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Not all the names that appear in the history books correspond to people with the power to change the course of events. That is not to say that in their time they were not influential, sometimes much to their regret.
The “martyred child”. In the rampant paranoia of Stalin’s time, 14-year-old Pavlik Morozov denounced his father as anti-revolutionary. Shortly after, he was found murdered, a crime for which his relatives were accused and which elevated the young man to the category of communist martyr. Today, however, the authorship of the crime is not at all clear, but what is certain is the propaganda operation of Stalinism.
Time well spent. At the end of the 18th century, Félix de Azara, an enlightened military man, zoologist, and cartographer, was assigned to Río de la Plata to establish the borders with the Portuguese authorities that controlled Brazil. They had no great interest in complying with an agreement that implied losing territory and they arrived with a slight delay of ten years. Azara took the opportunity to study, with unusual rigor, the species of the region. His work had a great influence on Darwin.
A musician with a bad bagpipe. Arturo Toscanini, the best conductor of his time, was also known for his bad character, as this recording shows, in which the kindest thing that comes out of his mouth is a “rompicoglioni” addressed to the musicians of he. He opposed power, first Mussolini – he was beaten up – and then Hitler. Another different form of opposition to power is found in the origin of hip-hop that was born 50 years ago in the Bronx; DJ Kool Herc was its pioneer.
Dora Maar’s suitcase. The photographer Dora Maar traveled to Barcelona in 1933 where she dedicated herself to photographing the marginalized of the Raval. The photos, testimony to the poverty of the time, were lost for decades and it was not until last year that they came to light and were acquired by the National Archive of Catalonia, which now exhibits them until July 20.
Anne Frank’s last birthday party. The story of Anne Frank does not stop throwing news, some of which have caused controversy in the past. Now My friend Anne Frank has just seen the light of day in the US, written by her playmate Hannah Pick-Goslar (1928-2022). This excerpt recounts the last normal birthday party of the teenager who died in the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945. Read in Time. (in English)
The long road to anesthesia. Around 1830, the Scottish surgeon Robert Liston was famous for the great speed at which he performed amputations, no less a merit if one takes into account that anesthesia had not yet been discovered at that time. This TED-Ed video (in English but with machine-translated subtitles) recounts the discovery—and mishaps—of this drug in the decades that followed. Medicine changed forever.
From Normandy to the Ukrainian front. The long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun and some analysts are looking for parallels in major battles from previous wars to try to anticipate its outcome. And these parallels are drawn these days around one of the great counter-offensives of the 20th century, the Normandy landings.
The professor of International Relations at the University of Chicago, Paul Poast, pointed out a few days ago what were the teachings of D-day and established some guidelines for an operation of these characteristics to be successful. Aspects such as the ability to deceive the adversary (which was already discussed in this newsletter last week), logistics, flexibility, artillery firepower and, furthermore, luck, are key. Forbes, on the other hand, focused on the problems that already occurred in Normandy and that may also occur now, related to the inexperience of some units and the heterogeneity of the army.
Another thing is how success is measured and when it can be said that the objectives have been achieved. Some analyzes pointed out a few days ago that, in wars like the one in Ukraine, the defense can hold its own for a long time so that the operation may appear to be failing. In France, these analysts point out, although the German defenses held firm for quite some time, they then collapsed in a matter of a few days. That could also happen now. Time to time.
