Quotulatiousness

March 30, 2021

Caesar in Britain II: There and Back Again (54 B.C.E.)

Historia Civilis
Published 21 Mar 2017

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Music is:
“Day Bird,” by Broke For Free
“Drums of the Deep,” by Kevin MacLeod
“Flood,” by Jahzzar

March 29, 2021

Caesar in Britain (55 B.C.E.)

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

Historia Civilis
Published 22 Feb 2017

Patreon | http://historiacivilis.com/patreon
Donate | http://historiacivilis.com/donate
Merch | http://historiacivilis.com/merch​
Mailing List | http://historiacivilis.com/mailinglist
Twitter | http://historiacivilis.com/twitter​
Website | http://historiacivilis.com

Music is:
“Light Thought var 2,” by Kevin MacLeod
“Bird Day,” by Broke For Free
“Drums of the Deep,” by Kevin MacLeod
“Thinking Music,” by Kevin MacLeod
“Flood,” by Jahzzar
“Hallon,” by Christian Bjoerklund

March 21, 2021

“Speaking of military affairs […] the sexual misconduct scandals continue to rock the senior leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces”

Filed under: Cancon, Government, Media, Military — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The weekend round-up at The Line includes a bit more on the ongoing scandal where over a third of the senior military leadership of the Canadian Forces are currently under investigation for sexual impropriety:

Canadian Defence Minister (at least for the moment) Harjit Sajjan in better times.

We noted with interest Steve Saideman, who holds the Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton, has called for National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan’s resignation — and Saideman is no partisan alarmist.

We agree with Saideman. Sajjan should quit or be sacked, frankly, pour encourager les autres. He should be epically sacked for birthing one of the stupidest possible excuses for inaction that we’ve ever heard from a minister of the Crown. Sajjan, under sharp questioning at committee, said — he really said this, we shit you not — that it wasn’t his place to get involved when allegations of sexual misconduct by retired army general Jonathan Vance were brought to his attention because, since Sajjan is an elected official, his involvement would politicize the matter.

Think about that for a minute. The entire goddamned basis of our system of government is ministerial accountability. Once upon a time, before it became awkward and inconvenient for him personally, Prime Minister Trudeau used to even boast about how he was bringing back government by cabinet, in contrast to that nasty, evil, centralizing Harper fellow. But according to Minister Sajjan, ministers are actually the wrong people to get involved in these serious issues … because they’re politicians. This completely inverts the way our government is supposed to work, though it might actually be a depressingly accurate summary of how Trudeau’s cabinet ministers interpret their roles.

But think about the message it sends to to our women (and men!) in uniform who’ve been the victim of abuse and harassment, sexual or otherwise: sorry, guys, I’d love to help and all, but I’m too busy being a fucking Liberal politician to step in as minister of National Defence.

Sajjan’s gotta go. Now. If he doesn’t quit he should be fired. And as we’ve been saying for weeks now, this is only getting worse — the sexual misconduct scandal that was frantically ignored by Canada’s self-styled feminist government has now made The New York Times, which means, if you’re an Ottawa Liberal, this is about as real as it gets. All that media attention was nice when it was fawning, with nice photo spreads, but … this? This isn’t fun for the Liberals at all.

How Did the Zulus Go From Tribe to Empire? | Rise of the Zulus (1790-1828)

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

History With Hilbert
Published 28 Mar 2020

Perhaps the most famous of Africa’s tribes, the Zulus rose to prominence under their King Shaka at the start of the 19th Century on the Eastern seaboard of what’s now South Africa. In the years following Shaka’s death his successors would have encounters with the Boer Voortrekkers and more famously, with the British culminating in the Anglo-Zulu War (1879) where they managed to decisively defeat them at the Battle of Isandlwana before themselves suffering defeat at the now infamous Battle of Rorke’s Drift. But in this video I’m not going to be talking about the much more well known story of the British Invasion of Zululand in the later 19th Century and the demise of the Zulu Empire, but rather about its origin and how it came about. In the 18th Century the Zulu as a people had only just become a separate entity, and certainly were not one of the major players on the scene before the time of Shaka. A series of factors played a role in their rise to power around the turn of the 19th Century, most notably the actions of Shaka himself as well as a shift in the way in which warfare was carried about by the tribes of the region and their interactions with European trading networks.

Go Fund My Windmills (Patreon):
https://www.patreon.com/HistorywithHi…

Join in the Banter on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/HistorywHilbert

Indulge in some Instagram..? (the alliteration needs to stop):
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Music Used:
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Expeditionary” – Kevin MacLeod
“Sunday Dub” – Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Send me an email if you’d be interested in doing a collaboration! historywithhilbert@gmail.com

#Zulu #SouthAfrica #History

March 19, 2021

Napoleon Defeated! Aspern 1809

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

Epic History TV
Published 9 May 2019

In 1809, with Napoleon and his best troops bogged down in Spain, Austria decided to try to get revenge for her humiliation at Austerlitz three years before. Archduke Charles led an invasion of France’s ally Bavaria, but Napoleon raised fresh troops and transformed the strategic situation in four days of hard fighting along the Danube. But having taken Vienna, Napoleon’s overconfidence led to a desperate battle at Aspern-Essling, resulting in his first major defeat as Emperor, and the death of his closest friend.

With thanks to HistoryMarche, check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8MX…

Get early access & vote for future topics at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/epichistorytv

Find Osprey books on the Napoleonic Wars https://ospreypublishing.com/

Recommended books on the Napoleonic Wars (as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases):
Eggmühl 1809: Storm Over Bavaria https://geni.us/mRvuG
Aspern & Wagram 1809 https://geni.us/4wewlr
French Napoleonic Infantryman 1803-15 https://geni.us/ivLojZD
British Light Infantry & Rifle Tactics of the Napoleonic Wars https://geni.us/02ycFR4
Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon https://geni.us/mKAYz
Napoleon the Great http://geni.us/NqMW

Music from Filmstro: https://filmstro.com/?ref=7765
Get 20% off an annual license with this exclusive code: EPICHISTORYTV_ANN

#EpicHistoryTV #NapoleonicWars #Napoleon

March 13, 2021

As of today, one third “of the most senior admirals and generals (four and three star officers) in the Canadian Armed Forces have been accused of some sort of impropriety”

Filed under: Cancon, Military — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Ted Campbell regards this new fig leaf of appointing some sort of “watchdog” for the Canadian Armed Forces — in light of the ongoing investigations into impropriety on the part of too damned many senior officers — as worse than a waste of time:

Another “watchdog” is going to do exactly nothing. The former Ombudsman did his job, he did the right thing. The problem was that the political leadership ~ specifically Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan ~ decided to ignore him and then to shut him out of the process. I have no idea why Minister Sajjan decided to put the interests of the most senior military officers ahead of those subordinate to them, but he did. The Ombudsman was the watchdog we needed. He did all the right things. Defence Minister Sajjan failed the men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces, he failed the institution and he failed Canada. Another watchdog will not fix that.

Some years ago I said that our military needed to be seen in human terms. Our men and women in uniform, I said, needed to be tough, superbly disciplined, well trained, adequately equipped and also properly organized and well led, too. I believe that the Canadian Armed Forces are not well enough led and that has led to a breakdown in discipline which I said, back in 2016, “is the sine qua non of soldiering.” I stand by that. Nothing, not firepower, not leadership, not fighting spirit, not huge budgets and the finest hardware, nothing else matters as much as discipline. I will not be moved off that position because I know that I have 3,000 years of history to back me up.

I remember, in 1961, reading an article, I’m pretty sure it was in Time magazine, but Google doesn’t help me out there, which noted that Lieutenant General Geoffrey Walsh had taken over (as Chief of the General Staff) (and I’m about 99% sure I have the words correct) “the small but superbly disciplined Canadian Army.” I showed the little article to an older soldier who said something like “this is some [expletive] Yank magazine, eh? Well, it figgers; they look at us and they think we’re the [expletive] Grenadier [expletive] Guards. All they see is the marchin’ and the drill and we look great ’cause they’re a sloppy bunch of [expletive]. But you remember, kid, what I tell ya. The real discipline ain’t on the parade square, it’s in the field and you listen to what I [expletive] tell ya’ and then you do like I [expletive] tell ya’.” (It was that kind of [expletive]😉 army 60 years ago.) And he was right of course. Yes, our Regiment was a thing of beauty when we trooped the colour ~ as good as any other regiment in the world ~ but what made us better than any of the rest was self-discipline, learned the proper way by the examples set by good, tough leaders. Somehow the Canadian Armed Forces seems to have lost too much toughness, too much discipline and far too much leadership.

March 10, 2021

Where Great Men Were Made: American Officer Training – WW2 Special

Filed under: Education, History, Military, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 9 Mar 2021

West Point and Annapolis are two of the most iconic military academies in America — maybe even the world. The two institutions have produced the men who are leading America’s fight against the Axis powers.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke & 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: Markus Linke
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński

Colorizations by:
– Daniel Weiss
– Mikołaj Uchman
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/

Sources:
United States Military Academy Library Digital Collection
United States Naval Academy Digital Collections
Library of Congress
New York Public Library
West Point Museum Art Collection
Imperial War Museums: IWM NYF 19427

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Ominous” – Philip Ayers
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “London” – Howard Harper-Barnes
– “Please Hear Me Out STEMS INSTRUMENTS” – Philip Ayers
– “First Responders” – Skrya

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
20 hours ago
This episode goes back to our roots of good old-fashioned military history. It’s something we’d like to start doing more of. Of course, West Point and Annapolis are the most famous, but we think that diving into the officer training of forces like the Wehrmacht or Red Army could tell us a lot about their histories. There is also a whole bunch of options for military history topics that we’d like to get into. Let us know in the comments if you have any suggestions.

February 9, 2021

History Summarized: Alexander the Great

Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published 19 Sep 2017

Linguistically speaking, Alexander means “Defender of Men” from the Greek “alexo“, defend, and “aner/ander“, man. I’ll never be able to not internally think of his name as just meaning “Alex-Man”.

Oh, yeah, also he conquered an empire or something? IDK. I stopped paying attention after his bland name.

PATREON: www.patreon.com/OSP

MERCH LINKS:
Shirts – https://overlysarcasticproducts.threa…​
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January 16, 2021

Inside the Neurotic Mind of Stonewall Jackson

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

Atun-Shei Films
Published 15 Jan 2021

Let’s gossip about a man who’s been dead for 158 years.

Support Atun-Shei Films on Patreon ► https://www.patreon.com/atunsheifilms

Leave a Tip via Paypal ► https://www.paypal.me/atunsheifilms

Buy Merch ► teespring.com/stores/atun-shei-films

#ThomasJJackson #CivilWar #AmericanHistory

Original Music by Dillon DeRosa ► http://dillonderosa.com/
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~REFERENCES~

[1] Wallace Hettle. Inventing Stonewall Jackson: A Civil War Hero in History and Memory (2011). LSU Press, Page 3-9

[2] Hettle, Page 13-17

[3] Charles Royster. The Destructive War: William Tecumseh Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, and the Americans (1991). Vintage Books, Page 41-46

[4] Royster, Page 52-53

[5] Hettle, Page 20-21

[6] Royster, Page 65-67

[7] Chris Graham. “Myths and Misunderstandings: Stonewall Jackson’s Sunday School” (2017). The American Civil War Museum https://acwm.org/blog/myths-misunders…

[8] Royster, Page 63-65

[9] Royster, Page 60

[10] Royster, Page 49-51

[11] Mary Anna Jackson. Memoirs of Stonewall Jackson by his Widow, Marry Anna Jackson (1895). Prentice Press, Page 108

[12] Jackson, Page 120-121

[13] Hettle, Page 13-15

[14] Royster, Page 202

January 11, 2021

E-4 Mafia: Why The U.S. Army Has So Many Specialists | Snapshot

Filed under: Bureaucracy, History, Military, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Battle Order
Published 3 Oct 2020

Why does the U.S. Army have so many Specialists? Join us as we go over the history of the “Specialist” in the army and why so many soldiers are in the E-4 Mafia today.

Support us on Patreon and get access to a variety of exclusive perks like wallpapers, video credits, and priority in future Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/battleorder

Check out our merch shop for new prints, apparel and other stuff!: teespring.com/stores/battleorder

Check out our website for more articles, videos, and graphics on military history: https://www.battleorder.org/

Join our Discord chat here: https://discord.gg/75wfBXP

Social Media:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/battle.order/

Music:
Call of Duty 2, Medal of Honor: Airborne & Pacific Asslt OSTs

Sources:
• “United States Army Grade Insignia Since 1776” by Preston B. Perrenot
https://uniform-reference.net/insigni…

December 23, 2020

Kido Butai: Terror of the Pacific – WW2 Special

Filed under: History, Japan, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

World War Two
Published 22 Dec 2020

Kido Butai was the fleet that launched the surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at anchor at Pearl Harbor and followed that up with a string of victories in 1942. But how was it commanded, both as a whole and in the high and even mid level command? Today we’ll look at that.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and 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: Markus Linke
Edited by: Miki Cackowski
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations, https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations
Jaris Almazani (Artistic Man), https://instagram.com/artistic.man?ig…
Norman Stewart, https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/

Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi…
Mitsubishi G4M bomber graphic, courtesy Kaboldy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi…
Picture of Jisaku Okada, courtesy XxSuguxX https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi…
Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe

Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Jo Wandrini – “Dragon King”
Rannar Sillard – “March Of The Brave 4”
Yi Nantiro – “Watchman”
Philip Ayers – “The Unexplored”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Mandala Dreams – “Pacific Shores”
Phoenix Tails – “At the Front”
Philip Ayers – “Trapped in a Maze”

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

December 18, 2020

The Warlords of the United Nations – WW2 Special

Filed under: Britain, History, Military, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

World War Two
Published 17 Dec 2020

Following the German declaration of war on America on the 11th of December 1941, Britain gained an invaluable ally. Securing a joint military command between the new partnership will be central to its success, the question is, how can this be achieved?

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and 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: Markus Linke
Edited by: Miki Cackowski
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
Daniel Weiss
Adrien Fillon – https://www.instagram.com/adrien.colo…
Mikołaj Uchman

Sources:
IWM A 14040, TR153, H 10306, ME(RAF) 5052, A 16709

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Max Anson – “Ancient Saga”
Johannes Bornlof – “Magnificent March 3”
Howard Harper-Barnes – “London”
Rannar Sillard – “March Of The Brave 4”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Phoenix Tail – “At the Front”

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

November 29, 2020

QotD: The succession problem of totalitarian leadership

Back in the Cold War, prudent Kremlinologists had to take the marked decline in the Politburo’s collective intelligence very seriously indeed (the old adage “never attribute to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity” is terrifying when the potentially malicious dumbasses have nuclear missiles).

There were two main reasons for the decline, both structural. The first, of course, is Communism itself. A totally ideologized society is a society totally committed to make-believe. You could fill a good-sized book listing the catastrophes make-believe caused the USSR. Just to take the most obvious: Hitler did everything but send the Goodyear Blimp over Moscow, towing a banner announcing his invasion plans. But since everyone who accurately reported the goings-on in Poland ended up in the Gulag, the Wehrmacht walked right on in.

The second has to do with the nature of totalitarian leadership. Obviously sharing power is out of the question, so every Boss who finally claws his way to the top ruthlessly purges everyone who could conceivably challenge him. The purged are replaced by yes-men and toadies, who immediately enact mini-purges of their own inside their new departments. It doesn’t take more than a few rounds of this for smarter functionaries to learn to dig themselves in very, very deep, disguising themselves in a kind of protective stupidity. A few more rounds, and “protective stupidity” drops the modifier, as anyone with anything on the ball has decamped for the safer — and, not coincidentally, very soon much more profitable — havens of technical management.

It doesn’t take long before your “leadership” is nothing but ideology-addled dimbulbs. Sound familiar?

Severian, “How Dumb Are Liberals?”, Rotten Chestnuts, 2020-07-31.

November 22, 2020

QotD: Winston Churchill

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

I wonder whether any historian of the future will ever be able to paint Winston in his true colours. It is a wonderful character — the most marvellous qualities and superhuman genius mixed with an astonishing lack of vision at times, and an impetuosity which if not guided must inevitably bring him into trouble again and again. Perhaps the most remarkable failing of his is that he can never see a whole strategical problem at once. His gaze always settles on some definite part of the canvas and the rest of the picture is lost. It is difficult to make him realize the influence of one theatre on another. The general handling of the German reserves in Europe can never be fully grasped by him. This failing is accentuated by the fact that often he does not want to see the whole picture, especially if this wider vision should in any way interfere with the operation he may have temporarily set his heart on. He is quite the most difficult man to work with that I have ever struck, but I should not have missed the chance of working with him for anything on earth!

Footnote by Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries, 1939-1945, 1957.

November 4, 2020

How Mighty is the Red Army? – WW2 Special

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

World War Two
Published 3 Nov 2020

Hitler and German High Command had expected the invasion of the Soviet Union to be an easy victory and for the Red Army to quickly collapse. Yet here we are, with millions of Soviet soldiers captured, wounded or killed and the Red Army still holding fast.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Francis van Berkel, Ian Irungu, Shaun Harrison, Dennis Stepanov
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: Francis van Berkel, Ian Irungu, Shaun Harrison, Dennis Stepanov
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński

Colorizations by:
– Klimbim
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
– Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations – https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations

Visual Sources:
– Mil.ru
– ANRM, Fototeca, 24945
– Map from December 1941 provided with GNU Free Documentation License by Wikimedia

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

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