BLACK BEAUTY 06

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Workout Summary, 10.6.09, or Goals Have Come to Fruition

• Squat – 200 lbs


• Overhead – 100 lbs (Failure)


• Deadlift – 165 lbs


• Lat Pull Downs – 180 lbs (Failure)


• Prone Bridges

Yep, nailed the 200 lbs squat.  Owned.  The fact that I failed miserably on a couple of other exercises I take as a sign of progress – supposed to plateau eventually, right?  I’ll hit em again tomorrow and we’ll see where it goes.  Next goal is to get the squat up to 300 lbs.  Back to work!

In other news, I’m playing my first show on Saturday, at the Main Street Coffeehouse back home in Independence.  I’m supposed to play from 7:00 to 9:00 that evening, which is just too much damn time.  But I have my four songs, and a whole pile of covers, so hopefully it’ll go well.  I’m both excited and terrified.  We shall see.

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Stahlhelm: Chaos in Germany after WW1

The Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten (English: Steel Helmet, League of Frontline Soldiers) was one of the many paramilitary organizations that arose after the defeat of World War I in the Weimar Republic.

The Stahlhelm was founded at the end of 1918 partly by Franz Seldte in the city of Magdeburg. Its journal, Stahlhelm, was edited by Count Hans-Jürgen von Blumenthal, later hanged for his part in the July 20, 1944 plot to kill Hitler. The organization was a rallying point for nationalistic and anti-Weimar elements. With 500,000 members in 1930, the Stahlhelm was the largest paramilitary organization of Weimar Germany.

The Stahlhelm was the military backbone of the failed Kapp Putsch in 1920

In 1929 the Stahlhelm joined the Volksentscheid gegen den Young-Plan to demonstrate against the Young Plan. The Stahlhelm joined the DNVP, NSDAP and Alldeutscher Verband to form the Harzburger Front, which was a united right-wing front against the Weimar Republic.

In 1934 the Stahlhelm was renamed Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Frontkämpferbund (Federation of the National Socialist Frontline-Fighters) and integrated into the Sturmabteilung (SA) and, in 1935, it was dissolved by the Nazis, who feared its fundamentally monarchist character.

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Germany after World War One: Chaos: Spartacists revolt, 1919

Rosa Luxemburg was a fiery lady. She was the real brains and inspiration behind the Spartacists revolt of 1919.

Germany after the First World War was in a mess. It was thus fertile ground for all sorts of revolts. The first to occur was by the Spartacists/Communists in 1919.

The lady gives an impassioned speech as the people listen enthralled.

The Spartacists, lead by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, were a group of radical socialists who found 'fame' in the first few months after the November Armistice when Germany experienced its so-called 'Revolution'. The Spartacists were named after Spartacus who led a revolt by slaves against the might of the Romans in 73 B.C.

The Spartacists were actually founded in the summer of 1915 when both Luxemburg and Liebknecht left the SDP because of the party's support for Germany's participation in the First World War. The political philosophy of the Spartacists was determined by Rosa Luxemburg who wrote the "Junius Pamphlet" whilst serving a prison sentence in Germany.

Liebknecht was another Spartacist ideologue

In December 1918, some of the Spartacists - including Luxemburg and Liebknecht - founded the German Communist Party. Luxemburg had written numerous pamphlets about Lenin and how his leadership of the Russian Revolution would be of such great value to Russia.

The Spartacist/Communists were poorly armed and trained as most were civilians

Many Germans (and Europeans in general) were terrified of the 'Red Plague' in Russia and the adoption of the name 'communist' was fraught with danger. Many soldiers had returned from the war fronts massively disillusioned with the German government and hugely suspicious of anything that smacked of left-wing political beliefs. Many who had quit the German Army joined the right wing Free Corps (Freikorps). These would have been battle-hardened men who had been subjected to military discipline.

In contrast the Freikorps sent in to suppress them were all German Army ex-soldiers.

In January 1919, the Communists rose up in revolt in Berlin. In every sense it was a futile gesture against the government. Ebert withdrew his government to the safety of Weimar and allowed the Freikorps and what remained of the regular army to bring peace and stability back to Berlin once again.

Fighting rages on the streets

No mercy was shown to the Spartacists/Communists whose leaders were murdered after being arrested. The Freikorps was better organised and armed - they also had a military background. The majority of the Spartacists were civilians. No-one doubted who would win.

The German Army/Freikorps take up positions

The army moves in to crush the rebellion

With the deaths of Liebknecht and Luxemburg, the party fell into temporary disarray though the Communist Party gained strength in the 1920's under the leadership of Thurman. In the 1919 election the Communists got no MP's into the Reichstag. In 1920, they got 4; in 1924 they got 62; in 1924 45 MP's and in 1928, 54 MP's. In each of these elections they did better than the Nazis. By 1928, the Spartacists/Communists had grown into a bona fide minority political party.

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Kapp Putsch: Chaos in Germany after the First World War

The Kapp Putsch took place in Weimar Germany in March 1920. Wolfgang Kapp was a right-wing journalist who opposed all that he believed Friedrich Ebert stood for especially after what he believed was the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Kapp Putsch was a direct threat to Weimar’s new government. Kapp was assisted by General Luttwitz who lead a group of Freikorps men. On March 13th, 1920, Luttwitz seized Berlin and proclaimed that a new right of centre nationalist government was being established with Kapp as chancellor.

Ebert had no immediate response to this in the sense that he could not impose his will on the situation. For the second time, he had to leave his capital – once again undermining his status and to some emphasising his weak position within Germany. The government reconvened in Dresden and the only card Ebert could play was to call for a general strike to paralyse the movement of those who supported Kapp and Luttwitz.

Kapp received support from one of Germany’s foremost military officers – General Erich Luderndorff. But the main officer corps of the German Army failed to follow Luderndorff’s lead. It is possible that they felt some form of support for a president who had given them a free hand in dealing with the Communists/Spartacists in 1919. Certainly, Ebert could not have been seen as being anti-military. However, the military did nothing to stop the putsch and give active support to Ebert.

The general strike called for by Ebert ensured that those who supported Kapp could not move around and such paralysis doomed the putsch to failure. Kapp and Luttwitz fled Berlin on March 17th.

Why did the Kapp Putsch fail?
The coup was not well prepared, it was largely rejected by the entrepreneurs, the majority of the army remained politically neutral and the Berlin ministerial officials joined in the general strike

Backing the rebels were only among the big landowners, council officers and land east of the Elbe

The five days of the Kapp Putsch are of importance as they showed that:
The government could not enforce its authority even in its own capital The government could not put down a challenge to its authority Only the mass power of a general strike could re-establish Ebert’s authority.

Berliners simply wanted no more trouble in their capital after experiencing the Spartacists/Communist rebellion in 1919. Peace was more important than political beliefs.

Those who fought for Kapp and Luttwitz were obvious future supporters of the fledgling Nazi Party. Ironically, the Erhardt Brigade, one of Luttwitz’s main fighting force, put a sign on their helmets to identify who they were: the swastika.

Luttwitz army takes over Berlin

The coup is declared.

Kapp's Liitwitz Free Corps during the coup.

"There is a terrible misery and hunger in the city," wrote Einstein about the Kapp Putsch. "Infant mortality is horrendous ... The government is completely helpless, with the real powers fighting each other: the army, money and extremist socialist groups.

Article 160 of the Versailles Treaty, ordered the reduction of the German army to 100,000 professional soldiers and the dissolution of the existing volunteer Freikorps. This infuriated Kapp and he decided to seize power. Hence the Putsch.

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The Spanish Civil War: 1936-1939

Spanish Civil War(1936 – 39) Military revolt against the government of Spain. After the 1936 elections produced a Popular Front government supported mainly by left-wing parties, a military uprising began in garrison towns throughout Spain, led by the rebel Nationalists and supported by conservative elements in the clergy, military, and landowners as well as the fascist Falange.

Seeking aid from abroad, the Nationalists received troops, tanks, and planes from Nazi Germany and Italy, which used Spain as a testing ground for new methods of tank and air warfare.

The guy who finally won the Spanish Civil War: General Franco.

The ruling Republican government, led by the socialist premiers Francisco Largo Caballero and Juan Negrín (1894 – 1956) and the liberal president Manuel Azaña y Díaz, was supported by workers and many in the educated middle class as well as militant anarchists and communists. Government forces put down the uprising in most regions except parts of northwestern and southwestern Spain, where the Nationalists held control and named Francisco Franco head of state.

GERMANY TESTS ITS NEW PLANES

Hitler sent his new Luftwaffe planes to support Franco. As German air chief Hermann Goering testified at his trial after World War II: "The Spanish Civil War gave me an opportunity to put my young air force to the test, and a means for my men to gain experience." The so-called 'Condor Legion' airplanes bombarded the Spanish town of Guernica.

Noel Monks was a correspondent covering the civil war in Spain for the "London Daily Express." He was the first reporter to arrive on the scene after the bombing. We join his story as he and other reporters drive along a dusty Spanish road:

"We were about eighteen miles east of Guernica when Anton pulled to the side of the road jammed on the brakes and started shouting. He pointed wildly ahead, and my heart shot into my mouth, when I looked. Over the top of some small hills appeared a flock of planes. A dozen or so bombers were flying high. But down much lower, seeming just to skim the treetops were six Heinkel 52 fighters. The bombers flew on towards Guernica but the Heinkels, out for random plunder, spotted our car, and, wheeling like a flock of homing pigeons, they lined up the road - and our car.

Anton and I flung ourselves into a bomb hole, twenty yards to the side of the road. It was half filed with water, and we sprawled in the mud. We half knelt, half stood, with our heads buried in the muddy side of the carter.

After one good look at the Heinkels, I didn't look up again until they had gone. That seemed hours later, but it was probably less than twenty minutes. The planes made several runs along the road. Machine-gun bullets plopped into the mud ahead, behind, all around us. I began to shiver from sheer fright. Only the day before Steer, an old hand now, had 'briefed' me about being strafed. 'Lie still and as flat as you can. But don't get up and start running, or you'll be bowled over for certain.'

When the Heinkels departed, out of ammunition I presumed, Anton and I ran back to our car. Nearby a military car was burning fiercely. All we could do was drag two riddled bodies to the side of the road. I was trembling all over now, in the grip of the first real fear I'd ever experienced."

SOURCE: eyewitnesstohistory

The victory parade by the Nationalists.

MORE ON THE GUERNICA BOMBINGS

"... I saw the reflection of Guernica's flames in the sky."

Monk and his fellow reporters drive on, traveling near Guernica where they can hear what they think may be the sounds of bombs. They continue to the city of Balboa, where after filling his report to London, Monk joins his colleagues for dinner. His story continues as his dinner is interrupted by the news from Guernica:

"...a Government official, tears streaming down his face, burst into the dismal dining-room crying: 'Guernica is destroyed. The Germans bombed and bombed and bombed.' The time was about 9.30 p.m. Captain Roberts banged a huge fist on the table and said: 'Bloody swine.' Five minutes later I was in one of Mendiguren's limousines speeding towards Guernica. We were still a good ten miles away when I saw the reflection of Guernica's flames in the sky. As we drew nearer, on both sides of the road, men, women and children were sitting, dazed. I saw a priest in one group. I stopped the car and went up to him. 'What I happened, Father?' I asked. His face was blackened, his clothes in tatters. He couldn't talk. He just pointed to the flames, still about four miles away, then whispered: 'Aviones. . . bombas'. . . mucho, mucho.'

...I was the first correspondent to reach Guernica, and was immediately pressed into service by some Basque soldiers collecting charred bodies that the flames had passed over. Some of the soldiers were sobbing like children. There were flames and-smoke and grit, and the smell of burning human flesh was nauseating. Houses were collapsing into the inferno.
In the Plaza, surrounded almost by a wall of fire, were about a hundred refugees. They were wailing and weeping and rocking to and fro. One middle-aged man spoke English. He told me: 'At four, before the-market closed, many aeroplanes came. They dropped bombs. Some came low and shot bullets into the streets. Father Aroriategui was wonderful. He prayed with the people in the Plaza while the bombs fell.'..
...The only things left standing were a church, a sacred Tree, symbol of the Basque people, and, just outside the town, a small munitions factory. There hadn't been a single anti-aircraft gun in the town. It had been mainly a fire raid.
...A sight that haunted me for weeks was the charred bodies of several women and children huddled together in what had been the cellar of a house. It had been a refugio."

A Soviet adviser to the Republicans

The Republicans (also called loyalists) were sent material mainly by the Soviet Union, and the volunteer International Brigades also joined the Republicans. The two sides fought fierce and bloody skirmishes in a war of attrition. The Nationalist side gradually gained territory and by April 1938 succeeded in splitting Spain from east to west, causing 250,000 Republican forces to flee into France. In March 1939 the remaining Republican forces surrendered, and Madrid, beset by civil strife between communists and anticommunists, fell to the Nationalists on March 28. About 500,000 people died in the war. The war's end brought a period of dictatorship that lasted until the mid-1970s.

The Spanish people suffered the most during the civil war. The famous pic by famous American lens man, Robert Capa.


That is how the war went. The blue increases over the years. Nationalists winning over the Republicans.


The Italians feel the cold.

The Germans had a large presence.

From the first and throughout the war, Italy and Germany aided Franco with an abundance of planes, tanks, and other materiel. Germany sent some 10,000 aviators and technicians; Italy sent large numbers of "volunteers," probably about 70,000. Great Britain and France, anxious to prevent a general European conflagration, proposed a nonintervention pact, which was signed in Aug., 1936, by 27 nations. The signatories included Italy, Germany, and the USSR, all of whom failed to keep their promises. The Spanish republic became dependent for supplies on the Soviet Union, which used its military aid to achieve its own political goals.

There was much death and destruction.

Both sides repressed opposition; together, they executed or assassinated more than 50,000 suspected enemies to their respective causes.

Seeking aid from abroad, the Nationalists received troops, tanks, and planes from Nazi Germany and Italy, which used Spain as a testing ground for new methods of tank and air warfare.


The Spanish Civil War was a golden opportunity for all countries to try out their new weapons and war tactics.

Rough fighting on the streets.

The Anglo-American 'Lincoln Brigade'

For Germany and Italy the Spanish civil war served as a testing ground for the blitzkrieg and other techniques of warfare that would be used in World War II; for the European democracies it was another step down the road of appeasement; and for the politically conscious youth of the 1930s who joined the International Brigades, saving the Spanish republic was the idealistic cause of the era, a cause to which many gave their lives. For the Spanish people the civil war was an encounter whose huge toll of lives and material devastation were unparalleled in centuries of Spanish history.

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