Customer Reviews

1917: Red Banners, White Mantle

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

1917 was the year the USA entered WWI, the year of the Communist revolution, and the year of Our Lady of Fatima. This book ties these three stories together with fascinating accounts and riveting anecdotes. Read about the year's great leaders and their attempts to re-shape the world, while all along, in a peaceful village in Portugal, the Queen of Heaven had the formula for peace. The book is a must for anyone studying WWI and the Communist revolution. First rate Catholic history.

So many separate events --- the First World War, the ascension of Emperor Charles of Austria, the failure of his peace plan, the reign of Czar Nicholas of Russia, the shenanigans of Rasputin, the collapse of Russia's first revolutionary government and the rise of Lenin --- all these are tied together to show that God really is in control. The appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Portugal in that fateful year of 1917 brings it all home. I have long been fascinated by the events of the Russian Revolution, but until I read this book I had only a vague notion of the pattern, the proof, that these were not just random events happening without reason. Human beings brought about the terrible First World War, and all the tragedies and disasters that led to Russia's fall to Communism. But God has managed to let all things work for good, ultimately. This is a fascinating and educational book. Enjoy it!

Warren Carroll has written another enthralling history. I looked forward to reading his unique approach to this period in history where he ties the apparitions at Fatima in with the revolution in Russia. Mr Carroll dovetails the two events nicely and gives a full view of the two events. His detailed knowledge of history is very impressive and I have learned things about the revolution that I hadn't known before reading this book. It is quite inspirational to see the juxtaposition of the two events, especially since Our Lady specifically mentions Russia in her message. I had always wondered what precisely was happening in Russia at the time of the apparitions. Mr Carroll has done a wonderful job.

From start to finish, this short work of Warren Carroll is filled with distortions, fabrications, and deceptions. Carroll begins his litany of lies by demeaning the great General Sir William Robertson, one of the only soldiers in the history of the British army to have risen from the lowliest of enlisted ranks to flag rank. Unfortunately, knowing Carroll, we know exatly why he would choose to demean Robertson. The man was good and true, a credit to his profession, all things which Carroll, unfortunately, is not. But more importantly, it was Robertson who courageously and dutifully inveighed against the distraction of the Palestine campaign, so dear to Carroll's heart, that very nearly lost the war for the Entente. Robertson said prophetically,

"We cannot win the war in Palestine. But we still can lose it in Europe."

Carroll then proceeds to completely misportray the condition of Holy Russia in the era of the period leading up to World War I. In fact, Holy Russia then produced 67 percent of the world's rye, 31 percent of wheat, 30 percent of oats, and nearly half of the world's production of barley. This was produced by an economy that was almost completely decentralized, an inconvenient fact that Carroll's so called research seems to have missed.

From this foundation, Carroll then proceeds to the hero of his account, Lenin. It is absolutely astonishing how this so called Catholic author lavishes encomiums on this bloody mass murderer. If we had not read Carroll's other comic book versions of history, we would not have believed that a person who would style himself an historian would record such nonsense. But, there it is.

Almost as astounding as Carroll's portrayal of Lenin is his ahistorical depiction of Woodrow Wilson. Carroll actually has the audacity to assert that Wilson operated essentially without advisors, when any third year history undergraduate knows that Wilson did virtually nothing without the advise of Edward Mandell House, whom Wilson styled his "alter ego". Carroll must actually assume that those who read his books read nothing else. This, of course, is an absurd assumption, which can only lead to the type of absurdity that Carroll herein renders.

Carroll's concluding chapter, devoted to his hero, Lenin, hints at the possibility that Stalin may have been responsible for secretly poisoning Lenin. Mind you, there is not a shred of evidence for this accusation. But, it does make for a good comic book. Carroll completely leaves out any mention of the fact that Lenin in fact died of syphilis. See, this wouldn't make good reading for Carroll's legion of misled fans.

Previously, we alluded to a point that requires further elaboration. Policed out of Carroll's account is any mention of events in Palestine, Britain, and the United States in 1917 concerning the status of Palestine and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann. Carroll makes much of the triumph of Lenin's revolutionaries in Holy Russia. He intentionally disregards the simultaneous triumph of Weizmann and his Zionist collaborators that manifested in the Balfour Declaration the same week as the communist takeover. Indeed, 1917 represented a cosmic conflict. What Carroll chooses to shield his readers from is the anti-Christian nature of the bicephalous monster of Zionism and communism. This is worse than incompetence. It is outright deception.

A caution to those who seek the truth. It is not be found here, or in any of the works of this author. We have found it absolutely required in reading the periods of history that Carroll covers to consult more reliable texts. One good note can be offered relative to this otherwise stunningly inaccurate volume. His account of the Fatima miracle is at least consistent with that of respected Catholic author William Thomas Walsh. Other than that, this book is pretty much worthless in terms of historical truth.