Figure 1.-- The German invasiomn of neutral Belgium lanching World War I. The Germans felt that the refugees and their brutal occupation was not aigificant matter, meaning impacting military operations. It would, however, fundamentally change how Americans viewed the Germans. And it would be American entry in the War that would deisively change the balance of power in Europe and change it three times. The Belgian tragedy proved more important than the many battles the German Arny won.

Refugeees have been a terrible human crisis throughout history. We see it in Bliblical story, but most ancient refugees did not leave a written record. For the most part it has been a personal and humanitarian tragedy, but not a circumstance that has had a major impact on history. It was something that was generally ignored by political or military leaders as inconsequential, but there are exceptions to this general rule. Some refugees have actually had a major impact on world history. There are not a lot of instances of this, but there are very important examples impacting some of the most important devlopments in Western history. Outside of Europe and America refugees have had little or not impact. This tells you somethig about the West. We note scholarly refugeees from Byzantium fleeing the Ottoman Turks bringing ancient classical texts to the West that played an important role in fueling the Renaissance (14th-15th century). We note French Hugenought refugees fleeing the French Catholic suppresion of Protestants (17th century). France loss some of its best minds and perhaps most importantly, finest naval talent. After this France was never competive at sea in its many wars with Britain. The English monrchy's attempt to suppress non-coformists Protestant scects, drove the Pilgrims and other non-conformists to America (1620), fundamentally influencing the character of what would become the United States. France, Portugal, and Spain suceeded in keeping non-coformidsts (Protestants and Jews) out. The same English monarchy attempted to supress the Pilgrims also suppressed the Scotts-Irish creating a fervently anti-English group that would play aey role in the Revolution. The Russians drove out huge numbers of Jews (late-19th and early 20th century). This enriched the American immigrant community providing large numbrs of energetic and talentd people. And to cap this off Hitler drove out German Jews (1930s). These refugees included some of the most talented and educated refugees in history. And has Max Planck warned Hitler, he was disarming Germany in nuclear physics. German brutality in Belgium during World war I set large numbers of refugees in motion (1914). The Germans thought it was a matter of little importance. In fact in completely changed the image of the German nation from a modern progressive state, to a brutal, lawless nation. Although it itself dis not bring America into the World War I, it create a public relations climate that would make American entry possible. And that would fundamentally change the balance of power in Europe, preventing what would have been German dominated Europe. Jewish refugees after World War II created the state of Israel (1948). While the creation of Israel that created Israel. It was the Middle Eastern Jews driven out by each Arab country (1950s) that led to Israel's success and ability to resist repeated attacks by much larger Arab armies.

Created: 7:41 AM 11/25/2016
Last updated: 7:41 AM 11/25/2016