From: Norman Bassett, [EMAIL PROTECTED] The connection people make between the October 1917 Russian Revolution and the Blackwell Report is not the full story. The fuller story is that the Czar and his Government's disregard for the 2 million Russian casualties on the Eastern Front during the Great European War was the trigger for the October 1917 Russian Revolution. The British government's anxieties in 1917 came from the response of the British Army and people to the casualties of 1917 on the Western Front. Specifically, at the time the Blackwell Report was commissioned the army and people were outraged about HOW the casualties had been produced - ie by Haigh's deliberate orders. It's the background to Haigh's orders in 1917 which is even more interesting. According to Winston Churchill in his government-suppressed book 'The Way of the World' the TWO backgrounds to the high war casualties were: a. King George V's 1917 orders to Haigh to cause high casualties to lessen pressure on the Germans on the Western Front b. the British government's refusal to consider anything but unconditional surrender by the Germans, which was the result of the Cabinet, senior military and senior Civil Service desire to keep receiving bribes from munitions contracts. After Churchill's book came out - about 1920 - the public's reaction to the casualties - which had originally been directed against Haigh and Lloyd George - was more accurately informed. In the years between 1917 and now, the truth has become a lot more clouded than it was at the time. There's no doubt that getting back copies of Hansard on the web would go a long way towards opening recent British history up. Regards Norman Bassett drakenfels.org -- There is certainly more to it than just the revolution - huge labour strikes, the Easter Uprising etc. all contributed to the paranoia that became the Firearms Act 1920. Steve. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
