Quotulatiousness

August 27, 2020

Margaret Murray’s highly influential The Witch-Cult in Western Europe

Filed under: Books, Britain, History, Religion — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

In First Things, Francis Young discusses the impact Murray’s work had when it was published in the 1920s:

Just under a century ago, in 1921, one of the strangest books ever to be published by Oxford University Press appeared in print: The Witch-Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Alice Murray. By today’s academic standards — in fact, even by the standards of the 1920s — Murray’s book was filled with transparent flaws in methodology and research. Furthermore, the book’s author (a leading Egyptologist) was not qualified to write it. The few scholars then working on the history of European witchcraft dismissed Murray’s contribution. Yet in spite of this, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe became an instant hit and captured the imaginations of readers. Within three decades, the book had not only profoundly influenced cultural understandings of witchcraft, but also directly led to the rise of neopaganism and the foundation of a new religion, Wicca, that today has millions of adherents throughout the world.

Margaret Alice Murray (1863–1963) was born and brought up in British India — an upbringing that, as with so many Anglo-Indians of the nineteenth century, may have opened her mind to interests beyond Victorian culture. Determined to pursue a career of her own at a time when opportunities for women were limited, Murray tried out both nursing and social work before entering the progressive University College London in 1894, where she studied Egyptology under W. Flinders Petrie. Murray rapidly rose through the academic ranks, and by 1914, she was effectively running the Egyptology department. Her impressive achievements in advancing knowledge of ancient Egypt and higher education for women have, however, been largely overshadowed by her decision to take a detour into writing about European witchcraft.

In The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, Murray seized on some unusual testimonies in 16th-century Scottish witch trials to elaborate a radical theory: She claimed that what medieval and early modern people called witchcraft was, in fact, the last traces of a pagan fertility cult that originated in the Neolithic period. The witch trials of the 15th–17th centuries represented Christianity’s last attempt to stamp out this cult, which was practiced in secret covens (groups of thirteen people) who worshipped a horned god (who was mistaken for the devil). Knowledge of this cult was passed through families or, occasionally, to new initiates, but kept secret from the outside world.

Murray’s use of a single set of problematic sources from one country (Scotland) to argue that a previously unnoticed religion had existed since prehistory failed to meet basic historiographical and anthropological standards of research. She was given to making huge conceptual leaps on the basis of contentious interpretations of meager evidence. Using a small range of hostile trial records designed to discredit women accused of witchcraft (along with testimonies extracted under torture), Murray reconstructed what she believed were real religious practices lurking behind the demonological construct of the Witches’ Sabbath. In so doing, she brought together traditions of interpretation honed by the anthropologist Sir James Frazer (1854–1941), the author of The Golden Bough, and the French historian Jules Michelet (1798-1874). Murray followed Michelet in arguing that those accused of witchcraft were not the innocent victims of trumped-up charges, but were in fact adherents of a subversive cult; and she followed Frazer in her belief that prehistoric religious beliefs, associated with fertility, had survived into recent times.

August 25, 2020

The Bronze Age Changes with Archeological Evidence

Filed under: Architecture, History, Middle East, Science, Technology — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

The Cynical Historian
Published 22 Feb 2019

Check out the full collaboration playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…

Up until the 19th century, the Bronze Age was merely a time of legends, where the Bible and Iliad told fantastic tales of brutality and triumph. But archeology changed that, and that’s what I want to talk about today, how the Bronze Age was rescued from legend.
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references:
Stephen L. Dyson, “Archaeology and Ancient History,” in A Companion to Ancient History, edited by Andrew Erskine (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 59-66. https://amzn.to/2PCf04X

Marie-Henriette Gates, “Archeology and the Ancient Near East: Methods and Limits,” in A Companion to the Ancient Near East, edited by Daniel C. Snell (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2005), 65-79. https://amzn.to/2BrsBqO

Alan B. Lloyd, “Chronology,” in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, vol. 1, edited by Alan B. Lloyd (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2010), xxxii-xliii. https://amzn.to/2LqGZnM

John Marincola, “Historiography,” in A Companion to Ancient History, edited by Andrew Erskine (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 13-22. https://amzn.to/2PCf04X

John Van Seters, “Historiography in Ancient Israel,” in A Companion to Western Historical Thought, edited by Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 15-34. https://amzn.to/2PAC5Vz

Tim Whitmarsh, “Ancient History through Ancient Literature,” in A Companion to Ancient History, edited by Andrew Erskine (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 77-86. https://amzn.to/2PCf04X
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Wiki: The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, and in some areas proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies.

An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by producing bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage.

Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition. Although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas (such as Sub-Saharan Africa), the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic.

Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia (cuneiform script) and Egypt (hieroglyphs) developed the earliest viable writing systems
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Hashtags: #history #TheBronzeAge #archeology #BronzeBonanza

August 20, 2020

Britain, France, and Israel’s War Collusion | The Suez Crisis | Prelude 2

Filed under: Africa, Britain, France, History, Middle East, Military — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

TimeGhost History
Published 19 Aug 2020

Britain and France are becoming increasingly worried about the growing threat of Egypt to the Middle East and Africa — they are not alone — Israel is also worried. Israel’s close proximity to Egypt makes them a valuable secret accomplice in finding justification for a war that will seek to remove Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Joram Appel and Francis van Berkel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Joram Appel
Image Research: Ian Irungu, Shaun Harrison & Daniel Weiss
Edited by: Daniel Weiss
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Maps: Ryan Weatherby

Colorizations:
– Mikolaj Uchman
– Daniel Weiss
– Carlos Ortega Pereira (BlauColorizations) – https://www.instagram.com/blaucoloriz…
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/

Sources:
National Archives NARA
Library of Congress Geography and Maps Department
Munich_conference – Mareček2000

From the Noun Project:
– Paris – Vonn Weisenberger

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Devil’s Disgrace” – Deskant
– “Dreamless Nights” – The New Fools
– “Where Kings Walk” – Jon Sumner
– “Invocation” – Deskant
– “Call of Muezzin” – Sight of Wonders
– “Crying Winds” – Deskant
– “Divine Serpent” – Deskant
– “Pepper Seeds” – Rune Dale
– “Searching Through Sand” – Deskant
– “Scented Nectar” – Rune Dale
– “As the Rivers Collapse” – Deskant

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

TimeGhost History
2 days ago
“And now for our second prologue episode on the Suez Crisis. This one is all about a conspiracy where three countries believe they can fool the US, USSR, and entire UN all at the same time. Hindsight is of course 20/20, but it really is astounding that Britain, France, and Israel thought they could start a war with another member of the UN with a completedly engineered casus belli. This isn’t the first or last time something like this has happened in the history of international relations. Still, the pure audacity of Britain and France in their plans here really does seem quite unique. Can you guys think of any other examples of this kind of thing?”

Cheers,
Francis.

August 14, 2020

How Feminism Came to the Middle East – Women’s Emancipation – WW2 – On the Homefront 006

Filed under: Britain, History, Italy, Middle East, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

World War Two
Published 13 Aug 2020

While battles rage across the world, women at home are fighting for their basic emancipation. In Egypt, Huda Shaarawi stands at the centre of this struggle.

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Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_two_realtime
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Anna Deinhard
Written by: Spartacus Olsson and Fiona Rachel Fischer
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Fiona Rachel Fischer
Edited by: Miki Cackowski
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
Daniel Weiss
Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations – https://www.instagram.com/blaucoloriz…
Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/

Sources:
TIMEA
Bundesarchiv
IWM E 817
USHMM
From the Noun Project: Letter by Mochammad Kafi

Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Rune Dale – “Scented Nectar”
Deskant – “Genie’s Bane”
Deskant – “Divine Serpent”
Deskant – “Dunes of Despair”
Sight of Wonders – “Call of Muezzin”
Philip Ayers – “Trapped in a Maze”
Skrya – “First Responders”

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

August 11, 2020

David Warren offers an unusually contrarian view of the Bronze Age collapse

Filed under: History, Humour, Middle East, Science — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Sea Peoples? Faugh, Mr. Warren isn’t buying any of that old rope. It wasn’t earthquakes, famine, plagues, or even multiple waves of heavily armed undocumented immigrants landing on the shores … it was mere “progress”:

Migrations, invasions and destructions during the end of the Bronze Age (c. 1200 BC), based on public domain information from DEMIS Mapserver.
Map by Alexikoua via Wikimedia Commons.

When did the Bronze Age end, and the Iron Age begin? The ages of plastic, silicon, and graphene may have succeeded even the latter, but I’m still not comfortable with iron. Neither were the Cypriots, nor the Egyptians, incidentally — some thirty-something centuries back. Before even that, iron was freely available in a globalized world. I once took a modified fishing boat from Cyprus to Mersin; I wouldn’t encourage swimming it. But the voyage is not far, and too quick with a motor. Even in a row boat, it would have been easy to smuggle ferrous materials, either way.

Yet for centuries, such “highly sophisticated” societies as those of Cyprus and Egypt, stuck with copper and bronze; with gold and silver adornments. The rest of the world might have been with the progressive agenda, but they were not. I speculate that they didn’t like the way iron rusts; there’s something cheap about it. But whatever the objection, they stood their ground. There are old iron objects to be found in both places, but few.

Much later, when the “lifestyle” advocates for the new fashionable metal had won out, and the tide of iron was flooding, it is interesting that the craftsmanship of objects is relaxed. Even ceramics become dull, boring, repetitious; skills are forgotten. We have craftsmen who obviously don’t give a damn any more, just like today. We have the encroaching realm of “productivity,” quantity. Soon these places are easy to knock over, by the conquering savages always lurking about.

We have conservative societies, overwhelmed by technology; and no longer trading on their own terms. In the larger Minoan sphere, we have barbarization. Dynastic Egypt will survive only in Coptic fragments. Greeks, Romans, and finally Arabs will be trashing the place. Ancient civilizations fall.

I regret “progress.” We should resist it heart and soul.

Egypt’s Colonial and Zionist Troubles | The Suez Crisis | Prelude 1

TimeGhost History
Published 10 Aug 2020

Recently independent Egypt, under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, navigates the turbulent waters of the Cold War, seeking national autonomy, while negotiating its relations with the British Empire, United States, and the Soviet Union. The question is, how will Egypt realize its self-determination with these powers vying for dominance in the region?

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Joram Appel and Francis van Berkel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Joram Appel
Image Research: Ian Irungu, Shaun Harrison & Karolina Dołęga
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński

Colorizations:
Mikolaj Uchman

Visual Sources:
National Archives NARA
Library of Congress Geography and Maps Department
Tropenmuseum
Wellcome Images
National Army Museum of New Zealand
Imperial War Museum: HU70788,
National Photo Collection of Israel
Fortepan – ID 32790
Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Music:
“Descending Mount Everest” – Trailer Worx
“Dreamless Nights” – The New Fools
“March Of The Brave 10” – Rannar Sillard
“Break Free” – Fabien Tell
“The Unexplored” – Philip Ayers
“It’s Not a Game” – Philip Ayers
“Foreign Signs” – Philip Ayers

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

TimeGhost History
1 hour ago (edited)
Welcome to the first episode of our series on the Suez Crisis! It’s a 7-episode wild ride through secretive international collusion, clashing nations, and imperial anxieties. It’s a watershed moment in a variety of entangled histories: decolonization, the Arab-Israel Conflict, the rise of America as a superpower, the growing power of the UN, and much much more. It’s a lot to take in, but we hope that we’ve made this series as digestible (and enjoyable!) as possible. Thanks to our TimeGhost Army members for choosing this series. Want to be part of the effort that makes stuff like this happen? Join us at patreon.com/timeghosthistory or https://timeghost.tv.

Cheers,

Francis.

Napoleon’s greatest foe

Filed under: Britain, Europe, France, History, Middle East, Military — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Lindybeige
Published 18 Jan 2018

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Lindybeige

Possibly I did too much research for this one. Trying to stay on-topic when the subject is so vast and so interesting was not easy, hence the rather long video. I didn’t mean to say quite so much about what an utter £$%&*! Napoleon was, but he was so thoroughly vile that it proved impossible not to include some details about the man who won his promotion in the army by mowing down civilian protesters in the streets of Paris with grapeshot from his artillery batteries. Anyway, here are tales of bravery and virtue, as well as horrendous some of brutality, lies, and death.

Correction: The battle against the Russian fleet is called Svensksund (Swedish sound, as in channel), not Svenksund. I missed out an S in my haste.

Buy the music – the music played at the end of my videos is now available here: https://lindybeige.bandcamp.com/track…

Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.

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website: http://www.LloydianAspects.co.uk

July 31, 2020

Herodotus on the Ancient Egyptians: An Introduction to Herodotus

Filed under: Africa, Europe, Greece, History — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 02:00

The Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Published 1 Mar 2020

This is the first episode of a six part series by Herodotus on the Ancient Egyptians. This first episode is merely a brief overview and introduction to Herodotus himself and why his histories are important.

AN ACCOUNT OF EGYPT By Herodotus, translated By G. C. Macaulay
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2131/…

DW Draffin is an audiobook narrator, stage actor, and independent author.

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Music: “Sands of Mystery: Desert Music” (Royalty Free)
https://youtu.be/_6uGNZDSsAk
Trey Van Zandt

Image credits:
kairoinfo4u : www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u
Manna Nader, Gabana Studios Cairo

Kasimir: https://www.flickr.com/photos/5072712…

July 27, 2020

The Bronze Age Collapse (approximately 1200 B.C.E.)

Historia Civilis
Published 25 Jul 2020

Just casually thinkin bout the end of the world. No, no reason, why?

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Sources:
The Medinet Habu Inscription | https://bit.ly/2Ba2Lvf
David O’Connor & Stephen Quirke, Mysterious Lands | https://amzn.to/3jdQOWu

Eric H. Cline, 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed | https://amzn.to/2ClWgpO
Robert Drews, The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. | https://amzn.to/2CkJ7NC
Paul Kriwaczek, Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization | https://amzn.to/2Wra8G4
Oliver Dickinson, The Aegean From Bronze Age to Iron Age: Continuity and Change Between the Twelfth and Eighth Centuries B.C. | https://amzn.to/3h8ar0r

Music:
“Mell’s Parade,” by Broke For Free
“Sad Cyclops,” by Podington Bear
“Infados,” by Kevin MacLeod
“Heliograph,” by Chris Zabriskie
“Deluge,” by Cellophane Sam

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From the comments:

ka v
1 day ago
I got Sea People Return in the December slot of my 2020 Apocalypse bingo card.

June 16, 2020

Plague and the Bronze Age Collapse ~ Dr. Louise Hitchcock

The Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Published 16 May 2020

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the series NAUE II SWORDS, GERMS, & IRON brought to us by none other than Dr. Louise Hitchcock and this episode is going to be about plague and the Bronze Age collapse. This episode will also be drawing on modern parallels such as “What Covid-19 Can Tell Us About the Bronze Age (12th cent) Collapse?”

It will dive into the Bronze Age and discuss was plague a contributing factor in decline of the Bronze Age and the birth of the Iron Age? How familiar were the ancient peoples with plague and epidemics and what do the ancient literary sources tell us? From discussing plague in ancient Mesopotamia to the Philistine Plague to a Hittite King who falls prey to a deadly disease we explore new thoughts, theories and research involving a period that we all love and a subject that could not be more relevant and that is plague.

Check out the awesome work of Dr. Hitchcock at these links below!

Academia profile where you can access her work that is free to the public. https://unimelb.academia.edu/LouiseHi…

Get her books here!

Aegean Art and Architecture: https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/a…
Minoan Architecture: A Contextual Analysis: http://www.astromeditions.com/books/b…
Theory for Classics: https://www.routledge.com/Theory-for-…
DAIS: The Aegean Feast https://www.peeters-leuven.be/detail….
Tell It In Gath: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel. Essays in Honor of Aren M. Maeir on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday https://www.zaphon.de/epages/83179382…

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Image credits: Manna Nader, Gabana Studios Cairo

Hittite 3D City and intro footage credits: 3D reconstruction of Imperial Hittite Karkemish by Giampaolo Luglio, Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition to Karkemish directed by Nicolò Marchetti (University of Boologna)

KARKEMISH (Carchemish) 1300 BC (3D) – The Southern Capital of the Empire Hittite https://youtu.be/RsTdoY__F4U

Music Attribution: Herknungr – Megaliths | Dark Neolithic Meditive Shamanic Ambient Music https://youtu.be/oc8FQwNjPu0

Footage of Ugarit Credit goes to Ruptly. Video Title : Syria: Ancient city of Ugarit freed from Islamic State control https://youtu.be/XKzbk0PFvg0

June 2, 2020

Who were the Hittites? The history of the Hittite Empire explained in 10 minutes

Filed under: History, Middle East — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Epimetheus
Published 30 Nov 2018

Who were the Hittites? (The Hittite Empire explained in 10 minutes) Animated history

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https://www.patreon.com/Epimetheus1776

May 7, 2020

Interesting change in shipping patterns … to avoid the Suez canal

Filed under: Business, Economics, Middle East — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Colby Cosh linked to this story at gcaptain.com which would have been an unbelievable one in the pre-epidemic world:

A column of ships along the Suez Canal on 3 December, 2011.
Photo by https://web.archive.org/web/20161022104657/http://www.panoramio.com/user/2433337?with_photo_id=64163879 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is set to lose over $10m in revenue from container lines routing vessels via the Cape of Good Hope rather than its waterway.

According to new Alphaliner research, “the number of containerships that have opted to use the Cape route and bypass the Suez Canal has risen to a historic peace-time high,” including at least 20 sailings on the Asia-Europe, Europe-Asia and North America east coast-Asia trades.

“A unique combination of a container tonnage surplus and rock-bottom bunker prices has increasingly prompted ocean carriers to avoid the canal – and thus its fees,” the analyst noted today.

“Rather unusually, even three westbound Asia-Europe headhaul sailings have opted for the Cape route, all operated by CMA CGM.

“Carriers very rarely choose this longer route for the time-sensitive headhaul, but the low bunker price and lack of demand in European markets, hit by the Covid-19 lockdowns, have suddenly made such moves viable,” it added.

April 18, 2020

Miscellaneous Myths: Typhon

Filed under: Europe, Greece, History, Religion — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published 17 Apr 2020

Are you getting sick of Zeus? Are his constant antics getting you down? Do you wanna hear about the time he got his ass kicked by Godzilla?

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April 17, 2020

QotD: Rommel arrives in North Africa

Filed under: Africa, Britain, Germany, History, Italy, Military, Quotations, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

Rommel arrived in February 1941 with fairly mundane orders to act as a Sperrband, a “blocker” to bolster the Italians after their mauling at Beda Fomm. The force he led was appropriately tiny: the reconnaissance battalion and an antitank detachment of the 5th Light Division (soon renamed the 21st Panzer Division). The rest of the division was still en route to Africa, and a second division, the 15th Panzer, would not arrive completely until the end of May.

Rommel had his orders, but he had ignored orders in the past and been decorated for it. With British forces stripped to fight an exceedingly ill-advised campaign in Greece, he carried out a quick personal reconnaissance in his trusty little Fieseler Storch airplane, then launched an offensive in concert with his Italian partners (Ariete armored division and the infantry divisions of X Corps, Bologna and Pavia). He penetrated British defenses at El Agheila on March 24th, then drove on to Mersa el Brega on March 31st, pausing only long enough to take (and ignore) a number of radio messages from Berlin and Rome warning him not to do anything rash. Finally, he smashed the British defenders at Agedabia (elements of the green 2nd Armoured Division, equipped partially with captured Italian M13/40 tanks), pinning them in front with the infantry of 5th Light Division while dispatching his Panzers on a ride around the open desert flank to the south, the first use of a tactic that would become his signature move.

These three tiny encounters, none of them exceeding regimental strength, were enough to unhinge the entire British defensive position in Cyrenaica. Rommel now expanded his “reconnaissance in force” into a general offensive, although the forces involved were still minuscule. One column headed up the coast road towards Benghazi, while two more sliced across the Cyrenaican bulge, scooping up a mountain of British supplies at Msus and Mechili. The British rear was in chaos. On April 6th, a German motorcycle patrol actually captured the British commander in Cyrenaica, General Philip Neame, as well as General Richard O’Connor, the victor of Beda Fomm. By April 11th, the Germans had surrounded the coastal fortress of Tobruk while smaller formations pressed on to the east, taking Bardia and reaching the Egyptian border at Sollum and Ft. Capuzzo.

This was top speed maneuver, and the distances were vast, with the Afrika Korps covering over 600 miles in less than two weeks. An amazing feat, to be sure, but may we not legitimately ask, Six-hundred miles to where? Rommel had lunged from central Libya to the Egyptian border in a great bound, but now he had an unconquered fortress sitting in his rear, a serious threat to his lines of communication and supply. Two hastily marshaled attempts to storm Tobruk went badly wrong. In the “Easter battle” (April 10th-14th) and the “battle of the Salient” (April 30th-May 4th), the defenders of the 9th Australian Division hung tough. Minefields channeled the German attacks, while direct fire from artillery, antitank guns, and supporting tanks shot up the assault forces quite badly and killed General Heinrich von Prittwitz, commander of 15th Panzer Division.

The very presence of an unconquered Tobruk rendered the drive across the desert pointless. Indeed, for all the fame it had brought Rommel in the world press, this first campaign won him few friends among command echelons in Berlin. General Halder was especially unimpressed. Rommel, he wrote, “storms around all day long with formations strewn all over the place.” The man had apparently “gone insane.” There was some justice to the complaint. A German division-plus had overrun territory — a vast wasteland, to be precise — but it hadn’t really won anything. There had been no battle of annihilation, no Kesselschlacht, nor could there have been. The Afrika Korps had come a long way, but now sat precariously on the edge of nowhere. Although Rommel and his command had shown a satisfying level of aggression, something the entire officer corps understood, most of them saw his drive to the Egyptian border as a misfire.

Robert Citino, “Drive to Nowhere: The Myth of the Afrika Korps, 1941-43″, The National WWII Museum, 2012. (Originally published in MHQ, Summer 2012).

April 2, 2020

What exactly is one second? | James May’s Q&A (Ep 2) | Head Squeeze

Filed under: Greece, History, Science — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

BBC Earth Lab
Published 10 Jan 2013

James May discusses what exactly a seconds is. He also delves into how time as we know it could have been totally different. This is because the second had many “rivals” over the years that never got their way.

Outtakes from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLpGHt…

James May’s Q&A:
With his own unique spin, James May asks and answers the oddball questions that we’ve all wondered about from “What exactly is one second?” to “Is invisibility possible?”

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