AN ICE-CREAM WAR by William Boyd

March 27, 2025szfreiberger Historical Fiction Leave a comment

(German East African Campaign. A halt on the march from Kisaki to Rufiji River, January 1917. Nigerian Brigade)

Any novel that begins with the following scene has to be an attention grabber and a prelude to a superb example of historical fiction. “What do you think would happen, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt asked his son Kermit, if I shot an elephant in the balls? Father, Kermit said, keeping a straight face, I think it would hurt a great deal.” The former president was with his son on a train on June 6, 1914, in Dar-es-Salaam in German East Africa. Maybe it is more my “demented” nature, but I thought this opening was quite comical and interesting. The novel I am speaking about is William Boyd’s AN ICE-CREAM WAR which presents an anti-war message as he explores England and East Africa, the homes of interesting characters whose interactions make the novel enjoyable.

Those who have any knowledge of Theodore Roosevelt’s post-presidency will not be surprised by his presence with his son on a big game hunting expedition in Africa. Walter Smith, an American, arrived in Africa in 1909 after responding to a Smithsonian Institution advertisement for a manager to run and organize a hunting and specimen collection trip to Africa and would be in charge of Roosevelt’s adventure. Interestingly, during the expedition Smith dreamt that he found Kermit shot his father in the back. This nightmare spurred Smith to return to his farm near Kilimanjaro in British East Africa, near the small town of Tavela, a former mission station.

(A colonial Askari company ready to march in German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika), 1914-1918)

In developing his novel Boyd easily captures the ambiance of colonial rule in Africa. The poor housing, except for the rich Britons and Germans, lack of roads, the role of the military, the inherent poverty, and the use of local labor in a quasi-slave situation, all endemic to colonialism. Boyd does well with historical fiction as he nicely blends the major events of the period, the road to World War I, and what took place on the battlefield, concentrating on East Africa, a border area of present-day Kenya and Tanzania, but with repeated reference to battles in Europe.

Boyd’s writing is a blend of sardonic humor, sarcasm, and seriousness hidden amongst the dialogue and the offshoot of the war in Europe that bled over to the African continent. Some of the scenes border on the absurd and black reigns at times, but there is an underlying gravity to the events depicted and the reaction of the characters. An example of humor is clear as Gabriel Cobb, the son of a conservative military type who owns the Stackpole plantation marries Charis, his fiancé upon her return from India. He has no idea why he married her, and Boyd’s description of their honeymoon is both poignant and hilarious. One week after the wedding, Gabriel is assigned to be part of the Indian Expeditionary Force “B” set to invade German East Africa as World War I breaks out in the summer of 1914. Another example is when Gabriel’s younger brother becomes infatuated with his Oxford roommates’ sister. The problem is that Felix has a cold sore on his lip that won’t go away, and his amorous advances are rejected in a chapter that focuses on Felix’s “lip” situation and final rebuff.

The absurdity of war is carefully laid out by Boyd as the British invade the village of Tanga and its environs. Orders were either not received or when they were finally issued were not very clear. The racism endemic to the empire is on full display as British forces are made up of black Africans, Indian, South African, and British soldiers who suffer from a strong element of superiority. As Gabriel’s comments about Rajput Sepoys never being in the places they were supposed to be, and many ran away with the first sounds of German guns and artillery reflected. The British gave orders in English and many of their allies spoke only their native tongues making for interesting communication on the battlefield.

Boyd explores British society and focuses on the obligations men feel when it comes to war. Gabriel immediately does his duty and is sent to Africa, but his younger brother, Felix is rejected because of weak eyesight which is humiliating for him. He decides to attend Oxford as a means of getting away from Stackpole and embarrassment in that he is not able to fight. His father, Colonel Cobb, is not happy with his son and tells him that at times he is worthless. Felix’s roommate at Oxford, Philip Holland also is rejected by the military and suffers the same feelings of inadequacy – for him Oxford is also an escape from being with people who look down upon him.

Boyd creates three separate storylines which amazingly come full circle toward the end of the novel. First, Walter Smith and his spouse Matilda’s farm is seized by the British army for the war effort, and we follow his attempts to protect it and his interactions with his German neighbor across the border in German East Africa. Second, is Major Cobb and his two sons and the divergent paths each takes, particularly Gabriel who will be severely wounded early in his deployment. Third, the von Bishops, Erich and Leisl. Erich, a German officer, had always had his eyes on the Smith farm, and the war provided an opportunity to take it from the British and incorporate valuable machinery onto his own property. Interestingly, Leisl who is bored by her marriage volunteers at a German hospital and there she meets a new patient, Gabriel Cobb.

A number of situations stand out. Charis is not happy how her short honeymoon evolved and winds up having an affair with Felix and it will lead to interesting consequences. Walter Smith became an advisor to the British military since he his geographical knowledge of the region was so valuable. Finally in February 1916 the British made their move against the Germans at Salaita. During the fighting Smith leaves the battlefield to check on his farm. Upon arriving he experiences a horrible smell, and it seems that German troops have defecated all over his house and other buildings, dug up the grave of his daughter, in addition to stealing his expensive Decorticator machine which he could not run his farm without. Erich von Bishop is responsible.

Charis like many women had married right before their husbands were shipped out to fight. For many, they really did not know their partners very well which more than likely would lead to marriage difficulties upon their return – if they returned. The loneliness of these women would lead many of these women to engage in affairs while not knowing if their husbands were alive or dead. In Charis’ case it would lead to a fateful decision.

Boyd exposes the acute skepticism concerning the war in Africa as more men died of disease caused by unsanitary conditions, lack of food, and poisoning. Others would succumb to their wounds because of the lack of proper medical care and supplies. Many would contract PTSD which would lead to numerous complications for those conducting the war.

(Map of the proposed Mittelafrika with German territory in yellow)

The author develops a series of important characters that dominate the story. Major Cobb, the family patriarch at Stackpole is an ornery man who is a tight fisted individual who possesses little empathy, and each day reads bible verses to his family. Walter Smith is a well meaning American who settled in East Africa who is obsessed with expanding his farm. Erich von Bishop has a typical German mentality in that he wants to expand his farm, and his target is “Smithville” across the border. Of course, there is the relationship between Gabriel and Felix which dominates the story. These and other characters set the background for Boyd’s real purpose – examine warfare, how people cope with wartime and interact with each other to survive. The most interesting relationships revolve around the Cobb brothers who love and respect each other, but the outbreak of war changes their dynamic. Gabriel will spend three years in a German hospital as a patient and then assisting others as he gathers intelligence for when the British army will arrive. Felix is the opposite of his brother, but by 1917 the British were desperate for bodies to fight so they accepted him as an officer. He is sent to Africa, and his major goal is to find his brother before he receives a letter from his bride.

Boyd explores a range of human emotions throughout the novel. Guilt, infatuation, greed, and desire dominate the actions of the major characters. He will bring together some of these characters in an ingenious manner as they all seem to wind up in East Africa. Michael Gorra in his February 27, 1983, New York Times book review sums up the importance of the novel and his evaluation of the author. He writes; “In its treatment of its central theme, it fulfills the ambition of the historical novel at its best: to comprehend the past, not as the colorful backdrop to a costume drama, but as the controlling force in the lives of its characters. Such novels rarely have pleasant things to say about any individual’s position in the large scheme of the world, and ”An Ice-Cream War” is no exception. Its characters – the survivors in particular – are mercilessly knocked about by the force of historical circumstance: by the war, by the problems of commanding men whose culture they do not understand and whose language they do not even speak, by the influenza epidemic that followed immediately upon the Armistice. But Mr. Boyd sees even domestic life, as Gabriel’s and Felix’s mother sees her marriage, ”as a relentless challenge, an unending struggle against appalling adverse conditions to get her own way.” That bleak comic vision suggests the early Evelyn Waugh, and ”An Ice-Cream War” is a good enough novel, for all its flaws, to persuade me that Mr. Boyd, who was born in 1952, may someday write a great one.”

(Advance on Kilimanjaro)

IN THE MIDST OF CIVILIZED EUROPE: THE POGROMS OF 1918-1921 AND THE ONSET OF THE HOLOCAUST by Jeffrey Veidlinger

March 20, 2025szfreiberger German History, Holocaust, Nazi Germany, Russian History Leave a comment

(Victims of a pogrom perpetrated by Ukrainian forces in Khodorkiv, 1919)

According to Webster’s dictionary a “pogrom” is an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jewish people in Russia or eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a Russian word meaning to “wreak havoc, to demolish violently.” Historically, the term refers to violent attacks by local non-Jewish populations on Jews in the Russian Empire and in other countries. The first such incident to be labeled a pogrom is believed to be anti-Jewish rioting in Odessa in 1821. As a descriptive term, “pogrom” came into common usage with extensive anti-Jewish riots that swept the southern and western provinces of the Russian Empire in 1881–1884, following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II.

One of the most impactful pogroms took place in Kishinev located in the southwest corner of Imperial Russia in April 1903. It resulted in the death of 49 Jews, an untold number of Jewish women were raped, and 1,500 Jewish homes were damaged. This sudden rush of hoodlum violence — prompted by accusatory rumors of Jewish ritual murder — quickly became a talisman of imperial Russian brutality against its Jews. More than that, the incident brought the word pogrom to the world stage and set off reverberations that changed the course of Jewish history for the next century.

Pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe at the end of the 19^th and early 20^th century became the impetus for Jewish immigration to the United States. Between 1880 and 1924 over 2,000,000 Jews immigrated to the United States to escape persecution and poverty. My own grandparents left their small village north of Kyiv in 1905 on arriving at Ellis Island and settling in the New York area.

(A funeral held for desecrated Torah scrolls following the Kishinev pogrom of 1903, in which 49 Jews were murdered and hundreds of women raped)

For those who have difficulty imagining what a pogrom is or looks like I refer them to the film “The Fixer” based on the novel of the same name by Bernard Malamud. THE FIXER was based on an infamous case known as the “Beilis case” or the “Beilis trial” of 1913, in which the mutilated corpse of a Christian boy was found in a cave outside Kiev in 1911, and it became the cause célèbre for myriad virulent antisemitic groups to propagate widespread persecution of Jews. A Jewish laborer named Menahem Mendel Beilis (Yacov Bok in the film and novel) was arrested on ludicrous trumped-up charges for ritualistically extracting the child’s blood to be used in Passover matzos and it led to his imprisonment and torture –a prelude to further pogroms and the coming Bolshevik Revolution. In a highly publicized trial akin to the Russian version of the Dreyfus affair, Beilis was ultimately acquitted by an all-Christian jury.

The latest use of the term pogrom has sparked controversy when it was applied to the devastating actions of Hamas terrorists perpetrated on October 7, 2024, against Israel. The end result was 1,180 people killed, of which 797 were civilians, including 36 children and 379 security forces. A further, 3,400 civilians and soldiers were wounded, and 251 civilians and soldiers were taken captive (74 later died in captivity or were confirmed dead). Hamas’ savagery fits the definition of the term “pogrom” with all the elements of violence, sexual attack, and antisemitism.

(Symon Petliura, a 1920s Ukrainian statesman blamed for the murder of 50,000 Jewish compatriots)

In his latest book IN THE MIDST OF CIVILIZED EUROPE: THE POGROMS OF 1918-1921 AND THE ONSET OF THE HOLOCAUST Jeffrey Veidlinger tackles the pogrom-like violence in western Belorussia (Belarus) and Poland’s Galicia province (now West Ukraine), that resulted in the murder of over a hundred thousand Jews between 1918 and 1921. According to Veidlinger, apart from murders, “approximately 600,000 Jewish refugees were forced to flee across international borders, and millions more were displaced internally. About two-thirds of all Jewish houses and over half of all Jewish businesses in the region were looted or destroyed. The pogroms traumatized the affected communities for at least a generation and set off alarm bells around the world.”

The perpetrators of pogroms organized locally, sometimes with government and police encouragement. They raped, murdered their Jewish victims, and looted their property. During the civil war that followed the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Ukrainian nationalists, Polish officials, and Red Army soldiers perpetrated these massacres blaming the Jews for the turmoil and destruction of World War I and the ensuing Russian Revolution. At the time reports of this violence were published in the press and many warned that the Jews were in danger of extermination – a prediction that would come to fruition in the Nazi imposed Holocaust between 1939-1945.

Veidlinger relies on long-neglected materials that include recently discovered eyewitness accounts, trial records, and government orders concluding that the genocidal violence created the conditions for the Holocaust. He explains how and why so many groups believed that the murder of Jews was a suitable reaction to their perceived problems, allowing “pogroms” to be seen as one of the defining moments of the 20th century.

(Professor Jeffrey Veidlinger)

The development of pogroms as a threat to the existence of Jews came to a stage. First, the reaction to the assassination of Alexander II which Russian newspapers and right-wing Christians blamed the Jews. Next is the results of the Russo-Japanese war which set off a wave of pogroms as the Russian people could not accept defeat. The situation was further exacerbated by the 1905 Revolution allowing the Black Hundreds and individuals within the Tsarist police to unleash devastating pogroms. It took until 1906 for the pogroms to subside. The pogroms unleashed between 1903-1906 helped model behavioral patterns that were further refined with each wave of unrest. Tensions were heightened with the appearance of THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION, first circulated by the Black Hundreds in 1903 it would be widely disseminated across Russia (and Europe) accusing the Jews of a global conspiracy to take control of world finances and manipulate government leaders. The next stage in the development and implementation of pogroms was a result of World War I where Jews were accused of financing the German war machine and supporting Russia’s arch enemy, Germany. Rumors of Jewish betrayal throughout the war led to their removal by Russian troops from front line areas leading to thousands of Jews imprisoned and others becoming refugees forced out of their homes and sent to other parts of the empire or forced to emigrate elsewhere when possible to eradicate what was perceived as a world Jewish revolutionary movement.

One of Veidlinger’s most important themes revolves around what happened to Jews in Ukraine during World War II, having its roots in what happened to Jews in the same geographic area in the post-World War I era. The massacres established violence against Jews as an acceptable response to the excesses of Bolshevism due to the unrelenting exposure to bloodshed which habituated local populations to bloodshed and barbarism. When the Germans arrived in 1941 they found a decades-old killing ground where the mass murder of innocent Jews was an acceptable reality.

Veidlinger correctly points out how Jews could not escape victimhood as after the Treaty of Brest Litovsk was signed in March 1918 by the Bolsheviks and Germans, the Jews would once again found themselves as victims. As the Germans occupied Ukraine the Bolsheviks accused them of collaboration with the enemy as well as being members of the bourgeois class. The Germans accused them of being Bolshevik sympathizers and engaging in violent attacks against German officials. The Jews were victims of attacks from both sides further reinforcing the concept that it was acceptable to beat up and kill Jews. Things grew worse when the Bolsheviks created the “Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Corruption” (Cheka) under Felix Dzerzhinsky which employed torture and terror to root out the opposition. Interestingly, with so many Bolshevik leaders with Jewish backgrounds it was easy to spread lies pertaining to them by opposition to the new Soviet regime. The remnants of the central powers, the White Army, the Black Hundreds all developed strong rationalizations to unleash further pogroms.

(Leon Trotsky)

With the collapse of the German and Austro-Hungarian empire the nationalist goals of the Poles for their own nation ensued. Joseph Pilsudski, a Polish military figure and statesman called for a multi-ethnic Polish state and became the first Chief of State for the new country. However, for Jews the situation was complex as they once again were caught in the middle of divergent forces and soon became victims of pogramatic violence as Poles, Ukranians, and others fought for control of cities within the new Ukrainian and Polish republics. Violence in Lviv set a new pattern as soldiers deliberately targeted Jews in their homes and businesses with no apparent military objective. This seemed different as now soldiers were added to gangs of ruffians and local discontented types who openly attacked Jews. This spread across Poland and Galicia resulting in over 130 pogroms against Jews by soldiers with the general population participating in the violence as crowds cheered them on. Once again Jews were caught in the middle as a Ukrainian Republic had been proclaimed that seemed to be more tolerant of Jews when compared to the new Polish state.

The author does an excellent job exploring in insightful detail four of the 85 attacks on Jewish life and property between January and March 1919. The four include pogroms in Ovruch, two in Zhytomyr, and Proskuriv. What set them apart from previous pogroms was that they were not necessarily an unprompted spree committed spontaneously by unruly soldiers rampaging through civilian neighborhoods, but part of a protracted reign of terror perpetrated by officers, or leaders who achieved some military control acting under the authority of the state military. They became a watershed for Jews because the Ukrainian government when it came to pass was predicated on the principle of minority rights and national autonomy and their lack of action showed they could not protect them. For Jews targeted for supporting Bolsheviks it betrayed the trust Jews had in their government.

(A 1934 edition by the Patriotic Publishing Company of Chicago)

The problem that emerges in all four pogroms is that the high minded ideals of the Ukrainian cabinet and intellectual elites were not shared by the rest of the military leadership. Instead, the officers and soldiers, many of whom had been poisoned by the anti-Semitic rhetoric of the Imperial Russian army which they had served and by prejudices learned in their villages, continued to view Jews as speculators stealing the wealth of the Ukrainian people, as enemies of the church, and the agents of Bolshevism. It was a belief system that reverberated throughout the region to the detriment and of the well-being of Jews. This would continue in the battles for Kyiv, Fastiv and other areas as the White army with their Cossacks entered the picture.

Fastiv is another example of the horrors Jews faced in September and October 1919 as the White army entered the fray resulting in the death of over 8000 Jews, some the result of outright murder and the rest the effects of hunger, exposure and the lack of any medical care. The Whites wanted to eradicate the Jewish population anywhere they could find them. The Whites were made up of former Tsarist officers and soldiers, along with the Cossacks just enhanced the terror Jews faced under the leadership of Anton Denikin, a former peasant and disgruntled Tsarist officer. The former Tsarist officers saw the Jews as the progenitors of Bolshevism and as an internal enemy whose perfidy had led to Russia’s defeat in the Great War. Their goal was to restore the Tsarist empire sans Jews.

(Anton Denikin)

As previously mentioned the Jews were once again caught in the crossfire between the Red army, the White army, the Ukrainian People’s Republic, and the new Polish nation. With the settlement at the Versailles conference unclear when it came to borders and the fate of Ukraine, it left an opening for these disparate elements to continue to fight and for Jews who grew confused as to whom to support as the political situation was a minefield. The battlefield consisted of Whites fighting Reds, the Red Army fighting Poland, Poland fighting the Ukrainian People’s Republic, and sorted warlords seizing property and randomly killing Jews as opportunities presented themselves. Throughout Ukraine and border areas with the new nation of Poland, government control of territory was always tenuous giving anti-Semites the perfect opportunity to engage in pogroms. Fueled by conspiracy theories and past learning under the Tsar and the fact that Bolshevik leaders had Jewish backgrounds the plight of Jews seemed preordained. As Veidlinger describes the many pogroms with its executions, shootings, rapes, seizures of property, and outright torture physically and psychologically one has to wonder how depraved the perpetrators of these atrocities were.

Veidlinger sums up the plight of the Jews very clearly: “Jewish civilians were singled out for persecution by virtually everyone. The Bolsheviks despised them as bourgeois nationalist; the bourgeois nationalists branded them Bolsheviks; Ukrainians saw them as agents of Russia; Russians suspected them of being German sympathizers; and Poles doubted their loyalty to the newly founded Polish Republic. Dispersed in urban pockets and insufficiently concentrated in any one contiguous territory, Jews were unable to make a credible claim to sovereignty, no party trusted them. Regardless of one’s political inclination, there was always a Jew to blame.”

The concept of scapegoating stands out. If one follows the plight of Jews in Europe since the Middle Ages , the Jew was the perfect target. No matter what century we are speaking about pogroms would draw local people, at times the victim’s neighbors in what the author describes as a “carnivalesque atmosphere” of inebriated singing and dancing. The perpetrators were often young peasants who had suffered greatly during World War I, who lacked any guidance from their elders who also participated in the bloodshed.

POSTPONED – Pogroms and the Origins of the European Genocide of the Jews

(1919 map of Ukraine)

As the Nazis rose to power and consolidated their rule in Germany in the 1930s the situation for Jews grew untenable. The Nazi invasion of Poland and the Soviet Union created an invitation for “liberated peoples” to take out their frustrations against Jews. The Nazis encouraged anti-Semitism in the Ukraine taking advantage of its previous history of persecuting Jews. In 1941, Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Main Office, told subordinates “not to hinder attempts of local anti-communist and anti-Jewish circles to the newly occupies territories to engage in cleansing activities. On the contrary, they should be carried out and intensified, if necessary, and channeled in the right direction, but without leaving a trace.” Heydrich would organize the Wannsee Conference where the decision labeled the ‘Final Solution” was reached.

Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the SD (Security Service) and Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia. [LCID: 91199]

(Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the SD (Security Service) and Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia.. Place uncertain, 1942)

Pogroms broke out throughout the Ukraine in 1941 as the Nazis were aided by those who had participated in the horrors that took place between 1918 and 1921, and the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police. The Germans would incite the Ukrainians by equating Jews with Bolsheviks, drawing upon the same language which peasants and Cossack militias had massacred Jews twenty years earlier. The most deadly massacre took place in Kyiv on September 26, 1941, when Jews were marched to an open meadow, part of the Babyn Yar system were 33, 771 Jews were killed over thirty-six hours. By the spring of 1942, the genocide of the Jews of Ukraine was complete, with over 500,000 Jews, , one-third of the prewar population murdered. The pogroms Veidlinger describes in his deeply researched monograph had been mostly spontaneous and scattered, but once the Nazis crossed into Poland, the Ukraine, and the Soviet Union the Holocaust became increasingly systematic. The intellectual preparation lingered from twenty years before, became a reality. The precedent of1918-1921 came to fruition. The script of twenty years before was reenacted.

In the end Veidlinger’s scholarly presentation concluded that few of the perpetrators of the Holocaust were punished when compared to their victims. Some higher ups escaped, some were convicted, and many lesser accomplices had been sentenced to death by tribunals or vigilantes, but the reality is clear, as Veidlinger states, “the value of Jewish life had been debased.”

(Bodies of the Jewish victims of the pogrom in Orvuch, Ukraine, in February of 1919)

CRIMEAN QUAGMIRE: TOLSTOY, RUSSELL, AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN WARFARE by Gregory Carleton

March 12, 2025szfreiberger British History, Russian History Leave a comment

(An illustration of the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava during the Crimean War. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

In his consummate diplomatic history, THE STRUGGLE FOR MASTERY OF EUROPE 1848-1918, A.J.P. Taylor describes the Crimean War as a largely pointless conflict driven by miscalculation and misplaced ego on the part of the leaders of Britain, France and Russia. As many historians have described the war originated because of a series of careless decisions on the part of all involved in events leading up to the conflict which ended the post-Napoleonic War period. According to Taylor the war was fought for imprudent reasons as its outbreak was due supposedly because of England and France’s desire to protect Christian interests in the Ottoman Empire, but that was a smokescreen for the European powers to weaken the Turkish domain and assert their dominance.

Taylor stresses the role of domestic political pressure and the need to maintain national prestige pushing the powers toward war making it difficult to pull back and secure the peace. An accurate phrase that encapsulates the outbreak of war can be summed as “a war that didn’t boil” which reflects how a minor incident escalated into a major confrontation because of the inability of politicians to deescalate. The Treaty of Paris (1856) ended the fighting, and its results were rather inconsequential as it was designed to guarantee the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and neutralize the Black Sea. However, decisions which originated at Paris in the years following the war would in the end prove to be very consequential.

(William Howard Russell, ca. 1854)

In his new book, CRIMEAN QUAGMIRE: TOLSTOY, RUSSELL, AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN WARFARE Russian specialist Gregory Carelton argues that the Crimean War transformed how we understand war, eradicating 19^th century Romanticism which followed the Napoleonic War. Focusing on two young writers; Russian officer Lev Tolstoy, and The Times journalist William Howard Russell, Carelton relates how these men exposed government misinformation and coverups as their countries engaged in what military historians describe as the first modern war. Both men would pay dearly for exposing the actions of their governments, but their legacy certainly outlived them.

Carelton correctly argues that the war developed major aspects of modern warfare introducing a number of technological achievements. First, the destructive power of the rifle; others include long-range artillery, the railroads and telegraphs, photography, improved medical treatment, iron-clad steam powered ships, explosive shells, and land mines, all contributing to the carnage of warfare.

Carleton’s thesis continues as he argues that what also made the war significant were the ways in which we understand war and how we inform the public as for the first time the domestic audience learned of the true horrors of war that took place on the battlefield. The Crimean War was the first whereby public opinion helped push combatants to the negotiating table.

In Carleton’s narrative it was Tolstoy and Russell who deserve the credit for introducing the public to the images of war it had rarely, if ever, had witnessed before as they offered graphic scenes from the conflict. What enhanced their dispatches was the rise in literacy rates, particularly among soldiers in the British army who could then inform their families and the public in general with their experiences through letters, diaries, and memoirs. For the first time in history warfare technology allowed the public immediate insights as to what was occurring on the battlefield.

(Leo Tolstoy)

As to the direct causes of the war that threatened the post-Napoleonic settlement balance of power, Russia was deemed most culpable. The Tsarist autocracy would soon replace Napoleonic France as the main threat to British influence and power as it continued to expand across the Caucasus and Central Asia along with its domination of Eastern Europe. Few diplomats, politicians or generals trusted Russia which did accept any threat to the European order and was always willing to dispatch troops to put down any revolutionary threat as occurred in Hungary during the Revolutions of 1848. This fact was highlighted by the century-long conflict with the Ottoman Empire throughout Southeast Europe, across the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Another useful argument is represented by the Crystal Palace and Great Exhibition of 1851 in England which focused the world on the technological and intellectual achievements and potential of the British Empire as compared to the backwardness of Russia who saw innovation and change as a threat to its rule and power. For an in depth analysis encompassing the immediate causes, the outbreak, and the course of the war consult Orlando Figes’ excellent study THE CRIMEAN WAR: A HISTORY, Trevor Royle’s CRIMEA: THE GREAT CRIMEAN WAR 1854-1856, and Robert Edgerton’s DEATH OF GLORY: THE LEGACY OF THE CRIMEAN WAR.

To quote Richard Haas whose excellent book, WAR OF NECESSITY, WAR OF CHOICE his views on the war in Iraq are very pertinent as the Crimean War was a war of choice initiated by empires infatuated with their own exceptionalism which were guilty of causing a stalemate on the battlefield, produced contradictory arguments and lies to justify their actions leaving both sides embittered with intense domestic blowback, all of which produced a quagmire as, it did in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and currently in Ukraine. Carelton argues that the effect of quagmires lasts long past the conclusion of the fighting. The results can break nations, bring down governments or lead to different types of revolution.

A key chapter in Carleton’s monograph is a comparison of the impact of Tolstoy’s and Russell’s socialization. Tolstoy on the one hand developed intellectually in a backward autocratic state with an 80% peasant population which was mostly illiterate. Russell, on the other hand, was impacted by a country that praised democratic principles, conducted elections, and had a mostly literate population. The impact of these writers was also different as Russell focused more on the tragedy as governments tried to cover up and deny the brutality of their war and the incompetence of the leaders who directed it. Tolstoy as a junior artillery officer focused on his direct experiences commenting on trench warfare, the siege of Sevastopol, and other examples of devastation in his short stories and later novels, WAR AND PEACE and ANNA KARENINA. As Carleton repeatedly points out, both men “laid the groundwork for veterans of World War I and later conflicts to try and understand and cope with their own experiences.”

The war itself would result in changing the governments of England and Russia. Russell wrote that Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen’s government was an aristocratic den, “aloof, out of touch, inept, and so it seemed uncaring.” He further pointed out that “the finest army that ever left these shores will soon cease to exist.” By the end of January 1855, Aberdeen’s government fell and was replaced by the former Home Secretary, Lord Palmerston. In Russia, Nicholas passed away and was replaced by Alexander II as Tsar who immediately wrote that the war was “a bottomless pit.”

(Cossack Bay, Balaklava)

Carleton does an excellent job integrating Russell and Tolstoy’s dispatches and stories describing the course of the war and the carnage they witnessed. The fact that both men were embedded with their armies gives further credence to support their views and how the public interpreted their ideas. Excerpts of their descriptions of the siege of Sevastopol provide the reader with many insights as to how the war was fought, the incompetence of the bureaucracies that hindered supplies, the brutal weather that soldiers endured, the lack of infrastructure limiting efforts to provide soldiers with what they needed, and the impact of the social class system that affected both armies. The end result was that the siege would soon devolve into a Somme-like catastrophe, albeit on a smaller scale.

Carleton’s use of letters, diaries, and memoirs by combatants in addition to the writing of Russell and Tolstoy add a high degree of authenticity in understanding the horrible conditions in which the war was fought and the incompetent leadership at home and on the battlefield. Carleton has produced a concisely written and tight monograph that provides numerous insights concerning the war, how it was fought, the results, and the implications for future wars. The author argues further that the war changed war writing forever and by breaking down different examples of Russell and Tolstoy’s works, i.e., “Sevastopol in September,” and “Sevastopol in May” Tolstoy has crossed the threshold, leaving behind Homeric expectations of glory with the truth about how a peasant army was being slaughtered. In Russell’s case his commentary on “the Charge of the Light Brigade” pulls no punches as it was not only a defeat, and its results had no consequences for the war. For Russell, the age of cavalry had passed as he described the siege as a “quagmire-like stalemate.”

The author spends an entire chapter tracing the myths associated with the “Charge of the Light Brigade” which would be immortalized by Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poet’s interest was piqued by Russell’s dispatches resulting in a remarkable poem in which Carleton beaks down stanza by stanza.

(British mortar batteries)

The writing of our subjects reflects the evolution of the transition from the Age of Romanticism to the Age of Realism leading to a revolution in war writing. Carleton makes the important point that Russell’s writing angered a public that grew tired of government obfuscation, and it became the major source of information for people to follow the war and understand it. Russell’s writings created a furor in government circles, and they put pressure on The Times’ editor, John Delane who refused to back down and would allow commentary such as the governments “incompetency, lethargy, aristocratic hauteur, official indifference, favor, routine, perverseness, and stupidity reign….the noblest army ever sent out from these shores has been sacrificed to the grossest mismanagement.” Russell went on to describe the soldiers as “victims” and for the first time newspapers began to publish lists of soldiers who had died. For Tolstoy, his wartime experiences convinced him to resign his military commission and pursue a writing career.

Carleton is clear as he reiterates how Russell and Tolstoy remapped how death should be understood on the battlefield and off, perhaps their most important contribution to understanding modern warfare. For both it came down to three principles: who died, how they died, and more importantly, why they died. In all areas they broke all previous conventions in their writing be it anyone could be a victim of war with no relation to rank, societal status or nationality. Further, they explored the true conditions on the battlefield. Lastly, they argued that Crimea does not fit the longtime view accepted of why wars are fought. The Crimean War, in short, had no precedent in the European mindset as it was the first to be recognized as a quagmire – literally where opposing armies struggled to take a few yards in deepening mud, trenches, disease, and resulting despair as an estimated 700,000 perished, three-quarters of which were Russian. The concept of a quagmire developed in the Crimea can easily be applied to today’s fighting in Ukraine.

(Camp of the 4th Dragoons, English and French)

The author’s short volume is loaded with examples to support each of his points and is an exceptional synthesis of the available material, primary and secondary. It looks at the war from a different perspective as Carleton argues it established truth as the aim of war reporting and understanding the power of words/lies to create war, death, and destruction. It helped establish a script with which to understand “quagmire conflict.”

As to the lessons learned from the war Donald Rayfield’s review published in History Today Volume 74 Issue 10 October 2024 is spot on as he writes: “The heritage of the Crimean War is mixed. Both sides realized that doctors and nurses, not generals and sergeants, were needed. In Britain and Russia, there was energetic medical progress: chloroform was now offered not only to officers and gentlemen. Sanitation, nutrition and nursing were given the same priorities as shells and fortifications. In Russia a military-medical academy started training thousands of doctors, including women, so that in the next Balkan war, 20 years later, Russia could boast of having women doctors serving at the front.

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(Alfred Lord Tennyson, poet)

Military lessons were learnt, too: Alexander II’s generals turned to the conquest of Central Asia and the Far East. As the world gradually conceded the Russians the freedom of the Black Sea, Alexander, the so-called liberator, began a genocidal deportation of hundreds of thousands of indigenous Caucasians and Crimean Tatars to Anatolia. The Crimean War, however, did initiate Russia’s most progressive era: serfs were freed, the arts flourished, a national health service was created. In Britain complacent aristocrats such as Lord Aberdeen yielded to energetic radicals such as Disraeli and Gladstone. Russians and Britons, but, alas, not the Ottomans, emerged wiser from their quagmire.”

According to Carleton the lessons to be learned are clear. “Quagmires become veritable graveyards of exceptionalism.” Need proof, look at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the American war in Vietnam. Each resulted in the collapse of government and major policy implications for the future. As these wars were fought the calling cards of quagmires emerge – atrocities and war crimes. To cover this up the key link of 20^th and 21^st century quagmires is the “foundational lie,” as in any quagmire truth is the first casualty.

(Old engraved illustration of the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. (Picture by GettyImages)

ISTANBUL PASSAGE by Joseph Kanon

March 9, 2025szfreiberger Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

Istanbul is a historic city that sits at the crossroads of east and west and has a long and complex history that lends itself to spy thrillers in the milieu of John le Carre, Graham Greene, Eric Ambler, and Alan Furst. The city itself sits at the entrance to the Bosphorus that flows into the Black Sea and was the center of Russo-Turkish conflict from the 18^th century to the conclusion of World War II. During the war, the city like Stockholm, Lisbon, and Geneva were supposedly neutral, but in the clever and credible hands of novelist Joseph Kanon its reality is a world of espionage which snares the reader in the complex world of spies.

The plot for Kanon’s ISTANBUL PASSAGE evokes his past technique of using an urban site as the center of his story as he has done in previous and later books. From Hollywood, to Moscow, Berlin, Shanghai, Venice and Buenos Aires they are all central to the stories that evolved in SHANGHAI; LEAVING BERLIN; STARDUST; THE GOOD GERMAN; DEFECTORS; LOS ALAMOS; and THE ACCOMPLICE. All of these works are provocative, fully realized fiction that investigates the reality of history as it is experienced by individual men and women.

The novel begins with allied veteran Leon Bauer who is running spy missions under the cover of a U.S. tobacco-importing business waiting for a boat to arrive and deliver a package, a.k.a , a man for whom he would be responsible. After the package did not arrive he decides to visit his wife Anna who is being treated at the Dr. Obstbaum’s clinic for a form of melancholia. In the recent past Anna had worked for the Mossad that funneled Jewish refugees through Istanbul to Palestine operating around the British blockade who wanted to keep the Jews at bay and not aggravate their Arab allies. Her work became a cover for Leon’s own, but dealing with so much secrecy, lies, and deaths she had a nervous collapse, retreating into a catatonic state. Leon is loyal to his wife, visiting often, hoping that in the near future the sound of his voice will return her to reality – it is her condition that keeps him anchored to Istanbul.

Periodically Kanon integrates Turkish history into the novel. Examples abound; Turks stealing from Armenians and Jews; Russia’s goal of controlling the Black Sea; the Truman Doctrine designed to assist Turkey and Greece against the communist threat; the smuggling of Jews who escaped the Holocaust across Turkey as a means to avoid the British blockade of Palestine. There are many other examples, providing evidence of Kanon’s success as a purveyor of historical fiction.

(The Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey)

A key theme for Kanon which permeates the novel is a moral one. Leon has spent time with his wife, Anna assisting the smuggling of Jews into Istanbul, loading them on to freighters designed to outrun the British blockade of Palestine. At the same time, he is tasked by his boss, Tommy King, a spy stationed in the American consulate in Istanbul; to assist a Romanian defector named Alexi, whose real name is Jiani who has intelligence against the Russians to escape to the United States. The problem is that four years earlier he was part of a massacre of Jews as during the war he was a member of the Fascist Romanian Iron Guard. The Romanians set up concentration camps – only the ones the Germans didn’t run themselves. They killed about 200,000 Jews. As part of a later plot twist Leon will become implicated in two murders. First, Tommy King who may have been a double agent working with Moscow,, and later Fran Bishop, an American diplomat stationed in Ankara. The evidence points to Leon who is also having an affair with Bishop’s wife, Kay. Eventually Leon’s fate is intertwined with Alexi as he must escape the Istanbul police, and the Turkish secret police – the Emniyet.

The Cold War atmosphere dominates the background of the novel as Leon and Alexi wonder if the Russians are responsible for the killings. Apart from the Truman Doctrine, we learn of deals with former Nazi scientists and spies as the Russians and Americans vie for their services.

Leon was not a career operative and was not trained as an interrogator. It is interesting how Alexi educates Leon about spy craft, especially when Leon questions him about the massacre at Straulesti. With no choice and King dead Leon becomes Alexi’s partner as he must hide and protect him as he arranges his escape.

(Inside Hagia Sophia)

Kanon creates a series of complex characters who dominate the novel. The most important is Leon who is a flawed character who loves his wife, who has been hospitalized, possibly permanently visiting a prostitute each week and has an affair with Kay Bishop, apart from his role of smuggling Alexi. Tommy King, who was to manage Alexi’s escape, is murdered, but the question is by whom since his loyalties are in question. Mihai, a Romanian Jew who worked with Anna to transport Jews to Palestine. He continues that work without Anna and is appalled by the deal he makes with Leon concerning Alexi. Lily Nadir, a worldly widow who first arrived in Istanbul as a Circassian slave at age fourteen at the Sultan’s harem. She now gives society parties at her waterfront villa as she brings together many noteworthy characters especially those involving the Emniyet. Colonel Murat Altan who guides Leon at times, but as Turkish secret police he has a strong duplicitous side. Throughout, the question remains who can be trusted, but the key relationship is between Leon and Alexi. At first, Alexi is dependent upon Leon for his survival, as the plot unravels Leon becomes dependent upon Alexi.

ISTANBUL PASSAGE contains many ebbs and flows as the story develops layer upon layer. It is not the type of historical thriller Kanon usually delivers. There are plenty of action and plot shifts, but many of the scenes are dominated by lengthy innocuous dialogue which does little to maintain one’s interest. The story contains too many peaks and valleys and needs to stick to the pertinent aspects of the story and not wander off into areas that do not enrich the reader’s experience. Despite this Kanon edifies the reader with intelligent plotting and its vivid presentation of Istanbul, a setting rich in centuries of intrigue encapsulating the Ottoman years, the Byzantine sights, the influx of Germans in the 1930s, and the Ottoman Empire’s long imperial past.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

SHANGHAI by Joseph Kannon

March 1, 2025March 1, 2025szfreiberger Historical Fiction Leave a comment

shanghai 1930s why is it called paris of the east

In the opening scene of Joseph Kanon’s latest novel, SHANGHAI, people are crowding on the dock to board the Raffaello, a ship out of Nazi Germany. Following the destruction, violence, and death against Jews during Kristallnacht in November 1938 it was becoming clear as to what Hitler’s ultimate goal was – the Jews had no choice but to try and get out. The question was where to go – even if you were able to acquire the proper paperwork. If you were lucky enough to obtain the necessary documents to leave Germany you would have to relinquish all of your property and possessions by a devalued sale or outright seizure. You would only be allowed to take some clothing and ten Reichsmarks out of the country.

For Daniel Lohr, whose father Eli, a judge was murdered at Sachsenhausen concentration camp it was time to leave. He was asked by Leah Auerbach; a person he met on the crowded dock why he was going to China? His terse answer was “It is not here.”

paris of the east departmental stores nanking road 1927

(Aerial view of department stores on Nanking Road in Shanghai, 1930, via Jack Ephgrave Collection, Historical Photographs of China)

For thousands of desperate people in the 1930s, this Chinese metropolis was a last resort. Most countries and cities had restricted entry for Jews trying to flee violent persecution by Nazi Germany. Not Shanghai, however. This multicultural oasis – that included British, French, American, Russian and Iraqi residents – was among the very few places Jewish refugees were guaranteed to be accepted, with no visa required.

Despite Shanghai being more than 435 miles from their homes in Germany, Poland and Austria, more than 20,000 stateless Jews fled to China’s largest city to escape the Holocaust between 1933 and 1941. Shanghai was not just a safe haven. It was also a modern city with an established community of Russian Jews.

At first, life in Shanghai was peaceful for its newest residents. The Jewish refugees were welcomed by Shanghai residents, and they created a strong community with schools and a vibrant social scene. What the refugees couldn’t foresee was they would travel across the globe only to fall into the clutches of the Nazis’ most powerful ally. In 1941, Japan seized Shanghai. Acting under instruction from the Nazis, Japanese troops rounded up all of the city’s Jews and confined them in Tilanqiao. Shanghai’s Jewish ghetto was established.

cafes-cabarets-banks-blood-alley-shanghai-1937

(Blood Alley in Shanghai, 1937 via Malcolm Rosholt Collection, Historical Photographs of China)

Kannon’s effort reads as if we are watching the film, “Casablanca” as everything seems to have an undercurrent as relationships keep shifting and with it events. For the characters who arrive in Shanghai, they soon realize that Shanghai, the corrupt, violent city with an underclass of Chinese, and Europeans who are living out their dreams are now faced with the Japanese threat as at anytime they can take over the city.

Daniel is lucky because his Uncle Nathan is a character with an empathetic side and a gangster side which at times is difficult to determine which dominates his actions. In this case he sends the necessary funds and first class passage on one of the great Lloyds of London ships, making the arrangements for Daniel to escape Berlin. Aboard ship he will meet two of the dominant characters in the story, Leah Auerbach, a beautiful woman who he will fall in love with, and Colonel Yamada, a Japanese attached to the Kempeitai, the Japanese version of the Gestapo.

The book reflects the author’s historical knowledge as throughout the ongoing Sino-Japanese war continues, the fact that Chiang Kai-Shek and his Kuomintang refuse to fight the Japanese, holding back American aid and pressure focusing on the coming Civil War with Mao Zedong and the Communists, and the seamy side of what Shanghai is and will develop into further. Kannon’s historical reflections are accurate and give the story a high degree of authenticity.

duyuesheng gangster shanghai paris of the east 1930s

(Du Yuesheng (right), the godfather of the underworld in 1930s Shanghai, via China.org)

Kannon’s description of Shanghai is fascinating as it is unlike any other area of China. Its European waterfront, neoclassical banks and office towers, and art deco hotels reflected its commercial swagger much like Liverpool, Trieste, and other western cities with its sleek new cars, trams, and Department stores. However, the underside of the city cannot be hidden with coolies, old men in silk robes, beggars, gangsters, the presence of Japanese warships, and the drive for profit in the guise of a commercial entertainment sector dominating – this is not a typical European city.

Upon arriving it is clear Uncle Nathan wants to bring Daniel into his business operations – nightclubs, prostitution, laundering money, and other avocations. Their relationship is a key component of the plot as Daniel slowly is absorbed into his uncles’ world but always keeping a moral compass when possible. Obviously in this type of environment payoffs, protection money, murder are a daily occurrence. The term that is used is the “squeeze,” as Nathan and other businessmen must share their profits with the various gangs and their leaders. In Nathan’s case he is in business with gang leaders like Xi Ling who is in competition with another gangster, Wu Tsai. Daniel will soon learn the ropes, be educated by his uncle and more importantly become a player in the corrupt night club world, even doing business with Colonel Yamada, who has his eyes on Leah.

The main characters are somewhat formulaic, but that does not distract from the novel. Colonel Yamada is a Japanese militarist and a hood; Uncle Nathan is like a cat with nine lives; Daniel, starts out somewhat naïve, but soon becomes a major force in his own right; Leah is just trying to survive employing any assets at her disposal; Selden Loomis, the gossip columnist at the North China Tribune who seemed to know everything; and Irina, Nathan’s former lover and loyal bookkeeper are all impactful.

debris cathay hotel bombing war 1937 photograph

(Cathay Hotel bombing in Shanghai, 1937 via Archibald Lang Collection Historical Photographs of China)

Shanghai can best be described as an oasis protecting people from the ever expanding World War. The problem is how long will this haven last with the coming Japanese aggression to implement its Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere to dominate Asia, and its alliance with Nazi Germany. The question that dominates the constantly shifting story of relationships and human depravity is when will Japan shut the door on Shanghai as they have already begun assassinating Chinese Communists and some Europeans who would be a problem once they take control.

Kannon has written a thriller with many layers. In part, a gangster story, in part a love story that slowly develops between Daniel and Leah, Chinese violence and corruption, and lastly, Japanese ruthlessness. Daniel’s past is an interesting one in that he left from Trieste to travel to Shanghai due to the fact he had fled Berlin after his group of Jewish resistance fighters had been killed or were being tortured by the Nazis. His background will reappear in Shanghai under the guise of Dr. Karl Markowski who was one of his compatriots in Berlin. Kannon has chosen the perfect location for intrigue, danger, and treacherous political dynamics as the International Settlement which he presents contains Europeans, British, Americans, who are trying to do business amid warring gangs in the city. As Daniel becomes stuck deeper and deeper in the abyss that is crooked and murderous Chinese, and Colonel Yamada, his options become limited and he realizes he must get Leah out of the city, and once Nathan passes after a heart attack he must leave also.

The strength of Kannon’s novel is adroit plot development. With a myriad of twists and turns appropriate for the time period in which the novel takes place. Returning readers of Kannon’s past novels, and new readers will be entertained and should enjoy a gripping plot.