme measures to take over new lands. |
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Term
| "Ancient and modern confronted one another. The weapons, the methods and the fanaticism of the Middle Ages were brought by an extraordinary anachronism into dire collision with the organization and inventions of the nineteenth century" |
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Definition
Winston Churchill
Showed the glamourized side of Imperialism, cultural vogue for exploration, argued that native peoples were primitive. Maintains basic notion of superior/inferior races and views Sudanese as barbaric and fantastical. |
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Term
| "There was no doubt that these people were not inventing. Their vehemence, their flashing eyes, their excitement, was not stimulated. I was told that they often became so furious at the recollection of what had been done to them that they lost control over themselves." |
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Definition
Roger Casement - British Consul (Casement Report)
Revealed the atrocities occuring in the Congo. Showed that there was some public awareness of this and people were making attempts to oppose it. |
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Term
| "Reason is an excellent thing, there is no disputing that, but reason is only reason and can only satisfy man's rational faculty, while will is a manifestation of all life, that is, of all human life including reason as well as all impulses." |
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Definition
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Stressed the importance of human will and emotion, not just reason. Denounced idea that enlightenment and reason would make people good and noble |
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Term
| "The most fearful and fundamental desire in man, his drive for power, must be held in check the longest. A society that definitely and instinctively gives up war and conquest is in decline...assurances of peace are merely narcotics" |
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Definition
Friedrich Nietzsche
Attacked democracy, universal suffrage, equality, and socialism for suppressing a higher type of human existence, the "overman". Denounced the "herdlike masses". |
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Term
| "Everything belonged to him - but that was a trifle. the thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own. He had taken a high seat among the devils of the land." |
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Definition
Joseph Conrad
"Heart of Darkness" - Tale of moral deterioration. The forbidding jungle environment Kurtz was in transforms him into a sadist driven by dark urges no longer buried within his unconscious. Destructive tendencies are at the core of human nature. |
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Term
| "The individual must forget his own ego and feel himself a member of the whole. The sacrifice of nationalities for one another is nowhere invested with such beauty as in war." |
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Definition
Heinrich von Treitschke
German historian, glorified war, denounced Individualism, and called for a superior Aryan race. |
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Term
| "War is a biological necessity of the first importance, a regulative element in the life of mankind...the struggle for existence is the basis of all healthy development. Struggle is therefore a universal law of Nature." |
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Definition
Friedrich von Bernardi (Prussian general)
Escalation of WWI |
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Term
| "Germany must become a 'World Power'. England must expect that Germany will surely seek to diminish the power of any rivals, to enhance her own by extending her dominion, and ultimately to break up and supplant the British empire" |
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Definition
Eyre Crowe (British Diplomat Early 20th C.)
Promoted Germany's "Weltpolitik", desire to play a larger role on the world stage. WWI. |
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Term
| "Deep in the grave where you dwell, don't you regret your sacrifice? Why did we fight? Why did we let ourselves get killed? This is the murmur of a million and a half voices rising from the bowels of the Earth, and we, the survivors, do not know the answer" |
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Definition
Roland Doregeles
Recalls the initial sentiment regarding the war - idea of fraternity and common sacrifice was appealing at first. After the war, everyone was appalled at themselves for the destruction. |
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Term
| "We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. No longer do we lie helpless, waiting on the scafoold, we can destroy and kill, to save ourselves and be revenged." |
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Definition
Erich Remarque
"All Quiet on the Western Front" - captured the essence of trench warfare that claimed millions of young European men. Important novel. |
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Term
| "The Germans speak louder than the common people. The fact is that they really believe themselves to be the representatives of a privileged "culture" that sets them above the errors of the human race, and confers on them the prerogative of a superior power." |
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Definition
Georges Clemenceau
Predicted German aggression before WWI - Demanded protection for France from the ever advancing Germany |
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Term
| "All round me was a mood bordering on ecstasy. It seemed as though the crowd, spontaneously and of its own accord, would break into some religious hymn. Trotsky went on speaking. The innumerable crowd went on holding their hands up." |
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Definition
N.N. Sukhanov
Detailed the rousing speech delivered by Trotsky at the People's House. |
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Term
| "I urge comrades to realize that everything now hangs by a thread; that we are confronted by problems which are not to be solved by conferences but exclusively by peoples, by the masses, by the struggle of the armed people. The seizure of the power is the business of the uprising." |
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Definition
V.I. Lenin
Urged Russians to take immediate action. Incredible rhetorical skills. Supported rise to power by Bolsheviks. |
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Term
| "To slacken the tempo would mean falling behind. And those who fall behind get beaten. But we don't want to be beaten. Our feature of the history of old Russia was the continual beatings she suffered for falling behind, for her backwardness. It is the jungle law of capitalism, you are backward, you are weak, therefore you are wrong". |
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Definition
Joseph Stalin
Denounced capitalism, enforced unity and a leveling of social classes. Threatened by the kulaks because they represented capitalism and had risen above their social standing, something he discouraged. |
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Term
| "The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is depreived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone" |
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Definition
Benito Mussolini
Started concept of Fascism - inherent contradiction b/c he says he encourages freedoms but at the same time the State must be the sole arbiter of the actions of citizens.
"Fascism has created a living faith"
"Fascism believes in holiness and in heroism" |
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Term
| "The result of mixing races is lowering the cultural level of the higher race and the beginning of a slow but progressive decline...a people gains its freedom of existence only by occupying a sufficiently large space on Earth." |
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Definition
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Term
| "Since he has assumed office, Herr Hitler has been as cautious and discreet as he was formerly blunt and frank. He believes that Germany needs peace until she has recovered such strength that no country can challenge her...it would be misleading to base any hopes on a return to sanity for Hitler" |
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Definition
Horace Rumbold
Accurately predicted the course of Hitler's regime when no one else did. No one listened. |
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Term
| "Lesser Nazi generals were powerless because they had to follow the orders of superiors who were suffering from the "abnormal psychology" prevailing in Germany. Germany is headed in directions which could only carry ruin to it and create a situation dangerous to world peace." |
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Definition
George Messersmith
Also predicted Hitler's lunacy. |
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Term
| "How horrible, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing. It seems still more impossible that a quarrel which has already been settiled in principle should be the subject of war" |
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Definition
Nevelle Chamberlain
Tried to appeal to the masses by declaring that war was avoidable, unnecessary, brutal, etc. No one wanted another WWI. |
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Term
| "All is over. Silent, mournful, Czechoslovakia recedes into the darkness. She has suffered in every respect by her association with the League of Nations. It is a tragedy which has occured. There can never be friendship between British democracy and the Nazi Power, that power which spurns Christian ethics." |
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Definition
Winston Churchill
Strongly denounced Nazi party, claimed they were Anti-Semites, etc. Argued that something must be done to stop the course of their domination. The conflict is only beginning. |
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Term
| "Our strength lies in our quickness and in our brutality; Ghengis Khan has sent millions of women/children into death knowingly and with a light heart. History sees in him only the great founder of States...I shall shoot anyone who utters one word of criticism." |
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Definition
Adolf Hitler
Speech to generals..clearly outlines how radical he is, makes no attempt to hide it or play it down. Dude is a nut, and his generals know it. |
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Term
| "So far as the French were concerned the German leadership could safely rely on the defense of France being systematically based on fortifications and carried out according to a rigid doctrine; this doctrine was the result of the lessons that the French has learned from WWI" |
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Definition
Heinz Guderian
He outlined the fact that the French were clearly superior to the Germans on paper, but they were too fuckin scared to be aggressive and Germany was able to topple them because the Germans are all psychopathic. |
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