Category Archives: History

Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? Understanding Historical Change

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This book by Robert Strayer provides a history of the Soviet Union beginning with the 1917 revolution and analyzes various theories about what caused its collapse. The revolution was of course based on the ideas of Marx that were expanded by Lenin. Even Lenin’s ideas were being questioned and rejected by the time of the collapse. However, flaws in Communism weren’t the only reason the Soviet Union dissolved. The huge empire was an agglomeration of many ethnic groups that had diverse aspirations. The desire of politicians for the Soviet Union to be a world power had caused resources to be stretched to the breaking point through domestic and foreign commitments and expenditures. However, as interesting as the history and analysis might be, my favorite part of the book was the jokes recounted in the last three paragraphs of this posting that citizens privately told each other about the system and their leaders.

“Soviet” was the name given to grassroots councils that had sprung up in 1905 and again in 1917. Some historians believe the Soviet Union was doomed from the beginning, because of the “…fatal flaw created by the utopian social engineering that flew in the face of both history and human nature.” Stalin assured success of his regime through the use of force that removed much of the middle and upper classes through execution and starvation. The record of Stalin’s purges, suppression of anyone or group that might oppose him or his policies, and endless inhuman brutality is difficult to understand, especially because he was admired by liberals who thought his “grand experiment” in Socialism/Communism should be imitated by other countries. The fear generated by the brutality of his methods did result in cohesion of the regime. The victory in World War II also validated the regime despite the 20-30 million casualties and devastation of the country. Continue reading →

Failures of the 1991 Russian Revolution

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I posted a review of “Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse,” as a companion to this posting. Members of the Soviet Union government who opposed Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms to decentralize much of the government’s power to the republics organized a coup attempt in August 1991.The coup collapsed in only two days in the face of a powerful outpouring of support for a new democracy and Gorbachev returned to power. The failed coup is considered to have led to the demise of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and dissolution of the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin won admiration for defying the coup attempt by climbing on top of a tank and calling on people to defend the freedom he had promised. Yeltsin promised to transform the socialist command economy into a free market economy and endorsed privatization programs. However, much of the national wealth fell into the control of a small group of oligarchs. People lost their jobs and savings in economic upheaval in 1992 and 1993 and blamed the reformers instead of blaming the legacy of the Soviet system. The result was constitutional crises in October 1993 and a political standoff and the killing and wounding of hundreds during shelling of the Russian White House. Yeltsin put a new constitution in place approved by referendum that gave strong presidential powers. He became widely unpopular and left office after appointing Vladimir Putin as his successor in the last hours of 1999. People were relieved to have a young and strong leader and overlooked Putin’s background in the KGB.

The title of a recent article from the Washington Post by Kathy Lally “1991 revolution’s goal is a thing of the past,” summarizes where things stand today. One observer is quoted as saying, “We saw the old train (Communism) was taking us in the wrong direction, but we thought all we had to do was change the conductor and we would have comfortable seats and good food. Democracy would take us where we wanted to go, not on our own effort. Sometimes you need to get off and push.”

Russia today does not have fair elections, courts are not independent, and political opposition is not tolerated. Corruption is rampant, and the gap between the rich and poor has widened. There are occasional demonstrations in favor of democracy, but they are mostly ignored except by the police. Opposition to the government is not allowed on the news, which relentlessly carries the message that life is better and Russia is stronger under Putin.  The only thing that keeps the country running is the bribes that are necessary to get anything out of the government. The hope that was created by the defeat of the coup in 1991 has been replaced by disappointment, frustration, and nostalgia. The saddest part of the story is that only a tiny percentage of the population, which is declining because of low birth rates, expresses an interest in changing things. The next presidential election is in March, and Putin is expected to make the decision about who will run.

Great Turning Points in History

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This book by Louis L. Snyder has short descriptions of twenty-five events that changed the world. The author observes “…a new direction in history can be brought about by a happening, a stage, or set of conditions, and occasionally by the action of a single individual. I was most interested in four of the events described because they give insight into the conflict between the Christian and Muslim religions. I recently completed a multi-part review of “The Looming Tower, Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11,” that includes discussion of the development of militant and terrorist Muslims under the leadership of people such as Osama bin Laden.

Crucifixion of Jesus — This is more about the growth of Christianity in during the years of decline of the Roman Empire than about the singular event of the crucifixion. The author observes, “The selection of the execution itself as a turning point is an arbitrary one—either the birth or resurrection of Jesus could be substituted as the focus of change.” What is important is that Jesus preached of a loving God, feasted with and forgave sinners, healed the sick, and denounced private wealth. His teachings, death, and resurrection resulted in a rapid spread of Christianity “…through the hollow shell of the once magnificent Roman state…” Christianity is a proselytizing religion that declares all other religions inadequate, and it swept through Western Europe, Persia, Armenia, Arabia, and to the Far East. Paganism is said to have been virtually eliminated in major cities by 400 A.D. Christian political organization in the form of bishops, deacons, and of course the hierarchy of the Catholic Church made Christianity the institution considered to control salvation and was also the ultimate political authority.

Flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina — Six hundred years after Jesus the Muslim religion arrived to challenge Christianity for dominance. Muhammad had revelations of voices speaking to him and heard himself being called “Messenger of Allah” by the Angel Gabriel. He began calling on people to worship one God, but had few converts for several years. He mostly only succeeded at infuriating Meccan merchants who wanted to eliminate him. He and Abu Bakr hid in a cave for three days until they could obtain camels and flee to Medina in what was later called the flight (the Hegira or Hija). He attracted an arm of believers in Medina and within eight years had taken Mecca. The Koran (Arabic Qur’an) or recitation, appeared shortly after Muhammad’s death and was compiled by Abu Bakr from communication by the Archangel Gabriel to Muhammad. The Islam religion spread to millions of converts. It rejected the Christian doctrine of the Trinity; Muslims believe Allah is the only God.

Battle of Tours — This battle in 732 A.D. was the first major defeat of the Muslims as they were attempting to march out of Spain and into Gaul. Muhammad had counseled his followers that “…to fight for religion is better than the world and everything in it.” The promise of martyrdom to Muslims if they died in jihad against unbelievers made them ferocious fighters, and they were accustomed to winning. Abu Bakr as caliph (successor) succeeded at bringing Syria, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, and Spain under the rule of Islam. Vanquished peoples were either allowed to convert, pay tribute, or put to the sword. Many found it advantageous to embrace the faith, and the liberal treatment by the Muslims led many cities to welcome them. The Franks under Charles had a private army and a poorly trained militia. At least 80,000 Muslims, most of them mounted, were arrayed against Charles under Abderraham, but they had the disadvantage that they were burdened with enormous amounts of plunder from their previous victories. The Muslims mounted several cavalry charges against the phalanx formed by Charles, and they failed. Abderraham was killed in the fighting. A rumor spread that Charles had sent forces to steal from their camp, and they broke off the battle to defend their plunder. The Muslim invasion of Western Europe ended, and they retired to Spain to consolidate their already huge empire.

Crusades: The Speech of Urban II — The crusades were a serious of religious campaigns by the Christians of Western Europe from 1096 to 1291. They began after Pope Urban II gave a speech advocating that the Holy Land be recovered from the Muslims. Thousands would strike out with fanatical enthusiasm with little thought of how they would get to the Holy Land or what they would do to combat a powerful enemy once they got there. The most ghastly tragedy was the Children’s Crusade, which involved 50,000 children marching off to be either killed or taken into slavery. On 1291 the last Christian post in the Holy Land was stormed by Sultan Kelaun, and the defenders who weren’t massacred were sold into slavery, thus ending the Crusades. Oddly it is advocated that the Crusades resulted in a positive economic effect. Crusaders who survived to return home brought Oriental goods, and there would be fortunes made in meeting European demand for more goods. Also, feudal lords often freed their serfs before they marched off to often die in the Holy Land. The ones who survived brought back amazing stories of the magnificent cities and progress in art, science, and philosophy in the Muslim lands. Considerable knowledge was transferred to the West. However, the negatives should not be overlooked. Osama bin Laden called the allied soldiers who were in the two invasions of Iraq and the invasion of Afghanistan Crusaders as he taught young Arabs they had a duty of jihad against America.

American Tourists in the Bahamas

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We recently visited the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas with our kids and grandkids, and completely enjoyed the luxury of the accommodations, the extensive Aquaventure Water Park, interacting with dolphins and sea lions, the vast aquariums, amazing meals, and impeccable service (at a high but what I judged to be a fair price). The driver who took us back to the airport in Nassau after our vacation made me reflect on our trip when he told us we had missed out by not taking a trip into the town. He pointed out numerous historical sites of interest, including a statue of Christopher Columbus. I realized I had very little knowledge of the history of the Bahamas or its people. I did a bit of Internet searching, and found what I consider to be some fascinating facts I wish I had known when we were planning the trip.  The Wikipedia article I will extensively quote observes the information should be reviewed by an expert, but I didn’t find discrepancies on the official Bahamas history site.

The first inhabitants of the Bahamas were the Lucayans or the Taino people, who arrived between 500 and 800 A.D. from other Caribbean islands. Recorded history begins with the arrival of Columbus in 1492. Columbus intended to sail to India for spice trade, and when he landed on an island in the Bahamas he called it “Indies.” He then named the Lucayans “Indians,” and the error resulting from him not knowing where he was would be repeated when explorers encountered indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.

The peaceful nature of the Lucayans was exploited by the Spanish, who enslaved them and transported them to Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti). There were 40,000 people enslaved in twenty years. The Spaniards decided to transport the remaining Lucayans to Hispaniola in 1520, and found only eleven people. The islands remained uninhabited for 130 years. An English Puritan group from Bermuda founded a colony in 1649 and struggled with food shortages. The colony was supported with supplies provided by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

English privateers established themselves in the late 1600s, and Nassau eventually became the “pirate’s republic” with Blackbeard, Calico Jack., Anne Bonny and Mary Read using the islands as their base. A British governor, Woodes Rogers, arrived in 1718 and pardoned pirates willing to surrender and fought those who didn’t. The Bahamas fell to Spanish forces in 1782, but a British-American Loyalist expedition retook the islands without a fight. Most of the current inhabitants are descended from the African slaves brought to work on the Loyalist plantations established from land grants issued by the British. The slaves were freed after the British abolished the slave trade in 1807. The islands were deforested as plantations were built.

The Bahamas prospered during the American Civil War as a base for Confederate blockade runners. Rum running thrived during the American prohibition, and the enormous inflow of revenue ended with the repeal of prohibition.  Drugs eventually replaced rum, and at one time it was estimated that as much as 90 percent of the cocaine destined for the United States passed through the Bahamas.

The Hotel and Steam Ship Service act of 1898 inspired the beginnings of thriving tourism  by providing government support to the construction of hotels and subsidizes to steamship service. The closure of Cuba to Americans gave an additional boost to tourism. The Bahamas achieved self-government in 1964 and full independence on July 10, 1973, and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Learning something about the history of the islands increased my appreciation of the friendly service by every single person we encountered at the Atlantis resort. We and the other thousands of other guests were obviously the source of great jobs for large numbers of Bahamians, and our experience was universally positive. However, I can’t quite escape an uneasy feeling about the divide between the wealth of the visitors and the economics of those providing all that wonderful service. That uneasy feeling was reinforced when my wife asked me to go the movie The Help. We joined about thirty women and watched the story of how black maids raised white children and did all the work in Mississippi households in an atmosphere of ruthless discrimination. I hope those who served us in Atlantis were comfortable that we were polite and appreciative of our interaction with them.

The Innocent

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This book by Ian McEwan is a deviation from my usual reviews, since it is a fiction book. I decided to post a review of it because it is based on historical events that I found interesting, and I selected it for our book club. I learned about the book after reading “Spycatcher, The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Office” by Peter Wright. In the review of that book, I wrote,

“The book presents an astonishing contrast between the British and Soviet intelligence operations. Seldom is there mention of any Soviet secrets being collected by the British unless the Soviets wanted the British to know the secret. Practically every British secret of any importance was known by the Soviets, and Stalin often knew it before it had filtered through the British bureaucracy.” With that introduction, the book “The Innocent” is about a young and naive Brit who was assigned to prepare equipment for recording information gathered from Soviet communication lines that the English and Americans had reached by digging a tunnel under the streets of Berlin. “Gehlen’s men” were former Nazis hired by the CIA to dig the tunnel. They successfully completed the tunnel, tapped the lines, and recorded massive amounts of coded Soviet messages. They didn’t know until they had committed massive resources to decoding the messages that the Soviets had been told about the tunnel when it was in its planning stages by George Blake, who was a British intelligence agent and a Soviet spy. For those who might be interested in “Operation Gold,” the CIA has an interesting description.

All of that would make people to believe a fictional book with a plot based on the tunnel and some of the people working in it would be interesting. However, several book club members instead judged the book to be boring. I’ll extract comments recorded by each of them in the “blue book,” which is the official record for the “Denver Read and Feed Book Club .”

“I had a tough time with this book. Slow to start and when the plot turned, it was not an improvement.” Tara

“Certainly the start was not eventful, but I felt the drabness and sense of loss…that the author wished to portray in Berlin at the time.” Frank

“The book started slowly and ended 70 pages longer than it should.” Paul

“The dismemberment was just another story (you’ll have to read the book to learn about that) where I keep marveling over the character’s stupid decisions…” Barb

“Writing was too dry. I agree with Barb.” Stephanie

“I like how the author writes…But…was very slow and dull.” Cathy

“The dullness of the beginning served as a jarring and exciting juxtaposition to the end.” Sally

“I enjoyed the descriptions of espionage that is historically-based.” Farrel

I couldn’t find a comment from Steve, except that he gave it a score of perfect mediocrity, which is a 5. It is surprising the book scored an average of 5.9 on a scale of 1-10 considering those dominantly negative reviews.

The Looming Tower, Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11–Part IV

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The first two parts of the review of the book by Lawrence Wright were about the origins of al-Qaeda and the role of world Arabs, including bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, in the fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan and the civil war that continued for years after the retreat of the Soviets. Part III is about the development of al-Qaeda in the years following the defeat of the Russians and how the U.S. and other countries forced bin Laden to go to back to Afghanistan. That country had disintegrated into chaos and violence with the Taliban (the Pashtu word for students), consisting of young men who were often orphans and had been raised mostly without influence from women. The Taliban were able to defeat the Afghan army in a few provinces, but the government held on and fought back in others. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan supported the Taliban, believing they were the best chance for eventual order. The Taliban inquired of Saudi Arabia what they should do with bin Laden when he arrived, and they were told to hold him and keep him quiet. The Taliban eventually succeeded at capturing the Afghan president and brutally tortured him to death.

Bin Laden in the early days was living in Afghanistan close to poverty. A collection had to be taken to find $100 for one of his followers to take an emergency trip. However, it was determined that he had found the money to finance an attack that led to the killing of fifty-eight tourists and four locals at an Egyptian tourist site. Mostly he and al-Qaeda struggled to be recognized by news agencies and to attract contributions. But then the U.S. intelligence services that failed at nearly every opportunity to cooperate with each other and the Saudis began to take him more seriously. The Saudis sent four hundred four wheel-drive pickup trucks and other financial aid to the Taliban as a down payment for the delivery of bin Laden. The Taliban, including Arabs sent by bin Laden, used the trucks to overrun a Shiite city of Hazaras and slaughter many of the inhabitants. Hundreds of captives were locked in shipping containers and left to die. Five to six thousand people were killed, including ten Iranian diplomats. Four hundred women were taken to be concubines.

Al-Qaeda then successfully bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.* Both bombings were done with trucks filled with explosives, and al-Qaeda had learned that gunfire or a grenade detonating prior to the explosion increased casualties because people would come to the windows to see about the commotion and would be shredded with broken glass. Muslims were horrified at the toll on innocent civilians. There were twelve Americans killed in Kenya, 213 total deaths, and 4500 injured, including 150 who were blinded by flying glass. The bombing in Tanzania killed 11 and wounded 85. None were Americans. The FBI and CIA bickered over the investigation, but they did learn an Egyptian member of al-Qaeda had walked into the embassy a year earlier in Nairobi and told the CIA of the plot.

During this time Monica Lewinksky was testifying to the grand jury about the sexual favors she had given President Clinton. Muslims feared retaliation after the bombings would be used to distract from the scandal. “No war for Monica!” was a sign on many Arab streets. President Clinton authorized the firing of thirteen Tomahawk cruise missiles into Khartoum at a chemical plant where a soil sample collected near the plant was found to contain what was thought to be a component of nerve gas. The plant was destroyed and a watchman was killed. It was learned the plant was manufacturing only legitimate pharmaceuticals and veterinary medicines, and had manufactured over half of Sudan’s medicines. Shortly after the factory was destroyed there were cruise missiles headed toward Khost in Afghanistan on a report bin Laden was in a camp there. Bin Laden was on the road, and on a whim decided to go to Kabul instead of Khost. The camp was damaged and several trainees were killed or injured. Bin Laden was able to replenish his treasury with the $10 million the Chinese paid for unexploded missiles. Perhaps even more important is that bin Laden successfully used the attack to convince the jihadist world of his importance. Children were soon wearing bin Laden T-shirts.

I’ve read many times that the Bush allegation of connections between Saddam Hussein and bin Laden were false, but this book gives at least a few instances of contacts as Hussein sought allies to salvage his regime. Hassan al-Turabi arranged a meeting between the Iraqi intelligence service and al-Qaeda “…with the goal of creating a ‘common strategy’ for deposing pro-Western Arab governments.” The Iraqis met with bin Laden, flattered him, and asked that he stop backing anti-Saddam insurgents. Bin Laden agreed and asked for weapons and training camps in Iraq, although there is no evidence anything came of that. Zawahiri traveled to Baghdad and met with Hussein and later traveled to Afghanistan to discuss the possibility of relocating al-Qaeda. Bin Laden declined, not wanting to be indebted to Hussein.

The men who came to Afghanistan to train with al-Qaeda were mostly middle or upper class and college-educated, mostly in natural sciences and engineering. Some spoke five or six languages, and all were Sunnis. They mostly felt displaced from their countries. Their enemies included heretics, Shiites, America, and Israel. They watched Hollywood thrillers for tips, and particularly liked Arnold Schwarzenegger movies.

Germany was extremely tolerant of all views, trying to overcome the sins of the Nazis. As a result, it wasn’t illegal to plan terrorist attacks unless it was against Germany. Four Muslim friends living in Hamburg visited bin Laden and were instructed to return to Germany and apply to flight schools in the United States. In the interim, on October 12, 2000 a fiberglass fishing boat approached the USS Cole in Aden. The two men in the fishing boat stood, waved, saluted, and set off a detonation that nearly sank the Cole, killed seventeen sailors, and wounded thirty-nine. Bin Laden recited a poem in tribute to the bombing of the Cole that ended with, “Awaiting her is a dinghy, bobbing in the waves.” Bin Laden had hoped the Americans would attack Afghanistan to meet the same fate as the Soviets. That didn’t happen, but he was flooded with new recruits and money.

The first plane struck the tower above O’Neill’s office, and he made it to the concourse. Bin Laden told his celebrating men who had heard the report of the plane striking the tower, “Wait, wait.” O’Neill called one of the women in his life to tell her he was going back in. The second plane hit the other tower, and bin Laden wept, prayed, and held up three fingers. The third plane hit the Pentagon, and bin Laden held up four fingers. Bin Laden would release a video bragging about hitting America “…in one of its softest spots.”

John O’Neill left the FBI and took a job in the World Trade Center in late August 2001. The night of September 10 he was telling friends he thought something big was going to happen. “We’re overdue.” Bin Laden released a message quoting a passage from the Quran, which he repeated three times. “Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower.”

American and British bombers struck Taliban positions October 6. Soon bin Laden and Zawahiri were with about three hundred mujahideen and encouraging them to hold their positions to wait and fight the Americans. American bombers soon hit a cave complex and killed one hundred of them, including eighteen that were identified as al-Qaeda lieutenants. Bin Laden felt betrayed that few Muslims came to join him, and even the Taliban slipped away. He and those who were left escaped to Pakistan. John O’Neill’s body was found in the rubble of the World Trade Center, and his wife and two mistresses met for the first time at his funeral.

The book ends with a description of a man who had seen a wanted poster with Zawahiri’s picture with an offer of $25 million reward for information that led to his capture. There was a telephone number to call, but the man did not have a telephone. Zawahiri and his companions disappeared into the mountains.

*Osama bin Laden had believed the two embassies targeted for bombing were havens for the CIA. He died not knowing that the bombings did kill two CIA agents in Kenya. More information about this is included in the blog posting on this web site published August 2nd.