A list of all of Doc Werlin’s writings pertaining to history.
I have just completed listening to a course Abraham Lincoln, In His Own Words, which was taught by Professor David Zarefsky. I was so inspired by this course that I thought I would try to [...]
By David Halberstam Although David Halberstam’s final book, The Coldest Winter, desperately needed editing, I am glad that I plodded through his narrative of the Korean War. Over the years, I enjoyed immensely Halberstam’s ability [...]
Over the past year, I have been fascinated by articles in the New York Times regarding the failure of the Interior Department to collect billions of dollars annually from oil and gas companies that drill [...]
“You must understand that Germany will never on its own move to attack Russia… If you provoke the Germans on the border, if you move forces without our permission, then bear in mind that heads [...]
“This whipped jackal, Mussolini, who to save his own skin made all Italy a vassal State of Hitler’s Empire, comes frisking up at the side of the German tiger with yelping not only of appetite…but [...]
In the New York Times article “A Spy’s Path: Iowa to A-Bomb to Kremlin Honor” the newspaper highlighted that Soviet President Vladimir Putin had posthumously given the highest Russian award to a Soviet agent, George [...]
"Let China sleep. For when China wakes, it will shake the world." --Napoleon Bonaparte If Japan would have heeded his warnings, she would have avoided a pulverizing debacle during World War II. Ironically, in defeat, [...]
History Buffs have always been fascinated about the rationale for Hitler’s disastrous invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 rather than pursue a Mediterranean Strategy. I am currently reading a book called Fateful [...]
By Bryan Rigg, a Cambridge University Researcher While many of us have heard the phrase, “Love and War make strange bedfellows,” many of us are not aware that many Jews served in the German army. [...]
About a decade ago, I was intrigued by the prospect of somebody writing a play about Truman’s decision to recognize Israel. Over the years, I have reflected repeatedly about the strange sequence of events [...]
The United States must “act for us and not for others.” Several years ago, I wrote about Washington’s Farewell Address, which was written in a prominent Philadelphia Newspaper and not delivered. I did not think [...]
Battle of Antietam By James M. McPherson I just finished an exciting book, written by James McPherson, America’s most eminent Civil War historian, about the Battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862. The author [...]
I recently read the book Nixon and Mao, the Week that Changed the World, by Margarat MacMillan. This book highlights the remarkable and surprising trip by Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon to China in 1972. [...]
Because I am confined to my apartment for much of the day given my illness and the hot weather, I chose to watch again Ken Burns’ Documentary of the Civil War given the controversies surrounding [...]
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may [...]
Lyrics Version 1 If buttercups buzz'd after the bee, If boats were on land, churches on sea, If ponies rode men and if grass ate the cows, And cats should be chased into holes by [...]
The Children’s Crusade is one of the more unusual and disturbing events in the Medieval Ages. We know only scanty facts about the sad episode; however, thousands of children died during their journey to [...]
In order to understand the importance of the Battles of Cross Keys and the Battle of Port Republic, we must emphasize the importance of the Shenandoah Valley. Stonewall Jackson summed up this region’s strategic importance. [...]
Russian Contribution to Allied Success on D-Day Started June 22, 1944 “Invading Russia. It is always a bad idea.” Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery “People of Western Europe: A landing was made this morning on the [...]
I recently returned from a two week trip that sought to replicate the important battle engagements of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division. Our group of some twenty-five people was stimulated by the presence [...]
A Fatal Submission to the Territorial Demands of Adolph Hitler “How could honourable men with wide experience and fine records in the Great War condone a policy so cowardly? It was sordid, squalid, sub-human, and [...]
The 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team initially consisted of Japanese American volunteers from the mainland United States and the Hawaiian Islands. This team became the most decorated unit in United States history. 18,000 total awards, including [...]
“The enemy (Germany) is at present fighting a defensive campaign on all fronts; his situation is such that he cannot stage major offensive operations.” December 15,1944 Field-Marshal Montgomery The Battle of the Ardennes was the [...]
I wanted to express some of my personal thoughts after hearing the most articulate Palestinian woman in the last class. First of all, my primary point is that while I will spend my efforts challenging [...]
The Hundred Years War, lasting from 1337 until 1453, was a defining time for the history of both England and France. There was another series of wars between the two countries from 1600-1815. Thus, much [...]
Nixon Doctrine of Balance of Power Departed From Wilson Idealism Nixon: “Taking the long view, we simply cannot afford to leave China forever outside the family of nations, there to nurture its fantasies, cherish its [...]
Professor John C. Willis U.S. Grant, Meetings with Robert E. Lee, 9 and 10 April 1865 I had known General Lee in the old army, and had served with him in the Mexican War; [...]
This past weekend I spent a day with friends at West Point, the campus of America’s foremost military academy since its founding in 1802. The campus architecture has stone masonry that is most attractive. Because [...]
On June 22,1941 Germany launched a surprise attack on Russia. Hitler announced “Soldiers of the eastern front an assembly of strength on a size and scale such as the world has never seen in now [...]
With the advent of modern technology, the vending machine has taken on ever increasing functionality. Over the past decade, nationwide vending sales have risen some 40%, to $24.3 Billion. Recently a machine carrying 130 items [...]
1966-1976 Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) during his last decade in power to renew the spirit of the Chinese revolution. Perhaps never before in human history has a political leader unleashed such massive [...]
Today, Canada and the United States are peacefully neighboring states with well-defined boundaries. However, the future course of these countries was determined during the American Revolution. That is, Americans unsuccessfully invaded Canada, thwarted by British [...]
“War is another form of Diplomacy” is a paraphrase of the activities undertaken by sovereign states striving to develop a temporary balance in their relationships. In rereading one of my favorite books, The Deadly [...]
In the 1633 trial of Galileo Galilei, two worlds come into cosmic conflict. Galileo’s world of science and humanism collides with the world of Scholasticism and absolutism that held power in the Catholic Church. The [...]
A series of fortifications designed to keep Germany “the beast that sleeps on the other side of the Rhine” violate French territory. The Maginot Line was built between 1929 and 1940. It was built to [...]
Although I have read endless accounts of the Battle of Britain, I can never fully accept that four years before I was born a battle for the survival of civilization was fought where the “side [...]
