Shameless Napoleon Quote of the Week

December 20-26, 2009

Four hostile newspapers are to be more feared than a thousand bayonets.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Dead General Quote of the Week

Singing His Praises.

This Dead General Quote of the Week comes from the only general we've covered in the past two weeks or so, Ulysses S. Grant. While Grant proved himself to be one of the most capable general officers in American history, music aficionado he was not:

I know two tunes. One of them is Yankee Doodle. The other isn't.

December 17, 1862

Dear Readers,

We beg your pardon for the lapse in production we've suffered these past few weeks. Our old friend capitalism has put a lot on our table recently, and while we are thankful, perhaps you could click on the links of our sponsors in the spirit of commerce (wink wink).

In that light, our editors did want to take the time today to briefly mention a moldy old skeleton from the closet of one of the highest ranking American soldiers ever, Ulysses S. Grant. At the end of 1862, cotton export from the Confederacy was conducted solely on the black market, and apparently the Union Army in the Department of Tennessee had few doubts as to who was responsible. On December 17, 1862, Grant signed General Order #11, banning Jews from his district.

Not surprisingly, many were outraged. Union community leaders, Jew and Gentile alike, howled in protest, and the issue reached the floor of a Congress about to break for the Christmas holiday. The Army of the Tennessee claimed the order was curtail the rash of under-the-table cotton dealing to Northern mills. Grant, for his part, claimed the order was drawn up by a subordinate and he had signed it without reading it. Either way, the storm reached the desk of President Lincoln, who quickly had the order rescinded.

Just another lovely chapter in the ever-growing catalog of terrible things about warfare.

Shameless Napoleon Quote of the Week

December 13-19, 2009

I considered Napoleon's presence in the field equal to 40,000 men in the balance.

The Duke of Wellington

Dead General Quote of the Week

On the Field and In the Field.

In honor of the Army-Navy game being played in Philadelphia today, for this Dead General Quote of the Week we turn to General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army during World War II:

I want an officer for a secret and dangerous mission. I want a West Point football player.

Go Navy. Beat Army.

December 7, 1949

Nanking No More: Or a Date Which Will Rent an Apartment in Infamy.

The new week begins with a historic date, a pivotal moment in the history of the United States. It was a lazy Sunday morning in 1941, at a time when most Americans were still more impressed by the bat-waving of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams than the sword-rattling of Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo. Once the last Japanese planes vacated the skies above Pearl Harbor, America grew from sleepy, isolated giant into a world super power. The events of that day are well chronicled, so instead we here at Lies Agreed Upon turn our attention to an event that occurred seven years later, but was no less influential in shaping the 20th Century.

The Japanese war machine that attacked Pearl Harbor was in fact primarily engaged in mainland China in late 1941. For a decade prior to the invasion in 1937, the army of General Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China had been hard at work suppressing a communist insurrection led by Mao Zedong. Once the Japanese landed, Chiang's main focus shifted to the foreign enemy, but the communists still harassed the fringes of his army for the duration of the Second World War. As soon as the Japanese were defeated, the two old enemies saw the internal conflict erupt into the Chinese Civil War.








Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.







With American backing, Chiang and the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, tried to fend off the communists from his war ravaged nation. Exhausted by their battles with the Japanese, KMT forces needed American troops and supplies to carry out the fight. Likewise, Mao's forces were being supplied by the Soviet Union, who maintained a large troop presence in Manchuria, to the north, even after World War II ended.

By the middle of 1946, the guerrilla attacks popularized by Mao before the Japanese invasion had evolved into a full scale conventional war. The KMT suffered setback after setback, and the communists supplied themselves with Nationalist stores following each victory. With Soviet backing in Manchuria, Mao's forces had a strong hold on Northern China by 1948, and began operations south of the Great Wall soon after. Nanking, Chaing's capital, fell in April, 1949, and later that year Mao founded the People's Republic of China with its capital in Beijing.

Chairman Mao Zedong declaring the foundation of the PRC in 1949.


On December 7, 1949, after escaping mainland China, Chiang's government fled to the island of Taiwan, and declared Tapei the new capital of the Republic of China. To this day, no formal agreement has been signed by either side to end the war, and for many years following his exile, Chiang planned on retaking the mainland. While relationships between the communist government and Tapei have improved recently, no president of the KMT has ever spoken with a chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.

While some may feel we did our audience a disservice by looking over the attack on Pearl Harbor, our editors felt this topic deserved some press as well. It was surely one of the first times of the Cold War where the U.S. and Soviet Union went at each other through satellite states. Furthermore, the conditions and borders affected by Chiang's flea to Taiwan still exist today. While it may now seem ludicrous for tiny Chinese Taipei to challenge mainland China, it was a mess that for many years consumed American foreign policy.

Shameless Napoleon Quote of the Week

December 6-12, 2009

He who can control the English Channel for six hours can control the world.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Dead Admiral Quote of the Week

Out of His Way.

After hoisting the first Grand Union Flag above the USS Alfred, John Paul Jones established himself as one of the most famous American navy men of all time. His famous words "I have not yet begun to fight!" have endured to this day, even outside the realm of military history. He never rose higher than Captain in the United States Navy, but served as an Admiral in the Imperial Russian Fleet under Catherine the Great. His fighting spirit was summed up when he was first given command of a ship in 1776.

"I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."

John Paul Jones monument, Washington, D.C.

December 3, 1775

Hoist and Let Fly: Or Oh Say Does That Banner Yet Wave?

The Grand Union Flag, the first flag to be flown above an American Naval vessel.

In one of our earliest posts, the editors at Lies Agreed Upon let slip some of their favorite topics to cover (you may know a certain Corsican who gets a little press here). Besides their obvious man-crush on the Little Dictator, they've also been known to fawn over the trusty old United States Marine Corps. Their leatherneck-loving is so plain, however, that at times they often forget to give credit where credit is due. We've covered the Corps here several times, and not once have we mentioned its larger (and cleaner) cousin: the United States Navy.

In 1775, the Second Continental Congress decided the other colonies would back Massachusetts after tensions finally erupted at Lexington and Concord in April. After the battle of Bunker Hill, with the British garrison in Boston under siege, the merchant ship Black Prince made port in Philadelphia with news that the British were floating a pair of unarmed supply ships into the harbor. Congress, in attempt to secure those supplies for newly minted General Washington, immediately commandeered the merchantman.

Rechristened the USS Alfred, the ship was fitted out as a man-of-war and logged into the Continental Navy, established just two months before. On the windy morning of December 3, 1775, before she departed for Boston, a peculiar piece of cloth was hoisted above her decks and unfurled into the breeze. Onlookers that day may have been confused, as the flag looked a lot like that of the old British East India Company. But what they were seeing was the Grand Union Flag, one of the nation's earliest banners, and the very first flag of the United States Navy.

This tiny drop in the ocean of naval history gives us a chance to cover a topic most of us civilians never even think twice about. There are two things navy men know cold. They know their coffee, and they know their flags. Military ships often do not fly their country's traditional flag, but instead sail under special naval banners. Some of these flags, (ensigns or jacks, now that this blog has gone to sea) are commonly known, even if we don't always realize it. For fun today, instead of a typical post lets look at some ensigns you may or may not recognize.

United States:
For over 200 years after independence, through big wars and small, the U.S. Navy sailed into battle under this ensign, identical to the canton (or corner) of the national flag.

Following the attacks of 9/11, the Navy switched to this awesome flag, harkening back to one flown during the Revolution, after the Grand Union Flag. It seems the Navy is good for something other than giving Marines a lift.

While some may recognize this as the national flag of the Confederate States of America, this flag never stood for the Confederacy as a whole. It became synonymous with the South after its generals copied this design for their battle flags. It was originally the the Confederate Navy jack.

United Kingdom:
Sure, everyone knows the Union Jack, a form of which has flown over British possessions since the 15th Century. Yet British shipping, the lifeline of her empire, flies this flag...

...and the Royal Navy, whose ships ruled the waves for hundreds of years and intimidated the world, sails under this ensign.

Japan:
War movies will tell you that this flag was the symbol of the Japanese empire during World War II. Yet the Japanese national flag has not changed in almost 140 years. The Rising Sun flag was not the country's flag, but you guessed it, the naval jack. It is still in use today.

Spain:
The national flag of Spain is less than 30 years old. On the other hand, their ships, which for generations surpassed even those of the British, have sailed under a jack similar to this since the Spanish Armada. Armada Espanola, after all, translates into Spanish Navy in English.

We thought we'd mix it up a little today and try something new, and it gave us a chance to kill two birds with one stone. We gave the Navy some coverage for once, and we got to look at a little living history. Nations are represented around the world by their ships, and the flags they fly are often the first thing another ship would look for in international waters. As it happens, the naval rank of ensign was originally given to the officer charged with, not surprisingly, holding the flags. So we finally gave the navy some credit and we suppose they deserve it. After all, as any sailor worth his salt knows, all "Marines" really stands for is My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment, Sir!

December 2, 1899

The Philippine Thermopylae: Or Starring the United States as "The Bad Guy."

Tirad Pass, Northern Luzon, Philippines.

Today we look at a sad and embarrassing chapter in the military history of the United States, a nation that has long trumpeted itself as the world's defender of liberty and democracy. Following the Spanish-American war at the close of the 19th Century, the U.S. took control of the Philippine Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. After the defeat of Spanish forces at the Battle of Manila Bay during the war, the Philippines declared themselves independent, expecting support from the western power which had once done the same for itself. The United States, however, refused to recognize the Philippines, instead planning to annex the island chain.

Filipinos had revolted against Spanish rule at the start of the 1890's then had thrown their full support behind the Americans to finally break Spain's hold on their homeland. Feeling betrayed by their former saviors, and not wishing to trade Spanish speaking imperialists for English speaking ones, tensions quickly arose between Americans and Filipinos. When U.S. troops were accused of firing on Filipinos in Manila in 1899, the simmering mood heated into a boil.

Led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who had commanded them against the Spanish, the Filipinos severed all friendly ties with the United States. The war that erupted thereafter was little more than a sanctioned slaughter. American racism, combined with superior firepower, not only defeated Filipino forces on the battlefield, but killed ordinary civilians wholesale. Filipinos were rounded into concentration camps, tortured, and murdered outright. A call went up to American troops to "Kill Everyone Over Ten," implying that any Filipino born before the ten years of American involvement began was a war criminal.

This engraving, published in U.S. newspapers, summed up American feelings toward Filipinos.

Nevertheless, the Filipinos fought on. Aguinaldo's forces fled Manila and cut their way through the jungles and hills of Northern Luzon. With an American column hot on his heels, Aguinaldo needed to buy time to allow his men to escape to fight another day. He ordered his trusted friend, the youthful General Gregorio del Pilar, to take the rear guard of the army and look for a place to delay the advancing invaders. Del Pilar remembered passing a natural bottleneck in Tirad Pass, and took a small band of Filipinos to try and stave off the Americans.

On December 2, 1899, the lead American units came within sight of the Pass. Advancing toward it, they were immediately met by a well-aimed volley from del Pilar's men. The Filipinos held them off for a few hours, as the Americans wisely decided a frontal assault on the position would be suicide. Just as a handful of Greek warriors beat back hundreds of thousands of Persians at the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, so too were the Filipinos delaying the Americans. Their solid defensive position neutralized the Yanks' advantages in numbers and fire power, and del Pilar believed he could hold off the Americans for as long as he needed.









General Gregorio del Pilar.









Unfortunately for del Pilar, the same misfortune that befell the Greeks thousands of years before would be his undoing, as well. A local villager named Januario Galut, playing the modern day role of Ephialtes, came to the Americans during the battle and offered to show them a path around Tirad Pass. Galut led a regiment of Texas volunteer sharp-shooters around the Filipino position, pointing out the places where they could outflank the enemy. Del Pilar had only 60 men at his disposal, and after five hours of battle the Texans found that 52 of them had been killed, including del Pilar himself.

With Galut's help, the Americans eventually prevailed at Tirad Pass but Aguinaldo and the main body of Filipino troops were able to escape. The war continued for three more years, and the insurrection and slaughter for another ten. Unable to overcome the loss of del Pilar and evade American forces for much longer, Aguinaldo's forces were eventually defeated. The Philippines did not receive full independence from the United States until after the end of the Second World War.

After the Battle of Tirad Pass, del Pilar's body was left to rot in the hot tropical sun. The Texans had looted his body and those of his men, stripping them of their uniforms, medals, and weapons. Del Pilar's diary was later found, in which he confided that the charge of defending the pass was the most glorious task of his life. He was eventually buried by an American officer, Lieutenant Dennis P. Quinlan, who in recognition of a worthy adversary inscribed "An officer and a gentleman," on del Pilar's grave.

Filipino dead during the Philippine-American War.

While the numbers engaged were far less than the ancient battle, and the fame not as well-preserved for posterity, the action at Tirad Pass would come to be known as "The Philippine Thermopylae." The American involvement in the Philippine Islands is surely a dark chapter in the nation's lengthy military history. Although most sources differ, it is widely agreed that during the years 1899-1913 over a million Filipinos were killed, both in uniform and out. Men, women and children, whether they supported the insurrection or not, were slaughtered indiscriminately in actions no different than genocides the United States condemned, both earlier and in the century to come.