The King Whisperers by Kerwin Swint

Author:Kerwin Swint
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Union Square Press
Published: 2011-01-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

THE REBELS

We’ve looked at the generals—now we’ll examine the other side of the coin, the rebels. In most cases, the generals were acting to preserve the political status quo (think Stilicho), or expanding borders and territories (Charles Martel and Hideki Tojo, among them). The rebels, however, were likely to be more interested in the total transformation of their political systems. The generals often came from military backgrounds and traditions, with the idea of national service firmly fixed in their minds. Nation-building, military conquest, and imperialism were often their main goals. But the rebels were more likely to come from civilian life and tended to be motivated by ideals and philosophies. For example, two of the rebels examined in this chapter were Marxists, while the others were drawn to internationalism and civil reform.

One of the common threads binding the rebels together is that their political beliefs and worldviews were shaped largely by threats of foreign domination. The constant threat, or reality, of foreign power—either from France, Britain, Japan, or the United States—informed their development in ways that led them to fight for dramatic political and social change. Equally important, the rebels were usually fighting against regimes that were either autocratic and repressive or too incompetent and inflexible to handle the threats of an increasingly dangerous international system.

Modernization is also a theme prevalent among many rebels. Whereas the generals often represented tradition, a preference for institutions, and resistance to change, the rebels wanted to tear down tradition and institute more modern ways of thinking and acting. This often necessitated a dramatic departure from the past and the accepted ways of doing things in order to survive and thrive in a new international order. The rebels, therefore, were more likely to be influenced by what was occurring in other countries and political systems, and were more open to seeking change.

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