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SlothfulCobra posted:I get how Switzerland could maintain independence, but how did dorky little San Marino not get attacked during the height of fascist Italy's expansion? You'd think they'd want to clean up that little speck in the middle of their supposedly ethnically united peninsula before engaging in some foolhardy overseas venture. Because San Marino is essentially Italian anyways. Also apparently fascist from 1923 onwards.
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May 12, 2016 00:02
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Someone in the Historical Wargames thread said I should post this here: Speaking of primary sources... After my paternal grandfather passed, my grandmother would occasionally mention something about "some old Civil War books" that grandpa wanted me to have. Always followed by, "oh, but I forgot to bring them. I'll try to remember next time." OK, cool, whatever. She didn't ascribe much importance to them, so I never followed up. This poo poo went on for like a decade, with her bringing it up every once in a while. Finally at a family Thanksgiving two years ago, she hands me a non-descript shoe-box that contains this:  A better look at the spine:  Yes, that is in fact an original printing of both volumes of John C. S. Abbot's "History of the Civil War in America." Volume I was penned in late 1862 and published in 1863 - while the war was still going on. Jesus, grandma, you didn't tell me that grandpa left me godsdamned TREASURE!!!
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May 12, 2016 00:40
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Liechtenstein also kept its independence through the wars. Too little fish for Nazis, and too close to Switzerland.
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May 12, 2016 01:10
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Pontius Pilate posted:I think it was an essay in What If: Gay Black Hitler the Book that very, very optimistically made the case that if Germany had won in WWI it would've led to a proto-EU being established. Yeah, that was Niall "Clownshit" Ferguson. Who I hate.
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May 12, 2016 01:30
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Von Humboldt posted:Every time this book comes up (I'm reading through it for like the third time myself right now!) a few goons grumble about it and Massie in general. Why is that? Is his scholarship not thorough? Is he attributing thoughts and motivations to political movers without sufficient back-up? (That would be my suspicion, though it does make for fun reading.) I think that's it, and it's a bit more the case in Dreadnought than in Castles of Steel.
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May 12, 2016 01:42
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Slim Jim Pickens posted:Because San Marino is essentially Italian anyways. It probably wasn't worth the fuss, and San Marino had a nice rep (and retained their independence in the first place) by serving as a refuge for Garibaldi and other unification heroes..
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May 12, 2016 01:45
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My favorite thing about Italian unification is how they had all that potential for greatness and then consistently hosed things up for the better part of half a century.
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May 12, 2016 02:00
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Italy's ultimate ceiling was like, fifth largest power in Europe, though. I don't think there were a tremendous number of geopolitical opportunities they squandered.
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May 12, 2016 02:03
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ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:Yeah, that was Niall "Clownshit" Ferguson. Who I hate. I not only agree but am going to steal this name
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May 12, 2016 07:02
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Ilor posted:Someone in the Historical Wargames thread said I should post this here: Cool! Does it have an opinion on McClellan?
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May 12, 2016 10:48
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I can't take Nialls seriously after reading post-apoc books that featured giant telepathic spiders
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May 12, 2016 13:09
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I can't take Nialls seriously ever since I read that story about an ex of his throwing his poo poo out the window because it turned out he was married at the time. (I think it was HEY GAL'S friend? It's been ages since I read that anecdote)
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May 12, 2016 14:53
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Ilor posted:Someone in the Historical Wargames thread said I should post this here: Hey Gal currently breaking the sound barrier to cross the atlantic
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May 12, 2016 15:04
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Don Gato posted:I can't take Nialls seriously ever since I read that story about an ex of his throwing his poo poo out the window because it turned out he was married at the time. when you think of him, think of a German 20something throwing his poo poo out his window, forever
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May 12, 2016 15:24
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HEY GAL posted:my friend's sister Imagine four trash bags worth of a historian's belongings on the edge of a windowsill. Time works the same way.
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May 12, 2016 16:01
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I thought we were imagining bin bags full of Niall Ferguson's belongings?
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May 12, 2016 16:16
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Trin Tragula posted:I thought we were imagining bin bags full of Niall Ferguson's belongings? 
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May 12, 2016 17:26
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Comrade! Were you celebrating Victory day hard enough?
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May 12, 2016 18:06
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With the Stalin toothbrush, do you use vodka as toothpaste?
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May 12, 2016 18:15
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Nenonen posted:With the Stalin toothbrush, do you use vodka as toothpaste? Do you not?
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May 12, 2016 18:22
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Most of those are from last year. I still want to know what an air freshener with the smell of victory smells like...
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May 12, 2016 18:38
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про клик
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May 12, 2016 18:49
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Those baby uniforms 
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May 12, 2016 18:56
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Ensign Expendable posted:Most of those are from last year. I still want to know what an air freshener with the smell of victory smells like... Is Apocalypse Now not patriotic enough for you?
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May 12, 2016 18:56
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Ensign Expendable posted:Most of those are from last year. I still want to know what an air freshener with the smell of victory smells like... Напалм.
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May 12, 2016 19:21
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 Slogan in bottom left reads "I remember! I am proud!". Top right is "I too will be a hero, like my great-grandfather". Presumably, the dude on the far left is the great-grandfather in question.
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May 12, 2016 19:49
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Kopijeger posted:
Uhh isn't that dude a German
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May 12, 2016 20:08
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feedmegin posted:Uhh isn't that dude a German Yes, he is. That doesn't prevent him from being the great-grandfather of an awfully precocious Russian infant.
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May 12, 2016 20:12
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feedmegin posted:Uhh isn't that dude a German Turns out many people don't know one uniform from another and will grab the first photo that a google search for "WWII soldier" returns.
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May 12, 2016 20:39
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Ensign Expendable posted:Turns out many people don't know one uniform from another and will grab the first photo that a google search for "WWII soldier" returns. Doesn't the helmet design make it really obvious, though?
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May 12, 2016 20:49
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Davin Valkri posted:Doesn't the helmet design make it really obvious, though? To you or I, yes. To someone with zero interest in military history, not really.
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May 12, 2016 21:03
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Ensign Expendable posted:To you or I, yes. To someone with zero interest in military history, not really. Hell, even to someone with a moderate degree of interest in it. Modern(ish) helmets aren't something I really pay attention to unless it's a pickelhaube. I wouldn't have noticed the identity of the soldier at all had the thread not pointed that out.
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May 12, 2016 21:05
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my dad posted:Hell, even to someone with a moderate degree of interest in it. Modern(ish) helmets aren't something I really pay attention to unless it's a pickelhaube. I wouldn't have noticed the identity of the soldier at all had the thread not pointed that out. I just assumed it was a German baby.
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May 12, 2016 21:10
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Ensign Expendable posted:To you or I, yes. To someone with zero interest in military history, not really. I thought that helmet design would have been common enough in propaganda art (on both sides) to firmly cement the association "coal bucket helmet = Stahlhelm = Wehrmacht = Nazi Germany", especially in Russia.
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May 12, 2016 21:13
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Davin Valkri posted:I thought that helmet design would have been common enough in propaganda art (on both sides) to firmly cement the association "coal bucket helmet = Stahlhelm = Wehrmacht = Nazi Germany", especially in Russia. To the last generation, maybe. To kids these days, not so much 
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May 12, 2016 21:29
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100 Years Ago: Triple Trouble 4 May: General Smuts neeeeeearly, but not quite, manages to get himself captured at Kondoa; E.S. Thompson favours us with some astoundingly, brutally ungrateful racism; General Haig and Georges Clemenceau have the kind of meeting that I can't help but think should be taking place in some shadowy, smoke-filled club room (at which it emerges that Clemenceau is seriously worried that Joseph Caillaux has been positioning himself to be the next Prime Minister, the same Caillaux whose wife literally shot a newspaper editor a couple of years ago); the Sunny Subaltern is right underneath a very nasty German strafe; and Malcolm White, like so many other correspondents, is deeply critical of incompetent Army officers such as...himself. Well, that's new! 5 May: The Gardeners of Salonika shoot down a Zeppelin; there's a small but extremely significant change in the situation at the Battle of Verdun; Bernard Adams is a bit too eager with his snipers and gets whizz-banged for his pains; and E.S. Thompson completes his journey forward to Arusha. 6 May: A truly vast deception plan is now swinging into operation on the Western Front, involving most everyone in the BEF from General Haig to Assistant Latrine Pioneer John Crapper, and it seems to be working just well enough for the Chief's purposes; Louis Barthas briefly comes over all Blackadder when a comrade has a major Bad News/Good News encounter with a tetchy horse; E.S. Thompson has safeguarded the officers' whisky supplies; Edward Mousley is still in hospital in Kut and still in the poo poo; and we meet new correspondent the Rev Oswin Creighton, who in no way resembles a cut-price public domain Kenneth Best.
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May 12, 2016 21:50
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feedmegin posted:Uhh isn't that dude a German That's not a real dude, it's a drawing from the loading screen of Hearts of Iron 3. 
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May 12, 2016 22:34
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Arbite posted:That's not a real dude, it's a drawing from the loading screen of Hearts of Iron 3. Paradox tracing iconic photos for their loading screen? I doubt it.
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May 12, 2016 22:38
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Arbite posted:That's not a real dude, it's a drawing from the loading screen of Hearts of Iron 3. I don't even know who's trying to gently caress with who anymore, but that photo is like the first hit for "waffen ss ardennes". Either way the joke is on anyone who bought HOI3 (  )
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May 12, 2016 22:40
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Ensign Expendable posted:Turns out many people don't know one uniform from another and will grab the first photo that a google search for "WWII soldier" returns. I had completely forgotten Trump used a Soviet (I think) soldier for some veterans related thing. You think it wouldn't be difficult to throw the country you want in front of the search. I watched The Pacific recently and it mentioned that Okinawa was the only battle in the pacific where US casualties were greater than the Japanese. Poking around a bit that claim seems dubious since it requires taking Japan's estimate at face value but it's still closer than a lot of other battles. Why's that? I know the fighting was brutal with determined, entrenched defenders but that describes more than just Okinawa.
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May 12, 2016 22:47
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