Quotulatiousness

July 3, 2019

Tank Chats #51 TANKFEST 2017 | The Tank Museum

Filed under: Britain, France, Germany, History, Military, Technology, WW1 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

The Tank Museum
Published on 25 May 2018

At TANKFEST 2017, the Musée des Blindés brought their unique Saint Chamond tank, which sat alongside the Museum’s replica Mark IV and A7V. David Fletcher took the opportunity to talk about the three First World War vehicles as they stood side-by-side.

Support the work of The Tank Museum on Patreon: ► https://www.patreon.com/tankmuseum
Or donate http://tankmuseum.org/support-us/donate

Visit The Tank Museum SHOP: ►https://tankmuseumshop.org/

Twitter: ► https://twitter.com/TankMuseum
Tiger Tank Blog: ► http://blog.tiger-tank.com/
Tank 100 First World War Centenary Blog: ► http://tank100.com/ #tankmuseum #tanks

June 30, 2019

Woodrow Wilson and the Versailles Treaty

Filed under: Europe, History, Politics, USA, WW1 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Michael Filozof on the hundred-year anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles and the American President who had so much to do with the casting of the treaty:

Eight months after committing troops to war, Wilson cobbled together a list of progressive war aims in his Fourteen Points. They demanded an end to secret deals (i.e., the Treaty of London and the Sykes-Picot Agreement); “ethnic self-determination” for Poland and Austro-Hungarian territories that would soon become Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia; “a free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims,” and finally, a collective security organization, the League of Nations, which would be formed by a “covenant” (using the biblical term for a pact with God Himself) to maintain peace and territorial security of all nations.

Woodrow Wilson, 1919
Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Upon reading the Fourteen Points, French prime minister George “the Tiger” Clemenceau is said to have sniggered, “God gave us only ten.”

In 1919, Wilson became the first sitting president to venture overseas, practically abandoning his domestic duties and spending six months at the Paris Peace Conference personally negotiating the Treaty of Versailles. He was joined by “The Inquiry,” a group of over 100 academics and professors who surely knew how to fix the world and usher in Wilson’s global utopia.

Initially, Wilson and his Fourteen Points were wildly popular. He was greeted as if he were a latter-day rock star in France and Italy. Delegations from ethnic groups around the world came to Paris to beg Wilson for “self-determination.” (His French and British counterparts, Clemenceau and David Lloyd George, sneered that Wilson “thought he was Jesus Christ.”)

But they were soon to be disappointed. Wilson’s aims were so grandiose that they could not possibly be fulfilled. Italians, who had switched sides in the war to gain territory on the Dalmatian coast, became disillusioned when Wilson refused to accede to Italian demands. The negotiators did create Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, but all three were destined to become communist dictatorships, and the latter two failed to outlast the twentieth century.

Worst of all was Wilson’s hypocrisy when it came to dealing with Germany. Wilson had railed against German imperialism, but turned a blind eye to the biggest empire at the Conference: Great Britain. A pro-British bigot, Wilson was contemptuous of Irish demands for self-determination and had been disgusted by the Easter Rising of 1916. Wilson granted Britain and France Ottoman territories they had secretly agreed to divvy up in the Sykes-Picot agreement — not as “colonies,” but under the guise of League of Nations “mandates.” He willingly partitioned Germany into two non-contiguous territories, separated by the Polish Corridor, and placed millions of ethnic Germans in the newly created nation of Czechoslovakia and the Free City of Danzig.

On a slightly lighter note, Al Stewart’s “A League of Notions” does a wonderful job of capturing the machinations at Versailles:

June 29, 2019

Estonia and Latvia Fight For Independence – Russian Civil War Baltic Front I THE GREAT WAR June 1919

Filed under: Britain, Europe, Germany, History, Military, Russia, WW1 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

The Great War
Published on 28 Jun 2019

GAME OF TRENCHES: The first 20 players to register at: http://bit.ly/GameOfTrenches will receive in-game rewards worth a total of 10 600 Gold

Estonia and Latvia had declared their independence from Russia in the late 1918 chaos. Over the spring of 1919 both countries’ new governments needed to defend that independence not only against the Russian Bolsheviks: there was also a violent internal struggle about the future of these countries. The Baltic Germans didn’t want to give up their social status and the even the anti-Bolshevik Russians considered the Baltics as part of the Russian Empire.

» SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
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» SOURCES
Bennett, Geoffrey Martin. Cowan’s War. The Story of British Naval Operations in the Baltic, 1918-1920 (London: Collins, 1964)

Chester, Geoff. “When the Capital of Latvia was a Ship Called Saratov” (Deep Baltic, 2016). https://deepbaltic.com/2016/06/13/whe…

Fletcher, William A. “The British Navy In the Baltic, 1918-1920. Its Contribution to the Independence of the Baltic Nations”. Journal of Baltic Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 1976, p. 134-144.

Gerwarth, Robert. The Vanquished. Why the First World War Failed to End, 1917-1923 (Penguin, 2017).

Hatlie, Mark R. Riga at War 1914-1919. War and Wartime Experience in a Multi-ethnic Metropolis (Marburg: Herder-Institut, 2014). https://digital.herder-institut.de/pu…

Jēkabsons, Ēriks: “Cēsis, Battle of”, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online…

Ibid. “The Latvian War of Independence 1918-1920 and the United States”. In: Fleishman L., Weiner A. (ed). War, Revolution, and Governance: The Baltic Countries in the Twentieth Century (Boston, 2018).

Kirby, David. The Baltic World 1772–1993. Europe’s Northern Periphery in an Age of Change. (London: Longman, 1995).

Raun, Toivo U. Estonia and the Estonians, 2nd ed. (Stanford: Hoover, 2002).

Sammartino, Annemarie H. The Impossible Border: Germany and the East, 1914–1922 (Cornell, 2014).

Sullivan, Charles L. “The 1919 German Campaign in the Baltic. The Final Phase.” In The Baltic States in Peace and War, 1917–1945, ed. V. Stanley Vardys and Romuald J. Misiunas, 31-42. (University Park: Penn State, 1978).

Tammela, Mari-Leen. Saaremaa Uprising. Estonica (Estonian Institute, 2012). http://www.estonica.org/en/Saaremaa_U…

Uustalu, Evald. The History of Estonian People (London: Boreas, 1952).

Von Rauch, Georg. The Baltic States. The Years of Independence 1917-1940 (London: Hurst, 1995).

Smele, Jonathan. The ‘Russian’ Civil Wars, 1916-1926: Ten Years That Shook the World (Oxford University Press: 2016)

Palmer, Alan. Northern Shores: A History of the Baltic Sea and Its Peoples (John Murray, 2005)

»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com
Motion Design: Christian Graef – GRAEFX
Maps: Daniel Kogosov (https://www.patreon.com/Zalezsky)
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Florian Wittig

Channel Design: Alexander Clark
Original Logo: David van Stephold

A Mediakraft Networks Original Channel

Contains licensed material by getty images
All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2019

June 20, 2019

Tank Chats #49 A7V | The Tank Museum

Filed under: Germany, History, Military, Technology, WW1 — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 02:00

The Tank Museum
Published on 20 Mar 2018

21 March 1918, was the action debut of the German A7V tank during the First World War.

One hundred years later, historian David Fletcher talks through the vehicle and its history. The Tank Museum’s A7V is a replica, which can be seen running at Museum events, like TANKFEST.

Support the work of The Tank Museum on Patreon: ► https://www.patreon.com/tankmuseum
Or donate http://tankmuseum.org/support-us/donate

Visit The Tank Museum SHOP: ►https://tankmuseumshop.org/

Twitter: ► https://twitter.com/TankMuseum
Tiger Tank Blog: ► http://blog.tiger-tank.com/
Tank 100 First World War Centenary Blog: ► http://tank100.com/ #tankmuseum #tanks

June 15, 2019

Just Peace Or Day of Dishonor? – The Treaty of Versailles I THE GREAT WAR June 1919

Filed under: Britain, Europe, France, Germany, History, Military, USA, WW1 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

The Great War
Published on 14 Jun 2019

Support us on Patreon and get an actual WW1 postcard signed by the team: http://patreon.com/thegreatwar

The Treaty of Versailles was the first of the big peace treaties after the armistice of 1918. In just six months the allied powers had – without talking to the defeated powers – negotiated a new world order while trying to make sure Germany would pay reparations to rebuild. The German delegation was only informed about the peace terms a few weeks before signing the Treaty and they were shocked about the terms. In May 1919 they even considered not signing the contract at all.

» SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thegreatwar
Merchandise: https://shop.spreadshirt.de/thegreatwar/

» SOURCES
Gerwarth, Robert. The Vanquished. Why the First World War Failed to End, 1917-1923 (Penguin, 2017).

Leonhard, Jörn. Der überforderte Frieden. Versailles und die Welt 1918-1923 (CH Beck, 2018)

Macmillan, Margaret. The Peacemakers: Six Months that Changed the World (London: John Murray, 2001).

Sharp, Alan. The Versailles Settlement. Peacemaking after the First World War, 1919-1923 (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008).

Stevenson, David. 1914-1918 (London: Penguin, 2012).
Winter, Jay and Antoine Prost. The Great War in History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Hobsbawm, Eric. Age of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991 (Abacus, 1994).
http://www.ataa.org/reference/iacom.pdf

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/p… quoting:
Philipp Scheidemann, “Gegen die Annahme des Versailler Vertrages 12. Mai 1919”, Politische Reden III, herausgegeben von Peter Wende. Deutscher Klassiker Verlag:Frankfurt am Main, 1994, S.254-62

»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Toni Steller Editing: Toni Steller
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com
Motion Design: Christian Graef – GRAEFX
Maps: Daniel Kogosov (https://www.patreon.com/Zalezsky)
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Florian Wittig

Channel Design: Alexander Clark
Original Logo: David van Stephold

A Mediakraft Networks Original Channel

Contains licensed material by getty images
All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2019

June 14, 2019

“Great War” – World War One – Sabaton History 019 [Official]

Filed under: Europe, History, Media, Military, WW1 — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Sabaton History
Published on 13 Jun 2019

The title track of the upcoming Sabaton Album The Great War is about the conflict in general. The horrors, modern techniques and tactics and the differences with other conflicts.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon (and possibly get a History Channel special edition): https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Pre-order The Great War here: https://www.sabaton.net/pre-order-of-…

Check out the trailer for Sabaton’s new album The Great War right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZP1…

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: Joram Appel
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Maps by: Eastory
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski

Eastory YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by Sabaton.

Sources:
– IWM: Q 57096, Q 24285, IWM 1053, Art.IWM ART 1921, Art.IWM ART 4028, Art.IWM ART 876, Art.IWM ART 2660, IWM 1062-02a, Q 23760, IWM 59, IWM 1043a, Q 2891, Q 5733, Q 2902, CO 2246, Q 2712, Q 5937, Q 2735, Q 5714, Q 3117, Q 3002
– National Library of Scotland
-Colorization: Klimbim

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

From the comments:

Sabaton History
1 day ago
This episode is somewhat different from what we normally do. Usually, the episodes are about battles, confrontations or individuals in war. This time, it is about an ENTIRE WAR. The title track of the upcoming Sabaton Album The Great War is about the horror and overall experience of the Great War. We have showcased a number of songs now, so if you’re certain that it is to your liking, make sure to go over to our Patreon site to check out the exclusive “History Edition” of The Great War album! -> https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Cheers!

June 7, 2019

“A Ghost in the Trenches” – Francis Pegahmagabow – Sabaton History 018 [Official]

Filed under: Cancon, History, Media, Military, WW1 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Sabaton History
Published on 6 Jun 2019

As a ghost he roamed the trenches, effectively taking out his enemies one by one. He was the deadliest sniper of The Great War, with over 300 confirmed kills on his name. He is Canadian soldier Francis Pegahmagabow, born in an indigenous First Nations family, and the The Sabaton Song “A Ghost in the Trenches” is about his life and adventures.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon (and possibly get a History Channel special edition): https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Pre-order The Great War here: https://www.sabaton.net/pre-order-of-…

Check out the trailer for Sabaton’s new album The Great War right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZP1…

Watch more videos on the Sabaton YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Sabaton?…
Listen to Sabaton on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SabatonSpotify
Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShop

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: Joram Appel
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Maps by: Eastory
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski

Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by Sabaton.

Sources:
– IWM: Q 454, Q 17730, Q 50690, IWM 255, IWM 778, Q 17780, Q 745, IWM 466, IWM 208, Q 53538, E(AUS) 1497, E (AUS) 4677, E(AUS) 2078, Q 70213, Q 5977, Q 108213, Q 50553, Q 53637, Q 2638, Q 65444, Q 11668, Q 79508, Q 23706, Q 88121, Q 50638, IWM 207, Q 4135, Q 80267, Q 29027
– National Library of Scotland (NLS)
– Library and Archives Canada: Canadians advancing east of Arras.
– Auckland War Memorial Museum: AM 2016.26.1-3
– Canadian War Museum: George Metcalf Archival Collection, CWM 19940003-459, CWM 19920085-006, CWM 19920085-595, CWM 19920085-018, CWM 19940003-370, CWM 20040035-006

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

From the comments:

Sabaton History
1 day ago
Many of you have been analysing the tracklist for the upcoming Sabaton Album The Great War. While the subjects of some of the songs are quite easy to guess, the exact topic of “A Ghost in the Trenches” was a mystery for many – although some did predict it correctly. The song is about the Canadian (and indigenous First Nations) soldier Francis Pegahmagabow, the deadliest sniper of the First World War. Indy – having researched and hosted the The Great War YouTube channel for the duration of the war, knows as much as there is to know about the subject, and is the most suitable person to tell you the story behind the song.

Enjoy and Cheers!

June 3, 2019

QotD: The roots of Italian Fascism

Filed under: Europe, History, Italy, Politics, Quotations, WW1 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

Colourized portrait of Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini in 1940.
Colourization by Roger Viollet via Wikimedia Commons.

Italian Fascism … originated as a kind of live-action role-playing game for disgruntled Italian WWI vets led by a charismatic war hero, aviator, and poet named Gabriele D’Annunzio. Compared to what it evolved into, early Italian fascism had a rather charming opera-bouffe quality about it – theoretical ideas that were incoherent to the point of surrealism, lots of prancing around in invented uniforms, and dosing of opponents with castor oil. The history of D’Annunzio’s Fascist microstate of Fiume makes amusing reading.

Then came Benito Mussolini, a man looking for a vehicle.

Mussolini was a revolutionary Socialist organizer influenced by the theories of Georges Sorel, who was responding to one of the early failures of Marxism. In Marxian “scientific socialism”, universal revolution was a process that would follow mechanically from the capitalist immiseration of the proletariat. But by the second decade of the new century it was becoming clear that most national proletariats were unwilling to play their appointed role in the theory and indeed tended to be among the most patriotic and nationalist elements of their societies. Class warfare as the engine of international socialism had failed, creating a doctrinal crisis in communist/socialist circles.

Sorel responded by writing a new theory of political motivation he called “irrationalism” which proposed that instead of fighting popular sentiments like patriotism and nationalist mythology, socialists and communists should embrace them as tools to build and perfect socialism. Mussolini was persuaded, broke with the Socialist Party, and went looking for a vehicle for a Sorelian revolution. He found it in D’Annunzio’s Fascists and, swiftly shunting D’Annunzio aside, became their leader.

I’ve covered this history in detail because it explodes one of the prevailing myths about Fascism – that it arose out of some fundamental opposition to Communism. In fact this was never true; Fascism was a Marxist heresy from the day Mussolini seized it, differing from Marxism not mainly in its aims but in the means by which they were to be achieved.

The defining doctrine of Fascism once D’Annunzio was out of the way was this quote by Mussolini: “Everything for the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” (There are a few variant translations from the original Italian.) Building directly on Leninist political economics, Benito Mussolini wrote a theoretical justification of the totalitarian state which paralleled Joseph Stalin’s less theorized but brutally-executed totalitarianization of the Soviet Union at around the same time.

The Fascist theory was of a unitary, totalizing state ruled by a leader acting as the embodiment of the will of the nation. No power centers in opposition to the embodied will can be tolerated; church, family, education, and civic institutions must all become organs of that will.

Eric S. Raymond, “Spotting the wild Fascist”, Armed and Dangerous, 2019-04-30.

May 29, 2019

US Soldiers Fighting in Russia – The End of the “Polar Bear Expedition” I THE GREAT WAR May 1919

Filed under: History, Military, Russia, USA, WW1 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

The Great War
Published on 28 May 2019

The so called Allied intervention into the Russian Civil War suffered from no clear operational goals and mandate and when US President Woodrow Wilson pulled out the American soldiers that were fighting in Northern Russia in May 1919, the operation suffered another setback. Public pressure against US foreign intervention was increasing now that Germany had been beaten and many people didn’t understand what American soldiers were doing in Russia anyway. At the same time Winston Churchill and his supporters maintained that it was vital to defeat the Bolsheviks in Russia once and for all.

» SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thegreatwar
Merchandise: https://shop.spreadshirt.de/thegreatwar/

» SOURCES
Crownover, Roger. The United States Intervention in North Russia, 1918-1919: The Polar Bear Odyssey. Edwin Mellen Press, 2001.

Wright, Damien. Churchill’s Secret War With Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918-20, Helion and Company, 2017

Long, John W. “American Intervention in Russia: the North Russian Expedition, 1918-1919,” in Arthur Dudden, ed. American empire in the Pacific: from trade to strategic balance 1700 – 1922 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004): 321-344.

Mawdsley Evan. The Russian Civil War, Pegasus Books, 2019

Moore, Joel. The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 (1920)

»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com
Motion Design: Christian Graef – GRAEFX
Maps: Daniel Kogosov (https://www.patreon.com/Zalezsky)
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Florian Wittig

Channel Design: Alexander Clark
Original Logo: David van Stephold

A Mediakraft Networks Original Channel

Contains licensed material by getty images
All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2019

May 22, 2019

Hotchkiss 1914: A French and American WWI Heavy MG

Filed under: France, History, Military, Technology, Weapons, WW1, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published on 19 Apr 2019

This Hotchkiss machine gun and its tripod are lot #2027 in the upcoming April 2019 Morphy auction:

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/hotc…

The gun that became the Hotchkiss 1914 and served as the bulwark of French and American forces in World War One was actually first designed and patented by an Austrian officer; Adolph von Odkolek. He took his idea to the Hotchkiss company in Paris hoping to arrange for them to produce it under license. The design was inspected by Laurence Benet (chief engineer at Hotchkiss) and Henri Mercie (Benet’s assistant), and they concluded that the gun was not suitable for production. However, the core concept in the patent – Odkolek’s gas piston system – was a worthy one and would allow production of machine guns to compete with Maxim and Colt without violating their existing patents. So Benet arranged to simply buy the patent outright for a flat fee, and then Hotchkiss set about redesigning the gun to be much better.

The result was the model 1897, an air-cooled, strip-fed heavy machine gun that was sold to many different nations. It was improved in 1900, and between the two models sales were made to Japan, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, China, Spain, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Luxembough, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, and Venezuela in a variety of calibers. The French government also purchased some Hotchkiss guns, primarily for colonial use. For the bulk of the metropolitan army, France opted to design its own gun in the state arsenals (which was the Modele 1907 St Etienne gun; which is suspiciously like a Hotchkiss with the operating direction of the parts reversed to avoid patent infringement).

When World War One broke out, and the need for vast quantities of machine guns became apparent, the Hotchkiss was finally adopted on a large scale by France. The commercial 1900 pattern was revised slightly (a better barrel-locking system and replacement of the shoulder stock with a D-ring rear handle) and some 45,000 would be produced by 1918. The Hotchkiss would supplant the 1907 St Etienne over the course of the war, as it was a more reliable and less expensive design. It would go on to serve the French military through the end of World War Two, gaining a reputation as a gun of unparalleled simplicity and reliability.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
PO Box 87647
Tucson, AZ 85754

May 17, 2019

The Red Baron – The Great War – Sabaton History 015

Filed under: Germany, History, Media, Military, WW1 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Sabaton History
Published on 16 May 2019

The Red Baron is one of the, if not THE MOST iconic heroes of The Great War. He simultaneously embodies the mechanisation of modern war and a romanticised version of war with his individual skill and heroism. Indy goes beyond the legend to tell the history of Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a The Red Baron, the latter of which also is the name of a Sabaton song that will feature on their upcoming album The Great War.

You can find the eight points of the Dicta Boelcke in the pinned comment.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon (and possibly get a History Channel special edition): https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Pre-order The Great War here: https://www.sabaton.net/pre-order-of-…

Check out the trailer for Sabaton’s new album ‘The Great War’ right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZP1…

Watch more videos on the Sabaton YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Sabaton?…
Listen to Sabaton on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SabatonSpotify
Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShop

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: Joram Appel
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Maps by: Eastory
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski

Eastory YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by Sabaton.

Sources:
– © IWM: Q 66959, Q 105717, Q 73533, Q 67598, Q 50329, Q 50328, Q 42284, Q 111872, Q 54397, Q 63148, Q 63122, Q 3140, Q 57513 Q 58028, Q 52781, Q 63822, Q 50673, Q 72919, Q 12044, IWM 187, EPH 9001, Q 67832, IWM 1004, Q 63162, Q 67780, Q 58034, Q 63137, Q 63160
– © IWM Art: IWM ART 517, 1488, 517, 3071, 2659, 2660, 3199, 2754, 654
– Bendigo Soldiers Memorial Institute Military Museum: 2075P
– Klimbim Colorization
– James Miller Colorization

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

From the comments:

Sabaton History
This is the second episode of Sabaton History about one of the songs of the upcoming Sabaton album The Great War. By supporting us on Patreon, you can help us continue making these YouTube videos. You will also get some exclusive content – like a full version of Indy and Joakim talking about The Red Baron, which is live on our Patreon site right here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-length-red-26854763

Indy mentions the Dicta Boelcke in the video. These are the eight points that Boelcke and von Richthofen used in the skies (source: Werner, Johannes von, 1932):
1. Try to secure advantages before attacking. If possible, keep the sun behind you.
2. Always carry through an attack when you have started it.
3. Fire only at close range, and only when your opponent is properly in your sights.
4. Always keep your eye on your opponent, and never let yourself be deceived by ruses.
5. In any form of attack it is essential to assail your enemy from behind.
6. If your opponent dives on you, do not try to evade his onslaught, but fly to meet it.
7. When over the enemy’s lines never forget your own line of retreat.
8. For the Staffel (squadron): Attack on principle in groups of four or six. When the fight breaks up into a series of single combats, take care that several do not go for the same opponent.

May 3, 2019

“The Lost Battalion” – The Meuse-Argonne Offensive – Sabaton History 013

Filed under: France, Germany, History, Media, Military, USA, WW1 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Sabaton History
Published on 2 May 2019

In the last months of the Great War, the Americans join the fighting on the Western Front in an effort to break through the German Lines for once and for all. The Americans launch their Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the fall of 1918. As part of the offensive, nine companies of the United States 77th Division under command of Major Charles White Whittlesey pushes through the German lines with remarkable ease. Little did they know that the German lines were not abandoned, but that they simply found a hole. The Lost Battalion was surrounded and the men had to fight for days, awaiting their rescue.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon (and possibly get a special edition of The Great War): https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Watch the Official Lyric Video of “The Lost Battalion” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZtV…

Check out the trailer for Sabaton’s new album The Great War right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZP1…

Listen to Sabaton on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SabatonSpotify
Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShop

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: Joram Appel
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Maps by: Eastory
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski

Eastory YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by Sabaton.

Sources:
© IWM (Q 8986), IWM (Q 10317), IWM (Q 8842), IWM (Q 9080), IWM (Q 87923), IWM (Q 61038), IWM (Q 53524), © IWM (Q 45553), IWM (Q 81616), IWM (Q 9078), IWM (Q 9079), IWM (Q 8844), IWM (Q 56607), IWM (Q 55559), IWM (Q 55558), IWM (Q 87940), IWM (Q 85383), IWM (Q 23719), IWM (Q 23709), IWM (Q 42057), IWM (Q 115198), IWM (Q 8161), IWM (Q 10316), IWM (Q 7928) IWM (Q 61481), IWM (Q 57695), IWM (Q 9088), IWM (Q 9083), IWM (Q 47997), IWM (Q 79595)
USMC Archives through Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/6086806…

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

From the comments:

Sabaton History
1 day ago
We met up with Indy in the Argonne to film Sabaton History’s episode for “The Lost Battalion”. As it happens, our new album is about the First World War as well. We have published a video earlier today presenting the “History Channel Edition” for the upcoming Sabaton Album The Great War. This is a special edition of the new album that is an exclusive reward for people who generously support us on Patreon as a Hussar or higher. If you want to check out the video in which Joakim and Indy explain the contents of the special edition, click here: https://youtu.be/Nk-VN_PjZyg If you want to support this channel on Patreon, go here: https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Thanks for your time and cheers! 🤘

April 24, 2019

Vickers Heavy Machine Gun

Filed under: Britain, History, Military, Technology, Weapons, WW1, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published on 14 Dec 2016

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

I may be a bit biased here, but I believe that the Vickers gun is one of the best all-around firearms ever made. It was designed during an era of experimentation and craftsmanship, with a quality and care that would make it today prohibitively expensive. It was exemplary in action, and served in every environment on earth through six decades and in the hands of 50 different nations. It was an infantry gun, an aircraft gun, an armored vehicle gun, and a shipboard gun.

Captain Graham Hutchison recorded this account of the Vickers in action during an attack on High Wood in August 1916 (exerpted from “The Grand old Lady of No Man’s Land by Dolf Goldsmith):

“For this attack, [ten] guns were grouped in the Savoy Trench, from which a magnificent view was obtained of the German line at a range of about 2000 yards. These guns were disposed for barrage. On August 23rd and the night of the 23rd/24th the whole Company was, in addition to the two Companies of Infantry lent for the purpose, employed in carrying water and ammunition to this point. Many factors in barrage work which are now common knowledge had not then been learned or considered. It is amusing today to note that in the orders for the 100th Machine Gun Company’s barrage of 10 guns, Captain Hutchison ordered that rapid fire should be maintained continuously for twelve hours, to cover the attack and consolidation. It is to the credit of the gunners and the Vickers gun itself that this was done! During the attack on the 24th, 250 rounds short of one million were fired by ten guns; at least four petrol tins of water besides all the water bottles of the Company and urine tins form the neighborhood were emptied into the guns for cooling purposes; and a continuous party was employed carrying ammunition. Private Robertshaw and Artificer H. Bartlett between them maintained a belt-filling machine in action without stopping for a single moment, for twelve hours. At the end of this time many of the NCOs and gunners were found asleep from exhaustion at their posts. A prize of five francs to the members of each gun team was offered and was secured by the gun team of Sgt. P. Dean, DCM, with a record of just over 120,000 rounds.”

The attack on the 24th of August was a brilliant success, the operation being difficult and all objectives being taken within a short time. Prisoner examined at Divisional and Corps Headquarters reported that the effect of the Machine Gun barrage was annihilating, and the counterattacks which had attempted to retake the ground lost were broken up whilst being concentrated east of the Flers Ridge and of High Wood.

In 1963 in Yorkshire, a class of British Army armorers put one Vickers gun through probably the most strenuous test ever given to an individual gun. The base had a stockpile of approximately 5 million rounds of Mk VII ammunition which was no longer approved for military use. They took a newly rebuilt Vickers gun, and proceeded to fire the entire stock of ammo through it over the course of seven days. They worked in pairs, switching off at 30 minute intervals, with a third man shoveling away spent brass. The gun was fired in 250-round solid bursts, and the worn out barrels were changed every hour and a half. At the end of the five million rounds, the gun was taken back into the shop for inspection. It was found to be within service spec in every dimension.

During its service life, the Vickers was made in .303 British, .30-06, 0.50 Vickers, .50 High Velocity, 7×57 Mauser, 7.65×53, 8mm Mauser, 8mm Lebel, 7.7 Japanese, 6.5×54 Dutch, 7.9x57R Dutch, 7.62 NATO, 7.62x54R, 8x52R Siamese, 11mm Vickers, and three different 40mm cartridges.

The Vickers was retired from British military service in 1968, having finally become obsolete. Its GPMG role was taken over by the FN MAG, and its long range indirect fire role performed by 3″ mortars. The Vickers was a weapon which required training and dedication to master, but rewarded its users with phenomenal endurance and a wide range of capabilities. Among all contenders, only the Browning machine gun can attempt to compare to the outstanding qualities of the Vickers, and even the Browning fails to match the elegance of the stalwart Brit.

April 16, 2019

World War 2 British Armour Doctrine & Tactics with David Willey of the Tank Museum at Bovington

Filed under: Britain, History, Military, WW1, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Military History Visualized
Published on 8 Dec 2017

David Willey the Curator of the Tank Museum at Bovington explains British Interwar and World War 2 Armour Doctrine and Tactics. Especially, about the Infantry and Cruiser tank “concept”. Additionally, we talk a bit about the 2nd Battle of El Alamein, Montgomery and Rommel.

April 12, 2019

Fields of Verdun – The Battle of Verdun – Sabaton History 010

Filed under: France, Germany, History, Media, Military, WW1 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Sabaton History
Published on 11 Apr 2019

One of the bloodiest battles in the history of humankind was fought out on the hills in Northern France. Verdun was a tactical and symbolical city with great value to France. In 1916, the German army launched a massive attack, accompanied by a tremendous artillery bombardment, upon which the French defenders put their foot down, stating that “on ne passe pas!” — they shall not pass.

Check out the trailer for Sabaton’s new album The Great War on which “Fields of Verdun” will be featured right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZP1-JsD0M

Support Sabaton History on Patreon (and possibly get a special edition of ‘The Great War): https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Listen to Sabaton on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SabatonSpotify
Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShop

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: Joram Appel
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Maps by: Eastory
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski

© IWM (Q 56546), (Q 23760), (Q 23892), (Q 69971), (Q 87751), Q 87757), (Q 23878).
Battle Of Verdun, Uploaded by RV1864 on Flickr.

Eastory YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by: Reuters/Screenocean https://www.screenocean.com
Music by Sabaton.

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

From the comments:

Sabaton History
1 day ago (edited)
Last week we announced our upcoming album The Great War which will release on July 19 this year. This week, we’re covering a song from that album. “Fields of Verdun” is about the Battle of Verdun 1916 and will be featured on the new album. Since Indy hosted “The Great War” for over four years, the episode is very personal for everyone involved. Thank you all very much for your support and positive reactions to the trailer release. Haven’t seen the trailer? You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZP1-JsD0M

Cheers and Rock on!!

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