Britain's Finest Hour, a Hearts of Iron 4 Playthrough Part 1

Hey y'all! I thought I'd do something a little different for the next few weeks, so here's a Hearts of Iron 4 playthrough!

What is Hearts of Iron 4, you may ask? It's a strategy game in which you take control of a nation starting in 1936 and lead it to victory in World War 2. We of course will be playing as the empire on which the sun never sets. That's right, Belgium!

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Ok, you got me, it's Britain.

The way I'll be telling this story is in a history book style format, but I may do the occasional novel style chapter to keep you on your toes. With all that said, let's begin!

Britain's Finest Hour Part 1: The Calm Before The Storm

After it's victory in the First World War, Great Britain was easily the most powerful country on Earth, with a strong military and colonies on every continent. By 1936 its economy had even largely recovered from the Great Depression. However, cracks were already starting to appear in the Pax Britannica. In Asia Japan was rattling it's sabers against both China and the western colonial powers. In Africa the Italians were running roughshod over the Ethiopians. In Eastern Europe Stalin ruled Russia with an iron fist, and was threatening to spread communist revolution throughout the world. And, most ominously of all, the Germans, embittered by their defeat in the First World War and now led by the Nazi Dictator Adolf Hitler, were once again plotting to conquer the world.

Most Britons however, preferred not to worry about any of this. They still remembered the horrors of the First World War, and the Conservative Party government under Stanley Baldwin made preserving the peace it's first priority. Rather than attempt to stand up to the dictators, Baldwin's policy was to increase the British Empire's defenses to deter aggression, and leave the rest of the world to it's fate.

One of the few prominent Britons to speak out was Sir Winston Churchill, who emphasized that attempting to appease Hitler was a cowardly policy that would not work in the long run. However, most Britons at the time didn't want to hear it, so Churchill remained stuck in the political wilderness for the time being.

In any case, there would soon be matters closer to home to worry about. On January 23rd, 1936, King George V, who had led the British Empire through the Great War and the Great Depression, died and was replaced by his son Edward VIII. Edward was a charming former soldier from the Great War, and was highly popular, but some feared that he may have had Fascist sympathies...

On March 11, the world's attention was once again focused on the European Mainland, when the Germans reoccupied the Rhineland region on the border between Germany and France, despite the Treaty of Versailles forbidding them to do so. The British and French governments both issued mild protests, but took no action. Once again Churchill warned that this set a dangerous precedent, and once again he was largely ignored. History however, would soon vindicate him...

The Left's Delusions of Persecution

Something happened recently that really boiled my blood. As y'all know, the media has (rightfully) taken a lot of flak lately for it's blatant leftist bias during the 2016 election. So naturally, they trotted out Meryl Streep (who pretends to be other people for a living, and thus is clearly the person we need to tell us about reality) to complain about how the Media is the most vilified group in America.

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...WHAT?!

Yeah, sure, never mind the Christian bakers who have their businesses destroyed for refusing to bake a gay wedding cake. Forget the women being forced to share bathrooms with crossdressers. Forget the Israelis, who are being subjected to blatant antisemitic propaganda by our own government. Forget the people being beheaded by Muslim Extremists in the Middle East. Nah, it's the MEDIA who are really being persecuted nowadays! Give me a break. Maybe you self righteous idiots wouldn't be so despised by average Americans if you weren't such self righteous twits who constantly insert your leftist biases into everything and refuse to tolerate dissenting opinions. If you want us to stop hating you, stop giving us reasons to hate you.

That's all I have to say about that.

2017 Is Going To Be Awesome

I know it's a little late for this, but I think 2017 is going to be an awesome year. I mean, think about it. Obama is going out of office. That alone makes this year better than 2016. But if that isn't enough to convince you, think about the fact that President Trump plans to repeal Obamacare, fix immigration, lower taxes, and create stronger foreign policy. If he can even come close to accomplishing all of that (and with a Republican congress, he should be able to) I think 2017 will be the best year America has had in a long time.

Obama Get's His Jew Hatin' On!

The UN has proposed a resolution, supported by Obama, declaring that Palestine is Israeli occupied territory that was stolen from the Palestinians. Never mind the fact that the Jews have lived in the Holy Land for over 3,000 years or so (Possibly longer) while the Arabs are relative newcomers, who only arrived there in large numbers after the Muslim conquest around 1,400 years ago. So, actually, a much better argument could be made that the Arabs stole the Holy Land from the Jews. See UN, I can play this historical grievance game too!

And even putting aside the historical and logical errors in this resolution, the moral implications of this resolution are pretty horrifying when you stop and think about it. The resolution is calling for Israel to return control of disputed lands like East Jerusalem to the Arabs. But you know how many Jews live in the parts of Palestine that are already under Arab control? Zero. Zilch. Nada. In other words, none. That's because the Radical Islamic Terrorist Group Hamas (which is part of the Palestinian coalition government by the way) is engaged in active ethnic cleansing to make Palestine Jew free. The Hamas charter even calls on Muslims to slaughter every Jew in the world. (Which is a quote from Muhammad by the way. Lovely chap.) And these are the people the UN and Obama want to give more power to? Just when I thought Obama couldn't be any more of a scumbag, he ends his presidency by becoming an active enabler of genocide. Classy.

So, in conclusion, I despise Palestine, Obama, the UN, and everything they stand for, Any questions?

Praise The Lord!

With this year's Christmas season over, I think now would be a good time to take a moment and thank Jesus for somehow making the city put the Nativity Scene back in public where it belongs. I don't know weather it was because of all the complaints (including mine) that they saw on the internet or not, but in any case this is a victory over the Social Justice Warriors, and with Trump about to be inaugurated next month, I suspect there will be many more to come!

Historical Highlights: Faisal al-Hashimi

Today I want to talk about someone who almost changed the history of the Middle East for the better, but unfortunately all too many Arabs did not heed his advice.

Faisal al-Hashimi was born on May 20, 1885 in Mecca, the holy city of Islam. His father, Hussein bin Ali, was the governor of the holy city. In theory he worked for his Ottoman Turkish overlords in Istanbul, but he, like many other Arabs, dreamed of an independent Arab nation, free from Turkish rule. In 1913 Faisal was elected to the recently created Ottoman Parliament, and World War One broke out a year later. But by 1916 he had a meeting that changed the course of his life.

 While on a trip to Damascus, Faisal met a British Army officer named T.E. Lawrence, who persuaded him to raise an Arab revolt against the Turks. Faisal, fatefully, agreed.

With Lawrence's help, Faisal and his Arab rebels captured Mecca, Medina, and Damascus, kicking the Turks out of the Arab lands forever. Part of the reason for his victory was that rather than enforcing Sharia law as many other Arab leaders did, Faisal emphasized Arab rather than Muslim identity, and as a result Arab Christians and Jews rallied to his cause. As a reward for his victory Faisal was made King of Syria at the Versailles peace conference. While there, he signed a treaty with Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, agreeing to support the creation of a Jewish state in the Holy Land, something that many other Arabs refused to even consider.

Looking at the Middle East in 1920, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of independent, democratic, and religiously tolerant Arab, Turkish, and Armenian states, and the Jews finally returning to their ancient homeland, it would have been tempting to see this as the dawn of a new golden age for the region. Unfortunately though, it was not to be.

In the spring of 1920 the French laid claim to Syria, and after a few months of combat, they deposed Faisal's government and he was exiled to Britain. Luckily for him though, the British had plans for him. They were looking for someone to rule over their protectorate in Iraq, and he was just the man. So in March of 1921, he was declared King of Iraq. Despite being relatively unknown among Iraqi Arabs, Faisal toured his new kingdom and won over his subjects. During his reign he improved the education system (which until then had been virtually non-existent), prevented his civil servants from trying to fire Jewish officials because of their ethnicity, built roads to connect Baghdad with Damascus, Amman, and other major Arab cities, promoted religious tolerance, and built up the Iraqi Army.

Faisal, who by now was seen as more or less the natural leader of the Arabs, dreamed of uniting Iraq and Syria into a single constitutional monarchy under his rule, but the Turks, Egyptians, and Saudis all opposed this, fearing that such a nation would dominate the region. By 1933, Faisal had fallen severely ill and was largely unable to govern the country himself, with tragic results. After a clash between Iraqi troops and an Assyrian Christian militia, several Assyrians were massacred at the village of Simele. Faisal was horrified by this, but was unable to punish the killers because many radical Muslims viewed the killers as heroes. This incident likely caused his health to deteriorate even further, and he died on September 8, 1933, some say due to poisoning.

Who knows what may have happened had he lived longer. I can't help but think that if Faisal had been in power when Israel declared it's independence in 1948 he would likely have refused to go to war with them, unlike the other Arab nations. Would this have lead to a more peaceful and tolerant Middle East? Only God knows for sure, but I'd like to think so.

How The Left Stole Christmas

I love Christmas. I really do. But you know what I don't love? The Social Justice Warriors who are trying to destroy Christmas. From forcing schools not to put up Christmas decorations, to trying to get people to say "Seasons Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas" (what does "Seasons Greetings" even mean anyway? Happy Winter?) it seems like the Left is determined to take the joy out of the holiday season. And now they've brought it closer to home than ever.

You see, ever since I can remember, my hometown has put up a wooden nativity scene in the town square. Sure, it looked kind of funny, (we used to joke that one of the Wise Men looked like he was carrying a pistol) but it served as a great reminder that Christmas is in fact named after Jesus Christ. But lately the town has been forced to take it down, presumably by some ACLU types from up North who can't stand the thought of someone taking joy and comfort in their faith because it hurts their fee-fees.

Well, I say they can take their politically correct sensibilities and shove 'em. We need to keep the "Christ" in "Christmas Season" or else it'll just be another Season.

Seasons Greetings! Nah, just kidding. Merry Christmas!