The History Thread!

Question: Who is my new avatar?

Ivan Sirko, cossack (saw the image link).

What did he do?

He - along with his host - wrote the reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire when he asked them to stop raiding his lands and submit to Ottoman rule:

To which the Cossacks replied:

The Russian painter and Cossackophile Ilya Repin painted a famous picture of Sirko's hetmen around him laughing as they think of new insults. It was apparently the most expensive Russian painting ever when Alexander III bought it for the Hermitage in St Petersburg. I've seen it, and it's just as awesome IRL as it is as an image.

edited 31st Dec '14 11:15:21 AM by Achaemenid

reply is , indeed.

I had a feeling it was him by the hat, but I didn't know the name of the top of my head.

Ah, the infamous Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks! I've already been informed multiple times that I cannot cite it as "an example of masterful, unexcelled tact and diplomacy."

edited 31st Dec '14 11:54:36 AM by sabresedge

My first encounter with that painting was in 2001, when I got Cossacks: European Wars.

I like the part where he included Santa Claus in the painting.

What, didn't you know Santa was a cossack?

edited 1st Jan '15 6:45:49 AM by Gaon

Was volley fire^note Front rank, FIRE! Second rank, FIRE! etc. used during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870?

edited 1st Jan '15 6:01:57 PM by SantosLHalper

I believe so, just at much longer ranges. Chassepot-armed French infantry routinely outshot their German counterparts, though it wasn't enough to offset their tactical disadvantages.

We have some special anniversary◊ coins◊ in circulation...

Some 6,000-year-old artefacts near Stonehenge could "rewrite British history": "Archaeologists have excavated the remains of an ancient encampment right near Stonehenge, which suggests that the area was a social hub at least a thousand years before the monumental stones were put in place."

How would that rewrite British history? Last I checked that area as a social hub is not exactly a new theory with some archeological work over time leaning that direction.

Because now instead of "In the beginning, there was Stonehenge..." the British History text books first line would have to be rewritten to say, "In the beginning, there were some other dudes. Then there was Stonehenge..."

But isn't it pretty much assumed by default that there had to be a lot of people already living there to build Stonehenge?

Definitely. Considering some of the sarsen stones came from Pembrokeshire, 150 miles away in Wales, the Tribes of the area must have thought it of some significance. Unsurprisingly, there's evidence of ritual^note  British Archaeologist Speak for "We don't know exactly what happened here" activity around Stonehenge long before the stones were erected.

edited 3rd Jan '15 3:15:11 PM by Greenmantle

In 07 they found a small settlement possibly a builders settlement

Ancient Road found

And under the Henge they found even more stuff that seems to indicate folks had lived in the region before hand

Motherfucker do you think we write our history books like a JRR Tolkien novel?

Interesting if true. Unfortunately if there was a big trading hub there it's probably been blown to smithereens by a century's worth of military exercises on Salisbury Plain.

—-

YOU GET A .PDF! AND YOU GET A .PDF! EVERYONE GETS FREE .PDFS!

But seriously tho, here are some interesting articles that are free!

- The English-Language Military Historiography of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years’ War, 1900-Present. Jeremy Murray, Illinois Historical Review.

- German Counterinsurgency Revisited. James Melson, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies.

- The US Army in World War Two. Various authors, US Army Center for Military History. Commonly known as "The Greenbooks", these are standard sources for serious study of the US military in WWII. The files are giant though.

- Doctrine Matters: Why the Japanese Lost at Miday. Jonathan Parshall, David Dickson, and Anthony Tully, Naval War College Review. The authors of Shattered Sword review a rival paper, and in the process explain a lot about Midway.

- Gettysburg Staff Ride Briefing Book. Billy Arthur and Ted Ballard, from the US Army CMH. Interesting one this. This seems to be the briefing trainee US Army officers get before they are shepherded around the Gettysburg battlefield during their training.

- Military Organization and Sea Defense in Denmark 200-1200 AD. Anne Norgard Jorgensen, Military Studies in Medieval Europe.

- Military History of the Slovenians. Janez J. Švajncer. From NATO. Easily digestible and rather interesting look at a little considered country and topic.

- The British Navy Rules: : Monitoring and Incompatible Incentives in the Age of Fighting Sail. Douglas W. Allen, Explorations in Economic History. Britain's naval success from a business studies perspective. Unorthodox but interesting.

- The Canadian Expeditionary Force: The Official History of the Canadian Army in WWI. By one Col. GWL Nicholson CD, and published by the Canadian military.

edited 3rd Jan '15 5:09:10 PM by Achaemenid

Yay more links.

I do remember reading about how certain parts of the plains are lousy with UXO making digging up surviving relics and locations a serious challenge.

The Tully and Parshall paper is good, but Shattered Sword is where they seriously develop their argument. It's on the must-read list for anyone interested in the Pacific War, reviewing as it does not only the battle itself, but also the state of historiography up until then. (Basically, Mitsuo Fuchida's eyewitness account, Midway: the Battle that Doomed Japan, formed the building block of many Western studies; however, it's also a rather unreliable recounting of events. Japanese historians have discounted its veracity since the 1970s; Western sources continued to rely on it for much longer. The myth that the Japanese were five minutes from launching a counterstrike when the American dive-bombers pushed over originated there, or that the sacrifice of the American torpedo-bomber squadrons drew the Zeroes down to low altitude so they couldn't react to the dive bombers, both originated there.)

Yeah, but posting a direct link to where one could illegally download that fine work would be very naughty, not that a respectable and rule-abiding troper like myself would ever advocate such things.

edited 4th Jan '15 5:59:24 PM by Achaemenid

If the Malaya Campaign lasted a couple more months, Bataan may not have fallen (or perhaps would have become a holdout until Midway).

Consider for a moment that at one point the greatest struggle for all great historical figures was them trying to get their big toe into their mouth.

Napoleon? Gnawed on a blanket.

Gustavus Adolphus? Sucked his thumbs.

Simon Bolivar? Had to be burped.

Gandhi? Considered rolling from his stomach to his back a major accomplishment.

All history starts from the babies. Next time you see a baby, consider the idea of that baby being the next person to change the world.

That's a good point.

I will get my pillow.