"10 Amazing Acts Of Defiance Throughout History"

[Belloc]

http://listverse.com/2014/04/02/10-amazing-acts-of-defiance-throughout-history/
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w522/mtjh45/EK_zps839173ce.jpg (http://s1328.photobucket.com/user/mtjh45/media/EK_zps839173ce.jpg.html)
Emil Kapaun is a personal hero of mine and may some day soon hopefully be the first man ever to have won the Medal of Honor and then also be declared a Catholic Saint.

[spr1]

I love number 2. "If"

[Moose-Knuckle]

Great read, thanks for posting Belloc. I have to agree with spr1, no surprise that the Spartans had such a response lol.

[3 AE]

Another excellent link Belloc. The list of ten represent the seriousness of the situations that surrounded each individual or group that expressed their defiance, but number 7 had me in stitches! The painting itself conjured up an image of members of this forum gathered around to compose a response to our very own Eric Holder after receiving a demand to turn in our guns. If you look closely, you can actually see many of our Mods depicted in the painting! IG, Sam, AC, JSantoro, and other senior members, along with LV, Costa, Haley, and many others, are there. Really!!! If you want a good laugh, here's the translation of the letter from the Sultan and the response by the Cossacks. It made my day.

It's at the upper right column on page 29.

http://home.uchicago.edu/~vfriedm/Articles/015Friedman78.pdf

As an American, I have a few of my own favorites.

1) Capt. John Paul Jones. His reply to the British Captain's demand to surrender. "I have not yet begun to fight."

2) General Anthony McAuliffe. His reply to the German Commander to surrender during the siege at Bastogne. "NUTS!"

3) Captain Lloyd W. Williams. His reply to a French officer advising him to withdraw during a battle at Belleau Wood. "Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"

[NWPilgrim]

Like the Cossack's diatribe of insults reply to the sultan!

Other greats acts of defiance:

- Travis and Bowie reply to Santa Anna's request for surrender with a canon shot from the Alamo.

- Wake Island defense so soon after Pearl Harbor was devastated. Handful of Marines and CBs(?) refuse to surrender.

- Veterans who overthrew the town police, sheriff and politicians for corruption in TN (?)

- The destroyer Johnston and escort Samuel Roberts in TF Taffy repeated point blank attacks on Japanese battleships and heavy cruiser task force and eventually prevail even though most of their superstructure was blown away.

- 10 torpedo bombers of VT-8 that valiantly launch a doomed and unsuccessful attack on the most powerful Japanese task Force of three carriers. But, they bought American carriers time to launch planes and confused the Japanese admiral. Midway became the turning point if WWII in the Pacific.

- the entire country of Finland against the Soviets in WWII.

- Mahatma Ghandi's peaceful civil disobedience. Willing to suffer beatings and prison rather than strike back with violence and eventually shamed the British to relinquish political control of the gem of their empire.

[jaxman7]

- the entire country of Finland against the Soviets in WWII.
.

Oh yeah. The Finns put up a FEROCIOUS response to Stalin.

Another WW2 moment of defiance I would say is the last assassination attempt of Hitler (depending on if you don't count Albert Speer's possible plot as the last) by Claus Von Stauffenberg, General Tresko and others. There was widespread contempt for Hitler amongst many a German leaders late in the war yet his power and influence remained ominpresent til the day he cowardly committed suicide. Those men who tried (and came ridiculously close) to killing him, and implement Operation Valkyrie will always be heroes to me.

-Jax

[Eurodriver]

One of my favorite acts are those of Jeremiah Denton. He just passed away last week.


Denton is best known from this period of his life for the 1966 televised press conference in which he was forced to participate in as an American POW by his North Vietnamese captors. He used the opportunity to communicate successfully and to confirm for the first time to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence and Americans that American POWs were being tortured in North Vietnam. He repeatedly blinked his eyes in Morse code during the interview, spelling out the word, "T-O-R-T-U-R-E". He was also questioned about his support for the U.S. war in Vietnam, to which he replied: "I don't know what is happening, but whatever the position of my government is, I support it fully. Whatever the position of my government, I believe in it, yes sir. I am a member of that government, and it is my job to support it, and I will as long as I live."[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Denton



- Mahatma Ghandi's peaceful civil disobedience. Willing to suffer beatings and prison rather than strike back with violence and eventually shamed the British to relinquish political control of the gem of their empire.

There are many historians and students of Ghandi's methods that are in agreement that if Ghandi had resorted to violence he would have saved the lives of thousands and gained Independence sooner; India also would be doing much better than it is currently because of a cleaner "break" with Britain.

I used to feel the way you do. As I did more research and as more time passes Ghandi's methods look more "stupid" than "heroic".

[Safetyhit]

As someone who has been fascinated with and studied the Second World War since I was a very young child, just now seeing the photo of August Landmesser and hearing of his incredibly brave stance for the first time makes me wonder how and why he has remained so obscure. Even with two daughters in addition to his wife to lose he didn't cave to the pending evil. Words really can't describe his bravery and nobility.

Good find Belloc. NWPilgrim and 3AE too, superb additions. Goes to show how much the right men and women in the right places at the right times have done for us over the years. Lest we forget, as whether or not they were obscure or overt they were beyond brave.

*Although they should have just shot Napoleon.

[NWPilgrim]

Bible is also full of martyrs defying persecution of faith:
- seven Maccabee sons tortured one by one and defiant

- three young men companions of Daniel refuse to renounce and thrown in super heated oven

- John the Baptist rebuking Herod for incest marriage

- St Lawrence refusing to give ceasar the Christian charity collections and being roasted

And countless other martyrs around the world for the last 2,000 years

[Moose-Knuckle]

Along the lines of great Americans an acts of defiance, we cannot leave out USMC Lt. Gen. Chesty Puller. He had some gems at Chosin during the Korean War!