Shout out to general Wainwright the highest ranking American captured, who was the leader when they surrendered in the Philippines. Dude survived the death march and survived the pow camps till the end of the war. Then the dude actually continued his service till he was forced to retire.
@@Aldornas he was ordered too. Also losing all the Intel on everything for that region and giving them a massive propaganda win is not the best idea. That said it was embarrassing and McArthur himself was pissed about it and constantly rushed the timeline to get back faster.
"What I remember about the rise of the Empire is... is how quiet it was. During the waning hours of the Clone Wars, the 501st Legion was discreetly transferred back to Coruscant. It was a silent trip. We all knew what was about to happen, what we were about to do. Did we have any doubts? Any private, traitorous thoughts? Perhaps, but no one said a word. Not on the flight to Coruscant, not when Order 66 came down, and not when we marched into the Jedi Temple. Not a word." - Operation: Knightfall "Knightfall" - Star Wars Battlefront II (2005)
@@pgbrytbackup8646 don't take a cigar enthusiast to know what it's like for your smoke to canoe. If it's a cheap cigar and it's windy and you're feeling fuck it, fuck it. If that's a quality cigar, or a blunt, be careful, for the smoke's sake.
@@Bamawagoner Not really because WWII had the Holocaust and the brutal attacks the IJA had done to Korea, China and SE Asia in which you don't see that in WWI. So that's why I stated that WWI began out pure ego and WWII began out of pure evil.
I really wish Rudyard’s cohost would ask interesting questions, build up the conversation with tidbits that he may know but it wasn’t mentioned, or just flow better with Rudyard’s train of thought. I would rather see either just Rudyard doing this solo or have someone who does “color commentary”, like mentioning interesting facts based on the current topic. As an example, at 2:27 ask something like “why did Japan want to capture China to create a new empire similar to China’s?” As someone who absolutely loves to continue learning about history and who really the topics of @Whatifalthist videos, with how he uses multiple disciplines to present an amazing breakdown of historical events. Maybe get a 3rd host to be the “color commentator”, like how the UFC has Rogan to expand on the events taking place. He doesn’t call the fights, but whenever possible, interjects his thoughts/opinions. That would be a dream job in my opinion 😊
It’s just a WIAH video with occasional interjections. Rudyard shouldn’t have to pause to ask questions, the interviewer should be asking him- leading into other points. It’s lazy, and comes off like the interviewer doesn’t care. Like check 34:00 when the interviewer only asks about the US part of the Pacific War. It’s like, that’s the only thing he cares or knows about? I’m not a fan of WIAH, personally. I listen to this because picking it apart makes me a better historian. If I’m saying it comes across as lazy and forced, I can’t imagine that people who agree with Rudyard think it is either.
Yeah, the co-host should at least keep track of where we are chronologically. Ask questions that inform the listener what year we are on by now etc "So it's early 1942 and the US just entered the war, why did the Japanese....?" I've listened to a few episodes and he provides next to nothing.
Another great video, Rudyard. I noticed Dave isnt present much in the video, which I knew you would address in editing. The cigar really threw me off, but it's funny that you're doing this on what looks like a porch. I don't want to assume, but it looks like that's your first cigar, or at least, you certainly light it like a beginner. You scorched it and it canoed. I'd recommend not heating it up so fast. I wish I had more to say with the rest of your video, other than "Yes", "I agree", or "That's interesting". Sorry for being a bad student. EVERYONE should have a friend like Rudyard!
I like this series, but you need to get a better recording setup. It is so annoying hearing your neighbors driving around. I think last episode Eric just got up and walked around his house with his laptop in the middle of the podcast.
I would like to elaborate on the time before warlord, RoC and the nationalist You have mentioned multiple times that after the revolution china went straight into warlordism. Practically yes, but that ignores the attempt of making the republic in first decade of RoC It was planed and set up to be a libral democracy, but ultimately failed. For those interested, there's one person that related to a lot of early RoC history, Yuan Shikai(袁世凱), for what I know he is one of the reason why the revolution worked, the set up of the republic and the eventual warlordism. As for why the ideology of the nationalist is inconsistent for what I know one must take into consideration that the party (KMT) was the direct lineage of the revolutionary, which the most well known is Sun Yatsen, but the nature of the revolutionary movement for what I know is more to the anti qing empire than anything else. It's interesting to see that in Taiwanese textbook, RoC(1912-1927) and RoC(1927-1937 or 1949) after Chiang united the warlord is almost considered two separate entity.
Guadalcanal was truly hell. So was Okinawa. My Paw Paw could hardly talk about it. My dad said he never got told any war stories. But as a young kid my Paw Paw opened up to me and told me more in one conversation than he ever told my dad. RIP Paw Paw; can’t wait to see you again someday.
Please have Curtis Yarvin on the show. I can’t recommend him enough. If I have to, I will spam the comments section with requests for the Curtis Yarvin interview
39:45. That reminds me of an old quote from Isoroku Yamamoto in the film, Tora! Tora! Tora! It goes "I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve."
Rudyard is a pretty good big picture, strategic guy, but his knowledge on specifically battle doctrine and the tactical side of things could use work. Like on battleships.
China got more material aid from Germany then Japan got so a situation where China was Axis and Japan somehow remained aligned with the British wouldn't be too hard to write.
It's the short version. WIAH, at least in the beginning, was tailored to people who are already interested in and knowledgeable about history. This is like Intro to Historical Topics for Tech Bros.
Around 34 minutes in, I believe you stated how the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 11th, when the attack occurred on December 7th. I really hate being that guy. Love your content 🫡
Yamamoto Isoroku studied at Harvard, not UCLA, and hardly even to did whatever he want at IJN (perhaps except briefly between Pearl Harbor and Midway).
23:55 Chiang was captured by the warlord from the North-east (you know where), Zhang Xueliang and Yang hucheng. They were by no means communists but they did want to propose the peace deal.
How the hell do say peal harbor happened on December 11th? This episode is sub par you where jumping around to much misdated several events completely disregarded the fact that battle ship where still very much decisive for the entire war
He also said the pilots flew from Hokkaido. They didn’t. Maybe people will start to realize that Rudyard doesn’t really know what he’s talking about, and just makes gross generalizations. He isn’t a trained historian, and twists facts to fit his world view. He is definitely a bright fucking kid, but misled. As much as I once loathed college, it’s a great place to meet people who know what they’re talking about and have the credentials to back it up.
Nor really, maybe in WW1 and before did. But the sinking of the Yamato by torpedoes shot from planes made sure to everyone to know that battleships were an outdated concept. Even more after the creation of Cruise missiles.
@@emilioperez6888 Battleships were still crucial pieces in war when you work with what you have, which everyone did, and they are uniquely able to night fight and fight in poor weather. A single battleship in Tirpitz was one of the most stragetically inportant parts of the baltic sea, they were absolutely a threat.
Rudyards qualitative, emotive, humanist approach probably can't do this vast complex topic justice. I expect he doesn't even mention Japanese kentai kessen or aircraft carrier doctrine, which are key to understanding how Japan fought. If this topic, which I know thoroughly, interests anyone and you would like obscure yet fascinating niche topics for your own videos just say. Did you know about Britain's secret island base? Or the carrier unicorn? Were the marine raiders battalions just a dumping ground for american communists? What about the JSNLF made them so special? How about the SeaBees (CB construction battalions)? Or the logistics. For tactical analysese kings and general does some amazing work so does operations room. Also of interest would be "Why was the Tarawa invasion such a cock up?" (total disaster). Wingate (Chindits) should actually be called Chadits. He was the first General Butt Naked and did not live to see the wars end despite his fervent religious faith. Kir Ebbys artwork is also worth disquisition. Seriously I don't make videos but this topic has so much potential for in depth research. If we were to go back to "AltHist" we could ask about the war where the Army prevails over the Navy and Japan strikes Russia instead of America, though Rudyard maybe already did that? No one seems to have considered the variant where Japan attacks the Netherlands and Britain, only, which would have put the then isolationist USA in a very awkward place. Looking forward to watching this is my pregame war mup thanks for the video!
@igotfriendsinlowplaces2971 that has got to be the most stupid take the japanese aren't absolved from pearl harbor or the bataan death march even if fdr knew they still planned it and carried it out they deserve everything they got in the war
@@igotfriendsinlowplaces2971that has got to be the most stupid take even in the chance fdr knew japan would still be completly responsible for the planning and carrying out pearl harbor and the bataan march
Even if fdr knew the japanese would still be completely responsible for planning and then carrying out pearl harbor and the other things they did to american citizens
I see the Japanese wars of expansion, somewhat similar to Russias today. They're sprinting through a perceived advantageous strategy, for a world that doesn't exist anymore, finding they may be the biggest shark in their reef, but not in the ocean.
25:52 if their are only 2 books in English but more Chinese literature, couldn't someone just push literature through an online translator to then understand more if only from Chinese perspective.
there* Online translators lack nuance that human translators can parse. This is coming from somebody who has had to read a French book on 16th C. Lyon printshops via Google Translate. Sure, it worked for the basic facts. But anything beyond that?
The problem with the Chinese perspective is that is overly nationalistic and filled with emotions. A good way to understand how the Chinese view It though.
What should have been the start of Australian civilisation ended up heralding it's demise. It's one of history's greatest mysteries you see. Oh the vulgarity of our fortunes.
How was it that the japanese were struggling against china, but later could fight china and take over all the colonies of the west and fight a land war against the british in india? If they had all thise troops youd think that they could beat china in a war
My understanding is they got a lot of backing, particularly initially, from anti colonial rebel groups, who changed their mind as Japan was less helpful than sold.
The Nationalists were pretty much backed by the US and Communists by the USSR. No wonder, and as he said, waves of people do matter in war, despite the high mortality rates.
I'd imagine others have mentioned this but that explanation of Midway was sloppy as hell and basically just wrong, he says they were defeated in the docks, it was a carrier battle, wth
I was trying to look into what could possibly posses japan to do what it did during ww2 and it looks like its chalked up to ego and a notice me senpai complex lol Crazy
He explained it pretty well. Snowballing nationalistic fanaticism, and a lot of belief that things would swing their way, like they wanted India to turn on the Brits, they wanted America to be demoralized, they wanted the US to turn on the Soviets at the end instead of trying to eek out unconditional surrender.
Japan knew it needed resources that it didn’t possess natively to modernize but the western powers had already claimed most of them. This left china as the primary source to colonize and exploit. The US then sided with China in the conflict for various reasons, and then embargoed Japan’s oil imports which threatened its military & therefore its national self image / existence. At that point war against the western powers became inevitable. However their quick strikes against the European powers where wildly successful & had Japan not attacked the US but only the European colonies it would have had the resources and empire it craved. But as it turned out they planned to attack all western powers simultaneously and so everything unfolded as we know it today. That being said, Japan could have probably held on in the war much longer and maybe even ‘win’ as they defined it, if they had utilized their forces and advantages better.
In both the battles the British Indian Army fought against the Japanese, the Indians lost significantly less soldiers than the Japanese. Don't see the human waves here.
@@TomoTakinoFanClub Japan only came to control Manchuria two decades later after the 1931 Manchurian Incident, after which they would establish the puppet state of Manchukuo, with the former Qing emperor as it's figurehead. But of course you wouldn't know that, bonkurasu.
jfc if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of 10,000 japanese veterans rolling over in there graves...i'm beginning to think he doesn't know what he is talking about lol!
What part does seem like he doesn't know what he is talking about? Because if It is about the recognition of nations about the potential of the Aircraft carrier, I might agree.
??? Brother, how could you not believe in evolution in the year of our lord 2024 AD? Is this the type of crowd Rudyard ropes in?? Your poor daughter, man.
Just killing people isn't genocide. Both are bad obviously, just killing people can be worse in deaths, though a lot more emotional weight is put on genocide because of the elimination of bloodlines, cultures, etc is more harrowing I guess. Arguably the communists did something more akin genocide as they killed way more chinese and also eliminated culture on purpose.
