History of ancient India.

The next set of blogs will be commentaries on ancient India, how it differs from the society we see today and how it shaped the society we live in today.

There are many myths about India that are prevalent today. I remember when I worked as a travel guide in Baroda for Maharaja express and one of the visitors asked me how Indians could progress despite centuries of tribal warfare and disease and destitution. I wanted to say a lot of things but ended up saying too little. But no matter how much I would have said it would have been little. And I do not blame him for his ignorance; I see widespread ignorance in the Indian masses about their own nation. We know too little about our own culture and what they know is often marred with myths and/or megalomaniac chauvinism.

The need is to see India as it was and bad or good as it might have been it is the progenitor of the culture that we call our own. Challenges uniquely our own and ingenious solutions seen rarely elsewhere have characterised our existence, and existence that needs to be brought out of abysmal darkness.

World War 2.

World war two was a consequence of injustice done at the end of WW1. Germany was humiliated and had to lose all its colonies and 13% of its home territory. Due to this a lot of anger had grown among the masses.

Dissatisfaction and a sense of humiliation that the Germans felt brought the Nazi party into power in 1932. Similarly Italians felt cheated by the allies at the end of First World War and saw the rise of Fascists under Benito Mussolini who wanted to create a new Roman empire. By 1937 Gemany had emerged from the recession and started to throw back restrictions imposed by the allies. It had created an air force and its army had resurged. Between 1939 and 1941 Germany along with Italy had captured most of Europe and pushed the world into another world war. Most of the nations in the world including all of its major powers were involved in the ensuing battles.

The Japanese empire was at battle with china since 1937 and had its site on all of Asia. By 1941 Japanese, German and Italian nations had created a tri-partied alliance creating the axis powers.

It was the largest war in human history involving over 100 million people from 30 countries.Llocked in a total war, countries threw all of their military, economic and scientific weight behind the war effort. It was characterised by widespread civilian bombings, genocides and the first ( and only) use of nuclear weapons. The toll on human life stood at 50 to 85 million lives making it the costliest human conflict ever.

Timeline of events –

1)      1935 saw the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy.

2)      1936(-1939) Spanish civil war.

3)      1937 saw the invasion of China by Japan.

4)      1938, Japanese invasion of Soviet Union and Mongolia.

5)      1938, Under Munich agreement, Sudetenland is ceded to Germany.

6)      1939, Invasion of Czechoslovakia.

a)      Alliance between Germany and Italy in pact of steel.

b)      Agreement between Russia and Germany to divide Eastern Europe in spheres of influence.

c)       Germany invades Poland. Russia invades Poland.

d)      France and Britain declare war with Germany.

e)      Russia invades Finland

7)      In 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.

a)      Churchill became the prime minister.

b)      Germany invades France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

c)       Britain takes possession of Danish territories; Greenland, Iceland and Faroese Islands.

d)      Soviet Union annexes Baltic nations.

e)      Battle of Britain. German Luftwaffe is defeated.

f)       Italy attacks British colonies of Egypt and Somaliland.

8)      In 1941 German warship Bismarck was sunk.

a)      Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece and both surrender within a month.

b)      Italian forces are defeated by commonwealth nation in Africa but Germany intervenes and lost lands are regained.

c)       Soviet Union is attacked in operation Barbarossa.

d)      Soviets enter into a military alliance with UK.

e)      Japan attacks European and American colonies in South East Asia.

9)      In 1942, Japanese navy suffered a decisive defeat at Midway.

a)      German forces were locked in a bitter war in Stalingrad.

b)      In North Africa, under operation crusader allied armies had recovered all the lost lands from Germans.

10)    In 1943, Germans had been defeated in Stalingrad.

a)      The counter offensive by Germans in Africa pushed allies deep into Egypt where they were stopped at Al- Alamain.

b)      American and British started combined bombing campaigns of Germany.

c)       Operations against Japan were initiated in Pacific Ocean.

d)      Germans attacked Soviet forces along Kursk bulge. German defeat.

e)      Soviet counter offensive against Germans in eastern front.

f)       Ousting and arrest of Mussolini.

g)      Allied occupation of Italy, Rescue of Mussolini by Germans. Civil war in Germany.

h)      German submarine losses in Atlantic.

11)   1944 saw allied landing in France. Capture of Paris.

a)      Allied advance but the advance is slowed down.

b)      Soviets force Germany out of Belarus, Ukraine and Eastern Poland.

c)       Allied forces repel Japanese siege of Assam and push them back.

d)      Soviet army captures Yugoslavia and Greece.

e)      American victory in Philippines Sea, Airbases to attack Japanese homeland.

12)   1945 saw the failure of last desperate attack from Germany in western front.

a)      Soviet and Polish advance in east Prussia and Germany.

b)      Allied advances in Italy.

c)       Allies enter Germany from west.

d)      Mussolini is killed by partisans and Hitler commits suicide. Germany surrenders.

e)      Japanese defeat in Burma.

f)       Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders.

Aftermath :

Germany lost a quarter of its territory east of Oder-Neisse line and in Sudetenland. 12 million Germans were expelled from these areas.

Poland was shifted westward, gaining the Prussian territory while ceding land west of Curzon line to Soviet Union.

Soviet Union expanded to include the Baltic nations, parts of Finland and Poland and Kuril and Sakhalin islands of Japan.

In China, communists won over nationalists and took power.

Japan was occupied by USA. Korea were divided and occupied by Soviet and Western powers. These areas developed as capitalist and communist regions in both countries.

The victors USA, France, Britain, Russia and China became the permanent members of Security Council in newly formed UN.

The World was split into Communist and non-communist regions led by Soviet Union and USA respectively.

Colonies were soon granted independence.

The world had suffered greatly in economic terms. There was recovery in all major nations.

The Russian Revolution-

The seeds of 1917 revolution were laid in 1905 itself. Most of the people who participated in the revolution were still there in 1917, importantly the leaders like Lenin and Trotsky.

The immediate cause of the revolution in 1917 was the discontent within working classes and peasantry due to shortages due to World War II. There was severe shortage of bread in industrial cities like Petrograd (St. Petersburg) which brought the workers onto the streets. Their numbers soon swelled and the situation seemed to get out of control. The Tsar who had fantasies of him leading the Russian army was already under pressure due to defeat at the hands of Prussia, reacted in a conservative actions ordering the police to fire at the protestor. However unlike 1905, this time the police and military refused to shoot at their fellow men. This gave further boost to the protestors and soon it escalated into a revolt with military men joining the factory workers. The army had seen huge losses losing nearly 5 million men in all. The hastily trained men were sent off to the front often without proper gear or weapons. This led to the men doubting the Czar’s abilities to lead the nation and discontent had grown, which led them to siding with the protestors.

The Tsar was with no option but to abdicate and with no heirs, the Romanov dynasty ended after 300 years.

After the February revolution the Provisional government took over power. It couldn’t read the mood of the masses and continued the war with Prussia.

The provisional government was dominated with the landowning class which wanted to turn Russia into a capitalist democracy, preserving the right to property like in the western nations. It wasn’t able to improve the immediate conditions on the ground which created space for extremist parties. It also lifted restrictions on exiled political dissidents like Lenin and Trotsky.

There were two socialist factions active at the time; one demanded a gradual shift to socialism: the Mensheviks and the other demanded immediate switch to socialism; the Bolsheviks. Till this time Bolsheviks were a small dedicated group with radical strains, while Mensheviks were moderate socialists with larger base.

A parallel structure was emerging to the provisional government in Russia. It was the soviet (council) of workers. Soviets were organised in all major cities led by Mensheviks and the socialist revolutionaries. These Soviets were not competitors for power but acted as lobbies.

Eventually dual centres of power will be created leading to clash of thoughts. Alexander Terensky of the socialist revolutionary party agreed to join the provisional government. He would rise to become the war minister and later the Prime minister.

This was when Lenin arrived back and the popularity of the Bolsheviks soared. Soldiers and workers swelled the ranks of Bolsheviks who till September had .2 million members and were the majority be both Petrograd and Moscow.

Bolsheviks didn’t have faith in democracy and state Duma. They wanted to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. With the faith in Provisional government falling, the only opposition party: Bolsheviks became the champions of the masses in industrial areas.

On Nov 7 1917 (Oct by Julian calendar), the Bolsheviks ended the short rule of provisional government and established the rule of Soviets. The October revolution unlike the February revolution wasn’t sporadic; rather it was well planned and organised.

In the elections for the Russian Constituent assembly held 2 weeks after the takeover of power, the Bolsheviks came in second with 25 % of the votes after the Socialist Revolutionary party (58%). The Bolsheviks soon disbanded the assembly and SR’s importance in national affairs dwindled. They formed an opposition to the Bolsheviks with agitating army personnel (white army) and tried to create a third revolution in Russia.

Civil war broke out in Russia between the Bolshevik red army and the anti-Bolshevik white army. The war devastated the country with peasants pushed to starving conditions. Eventually the Red army emerged victorious and the various white army generals were defeated.

First World War :-

The immediate causes of First World War were the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand Franz of Austria by a Serbian nationalist. But the seeds of the war were laid after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. With the balance of power disturbed and Prussia emerging as the dominant power in Europe, there was a competition to balance the powers with Alliances between the continental powers.

Following were the alliances forged during the pre-war period that led to the rapid escalation of conflicts-

1)      Bismarck formed the alliance between Prussia, Austria and Russia in 1873 called league of three emperors.

2)      After retirement of Bismarck, Wilhelm II became the driver of Prussian foreign policy. Disagreement over Balkans led to fallout with Russia and Prussia backed Austria. In 1879 the dual alliance was formed between Austria and Prussia.

3)      In 1882 the alliance was expanded to include Italy, making it a triple alliance.

4)      Kaiser refused to renew reinsurance treaty in 1890 with Russia.

5)      France used the opportunity to form the Dual alliance with Russia in 1892.

6)      In 1904 France and Britain signed the Entente Cordiale.

7)      In 1907 Russia and Britain signed the Anglo Russian convention. 

  This formed the triple entente. It didn’t make Britain an ally but created possibility of its involvement in war on the side of France or Russia.

Franz Ferdinand in life had been the symbol of peaceful coexistence so it is only ironical that his death started the war. Austria emboldened by the support of Germany declared war on Serbia. Russia came in to support Serbia which pulled in Germany to declare war on France and Russia. Its advance in France through a neutral state Belgium got Britain involved as well. So most of the major powers in Continental Europe were locked in a war which will cause 9 million military and 12 million civilian casualties.

Italy despite its pre-war agreement with the central states allied itself with Allies (France, Russia and Britain).

Due to the German submarine warfare in the Atlantic and its sinking of private vessels, USA too was pulled into the war in 1917 despite its initial reluctance.

Due to the Russian revolution, the newly formed Bolshevik government withdrew from the war in Mar 1918.

The credit for making the European war a global war goes to Germany. To remove pressure from its front lines, it tried to threaten the British colonies. In doing so, he spread the war to Asia, Africa and America.

The war was a huge strain to the economies of all the beleaguered nations. German defeat after the involvement of USA was eminent and it agreed to unconditional surrender.

After the war a number of treaties were signed the most important of which was the treaty of Versailles. USA’s president Woodrow Wilson tried to handle the settlement with idealism in his 14 points, which was however neglected by British and French leaders. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were very harsh and pushed Germany into recession, which in turn led to the second world war.

Unification of Germany.

The German state has existed as a group of independent states under the Holy Roman Empire. However by the eighteenth century there was nothing holy or roman or empire left in it. It collapsed with the Napoleonic invasion in 1805. During that period, there was a common spirit of German nation among both the high and low born. Also during the ill-fated invasion of Russia, 125000 Germans had partaken whose loss the nation greatly lamented. Since that time, Germany had existed as a group of independent states the foremost of which were Prussia and Austria. After the congress of Vienna, the nationalists were expecting to have a united Germany but all they got was a confederation of 39 states.

A big move in the direction of unification was the formation of a Prussian Customs Union called the Zolleverin, in 1818. It aimed at levelling the customs barriers across various states to promote trade. This move got the Prussian state support of the Capitalist class and leadership of the german states. Over the next 30 years more and more German states joined and even Austria expressed interest to join but was kept out.

A big step in the direction came in 1848 when the under the demand of liberals, the Prussian king agreed to give a liberal constitution. This gave a huge boost to liberal nationalists who called the congress of Frankfurt in 1848. In the meeting it was decided that Germany was to have a Bicameral legislature, fundamental rights, a federal form of government and religious and civic equality. They also decided to have a hereditary king, which was offered to Prussian king William IV. However there was a setback when the king refused the offer. The efforts to frame a liberal constitution now failed.

Following were the events that led to the unification of Germany-

1)      In 1857 William IV died and William I became the ruler of Prussia. He was an autocrat and wanted to strengthen Prussia Militarily. In 1862, he appointed Otto Von Bismarck as the Prime Minister- President. Bismarck didn’t believe in diplomacy rather he believed that the solution to the problem of Germany lied in iron, blood and force.

2)      In 1863 he helped supress the polish revolt for Russia, thus gaining the favour of the Czar. He also made a trade treaty with France, giving her favourable terms. Italy was offered Venetia for its neutrality incase of an Prusso-Austrian war.

3)      In 1864 a new king was enthroned who wanted to occupy duchies of Holstein and Schleswig. The combined Austro-Prussian army defeated the Danish army. Holstein was to be administered by Austria while Prussia was to have Schleswig.

4)      However Schleswig was surrounded by Prussian territory which made Austria apprehensive which demanded merger of Schleswig with Holstein under Austria.

5)      This led to the Battle of Sedowa in 1866 between Prussia and Austria in which the latter was defeated.

6)      With Austria’s defeat, the northern states of Germany were united under Prussia.

Through diplomacy and militarism, Bismarck was able to unify Germany.  This however led to the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 in Sedan. Bismarck had prepared for just such a moment. After the war Austria was treated fairly and Italy was given Venetia to gain their support and Russia was fresh from the loss in Crimean wars at the hands of France but the French were duped when they were not provided the territory they had been promised. Supported with these diplomatic gains,French forces were routed and Prussia emerged as the dominant state within continental Europe.

Life simulated.

Life had been tough on him for some time. He was very close to an utter breakdown and to avoid it, he took a break. He ran away to Rishikesh with no specific plans. Early Saturday morning he reached there on a rickety bus and set off with his bag on his back. Till it was still warm, he walked around the city, through the narrow lanes and the lines of shops selling things ranging from gemstones to adventure sport gear. When it got too hot he decided to go to a restaurant and spend some time in isolation. By the Laxman jhoola, he decided to take refuge in the german bakery. Sitting by the window, staring at groups of excited adrenalin soaked people rafting; he wrestled the multitude of thoughts bickering in his head. He was not himself but the thoughts taking him in random directions, lost and aimless. A few hours was all he had to cope with and then the temperature would go down enough for him to pick up his bag again and start walking. None of it made sense, this strange city with its attractions and distractions was just a placebo, but he was ready to munch on anything what would offer respite.

Exhausted by the unnerving calm, he decided to battle out the heat and soon set out. He was walking away from the ghats, towards the entrance of this circus. Near the parking he saw a set of stairs that offered short cut to the road that went spirally around the elevation. As he neared it he saw a group of holy men sitting on the stairs asking for alms. One of them he noticed was talking in his broken English to a backpacker, and he decided to sit beside them for no obvious reason. They seemed to ignore him. Soon their conversation died out and both of them sat down idly watching the people as they passed by, and so did he.

The holy man noticed him and asked him, what is bothering you? Perplexed by his assumption that something was bothering him, he smiled and after a while said that there was nothing.

The holy man asked; If he was in a hurry or had time to listen to a little story. Obviously looking for nice ways to kill time, he nodded and said he did have time. And so began one of the most astounding stories he had ever heard, of course all of it in hindi.

The thoughts are like a tornado, if you make it too big it will lose strength, keep it small and concentrated and it will have strength. Similarly, if one tornado has multiple extensions, each of them will be individually weaker than what a single extension could be. A man who lets his thoughts expand and exist in multitudes will soon see them dissipate. It needs to be preserved and kept focussed on the correct objectives.

Now there are many forces that try to break it. Consider there being a live inflatable toy dog. When your tornado expands and loses focus, this dog feeds on this energy and inflates itself so large that it can destroy the thought process itself. This represents the addictions. They feed of your weakness to get things done which they want. It might be a stupid toy dog but it is still get the best of you, the reasons for which are thus obvious.

There are other forces too like the six handed, horned bear. It is a large scary monster that frightens you into hiding. It exists in the same world as your thought tornado and though there is not much to fear from it, it does exert power. It represents the possibility of failure. It is imaginary, weird and bullying, but what if it were true. This very question keeps us in check.

Then there is you. But not in the form that you know of yourself physically; in the form that you envision yourself. Like you my friend, envision yourself as a person whose hands and feet are plastered and the only movement he can do is chicken dance. So you envision yourself as an awkward, constricted, incapable man. This is your ego. This is you as you exist in your mind and sadly this is more important than your physical existence. You know why?

Because if standing on the plane of your thought and the toy down and the bear and yourself you look! You will see the universe. The universe is your creation and is inside you… what is outside is the projection of that which is inside based on the senses. What you know as white is not white or what is felt hot is not hot but the image of so, painted by your mind, within.

Also, you know what the ego you have inside, is connected by the cord to the universe, your ego creates the real universe through the thought tornado. The other creatures existing here like the dog and the bear too are connected independently to the universe but they are not free as their tornados can’t change form and have only one extension, so can serve only one job. The universe inside is both finite and infinite. When you are observing something, that is the boundary of the universe, however when you transcend it and extend your observation beyond the observed, the boundaries expand too.

So, if you can start with your ego and free it, then control the thought tornado to make it more powerful and focussed, you will be able to battle and better control the other beings residing in your world. With these independent force out of the control of your being now allied, you will be able to master your universe.

He realised the holy man had been speaking for some time. The backpacker had left sometime in-between. He was too confused to make any sense of it or speak anything in return.

They continued to sit there in silence.

Unification of Italy

Italian unification-
Italy was divided into several states mostly ruled by foreign rulers. In the conference of Vienna in 1815 Matternich had stated that Italy was not a nation but a geographical concept. However the various states of Italy shared a common culture and language. They were on the other side divided by geographic barriers like mountains and infrastructure constrains like absence of roads. The powers of europe had vested interests in keeping italy divided to balance the strength of nations.
The french revolt of 1930 and 49 had spread to other nations including Italy. During this period Guiseppe Mazzini tried to unify the italian states by popular revolt but it failed. He created a secret organisation called Young Italy for the cause of Italian unification.

 However with his failure people looked at other alternatives to achieve the goals. One of the best options available was to unify under the Monarch of Piedmont and Sardinia. It was the only state within Italy being ruled by an Italian king. It was a constitutional monarchy and also the most developed stated within Italy which made it the likely choice.

Following were the course of events that led to the unification-
1) Victor Immanual II, who acceded in 1849 was a pragmatic ruler who envisioned unification of Italy.
2) In 1852 he appointed Count Cavour as the Prime minister of Piedmost Sardinia. He was a seasoned politician and diplomat. He improved the infrastructure and economy of the nation and prepared the basis for the unification of Italy.

3) In the Crimean war in 1855 he sided with French and British against Russia. This was to gain favour of these powers.
4) In 1859 he entered into a secret pact with Napolen III of Franch, indicating french support incase of a war with Austria.
5) In 1860 initiated the war and with French support defeated the Austrian forces. This resulted in the annexation of Lombardi.
6) The same year through plebistice, the states of Parma, Modena and Tuscony joined Piedmont.
7) Red shirts led by Giribaldi overthrew the Borbon kings in the two sicilys and united them to piedmont.

8) Cavour insighted riots in the papal state and with excuse of controlling it, sent in forces which joined 2/3 of it to Piedmont.
9) In 1866 during the Austro-prussian war, it was rewarded with Venetia for its neutrality.
10) In 1870 during the prusso-french war, when french forces vacated Rome, Piedmontese army occupied it and through plebestice it was unified.

It was orchestrated by Count Cavour, who was a follower of Realpolitik. He had deep faith in constitutional monarchy and diplomacy. It used plebistice and diplomacy to unify Italy.