Just Finished Reading: 1946 – The Making of the Modern World by Victor Sebestyen (FP: 2014) [382pp] 

The celebrations were short-lived. The war was over but the dying, the hunger, the desperation continued. Across Europe, especially so in Germany, much had been destroyed. Many houses had fallen, power where it existed at all was intermittent at best, sewers had been smashed, hospitals lay in ruins and roads were only slowly becoming passable. As if the populations of central Europe needed any additional suffering, they realised all too well that winter was coming. Meanwhile, in vast areas of the devastated Soviet Union, millions had died and millions more did not know if they would survive to see years end. In the Far East, fighting continued in China in a resurgent Civil War whilst the survivors of defeated Japan struggled with food shortages and the shame of defeat. The global war was over but things, if anything, had gotten worse for many. 

A world war may have ended in 1945 but a new world, the world we live in today, began for many in 1946. With the battered but triumphant Soviet Union taking control of its occupied territories the conditions we now know as the Cold War began to take shape. US President Truman was becoming aware that America falling back into glorious isolation was not an option as the Soviets pushed forward at every opportunity and the Europeans had little power to resist. The US also saw that it could not, and would not, simply abandon Japan to its fate especially with the Soviets and now the Chinese becoming threats to US power projection.  

In the Middle East the Jewish settlements in Palestine were advocating for more say in their future and for unrestricted Jewish immigration especially with the growing realisation of the enormity of the Holocaust. Some groups advocated for independence and were both able and willing to use violence to achieve it. The British, meanwhile, had neither the resources nor the stomach for a fight. Likewise, in India, the British were determined to leave with almost unseemly haste to save money and its shrinking Imperial reputation. Many would die in the process of creating the three nations of Israel, India and Pakistan and the consequences of those fights would still be with us more that 70 years later. 

I had a fair idea that the end of the Second World War was bad and that the recovery was both long and hard. I had little appreciation of the levels of suffering – globally – of SO many people as the political and geographical tectonic plates shifted into a world more recognisably modern. The fact that MILLIONS of people in Europe alone (mostly German) were forced from their homes at gunpoint and at very short notice, pointed towards the border and told to leave or die is enough to give anyone pause. The fact that many thousands of people were housed in the concentration camps they had so far survived in because the Allies had nowhere else to put them again gives you pause. The best thing that could be said is that at least they got better food if not always better conditions and that it was ‘temporary’. The word GRIM just doesn’t do it justice. 

World War Two may have officially ended in 1945 but the suffering continued LONG after the guns finally stopped. The results in Europe, the East, the Middle East and the Far East still live with us today in the memories of those who lived through it and the headlines we see every day. This was an awesome work of modern history. Not only did I learn a great deal (I’ve hardly touched on much of the book) but it reset some of my thinking about the aftermath of the war. I’ll definitely be reading more about the post-1945 period and more by this excellent author. I already own his work on 1956 Hungary and will be collecting his other works too. Very Highly recommended and a highlight of the year. 

I was going to be jumping ahead to the 1960's next but plans change! so, on to the 1970's....

[Highest page count of the year so far: 382pp][+9pp]

Just Finished Reading: Prisoners of Geography – Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall (FP: 2015/2019) [300pp] 

I’m sure that I’m not alone in wondering what exactly is going on with the world right now. It seems, at least if you watch the news or spend any time on-line (and especially if you spend any time swimming in the increasingly toxic depths of ‘Social Media’) that things are definitely ‘off’ to say the least. I’d even go so far as to say that it seems, on a good day, that a significant percentage of the humans on this planet have gone (or maybe just have gone public about being) crazy. So, what’s up? I thought reading up on Geopolitics might help – and it did! 

Personally, I’m one of ‘those people’ who just enjoy looking at maps, hunting out strange place names, and wondering what a place is actually like. Studying Geography at school (MANY years ago) I was completely intrigued by the idea that you could understand much about a place by looking at things like navigable rivers (or otherwise), locations and heights of mountains, placement of natural resources, the type of border (natural of the ominous straight-line) and so on. Looking closely the location of major cities, battles, migration paths, agricultural land and much more become ‘obvious’ once you take the physical geography into account. Things like cities are not scattered randomly on a landscape. They exist where they do for practical reasons. So, you can tell, almost at a glance, why some countries are prosperous and others poor. You can see why some countries are often invaded by their neighbours and others seems ‘designed’ for defence. 

Looking across the world, from Russia to the Artic, the author takes 10 locations and shows how their geography shaped their individual histories and how their geography shapes both their present and their futures. But as biology is not destiny neither is geography. A mountain range or a river will often constrain options for any country, but we are rather inventive beings who can literally move mountains, or at least blast holes through them. We can also redirect rivers, build bridges over them, or dam them – sometimes annoying or frightening the governments of countries downstream which could, under the wrong circumstances lead to conflict. 

I did think throughout this very interesting book that there was more than a slight hint of Jared Diamond (not that such is a bad thing), with nods to the direction of river flow and, more importantly, their navigability which gave Europe a head start in development (along with abundant natural resources in the shape of coal. Other zones, notably South America and Africa struggled in this regard coupled with the problems of transporting anything long distances through inhospitable regions (deserts, mountains, jungles etc). The chapter on India/Pakistan was most illuminating especially how India broke apart after the British left and how different ethnic groups ended up where they did – complete (of course) with much suffering and death in the process. I think the chapter I learned most from was that on the Middle East. Despite remembering watching many of the conflicts in that region as well as reading an excellent book on Palestine just recently, I did enjoy discovering much of the background to the wars, displacements and massacres over the decades – caused, in no small part, by the fact that the countries boundaries and indeed the countries themselves are the highly artificial constructs of European Powers after WW1 (I’m looking at YOU Britain and France). We REALLY screwed that region LONG before the present messes play out on our TVs and phones. It’s pretty much a given that wherever you see a straight line on a map you KNOW there’s trouble there!  

As my first dip into Geopolitics for a while I was both impressed and educated by this understandably bestselling book. If, like me, you wonder why conflicts start and persist over time, often in the same place's generation after generation, or have wondered why some countries are rich why others remain poor (often despite being resource rich) this is definitely a source for some answers. Definitely recommended and more to come both on the subject and from the author.  

Just Finished Reading: Atoms and Ashes – From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima by Serhii Plokhy (FP: 2022) [301pp] 

It was quite a promise, the idea of turning Weapons of Mass Destruction into the engines of progress itself. Some even said that the electricity the new stations would be producing was too cheap to meter, in effect free. It was quite the promise. Dazzled by all things nuclear it was easy to forget that promises and radiation containment vessels are made to be broken. 

Growing up in England in the 1960’s I, like most of the rest of the world, had never heard of a place in the Soviet Union called Kyshtym. It appeared on few maps and none of those maps mentioned a classified nuclear facility there. The world only found out about the accident at that plant when the Soviet Union fell. In late September 1957 something went wrong there – VERY wrong – and quickly got out of control. The resulting fire and the explosions they caused spread highly radioactive debris over a large area. Never having dealt with anything like it before the response, especially in a secret obsessed society like the USSR, was far less than that required. Few died on the day, but many followed in the decades to come, vast amounts of topsoil were removed, whole villages destroyed to prevent their occupants returning to contaminated zones and countless animals were destroyed to prevent them being eaten or milked. 

The first nuclear accident I HAD heard about, although it also happened (just) before I was born was at the Windscale nuclear plant in Cumbria (128 miles north of where I was born and 72 miles north of where I went to University) on 10th October 1957. A fire which lasted 3 days in one of the reactor cores spread radioactive isotopes across the UK and into Europe. It was the worst ever recorded incident in England and one of the worst in the world (given a severity level of 5 out of a potential 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.) Downplayed at the time for political reasons – the UK was desperate to be involved in the US nuclear bomb program – the full scale of the disaster remained classified for some time. 

Things got even more interesting when the book moved into the modern era and incidents that many people reading this will remember. First up we have the Three Mile Island incident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in March 1979. This was also a level 5 event and only narrowly avoided being something MUCH worse. The near-meltdown released radioactive gasses and water vapour into the atmosphere as well as radioactive water into the nearby rivers. Luckily for the local residents (and everyone else downwind) a truly awesome tragedy was avoided. However, the costs of the clean-up and the decommissioning of the reactor are in the billions of dollars. [Side note: If you haven’t watched the 1979 movie ‘The China Syndrome’ it’ll give you some idea of what happened at Three Mile Island. Rather spookily the movie was released 12 days BEFORE the Harrisburg accident!] 

Then, of course, we move on to the poster child of all nuclear accidents: Chernobyl. Located in Ukraine (and in the new again recently whilst occupied by Russian soldiers who were crazy enough or ill-informed enough to dig tranches in the still contaminated ground around the plant) this mother of all accidents - level 7 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale – occurred in April 1986 and initially in secret (again) until radiation spikes were reported across Europe and the finger very obviously pointed towards the Soviets. Finally, reluctantly admitting a problem they threw everything they had to prevent an even bigger disaster. It was, for many around the world a wake-up call about the dangers of nuclear power. Whilst some pointed to the lacklustre safety protocols of Soviet industry others pointed to the failures on the Three Mile Island facility with it supposed superior design and safety environment. Unsurprisingly the approvals for new nuclear power stations across the world plummeted. As the situation within the industry began to improve everything crashed to Earth with a bump – or should that be a wave? Fukushima happened on 11th March 2011. 

Hit by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded (with little damage directly caused to the plant itself) and then hit by TWO tsunami waves – one of which exceeded 14 metres (the defensive sea wall only measured 10 metres) - a series of problems caused a fire, partial melt-down and a series of explosions across the site and ultimately another level 7 incident. The facility was state of the art and the operators highly trained yet still a disaster was only averted by some quick thinking, personnel with the dedication and (honestly) suicidal bravery to stay at their posts and luck. Again, unsurprisingly, the world reacted with dismay as yet another nuclear incident shook confidence in the technology. 

Of course, what makes it worse, if such a thing is possible, is that nuclear power is seen as THE saviour to a future energy crisis as older fossil-fuel power stations are increasingly decommissioned and the preferred greener renewable power sources are still coming online and slowly improving in efficiency. The stopgap was supposed to be filled – at least temporarily if not permanently – by nukes. BUT the approval process and building of nuclear power plants takes DECADES – time we seemingly don’t have. So, it is proposed, we need to cut back on safety protocols and cut corners on the building process to speed things up. Really? When some of the most advanced and well-maintained nuclear plants in the world fail how well are quickly thrown up and cost-cutting versions going to manage? It’s a very relevant and deeply disturbing question the author ends with. 

Told in a measured tone without any of the expected hyperbole or ‘the sky is falling’ rhetoric this is a deeply disturbing narrative about a technology that promised SO much and ended up leaving us with problems that our far descendants will be left to deal with. If you have any interest at all in the nuclear industry and want to know more about the promises being made about it ‘solving’ the ongoing Climate crisis this is definitely the book for you. But be warned, it might very well give you nightmares especially if you live downwind of a nearby nuclear station. One of the best reads of the year (so far) and, therefore, HIGHLY recommended. Much more from this author to come.    

Just Finished Reading: The Kamikaze Hunters – Fighting for the Pacific, 1945 by Will Iredale (FP: 2015)

With the war in Europe coming to an end and demands on the Royal Navy falling in concert Winston Churchill offered their services to the US to assist in the final assault on Japan. The US Navy had reservations but their objections were overruled by the President. Initially tasked with bombing of oil refineries the British Pacific Fleet showed its ability to deal with tricky situations and earned plaudits from those who had originally questioned their use or usefulness in the Pacific – a theatre and way of fighting the British were unfamiliar with. Their next task was something different again. As the American Fleets approached the Japanese Home Islands and it became obvious to everyone that the last days of Japanese Imperialism approached the Japanese became desperate. So desperate indeed that they approved an idea that would shock the world – the Kamikaze. In essence it was a truly simple idea. With a reducing number of qualified pilots available on any particular mission the odds of a successful attack on US warships was steadily dropping. The odds of surviving an attack were decreasing too. But what if the pilots didn’t need to come back? What if the pilots only had one mission? When the attackers no longer had to think about surviving multiple missions and attacking multiple targets the odds of a ‘successful’ mission increased. The results were both terrifying and incredibly effective. Instead of dodging bombs and torpedoes dropped on them the ships of the US fleets now had to cope with bombs aimed with dedicated human precision – to the point of impact. The cost/benefit balance was equally devastating. In ideal circumstances a single pilot in a single engine fighter could destroy an entire aircraft carrier. As the Americans approached Japan the number of kamikaze attacks increased and increased again. Something needed to be done.

Part of the response was tactical, part technological. More fighters were kept back to operate CAPs – combat air patrols to engage the kamikazes before they can do their end-runs. Newer IFF devices prevented kamikaze planes from joining flights of US planes returning home after missions and classified proximity fuses were fitted to anti-aircraft ammunition to enhance lethality – but it wasn’t always enough. This is where the Royal Navy came in. Using its air assets (predominantly US designs) and armoured aircraft carriers the BPF was to provide flanking cover for future missions – which would put them directly in the firing line for any kamikaze attacks. It was not going to be a very pleasant experience. Following the usual format of recruitment, training (in the UK, Canada and the US) and deployment in theatre this well researched and often gripping account of a forgotten aspect of RN and Fleet Air Arm history puts you right in the action with people we ‘watch’ learning, fighting and, all too often, dying far away from home long after the European war ended. Part simple history and part long overdue recognition of service this was an excellent account of actions that should not have been side-lined nor forgotten. Definitely recommended for all flying and Pacific War buffs.         

Just Finished Reading: The Deluge – The Great War and the Remaking of Global Order (1916-1931) by Adam Tooze (FP: 2014)

No doubt it was offered with the very best of intentions however naïve. But all the same the idea was like political acid – self-determination. Never fully explained or even understood it meant many things to many people and that, at its heart, was the problem. Throughout Europe and the wider world the idea of the right to and expectation of self-determination worked its magic helping to break up old empires and create countries out of whole cloth. It encouraged people’s, previously disenfranchised, to rise up against their governments to be allowed their own homeland and equal rights in the eyes of the law, and it brought democracy where none had previously existed. The Genie was very much out of the bottle and no one, even at gun point, was going to put it back in – although some would try very hard indeed.

Of course principles are easy to state, safely between two oceans with little or nothing to lose by the statement. Living up to the same principles when they hit the hard reality of international politics was something else. The easy part was returning Alsace-Lorraine to France (despite the number of ethnic Germans living there). The harder part was countries like Poland which had to be carved out of the pre-existing territories of Germany, Russia and others. Most especially difficult was the provision of natural resources and, more importantly, access to the sea at Danzig. No self-determination there just hard economics, realpolitik and hard bargaining. Even those on the ground could see that the Polish solution was storing up problems for the future. But that was for the newly formed League of Nations to resolve or at least that was the idea before it was effectively emasculated by its Byzantine internal set of rules in an attempt to appear fairer than it in fact was as well the aspect that America never took up its place at the table to spare any future European entanglements.

As a forward looking people the Americans – in the public guise of President Wilson – had little interest in Europe’s Imperial past. They did have an interest in the world’s economic future, unrestricted access to new markets, an open seas policy enforced by a navy at least the equal of Britain’s and the speedy recovery of war debt accrued by the Entente powers. Almost as important in many eyes was the restriction of Japanese expansionism within China and throughout Asia. Not only did the US consider the Pacific to be within their sphere of influence but they thought of the Japanese themselves with a mixture of suspicion and contempt. The US policy towards China itself was hardly coherent and managed to send mixed signals to both the Japanese and Chinese authorities which did little to help stabilise that chaotic region.

At the centre of everything were two countries fighting in many ways for their very existence – Germany and Russia. Germany was the vanquished foe trying to recover from the heavy blow of defeat and the heavier blow of post-Versailles reparations. Stumbling from government to government, fighting elements from both the hard-left and the hard-right, it had an uncertain future. Russia meanwhile was trying to decide between being a failed state or a pariah state. After the 1917 revolution, the declaration of a separate peace with Germany and a descent into years of Civil War the newly formed Soviet Union, birthed in a sea of blood, began to take its place on the world stage. Contained for now by the western powers it still had the capacity, real or imagined, to infect the rest of the world with the ideas of universal Communism. It was in many ways a useful bogeyman.

In this truly formidably impressive work the global chaos caused by 5 years of war, the likes of which had never been seen before, is laid out for all to see and the echoes of this great conflict are followed through as they impacted countries as diverse as Japan and Ukraine. Despite its world spanning reach and its 15 year timeline the detail presented between these 500+ pages is awe inspiring. It is by no means an easy read but the effort is amply rewarded and then some. Not only does the author clearly explain exactly the damage – political, economic and in a real sense moral – caused by the war but he also (again very clearly) shows how this often unresolved and unaddressed damage significantly facilitated an even greater disaster a mere two decades later. The author rightly points out that although World War Two was not the inevitable result of its predecessor the fact that systemic problems in the world system after 1918 were not addressed – even when known about and warned about – meant that any realistic options for peace were increasingly closed off between then and 1939. This is an important work and a must read for anyone who wants to understand exactly how we got here. I can think of much worse places to start if you’re willing to put the time and brain effort into it. Highly recommended. 

Just Finished Reading: Peacemakers – Six Months that Changed the World by Margaret Macmillan (FP: 2001)

If you are anything like me, and even think of such things, you probably think of the post-World War One peace conference culminating in the famous (or infamous) Treaty of Versailles. Essentially, before reading this excellent detailed history of the conference, that was pretty much my idea too. How wrong I was. The Versailles Treaty, signed by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in 1919 was only the final act of a long drawn out, complex and often highly controversial series of treaties aimed at resolving a whole host of issues thrown up by the Great War so recently ended as well as the fallout from it. Not only was Germany to be ‘dealt’ with but the other Central Powers needed to be chastised likewise. Along with this rather thankless task was the management of the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire spinning out of control and tearing itself apart largely on ethnic grounds (with definite echoes of Yugoslavia following the collapse of the Soviet Union post-1989), the problem of the dying Ottoman Empire and the whole of the Middle East, the distribution of German colonies across the globe and what to do with them, the demands of Italy and Japan in particular who were both very vocal in getting what they felt they deserved and, of course, dealing with the political hand-grenade of Wilson’s 14 points and the corrosive (and rather ill-defined) idea of ‘national self-determination.

For 6 months the victorious powers – The US, France, Britain and Italy – with a whole host of experts, negotiators, civil servants, hangers-on, and anyone who could shoe-horn themselves into the process – set out to decide the fate of the world, set things to right and ultimately prevent another ghastly war from ever happening again. Central to this was the idea of the League of Nations, a body dedicated to peace through collective security. This was President Woodrow Wilson’s baby and he demanded that it be the first item on the peace agenda. The French Premier, Clemenceau, had other ideas and wanted Germany and its many crimes against France to be front and centre. The British, under the brilliant but erratic David Lloyd George wanted to protect the Empire, prevent a single strong European power and to somehow establish a monopoly on the recent finding of oil in the Middle East, Italy just wanted more land and then some more land to protect it. Let the horse trading begin…. Luckily most people had at least the public image of wanting what was best for the world and everyone could agree that another war should be made unthinkable. Unfortunately those involved, despite both literally and figuratively looking forward to the future were stuck in the past. England wanted to secure her position and her Empire. France wanted security above all else and the humbling of her traditional enemy for all time. The US, in the figure of Wilson didn’t really know what it wanted. Deeply untrusting of European motives (with good reason) they hoped, in the rather naïve American way of the time, that everyone wanted the same thing and that reason would prevail over revenge or greed.

Of course as lines were drawn across maps and backroom deals meant that cities or whole regions changed hands for concessions elsewhere with little regard for the people on the ground – despite lip service to the self-determination principle – the seeds of future conflicts were being laid. Ethnic tensions irrupted immediately across central Europe and simmered throughout the 1920’s and into the next war. The emergence of a Jewish homeland in Palestine quickly moved out of British control and became a source of endless tension and hand-wringing long before the founding of the state of Israel. In the Far East the disgruntled Japanese decided to take the territory they had been promised and which had later been denied them. So many sparks awaiting the right conditions to feed a future conflagration.

Covering a mere 6 months in a hefty 500 pages meant a lot of detail and a lot of ground covered in this truly excellent history of the conference that shaped the world immediately after the Great War and for decades later down to today. Echoes of the conference decisions still appear on the nightly news 100 years later. Without the knowledge contained in this volume some of that news seems inexplicable. No longer. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to understand the modern world.

Just Finished Reading: Modern Japan – A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Goto-Jones (FP: 2009)

I have long been fascinated with Japan and especially with its rather strange cultural mix of the ultra-modern and the deeply traditional. But, as the author of this interesting and informative little volume explains in the first section, this is not a fault with Japan but with a fault within the west’s understanding on modernity. For whenever we think of the idea of the modern we think of European or American styles of government, architecture and culture rather than seeing it in a larger global context. This is why we find the idea of futurist samurai warriors quoting Buddhist texts in Anime movies so strange, why we see Japan as neon lit cities of the future whilst in the foreground we see the iconic Shinto arch.

Running from the enforced opening of Japan by Perry’s Black ships (though a very limited and controlled access to the country existed long before that), through the birth pangs of nationhood (already developing due to the pressures on constant warfare and an ever increasing population), the very important Meiji Restoration and the two major rebellions that followed (the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion being depicted in Hollywood fashion as The Last Samurai), the growth of militant and military led nationalism which led to Japan becoming a notable regional power especially after its defeat of Russian forces on both land and sea – the first time a western nation had been decisively defeated by an eastern one, followed quickly by military adventures in the Pacific during WW2 and decisive, indeed nuclear, defeat by the Americans, occupation and a radical shift from military to economic expansion becoming a technological powerhouse in the face of the growth of the communist threat exemplified by the Korean War.

By 1967 Japan was the world’s second largest car manufacturer with an economy between 1960 and 1971 growing at an astounding 12% per year. It is during this time that the Japanese workforce gained their reputation for truly amazing productivity – with all the problems that followed. It is no surprise that Japan has probably the highest suicide rate in the world – even amongst its teenage student population who struggle to pass exams that will determine the course of their whole lives.

The author points out that, for many years (indeed probably throughout the modern period), Japan has yet to come to terms and reconcile what exactly it means to be a modern Japanese nation. Actions in China before WW2, in the Pacific region during WW2 and the atomic bombings still loom large in the Japanese psyche and the effects of these events have yet to be fully processed. Japan is, in a real sense, still struggling to be modern.

Although anything more than a very basic overview (or a very short introduction) to a country over roughly a 150 year period in just under 150 pages is impossible I did think the author made a very good attempt to get to the heart of things not only discussing the historic events that led the country to its present modern state but to the socio-psychological forces released due to them that are still working their way through the Japanese psyche. If you have any interest in Japan then this is definitely something you should pick up. Recommended.

Just Finished Reading: Yojokun – Life Lessons from a Samurai by Kaibara Ekiken (Translated by William Scott Wilson)

Many of you will be familiar with the idea that Samurai thought revolves around death – either having an honourable one or delivering a swift one. This book, written by a 17^th Century Samurai physician, is from quite the opposite perspective. It’s about the living of a long and healthy life. The lessons are simple and are, rather inevitably, based around Ancient Chinese medicine. Mostly, at least it seemed to me, they revolved around reduction and restriction. Reduce the amount you eat especially of spicy food. Reduce the amount of hours you sleep. Don’t sleep on your back or during the day. Reduce the amount of words you use. Don’t sit or sleep in draughts. Oh, and don’t spit – too far. One interesting and amusing paragraph suggested that you shouldn’t take up the foreign habit of smoking as it is both addictive and expensive. But mostly the advice was obvious, banal or just plain bizarre.

Fortunately the whole thing was in bite sized chunks for easy digestion. I was also intrigued enough to continue reading in the hope that a little gem would be uncovered. I was, unfortunately, disappointed. Although this is an interesting book from a cultural or historical point of view – especially if you have a great interest in the Samurai – I did find it on the whole to be fairly pointless. But remember – I read these kinds of books so you don’t have to.  

Just Finished Reading: A Brief History of The Samurai – The Way of Japan’s Elite Warriors by Jonathan Clements

I have been fascinated with stories of the Samurai for as long back as I can remember. These tales of amazing courage, skill and dedication couldn’t fail to move me and move me they did. The philosophy of Bushido – the Way of the Sword or the Way of the Warrior – was something almost mystical to aspire to. Over the years I’ve read a few books about certain aspects of the Samurai and their code so it came as no surprise that I instantly picked up this book on our recent visit to the Hay Book Festival and it’s no surprise that I read it so quickly afterwards. [As an aside it also alerted me to a whole series of Brief History books that I’ve started acquiring.]

I think what surprised me so much about this book is that the reality of the centuries of internecine warfare was so different to the legendary stories. In the seemingly interminable squabbles, feuds, uprisings and reprisals that characterised Medieval Japan I saw precious little sign of the Samurai virtues I had expected. Even their highest ideal of loyalty to their leader or Emperor was apparently open to interpretation and often, it seems, interpreted in a way that those seeking power acted in the way they needed to in order to take it. Although they often rushed directly at their enemies on the open battlefield calling out their names and ancestry to find a suitable opponent, they were not above killing their enemies by stealth, deception and the breaking of oaths. They certainly saw themselves as a cut above the ordinary soldier so, not unsurprisingly, hated the introduction of firearms which enabled a poorly trained peasant to kill a Samurai who had spent his whole life training with sword and bow. Such was the power of the Samurai in Japanese society that, after some years of being on the receiving end of matchlocks and later flintlocks, firearms of all types where first highly restricted and eventually banned from use.

Such halting of technological development and use became much easier when the ports were closed to foreigners and the country entered into a strange period of stasis. Despite efforts by the major European powers to open trade with Japan it was not until the advent of steam ships and the consequent need for coaling stations throughout the Pacific Rim that prompted the American Navy to force open negotiations with the Japanese at gun point. Of course after that everything changed though by this point the Samurai themselves had been in serious decline for some considerable time.

I did struggle a little bit with this generally readable history of an interesting but rather strange military elite. Above all else, I think, I just couldn’t keep track of the people’s names – especially when they intermarried, adopted and took on different family names. It was all rather confusing despite the author’s best efforts. Also, despite the fact that this was, inevitably, a book filled with battles I did find it a bit tedious to read about so many! Apart from that I did enjoy having my rather naïve preconceptions put right and being made aware of what really happened during a fascinating period in the history of, at least in my opinion, one of the strangest places on Earth.      

Just Finished Reading: The Unfettered Mind – Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword Master by Takuan Soho (translated by William Scott Wilson)



It should be easy to imagine how I feel about a philosophy that puts forward the idea of not thinking. Of course it isn’t quite that simple. Zen proposes that we should stop thought getting ‘in the way’ of what we would be doing (or could be doing) without its presence. In the context of a sword fight this makes a kind of sense. If a sword is inbound on a killing stroke you really don’t want to spend a few micro-seconds thinking about how to respond. You just want to respond and then kill the guy before he has any change to counter strike. Without thought getting in the way the swordsman should be able – after years of swordsmanship training of course – to act and react without thinking. Weirdly, on reading the explanation of the process I knew exactly what the author meant because I had experienced Zen-like moments during my years of gaming. There have been times when, usually during RTS games that I have been ‘fighting for my life’ to such an extent that there is no time to think. For seconds at a time (and sometimes whole minutes at a time) I was acting and reacting without a single thought going through my head. To think in these circumstances is to die.


Despite that I can’t really imagine the idea of “not thinking” as much of a foundation for a philosophy that I can buy into. I can understand how useful it would be in certain circumstances but not as an end in itself. I will, however, be reading more in the area of Zen and especially how it applies to the Samurai warrior. The Samurai are a fascinating group that have interested me since my early youth and really deserve more of my attention. They will get this sooner rather than later I think.