|
quote:Nixon was invited to Ghanaian independence celebrations and there, he turned to a man to ask “how does it feel to be free at last?” And the man replied “I wouldn’t know sir, I only came for the celebration. I am from Alabama.”
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2023 09:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 19:51 |
|
|
These weren't the "double, double toil and trouble" kind of witches Shakespeare wrote about in "Macbeth." They were Wiccans, led by Gerald Gardner, the man whose writings would revive the pagan belief system to the modern era. In 1940s Britain, his beliefs were far from the mainstream, but like the rest of the country, he knew he might soon find himself under Nazi domination. Gardner may have been 55 years old and leading a coven of witches, but he was still a patriotic Briton with a stiff upper lip. So the man who would be remembered as "The Father of Witchcraft" and his followers were going to do their part to defend the island, casting a spell that would target Adolf Hitler personally and end the threat of a Nazi invasion. Gardner grew up in a wealthy English family that ran a timber company for the British Empire. He was a sickly boy who spent more time with his nursemaid than his parents. He spent much of his young life traveling and educating himself, eventually gaining a keen interest in spirituality, religious rituals and the occult. He would return to Britain as an older man, still sickly, but took up a career as a civil servant and amateur archeologist. Meanwhile, his interest in the occult only grew. After Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Garder settled in Highcliffe-on-Sea and joined the New Forest Coven, a group of pagan witches in southern England that he believed were continuing a pre-Christian religious order that had been kept secret for centuries. As 1939 turned to 1940, Gardner's affection for his coven grew, as did the coven itself. They practiced folk magic in tune with their beliefs and he began writing books that would later form the foundation for the brand of Wicca that still bears Gardner's name. Meanwhile, in Europe, things weren't going quite as well for the British Expeditionary Force. Nazi Germany had captured its objectives in Poland, and had already conquered Denmark, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. As the German Army pushed farther into France in May 1940, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers had to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk. Paris was captured in June 1940, and France was forced to capitulate. The Battle of Britain was about to begin. And when Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered Britons to "therefore brace ourselves to our duties," the aged Gardner and his band of witches dutifully complied. Gardner himself became an air raid warden and his home a headquarters for Air Raid Precautions, a civil defense organization. He also joined the local Home Guard as an armorer, providing locals with weapons from his own collection of firearms and preparing molotov cocktails for use in combat. But Gardner wanted to do more, and believed he had the magical ability to take the fight to the Nazis. The lore of the New Forest Coven included a ritual that had been used twice to defend the British Isles from the threat of an invasion. By creating a "Cone of Power," he and his coven could affect real-world events from the security of the New Forest. British witches had purportedly used the Cone of Power in 1588 to help fight off the Spanish Armada and in 1805 to end Napoleon's threat to England. They were going to use it once more in 1940. The Cone of Power would be directed toward Hitler's brain to cloud his judgment, weaken his resolve and hasten his downfall. It was Aug. 1, 1940, and Lammas Eve, an important harvest festival in the Wicca religion, when Gardner and his coven met in New Forest. Just north of Highcliffe, they met around an ancient hangman's tree called The Naked Man. From there, the coven walked to Ferny Knapp Inclosure, a wooded area where the ritual would take place. Instead of the traditional bonfire, the witches used a shuttered lantern (Gardner was still an air raid warden, after all) and danced in a spiral around it while naked (or "skyclad," in the Wiccan vernacular) to generate the magical energy needed to form the cone. As the coven chanted and danced, Gardner invoked the words of the spell and the assault on Hitler's brain began. We only know the Cone of Power ritual actually happened because Gardner would write about it himself in one of the three books he wrote on witchcraft in the 1950s. J.L. Bracelin, a high priest of Gardnerian Wicca and a contemporary of Gardner's, also wrote about it in his book, "Gerald Gardner, Witch." But did the Cone of Power affect Hitler's brain? Before August 1940, the Nazi war machine was virtually unstoppable, making few mistakes along the way. Hitler controlled or otherwise dominated most of Western Europe, and those not under Berlin's direct control (aside from Britain) were either too weak or too fearful to make any meaningful resistance. Roughly six weeks after the Cone of Power, Hitler abruptly canceled Operation Sea Lion, the proposed invasion of Britain, in favor of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Less than a year later, Hitler would invade the USSR and declare war on the United States, neither of which he was bound to do. These were two critical miscalculations on the German leader's part that would have disastrous consequences for his regime. To Gerald Gardner and the New Forest Coven, it was proof positive that the Cone of Power had once again saved Britain.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 22:54
|
|
|
The cone of power has the incredible power to prevent things that weren't gonna happen anyway
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 04:29
|
|
|
hard to believe our grandparents were so naive that they put more faith in imaginary rituals than grounded real world scientific analysis anyway i need to go request my early ballot for the next election since its the only way to keep fascists from power smdh at how we didnt just stop hitler with voting before he became a problem
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 05:12
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/AgeofNapoleon/status/1707926947949633678?t=FiQevtM91PHyvRTB_zLkOw&s=19
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 07:20
|
|
|
wasn't his record somewhat mediocre and he died at the beginning of the biggest battle
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 08:12
|
|
|
He knew he was gonna die tho Anyway my Trafalgar book implies everyone there was convinced he was the real deal
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 08:34
|
|
|
Nelson won a pretty important victory at the Battle of the Nile where Napoleon’s flagship l’Orient was obliterated by a powder magazine explosion. That battle basically ensured that Napoleon’s designs on Egypt, the Middle East and his plan to march to India were dead in the water (pun intended).
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 09:25
|
|
|
Nelson was a war-criminal who carried out the first terror-bombing in modern European history.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 12:05
|
|
|
his square is pretty cool
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 13:07
|
|
|
A Buttery Pastry posted:Nelson was a war-criminal who carried out the first terror-bombing in modern European history. no wonder the british love him so much
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2023 14:10
|
|
|
Endman posted:Nelson won a pretty important victory at the Battle of the Nile where Napoleon’s flagship l’Orient was obliterated by a powder magazine explosion. That battle basically ensured that Napoleon’s designs on Egypt, the Middle East and his plan to march to India were dead in the water (pun intended). Ah you're talking about the AU where Napoleon rebuilds the Temple
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 05:05
|
|
|
history isfor dummies. make ur own story
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 08:55
|
|
|
Lpzie posted:history isfor dummies. make ur own story That's what Napoleon was doing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 17:10
|
|
|
Lpzie posted:history isfor dummies. make ur own story But we do not make it as we please
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 18:35
|
|
|
so im watching a video from the great war on youtube about the spanish american war and apparently the main guy in the battle of las guisamas wheeler used to be a confederate general? the gently caress??? we have anticonfederate constitutional amendments that disqualify drumpf from holding office because of his insurrectioning but giving these same guys guns and command of other guys with guns was a ok?????
Some Guy TT has issued a correction as of 01:29 on Oct 2, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 01:25
|
|
|
blame Andrew Johnson, he blanket pardoned the confederates
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 01:31
|
|
|
The South lost the first stage of the Civil War but won in the end.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 01:31
|
|
|
Raskolnikov38 posted:blame Andrew Johnson, he blanket pardoned the confederates so what youre saying is theres ample precedent for trump to pardon everyone who was involved with january sixth
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 01:35
|
|
|
StashAugustine posted:But we do not make it as we please got poo poo running through my brain so intense that i can't explain all alone in my white boy pain caused by the weight of the traditions of all preceding generations
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 02:35
|
|
|
Some Guy TT posted:so what youre saying is theres ample precedent for trump to pardon everyone who was involved with january sixth Yes. They say they're sorry and it's time to bring the country together again
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 06:15
|
|
|
Azathoth posted:The South lost the first stage of the Civil War but won in the end. Yup !
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 06:39
|
|
|
Some Guy TT posted:so im watching a video from the great war on youtube about the spanish american war and apparently the main guy in the battle of las guisamas wheeler used to be a confederate general? the gently caress??? we have anticonfederate constitutional amendments that disqualify drumpf from holding office because of his insurrectioning but giving these same guys guns and command of other guys with guns was a ok????? In the history of Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax infamously posited a situation where a Lawful Good Paladin was entirely justified in slaughtering infant orcs without falling afoul of their divine ideals, under the principle that orcs were A. born evil, and B. "nits make lice", a phrase coined by John Chivington when perpetrating the Sand Creek massacre. Later on, as I was reading about the New Mexico campaign in the early stages of the American Civil War and finding that the Union forces were lead by one Colonel Chivington, the name twigged and I looked into it a little further. It was the same guy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 06:48
|
|
|
cool post about making historical maps for a movie https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1708494280334135405.html https://twitter.com/rajbhagatt/status/1708494308880658714
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2023 15:23
|
|
|
so im reading this old newspaper tv column thats discussing man of marble and man of iron by andrzej wajda the columnist has made reference to how every year at a certain date russian newspapers tell the story of how dubcek was a cia agent and speculates that in time the russian newspapers will say that wajda was also a cia agent and that in the countries where such lies are told the truth only tastes all the sweeter my questions are as follows was alexander dubcek or andrzej wajda a cia agent did russians newspapers ever say that dubcek or andrzej wajda were cia agents why does andrzej wajda appear to have far more numerous and far more well received films under communism when he was censored compared to after communism ended when he presumably wasnt
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2023 03:02
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/Tank_Archives/status/1709943245613269107
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2023 15:47
|
|
|
Some Guy TT posted:so im watching a video from the great war on youtube about the spanish american war and apparently the main guy in the battle of las guisamas wheeler used to be a confederate general? the gently caress??? we have anticonfederate constitutional amendments that disqualify drumpf from holding office because of his insurrectioning but giving these same guys guns and command of other guys with guns was a ok????? The levels of leniency and benefit of the doubt granted to the Confederates before and after the US civil war* very strongly mirrors modern day Liberals' love affair with Nazis *and in the case of McClellan, during
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2023 16:04
|
|
|
Recently watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeWV-9s7az8 Where the incredibly old men restoring it say the panther's final drive wasn't inherently frail but rather a victim of poor materials, in essence the designer coming up with something German resources couldn't actually produce There's also a bit where they show some factory sabotage, someone welded a tube onto a filler bung so the thing would seem like it was full while actually not being even close Highly recommend that channel's workshop Wednesday series, it's totally apolitical and entirely just sweaty Australian lads chopping and welding old tanks
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2023 18:30
|
|
|
Slavvy posted:There's also a bit where they show some factory sabotage, someone welded a tube onto a filler bung so the thing would seem like it was full while actually not being even close I’ve never found any good data (and to be fair I don’t see how you could get it or even quantify it at this point) on just how much of the Nazi reputation for unreliable lovely equipment came from intentional sabotage by their slaves. We know it was endemic, but it’s not like Joe McFactoryslave was keeping an official ledger of how many suspension springs he sabotaged this fiscal quarter.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2023 22:45
|
|
|
I suspect that between material shortages, substandard materials, and sabotage, they probably come across as a lot worse than they should be on paper. Another thing that comes up in the panther video is them putting in little planks of wood to line the wheel hub tubes. The reasoning being that the wood would take up a lot of volume which would otherwise have to be filled with wheel bearing grease, thus saving on grease. Clearly there is a disconnect there because if the designer was aware of this issue he would simply have designed wheel hubs with less wasted volume. But at the same time, the Nazi vehicles were exquisitely complex and built to a philosophy of occasional total refurbishment vs partial field repair like everyone smart was doing. Like everything else about the third reich there were multiple compounding causes of failure. Slavvy has issued a correction as of 23:23 on Oct 5, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2023 23:20
|
|
|
Slavvy posted:I suspect that between material shortages, substandard materials, and sabotage, they probably come across as a lot worse than they should be on paper. Oh yeah that’s part of what I meant by “How could you even quantify it?” because even if every worker had kept meticulous records of all their sabotage it was such a smorgasbord of failure from every direction of the whole system that it becomes practically impossible to ascribe blame to which particular defect or deficiency on a particular piece of equipment as the straw that broke the camels back on this or that individual tank.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2023 00:34
|
|
|
Being great on paper but disappointing in practice is basically the motto of the Panzerwaffe
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2023 00:39
|
|
|
In Gundam there are a lot of parallels drawn between Zeon and the Third Reich. This conversation has got me wanting a manga about the Mobile Suit factories.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2023 06:51
|
|
|
Putting this in here cause it's a slow moving thread:Frosted Flake posted:It's very funny because they've inverted that in a recent book, The Soviet-Israeli War, 1967-1973: The USSR's Military Intervention in the Egyptian-Israeli Conflict And I having a stroke or is this saying that the Soviets fielded 2-3 divisions in the middle east and used them to directly fight the IDF? Is this some newly discovered thing or have I just never heard of it out of sheer ignorance? I thought the Arab Israeli wars were Egypt et al fighting the IDF with Soviet equipment + the occasional wink wink nudge nudge Soviet fighter pilot shenanigans and that was it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 22:00
|
|
|
They're challenging your assertion
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:11
|
|
|
A Buttery Pastry posted:Nelson was a war-criminal who carried out the first terror-bombing in modern European history. quote:What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:36
|
|
|
HootTheOwl posted:They're challenging your assertion ?? No poo poo, I'm trying to work out if this is cold war fanfic nonsense or if Soviet ground troops actually fought the IDF
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:39
|
|
|
Slavvy posted:?? No poo poo, I'm trying to work out if this is cold war fanfic nonsense or if Soviet ground troops actually fought the IDF I think I misunderstood you
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 14:19
|
|
|
Slavvy posted:Putting this in here cause it's a slow moving thread: The Soviets sent a bunch of anti-aircraft batallions and the dudes manning them, not frontline troops
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 14:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 19:51 |
|
|
Slavvy posted:Putting this in here cause it's a slow moving thread: I checked reviews for that book and it sounds like the case they're making is that Soviet anti-air forces and aircraft were much more closely integrated into the Egyptian military and the era of interwar conflict from 67-73 than was previously realized. They claim Soviet pilots were flying recon flights over Israel and intercept missions over Egypt, and Soviet troops were directly involved in Egypt's air defence against Israeli air missions. They also argue that the supposed breakdown in relations between Sadat and Moscow that led to Egypt demanding Soviet advisers leave was actually a planned withdrawal because the advisers' mission was completed - they had handed over all their equipment and finished training the Egyptian military how to use it. Apparently they then go on to claim that maybe the advisers didn't even leave afterwards, making it a successful deception to convince the Israelis that a breakdown in Soviet-Egyptian relations meant no attack was imminent, when in fact Egypt was gearing up for the Yom Kippur War. The reviews make it sound like the authors are known for revisionist histories of Soviet involvement in the Middle East and that this fits that trend, but also that it's well researched with the sources available (lots of memoirs, interviews, etc., without necessarily presenting a smoking gun archival record that proves the case one way or the other) and that the authors are aware of their source limitations and admit that the story is likely to get refined more as others do further research into it. I'm a little skeptical of the grand claims because they fit a little too perfectly into narratives of the duplicitous Soviets meddling around the world with perfect smokescreens so nobody ever realized they were doing it, which are often quite sensationalized and build on Cold War assumptions that the Soviets were behind every bad thing that ever happened around the world. But on the other hand if more research eventually whittles down the grand claims to "the Soviets were giving more active support to the Egyptians during the interwar period of 67-73 than we previous realized", that doesn't seem so far fetched.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 15:48
|
|