Defining Their Own Patriotism

In 1976, Drew Middleton, military correspondent of the New York Times, was given an official Chinese government tour of militia posts in the provinces closest to Soviet Russia. In one village, a local militiaman led him through a series of tunnels to the main defence post, overlooking the village pig-pen. The visitor was told knowingly that when the Russians came for the pigs they would be shot down easily.' What Middleton saw in this Chinese village was a highly localized expression of patriotism; all previous invaders had come for the village's pigs and the local militia would defend their homes and wealth as they had always done. That the pig-pen defence post was part of the official tour also said much about the central defence policies of the Chinese army. More realistic tactical planning for invasion would obviously eschew any fixed positions let alone a pig-pen and concentrate on withdrawal for guerrilla action. But here, local militia eccentricity was being encouraged since, at the very least, the villagers were preparing to defend their village, their enemies were identified, and their preparations fit very well into the ideology of a Maoist 'people's army'. In short, the local and central definitions of patriotism had come to a certain, if unstrategic, accommodation. In Britain in late 1914 there was as vital a call upon patriotism. The results of the national response to the outbreak of 'the war to end all wars' are well known. Without the spur of the complex and comprehensive national military service systems common on the continent, hundreds of thousands of Britons considered it their duty to enlist in the non-conscript, new 'Kitchener armies', while hosts of others took it upon themselves to train as nurses, collect funds for war relief, bestow on men slow to enlist the sign of the white feather, refuse to be served by a foreign-sounding waiter, and give up alcohol

Archaeology · Artillery · Citizen journalism · Government (linguistics · Ideology · Patriotism · Political science · Politics · Visitor pattern · History · Law · Military History and Strategy · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact

• The Cotton Industry and the British War Effort, 1914-1918

  Open Access•John Singleton•The Economic History Review•1994

  Add to list

• The Duel of the Giants

  Alvin Z Rubinstein, Drew Middleton•The Russian Review•1979

  Add to list