The Mysteries of History (April 11 Edition)
Buchenwald Liberated; World War 3 Averted
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, 1905
“He is free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see.” — Alice O’Connor, 1961
1945 — Buchenwald Concentration Camp Liberated
public domain images from wikimedia commons
Buchenwald means “Beech forest” in German, but at the Nazi concentration camp bearing that name, the prominent feature was not trees but sickness, death, sadism, and medical experimentation. The only way the Auschwitz concentration camp exceeded Buchenwald in depravity is that there were no gas chambers in Buchenwald.
On this day in 1945, the U.S. Army arrived to liberate the camp (free the prisoners). By the time they got there, the German officials had already fled.
The camp held thousands of prisoners; each month, hundreds died. More captives were brought in to “replace” those who had perished. When the Americans reached the camp, there were more than 21,000 survivors awaiting their arrival.
Questions: Did the majority of German people support Hitler and Nazism? If so, why? Did the majority of German people know about the concentration camps, and the conditions therein? Have you read the book or seen the movie “Das Boot”? Who besides Jewish people were persecuted by the Nazi government?
1951 — MacArthur Fired by Truman
public domain images from wikimedia commons
During the Civil War, Union General George McClellan (1826-1885) was openly dismissive, disrespectful, and even borderline treacherous towards President Lincoln (1809-1865). Lincoln eventually relieved McClellan of his post, primarily for being too slow or cautious in the field, and defying orders to attack southern positions.
Pretty much the opposite happened on this date in 1951, when President Truman (1884-1972) fired the feisty and flamboyant General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) for being too aggressive in his tactics in the Korean war; rather than just defending South Korea from the North Koreans, MacArthur wanted to go on the offensive and push the war into North Korea to defeat the North Koreans rather than just keep them at bay/away from South Korea. Truman at first supported the idea, but when China sent masses of troops to push the Americans back across the border, Truman changed his mind, wanting to avoid a war with China. MacArthur still wanted to press on, though, and asked permission to bomb China and use the nationalist Chinese forces in Taiwan against their former countrymen. Truman refused, the two men squabbled, and eventually the General was relieved of his command.
This situation was similar to General George Patton (1885-1945) being held back at the end of World War 2 when Patton was straining at his leash, wanting to preemptively push into Russia, which he rightly deduced would soon switch from being America’s ally to its enemy.
Perhaps surprising to many today, MacArthur’s aggressive stance was shared by the majority of Americans, preferring to go to war with China rather than be satisfied with what seemed to them like just a partial success.
Questions: Did MacArthur “fade away” after he was separated from his employment? How did he use the rest of his life? Did the American public change their attitude towards Truman’s measured response to the war in Korea? If America had gone to war with Russia at the end of World War 2, who would have likely won, and how would that have changed history? Had America fought China in connection with the Korean War, would this have likely led to World War 3, as Truman feared? Who would have likely won that war?
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