When China went to war against the sparrows

In 1958 China, a public health campaign went terribly wrong. The Great Sparrow Campaign was a symbol of human folly.
The episode is intended for educational purposes. All events are portrayed in historical context. No graphic depictions of violence are depicted.
The History Guy uses media that are in the public domain. As photographs of actual events are sometimes not available, photographs of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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#history #china #thehistoryguy #sparrow

[@ddd3240]

My wife grew up during the Sparrow War and it’s ugly aftermath. The story does not do it justice. Even today in China there are few birds. As an avid bird watcher it is a birders nightmare for the most part.

[@ddd3240]

James Merryman I have been to China many times. Mostly in the Northern and western areas but I have visited the south as well. The north has few birds in their forested regions that I have visited. The much drier western desert had virtually none. Yes there are fairly vast areas that are wilderness. The south has more wildlife in my opinion but it is still rather sparse compared to other areas of the world. The recovery is slow but it is better now than it was the first few times I went. I think they are doing many things right and I have high hopes for them. I wish them the best.

[@ddd3240]

James Merryman I have been to China approximately 20 times. I am no expert on the place by any means. Since I retired I have spent two months a year there every year. My traveling companions are relatives and friends that are working class people and are excellent companions that give their views and opinions “with the bark still on it.” In the last ten years I have seen the changes in efforts on pollution. You are correct on many of your statements. I was worried more about the disappearance of the honeybees more than the birds and they are disappearing. I’m a beekeeper so it concerns me personally. I still have hopes that they can get a grip on the pollution.

[@dr3w199]

I have lived in China for a number of years now and I have noticed the lack of birds. It's rare to see or hear any unless going to parks. Even then there is not many. In fact it is rare to see wildlife here other than stray dogs and cats.

[@dr3w199]

To add to this, I have travelled around north, South and East China. Lived in both cities and more rural regions. When you do hear birds, you immediately notice since its not common

[@RU-zm7wj]

@James Merryman Wow, you're taking a waaay too much cough syrup.

[@Makoto778]

The whole "Great Leap Forward" campaign (Sparrows were part of it) was a complete disaster. Even worse was the whole farmers making iron part of the Great leap forward.

[@shawngilliland243]

@Mako-kun - I agree with you, and I have always referred to it as the "Great Leap BACKWARD".

[@BHuang92]

My parents lived during that time when they were kids. Not too many happy moments there. My grandfather was sent to a "reform" camp for nearly a year and my mom's family was nearly sent to work on the fields when the communist took over. They didn't go since they were too young to do so and my grandmother refused to give out her ID.

[@12345678900987659101]

Probably worse is when you realize every failure in the "leap" began a new campaign, from exterminating "pests" causing genuine pest issues with locust, to farmers melting down their metals into low quality material that was more costly to use than just imports.

[@arthas640]

I'm not sure if he actually said it or if it was just implied but a history book I read in high school said that Mao thought that Chinese peasants would be better blacksmiths than the proffesionals. Supposedly he thought that Soviet/Marxist-Leninist focus on city dwellers over country dwellers was a "western ideology" and that in China it was the farmers who were the real leaders of the revolution, so thats what motivated him turning farmers into part time blacksmiths. Another theory was that some Chinese leaders at the time honestly thought that the farmers would still do the same amount of farm work and simply do the metalworking afterwards, so that way China could get more metal while still producing the same amount of food, rather than sacrifice food production in favor of industrial production like what happened in the Soviet Union. Mao and his supporters were arrogant fools, even by dictator standards.

[@deathsheadknight2137]

erasing their own history too. the more things change the more they stay the same.

[@scheimong]

My grandma grew up during that era of China, in the province where the famine hit hardest - Henan. Her father was more than 180cm tall and her mother more than 170, both very tall people for their times. Yet she only grew to around 145 due to extreme malnutrition. It's a miracle that she survived at all.

[@frzstat]

And we are glad she survived!

[@zeitgeistx5239]

Said everyone of my relatives that lived through that period.

[@annarboriter]

The height disparity between rural and urban residents can still be seen today.

[@spookyshadowhawk6776]

We can work with nature, we can't control it. It has a balance of it's own, if you upset that balance, you have problems. Here DDT was used to kill insects and increase crop production in the fifty's, it concentrated in the predator birds like Hawks and Eagles, made their eggs too fragile to hatch, they died out across much of the Country. Without Predators to control them, Starling's grew into massive flocks of tens of thousands of birds, ate more grain than the insects had and would drive nesting local birds off their nests and eat their young. It took over twenty years before the Hawks and Eagles came back. The massive flocks of Starling's are gone, the damage they did has repaired itself. Not as harsh a lesson as China learned, but bad enough. We can live with nature, or if we try to control it, we live with the consequences. Being humans, we have to relearn this every few decades. For all our progress and power, we can do nothing against a Earthquake or Hurricane, but rebuilt and try again. Pride knows no one Nation or Government, all fall to it's folly.

[@Shadowsc133]

spooky shadow hawk Excellent post, I couldn’t agree more. In this case not a decoupling between government and science, but mostly a dictatorship that blindly adopted bad science. History seems to repeat itself, in part because humans behavior changes little. In a larger scale today, nations are ignoring emissions and its potential consequences, despite warnings and past records about what could happen.

[@christopherlynch3314]

I didn't know about the famine but I do know I was always having to clean my plate as a child because of "the starving children in China".

[@DomMini]

Christopher Lynch me too, guess our parents knew about what happened but never elaborated about it.

[@ringo1692]

Same here and send it to them wasn't a proper response... 😬😨😂

[@DomMini]

Ringo 1 Lol

[@marktaylor8659]

Lol. I can remember sitting at the table, by myself, after everything else had been cleared away until I cleaned my plate.

[@RCAvhstape]

I once replied by asking, "Well, if the kids in China are starving, why not send them my food, I don't want it." That did not end well for me.

[@TheScienceguy77]

I love this channel. It's the best history channel I've ever come across. No clickbait, no gratuitous special effects. Just history delivered in a poignant, concise and passionate manner. Keep up the great work The History Guy!

[@juschu67]

i like those storys about ignorant totalitarian leadership following order obeying opportunists it is representing almost our present modern time world

[@juschu67]

FUCK OFF GANGSTALKERS

[@dustjunky2000]

Agreed. Top-tier content

[@jamesback8024]

I especially appreciate the fact that the content, has not been "Dumbed-Down", but given in a straightforward, entertaining way. One of my very favorite channels.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

​@@jamesback8024same!

[@darrenkrivit6854]

Also known as the "Days of Feasting and Longevity" to the local locust population 🤓

[@jameswhite153]

I've got this image in my head of a big award ceremony for killing the most sparrows taking place in lush rice paddies, with all the local officials, a brass band, a massive banner and self congratulating speeches, then all of a sudden there's a loud buzzing noise followed by a giant fog of bugs. all the crops are gone, and the words "HA, HA" eaten into the banner.

[@tomservo5007]

There are some parasites that control their host, I wonder if a locust got into Mao's head and whisper to him this plan.

[@marujitadiaz9019]

@@tomservo5007, grasshoppers aren't parasites, they're herbivores.

[@DrZippo01]

@@marujitadiaz9019 I'm pretty sure he was making funny.. not serious.

[@marujitadiaz9019]

@@duradim1, governments and those who support them are parasites, either socialists, conservatives, fascists, progressives, communists, liberals or any other statists.

[@germanbirdie5278]

You're putting it mildly. 45 Million Chinese people died unnecessarily between 1958-1962 thanks to the Great Leap Forward. Let that settle in.

[@adolfhitler4864]

Worst mass genocide. The hodomor was the second biggest. Why aren't children taught about that, but only about the big fake one?

[@HoopTY303]

Um, he said 30-45 million…

[@michaelcavalier8750]

I would say killed due to government action rather than just died.

[@AJohnSmith]

Meh, out of 660 million, just a drop in the bucket. China constantly has the most mass deaths, generally self-imposed.

[@MicaOShea-oe7ir]

@michaelcavalier8750 I agree. It was a conscious decision on Mao Zedong's part. He is recorded as saying "You have to let some starve to death so others can eat their fill." It was not a matter of Mao and the CCP not knowing millions were starving to death. They decided to get rid of what the Nazis called "useless eaters", what they considered excess population. It was brutally cruel and callous on an incomprehensible scale.

[@zimondye]

I was a kid living in Hong Kong at the time. The hillsides were covered with shacks built by refugees from China - some of them desperate enough to swim through shark infested waters

[@Player_Review]

Crazy to think that when HK was transferred from British rule to China in 1997 that it accounted for 33% of China's GDP, which dwindled as mainland rapidly ramped up their industrialization.

[@zimondye]

Player Review yeah, and to illustrate that I can remember going up to the border and looking out towards China. All I could see was paddy fields and villages. Go there now, and you see the mega city of Shenzhen, complete with skyscrapers!

[@JTA1961]

I remember story of someone using for flotation device a bag filled with pingpong balls.

[@Chopwoodcarrywater]

I feel like this is history that deserves to be remembered. Command economies don't work.

[@juicebox9465]

There is a healthy balance to everything. There is a difference between regulating the market to make sure the air is clean and going full Stalin mode.

[@josephstalin133]

@@juicebox9465 yes comrade

[@r3dp9]

@@juicebox9465 There's never a complete balance either. We constantly swing between extremes, going back and forth to overcompensate for the mistakes of the last X years. Bad stuff happens when we either swing to far, force everyone to swing the same way at the same time, or stay at one extreme and refuse to switch back. One of the criticisms of Democracy (and democratic republics, etc.) is that they are poorly planned and unreliable at long term planning, but that is precisely their selling point. If you can't overcommit, you naturally overcorrect and wind up with a healthily average policy in the long term, constantly see-sawing back and forth. Things only break down when democracy transitions into any of the varieties of authoritianism (including megacorps), which enables leaders and powers to overcommit to a direction and refuse to correct themselves later. In theory, a wise authority could just be smart and never overcommit, but that ends as soon as the next generation of authority takes over and gets cocky.

[@johnleslie7788]

"It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." I like sparrows more and Mao less because of this. Thanks HG for another fascinating video.

[@drichi07]

I couldn't possibly like Mao less, but The History Guy has once again done everyone a favor but making this small part of Mao's reign better know.

[@reveranttangent1771]

I like the Roman saying You may drive Nature out with a torch, but she will return with a flood.

[@Eric_Hutton.1980]

I'm noticing a pattern here with birds. Chinese sparrows, America passenger pigeons, Australian emu's, and the dodo.

[@barrettkeller9855]

What's next? Humanity by climate change? But who would be here to watch the vid?

[@psikogeek]

Let's not move on to Rocs; don't want to get carried away.

[@ziggy2shus624]

Use DNA to ' Bring back the DODO!!!'

[@chrispbacon3042]

How the fuck do you get a passenger on a Pigeon? You would be luck with a Emu.

[@theharbinger2573]

Klingons and Tribbles

[@mickemike2148]

Capitalistic birds? Now I must have heard everything. Cutting of my ears so that my poor brain won't have to deal with more idiocy...

[@juicebox9465]

Those sparrows clearly intended to exploit the workers! You can see their avarice in their eyes! If supreme leader Mao and the brave Chinese people hadn't taken swift and decisive action, we'd all be chirping now!

[@mickemike2148]

@@juicebox9465 Poking out my eyes too...

[@justinpipes85]

...but can it carry a coconut?

[@jeffzabriskie5209]

Haha--t'was only the African Sparrows!

[@JazznRealHipHop]

Oh an African sparrow yes

[@ZilogBob]

Two of them could, with a strand of creeper between them.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

*LMAO....*

[@shawngilliland243]

@Justin Pipes - good one!

[@bhaddock9277]

Had interesting talk with Chinese lady who was a teen during Chinese Cultural Revolution. Asked who decided what employment someone would do for the rest of their lives. Young communist activists/loyal party members decided who did what. Lady was put in fields as labourer to teach her a lesson as she dreamed of becoming a teacher. She did become a teacher after a year or two "proving herself" toiling in the fields. This is a cautionary tale as young Americans now rising up against freedom of speech and freedom of association.

[@Junyo]

Not that you can really compare rural Chinese society in the late 1940's to the Globalized society in the late 2010's.

[@chrisjackson1215]

You can absolutely compare it. It dosen't take much to destroy an entire society with idiotic policies and mismanagement.

[@bradbutcher3984]

@@Junyo geeze you have blinders on.

[@Junyo]

@@bradbutcher3984 Americans just believe what their government tells them. That anti-commie-bullcrap they have been feeding you for 75 years now. I'm not saying the Chinese Communist Party are all great guys. Power Corrupts and Absolute...well...you know. But Huawei is NOT out there to kill American soldiers and China is not a socialist country (and never was). My comment, however, wasn't about that at all. My comment refers to social media. KZbin, Facebook, Twitter, etc... What the Chinese government did 50 years ago is not possible in an age where people have the ability to discover the facts like they do now. The only way Americans are in danger from their own government now is when they refuse to face the facts and believe liars, bigots and cheats (and vote them into office).

[@bradbutcher3984]

@@Junyo hehehe dude I don't believe anything my government says. I know how to read and research for myself.

[@Absaalookemensch]

The 3 worst famines in history were in China and within 100 years of each other. About 1 million people died on average per year in China during that 100 years from famine and natural disasters.

[@allenatkins2263]

Thanks for giving us a bird's eye view.

[@ringo1692]

Yukyukyuk 😋 😂

[@shawngilliland243]

@Allen Atkins - love that pun!

[@SharonDuke1]

Lol

[@laurabrookstone3867]

2/3 of a pun is P U

[@brodown64]

Ba dum tss

[@jumemowery9434]

A friend of mine used to travel to China regularly for business. He said that birds are still sparse there.

[@barryklus]

..and everything else wildlife..

[@terrymoody7739]

I feed birds every day on my back deck! Sparrows, are the only birds that leave me small gifts by my chair on my back deck! They leave me small pieces of grass or pieces of the bread I feed them! The are very smart birds! They so very much return there compassion back to you!

[@teebosaurusyou]

Sweet!

[@BudgiePanic]

A similar thing happened in New Zealand in the 1900's where the government paid for the destruction of invasive sparrows, unfortunately it didn't work

[@c.j.rogers2422]

Killing an invasive, destructive species is quite a different thing than killing off a native part of the ecosystem.

[@Cheeseatingjunglista]

The Great Leap Forward was utterly insane, I grew up in Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution, another deranged political convulsion inspired by Mao. My amah's parents had escaped China during the Great Leap, I recall her Father weeping as young Chinese kids in Hong Kong would wave Mao's red book about, he didn't like the Kuomintang either. Xi is heading the same way in Xinjiang in the attacks on the Uyghurs

[@Player_Review]

're-education camps' or whatever. Human rights are so _very_ different over in mainland China, especially there where it borders Pakistan.

[@martind349]

Small pickins in a sick world for big china

[@michelnormandin8068]

The path to hell is paved with good intentions

[@DrunkenAussie76]

And sparrow corpses too apparently...

[@nightlightabcd]

Perhaps, but the path to heaven is not paved with deliberate evil intentions either as well as the path to hell is also paved with greed, corruption and lies.

[@ringo1692]

@@DrunkenAussie76 🤣😂

[@moncorp1]

More like the law of unintended consequences.

[@RCAvhstape]

paved with communism

[@johnwatson3948]

Around 6 to 8% of those who died during the Great Leap Forward were tortured to death or executed for resisting the program (Wikipedia).

[@arthas640]

Doesnt surprise me, the cultural revolution was one of the most ignorant bloodbaths in history. They regularly killed anyone associated with the opposition to the point of even killing people who worked at temples (since religion was the enemy) and those who wore glasses (who must be intellectual bourgeoisie). Even Hitler at least restricted himself to mainly killing non-germans (they considered communists to be Russian and Jews to be foreigners regardless of ethnicity)

[@azizovich85]

Lack of insight and blindly following leaders is remedy for disaster

[@bunning63]

Recall a friend of my parents that had been a diplomat in China telling us about the war on sparrows. Thought that was pretty out there and never heard much else till now about it.

[@sarcasmo57]

"As went the sparrows, so went the people." I like that. Very well said History Guy.

[@MrLarryC11]

Another History gem which I had never heard of. Well done!

[@lowecypher8761]

That's crazier than the Emu War and that one guy who escalated it gets worshipped even with all that unnecessary death victims? Insanity.

[@TimPearcy]

Thanks for another little piece of history, keep up the great work!

[@chistinebinning6768]

I love watching your show. It’s to the point without all the drama. Thank you

[@jasepoag8930]

"Oh fun, I bet this will be like the Australian Emu war" "Oh....oh no, this is nothing like that"

[@arthas640]

the emu war basically boiled down to some soldiers trying and failing to stop a stampede and resulted in very little damage, soemthing Australia gets jokes about even today, whereas Mao killed 50-100 million of his people and is worshiped as a God for it.

[@andersaxmark5871]

Your channel is the best on KZbin. I would applaud accompanying bibliographies to each episode - surely that's something you have, even in a very rough form?

[@hittman1222]

This is one of my favorite channels on KZbin. Thank you for posting these videos.

[@alexklavon3571]

Big fan of this series, please keep it up!

[@4Irocksocks]

@4:50 - @4:56 this is scarily close to current American scientific and political interactions right now where I'm at. Learn from history, lest we repeat it... And keep up the good work, History Guy and wife! You two make an amazing, well-researched team!

[@cybergazza2140]

"As went the sparrows, so went the people." A turn of phrase that could be used over and over...

[@anonymoususer4937]

This is my favorite channel. Thank you History Guy! You serve mankind.

[@Pfsif]

The "Great Leap Forward" wasn't great for the 60 million who were murdered by the Great Leader.

[@imoneixusa9742]

One persons death is a tragedy 60 million is just a statistic

[@shawngilliland243]

@Pfsif - you sure are right about Mao the Dung and his wretched, murderous Great Leap BACKWARD.

[@michaelwiebers9656]

Imone iX USA Sounds like something King 👑 Trump would say 😝!

[@arthas640]

@@michaelwiebers9656 more like paraphrasing a quote widely attributed to Stalin. I know most white people look alike but Stalin is claimed to have said that quote either during or around the time of the Tehran conference in 1943 and Trump wasnt born until 1946. Also while Trump is a delusional idiot even he couldnt expect to stay in office if he casually brushed off the deaths of 60 million of his constituents.

[@michaelwiebers9656]

Arthas Menethil, Amen to that. I also appreciate history. Check out the “History Guy” on KZbin. I think you will enjoy 😊 it.

[@greggi47]

I enjoy your videos, especially when you go far outside the realm of obvious and overworked topics. Your presentation is informative and accessible. Thanks. Have you posted any biographical information? What sort of degree do you have> How do you choose topics?

[@benderrodriguez142]

Just found this channel this past weekend... binged a ton of videos. I love that you do this, it is a great project.

[@blameusa7082]

Dude.... of all the events you have done... this maybe one of the most significant!!

[@niagaradrones]

Fantastic as per usual History Guy!

[@MorellioBenoir]

Yay more History Guy!

[@kenskater8602]

I watch ya quite a bit...this is the first time you told a story i had not heard before. Thanks!

[@JazznRealHipHop]

Great snippet of history sir, I am always intrigued and inspired by your videos. If you could do a story on the Leopoldville the memory of many lives, including my great uncles, would be honored. Such a large naval disaster that was censored and swept under the rug "deserves to be remembered", respectfully

[@hhuggman1]

Outstanding! History taught with class. I look forward to each lesson, cheers.

[@hhuggman1]

Ps, love the tshirt, thanks.

[@guyfawkes9951]

Hey THG, Great content as always. One subject similar to this one you might cover is the Eugene Schieffelin's plan to release every bird from The Bard's work into North America.

[@KC98561]

Remember reading about the Great Sparrow Wars. Thanks for making a video about it.

[@haroldellis9721]

A peasant ought never be put in charge of anything larger than a farm.

[@knutdergroe9757]

Mao, was like Stalin..... Just a peasant with just enough education to make arrogant.... Never understanding that humility is the easiest way of learning.

[@thefiascogarage3215]

"Where'd you get the coconuts?" "A 5 oz. bird cannot carry a 1 lb. coconut" "It could be carried by an African Swallow, but not a European Swallow"...

[@zapthycat]

But african swallows are non-migratory...

[@bertsedgwick9828]

Oh when insanity rules eh!

[@acemarcola]

Thank you for the videos.

[@dleland71]

Fascinating, as always. Thanks.

[@BUF20]

Amazing story. Par for the course. Thanks to you and your wife for the history lesson ^5

[@dancetweety10]

They have no respect for nature or people. Simply sickening :(

[@rosetownstumpcity]

thanks for all the great information

[@cjmoore7240]

Beautiful piece of history! KEEP ON ROCKING!

[@buggs9950]

Please don't get at me if I'm wrong here but I seem to remember hearing of a similar thing in a country on the Amazon. This time the targets were piranhas due to the livestock losses. Unfortunately there was no differentiation made between vicious flesh eating varieties and the far more prevalent ones that eat fruit and bugs etc. This led to a huge increase in mosquitoes as their larva's main predator were piranhas and so followed a massive malaria outbreak that killed a huge number of people.

[@sarjim4381]

One of the advantages of a totalitarian government is you get to decide on the enemy and then mobilize the populace against them. Excellent video about an obscure but important part of Chinese history.

[@davesy6969]

I think you've missed the point, Mao had the sparrows killed and the insects had no natural predators anymore so ate the crops.

[@DrZippo01]

Loved it! And sooooo many connections and lessons to be remembered in the world today.

[@charlottemace1810]

I LOVE HISTORY AND I ENJOY YOUR HISTORY INSIGHTS.

[@buonafortuna8928]

As usual a brilliant episode. Certainly deserved to be remembered. This "the Sparrow Campaign" is almost an argument for democracy. As bad as it is (paraphrasing Churchill) at least most of the stupid ideas die on the vine. 120K :D

[@jeanettewaverly2590]

Although I'm a proponent of democracy, given today's political climate, I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Churchill.

[@BHuang92]

My parents starved because of them. My family moved to the US in the late 80s. They had a hard time back then.

[@jackxh]

Great Talk. I love your talks!

[@NicoDsSBCs]

Loved it! Great story.

[@lonjohnson5161]

Government fiat is a poor replacement for good science, although sometimes even reasonable people can make major blunders. The best American example I can think of is the decision to put out all forest fires immediately upon detection. Little did we realize that we were harming the next generation of trees and building an explosive stockpile of fuel. Whenever you think you have a great idea, start with small experiments and look for where you went wrong, before going bigger and never start on a national or world level if at all avoidable.

[@billthetraveler51]

I loved the message that policy makes for bad science and bad science used to make policy is even worse. Your straight forward historical accounting is why I love this channel. As I have written before, History from political agenda is not history at all. That is propaganda. You keep it clean and straight. I look forward to every new video. This is an example , like so many of your videos, of how could this possibly be interesting? It is absolutely fascinating. Again!

[@schristy3637]

Every time I watch I know more. Thanks History Guy.

[@bookstore101]

I enjoy your channel. Thank you.

[@dapperr1619]

I think you should cover the Fenian invasion of Canada, its almost forgotten and the Irish government are trying to get rid of it to help Canadian-Irish relations, so it is definitely History that Deserves to be remembered.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

I plan on it-

[@robinhodgkinson]

Just got back from China. It’s extraordinary how this country has changed in just my lifetime. The younger generation there would not be able to conceive of this level of ideology, nor this level of hardship, or in this case such a state controlled call to arms against birds!

[@cgrable8342]

As usual enjoyed yet another of your 10-12 minutes "tidbits of history"...then another 45 minutes of reading the comments of your loyal and passionate followers. There is a lot to be learned from both..thanks.

[@antivalidisme5669]

Epic intro! Thank you very much for your work sir.

[@BengalsOfRidanos]

Perhaps you could make a video about the backyard steel furnaces during the great leap forward. Valuable tools were melted down to produce worthless steel.

[@shawngilliland243]

@Ridanos Protectors - I believe you mean the Great Leap BACKWARD.

[@maddyg3208]

My theory on the problem with Mao's ideas in the 1950s, which was really the only decade that he got to put those ideas into practice on a China-wide scale, was that, as well as the flawed idea of all Marxists that societies and economies can successfullly be turned on their heads by political forces, they were based on his experience of over twenty years of living in remote Red Army guerilla camps, cut off from much of the rest of the world, and where most things allowing them to exist had to be improvised and/or done on by hand without outside help. They worked then, to the point that the Communists both survived Nationalist attacks and won the civil war. But they didn't work on a national scale because national societies and economies are not army camps, and peacetime is not wartime, even if Communists want it that way, with their numerous real or imagined internal enemies. He was successful in getting massive amounts of unpaid work out of his country's huge population, including the old and the young who would for instance not have otherwise been killing sparrows, but clearly Mao had no real idea how to govern properly, which is why even his own cronies got him to step aside shortly after the so-called Great Leap Forward.

[@sameyers2670]

I'd never heard of the sparrow war before thank you. I learn a lot from your videos

[@robertberglund8321]

Thank you for making History fun again. Tidbits like this one help us understand that the smallest action (or inaction) can have catastrophic effects, and thus impact a society for generations to come. If we do not study History, we inevitably are doomed to repeat it.

[@JackdeDuCoeur]

Very nice! I'm a big fan of Chinese history and would enjoy more. My own relatively expensive education included very little about China beyond what the Luce's wanted to promote.

[@jonathanryals9934]

I've always enjoyed studying history, and I was familiar with the famine that killed so many after Communism was implemented, but never heard of the four pests campaigns. Thanks, you are breathing new life into history for me.

[@phillipbrewster6058]

i love all of your videos

[@rockinbobokkin7831]

Great content!

[@shamoy1000]

One might think that governments don't always know what's best. Good lesson. Thanks.

[@iontigerhawk9162]

Would it be possible if you could do a history lesson on the impact that the 138th tactical squadron Flying Tiger's had on the Second World War from beginning to end? Very little is talked about the Flying Tiger's in history books.

[@FSIlenini]

HAWK, The impact of the Flying Tigers on WW2 is easy. It had no impact.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Wait a sec.... First, a well documented topic.There were 3 squadrons and formed the 23rd Fighter Group when they joined the AAF in 1942. Impact? They were the major alliled airpower in the CBI for years. Kept enemy airpower off the Burma Ledo Road and protected cargo over the Himalayas.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

@@FSIlenini Not fair to say no impact.

[@fabianscott5753]

I really like this episode keep up the good work Fabian Scott from Jamaica you okay go get your

[@alwaystinkering7710]

Government decrees, citizens comply, dissenters are made afraid to speak, accurate science is ignored, local officials report bogus numbers, and people suffer greatly for all of this. Why does this sound so familiar?

[@bruh5361]

Just like the Great Emu War in Australia

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

The Emus put up a better fight.

[@Welshman2008]

Simply History did a video about the Emu War

[@stanzahero]

And technically, they won.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Welshman2008 there are several versions of the emu war on YT- that is one of the reasons that I haven’t done an episode on it.

[@ancientnumbat4631]

Bruh, at least we were picking on something our own size.

[@laterdudesaint]

I hope you someday cover my Hotchkiss clan.. Jedidiah made maps for stonewall jackson that are in the smithsonian. Benjamín created the arms company that made cannons used at wounded knee , san juan hill. The factory in paris and coventry made the 1914 machine gun , tanks , jeeps , and sexy cars.

[@InterRad1]

Don't forget about the Hotchkiss rear axle. Still used in trucks but not as much in autos any more.

[@julielabelle2783]

Good video, thank you.

[@tomriley5790]

Really interesting episode.

[@Annur375]

The great folly of man! - Unfortunately, it continues everywhere.

[@carolynandrade2648]

WOW! Thanks, I had never heard of this program before. Ideology suppressing the scientific fact, gee where have I heard that lately.

[@weirdshibainu]

Not in the states. The difference is that in Maoist china, dissent in such matters was routinely harshly punished, including exile and death. The u.s. in no way is like Maoist china (a socialist "paradise" and long revered by the more radical elements of the Left in America) as individual states can act on their own and scientific debate is ongoing and robust. Poor allusion.

[@carolynandrade2648]

Idology suppressing scientific fact that what I was referring to. I said nada about "socialist paradise"

[@stevengrotte2987]

The TRUMPANZZE White House,

[@whalesong999]

Same here, 'carolyn'...! A mania caused by an ignorant and dominating dictator and urging the population to the same. Yes, where are we seeing this dynamic crop up again...:(.. .?

[@thedave7760]

Dictator "a leader who has complete power in a country and has not been elected by the people" There There are 48 dictators on the current list. Your president isn't on it. Perhaps you could care to explain why you think he belongs on that list?

[@geraldtonjjeeper]

This is a great channel. You choose subjects both grand and obscure and I have learned and enjoyed most of the ones I have watched! One subject I have tried to find out about is what happened to the materiel (equipment used by soldiers) from rifles to vehicles, tanks to kitchen gear during WWII. I imagine there must have been quite an effort to retrieve as much as possible for recycling/repair/return to service. Do you have any footage and detail about the subject? I would be fascinated to learn. Thanks for a terrific series. Roger; (Australia)

[@fatboy7609]

Strange. Never heard of the Sparrow campaign. Thank you for the video.

[@HisameArtwork]

50 years from now History Guy Jr. will be telling our grand-kids about the dumbassery that is going on today.

[@r3dp9]

That comment would have been more perfect had it been written in 2020/2021 instead of 2018. 2018 was good, 2018 was alright.

[@scottleft3672]

The foolishness in China was repeated in Cambodia....communism gave us monumental stupidity....under an iron fist. The song Fly, Little Sparrow, was likely written in response of the attempt to wipe out the Asian Sparrow....it was on the radio all through the mid 70's.

[@elizdonovan5650]

Wonderful channel. Thank you. 🌲🌝☘️

[@nolimendoza4588]

You are awesome!

[@alexanderthomas2660]

It's great that you try to raise more public awareness about this act of what these days would be considered insanity if it would be proposed (although we don't really seem to learn because proposals to try to eradicate certain animal species keep popping up). The story doesn't end with the locusts because in order to get rid of them, the government threw enormous amounts of pesticides against them. This killed certain essential pollinating insects as well and the result is that even to this day in certain regions in China, plants need to be pollinated by hand, by human workers. I think one of the only upsides of this whole chain of dumb decisions is that it probably was one of the inspiring factors behind the ecology movement that grew around the 1970s.

[@TheScienceguy77]

Can you do a video on how the oomycete Late Blight (Phytophthora infestans) devastated European potato crops causing the Irish Potato Famine and subsequent revolutions in the 1840s?

[@rudolfyakich6653]

Thanks H.G., as I age I appreciate our feathered friends all the more. Now if I could only spell as well as when I was in primary school.

[@ShowCat1]

I would like to see a video on a fascinating man named, Dr. J. Frank Norris of Ft. Worth, Texas. He was a fiery minister who took on organized crime in what was called Hell's Half Acre. I am a screenwriter and I plan to write a screenplay about this truly extraordinary man. I really appreciate all your hard work you put into this channel. I have to say it is my favorite thing on KZbin.