God that would have been a great night!

Newly declassified files from the National Archives at Kew have revealed a number of interesting things today; apparently the Allies had a hit-list of high ranking Nazis in France they considered eliminating prior to the D-Day landings on 6th June 1944; chief among them General Erwin Rommel and Field Marshall Gerd Von Rundstedt. It wouldn't have been the first time the British Government sanctioned an official hit during World War II; in 1942 a British trained group of Czech resistance members who assassinated Reinhard Heydrich in Prague.

The Heydrich assassination also helps to explain why they didn't go through with the plan, the Nazis enacted brutal reprisals and wiped out the Czech village of Lidice in revenge for his death. The assassination of Rommel, commander of the German forces in Normandy, may have had some effect but the British feared that reprisals against French civilians and POW's would negate it's potential value to the war effort.

Stalin never struck me as a cocktail guy...

As well as the hitlist, there were files that revealed the home office and MI5 were bugging King Edward VIII during the events leading up to his abdication in 1936. Spying on the King? He was a Nazi sympathiser after all!

But for me the most interesting story to come out of the new files was that during Churchill's state visit to Moscow in 1942, he and Stalin got a little drunk and emptied "innumerable bottles". According to Permanent Undersecretary of the Foreign Office Alexander Cadogan:

"what Stalin made me drink was pretty savage. Winston, who by that point was complaining of a slight headache, seemed wisely to be confining himself to comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine"

Stalin the party boy huh? That would have been a hell of a good night to be a part of! 

You can't help but love the underdog, even when he's a Crim!

A quick tribute to one of my personal heroes: Frank Abagnale Jr; one of the ballsiest, smartest and most enduring con-men in the history of fraud and criminality. His impressive list of legal accomplishments is a footnote to a rather sad childhood, which he regrettably missed out on from the age of 16; as Abagnale himself puts it "I never went to a senior prom or a high school football game".

You forgot Thief!

He's often asked to be a keynote speaker given his more recent legitimate work with the FBI and the U.S. Federal Government in general; rather than butcher his life story in paraphrasing I always find it's better to hear it from the horses mouth. Watch the video below ( in two parts ) if you have some time to kill, and hear the story of how one 16 year old boy from a Catholic boys school ran from a New York Courtroom in tears and ended up in a French prison 5 years and a couple of million dollars later.

Well this was unexpected... IT'S OVER 1000!!

Thanks for all the views to get Musings past 1000! Especially to that one bloke from Kazakhstan last week, had images of a man using his laptop while sitting in a Yurt with it plugged into a potato or something. Regardless, thank you all and keep checking back on the blog and on the History Circle!

In Memory of: Ray Harryhausen

Probably Harryhausen's best known work, the fight between the skeletons and Jason in Jason and the Argonauts. A great and groundbreaking bit of cinema that we all remember from when we were kids. Still impressively good effects today, no shakycam here!

Anzac Day - 25th April 2013

Today, we remember the contributions of the men and women of Australia and New Zealand in all conflicts. Engraved on the memorial at Anzac Cove on the Dardanelles peninsula is the following inscription:

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives. You are now living in the soil of a friendly country therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are at peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well"

Kamal Ataturk, 1st President of the Turkish Republic

War between Great Britain and the United States? Canadians may wish to take note!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4hjyyrpiKQ&list=WL07B0171CBE458293

The above link is to a documentary that was recommended to me discussing the viable possibility of a war between the United States and the British Empire in the 1930's.

I know what you're thinking! What a load of absolute shite! Special relationship and all that! I know because I thought the same thing; this is just another pseudo-historian making shit up in a vain attempt to be interesting (don't get me wrong about pseudo-history, it can occasionally be interesting :P) but when I gave this a watch and then did some reading on it afterwards I was forced to take a massive helping of humble pie!

The United States and Great Britain, contrary to popular opinion, did not develop the "special relationship" as we know it until much later than I expected. And the rising levels of impatience between London and Washington after the First World War eventually resulted in the preparation of a detailed and perfectly feasible plan of attack by the United States which became known as War Plan Red. 

(all sounds a bit Tom Clancy I know but bear with me!)

In the 1930's Britain was in hock deep with American bankers and loans that she had given out to France and Belgium at the commencement of hostilities (hoping that Britain could bank roll the conflict but not have to get involved directly) were now being delayed by the massive damage done in Western Europe and the fact that German war reparations were no longer being paid. This inability to pay back what we had borrowed coupled with several naval treaties meant that the Americans were thoroughly sick to death with Britain, seemingly ungrateful for the American lives that had been lost ending the war. 

In response the U.S armed forces drew up a comprehensive plan to interdict further British belligerence by invading (yes you read that correctly) Canada and British overseas territories in the Caribbean and Pacific. This plan, as explained in the documentary, really wasn't going to be a civilised war and would be characterised by the mass bombing of cities in Canada and America, Chemical Warfare and plenty of backstabbing, all topped off with a very interesting question: who would have won? 

Honestly, this really is worth a watch and I highly recommend it to you!

History in the Making! Where were you? PM Thatcher's Funeral

This day April 17th 2013, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Baroness Margaret Thatcher's funeral has taken place in Central London; amid controversy over it's £10 million price tag. Remembered with applause by some and utter disdain by others for her often controversial politics and fiery attitude, she will be remembered by all at least as the first ( and so far only ) female Prime Minister my country has ever known.

Spent ages looking for a good photo of the procession, then found this. I think it tells the same story.

Highlights from the funeral procession here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22183063
The first state funeral for a Prime Minister since that of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965, of which another similarity can be made; they were both immensely popular during wartime, but their popularity faltered with the coming of peace. Despite the obvious pomp and circumstance that I am all too happy to oblige in cases like these, I do wonder how the price has jumped so astronomically. I can't imagine it's cheap to clear out St Paul's and close off half of the roads in Central London on a weekday, but the gun carriage hire would be free I imagine? Either way, me not being a taxpayer I don't really need to concern myself; to all those who are I can only say...

THIS LADY'S NOT FOR TURNING!