Friends, as you can see, I met Lord Horatio Nelson today. I found his personality a little wooden, but his achievements speak for themselves...
In other news, so you think Ukraine is a model Western democracy? If your idea of "democracy" is crushing all opposition and dissent, then I guess that's true. And, since that truly is most leftists' concept of democracy, I imagine the fulsome praise of Ukraine will continue. Some of the measures being taken by Ukraine's government, in any case, smack more of fascism than Western-style democracy. Choose your "friends" carefully, and your role models even more so. That's my advice.
Ask me (Ray) if I give a shit about any of this. Just ask me Nick, just ask me.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: Nelson: his origin was in the rural deaconage of his father. He rose through the VERY demanding Brit offfice ranks through exaustifically d
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Dr.Waddy from Jack: . . . demonstrated MERIT! At the time of Trafalgar, Britain faced plausible possibility of Napoleonic invasion; support and defense for the invasion fleet was destroyed by Nelson at Trafalgar.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: . . . defined merit.As Bonaparte's torces gathered for a cross channel thrust, Nelson destroyed their vital support at Trafalgar.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jac k: I don't mean to be as presumptuous as to offer you a history lesson. OK, now I get it: "wooden" . Jolly good!
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: I think certain forms of detested discrimination are justifiable in reaction to extreme oppression. EG. one can lament the ferocious behavior of Russian troops in Germany in 1945 but can one condemn them? Germans committed unlimited, unimaginably extensive, insanely intensive, fundamental EVIL in Russia. If Ukraine, sorely and existentially tried now by Russia, chooses to ban some Russian expression, should they be faulted?
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So it's Nelson and all that. Okay, watch a good movie about the Napoleonic naval wars titled "Master and Commander, Far Side of the World." Excellent movie. Lot's of action.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy et al from Jack: What if Napoleon had conquered England? He would have possessed the British fleet and that might have given him the means to dominate much of the world. Would an all powerful France have prevented the rise of a united Germany? Could it have killed Bolshevism in the shell? He was an able administrator and quite the social reformer (eg. protecting Jews in Prussia when he held part of it; overseeing the the creation of the Napoleonic Code, a proven well considered and durable institution). How might he have reeacted to the American Civil War? It might be possible to speculate plausibly that an all powerful France in the 19th century, if Napoleon's successors were competent, could have prevented the cataclysms of the20th century (?)
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy. from Jack: Well Napoleon would been dead by 1861 but a like minded successor might have decisively supported the Confederacy by breaking the Union blockade using his dominant navy.Had Bonaparte not won the allegiance of the colonies of conquered Britain, his succesor might then have forcefully reinvested N.American New France. Both measures might have assured a French Empire that a divided and inevitably quarrelsome America, with its Monroe Doctrine unenforceable, would pose no threat. Repossession of New France and its inevitable expansion to the Pacific would have focused French attention on Russian Alaska, Japan and even China. France would probably have assumed its hegemony over British India and could easily have enforced it against a rump exiled B ritish Indian Army.All of this assumes a united and stable France but sans eventual Prussian and a united Germany's pressure, perhaps France, under a well governed Bonaparte dynasty, might have done it(?) Its inconsequential fun to speculate so.
ReplyDeleteRay, your soaring admiration for Admiral Nelson and all things British is duly noted! :) I did see "Master and Commander", and I've read at least one of Patrick O'Brian's books. Good stuff. Are you familiar with Horatio Hornblower?
ReplyDeleteJack, I quite agree: Nelson may well have changed the whole arc of history on that one fateful day...and he gave up his life in doing so. Few of us can claim anything of the kind. Some battles really are of world-historical significance. Trafalgar makes the list!
All those speculations about French global hegemony are interesting, to be sure, but they rely on the assumption of a "well-governed Bonaparte dynasty" that endured long after Napoleon's death. That's a big assumption. Still, we can't rule out the Frenchies as potential world hegemons, surely.
Jack, I regard the campaign against the Russian language, Russian culture, and anyone and everyone with Russian nationality/ethnicity as narrowminded in the extreme. In war, I guess all bets are off, but for the Ukrainians to pretend that they're not, in large measure, junior Russians, is just silly. Discriminating against Russia and Russians, moreover, just validates the pretext for Putin's invasion.
Nick. Ray here. The Horatio Hornblower series was excellent! I think it was based on an actual person, whoever that was. It used to be a radio show also, way back when. "Eight Bells, All Hands on Deck! Stand by for a broadside Mr. Bush".
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack:: Your points on Ukraine well taken
ReplyDeleteRay, I had no idea there was a Hornblower radio show! Makes sense. I checked, and the first novels were published in the 30s -- before the world went to hell, in other words. I should give one a try.
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