>Hi Jos,
>
>SNIP
>
>>History is truly written by the victors. Or even better by George Orwell in 1984 "Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past".
>
>And in some cases, rewritten. :o) The Soviet Union is a perfect example. Our own textbooks in American schools is another good example. When it comes to American History you often read a different version of depending on if you went to school in the North or the South! Historians are attempting to remedy that now but not all schools have the funds for the updated textbooks. That is assuming of course that the historians that corrected the textbooks are correct!

Hi Tracy, you are quite right. The lesson for me is to be wary of hard and fast "factual" quoting of any version of any side of any history. In all but the most simple cases it's always ambiguous.

I once had a very good jewish friend and a very good arab friend who could drown you in "well documented" and "factual" arguments why their view was the correct view. If only life were so simple we could resolve all conflicts by simply presenting the "un-arguable historical facts" for rewiew at an independent authority. In most of these types of conflict they are both right, both wrong, and so long as each holds fast to their version the conflicts will continue.

But hey, as long as the politicians have their jobs and their spin meisters.... Oh wait, I already ended a post with that line ;)