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jng2058 posted:Pyongyang by Guy Delise is a great graphic novel (graphic non-fiction?) of his time in North Korea as an animator for a French company. It's a relatively quick read but one that stays with you about how really hosed up things are over there. I recommend pyongyang too. I also saw a movie about US deserters during the Korean war I think it was called crossing the line? It might even be on netflix streaming
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Oct 9, 2014 17:50
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I'm making my way thru The Guns of August. God Almighty the French (save for Lanzerac) were THICK. Ignoring every intelligence report on the enemy's strength against your flanks is probably a bad idea.
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Oct 9, 2014 17:56
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Ferroque posted:
I visited the Rožná uranium mine in the Czech Republic with my class once in college. We had to go suit up, but none of us knew how to get into the mine gear, or what the hell that little fuzzy towel was. Our escort was with us in the locker room, but didn't speak any English, so all eight of us in our group had to stand around staring at this fat naked Czech and try to follow his lead.
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Oct 9, 2014 17:56
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PittTheElder posted:I was just going to ask, wasn't there a rather notable amount of Scottish mercenaries running about in the 30YW? I seem to remember there being a whole Scottish company/regiment/I don't know the right word for the size of guys employed by either the Danes or Swedes, and their commander seemed to be something of a big deal. Yeah loads of them, Alexander Leslie and Robert Munro were both quite famous by the time of the War of the Three Kingdoms. I don't actually know if they were recruited similarly to the Irish though.
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Oct 9, 2014 18:02
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space pope posted:I recommend pyongyang too. I also saw a movie about US deserters during the Korean war I think it was called crossing the line? It might even be on netflix streaming Crossing the Line is correct! Also seconding the recommendations of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, Aquariums of Pyongyang, and Nothing to Envy. I noticed The Orphan Master's Son was mentioned... I haven't read it, but my roommate has and he thought it was fantastic.
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Oct 9, 2014 18:27
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PittTheElder posted:I was just going to ask, wasn't there a rather notable amount of Scottish mercenaries running about in the 30YW? I seem to remember there being a whole Scottish company/regiment/I don't know the right word for the size of guys employed by either the Danes or Swedes, and their commander seemed to be something of a big deal. There was James Spens a Scottish nobleman who was simultaneously the Scottish Ambassador to Sweden the Swedish Ambassador to Scotland and in charge of all of Gustavus Adolphus's British Isles recruitment efforts. There were also a couple of Scots who fought in the TYW that would later become famous for their actions in the British Civil War who got their start fighting for Sweden. Alexander and David Leslie who would effectively train the Scottish army being the two most prominent ones. But also see Robert and George Munro There was also Walter Leslie (no relation) who became a field marshal in the Austrian army after he betrayed Wallenstein. James Hamilton who again fought in the TYW and later became Charles I most prominent Scottish supporters and Patrick Ruvthen who had a rather prominent role in organising the royalist army for King Charles.
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Oct 9, 2014 19:24
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MA-Horus posted:I'm making my way thru The Guns of August. Not just the French, but also French 
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Oct 9, 2014 19:35
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gradenko_2000 posted:Not just the French, but also French French just seems like "welp we'll deploy IF WE REALLY HAVE TO GOD" but Kitchener saying "your command is totally independent don't let the French give you any orders (or even suggestions)" realllllllly hosed things up.
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Oct 9, 2014 19:53
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HEY GAL posted:. Now that's humor.
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Oct 9, 2014 20:13
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Let's have a look at exactly what the order said, shall we? Emphasis mine.quote:" The special motive of the Force under your control is to sup- Which is as nasty (and British) a piece of friendly fire as any general has ever had to deal with just before conducting a major campaign. If he wins then Kitchener's order can be read as justification for anything he did; if he loses then Kitchener can point at the order and say "Well, I did tell him to be careful..." If he falls out with the Gauls, Kitchener can say "I told him to co-operate with them". If he joins in enthusiastically with some Gallic scheme and gets a kicking, Kitchener can say "I warned him to be careful about co-operating with them".
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Oct 9, 2014 20:33
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FAUXTON posted:Now that's humor.
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Oct 9, 2014 20:47
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HEY GAL posted:"Caspar Klein von Koppenhegen". You can see the Musterschreiber gather himself to spell a bunch of these places, as for a jump. Are these guys vons in the aristocratic sense, or is the Musterschreiber just indicating hometown? Or both?
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Oct 9, 2014 21:37
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HEY GAL posted:"Caspar Klein von Koppenhegen". You can see the Musterschreiber gather himself to spell a bunch of these places, as for a jump. I like to think he'd make jokes about having to lay down the Danelaw on their English asses if they tried any poo poo.
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Oct 9, 2014 21:40
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Cyrano4747 posted:Are these guys vons in the aristocratic sense, or is the Musterschreiber just indicating hometown? Or both?
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Oct 9, 2014 21:43
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HEY GAL posted:That dude's a commoner; nobles get place of origin after the von-name. Like (flipping through my notebook at random): "Christianus Vonn Miltirz von Dresden, Dopellsöldner, 20 gulden/month." Doublesoldier? Please say it's an oversized tremendous badass who wades into the fray with a pike in one hand and a pike in the other and like three muskets on his back. Not something lame like being a PFC.
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Oct 9, 2014 21:59
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Cyrano4747 posted:Are these guys vons in the aristocratic sense, or is the Musterschreiber just indicating hometown? Or both? German naming is interesting. You speak german? Look at the Wikipedia entry.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:04
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FAUXTON posted:Doublesoldier? IIRC Dopellsöldners were the dudes in the front line who got paid double as hazard pay.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:04
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FAUXTON posted:Doublesoldier? StashAugustine posted:IIRC Dopellsöldners were the dudes in the front line who got paid double as hazard pay. And he's probably what we would call a private, but this company didn't record the ranks of the common soldiers so he might be a Gefreyter (squad leader; there's one per every five men). Edit: Double mercenary. "Soldier" is "soldat." It comes from the word for "mercenary," but is not the same. HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Oct 9, 2014 |
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Oct 9, 2014 22:06
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StashAugustine posted:IIRC Dopellsöldners were the dudes in the front line who got paid double as hazard pay. Ah, dudes you can pay as they'd like, because they won't live to see payday.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:06
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my dad posted:Ah, dudes you can pay as they'd like, because they won't live to see payday.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:19
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Cyrano4747 posted:Does alcohol count? I know there's a lot out there in pop culture about the brits giving rum (and I think later gin) rations pretty liberally before battles, basically from the American War of Independence through WW1 at least. The rum ration lasted until 1970 in the RN and 1990 in the RNZN! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_ration HEY GAL posted:Here are the Englishmen in that one company with all the Englishmen in it. Seems likely: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broxholme
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Oct 9, 2014 22:24
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Lobster God posted:The rum ration lasted until 1970 in the RN and 1990 in the RNZN! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_ration And the thing about the Rum ration was that alcohol is a disinfectant. The point of the daily rum/spirit/wine ration in all European navies was that it made your water last longer.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:31
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Rum rations were absolutely a Thing in the trenches, vital for keeping up morale (and also keeping the chaps warm through the many cold, wet nights). The Wipers Times devoted a large amount of space during its publication to "Our Splendid New Serial", featuring the crump-dodging misadventures of one Herlock Shomes (and his assistant Hotsam), wandering around various locations near Ypres as he tried to find the Division's missing rum. (There's one point where, in eerily similar circumstances to those encountered by Conan Doyle, the editor seemingly gets bored of writing the stories, tries to substitute a different parody serial on compeletely different lines, and within a couple of issues he cops so many complaints that he has to drop the new serial and give Shomes a new case.) 100 Years Ago It dawns on the remaining men of the Royal Naval Division that they've been left behind. On their own initiative they attempt to quit Antwerp. All the trains are long gone, even the ones heading the wrong way. With no options left, they pick a direction that doesn't seem to have too many Germans about it, and strike out. quote:Able Seaman Bentham, Benbow Battalion, RND Bentham eventually escaped the Netherlands in 1915, and made his way back to Britain. He was rewarded with an officer's commission in Hood Battalion, which would return to France in 1916. No prizes for guessing where they were sent.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:56
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So most of the division was interned by the Dutch, the rest captured by the Germans? Didn't they have any maps or something to use to get out of Antwep to the west?
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Oct 10, 2014 02:19
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HisMajestyBOB posted:So most of the division was interned by the Dutch, the rest captured by the Germans? after the recent posts about how utterly hosed the supply situation was I'm going to guess no.
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Oct 10, 2014 02:26
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I have no idea where my mom and sister found these, but I got some pretty kickass books for my birthday Blackjack Pershing's account of WWI. It's even the 1931 first edition  ! The first 3 volumes of a series about Japan from 1940-1949. It's got some cool propaganda there with a lot of pictures of regular life, plus there's an interesting deterioration in the quality of life as the war turns against Japan until by the third volume they're all praying and working in the rubble that used to be their homes. I can post scans later if my scanner isn't being a bitch  HisMajestyBOB posted:So most of the division was interned by the Dutch, the rest captured by the Germans? The barely trained and poorly equipped Naval soldiers having good maps, that's a good one  .
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Oct 10, 2014 05:47
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Why did Mexico perform so poorly in the Mexican-American war?
Baron Porkface fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 06:06
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Trin Tragula posted:Rum rations were absolutely a Thing in the trenches, vital for keeping up morale (and also keeping the chaps warm through the many cold, wet nights). The Wipers Times devoted a large amount of space during its publication to "Our Splendid New Serial", featuring the crump-dodging misadventures of one Herlock Shomes (and his assistant Hotsam), wandering around various locations near Ypres as he tried to find the Division's missing rum. (There's one point where, in eerily similar circumstances to those encountered by Conan Doyle, the editor seemingly gets bored of writing the stories, tries to substitute a different parody serial on compeletely different lines, and within a couple of issues he cops so many complaints that he has to drop the new serial and give Shomes a new case.) Of the two personal accounts of WW1 that I've read, one of an Italian Lieutenant and one of a French Corporal, both note that pretty much everyone was drunk out of their minds all of the time. The Italian Lieutenant was a teetotaler and it freaked out basically everyone serving with him, to the point where he recalls times fellow officers would become outright hostile when he wouldn't get blind drunk with them.
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Oct 10, 2014 07:42
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Baron Porkface posted:Why did Mexico perform so poorly in the Mexican-American war? American weapons and artillery were superior to what the Mexicans were using in addition to the fact that Mexico has never been a very stable country. There was a lot of infighting going on between different factions within Mexico which hindered their ability to conduct the war.
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Oct 10, 2014 07:52
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Azathoth posted:I would also recommend The Cleanest Race. From looking at the Amazon page, I see that it's been updated to include information about Kim Jong-Un, and while I can't vouch for that part of it, when I read it a few years back, it was quite informative as well. I haven't read it myself, but Myers' one-hour presentation is pretty informative.
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Oct 10, 2014 12:55
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Baron Porkface posted:Why did Mexico perform so poorly in the Mexican-American war? The US had some fantastic junior officers and some world-class units, in particular their horse artillery. One of the best Mexican units was made of US deserters, mostly catholic immigrants, and they fought as horse artillery.
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Oct 10, 2014 13:41
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GhostofJohnMuir posted:The Italian Lieutenant was a teetotaler and it freaked out basically everyone serving with him, to the point where he recalls times fellow officers would become outright hostile when he wouldn't get blind drunk with them.
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Oct 10, 2014 14:22
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Mustang posted:American weapons and artillery were superior to what the Mexicans were using in addition to the fact that Mexico has never been a very stable country. There was a lot of infighting going on between different factions within Mexico which hindered their ability to conduct the war. Yeah, Mexico was extremely weak and uncoordinated at the time. The parts of Northern Mexico the US ended up taking were about ready to secede from Mexico on their own at that point and hadn't gotten any attention from the Mexican government in years. I think California even had an American governor by that point. Mexico had just gained independence from Spain 20 years earlier. It was still rather poor and fragmented at the time war broke out. While the US was guilty of plenty of imperialism in the process, Mexico itself had plenty of factional divisions working against each other, with some actively trying to pick a fight with the US for nationalistic reasons.
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Oct 10, 2014 14:32
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Baron Porkface posted:Why did Mexico perform so poorly in the Mexican-American war? General Lopez de Santa Anna returning to fight against the Americans and then declaring himself president for the 10th* time didn't help any. Because, it turns out that when you just returned from exile following an unpopular dictatorship, the people don't exactly welcome you with open arms if you then declare yourself president again. *10th time being president, not the 10th time he had staged a coup and declared himself president. He was legitimately elected a few of those times, and power ping ponged between him and Valentin Gomez Farías like 5 times, because Mexican history is hilariously complicated.
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Oct 10, 2014 14:49
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The racism that drove a huge amount of immigrant volunteers to just up, leave and fight for Imperial Mexico still boggles my mind.
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Oct 10, 2014 14:51
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SeanBeansShako posted:The racism that drove a huge amount of immigrant volunteers to just up, leave and fight for Imperial Mexico still boggles my mind. I'll either effortpost or book recommend about it, because it's staggering. Like its so staggering people who'd been in the Prussian military thought it was over the top. Edit: The book recommendation is The Rogue's March: John Riley and the St. Patrick's Battalion 1846-1848 by Peter F. Stevens. It's relatively short, is quite readable and gives a good summary. xthetenth fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 15:45
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That sounds pretty awesome, I will check it out for sure. The early to mid 19th century North and South American conflicts don't seem to get much cover sadly. Do make an effort post about it too.
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Oct 10, 2014 16:34
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Baron Porkface posted:Why did Mexico perform so poorly in the Mexican-American war? I have nothing add to this discussion, but just thought I'd say that I couldn't put The Oxford History of Mexico down after I started. If you were educated in the US or via US pop culture, it really puts Mexican history in a surprising perspective. Especially in how directly unresolved issues from the conquest affected 20th Century conflicts. Groda fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 16:42
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Groda posted:Especially in how directly unresolved issues from the conquest affected 20th Century conflicts. Honestly it's that way about pretty much any big conflict in history that doesn't get properly sorted out. The really loving huge classic examples are slavery in the US and the poison legacy of colonialism pretty much everywhere, but I really don't think there's a single country in the world that doesn't have something crawling around in the closet that might pop out at an inopportune time.
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Oct 10, 2014 18:33
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Baron Porkface posted:Why did Mexico perform so poorly in the Mexican-American war? Because General Winfield Scott was one of the finest generals in history. 
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Oct 10, 2014 18:34
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