The Use of History

Hello folks, sorry for not posting on Wednesday, especially as the last time I had a chance to check in was Tuesday, but I had the 'brilliant' time of trying to update my mobile number on all the sites that needed it.  It would have been interesting if my old phone had been stole because I needed to have the permission codes sent to the old number so if it had been stole that method of security would have been as useful to me as a one legged man in a butt kicking competition.  (Can someone compile a list of 'as useful as's please.  I think it would go down a storm on Facebook.)

Any way, shifting away from the private and on to the career side of things, I am going to ruminate today on the uses of history in writing.  This is where I prove just how dangerous an author's mind can be as, since my boyfriend is very interested in WW2 films, I have recently been calculating how a certain power of that time would have been able to win the war.  Granted it would have needed to have a leader that was actually half way rational and not as evil as they come.  Or actually had a brain full stop.

Don't get me wrong, I am damn glad that the Nazis got their butts handed them on a plate but at the same time, as a writer, watching 'The Battle of Britain', I can't help but part of me wanting to smack myself on the forehead and yell 'Did you have Scheiße for brains?' at Goering.  The blitz of London was, without a doubt one of the biggest blunders of Hitler's tactics.  The bombing of civilians only gets you hated and rallies them behind their armed forces and their leaders.

As I said this is where I prove just how dangerous an author's mind can be.

If I'd been the one coming up with the tactics for grinding down Britain, I'd have divided my air force into three parts.  The first quarter would have headed to London but only one in three of those bombs would have been filled with explosives.  The other two out of three would have had detonators but would have been weighed with sand, which minimalises civilian casualties while causing mass disruption, effectively bringing the capital to a halt with the signs 'Unexploded Bomb'.  It as so saves me resources that can be used for something else.

That quarter would be the decoy, to draw the RAF away from the south coast.  My next wave of planes would be about a fifth of my force and would be targeted at the radar stations along the south coast.  I'd want them and the pylons brought down, effectively blinding my foe.

The last part would be everything else that I had left at my disposal and they would be headed for the air fields in three waves so while the third wave was busy destroying the air fields the first would be landing and refuelling, ready to take off again, with the survivors of the first two parts joining them as they made it home.

That would effectively create a rolling barrage to destroy the air fields so effectively that the RAF wouldn't recover, giving me control of the skies.

As I said, I'm damn glad that the Nazis didn't win but at the same time I can use their blunders to form the road map, if you will, to creating a truly terrifying villain.

The other thing is that I wouldn't have the Holocaust.  Besides being the biggest mass murder in history and totally sickening, it was also a total waste of man power.

Every society has its unwanted caste, come to think of it, we have two in modern Britain, one is called 'immigrants', the other is 'disabled'.  In modern Britain they are treated with scorn and suspicion, effectively ostracised within their own communities because of what is published in the press.  Is it so big a step from that to segregating the 'unwanted'?

However, I would not have them killed.  That is not only morally wrong but also is a waste.  There are always jobs that not only unwanted but also highly dangerous.  Things like attaching the detonator to the explosive inside a bomb.  Get that wrong and you'll be over there, over there and up there.

So instead of killing your unwanted, set them to work.  Give them basic housing, food, sanitation and set them to work in the war factories and if you want them to be afraid, then sent off the rumours of the place where it is 'worse than this, a lot worse'.  One thing school taught me was that fear of the unknown is the greatest tool in the hands of the powerful.  I was always more afraid the longer they left me alone because I didn't know what they were saving up for so let the rumours circulate and they will grow on their own.

You could ever set it that the families are segregated, except on two days a week, and then sort the people into squads; those squads that do well get to see their families.  In fact, the thing with squadding your workers is that you can then impose squad punishments.  Once you start getting visitations of 'the Holy Ghost' you know your work is done; you no longer have to make whips, they are building their own whips in their minds.

A little explanation.  'The Holy Ghost' is a slang term referring to when a member of a squad has, through their misbehaviour or mistakes, earned their squad a group punishment.  When their squad is asked the next day, who beat their unfortunate comrade up in the night, the cooperative reply is 'The Holy Ghost!'

So there you have it, why authors are so damn dangerous.  We see the mistakes of both sides and start working out how to correct them.  That does not mean you agree with the ideals of both sides, believe you me, I do not agree with anything the Nazis did or believed but you can use it, as a writer, to make you heroes more heroic and your villains even more terrifying.

So go on, pick your favourite war, do your research and then change the out come.  If nothing else it would be interesting to have a book where the villain has more brains than your average homicidals manic.