Sorry this was up so late everyone - I've had a lot of uni work to do and not a lot of motivation to do it so it was a bit of a struggle getting this done on time! A truly fascinating topic and would highly recommend watching the film (it's on Netflix). Let me know what you thought in the comments and tune in again next week on Friday for another video on ISIS in the Philippines!
"Beasts of No Nation does not specify in which country it takes place". it intentionally does that to symbolize that it could be any of a number of african countries.
I’m British but was born in Sierra Leone and here are a few facts that are incorrect - *The film title is “Beasts of No Nation”. *Independence Day from UK was 21 April 1961 NOT 1964 *The civil war in 1991 was mainly fought along the Liberian border and only affected the capital where I was in April 1992 when the Strasser’s military junta overthrew the government.
Fun fact: The actors in the movie are from Ghana (the country of origin or Idris Elba) and speak in twi but interestingly Ghana is one of the few countries in west Africa that has not experienced a long bloody civil war.
The movie fantastic but no movie can equally portray the evil we faced not even blood diamonds. Thank you for covering this, we don’t see much content about Sierra Leone on youtube. God bless Mama Salone
God, I listen to the Beasts of No Nation soundtrack daily, I was in the top 0,005% of Dan Romer's listeners. Please give it a listen, it's like nothing out there.
Thanks for this. My mum has some horror stories from the war that I know she hasn't and may not recover from. I had never decided to look up the war too much coz it was too close to home, but my family has suffered. Fallout from war does crazy things down the line. Everytime I recap, it adds another layer of something to my soul, isit a steely resolve or the weight of the history? I dunno
I’m assuming you know Idris Elba’s father was from Sierra Leone. Idris was given citizenship here in 2019. It’s a beautiful and I would recommend visiting 🇸🇱
Hey man I'm really loving all of these videos about modern and African history. Though the thing is you mainly focus on the nations that aren't doing too well so I was thinking that you could do a nation like Botswana to show that it's not all bad in Africa.
i think it might just be becuase for alot of people its more intreasting to learn about wars and such other then a peacful economy focused video. but idk
I read that book in the fifth grade and holy shit did it open my eyes to how fucked the world is at a very young age. Incredible book, incredible story, I would definitely recommend it as well.
"the system failed to help the people despite the fact that they had access to valuable resources" I get the feeling its the other way around. The system failed to help the people *because* they had access to valuable resources. As leaders, if the tools for power(money) can be won out of the ground, why put a lot of effort into having happy people? I got this hypothesis from "the dictator's handbook" which is a recommended read. CGP Grey has a youtube video called "rules for rulers" which is a 20 min summary of that book. Both can explain the concept far better than I can. oh and I like this African instability theme of the last series of videos. It's hard to get well-presented info on a lot of these conflicts.
A very astute way of looking at it! I suppose that goes well with the idea of the 'resource curse' and that those mineral-rich countries in Africa are also the least stable and prone to continuous civil wars.
@@historywithhilbert146 Thanks for the reply my fellow dutchman! After reading the dictator's handbook, I started noticing the patterns it lines out. It isn't right all the time, but I think it has a very solid logic to it that explains so much. The logic the writers put forward also deals with why revolutions rarely seem to make things better, how the same logic can be applied to more democratic countries, why some armies are so ineffective and why the results of aid are often disappointing. The audio book version is on youtube as well. (I think comments with links get deleted otherwise I'd link it here) Anyway, sorry for the rambling and keep up the good work!
Resources can be a liability if you cant utilize them properly and it really comes down to the leadership. Sweden and Norway turned their oil and minerals into vast wealth and one of the best countries to live in while Saudi arabia turned their oil into cast wealth for the leaders and oil in Sudan tore the country apart. China turned their greatest resource (vast cheap labor and a huge market) into a boon that India had a hard time doing despite having more natural resources and closer ties to western markets.
@@arthas640 Bird and Fortune in a routine where Bird plays an African dictator captured why this is so - spending the money on development and industrialisation would 'give the population too many ideas' and threaten the power of political elites who can rule over a country without being questioned. But it also depends on the motives of the dictator, as Soeharto presided over a resource rich, ethnically diverse country full of corruption and rent seeking yet presided over 30 years of continuous economic growth where industrialisation, agriculture improvements and resource extraction all occurred side by side.
I don't understand where this childish notion of UN peacekeepers comes from? They are not mercenaries they are humanitarian workers who carry rifles for mainly self defence and extreme situations. They are not deployed to fight in internal affairs they are there to help the civilians to get fresh water, food etc.
@@jupjup7845 From the peacekeepers themselves "Peacekeepers protect civilians, actively prevent conflict, reduce violence, strengthen security and empower national authorities to assume these responsibilities.". In almost every major case they either choose not to do this or are ordered not to. Preventing conflict? Protecting civilians? REDUCING VIOLENCE? Yeah I could name half a dozen countries since the 90s where genocides happened and they stood by.
Since you’ve been on an Africa kick, an interesting topic might be Brazzaville and the man after whom it’s named. To my knowledge, it’s the only post-colonial capitol city to keep its original name and the story of the city, the man, and the Republic of the Congo in general seems like something that’d be comfortably in your wheelhouse.
( not so ) fun fact. my grandpa's uncle was the president and was also a recognized journalist, so although he wasn't part if any corruption, the rebels desperately wanted to get him from his name and status. his story about how he managed to escape was heart rendering, from almost deciding to jump to his death because he could hear rebels kill his neighbours, to facing the rebels and lying about his identity while my grandma got mutilated right beside him, to having to travel across this body of water while their feet were getting cut up from broken glass and debris, some details on what he had to do to survive is even too much to comment upon. im glad he survived though and manage to see me alongside his other grandkids and live a decently long life before dying from long cancer. thank you for this video, it's like i'm hearing him retell his story.
also this video failed to mention how brutal the capitol attack was. the rebels were doing amputations, bombings, arson, and feticide.. mostly due to being drugged up (they drugged child soldiers to brainwash them more). one of my uncles is amputated alongside many sierra leoneans. the second wave of attacks was not only unexpected but incredibly cruel and unfathomable.
Everyone interested should read the book "a long road gone" by Ishmael Beah. He was a surivor who lost his family to the war & ended up fighting as a child soldier on the side of the Sierra Leonne Army. Being a frontline soldier, his take was interesting to say the least.
@@historywithhilbert146 yes thats right its still ongoing, not defending ghadafi at all but the other Western governments smeared his name and ran his regime through the mud. Now look at libya another rogue state.
Both Sierra Leone and Liberian civil war could be the basis for the film. The title is a reference to the song called 'Beast of No Nation" by Fela Kuti. In the song Beast of No nation is a metaphor for the United Nation (UN), which is neither civilized nor United as the name'd suggest.
20:04 wrong flag here it should have been the old Rwanda flag since the new one was only introduced in 2001. It's a shame really because the old Rwanda flag was iconic and far superior than the new one.
Why do modern wars or civil wars last longer than wars from the past. Sierra Leon civil war 1991- 2002 Death toll: 50,000 Russian civil war 1917-1922 Death toll: 8 million American Civil war 1961-1865 Death toll: 620,000 Somalian civil war 1991-present 500,000 casualties. Mr. historian.
Probably because of the nature of how the world is interconnected now. Civil wars past were generally wholly internal affairs of a political ideological nature fought between countrymen. Civil wars today are often economic and since the world economy and regional economies are more meaningfully linked, there is a lot of skin in the game for multiple parties. Coupled with the fact that the world quickly learns of atrocities and is appalled by them and demands something be done to stop them, you get a lot of outside influence in the conflict. The incentive is to keep the civil war going until the side you bet on, for your own interests, wins.
Un: whats this the civil war is over Not on my watch *several years later* News broadcaster: the civil war is ongoing with millions dead and millions in refugee camps Un: oh boy cannot wait to do nothing and abuse the locals
1 sec on google and you find that de Beers isnt a dutch company, nor was it started by the dutch. A bit of research might be nice for a history channel.
Great videos! The disappointing thing about Beasts of No Nation (that's a fictional account) is how the film makers could have told the story behind how these kinds of situations actually develop. How on earth could this rebel militia be this well armed?? If you're ever elected President of a poor country with a lot of valuable natural resources, wealthy countries will extort your country. They will protect you with weapons if you give them access to your country's resources very cheaply. If you don't take the deal, they will fund other rebel armies to overthrow you and then they will make the same offer to the next President. It's why dictators stay in power for many years and these countries stay poor or (worse yet) mired in civil war. The more interesting part of this dynamic is how huge corporations push wealthy countries down this path in the name of profits. But it's also customers like us who support these corporations when we purchase products made with conflict minerals. Beasts of No Nation depicts the commandant as a distant devil-like character who lives in a strange land. Yet, real men like him in the Congo, Central African Republic and Uganda are supported by us (even if we don't see it). The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing us that he doesn't exist.
I think the movie Blood Diamond took part around this time as well. Great movie with Leanardo DiCaprio, I'd check it out if you haven't seen it yet. Really shows how the diamonds are mined
While I feel like this was a great history lesson on the Sierra Leone civil war, I think it misses the point of the movie/book. I think Iweala (who wrote the book) purposefully kept the political details of the war Agu was forced to play a part in vague on purpose. He didn't want readers (or viewers) to make assumptions or guesses about where the story takes place for a reason. By not associating Agu with a specific conflict, it becomes easier for audiences to engage. They don't view Agu's story as something that could only happen in a specific country far away, but rather gain an understanding that this happens to hundreds of thousands of children every year across the globe. Agu's story while devastating, isn't unique. It humanizes our understanding of child soldiers. Iweala doesn't want us to lose sight of this by getting wrapped up in the political backstory.
Thanks for making a video on this. As someone who knows nothing on the civil war and yet has family who both live and emigrated from there this was a big help you could say.
Interesting film, I'll have to give it a watch. I remember reading Damien Lewis's X platoon, which focused on the Pathfinders (the Recon platoon of the parachute regiment) and their deployment in Sierra Leone. I was shocked by the sheer brutality of the rebellion forces, their calling card was chopping off peoples arms at the elbow, nasty bastards.
Botswana is really boring. Coincidentally all of them were supposed to be incorporated into South Africa. The whites voted in 1923 for a separate state from South Africa called Southern Rhodesia and Botswana was ruled from Mafikeng in South Africa until independence.
I am seeing to many comments bashing on the UN lol, yeah they were useless here and in a lot of places but... The UN peace keepers can't intervene in a country's internal affairs, a civil war is an internal affair. They can only actively engage in combat if **two sovereign** nations are fighting each other. The UN was made to be a neutral ground for countries to talk to each other, not to be international police. They could have more power but surprise, surprise the Veto powers on the UN council don't want the UN to actually do anything as it would interfere with their interests. - a random www.youtube.com user
Beasts of no nation is an amazing film I’ve seen a few times originally when i was much younger (Im 18 now) and I think I’ll check it out again later today
What I like about Hilberts Vlogs is he explains things in Laynems terms. As a at best GCSE educated working class man I find his content fascinating, because it’s non of this Uber educated jargon that a thicko like me that wouldn’t understand😂
Half of this should could have been avoided if the UN hadn't insisted that Executive Outcomes leave. The Americans are still cockblocking Eeben Barlows outfits to this day, on two separate occasions forcefully stopping operations that could have helped bring an end to Boko Haram and the LRA insurgency of Joseph Kony. The US government is either very shortsighted or has a direct interest in local conflicts continuing so that they can step in with arms sales training and intelligence sharing for geopolitical favours
I definitely appreciate the branching out, & I learned plenty of new stuff, I just feel like more people might learn new things in a video about, say, the Swahili city states or the Romano-Berbers than about civil wars in Africa. In the end though, all I can say is “is it too much to ask for both”
@@lltipsy No they aren't. While they have a lot of Arab admixture today, the original Berber/Amazigh people descend from a common African ancestral group with the middle eastern Semites (Arabs, Jews, Aramaics, etc) as well as Ethiopians and Somalis. I was referring to the Mauro-Romans & Altava in my original comment, so these groups, regardless of where they're FROM were & had at that point been in Africa for a long time. They're indisputably a part of Africa's history.
“To call a thing by its proper name is the beginning of wisdom.” - Confucius The title of this video leaves something to be desired. The word “Beast” happens to be the classification of the African people according to the English, first settlers, the founding fathers and most recently the Nazis who all followed the pseudo science of eugenics. White- European- Social classification (Human) Black - African . Social classification- (Beast) Brown -Indian (from India) - (Savage) Red- (Native north, central, South Americans) Savage Yellow- (Asian) - Savage/Noble Savage (potential to become ‘civilized’) The myth of race and looking at our fellow man as separate or inferior was created and still promoted to justify the genocide and centuries of slavery and/or subjugation. Calling humans beasts or savages reinforces our collective ignorance in western society that we are still somehow separate and not responsible for any actions of our governments past, present or future. Food for thought
What is up with diamonds? Why do people think it's so valuable? Can you eat diamonds? Can you power cars with diamonds? It's not even that rare, yet some nations crumble because of who gets the diamonds.
Sorry this was up so late everyone - I've had a lot of uni work to do and not a lot of motivation to do it so it was a bit of a struggle getting this done on time! A truly fascinating topic and would highly recommend watching the film (it's on Netflix). Let me know what you thought in the comments and tune in again next week on Friday for another video on ISIS in the Philippines!
The title of the video incorrectly says “beasts of nation”
Your title is wrong mate, it's "Beast of no nation".
"Beasts of No Nation does not specify in which country it takes place". it intentionally does that to symbolize that it could be any of a number of african countries.
I’m British but was born in Sierra Leone and here are a few facts that are incorrect -
*The film title is “Beasts of No Nation”.
*Independence Day from UK was 21 April 1961 NOT 1964
*The civil war in 1991 was mainly fought along the Liberian border and only affected the capital where I was in April 1992 when the Strasser’s military junta overthrew the government.
Hello there hilbert, if u want to know more about siera lione you should go to vrt.nu and look for "reizen waes" great watch . . . in dutch tho
Beasts of No Nation is honestly a masterpiece of a movie, I feel like we haven’t gotten a movie based on an African War since Hotel Rwanda
What about Blood Diamond?
I agree movies involving Africa are rare to ser in the west.
Fun fact: The actors in the movie are from Ghana (the country of origin or Idris Elba) and speak in twi but interestingly Ghana is one of the few countries in west Africa that has not experienced a long bloody civil war.
There’s blood diamond but it’s way more of an adventure action movie
What about the battle of jadtosvile? It talks about and shows the early Congo civil war
The movie fantastic but no movie can equally portray the evil we faced not even blood diamonds. Thank you for covering this, we don’t see much content about Sierra Leone on youtube. God bless Mama Salone
Idk Come and See portrays the evils of war pretty well
Very informative. Hopefully in the future you can do a video on Executive Outcomes or similar groups. Nice video. Keep up the good work.
God, I listen to the Beasts of No Nation soundtrack daily, I was in the top 0,005% of Dan Romer's listeners. Please give it a listen, it's like nothing out there.
Oh man, Executive Outcomes is a crazy story in itself, especially that of Simon Mann
Great director as well, looking forward to the Bond Film he does
CARY FUKUNAGA IS DOING A BOND FILM!?
Great movie
Great video brother!
Sierra Leone gained it independence in 1961 not 1964. thank me later🚶🏽
The fact that we are in war don't mean that we can't loot togheter
If this video showed anything. Its that if a group of people are using an acronym, theyre probably the bad guys.
Sierra Leone independent was 61 not 64.
Love idris
Liberia 🇱🇷
I thought it based on Congo
Also the real history of Blood Diamonds
I haven't seen Blood Diamonds but I'll check it out!
@@historywithhilbert146 Really good. Us South Africans have caused a lot of problems due to exploitation of resources.
@@historywithhilbert146 I seen it
@@louvendran7273 he's rooodesian
@@historywithhilbert146 this video can basically cover the real history of blood diamond a little
This film was criminally underated. Beautiful scenery, acting and the score was sublime.
Thanks for this. My mum has some horror stories from the war that I know she hasn't and may not recover from. I had never decided to look up the war too much coz it was too close to home, but my family has suffered. Fallout from war does crazy things down the line. Everytime I recap, it adds another layer of something to my soul, isit a steely resolve or the weight of the history? I dunno
Ey want some brown-brown?
Those scenes were masterful
Hell yeah I’m trying to get lit
I’m assuming you know Idris Elba’s father was from Sierra Leone. Idris was given citizenship here in 2019. It’s a beautiful and I would recommend visiting 🇸🇱
He’s from my street tho… his Family live close to my house
Salone is a beautiful country…
Hey man I'm really loving all of these videos about modern and African history. Though the thing is you mainly focus on the nations that aren't doing too well so I was thinking that you could do a nation like Botswana to show that it's not all bad in Africa.
i think it might just be becuase for alot of people its more intreasting to learn about wars and such other then a peacful economy focused video. but idk
But we like to learn about conflicts
Hey man conflicts draw views😀😎
That would be good
Are you from moravia ?
You guys should read "A Long Way Gone" amazing book from a 1st person perspective of a child soldier in Sierra Leone during the civil war.
I read that book in the fifth grade and holy shit did it open my eyes to how fucked the world is at a very young age. Incredible book, incredible story, I would definitely recommend it as well.
I read it many years ago.. love it… the strength of such a brave boy… 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
I had to read that for geopolitics in College
@@serendipitousslim1529 intense book to read in the 5th grade
@@petourivsbranch5611 hahaha I remember after finishing thinking “why the fuck was this in our classroom library” 😂
"the system failed to help the people despite the fact that they had access to valuable resources"
I get the feeling its the other way around. The system failed to help the people *because* they had access to valuable resources.
As leaders, if the tools for power(money) can be won out of the ground, why put a lot of effort into having happy people?
I got this hypothesis from "the dictator's handbook" which is a recommended read. CGP Grey has a youtube video called "rules for rulers" which is a 20 min summary of that book.
Both can explain the concept far better than I can.
oh and I like this African instability theme of the last series of videos. It's hard to get well-presented info on a lot of these conflicts.
A very astute way of looking at it! I suppose that goes well with the idea of the 'resource curse' and that those mineral-rich countries in Africa are also the least stable and prone to continuous civil wars.
@@historywithhilbert146 Thanks for the reply my fellow dutchman!
After reading the dictator's handbook, I started noticing the patterns it lines out. It isn't right all the time, but I think it has a very solid logic to it that explains so much.
The logic the writers put forward also deals with why revolutions rarely seem to make things better, how the same logic can be applied to more democratic countries, why some armies are so ineffective and why the results of aid are often disappointing.
The audio book version is on youtube as well. (I think comments with links get deleted otherwise I'd link it here)
Anyway, sorry for the rambling and keep up the good work!
Resources can be a liability if you cant utilize them properly and it really comes down to the leadership. Sweden and Norway turned their oil and minerals into vast wealth and one of the best countries to live in while Saudi arabia turned their oil into cast wealth for the leaders and oil in Sudan tore the country apart. China turned their greatest resource (vast cheap labor and a huge market) into a boon that India had a hard time doing despite having more natural resources and closer ties to western markets.
@@arthas640 Bird and Fortune in a routine where Bird plays an African dictator captured why this is so - spending the money on development and industrialisation would 'give the population too many ideas' and threaten the power of political elites who can rule over a country without being questioned. But it also depends on the motives of the dictator, as Soeharto presided over a resource rich, ethnically diverse country full of corruption and rent seeking yet presided over 30 years of continuous economic growth where industrialisation, agriculture improvements and resource extraction all occurred side by side.
It doesn't always work that way though. Botswana is a clear example of how abundant resources and a responsible government can lead to prosperity.
The title calls the movie "Beasts of Nation" and not "Beasts of No Nation." Just thought you should probably correct it while it's still early.
Beat me to it
I was very tired when I uploaded this (had been working on it most of the evening) so I missed that. Thanks for letting me know!
@@historywithhilbert146 that's a huge mistake to misinform, beast of *no* nation= united nations (un)
@@historywithhilbert146 i haven't paid taxes since 1991 😎😎😎
Lmao boy context is everything 🤣 way to be quick on that one 👍🏽
20:08 I see that the UN unsurprisingly was as useless as ever.
Who do you think pays them
I don't understand where this childish notion of UN peacekeepers comes from? They are not mercenaries they are humanitarian workers who carry rifles for mainly self defence and extreme situations. They are not deployed to fight in internal affairs they are there to help the civilians to get fresh water, food etc.
@@jupjup7845 From the peacekeepers themselves "Peacekeepers protect civilians, actively prevent conflict, reduce violence, strengthen security and empower national authorities to assume these responsibilities.". In almost every major case they either choose not to do this or are ordered not to. Preventing conflict? Protecting civilians? REDUCING VIOLENCE? Yeah I could name half a dozen countries since the 90s where genocides happened and they stood by.
what do you want them to do? start getting actively involved in armed conflict?
@@brandonk.4864 More like do the job that they are sent there to do or not show up at all.
Since you’ve been on an Africa kick, an interesting topic might be Brazzaville and the man after whom it’s named. To my knowledge, it’s the only post-colonial capitol city to keep its original name and the story of the city, the man, and the Republic of the Congo in general seems like something that’d be comfortably in your wheelhouse.
Fuzzy. Are you still a CI for detective haulk ?
( not so ) fun fact. my grandpa's uncle was the president and was also a recognized journalist, so although he wasn't part if any corruption, the rebels desperately wanted to get him from his name and status. his story about how he managed to escape was heart rendering, from almost deciding to jump to his death because he could hear rebels kill his neighbours, to facing the rebels and lying about his identity while my grandma got mutilated right beside him, to having to travel across this body of water while their feet were getting cut up from broken glass and debris, some details on what he had to do to survive is even too much to comment upon. im glad he survived though and manage to see me alongside his other grandkids and live a decently long life before dying from long cancer. thank you for this video, it's like i'm hearing him retell his story.
also this video failed to mention how brutal the capitol attack was. the rebels were doing amputations, bombings, arson, and feticide.. mostly due to being drugged up (they drugged child soldiers to brainwash them more). one of my uncles is amputated alongside many sierra leoneans. the second wave of attacks was not only unexpected but incredibly cruel and unfathomable.
Executive Outcomes is an actually hilarious name for a private military mercenary squad, lmao
Lnao i tgink you mean administrative result's
Anyone here from sierra leone🇸🇱
Here I am.
Mende/Fulani 🇸🇱
Yep
Yeo
kusheeee
Bro your be videos have always been good but the last few have been absolutely prime. Loving the work man
Thanks so much I really appreciate you letting me know you're enjoying them!
Correct me if im wrong but wasn't Executive Outcomes the business associated with the world famous Simon Mann, the SAS officer turned Mercenary.
Yes it was and bougainville
Count dankula** theme plays
@@lilqueso8190 hell yeah
Everyone interested should read the book "a long road gone" by Ishmael Beah. He was a surivor who lost his family to the war & ended up fighting as a child soldier on the side of the Sierra Leonne Army. Being a frontline soldier, his take was interesting to say the least.
Good to hear about Executive Outcomes
Sierra Leone: "Fights"
Everyone: What's all this?
Hahaha "west side boys" we both know thats not their real name
The west side n words were so crazy absurd and violent that the british government killed all of them and suppressed it
I read A Long Way Gone when I was in high school. Truly a sobering read regarding the realities of war
1:09 no Dutch Anthem ?
How did I miss that opportunity!!?
"History Scope - Why is Africa still poor?" is an awesome video to give you the bigger picture behind what was talked about here. Worth a watch!
Are you interested in buying stones?
@@goldanddiamonds7240 nope;))
Keep it up bro ! I love your content especially on recent african history! You ever thought about doing a whole video essay on Mu'ammar Al-Qadhdhāfī
Thanks my dude! Was thinking on doing something about the Libyan Civil War?
@@historywithhilbert146 yes thats right its still ongoing, not defending ghadafi at all but the other Western governments smeared his name and ran his regime through the mud. Now look at libya another rogue state.
Salaam my brother
Are you interested in buying stones?
Both Sierra Leone and Liberian civil war could be the basis for the film. The title is a reference to the song called 'Beast of No Nation" by Fela Kuti. In the song Beast of No nation is a metaphor for the United Nation (UN), which is neither civilized nor United as the name'd suggest.
Interesting. Even the Africans themselves hate the UN.
Loved the film. Wish more people saw it.
I know it's probably way more difficult, but maps would have been really helpful here (at least for me). Great video all the same!
So the mercenarries were the only ones not to do warcrimes?
20:04 wrong flag here it should have been the old Rwanda flag since the new one was only introduced in 2001. It's a shame really because the old Rwanda flag was iconic and far superior than the new one.
Too bad its basically synonymous with Hutu power
Why do modern wars or civil wars last longer than wars from the past.
Sierra Leon civil war 1991- 2002
Death toll: 50,000
Russian civil war 1917-1922
Death toll: 8 million
American Civil war 1961-1865
Death toll: 620,000
Somalian civil war 1991-present
500,000 casualties.
Mr. historian.
Somalia still fighting??
Probably because of the nature of how the world is interconnected now. Civil wars past were generally wholly internal affairs of a political ideological nature fought between countrymen. Civil wars today are often economic and since the world economy and regional economies are more meaningfully linked, there is a lot of skin in the game for multiple parties. Coupled with the fact that the world quickly learns of atrocities and is appalled by them and demands something be done to stop them, you get a lot of outside influence in the conflict. The incentive is to keep the civil war going until the side you bet on, for your own interests, wins.
@@samwise1790 What you said is right but the caveat at the end is: if you want a side to win
South Africa was just watching the whole time and then just before Sierra Leone lost SA joins in and crushes them. SA's military is very effective.
Executive Outcome are the good guys.
"good guys"
Un: whats this the civil war is over
Not on my watch
*several years later*
News broadcaster: the civil war is ongoing with millions dead and millions in refugee camps
Un: oh boy cannot wait to do nothing and abuse the locals
One man's hero is another man's villian.
1 sec on google and you find that de Beers isnt a dutch company, nor was it started by the dutch. A bit of research might be nice for a history channel.
Based
Great videos! The disappointing thing about Beasts of No Nation (that's a fictional account) is how the film makers could have told the story behind how these kinds of situations actually develop. How on earth could this rebel militia be this well armed??
If you're ever elected President of a poor country with a lot of valuable natural resources, wealthy countries will extort your country. They will protect you with weapons if you give them access to your country's resources very cheaply. If you don't take the deal, they will fund other rebel armies to overthrow you and then they will make the same offer to the next President. It's why dictators stay in power for many years and these countries stay poor or (worse yet) mired in civil war. The more interesting part of this dynamic is how huge corporations push wealthy countries down this path in the name of profits. But it's also customers like us who support these corporations when we purchase products made with conflict minerals. Beasts of No Nation depicts the commandant as a distant devil-like character who lives in a strange land. Yet, real men like him in the Congo, Central African Republic and Uganda are supported by us (even if we don't see it).
The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing us that he doesn't exist.
I was looking for this comment. There are always larger powers and corporations playing a nefarious role.
I love the time and effort you put into these video's. I could happily binge watch them all day, any day.
I think the movie Blood Diamond took part around this time as well. Great movie with Leanardo DiCaprio, I'd check it out if you haven't seen it yet. Really shows how the diamonds are mined
While I feel like this was a great history lesson on the Sierra Leone civil war, I think it misses the point of the movie/book. I think Iweala (who wrote the book) purposefully kept the political details of the war Agu was forced to play a part in vague on purpose. He didn't want readers (or viewers) to make assumptions or guesses about where the story takes place for a reason. By not associating Agu with a specific conflict, it becomes easier for audiences to engage. They don't view Agu's story as something that could only happen in a specific country far away, but rather gain an understanding that this happens to hundreds of thousands of children every year across the globe. Agu's story while devastating, isn't unique. It humanizes our understanding of child soldiers. Iweala doesn't want us to lose sight of this by getting wrapped up in the political backstory.
That film was so good yet so heartbreaking, it's one of those movies you love but don't want to see again.
You're wrong it became independent in 1961
Thank you
Mozambique please? There has been a resurgence in the north now that they found oil.
They found the black curse, a Nigerian perspective 🌚
Thanks for making a video on this. As someone who knows nothing on the civil war and yet has family who both live and emigrated from there this was a big help you could say.
You should watch lord of War now, it's only part of the movie that takes part around west Africa but it does tie into this very well.
Sierra Leone became independent in 1961
“A long way gone” a memoir of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah. Is an amazing fucking book. I highly recommend it
Beasts of no nation is very underrated
EO got a bad rap, but completely undeserved. Sierra Leone should've stuck with them, and Freetown wouldn't have ever been sacked. 1+ EO
Interesting film, I'll have to give it a watch. I remember reading Damien Lewis's X platoon, which focused on the Pathfinders (the Recon platoon of the parachute regiment) and their deployment in Sierra Leone. I was shocked by the sheer brutality of the rebellion forces, their calling card was chopping off peoples arms at the elbow, nasty bastards.
Please do some more videos on Africa I’d like to see some about Botswana, Zimbabwe, and SA
Botswana is really boring. Coincidentally all of them were supposed to be incorporated into South Africa. The whites voted in 1923 for a separate state from South Africa called Southern Rhodesia and Botswana was ruled from Mafikeng in South Africa until independence.
Loving the contemporary African history videos as of late, keep em coming!
Next video gotta be war of rexdale
I am seeing to many comments bashing on the UN lol, yeah they were useless here and in a lot of places but...
The UN peace keepers can't intervene in a country's internal affairs, a civil war is an internal affair. They can only actively engage in combat if **two sovereign** nations are fighting each other. The UN was made to be a neutral ground for countries to talk to each other, not to be international police. They could have more power but surprise, surprise the Veto powers on the UN council don't want the UN to actually do anything as it would interfere with their interests.
- a random www.youtube.com user
Please, we got our independent three years earlier.
First
You will not forget your commandment
“Executive Outcomes”
Hey… I’ve heard of this one before. Leader was a Mad Lad.
You know DeBeers are awful people when Hibbert says Dutch without playing the song
So this is where Farcry 2 's story came from
Wait a minute!!?!? You didn't mention ed about Bangladeshi UN troops!! So dissatisfied!!!
I AM FILIPINO, LOOK AT MY DIH IKKKK
Its crazy how quickly this war become a conflict where it seems no one knows the endgame. Just a lot of acronym named groups fighting just to fight
Well this is a decent example of why governments make sure to pay their soldiers, so they do not join the other side.
Well they don't care if the soldier payed or not, they only care if they got money or not
Rules for rulers no 1:
Keep the army happy.
"The war cost 50,000 human lives"
non-human losses during the war were not recorded
The chickens are always a forgotten casualty in war, rest in pieces Colonel Nuggets.
O7
@@sargesacker2599 apperantly he worked with Colonel Sanders
Beasts of no nation is an amazing film I’ve seen a few times originally when i was much younger (Im 18 now) and I think I’ll check it out again later today
I've been waiting for this for so long. " who are we?" "who are we? " how does the commandant look?" I said, " how does the commandant look?"
What I like about Hilberts Vlogs is he explains things in Laynems terms. As a at best GCSE educated working class man I find his content fascinating, because it’s non of this Uber educated jargon that a thicko like me that wouldn’t understand😂
Why do you give the credit for the whole "strategic hamlets" solely to the US when it was also effectively utilised by British forces in Malaysia?
Why did you use a picture of the Rhodesian Army at 3.40 instead of an actual picture of the Sierra Leone army?
Half of this should could have been avoided if the UN hadn't insisted that Executive Outcomes leave. The Americans are still cockblocking Eeben Barlows outfits to this day, on two separate occasions forcefully stopping operations that could have helped bring an end to Boko Haram and the LRA insurgency of Joseph Kony. The US government is either very shortsighted or has a direct interest in local conflicts continuing so that they can step in with arms sales training and intelligence sharing for geopolitical favours
Could you please do the East Timorese emergency
I dont give my secondary school enough credit for having us watch Beasts of No Nation
Really helped alot with our world view
LORD OF WAR INTENSIFIES
"Executive Outcomes" ah yes, i've heard of this group. Simon Mann.
My great grandfather come from Sierra Leone from a tribe called Kru
Are you planning on doing some earlier African history?
I will do at some point though people seem to be enjoying the more modern side of things at the moment :)
I definitely appreciate the branching out, & I learned plenty of new stuff, I just feel like more people might learn new things in a video about, say, the Swahili city states or the Romano-Berbers than about civil wars in Africa. In the end though, all I can say is “is it too much to ask for both”
@@bobmcbob9856 berbers are middle eastern who settled in africa
@@lltipsy No they aren't. While they have a lot of Arab admixture today, the original Berber/Amazigh people descend from a common African ancestral group with the middle eastern Semites (Arabs, Jews, Aramaics, etc) as well as Ethiopians and Somalis. I was referring to the Mauro-Romans & Altava in my original comment, so these groups, regardless of where they're FROM were & had at that point been in Africa for a long time. They're indisputably a part of Africa's history.
“To call a thing by its proper name is the beginning of wisdom.” - Confucius
The title of this video leaves something to be desired. The word “Beast” happens to be the classification of the African people according to the English, first settlers, the founding fathers and most recently the Nazis who all followed the pseudo science of eugenics.
White- European- Social classification (Human)
Black - African . Social classification- (Beast)
Brown -Indian (from India) - (Savage)
Red- (Native north, central, South Americans) Savage
Yellow- (Asian) - Savage/Noble Savage (potential to become ‘civilized’)
The myth of race and looking at our fellow man as separate or inferior was created and still promoted to justify the genocide and centuries of slavery and/or subjugation.
Calling humans beasts or savages reinforces our collective ignorance in western society that we are still somehow separate and not responsible for any actions of our governments past, present or future.
Food for thought
Blood diamonds is based on the Kamara cheifdom signed this day HRH Queen Nancy Joan Kamara of SIERRA LEONE WESTERN AFRICA
00:45
"Sierra Leone has been a British colony"
Say no more
only thing worse would be a french or belgian colony
@@gabrielnguyen5580 is that what they teach in British schools
@@bhootbhagao5716 well im viet so
@@gabrielnguyen5580 that changes everything.
I am indian, so I know more about British than french occupations.
Why Belgium though ?
@@bhootbhagao5716 have you heard of the belgian congo? those guys were nuts
What is up with diamonds? Why do people think it's so valuable? Can you eat diamonds? Can you power cars with diamonds? It's not even that rare, yet some nations crumble because of who gets the diamonds.
How come no mention of the Bangladeshi Army with the UN?
Man, wrong civil war, but still good
What do you mean
The movie is based on a book written by a Nigerian and it mentions geological features from Nigeria, it has nothing to do with Sierra Leone.
What do Scandinavian people generally think of Africans?
We have to leave Sierra Leone in 1997 because of war..... everything stop no plane no ferries........ we have to go by road in jungle to guniea
Blood diamond is so epic
British: *Arrives*
RUF: time to run...