THE MOST HORRENDOUS EVENT IN WRITTEN HISTORY

Ralphen, interesting reading...so many stories within a story.

Harris, how then do we come to appreciated the traverses of man and the world?

What are the questions we must ask. How are the responses to be recorded. How you measure the depravity of the groups involved?

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I don't think I could differentiate among the top twenty or so such events - very difficult to compare the relative effects of such events in different ages.

However, for the Modern Era, I believe World War I takes ther prize. It was a horrible conflict itself, and it was fought over practically nothing by Eurropean powers that had no rivals in the world except each other. Moreover, it defined the events of the awful 20th century. the major catastrophies and conflicts that followed- and which continue today, are all traceable to it. This included the worldwide economic collapse of 1930, World War II, the Cold War, and the current conflict between Islam and the West (we have Britain and France,with some help from Nazi Germany, to thank for that.)

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george,
Your words appear carefully chosen...and with the inclusion of so many dramatic events; I think it could the answer to the question. In fact, I would love for the membership to piece it together from the being to the end of your statement.

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The most horrific event... Dec 7th. That's my second wife's birthday.

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Thank god it's not your wife's second birthday.

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I was reading an article last week about the view of an incident for men and say a frog. The frog is programmed to go after a small shadow that crosses his circle of vision. He normally accummulates a belly full of insects. If you dropped B-Bs within his vision, his belly becomes full of metal.

Man's perception is colored by the similar situations from his past. He doesn't tell you what he has just seen; he relates what his brain thinks he saw...it's a wonder we can trust anyone's point of view.

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georgeob1 wrote:

I don't think I could differentiate among the top twenty or so such events - very difficult to compare the relative effects of such events in different ages.

However, for the Modern Era, I believe World War I takes ther prize. It was a horrible conflict itself, and it was fought over practically nothing by Eurropean powers that had no rivals in the world except each other. Moreover, it defined the events of the awful 20th century. the major catastrophies and conflicts that followed- and which continue today, are all traceable to it. This included the worldwide economic collapse of 1930, World War II, the Cold War, and the current conflict between Islam and the West (we have Britain and France,with some help from Nazi Germany, to thank for that.)

Hmmmm.....if it wasn't for Britain's stance during WW2, the whole of Europe would have eventually been taken over by Russia.

America would have lagged FAR behind in the development of rockets and missiles, as all the German scientists would probably have been forced to work for Stalin.

The cold war would have been completely different, with the USSR probably being the dominant force. God knows how THAT would have turned out.

So, if you want to start thanking Britain, at least try to include about the most important thing that we have done in a very long time.
Our WW2 started in 1939.

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thank you, Britain!

Ours started in 1939, too. We were, however, on the wrong side. Bummer.

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dagmaraka wrote:

thank you, Britain!

Ours started in 1939, too. We were, however, on the wrong side. Bummer.

I shall pass on your thanks to my father's generation, Dag.

I am well aware that half of Europe ended up behind the Iron curtain, and it must have been bloody awful. However, it could have been all of us, I suppose.
It's obvious that Britain dealt quite a bit of sh*t around in the olden days, and some very stupid and ruthless decisions were made, purely because we had the military muscle to do basically what we wanted.

It's a shame that the world's present empire builder has not learned by our mistakes. Maybe this is the way of the world, as history DOES seem to repeat itself regarding this type of thing.

China will probably be doing the same old thing in about fifty years or so.

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well, at least britain was among the 'kinder' colonizers.

speaking about horrendous, King Leopold's colonization project of the Congo has to be among the top 10, or 20.

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Lord Ellpus wrote:

Hmmmm.....if it wasn't for Britain's stance during WW2, the whole of Europe would have eventually been taken over by Russia.

America would have lagged FAR behind in the development of rockets and missiles, as all the German scientists would probably have been forced to work for Stalin.

The cold war would have been completely different, with the USSR probably being the dominant force. God knows how THAT would have turned out.

So, if you want to start thanking Britain, at least try to include about the most important thing that we have done in a very long time.
Our WW2 started in 1939.

I quite agree with you with respect to Britain's actions in WWII - after Chamberlain left office. What preceeded it wasn't so admirable. Selling out the Czechs (and, in effrect, the Poles) at Munich was not Britain's finest hour. Very likely Chamberlain was partly motivated by a fear of the USSR, and the hope or expectation that the Nazis might be a buffer. It turned out they were no improvement.

I believe that the Soviet Empire would have collapsed of its own internal contradictions, even if Britain and the U.S. had not actively opposed Germany.

However my basic point had to do with WWI, which set the stage for the whole sorry scene of the 2oth century, including the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the rise of Nazism in Germany. I blame all the European powers equally for that - and the United States for being foolish enough to get involved. All we accomplished by our sending 800,000 men to the Western Front was to enable Britain and France to divert 500,000 of their troops to the seizure of the Ottoman Empire - the after effects of which are troubling us even today, and, by giving the Allies the advantage in 1918, enabling Lloyd George and Clemenceau (and Woodrow Wilson) to sow the seeds of the next conflict in an unjust and ill-conceived "peace".

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I have not appeared in this thread before for two reasons, the first being that i find contentions about superlatives, and especially "historical" superlatives distasteful. The second is that i do not wish to be confronted by the fantasies which pass for history in the minds of others (comments about what may or may not be fantasy on my part will not be entertained).

However, with regard to this:

Quote:

THE MOST HORRENDOUS EVENT IN WRITTEN HISTORY

It is unlikely that much can be said about the nature of the putatively most horrendous event in unwritten history . . .

As you were . . .

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Hello Setanta, good to know that you are still kicking around. Confused

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I suppose I should not be surprised to read comments by Europeans nominating Europe as the site of events. I wonder what an Asian scholar would write?

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hingehead, you wrote:

"Can I have two votes?

" Rwandan Genocides http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Rwandan_Genocide

And the Khmer Rouge atrocities in Cambodia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Kampuchea

" these distress me more than say the Nazi extermination programs because the international community was complicit in the crime. Genocide allowed for reasons of political expediency - with Western nations sewing the seeds of calamity but washing their hands of the dark harvest."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's difficult to comment on your statement.
You refer to the "Rwanda genocides" and to "Khmere Rouge atrocities." Fine. Then, in an incredible euphemism, you refer to "the Nazi extermination programs." Sounds a bit like summer camp.

The word "genocide" was first applied to to the attempted extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany. How ironic.

You need to read endless material available on how the international community was complicit in the crimes of the Holocaust - Jews, slavs, etc.

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I believe you are mistaken, and that the word genocide was first applied to the Turkish attempt to exterminate Armenians resident in Anatolia after the Great War. But don't let me rain on your parade--rant on.

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It is all beyond my imagination. I have never walked amongst bodies or tried to escape the smell of burning flesh.

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In terms of the scale, I voted for the Ghengis Khan and his Mongolian cavalries' conquest over almost the whole Eurasia continent.

Years ago I read a population document concerned with him, which indicated before he put his feet into Pan-China's territory (all-together 4 nations Song, which is a Han-dominated state, Xi Xia, Liao, which was ended by the last one, Jin ), the whole population was roughly 150 million. And after he finished his job, I mean only the mindless conquest in China, there were only 50 million.

Mongolian army was notorious for the whole-scale no-one-left massacres of the cities whose garrisons and residents objected to surrender.

Undoutebly, it was the most "horrendous" event, although just in terms of the scale, which is also an undoutebly narrow sense.

http://www.chinamap.com/non-cgi/usr/39/39_600_7.jpg

http://edu101.kid-up.com/ahis/img/fuming254.jpg

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THE MOST HORRENDOUS EVENT IN WRITTEN HISTORY

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