Awful, just awful pp.364-365
"Only a nation whose upper levels are destroyed can be pushed into the ranks of slavery." đ If ever a quote has shown us more about the character who said it, then I havenât found it. "I am liberating man from the degrading chimera known as `conscience'." đ "The victor will never be asked if he told the truth." đ˛ "The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one." đą Alright, I found some others. We give you ADOLF HITLER - the original maniacal super villain đ and an all-around absolutely horrid chapter in history đ. Once the pact with Molotov and his gang of Soviets was signed, Hitler became emboldened to embarrass the British and invade Poland đľđą. Hitler sent educated, elite officers into Poland to target and eradicate educated, elite Polish officers and remove classes with power in the process. The British responded by dropping massive incendiary bombs on the Germans to teach them a lesson theyâd never forget. No, they didnât. They dropped leaflets đ (saying how everyone should be friends and have a nice cup of tea â), plus an erroneous Takeaway Pizza menu from Santiniâs pizzeria đ.
Oil again pp.365
Naturally, Britain was horrified by German aggression, but a phoney war sort of broke out where everyone was waiting for the really intense fighting to begin đ§. Everyone in Britain started collecting tins of beans in readiness, grannies planted potatoes in their gardens đĽ, and kids almost strangled themselves trying to put on gas masks đˇ. British worries were much farther afield, however, on the oil and coloniesâŚof course. A war against Germany was going to heavily distract Britain from its interests in Persia and India đ. Indiaâs air defences against potential air attacks by the Soviets were limited to 8 anti-air guns + Phil who was a bit handy with a bow and arrow đš (R.I.P, Phil - you certainly gave King Harold Godwinson a run for his money in the most horrible arrow death ever!!! đ˘). Of course, there was a great deal of practical PANIC đ° going on. A loss of oil to the Soviets (who were all lovey-dovey with the Germans) was potentially catastrophic because everything needed oil. Just like today, which means that weâve made almost no progress whatsoever in 80 years on that front.
What have the Germans ever done for us? pp.366-367
Siemens and Lufthansa helped to exert influence in Persia by flying around, building loads of bridges, and generally creating a supply chain of German-led expertise to create a lovely, warm, glowing feeling đ when people thought of the Germans. This was very different to the British - Donât make eye contact - style đ. Plus, the Abwehr (military intelligence) sent hundreds of German spies to whisper in peopleâs ears and gather intelligence đľď¸ââď¸. They all looked like this (skip to 0.55), so it wasnât as if they were hard to spot! Germany wanted to use a geo-political strategy to win their war against the Allies and that meant finding pressure points wherever they might be. Of course, German efforts werenât all successful as two poor spies found out when they dressed up as leprosy experts to meet warlord/cleric Faqir of Ipi in Afghanistan. With his support they planned to kick the British out of Afghanistan and replace him with the old king - Amanullah. It didnât go well and they were shot by Afghan soldiers. This was all part of German efforts to win local support for their overall strategy against Britain, but in deeply tribal nations like Afghanistan, that means winning the support of one tribe at a time.
Shared grievances pp.367
Nevertheless, Germanyâs campaign worked a treat and they cleverly swayed the Saudis, Iranians, Iraqis, by vowing to NOT attack them, having the same enemies, and extreme hatred of Jews đ¤. A game of brinkmanship began in earnest. France and Britain, worried about German and Soviet aggression in the East, came up with such wonderfully stupid ideas like mining the Norwegian coast to hamstring the German supply chain, which relied heavily on its northern ports. For Russia, they planned to bomb the bejeezus out of their Caucasus oil production facilities đŁ. Essentially, both sides of the war sat around tables in deep, shadowy lighting, drawing up ever more sinister plans to smash the other side to pieces through economic sucker punches. And thenâŚblitzkrieg âĄ.
Just keep driving pp.368
Siemens and Lufthansa helped to exert influence in Persia by flying around, building loads of bridges, and generally creating a supply chain of German-led expertise to create a lovely, warm, glowing feeling đ when people thought of the Germans. This was very different to the British - Donât make eye contact - style đ. Plus, the Abwehr (military intelligence) sent hundreds of German spies to whisper in peopleâs ears and gather intelligence đľď¸ââď¸. They all looked like this (skip to 0.55), so it wasnât as if they were hard to spot! Germany wanted to use a geo-political strategy to win their war against the Allies and that meant finding pressure points wherever they might be. Of course, German efforts werenât all successful as two poor spies found out when they dressed up as leprosy experts to meet warlord/cleric Faqir of Ipi in Afghanistan. With his support they planned to kick the British out of Afghanistan and replace him with the old king - Amanullah. It didnât go well and they were shot by Afghan soldiers. This was all part of German efforts to win local support for their overall strategy against Britain, but in deeply tribal nations like Afghanistan, that means winning the support of one tribe at a time.
âBut JosefâŚthatâs a rip-offâ pp.369
âJosef, lovely to speak with you. That oil we want. Itâs blocked and we canât access it to refuel our tanks.â âYes, I know. The price went up. Uncle Josef had a change of heart.â âAh, thatâs not very sporting. We really need it and our eggheads in the planning division are worried.â âWhat a pity.â âDo we need to keep doing this Josef? Itâs almost as if you take great pleasure in making us beg and plead and pander to you to get our supplies released.â âWhat a thought!âGermany was in trouble. They were dependent on supplies flowing through central Europe through the SOVIETS!!! That was NOT a pleasant foundation on which to build the Third Reich.
Operation Barbarossa pp.370-371
Rather than spend the entire war relying on commercial agreements with the most difficult person in history - Stalin - the Germans decided instead to just launch a massive invasion of Russia đą. Led by deep-thinkers like Herbert Backe - the plant man đż - Germany began to think that the answer to their problems was simply to wipe Russia off the map and steal all of the arable land! Well, we can't say the Nazis were unambitious, but this was too much even for them. Operation Barbarossa was a massive miscalculation that saw millions perish for its skewed goals đ.