Merciless Quotes
1000 Spanish prisoners of war were over a 4 day period beheaded. This infamous order has been a black mark on his general democratic and humane public life. Some apologists for his war crimes point out that the Spaniards were making an all-out assault on his revolutionary troops who were very badly outnumbered. It took many revolutionary solders to guard the prisoners and if Bolivar lost the upcoming battle, it would have been the end of his revolution and Spain might still be in control of much of South America. With the additional soldiers freed up from guard duty, Bolivar barely survived the battle and the Revolution was not crushed.
After the Russian Revolution he fought both the Whites and the Reds. He finally lost to the Reds and was banished. Both the Red and White armies went on pogroms and attacked Jews. The Whites were the worst and did so with the complicity of their officers by and large. The Reds, under Symon Petliura issued orders {617892} against pogroms but didn’t enforce it much. Makhno’s troops had some minor anti-Semitic activity but he disciplined them harshly. Specifically he had them shot. None the less, the few incidents were publicized by both the Reds and the Whites who were themselves engaged in the worst anti-Semitic behavior used their exaggeration as propaganda against Makhno and his army.
About 2000 Irish were slaughtered while Cromwell only lost 64. In the Irish Rebellion of 1641, many English Protestants—men, women and even children were massacred by Catholic rebels who were out of control of their leadership. See {639336} for an example. Cromwell, when he landed in Ireland with his troops, made no bones about the fact that he was there to avenge the massacres of 1641 {639283} . This was his first “payback”. 150 years later the Irish Protestants memorialize the massacres of the Rebellion of 1641. The Catholics, memorialize, the massacre at Drogheda. Each group uses these and other similar events to justify their positions of antagonism against the other. See {639282} for a moral analysis of Cromwell’s action here.
The prisoners were shot. Over a decade later, Fremont was running for the Presidency against Buchanan. This incident became public and hurt Fremont with many voters.
