Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published 18 Feb 2016
Today, Blue discusses recurring themes in history! This one’s the Military Expedition, aka what happens when a powerful military juggernaut gets too big for its britches and starts saying stuff like “too big to fail” unironically.
Blue: If you’re curious about the weird chart/graph thing blue showed during the Napoleon segment, look up Charles Joseph Minard [mentioned here and here], the guy who made it. It’s a really cool chart that shows the size of the army as it traveled across Russia (tan) and back (black). You can see how perilous the journey was based on how narrow the line gets. Graphs are cool.
Comments Off on Historical Models Summarized: The Military Expedition
When Germany began looking in late 1915 for a new weapon ideally suited for the “last 200 meters” of a combat advance, Hugo Schmeisser’s blowback submachine gun would prove to be the weapon that would set the standard for virtually all submachine guns to come. It was a fully automatic-only weapon with a simple blowback action and a rather slow 400 rpm rate of fire. Although relatively heavy, the only real shortcoming of the MP18,I was its use of 32-round Luger snail drum magazines, which was dictated by the German military. These magazines were unreliable and difficult to load, but they were already in production and were a reasonable logistical answer in a time when material and production shortages were an endemic problem in Germany.
The MP18,I managed to see frontline combat only in the closing few months of World War One (50,000 were initially ordered, 17,677 were produced before the Armistice, and only an estimated 3,000 actually saw frontline combat use). During that time, however, it made a significant impression, easily convincing anyone with an open mind that this new type of weapon would play a major role in future wars.
After the end of the war, the Germany Army was prohibited from using submachine guns, so most of the existing ones (including the example in today’s video) were transferred to police organizations instead.
Powered by World of Warships – https://wo.ws/PearlHarbor – Register now to receive an exclusive bonus!
In this episode: Japan’s meticulous planning and preparation made it possible to surprise the Americans at Pearl Harbor. Alert on Oahu is largely nonexistent. It is the deep breath before the plunge.
Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Spartacus Olsson and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Wieke Kapteijns
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Produced by: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Co-Producers: Maria Kyhle and Francis van Berkel
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Set Design by: Astrid Deinhard
Graphic Design by: Mikolaj Uchman
Map Animations by: Daniel Haczyk and Eastory
Assistant Editors: Miki Cackowski, Daniel Weiss, Karolina Dołega
Still Colorizers: Adrien Fillon, Norman Stewart, Jaris Almazani, Daniel Weiss, Mikolaj Uchman, Carlos Ortega Pereira
Research by: Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Markus Linke, Wieke Kapteijns, Bastian Gaete, Lewis Braithwaite, Tim Smith, Ian Irungu
Sound Design by: Marek Kamiński
Dogfights by: Daniel Weiss, Bastian Gaete, Ian Sowden, Dennis Stepanov
Voices:
Mitsuo Fuchida – Daniel Grieb
Ada Peggy Olsson – Shani Neidell Beard
Iyōzō Fujita – Emi Celis
James Anderson – Emi Celis
Dorinda Stagner – Zora Johnson
Jack Kelley – Ryan Socash
James McClelland – Spartacus Olsson
Phil Rasmussen – Spartacus Olsson
Dan Wentrcek – Dennis Stepanov
Thompson Izawa – Samir Mechel
Robert Isacksen – Ian Sowden
Joseph K. Taussig Jr. – Tim Smith
James Cory – Ryan Tebo
Film colorization by: Ricks Film Restoration
Naval Gameplay by: World of Warships
Archive material provided by: Reuters/Screenocean
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
1 hour ago (edited)
When we set out to do this crazy project we thought we wanted to try some really new things. As anyone knows that follows us regularly, our first and foremost goal is remembrance — to shine a light on our past and learn form our ancestors’ mistakes and achievements. We try our best to do that with a dedication to facts and details liberated from partisan, or ideological historiography. For this purpose, the attack on Pearl Harbor serves very well. It is a compact event over only a few hours that is spectacular in its nature, tragic in its effect, gripping in its drama, and has tremendous impact on WW2 on all fronts. It is also an event that is often simplified to the point of misunderstanding, has been woven into national mythology, and given rise to some pretty nutty conspiracy myths. Simply put: the Attack on Pearl Harbor is short enough, exciting enough, and misunderstood enough for us to do a limited series like this.
But more than that we also wanted to try some new technical and narrative things. Since we started doing historical documentaries with the Great War in 2014 we have tried to be on the forefront of pioneering new ways of creating historiography for the modern media world. Narratively, we have dedicated ourselves to chronologies, which in historiography is nothing new, but it is new in the world of film documentaries (at least to the level we do it) — so we thought; “heck what if we go down to minute by minute for this” — well we did and it taught us an enormous amount about Pearl Harbor, but also about how we can write. We will get back to that in further comment on the series. As for technology, it truly is technology that enables our work, well any media — for us it is social media, affordable ways to capture film, global virtual remote working spaces, digital research opportunities, digital film archives, and so on.
Two areas we had not been able to venture into was recreation of scenes using computer graphics and colorization of moving images. Using a gaming engine to create animation is also nothing new, but usually very, very expensive because you have to first create the world, the assets and the characters for your recreation. But for Pearl Harbor, World of Warships https://worldofwarships.com and World of Warplaneshttps://worldofwarplanes.com opened an opportunity to do this on a new scale at a cost that is only a fraction of what it usually costs. Along the way we also got to know Ricks Film Restorations (https://bit.ly/ricksfilmresorations and https://www.youtube.com/user/Rick88888888) who use AI technology to enhance and colorize film footage. While both of these technologies are only at the beginning of their potential, we think the results are spectacular. More than anything it has enabled us to enhance the emotional and visual experience for this series to a level we never reached before. Last but not least it enabled us to use the financial contributions of the TimeGhost Army, and World of Warships to create five hours of content for less than 1/50th — only 2% — of what it would cost to do with traditional means.
creatingstuff
In the Name of the entire TimeGhost Team,
Astrid, Indy, Spartacus, and Wieke
Episode Guide:
This is a 10 episode limited series within our weekly coverage of WW2 — to see the immediate events leading up to this day watch episode 119 from December 5, https://youtu.be/DYUzmBuX-6Y. Some of the events covered briefly as they start on this day, such as the invasions in the West Pacific will be covered in more detail in the coming weeks, especially in episode 120K (the 11th episode this week).coming out on December 12.
In The Critic, Zareer Masani debunks a recent book’s claim that British PM Winston Churchill was responsible for the Bengal famine during the Second World War:
Prime Minister Winston Churchill greets Canadian PM William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1941. Photo from Library and Archives Canada (reference number C-047565) via Wikimedia Commons.
A favourite trope of the current Black Lives Madness and its left-liberal white apologists has been the alleged infamy of Britain’s most cherished hero, Winston Churchill, charged with everything from mere racism to actual genocide. The worst accusation is that of deliberately starving four million Bengalis to death in the famine of 1943.
The famine took place at the height of World War Two, with the Japanese already occupying Burma and invading the British Indian province of Bengal, bombing its capital, Calcutta, and patrolling its coast with submarines.
The famine raged for about six months, from the summer of 1943 until the end of that year, and estimates of its victims range from half a million upwards, depending on whether one includes its indirect and long-term effects. Most famine experts agree that famines can be caused by both nature and human agency, but never by any single individual. So how has a 67-year-old British prime minister in poor health, 5,000 miles away, fighting near-annihilation in a world war, come to be charged with causing such a cataclysmic disaster?
The attempt to lay this at Churchill’s door stems from a sensationalist book by a Bengali-American journalist called Madhusree Mukerjee. As its title, Churchill’s Secret War, indicates, it was a largely conspiracist attempt to pin responsibility on distant Churchill for undoubted mistakes on the ground in Bengal.
The actual evidence shows that Churchill believed, based on the information he had been getting, that there was no food supply shortage in Bengal, but a demand problem caused by local mismanagement of the distribution system. Ironically, his view found unexpected support in a 2010 exchange between Mukerjee and the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, the world’s foremost expert on famine in India.
Commenting in the New York Times, Sen said of Mukerjee, that “she seems satisfied with little information” and that her data came from only two rice research stations, and those in only two out of 27 districts in Bengal. “The analysis I made,” countered Sen, “using data from all districts … indicated that food availability in 1943 (the famine year) was significantly higher than in 1941 (when there was no famine) … There was indeed a substantial shortfall compared with demand, hugely enhanced in a war economy … but that is quite different from a shortfall of supply compared with supply in previous years … Mukerjee seems to miss this crucial distinction, and in her single-minded … attempt to nail down Churchill, she ends up absolving British imperial policy of confusion and callousness.”
Comments Off on Churchill and the Bengal Famine of 1943
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered
Published 22 Apr 2019
USS Pennsylvania was in dry dock when the attack came at Pearl Harbor. The History Guy remembers part of her history that may have been forgotten.
This episode was originally posted December 7, 2017. It has been updated to correct some errors in the original, and new footage of USS Pennsylvania has been added.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As images of actual events are sometimes not available, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.
The Wehrmacht is halted by the Red Army at the gates of Moscow. Not only that, but a Red Army counteroffensive begins pushing the Germans back decisively. The Germans are also beginning to withdraw from their siege of Tobruk in North Africa. Japan, however, is advancing all over the Pacific, sending troop transports into the South China Sea, though it is unclear just whom Japan plans to attack. The Japanese are also — in top secrecy — sending a force of aircraft carriers to soon attack the American Pacific fleet at anchor at Pearl Harbor.
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Miki Cackowski
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Sources:
RIA Novosti #2410
Bundesarchiv
IWM A 10499, A 6784, CH 11140
Visuotinė-lietuvių-enciklopedija
Yad Vashem 5705/34
from the Noun Project: low temperature by The Icon Z, Skull by Muhamad Ulum
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Johan Hynynen – “Dark Beginning”
Johannes Bornlof – “Death And Glory 3”
Reynard Seidel – “Deflection”
Johannes Bornlof – “Deviation In Time”
Hakan Eriksson – “Epic Adventure Theme 4”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Rannar Sillard – “March Of The Brave 4”
Fabien Tell – “Last Point of Safe Return”
Bonnie Grace – “Imperious”
Max Anson – “Maze Heist”
Gunnar Johnsen – “Not Safe Yet”
Jon Bjork – “Force Matrix”
At long last, the concluding chapter of Roman history! Let’s tie the bow on Byzantine Constantinople as the empire comes to an end, slightly earlier than we might think, but far later than anybody ever could have expected.
SOURCES & Further Reading: Byzantium: The Decline and Fall & A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich, Osman’s Dream by Finkel, https://www.ancient.eu/Despotate_of_t…
Henry Flynn recounts the story of Alfred Henry Hook VC, a private in B Company of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot who served at the battle of Rorke’s Drift before becoming an employee of the British Museum.
From the comments:
shoutinghorse
1 year ago
When the movie Zulu was premiered in 1964 in London descendants of some of the characters were invited to attend including Henry Hook’s two daughters, (5:53) they were elderly ladies by then and were so horrified at the portrayal of their father as a malingering drunken thief that they walked out in disgust. In real life Hook was an honest soldier and a teetotaller. The producers of the film later issued an a apology to the Hook family.
Comments Off on Rorke’s Drift to the British Museum: The story of Henry Hook I Curator’s Corner Season 4 episode 5
They were the Aces in the sky — proud knights who flew their planes into deadly combat. Loved by the public, feared by their enemies, the victorious pilots of the Great War rose to prominence as gallant heroes. But the personal stories of those celebrated pilots were also memories full of excruciating pain, of terrible loss, and inner struggle. Body and mind of those aces were broken by the constant danger of fighting in the air. Those who survived bore more than a few scars.
Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Astrid Deinhard and Wieke Kapteijns
Produced by: Pär Sundström, Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Brodén, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Community Manager: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Editor: Karolina Dołęga
Sound Editor: Marek Kamiński
Maps by: Eastory – https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory
Archive: Reuters/Screenocean – https://www.screenocean.com
Sources:
– National Archives NARA
– Imperial War Museums: EB1911, Q33851, Q33725, Q33875, Q23897, Q 105765, ART 1611, Q 63852, Q 63850, Q 93660, Q 55479, Q 60799, Q 10331, Q 67114, Q 66540,
– Library of Congress
– The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
– Wellcome Images
– Icons form The Nano Project: iron cross By Souvik Maity, IN ld Plane by LUTFI GANI AL ACHMAD,
– planes of World War 1 courtesy of 11Amanda on Wikimedia Commons
All music by: Sabaton
An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.
We shall win this war one day, and most of the credit will go, as usual, to those who are in at the finish. But — when we assign the glory and the praise, let us not forget those who stood up to the first rush. The new armies which are pouring across the Channel this month will bring us victory in the end. Let us bare our heads, then, in all reverence, to the memory of those battered, decimated, indomitable legions which saved us from utter extinction at the beginning.
Ian Hay (Major John Hay Beith), The First Hundred Thousand: Being the Unofficial Chronicle of a Unit of “K(1)”, 1916.
Comments Off on QotD: In praise of the “Old Contemptibles”
David Fletcher looks at the M22, dubbed the ‘Locust’ by the British during WW2. The M22 saw service with the British Airborne during the Rhine Crossing in 1945.
During their occupation of large parts of Europe, the Nazis systematically looted foreign countries for art, gold and other items holding financial or cultural value. Often not for any larger purpose, but for their own, egocentric, criminal gain.
Sources:
– Bundesarchiv
– Yad Vashem: 73_1_34, 72GO8, 03_198, 73_1_23, 99co5, 186_271, 99co6, 16_28,
– United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ID EA 65940
– Rijksmuseum
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “London” – Howard Harper-Barnes
– “Moving to Disturbia” – Experia
– “Break Free” – Fabien Tell
– “Remembrance” – Fabien Tell
– “Disciples of Sun Tzu” – Christian Andersen
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
1 hour ago
Throughout history, people have obsessed with hidden treasure of past thieves. There were plenty of hidden art and gold collections left behind by the Nazis, often in caves or vaults. Many were found after the war by the several Allied units tasked with locating valuables. While finding some Nazi gold stash still sounds exciting, we should not forget the story behind this loot. Writing this episode, the exciting nature of it quickly faded once I fully realised how thousands of normal people were robbed of everything they owned – including their lives. The thievery of valuables can not be seen outside of the context of Nazi racial policies and ultimately the murder of millions in the Holocaust. The top Nazis truly reconfirm their true criminal nature in this episode, not caring a bit about anything other than themselves.
Cheers,
Joram
Comments Off on The Nazis: Most Notorious Art Thieves in History – WW2 Special
