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Grant was a fantastic general who knew how to delegate as much as possible to his good subordinates and also how to handle his less than good subordinates. One thing is he was very clear with his orders. If he thought they needed that hill he'd say "take that hill", not "advance towards the hill with all necessary precautions and assault, if practible." There wouldn't be any wiggle room for him to divert blame to subordinates if his orders turned out to be poo poo (Cold Harbor) and Grant took on that responsibility.
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Feb 28, 2017 20:54
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zoux posted:What's the better B-17 story: Memphis Belle or the Amazing Stories episode where they have to do a belly landing and they can't get the guy out of the ball turret so he magically draws some cartoon landing gears that become real and he escapes when they land? Old 666 hands-down.
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Feb 28, 2017 21:06
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nrook posted:Speaking of narratives about war, I'm reading Grant's memoirs right now, and jeez. I did not realize how much of a general's time was spent prosecuting dumb pissing contests with other generals on the same side. Every time Grant meets another general he's very clear about who he thinks has the right to order whom around, and half the time the other guy disagrees! You should read about Middle Ages wars. That the First Crusade succeeded in its goals is honestly kind of amazing to me.
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Feb 28, 2017 21:20
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P-Mack posted:Grant was a fantastic general who knew how to delegate as much as possible to his good subordinates and also how to handle his less than good subordinates. To be fair, it would be far easier to fall into the habit of vague orders when one is showered with skilled subordinates like Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, and Richard Anderson. Grant was regularly reminded of the dangers of re-interpretable orders due to subordinates like totally-not-a-trumped-up-congressman-with-an-uniform McClernand.
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Feb 28, 2017 21:28
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Elyv posted:You should read about Middle Ages wars. That the First Crusade succeeded in its goals is honestly kind of amazing to me. The fact that they succeeded owes a lot to the fact that the other side was equally if not more disorganized by their own internal politics.
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Feb 28, 2017 21:55
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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Cyrano4747 posted:One of my eyes is completely going to poo poo while the other is still pretty OK. This means I have a legitimate use for a monocle and I am super bummed that my wife has vetoed that idea. feedmegin posted:I've always had one good eye and one pretty crappy one. I've worn glasses since I was literally 6 months old but I am now pondering a monocle and the full Prussian officer look. HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Feb 28, 2017 |
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Feb 28, 2017 22:07
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HEY GAIL posted:i'm entirely blind in one eye, what's the cause for y'all's problems? Did you forget to shut your eyes when firing?
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Feb 28, 2017 22:13
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PittTheElder posted:The fact that they succeeded owes a lot to the fact that the other side was equally if not more disorganized by their own internal politics. Oh, for sure. I'd go so far as to as say that there wasn't a single "other side" really, just various lords and kings who were as worried about each other as they were about the "Franks". Still pretty remarkable though, I think.
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Feb 28, 2017 22:14
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chitoryu12 posted:Did you forget to shut your eyes when firing?
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Feb 28, 2017 22:15
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Would anyone know where to go to find some solid speculation on WTF happened to France's population growth in the 1800s? Not quite milhist but I figure there's got to be someone who can direct me to the hist thread or something.
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Mar 1, 2017 00:20
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spectralent posted:Would anyone know where to go to find some solid speculation on WTF happened to France's population growth in the 1800s? Not quite milhist but I figure there's got to be someone who can direct me to the hist thread or something. the french government has been paranoid about this for a while. french people love not having to support all those kids
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Mar 1, 2017 00:29
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HEY GAIL posted:not having that much sex or something. That doesn't sound like the French to me
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Mar 1, 2017 00:31
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HEY GAIL posted:their population growth was slowing since the 1750s because they figured out birth control, probably by coitus interruptus or not having that much sex or something. Wait, are all the jokes I'm making about my cavalry brigadier having so many mistresses and affairs off base? Now I'm sad.
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Mar 1, 2017 00:36
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OctaviusBeaver posted:That doesn't sound like the French to me all i know is they figured out birth control before anyone else in europe but i'm not sure exactly how
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Mar 1, 2017 00:37
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xthetenth posted:Wait, are all the jokes I'm making about my cavalry brigadier having so many mistresses and affairs off base? Now I'm sad.
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Mar 1, 2017 00:37
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask / Tell > Ask Us About Military History Mk. III: well they may have been having different kinds of sex, i dunno
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Mar 1, 2017 00:38
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HEY GAIL posted:he's got mistresses but he doesn't get them pregnant. or not as often. Well, except for war. 
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Mar 1, 2017 00:42
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_condoms
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Mar 1, 2017 00:46
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quote:The French they are a funny race, they fight with their feet and gently caress with their face. English traditional poem.
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Mar 1, 2017 01:15
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Early Modern sex was beginning to become less individually skilled than in previous centuries but often occurred over longer distances.
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Mar 1, 2017 01:45
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The only reference to france I can see there is all post war. Condom usage is interesting at least since the only other explanation I saw offered was that Napoleon broke up inheritance among all children, leading to people having fewer children, but it's hard to believe literally everyone was reliant on inheritance systems.
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Mar 1, 2017 01:56
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spectralent posted:The only reference to france I can see there is all post war. I guess it would depend on how agrarian the society was at e time and how many farms were owned by the farmers farming them vs huge sharecropped estates.
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Mar 1, 2017 02:25
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zoux posted:What's the better B-17 story: Memphis Belle or the Amazing Stories episode where they have to do a belly landing and they can't get the guy out of the ball turret so he magically draws some cartoon landing gears that become real and he escapes when they land? 12 O'clock High Not really, Memphis Belle is my go-to
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Mar 1, 2017 02:44
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12 o clock high is a really good movie
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Mar 1, 2017 02:51
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spectralent posted:The only reference to france I can see there is all post war. Thanks to my 30 Years War studies [reading that one book heygal recommended] I know that splitting estates among all heirs was a serious political problem, because large estates would subdivide themselves into economic ruin. Speaking of the 30 years war: WALLENSTIEN. I've gotten past the early part of the 30 years war, where a confederacy is defeated by Tilly and his fightin'...guys. The Emperor having people executed in Prauge seems like it'd be the "intro to wholesale butchery" if the class was being taught in the Taiping rebellion, but here apparently has lasting consequences, even though they really are the ringleaders. There is then a calmer period where the Emperor tries to restore what is laughably referred to as order in the Empire. Meanwhile, the starved dog barking, Mansfield, works for the Dutch [I'm not really sure how he escapes notice as he was a general, but I guess being a mercenary general makes it alright. The English also do something bizzare, invade Spain because they felt snubbed in a marriage proposal or something, but the invasion just causes huge drunkeness in British soldiers and they just go home. (I may have imagined that, nm.) Anyway, somehow Spain and France and getting into it, initially in a pissing match over a valley in Switzerland being Cathloic, and Wallenstien, Gothic General, is now on the scene. There is also a fascinating section on how the 30 years war armies handed logistics and "paying soldiers" when the Emperor was mega-bankrupt, and it is messed up. It was a system with a name, but essentially meant raised companies would be assigned to an area and the area would have to pay their expenses/supply logistics? And if the soldiers don't get paid, it seems like they loot the place? Or is this assumption unwarranted? bewbies posted:12 o clock high is a really good movie
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Mar 1, 2017 02:59
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Nebakenezzer posted:has lasting consequences, even though they really are the ringleaders. There is then a calmer period where the Emperor tries to restore what is laughably referred to as order in the Empire. Meanwhile, the starved dog barking, Mansfield, works for the Dutch [I'm not really sure how he escapes notice as he was a general, but I guess being a mercenary general makes it alright. quote:The English also do something bizzare, invade Spain because they felt snubbed in a marriage proposal or something, but the invasion just causes huge drunkeness in British soldiers and they just go home. (I may have imagined that, nm.) quote:There is also a fascinating section on how the 30 years war armies handed logistics and "paying soldiers" when the Emperor was mega-bankrupt, and it is messed up. It was a system with a name, but essentially meant raised companies would be assigned to an area and the area would have to pay their expenses/supply logistics? And if the soldiers don't get paid, it seems like they loot the place? Or is this assumption unwarranted? HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Mar 1, 2017 |
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Mar 1, 2017 03:03
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Weren't French demographics in the 19th century also hosed up by having 20 years of war thanks to the Revolution and Napoleon?
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Mar 1, 2017 04:43
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I think anybody who has ever played Crusader Kings II knows that parceling out inheritance is bad. Ideally everything should go to your firstborn, but the rest of the children are there as contingencies in case your elder spawn is struck by plague/stupids/gays/general death.
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Mar 1, 2017 08:06
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 During WW2 Finnish military was thinking of ways for protection against Russian bomber raids. One of the most sensitive targets was the industrial town of Imatra in eastern Finland as its hydroelectric plant and steel and paper industries concentration presented a juicy target for strategic bombing. Someone put their thinking caps on and came up with a wonderful plan: Let's cover an area 12 km deep and 6 km wide with 534 searchlights 3000 Watts each! That's 7-8 searchlights per sq.km, surely enough to make it impossible for bombardiers to recognize ground targets.  The plan (north = right). Innit great? Too bad that it was built too late to do more than a few tests before the war was over.
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Mar 1, 2017 11:32
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Ofaloaf posted:Weren't French demographics in the 19th century also hosed up by having 20 years of war thanks to the Revolution and Napoleon? Nope, 100% weird sex problems
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Mar 1, 2017 14:13
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HEY GAIL posted:i'm entirely blind in one eye, what's the cause for y'all's problems? Bad genes. My mum's left eye is not so much 'crappy' as 'pretty much useless'. I also had pretty bad strabismus as a baby, hence the glasses.
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Mar 1, 2017 15:01
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FAUXTON posted:Hell, Meade (iirc according to Meade) thought he was getting arrested when the staff showed up to say he'd been offered command of the Army of the Potomac. Things back then were.... ehhhhh different. When Zhukov was summoned to lead the mongolian forces against the Kwantung army, he initially expected to be purged, and packed his things for the gulag, leaving his wife a letter saying to handle his disappearince with dignity. Things are never boring when your bosses are insane!
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Mar 1, 2017 15:08
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feedmegin posted:Bad genes. My mum's left eye is not so much 'crappy' as 'pretty much useless'. I also had pretty bad strabismus as a baby, hence the glasses. irregular astigmatism for me. Just hosed up bad genetics.
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Mar 1, 2017 15:26
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Tias posted:When Zhukov was summoned to lead the mongolian forces against the Kwantung army, he initially expected to be purged, and packed his things for the gulag, leaving his wife a letter saying to handle his disappearince with dignity. I think Meade may have just been paranoid; or perhaps he was committing some other crime? The Union army may have had leadership issues, but nobody was arrested, and only one or two generals were murdered. IIRC General Burnside did offer to refuse to accept McClellan's second firing, and claimed to have support of many of the other generals and the men. McClellan refused the offer, to his credit.
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Mar 1, 2017 15:29
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Ofaloaf posted:Weren't French demographics in the 19th century also hosed up by having 20 years of war thanks to the Revolution and Napoleon? aphid_licker posted:Nope, 100% weird sex problems This. The Napoleonic wars were still too small scale (relatively small armies and short campaigns... and mostly waged outside France, so few civilian deaths in the country) compared to the war of 1870 and the world wars. This chart shows it pretty well:  There does seem to be a small dip around 1815, if you look closely. But it's not even close. I'm not sure what the hell happened in 1911 or 1912, though. Kassad fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Mar 1, 2017 |
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Mar 1, 2017 15:39
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One eye is enough to use a scope, isn't it? Get in line, conscript!
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Mar 1, 2017 15:47
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Ensign Expendable posted:One eye is enough to use a scope, isn't it? Get in line, conscript! One soldier gets Mossin-Nagant, the next gets a scope...
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Mar 1, 2017 16:34
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JcDent posted:One soldier gets Mossin-Nagant, the next gets a scope... Who gets bullet?
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Mar 1, 2017 16:48
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:Who gets bullet? Both 
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Mar 1, 2017 16:51
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:Who gets bullet? The Nazi.
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Mar 1, 2017 16:55
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