What is your favorite part of history to read/learn about? (1 Viewer)

[GrandAdmiral]

lots of war history lovers out there
what is the appeal? what is engaging about martial history?

The thing about the Civil War is that despite the great work done in 1787 to create the Constitution, it was the war between the states that made the United States "united". That was solidified with the passage of the 14th Amendment, which made citizens national citizens first, then citizens of their respective states. In my opinion that wasn't established prior to then.

The American Civil War, World Wars I and II. I have studied the civil war since I was a child, and I grew up with many World War II veterans and a few World War I veterans. I am very versed on the civil war and WWII, still learning about WWI.

I have been to most civil war battlefields and am a member of the New Orleans Civil War Roundtable.

Can you PM me some info about the Roundtable? I'd be interested in joining.

 

[JLL]

I've been to Antietam and Gettysburg. Quite a few times while just walking I'd get a chill for no reason, as the weather was warm on both occasions. Many spirits in unrest at both places. They're not maleficent at all, just still troubled.

Did civil war re-enacting 80's-90's. , and took part in filming of Gettysburg movie. We filmed Pickett's charge on actual battlefield. I remember one unexplainable situation we experienced that I believe was a spirit our presence stirred up. These battlefields are sacred ground and hope preservation efforts can save many more.

 

[purvis_guy]

I love just about anything to do with history, American, WWII(My dad fought in the Pacific) Civil War. Local history. Now that I live and work in Southwest Alabama I am learning a lot about the Creek Wars, when Andrew Jackson allied with Pushmataha and the Choctaw Nation to defeat the Red Stick Creeks. The lost city of Claiborne, in which a fellow by the name of Col. William Barret Travis lived, practiced law, and reportedly was run out of for having an affair with a married woman, he wound up at a place in Texas called The Alamo.

 

[superchuck500]

One of the reasons the Nazis could not invade Britain is that they never developed a landing craft. Nothing even like the Higgins boat much less a LST, so they were reliant on capturing intact an English port city. The English were well aware of this and had wired all dock facilities for demolition if invasion became imminent.

Following the Battle of Britain they never again held air superiority, so their tactic of invasion by paratroops as in Greece was out of the question.

I think that's partly true. But also, the UK navy was vastly superior to the Nazis and any maritime landing force would have to deal with the British firepower at sea no matter the method of invasion. The interwar period had shown the great vulnerability of a surface fleet to monoplane airpower - and the Nazis correctly identified that achieving air superiority would neutralize the British surface fleet.

And therein lies one of history's great blunders. The Lufftwaffe identified the strategic objective and had the forces to achieve it. And the first weeks of the campaign were effective - the British radar system acted as a force multiplier but they were still losing. They were losing fighters and pilots at an unsustainable rate and urgent repairs to airfields were just barely keeping them operable.

But the Nazis lost focus and ever-increasingly expanded their target list toward total war rather than defeat of the RAF. They stopped attacking radar stations and airfields in favor of unrelated industrial targets and civilian housing. And that pretty much sealed the failure.

Even had they possessed an effective landing craft, they would still have had to deal with the impact of the failure to achieve air superiority.

 

[Yatman]

HoustonSaint68, have you read any of the "Flashman" books? Historically accurate fiction with the same character popping up.

+1 for anything Flashman.

One of the reasons the Nazis could not invade Britain is that they never developed a landing craft. Nothing even like the Higgins boat much less a LST, so they were reliant on capturing intact an English port city. The English were well aware of this and had wired all dock facilities for demolition if invasion became imminent.

My grandfather -- a former Marine turned SeaBee and sent to duty in England -- described miles of open piping laid beneath the Channel along the British coast. In case of invasion, oil was to be pumped out, floated, and set afire to incinerate The Hun at sea. Truth or apocrypha?

 

[HoustonSaint68]

I absolutely love reading about WW2 and watching documentaries. I find my self more interested in the war in Europe than in the pacific. I even preferred band of brothers over pacific. I also enjoy reading about it from other countries perspectives.

Just kudos again to Krowhodat for this great thread. It's been a lot of fun to read everyone's different interests.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

I have a hard time with historical fiction, whether they're books or film. I spend most of my time trying to debunk what may or may not have been true.

 

[geoffspins]

As a Brit living in the US I have to go with Vietnam. I could easily bang off a 10k word essay on the effect of the war on not only that generation but successive generations in the US.

 

[Bayouboy]

WWII....and the rise of Hitler. I really enjoy the raw battle footage of the war as well....

 

[saintmdterps]

For you WWII buffs John Toland's Battle: the Story of the Bulge is a riveting account of the last great battle of WWII in Europe. Toland chronicles well the mistakes made on both sides.

And lus-un2: to Krodwhodat for starting this thread. I am very interested in any sort of military history trivia. Like how a Norwegian fort sunk a modern German cruiser in 1940.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cruiser_Blücher

 

[Zack Lee]

And therein lies one of history's great blunders. The Lufftwaffe identified the strategic objective and had the forces to achieve it. And the first weeks of the campaign were effective - the British radar system acted as a force multiplier but they were still losing. They were losing fighters and pilots at an unsustainable rate and urgent repairs to airfields were just barely keeping them operable.

But the Nazis lost focus and ever-increasingly expanded their target list toward total war rather than defeat of the RAF. They stopped attacking radar stations and airfields in favor of unrelated industrial targets and civilian housing. And that pretty much sealed the failure.

IIRC they knew the radar system was helping the British but they had no idea how much. It might have been a totally different world had they kept targeting those stations. Losing focus is exactly how I have pictured it. For all of the success they had in France due to speed and planning, they were all over the map (literally) after that (and thank God)

 

[saintmdterps]

IIRC they knew the radar system was helping the British but they had no idea how much. It might have been a totally different world had they kept targeting those stations. Losing focus is exactly how I have pictured it. For all of the success they had in France due to speed and planning, they were all over the map (literally) after that (and thank God)

It also would have been totally different had the Germans began mass production of the ME 262 jet fighter in 1942 when it was ready, instead of mid-late 1944. Engine vibration problems delayed mass production as did top-level Nazi interference.

 

[Krodwhodat]

Just kudos again to Krowhodat for this great thread. It's been a lot of fun to read everyone's different interests.

Thanks! I'm getting lots on good book ideas as I enjoy reading. I think we should start a thread on history books and authors but I assume it would get merged and lost in some other book thread.

 

[mt15]

I have been doing family research, and am really enjoying the historical side of that. You can see how people lived and why they died. I've seen records indicating cholera that swept through a town, with a really poignant article in the local paper listing and discussing all the lives lost from one week to the next. You see how many women used to die from childbirth. You see families come to this country, and their movement west. How many children used to die from the childhood diseases. Children who are sent to live as servants with other families when one of the parents died.

This is what is interesting to me about history, the personal side. How did people live, what was their day to day life like?

 

[Surviving Saint]

Vietnam War. I have quite a bit of books on it. A few on WWII but I never got real big into it. Mostly 3rd Reich and Bataan stuff. I guess I like the jungle warfare aspect of it.

My grandfather served but never talked about. The only thing I ever learned from his experience was that his best friend was killed right beside him. They were fighting the enemy alongside each other and decided to switch places. He saw his best friend die immediately after. He told my mother and she told me so it was never a topic he discussed or wanted to.