History West Midlands
Published 10 Oct 2014When Britain despatched an Expeditionary Force (the BEF) to the Continent in August 1914, the German Kaiser issued an order of the day to his generals to “walk over General French’s contemptible little army”.
But despite being heavily outnumbered, this small force, including many men from the West Midlands, played a vital role in stopping the seemingly overwhelming German advance across Belgium and into France.
Small in size compared with the much larger armies of France and Germany, the BEF was highly effective. This was in stark contrast to the disasters that the British Army had experienced a few years earlier at the start of the Second Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa.
August 24, 2020
Why the British Army was so effective in 1914 – Learning lessons from the Boer War
August 23, 2020
August 16, 2020
Greco-Turkish War – Treaty of Sèvres I THE GREAT WAR 1920
The Great War
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While the Greco-Turkish War was still raging, the last of the peace treaties between the Allies and the Central Powers was finalized in Paris. But the Turkish Nationalist Movement under Mustafa Kemal would not accept the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres – even though the Ottoman government had signed it.
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*Buying via this link supports The Great War (Affiliate-Link)» SOURCES
Halide Edib Adivar, The Turkish Ordeal: Being the Further Memoirs of Halidé Edib, (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2012)John Darwin, Britain, Egypt and the Middle East, (London: Macmillan Press, 1981)
M.L. Dockrill and J. D. Goold, Peace Without Promise: Britain and the Peace Conferences, 1919-1923, (Connecticut: Hamden, 1981)
T G Fraser, Andrew Mango and Robert McNamara, The Makers of the Modern Middle East, (London: Gingko Library, 2015)
Phillip S Jowett, “Armies of the Greek-Turkish War: 1919-1922”, Men at Arms, no 501, (2015)
Michael Llewellyn Smith, Ionian Vision: Greece in Asia Minor 1919-1922, (London: Allen Lane, 1973)
Margaret Macmillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, (London: Macmillan, 2019)
A.E. Montgomery, “The Making of the Treaty of Sèvres of 10 August 1920”, The Historical Journal Vol. 15, No. 4 (December, 1972)
New York Times, “Turk Nationalists Capture Beicos” (July 6, 1920) https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/time…
George Riddell, Lord Riddell’s Intimate Diary of the Peace Conference and After: 1918-1923, (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1933)
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August 14, 2020
“The End of the War to End All Wars” – The Great War – Sabaton History 080 [Official]
Sabaton History
Published 13 Aug 2020November 11, 1918. The end of the Great War. A war that was also dubbed “the war to end all wars”. And many truly wished that the war’s countless horrors, which had caused the terrible deaths of millions of soldiers and civilians, and had left so many of its survivors crippled and scarred for the rest of their lives, would never repeat themselves. But could this truly be the war that ended the need for war? Was there a solution that promised everlasting peace? Could war even be outlawed? Or was mankind doomed to repeat itself?
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Music by SabatonSources:
Icons from The Noun Project by: Vectors Point, Locad, Gan Khoon Lay, RF_Design & banjirolove
National Archives NARA
Library of Congress
Bundesarchiv
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Library of Scotland
Imperial War Museums:Q 43463, Q5733, HU 105641, Q 12363, HU 105641, Q 3117,Q 5733, Q 56637, IWM Q 10378, Q 3117,Q 86635, Q 23760, HU 110852, Q 7815, PST5277,
Archives of New Zealand
TRAJAN 117 from Wikimedia
Srg36 from Wikimedia
F l a n k e r from Wikimedia
Guilherme Paula from Wikimedia
Narodowe Archiwum CyfroweAn OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.
August 13, 2020
Development of the Luger Automatic Pistol
Forgotten Weapons
Published 31 Oct 2016http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
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Lugers! there are approximately a gazillion different recognized varieties, because the pistol became so popular and iconic. And yet … they all kinda look the same, don’t they? (If you are a Luger collector, don’t answer that!) A great many (I daresay the significant majority) of the Luger variations are minor changes in production details. So, what was involved in the mechanical evolution of the Luger?
Not much, really — which is a testament to the talents of Georg Luger. He got the gun almost totally right on his first try. There are, however, two major variants of the Luger mechanically — the 1900 model and the 1906 model. In this video I will walk through the differences between these two, as well as the initial Borchardt pistol that Luger used as his starting point and a couple other relevant milestones (a Swiss trials gun and a transitional French trials gun). And since they are the most common of the military models, we will also take a quick look at the German Army, Navy, and Artillery models.
August 7, 2020
Myth and Reality of the Ross MkIII Rifle
Forgotten Weapons
Published 16 Jun 2013There is a long-standing urban legend about the Canadian Ross rifle, a straight-pull bolt action that was used in lieu of the SMLE by Canadian troops early in World War One. The story is that the Ross would sometimes malfunction and blow the bolt back into its shooter’s face, with pretty horrible results. Well, I wanted to learn “the rest of the story” — could this actually happen? What caused it? How could it be prevented? In short, what would a Ross shooter need to know to remain safe? And if I could get some cool footage of a bolt blowing out of a Ross in the process, all the better.
Well, reader Andy very generously provided a sporterized Ross for the experiments, and I started reading into what the issue really was. Turns out that the legend was quite true — you can put a Ross MkIII bolt together the wrong way, and it will allow you to fire without the locking lugs engaged, thus throwing the bolt back out of the gun at high velocity. However, the issue was recognized fairly quickly, and the vast majority of Ross rifles were modified with a safety rivet to prevent this from happening. It is also quite easy to determine if a Ross is assembled correctly, once you know what to look for.
August 4, 2020
Nationalism DOESN’T explain WHY Austria-Hungary collapsed
TIK
Published 3 Aug 2020The go-to answer is that national or ethnic divisions caused the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But is this really the case? Using multiple sources, it’s time to provide YouTube with a narrative which doesn’t confirm nationalist beliefs. The Habsburgs survived the collapse, with Emperor Karl / Charles trying to reclaim his throne later on before being exiled. However, by about mid-November 1918, he had lost all power. The fact that there is no specific date when Austria-Hungary collapsed, and the fact that the “national revolutions” were met with relatively little opposition, speaks volumes. As does the fact that the new states were all multinational, which undermines the narrative that nationalism was the reason why Austria-Hungary collapsed. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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📚 BIBLIOGRAPHY / SOURCES 📚
Judson, P. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Belknap Press, Kindle 2016.
Kiste, J. The End of the Habsburgs: The Decline and Fall of the Austrian Monarchy. Kindle 2019.
Macgregor, J. & Docherty, G. Prolonging the Agony: How the Anglo-American Establishment Deliberately Extended WW1 by Three-and-a-Half Years. Trine Day LLC, 2018.
Marx, K. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy: Volume III. PDF, English edition, 2010. (Originally written 1894)
Mises, L. Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis. Liberty Fund, 1981. 1969 edition (roots back to 1922).
Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford University Press, Third Edition 2010.
Rady, M. The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power. Perseus Books, Kindle 2020.
Watson, A. Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918. Penguin Books, 2015.Cornwall, M. “Propaganda at Home (Austria-Hungary).” 1919. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online….
Online Latin-Dictionary http://www.latin-dictionary.net/defin…
Online Etymology Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com/word/publicFull list of all my sources – https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/…
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Want to ask a question? Please consider supporting me on either Patreon or SubscribeStar and help make more videos like this possible. For $5 or more you can ask questions which I will answer in future Q&A videos. Thank you to my current Patrons! You’re AWESOME! https://www.patreon.com/TIKhistory or https://www.subscribestar.com/tikhistory
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ABOUT TIK 📝
History isn’t as boring as some people think, and my goal is to get people talking about it. I also want to dispel the myths and distortions that ruin our perception of the past by asking a simple question – “But is this really the case?” I have a 2:1 Degree in History and a passion for early 20th Century conflicts (mainly WW2). I’m therefore approaching this like I would an academic essay. Lots of sources, quotes, references and so on. Only the truth will do.
This video is discussing events or concepts that are academic, educational and historical in nature. This video is for informational purposes and was created so we may better understand the past and learn from the mistakes others have made.
Sturmtruppen Firepower: The Artillery Luger
Forgotten Weapons
Published 4 Apr 2020https://www.instagram.com/rockislanda…
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This is lot #3569 in the upcoming RIA Premier Auction. It was scheduled for April, but has been postponed — check their web site for upcoming Online Only auctions every month, though!
The lP08 (Lange pistole 08) was formally adopted in 1913 to replace the Reichsrevolver for the field artillery. These were the German light artillery troops, who were specifically given a pistol caliber carbine to provide maximum firepower in a very compact package. They were made by the Erfurt Arsenal in 1914, and by DWM throughout the war, with a total of about 180,000 made.
What is most interesting to me is the evolution of the use of the “artillery Luger” throughout the course of World War One. Starting as simply a compact weapon for artillery, it was quickly recognized by aviators as an ideal weapon for aircraft before the mass introduction of aerial machine guns. The stock allowed more accurate fire, and the semiautomatic operation minimized the handling movements required to fire. More substantially, it was adopted by the German Sturmtruppen for maximizing the striking power of small and flexible units. It is for these men that the 32-round drum magazine was developed in 1916. This represents one of the very few formal military uses of a pistol-caliber semiautomatic carbine, as it was superseded by the advent of the submachine gun in 1918.
A few small batches were made in the 1920s and 1930s, but it would not see significant use in World War Two – leaving it a weapon specifically iconic to the Great War.
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August 1, 2020
Secret Briefing: The Pedersen Device
Forgotten Weapons
Published 8 Aug 2016http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
Welcome to your briefing on the new equipment we are issuing for the Spring Offensive of 1919. With this new secret weapon, we can finally push the Germans out of France and end the war!
July 29, 2020
America’s First Assault Rifle: Burton 1917 LMR
Forgotten Weapons
Published 4 Jul 2016http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
https://centerofthewest.org/explore/f…America’s first assault rifle? Well, it does meet all the requirements — select-fire, intermediate cartridge, and shoulder-fired. It was never actually fielded, though.
The Burton Light Machine Rifle was developed during World War One, with the firing model completed in 1917. It was intended as an aircraft observer’s weapon for attacking balloons — a role which required incendiary ammunition. With this in mind, Winchester’s Frank Burton adapted the .351 WSL cartridge from his 1905 and 1907 self-loading rifles into the .345 WSL, with a spitzer bullet. He designed an open-bolt, select-fire shoulder rifle to fire it, which became known as the Light Machine Rifle.
Burton’s rifle was to be usable both in an aircraft where it could be fixed to a Scarff mount for a wide field of fire or used by an individual on the ground, fired from the shoulder. It weighed in at just about 10 pounds (4.5kg) and had a pistol grip and straight-line design to bring the recoil impulse directly into the shooter’s shoulder and minimize rise during automatic fire. The barrel was finned for better cooling, and infantry barrels were equipped with bayonet lugs.
The most distinctive elements of the design, of course, are the dual top-mounted magazines. Each one holds 20 rounds, and each has a pair of locking catches. One position locks the magazine into a feeding position, and the other holds it up above the cycling of the bolt. The idea here was to keep a second loaded magazine easily accessible for an aerial observer, so they could reload without having to find another magazine somewhere in the aircraft. Contrary to some speculation, there is no automatic transition between magazines. When one is empty, the shooter must pull it back to the second locking position (or out of the gun entirely) and then push the second magazine down into feeding position.
Despite Burton’s work — which was well ahead of its time — the LMR had been rendered obsolete for its primary role by the time it was ready. Synchronized, forward-mounted Vickers machine guns firing 11mm incendiary ammunition were being mounted on aircraft, and were more effective on balloons and airplanes than Burton’s weapon would have been. Only this single example was ever made, and it was not presented for infantry consideration as far as I can tell. It was lost for many years before being discovered in a Winchester building, and eventually ending up in the Cody Firearms Museum with the rest of the Winchester factory collection.
July 26, 2020
Gewehr 98: The German WWI Standard Rifle
Forgotten Weapons
Published 11 Jun 2016Sold at auction for $1,840 (w/ 5 other rifles).
The Gewehr 1898 was the product of a decade of bolt action repeating rifle improvements by the Mauser company, and would be the standard German infantry rifle through both World Wars. Today we are looking at a pre-WWI example (1905 production) that shows all the features of what a German soldier would have taken to war in 1914.
July 23, 2020
Pattern 1913 Enfield Trials Rifle
Forgotten Weapons
Published 28 Apr 2016http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
Sold at auction for $6,325.
One of the lessons learned by the British military in the aftermath of the Boer War was that modern Mauser rifles were superior to their Lee-action rifles and carbines. In response, British ordnance began experimenting with a Mauser-pattern rifle, ultimately finalized as the Pattern 1913. This rifle would also leave behind the obsolescent .303 rimmed cartridge, in favor of a new rimless .276 Enfield round.
The Pattern 13 rifle itself was excellent — it balanced and handled well, it had very good sights, and a smooth and fast bolt throw. However, the .276 Enfield cartridge was really more potent than it needed to be, and caused problems. The cartridge threw a 165 grain bullet at just under 2800fps, pretty close to the ballistics of today’s 7mm Remington Magnum. Loaded with Cordite propellent, this led to excessive barrel wear and unpleasant recoil, along with some parts breakage. However, as final testing was being done in the first half of 1914, the Great War broke out.
At this point, plans for using a new cartridge were abandoned. The rifle itself was redesigned in the .303 cartridge, to be manufactured in large numbers by American firms under contract. It would also be refitted for the .30-06 cartridge and used in large numbers by the American armed forces as the M1917 Enfield rifle. According to General Julian Hatcher (who ought to know), it was the best rifle of the First World War.
July 14, 2020
A previously unpublished photo of the 1917 Halifax explosion
I’ve posted a few items about the Halifax explosion, so Colby Cosh linking to this CBC News article caught my attention:

Previously unpublished photo of the Halifax explosion in December 1917 taken by Mate Reg Stevens, RCN.
Original image from the Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County, via CBC News.
“The photo has the look of a very troubling dream,” Dan Conlin says as he studies an old black-and-white image.
Conlin is a transportation historian who’s spent a lifetime studying images of ships, trains and aircraft. He’s also a former curator of Halifax’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which houses a large collection of materials from the 1917 Halifax Explosion.
The image he’s studying surfaced recently on Reddit with a user from Halifax, England, wondering if it was a “new” image of the 1917 disaster.
“You have these tranquil little wavelets in the foreground and some stately, anchored vessels — including a sailing ship,” Conlin said. “But in the background there are these awful, nightmarish clouds, including a horrible column that is rising into the sky. It looks like a surreal nightmare.”
When Conlin first looked at it, the crisp details of the foreground and the blurry background raised his skeptical eyebrows. “There was quite a tradition in the World War I era of faking photos by doing composite photos, where you layer one image on top of another,” he said.
One well-known photo of the explosion taken from McNabs Island was later suspected to have been doctored by a company. They seem to have added clouds for dramatic effect — and to sell more postcards.
But Conlin thinks in the nightmarish photo, it’s more likely that the clouds are moving from the force of the explosion, while the ships were untroubled by any winds. The disaster killed nearly 2,000 people and badly hurt thousands more. It levelled the Richmond district in the north end.
“It’s carnage and destruction out of Dante at the base of that cloud. People are dying and fires are starting and this awful event has hit Halifax in the distance,” he said.
“That angry cloud gives you an idea of the violence and tragedy that is unfolding even as the shutter clicks. It’s really rare and that photo, as far as I can tell, has never been published.”
July 1, 2020
The Somme then and now … in full HD
MC C
Published 1 Aug 2016100 years ago Malins and McDowell exposed their film to the light capturing a moment in time.
It’s very difficult to understand and watch the original film as they were very limited by technology and the danger. Malins risked his life on several occasions making this film, being right on the front line with a huge box camera sticking out above the trench. After watching the film many times, over many years, I wanted to find these locations and stand in their foot prints and re-film.
Some locations were easy to find, some took much research and some I haven’t yet been able to locate, but all the ones in this documentary are within yards to feet of where they filmed originally, none are guesses or just possibilities. I hope you enjoy watching and it helps you to understand please leave comments this is worth more to me than earning money I ask for nothing but love remarks.
June 14, 2020
The Treaty of Trianon – The Most Controversial of the Peace Treaties I THE GREAT WAR 1920
The Great War
Published 13 Jun 2020Sign up for Curiosity Stream and get Nebula bundled in: https://curiositystream.com/thegreatwar
The last of the big peace treaties signed in Paris that finalized the borders in Europe was the Treaty of Trianon. Even at the time, Hungarians considered it a historic injustice while nations such as Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia were quite happy with the result. We examine how the treaty was signed and negotiated.
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Isaiah Bowman, The New World-Problems in Political Geography, (Yonkers-on-Hudson: World Book Company, 1921)Francis Deák & Dezsó Ujváry, Paper and Documents Relating to the Foreign Relations of Hungary, Volume 1; 1919-1920, (Budapest: Royal Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1939)
Conan Fischer, Europe between democracy and dictatorship, 1900-1945, (Chichester: Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)
Mike Gyula (ed.), Magyar Statisztikai Zsebkönyv, 1940 [Hungarian Statistical Pocket Book 1940], (Központi Statisztikai Hivatal: Budapest, 1940)
Róbert Győri & Charles W.J. Withers, “Trianon and its aftermath: British geography and
the ‘dismemberment’ of Hungary, c.1915-c.1922”, Scottish Geographical Journal, 135:1-2 (2019)Michael Károlyi, Memoirs of Michael Károlyi: Faith Without Illusion (London: Jonathan Cape, 1956)
Jörn Leonhard, Der überforderte Frieden: Versailles und die Welt 1918-1923, (Bonn: bpp, Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, 2019)
C.A. Macartney, Hungary and her successors: the treaty of Trianon and its consequences 1919-1937, (London: Oxford University Press, 1937)
Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, (London: Macmillan, 2019)
Arnold Suppan, The Imperialist Peace Order in Central Europe: Saint-Germain and Trianon, 1919–1920, (Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2019)
Miklós Zeidler; Thomas J. DeKornfeld; Helen DeKornfeld, “Ideas on Territorial Revision in Hungary, 1920-1945”, East European Monographs, 717, (2010)
Miklós Zeidler, Trianon, (Budapest, Osiris, 2003.)» SOCIAL MEDIA
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Presented by: Jesse Alexander
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Sound: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
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