She fooled us all.

[arsenal]

I do agree that Japan looked at the BE as a workable model but they could just have easily picked any empire from history. It was British help and technology that allowed Japan to start producing aircraft carriers. I think we would have allowed them to take Manchuria and territory as far west as Mongolia if only to hem in the Soviets.

[sglad]

Use your life to experience, visit and learn about the world sglad. These are the years that shape your thinking, not what you are taught.

Thanks for the advice, FH. My grandpa gave me similar advice before my first solo trip after my A levels six years ago. Being the pithy guy that he is he told me to enjoy, live and learn and handed me $200! I think travel and life experience complement and enhance what we've been taught as what we're taught and experiential learning need not be exclusive. After all, good teaching is borne out of experience and lessons learned elsewhere. As you'd agree, education has changed a lot over the years and my elders are as eager to learn from the people of my generation as we are from them. They do not lecture or talk down to us. In that regard, I hope to continue to learn and be flexible in my thinking till I die, not just in my youth. I would also like to share what I've learnt with others and shall try to do so without being pedantic or assuming that other people are interested in what I have to say - skills which require a lot of sensitivity!

[latintopxxx]

difficult to believe that leftie loonies really think that everyone sat in circles holding hands singing kumbaya my lord....before the evil white man showed up and proceeded to slaughter them.
Anyone heard of shaka zulu??? He was as black as can be...still had no problem conquering the neighbouring tribes for hundreds of kilometers.
what about the mongols...
as for the aztecs...didnt they too conquer neigbouring tribes..
Or the maoris...fierce warriors with a spot of canabalism thrown in...
But noooooo....its all the white mans fault..
And as for the poor palestininans...sob..sob...sob...they already have a land...its called Jordan...like hello.
I reckon the Jews should charge them 2000 years back rent....

[fountainhall]

Fountainhall: Your answers are becoming less and less about engaging and more about writing mini lectures. Japan produced the finest army ever assembled and swept through Asia taking Singapore with 80000 Empire troops in a week with less than half that number. So without the British as well as Aus, NZ, Canada etc troops they would have conquered almost unlimited territory and Nanking would have been repeated again and again. So not wrong. And you must know how hated the Japanese are throughout Asia as well as other countries because of their behaviour in WW II.

You know writing long responses is nothing new. I do so because some comments are made with no backing. I try to back up comments with fact. Unfortunately, you again make general statements that are not backed up by the full facts.

1. Japan had the finest army ever assembled? Doubtful. Prior to WWII the Soviet Union and the French were regarded as having the most efficient armed forces, each outnumbering Germany in manpower, tanks, planes etc. The Soviets had the largest, and was eventually to prove its metal. But of course that does not equate to finest. And the French collapsed in weeks and the Soviets nearly collapsed before showing their metal.

2. You base your claim on the ease with which it conquered East Asia. Purely on the basis of speed, that has to be true. The Japanese planning had also been extremely good. But you can in no way compare that conquest with what was going on in Europe and the way the all-powerful German kriegsmaschine was knocking out all before it. Look at who the Japanese were up against. The French in Indo-China? Nope! After the defeat of France control was ceded to the pro-Nazi Vichy government. Hanoi and Saigon were actually handed over to the Japanese in 1940, followed by the whole of Indo-China in mid-1941. Resistance by the end of 1941 was minimal. That left the British colonial outposts of Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore along with the Dutch in Indonesia. In Europe, the Dutch had also fallen to the Germans. By the time the Japanese reached the archipelago, it was an ally of the Germans and the Dutch had precious little ability to fight anywhere in Indonesia.

As for the British, they remained unconquered in Europe but were fighting for their very existence back home. In Malaya and Singapore the British and its allies were better able to fight, but they were not prepared, did not have full armies and their air equipment was very outdated compared to the Japanese. It was nothing like what they had in Europe. So, yes the Japanese conquered with relative ease and were aided by the secrecy with which they had planned their attacks. Had the British Isles been so poorly defended, though, Hitler would almost certainly have overrun it in weeks with similar ease.

I have omitted The Philippines because I just do not know enough about the American forces there. I'll therefore concede that country!!

The real judge of the quality of the Japanese armed forces surely has to be how the US was able to beat it back to its homeland, a tough, hard-fought affair - not on the ease with which it swept through the poorly defended and unprepared East Asia.

[arsenal]

We'll agree to disagree shall we Fountainhall. But as you partly pointed out. It took the US, Britain, China and quite a few others to defeat Japan.

[fountainhall]

Yes to both.

[billyhouston]

It took the US, Britain, China and quite a few others to defeat Japan.

Please don't forget the Myanmar ethnics, in particular the Kachin and the Shan, who fought alongside the Allies while the Burmese, under Bogyoke Aung San and his Takins, trained in Japan and fought for the Japanese until things did not exactly go in their favour. While I realise that in 1947 Atlee and his government had more pressing things on their agenda, like keeping the UK fed and warm, we British nevertheless betrayed the ethnics, especially the Karen.

[arsenal]

Billyhouston: I did mention "quite a few others."

[billyhouston]

Indeed you did mention 'quite a few others', but I was trying to get things back on track to your original post.

I am not an historian but have taken a particular interest in the history of Rohingya, even though my main interest is in the history of other ethnics in Myanmar. It is claimed that they are 'recent immigrants from Bengal' and, while it is true that they originated in Bengal, I don't regard the early part of the 17th century as 'recent'. The Arakanese used to go into what is now Bengal on slaving expeditions, to exploit the skill of the 'Bengalis' as weavers. Later on these Arakanese found it lucrative to supply 'Bengali' slaves to the VOC (Dutch East India Company) for its plantations in Batavia.

I have been a frequent visitor to Myanmar for more than 15 years, but I have yet to meet a single citizen who has a good word to say about the Rohingya. This saddens me greatly as my ethnic friends, in particular, have suffered greatly at the hands of the Tatmadaw and yet, they depise the Rohingya. I believe that they have fallen for the propaganda of Ne Win who, seeking to 'unify' the country decided upon a common enemy around whom the rest could unite.

I take every opportunity to engage with Myanmar Buddhist monks, on both sides of the border, and discuss with them U Wirathu and Ma Ba Tha. To a man, they refuse to condemn either of these and it makes my blood boil. Recently up at Loi Tai Lang (alternative Loi/Doi and Leng/Lang) I took on a couple of Buddhist Abbots on this subject; they simply did not want to hear about the Rohingya and did not wish to read the academic papers which I offered to provide. On the other hand they wanted me to make available to them papers on the history of other ethnics. They were themselves Shan, but their attitude shames them and me.

Aung San Suu Kyi, of whom I am not a fan, has been reminded several times by her fellow Nobel Laureate the Dalai Lama, the last time very publicly, of her duty to the Rohingya but she has utterly failed to do anything to protect them. She knows that it would be electoral suicide for reasons explained above. Than Shwe kept her locked up for 20 years and couldn't silence her, but allow her to become an MP and, all of a sudden, power is more important than what is right. He must be laughing his socks off since, I have every reason to believe, he continues to pull the strings.....

Then there is the small matter of what is going on in Kachin and Northern Shan. The Tatmadaw is intent on genocide/ethnic cleansing in Kachin. This is another subject upon which Aung San Suu Kyi refuses, in general, to comment. When really pressed, in the United States, all she would say about Kachin was that "both sides should stop fighting". I am sure the Kachin would love to, but they need to defend themselves. It's no use her saying that she cannot control the Army; her duty is to speak up.

[werner]

This is an interesting and important discussion? BUT HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO "GAY THAILAND"???