13 Matching Annotations
  1. Mar 2024
    1. At the conclusion of the war, local Czech authorities, armed militias, and regular military units ethnically cleansed nearly 3 million Bohemian Germans from Czechoslovakia. From the high-altitude perspective of postwar geopolitics, President Edvard Beneš dubbed it Czechoslovakia’s “final solution of the German question.”
    2. As strange as it sounds today, German klein (“small” or portable) typewriters were among the most sought-after souvenirs for soldiers fighting in World War II. Think of it: Adjusted for inflation, top-of-the-line portable typewriters cost roughly the same as your MacBook Pro today, and their usable lives were measured not in months or years, but decades and generations. Consequently, thousands of Uranias, Gromas, Erikas, Rheinmetalls, Continentals, Olympias, and other high-quality, precision-made German machines were looted from Nazi military and government offices, businesses, and even from civilian homes, whether their owners were dead or alive. “War trophy” is of course a pleasant euphemism: It denotes a reward for heroism, bravery, and sacrifice, while simultaneously acknowledging that even the good guys steal, pillage, and destroy amid the haze of total war.
  2. Oct 2023
    1. Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition. Edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler. Translated by Susan Massotty. 1947. Reprint, New York: Bantam, 1997.

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    1. If it requires too many words, you have not seen theunity but a multiplicity.

      How are they defining "multiplicity" here? There seems to be a tacit definition with respect to being in opposition to "unity" (of a work), but not an explicit one. It also seems to be a shaded meaning with respect to the more common one.

      unity: essence, core, coherence, oneness

      They use the word "multiplicity" in the usual sense of large number or multitude on p55: "The multiplicity of the rules indicates the complexity of the one habit to be formed, not a plurality of distinct habits."

      They also revisit it in the upcoming section: "Mastering the Multiplicity: The Art of Outlining a Book" on p88

      Perhaps its just me but there's a linguistic "softness" of the uses of unity and multiplicity here with respect to 2023. Though these two opposites fit the dictionary definitions of their words, is it possible that this softness is the result of a sort of historical linguistic shift I'm feeling in these words? I can't quite put my finger on it, but perhaps it's the relationship of unity to religion? Neither seem to be frequently used these days.

      The Ngram Viewer shows peaks for the use of unity in 1660 and 1960 of almost 75% higher usage compared to a broader historical average. It is generally waning since. Multiplicity has about 1/4 the use of unity and has remained flat over time. What caused the peaks in the use of "unity" during these periods? This 1972 use was on the downslope of the 1960s peak. Was it used in the 1940 version?

      The 20th century increase in the use of unity begins around 1914 and may have been related to political shades of meaning going into WWI with another marked rise in the lead up to WW2.

  3. Aug 2023
    1. We and the Japanesethought, in the i86o's, how wonderful it would be if thisresult could be achieved. We and they fixed our minds on theeconomic development of Japan and modified the educationalsystem of that country on "American lines" to promote thiseconomic development. So the rich got richer, the poor gotpoorer, the powerful got more bellicose; and Japan becamea menace to the world and to itself.

      Writing in 1951, Hutchins is writing too close to the time period of post World War II to have a better view of this topic. He's fashioned far too simple a story as a result.

      There was a lack of critical thinking and over-reliance on top down approval which was harmful in the Japanese story of this time period though.

  4. Jun 2022
    1. Between 1914 and 1980, inequalities in income and wealth decreasedmarkedly in the Western world as a whole (the United Kingdom,Germany, France, Sweden, and the United States), and in Japan,Russia, China, and India, although in different ways, which we willexplore in a later chapter. Here we will focus on the Western countriesand improve our understanding of how this “great redistribution”took place.

      Inequalities in income and wealth decreased markedly in the West from 1914 to 1980 due to a number of factors including:<br /> - Two World Wars and the Great Depression dramatically overturned the power relationships between labor and capital<br /> - A progressive tax on income and inheritance reduced the concentration of wealth and helped increase mobility<br /> - Liquidation of foreign and colonial assets as well as dissolution of public debt

  5. Mar 2021
    1. An answer to Mr. Bendetsen's testimony came from Milton S. Eisenhower, former president of Johns Hopkins University, who in 1942 directed the Federal War Relocation Authority.In a written statement, Mr. Eisenhower, who was unable to attend because of illness, called the internment of Japanese-Americans ''an inhuman mistake.'' Moreover, he said, the threat of Japanese forces' invading the West Coast was ''extremely remote.''He said that the relocation furor could have been avoid, ''had not false and flaming statements been dinned into the people of the West Coast by irresponsible commentators and politicians.''
  6. Aug 2020
  7. May 2019
    1. Only when Sweden stops being blind to its Nazi past will it be able to confront the threat posed by the rise of the far right today.

      Agreed; there's a newly made documentary on the Swedish involvement with the nazis. The documentary is "En svensk tiger"

  8. May 2017
    1. Canol Pipeline
      Designed during the first months of World War II, the Canol Pipeline brought oil from Norman Wells near the Mackenzie River to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Once the oil was refined, it would be sent to Alaska via pipeline to ensure that the Japanese navy could not intercept any transport. The oil deposits at Norman Wells were discovered by the explorer Alexander Mackenzie during the 18th century. In January of 1942, Lieutenant General Brehon Somervell, commanding general of the Army Service Forces, ordered James H. Graham, former dean of engineering at the University of Kentucky, to investigate the possibility of harvesting oil from Norman Wells. On April 29, 1942, General Somervell immediately approved the recommendation of Dean Graham to implement a pipeline from Norman Wells to Whitehorse (O'Brien, 1970). The construction began in 1942 and was completed in 1944 by the United States Army. A road was also constructed alongside the Canol pipeline during this time. In 1945, soon after the completion of the Canol Pipeline, the volume of crude oil that was able to be transported compared to the cost of operating the pipeline could not be justified. The Canol Pipeline was shut down and abandoned in 1945 (Wilson, 1991). 
      

      References

      O'Brien, C. F. (1970). The Canol Project: A Study in Emergency Military Planning. The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 101-108.

      Wilson, W. H. (1991). Review: A Walk on teh Canol Road: Exploring the First Major Northern Pipeline. The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 114.

    2. Northwest Staging Route

      The Northwest Staging Route was an airfield between Alaska and Alberta. The airfield was used for military personal to transfer supplies from Canada to Alaska in World War II (Christie). The string of airfields along the Northwest Staging Route were responsible for great contributions to the North American war effort. The earliest records of the Northwest Staging Route are from a survey by the Canadian Department of Transportation in 1935, but the Northwest Staging Route only consisted of a few airstrips by the 1940s. The Route was not used until right before the attack at Pearl Harbor. After the attack, America greatly increased their work on the Route and prepared the airfields due to fears that the Japanese would attack Alaska. The first few tests of the Northwest Staging Route airfields were unsuccessful and several planes were crashed in the process. The airfields were undeveloped and the pilots untrained. The Canadian government attempted to fix the Staging Route alone, but received pressure from the United States. Canada and the United States worked together on improving the airfields in 1943. Overtime, the Canadian government feared permanent United States presence along the Route. The two governments eventually came to an agreement where Canada would reimburse the United States for any permanent improvements to the airfields. At the conclusion of the war, the United States ceased military action in Canada. Canada then struggled with documentation of aircraft along the Northwest Staging Route, which was resolved after a conference with American air force members in August of 1943.

      Reference: Christie, Carl A. "The Northwest Staging Route." Homefront in Alberta - The Northwest Staging Route. Accessed May 03, 2017. http://wayback.archive-it.org/2217/20101208171343/http://www.albertasource.ca/homefront/feature_articles/northwest_staging_route4.html.

  9. Apr 2017
    1. Alaska Highway
      The Alaska Highway was originally constructed for and used by the military during World War II which lasted from 1939 to 1945. It was opened in November of 1942. Its length reached nearly 1,525 miles. When Richard Bucksar wrote his article The Alaska Highway Development published in the journal Arctic Volume 27, Number 1 in 1974, the Alaska Highway had not been paved in its entirety despite many proposals to do so. In 1974, it remained mostly a gravel road described as “rough and uneven” (Bucksar 1974, 74). About 400 of the 1,525 miles were paved. 
      
      Since the Alaska Highway passes through Canadian territory to connect the continental United States to Alaska, both country’s governments had to be consulted regarding improvements to the Alaska Highway. The Canadian Parliament and United States Congress were presented with numerous proposals to improve the Alaska Highway including improving the road, developing railways, introducing new sea-routes, reconstructing, paving, etc. (Bucksar 1974, 74-75). Mostly all of these propositions were not passed since alternate “adequate modes of transportation were developing and that the expected traffic on the [Alaska] Highway did not warrant reconstruction and paving at that time” (Bucksar 1974, 78). 
      
      The Alaska Highway was the only land-based link between Alaska and the continental United States. Some towns, cities, and other landmarks that the Alaska Highway passes through include Dawson Creek, Fort Saint John, Fort Nelson, Muncho Lake Provincial Park, Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park, Watson Lake, Teslin, Whitehorse, Halnes Junction, Beaver Creek, Delta Junction, North Pole, Fairbanks, and many more. A detailed current map of the Alaska Highway is displayed below. 
      

      References

      The Milepost. Alaska Highway. 2016. https://www.themilepost.com/highway-info/highways/alaska-highway (accessed April 4, 2017).

      Bucksar, Richard G. "The Alaska Highway Development." Arctic 27, no. 1 (1974): 74-80. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.bucknell.edu/stable/40508483.