Starting with the legendary Trojan War, history is filled with last stands that reveal not so virtuous decisions and that have ended in military and political disasters. Encouraged by thoughtless vanities and selfish ambitions, some last stands have even backfired bringing death and destruction to the antagonists and perpetrators. Like the Trojan War, which many historians and archaeologists are discovering is not that mythical after all, the recent invasion and occupation of Libya by NATO-U.S. forces-through Libyan rebels-may also prove to be more costly than potential gains. Even now as Libya's interim government and its military forces, backed by NATO-U.S. armed advisors and war planes of course, are pounding and leveling Muammar Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, it might be prudent to recall some other last stands that backfired.
When Athens attempted to expand its democratic greatness and empire, it triggered a civil war with Sparta and its allies. After years of conflict, it was the Athenians who were forced to make a last stand in their city's fortifications. Crowded conditions and poor sanitation produced an epidemic that ravaged Athens for two years, killing over thirty-thousand Athenians and ending Athenian greatness. Years later, Alexander the Great forged an enormous empire across three continents. The rapid collapse of his opponents only fired his military ambitions. Instead of governing and constructing new roads and harbors, Alexander conquered more territories. Back home in Greece he was besieged by unpopularity. His troops overwhelmed him with low morale and in India Alexander suffered his first defeat. He also died due to wounds and sickness.
When Pope Gregory VII tried exerting his influence over Roman Emperor Henry IV, Pope Gregory quickly found him and his city, Rome, under siege. He requested military aid from the Norman army and their Muslim allies. But after liberating Rome, Pope Gregory's allies pillaged the city and massacred thousands. Thousands more were enslaved. The great Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan was not satisfied with merely ruling over much of Asia and China. He became a victim of his military dreams when he attempted to invade and occupy Japan. After occupying several Japanese islands and suffering from epidemics, a typhoon ravaged Kublai Kahn's naval armada destroying hundreds of ships and killing thousands of warriors. One account claimed that the bodies of broken men and broken tempers were heaped together in a sold mass like an island.
Another disastrous naval invasion backfired when Spain attempted to crush Protestantism in England. King Philip's "Invincible Armada" found itself making a desperate last stand against faster English warships, lack of foresight and supplies, and unkind winds. For two weeks, storms battered what was left of King Philip's 130 Spanish warships. Thousands of sailors and infantrymen drowned or froze to death on the ill-fated "Invincible Armada." On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States invaded and occupied the Dakotas for its mineral resources and lumber. Since it was already home to the Sioux Nation, U.S. troops were soon besieged by Sioux warriors and their allies. Captain William Fetterman, who had little respect for Indian warfare, found himself making a last stand against Red Cloud and his forces. Fetterman and all of his troops were killed.
Fetterman's last stand was not the only humiliating defeat for the U.S., especially since it was forced to retreat from the Dakotas and its forts burned to the ground. The decision to force Chief Sitting Bull and Chief Red Horse into making a last stand at the Little Bighorn backfired against U.S. army commander George Custer. Custer's reckless, bigoted, cruel, and blundering campaign against the freedom loving Plains Indians led to his death and the decimation of the 7th Cavalry. Not only were hundreds of U.S. soldiers killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn, but this shameful defeat and military disaster would lead to one of the most vengeful and horrendous war crimes. At Wounded Knee, U.S. soldiers surrounded and then opened fire killing 300 Sioux, Arapaho and Cheyenne. Many of those buried in mass graves were women and children and were only wanting to revive their culture.
When Adolf Hitler invaded Russia and sent one million German troops to Stalingrad for its oil and agriculture, hoping to force Russian troops to make a last stand, the Russians succeeded in fighting a war of attrition. After months of freezing temperatures and starvation, ninety-thousand German troops surrendered. Over three-hundred thousand had been killed. Not to be outdone, the U.S. forced Japan to make a last ditch effort at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The "rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth" caused enormous deaths for Japan. But it would kill millions more as nations spent vast amounts of resources on nuclear arsenals. More recently, the U.S. invasions and military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, along with Saddam Hussein's and Osama bin Laden's last stands, have cost millions of lives and bankrupted the U.S.
It appears that NATO-US. military forces and Libyan rebels might too be suffering a backlash from forcing Gaddafi to make a last stand. Fighter jets, tanks, snipers, and military chaos have created thousands of civilian casualties and refugees. Like other "last stand" cities, reports of executions, hostage-taking, torture, rape, and targeting and killing certain families and ethnicities are coming out of Sirte. As the "rain of ruin from the air" produces fear and death, there are heated and contentious debates about post-Gaddafi leadership and who will pillage and plunder Libya's mineral resources. There are also other questions, such as rebuilding efforts and if Gaddafi loyalists will continue to stage attacks. As for Africa and its future, was the NATO-U.S. military occupation of Libya an attempt to stop decolonization and what role will the African Union now play?
As more and more mosques, churches and schools in Libya are turned into makeshift field hospitals to treat the wounded and dying, Europe and U.S. leaders are finding their own nations experiencing an increase in poverty and unaffordable healthcare. Still, funding NATO-U.S. militarism is exhausting other important social needs, like education, housing, job training and rebuilding infrastructures. History reveals that last stand narratives are unpredictable, specifically when aggressive rulers are more interested in conquering than governing. Fatal consequences can await the perpetrators, or those forcing others to make last stands, by backfiring and becoming prolonged and costly. Thucydides was most accurate when he wrote how survivors of Athens plague lost use of their fingers, toes, and eyes, and suffered utter amnesia.
The worst kind of amnesia is historical, or when nations and empires and their rulers are unable to recall those infamous last stands from the past.
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)
Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2011/09/26/Libya_and_About_Those_Last_Stands/
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