-SM Stirling, Under The Yoke (New York, 1989), p. 210.
Is anything worse than Nazis? In fiction at least, yes. I am reading Volume II of SM Stirling's Draka Tetralogy. The self-styled "Race" has not industrialized genocide but only because it has not yet wanted to. Anyone who resists enslavement is killed painfully as a matter of policy. Conquered France is renamed "'...the Province of Burgundia, under the Domination...'" (p. 19)
"...such education as there was in the Domination was in English only; writing in other tongues was forbidden on pain of death." (p. 187)
To write in French or German is a capital offense! Displaced serfs of mixed nationalities will learn English as their lingua franca and French will become a dead language. We are grateful that our history did not take that course. Global warming is a lesser evil.
Apart from the fact that I want to see the Draka overthrown, I do not believe that such a regime can survive indefinitely - but what is to happen in the remaining volumes? In The Shield Of Time, Poul Anderson showed us timelines in which the Industrial Revolution never happened whereas Stirling instead shows us "'...the perfect Industrial Age empire.'" (p. 115)
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
As far as I'm concerned both the Nazis and Communists were equally evil and vile. And it was a disaster that the USSR survived WW II.
And Stirling was right, the Nazis both in our timeline/universe and in the Draka timeline, made the fatal mistake of biting off more than they could chew, of refusing to be patient and gradually build up the power of the Third Reich. I remember reading that the German General Staff had advised Hitler that Germany would not truly be ready for war till at least 1943. But Hitler refused to listen to counsels of caution and patience.
I remember the bit in UNDER THE YOKE about a conquered France becoming the Province of Burgundia in the Domination. I did wonder if "Burgundia" was all of France or only part of it.
And, yes, it was very shrewd of the Draka to mix in serfs who came from many different nationalities. In the end only Draka scholars would be able to read books in French, German, Italian, etc.
Unfortunately, I don't think tyrannies will always be short lived. That is one of the lessos Stirling is trying to teach us. The USSR lasted from 1917 till 1991, after all. And might have lasted much longer if it hadn't been so cruel and irrational.
Sean
The Communists had, I think, ONE point in their favor over the Nazis: they didn't JUSTIFY systematic mass murder ON RACIO-ETHNIC GROUNDS. Yes, Stalin and Mao killed millions, too, but I never heard of them trying to claim that the victims being Kyrgyz or Uighurs, say, was reason enough for their deaths.
One of the last things I read in *Marching Through Georgia* before I couldn't endure it anymore was a bit about processing Italians into serfs ... and how all clergy, and all educators AND THEIR FAMILIES were to be put to death -- except for those who were so young and pretty that it was worth keeping them as sexual slaves. The conquered weren't to be allowed any non-Draka education, or any religion save worship of their masters....
Hi, David!
Thanks for your comments! Respectfully, while I agree Lenin, Stalin, Mao, et al, didn't kill their millions of victims on grounds of "race" or ethnicity (aside from Stalin's hatred of Jews), their justification was their victims belonging to the wrong class, were "wreckers," had the wrong thoughts, etc. I don't see much difference, in practical terms, between the Communists and Nazis, as regards the reasons for killing so many people.
I do understand why you could not bring yourself to finish MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA and then reading its sequels, altho I'm a bit sorry about that. The Draka books were so horrifically fascinating that I could quickly go past the more gruesome bits.
Yes, I recall the bit about the Draka mercilessly eliminating the natural leaders of the Italians: clergy, educators, the Fascist administrators, etc. I would stipulate however that Christianity was so deeply embedded with the Italians that the Draka had to relent a wee bit and allow some semblance of a normal ecclesiastical systems to survive, even tho the bishops and priests had to endure supervision by the Security Directorate.
Sean
Both,
The Nazis industrialized genocide, which I think was an innovation.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I understand your point altho I'm not sure if it's wholly correct. After all, it was Lenin and Stalin, as demonstrated by Solzhenitsyn with ample quotes from original sources in the first volume of his THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO, who set up a nation wide system of concentration camps and prisons designed to eliminate "class enemies" and manage factories, logging camps, etc. But, yes, the Nazis did specialize in extermination of the Jews and other "subhuman" groups.
In practical terms, consequences, results I see no real difference between these two types of tyrants.
Sean
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