On the Naming of Wars: History is Written by the Victors

Many have remarked how after the Allied victory in 1945 the Nuremburg war crimes trials rightly tried Nazis, but not the Allies, who had bombed and murdered 500,000 German civilians. For history is written by the victors. In the same way the Western world names the wars it starts and wins in a way that does not reflect reality. Thus the two ‘World Wars’ were essentially Western Wars and should be called such. The fact that colonial troops were dragged into them as cannon fodder does not mean that those colonies started those wars and, as for Japan, it was essentially a Westernized country.

For example, in the case of Great Britain, which has invaded most of the world’s countries (exceptions include Luxembourg, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein and the Marshall Islands), we have many examples of deliberately misnamed wars: the so-called ‘India Mutiny’ which was in fact the First Indian War of Independence, or the so-called ‘Boer War’ which was the British Genocide in South Africa in order to steal gold and diamonds. In Vietnam the Wars against foreign invaders from the 1940s to the 1970s are rightly called, respectively, the French War and the American War. Today the United States refers to its wars and battles against the CIA-founded and funded Al-Qaida, Taliban and others as ‘The Global War on Terror’, which is in fact ‘The Global War of Terror’.

Even wars named after the two main combatants are misnamed, as the order in which the combatants is named is significant of bias. For example the ‘Mexican-American War’ was in fact the American-Mexican War, the ‘Spanish-American War’ was the American-Spanish War, the ‘Franco-Prussian War’ was the Prussian-French War and the ‘Russo-Japanese War’ was the Japano-Russian War, for the first countries were the aggressors. Wars named after locations also often hide the reality of aggression. For instance: the Crimean War was the Western-Ottoman Invasion of Russia, the Korean War was the American Genocide in Korea and the Gulf War or ‘Operation Desert Storm’ was the Western Genocide in Iraq or the Oil Grab War.

We should also be careful of words added to a nation’s name or location to describe a war, such as rebellion, insurrection, revolt, mutiny, revolution, uprising, intervention, coup, troubles and border. Examples include the Philippine Insurrection, in fact The Philippine War of Freedom, the Boxer Rebellion, The Chinese War of Independence, and the Russian Revolution, in fact the British-orchestrated Palace Treason of power-grabbing and treasonous Westernized oligarchs (who closely resembled the spoilt Decembrist aristocrat rebels of 1825, except that the latter fortunately failed). A more recent example is ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, in reality an Irish War of Independence against British Establishment tyranny.

Some wars do have names in certain places that reflect reality: so the American colonial conflicts are correctly known in the ex-British colonies as Queen Anne’s War and King William’s War. This is also true of wars with nicknames. Thus, the American Civil War is sometimes referred to as ‘Mr. Lincoln’s War’, as well as ‘The War of Northern Aggression’, while American participation in World War One is sometimes called ‘Mr. Wilson’s War’, after President Wilson. However, these are the exceptions.

What we need is history to be written truthfully, not by the victors, not by the losers, but by those who love the truth. This is the history that will one day be written – at the Last Judgement. Then we shall see that many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first. Then it will be seen that it is not always good to be a victor.