Quotulatiousness

January 29, 2022

German Soldiers March Through Paris – The End of the Franco-Prussian War

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

Real Time History
Published 27 Jan 2022

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The end of the Franco-Prussian War is marked by humiliation for France. German soldiers march into Paris and the French Army of the East under Bourbaki flees to neutral Switzerland to surrender there.

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» OUR PODCAST
https://realtimehistory.net/podcast – interviews with historians and background info for the show.

» LITERATURE
Arand, Tobias: 1870/71. Der Deutsch-Französische Krieg erzählt in Einzelschicksalen. Hamburg 2018

Bauer, Gerhard u.a. (Hrsg.): Ausst.-Kat. MHM Dresden‚ Krieg – Macht – Nation. Wie das deutsche Kaiserreich entstand. Dresden 2020

Bolek, Nina: “Die Regelungen des Frankfurter Friedensvertrages zur Kriegerbestattung”, in: Das Schlachtfeld von Woerth – Geschichtsort, Erinnerungsort, Lernort, hrsg. v. T. Arand und Ch. Bunnenberg. Münster. 2012: 109-130

Buk-Swienty, Tom: Feuer und Blut. Hauptmann Dinesen. Hamburg 2014

Gouttman, Alain: La grande défaite. 1870-1871. Paris 2015

Joland, Gérard: “La variole et la guerre de 1870”, in Les Tribunes de la santé 33/4 (2011): 25-30

Tomasetti, Philippe: “L’œvre des tombes et des prières et l’érection des premiers monuments commémoratifs français de la guerre de 1870-1871”, in: L’Outre-Fôret 155 (2011): 3-17

» SOURCES
Deuerlein, Ernst: Die Gründung des Deutschen Reichs 1870/71 in Augenzeugenberichten. Gerlingen 2011 (Neuauflage)

Engels, Friedrich: Der Deutsch-Französische Krieg. Sechzig Artikel aus der “Pall Mall Gazette”. Berlin (Ost) 1957

Gerstäcker, Friedrich: “Um Paris herum. IV. Die Brücke von Sèvres”, in: Die Gartenlaube, Heft 11 (1871). SW. 183-186

Goncourt, Edmond de: Journal des Goncourts. II.1. 1870-1871. Paris 1890

Pietsch, Ludwig: Von Berlin bis Paris. Kriegsbilder 1870-1871. Berlin 1871

Reich-Gesetzblatt Nr 26. 1871. Berlin 1872

Russell, William Howard: My diary during the last great war. London 1874

Schellendorf, Paul Bronsart von: Geheimes Kriegstagebuch 1870-71, hrsg. v. Peter Rassow. Bonn 1954

Zeitz, Karl: Kriegserinnerungen eines Feldzugsfreiwilligen aus den Jahren 1870 und 1871. Altenburg 1905

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»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Cathérine Pfauth, Prof. Dr. Tobias Arand, Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Above Zero
Editing: Toni Steller
Motion Design: Philipp Appelt
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com
Maps: Battlefield Design
Research by: Cathérine Pfauth, Prof. Dr. Tobias Arand
Fact checking: Cathérine Pfauth, Prof. Dr. Tobias Arand

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Contains licensed material by getty images
All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2022

January 17, 2022

The shooting range where you fire over a busy road

Filed under: Europe, Weapons — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Tom Scott
Published 18 Oct 2021

The Brünnlisau shooting range in Switzerland has its targets on the other side of a major road. And it’s safe. Here’s how and why. Thanks to everyone at the Schiessanlage Brünnlisau!

Camera: Alicja Pahl
Producer: Sebastian Capeda at Viven https://viven.ch
Editor: Michelle Martin https://twitter.com/mrsmmartin

I’m at https://tomscott.com

on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tomscott

and on Instagram as tomscottgo

December 21, 2021

Tank Chat #136 | Schützenpanzer | The Tank Museum

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

The Tank Museum
Published 3 Sep 2021

David Willey is back with another Tank Chat! This week’s episode is all about the Schützenpanzer. A West German infantry fighting vehicle developed from 1956 to 1958.

Support the work of The Tank Museum on Patreon: ► https://www.patreon.com/tankmuseum
Visit The Tank Museum SHOP & become a Friend: ► tankmuseumshop.org

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#tankmuseum #tanks

October 29, 2021

QotD: Another proof of Parkinson’s “Law of the Custom-Built Headquarters Building”

Filed under: Bureaucracy, Europe, History, Quotations — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

The organisation [the League of Nations] lingered on and, with a final irony, it was now that it assumed the outward shape that is generally associated with it. The Palace of Nations [Wiki], begun in 1929, was finished in 1936, just in time to become a mausoleum. Here at last were the necessary offices, 700 of them, and the fitting conference rooms for the words that no longer meant anything. There was a floor of Finnish granite, walls and pillars faced with Swedish marble, enigmatic and forbidding murals, depicting Technical Progress, Medical Progress, Social Progress, the Abolition of War, and so on, by the Catalan artist Jose Maria Sert. Under their sombre painted sermons, the Assemblies still met and passed their resolutions; everyone was still very busy. But underneath it all the mainspring was broken.

John Terraine, The Mighty Continent, 1974, quoted by Brian Micklethwait, 2021-07-20.

October 14, 2021

Tank Chats #128 | Panzer 61 | The Tank Museum

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

The Tank Museum
Published 4 Jun 2021

Curator David Willey examines one of Switzerland’s first indigenously designed and produced tanks, the Panzer 61, put into service during the Cold War.

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#tankmuseum #tanks

June 9, 2021

Do the Nazis Have Atomic Bombs? – WW2 – Spies & Ties 03 – Sam & Erwin part 2

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

World War Two
Published 8 Jun 2021

All belligerents are working hard to develop a powerful nuclear super-weapon. The Americans wonder how far along the Germans are, and send in their spies.
(more…)

April 14, 2021

War Stories We Didn’t Get to Tell – WW2 – Reading Comments

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

World War Two
Published 13 Apr 2021

Another edition of Across the Airwaves, where Indy, Sparty, and Astrid look at interesting and unique comments from our videos. In this episode, some amazing war stories that we didn’t get to tell.

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, Spartacus Olsson, and Astrid Deinhard
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
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory​), Karolina Dołęga

Sources:
– Bundesarchiv
– Library of Congress
– Australian War Memorial
– Icons from the Noun Project: Boat by Richard Cordero, captain by Gan Khoon Lay, Mine Ship by Luke Anthony Firth, Wrench by Gregor Cresnar
– Explosion animation by Ignisium from YouTube
– Uboat.net, picture of SS Oklahoma courtesy of Texaco Archives

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sounds:
– “Other Sides of Glory” – Fabien Tell
– “London” – Howard Harper-Barnes
– “Deflection” – Reynard Seidel
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “What Happens in the Park” – Claude Signet

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
2 hours ago (edited)
Day in day out, we review thousands of comments from people across the world. It’s always heartening to come across the ones that are particularly interesting, educational, touching, or even funny. This format, “Across the Airwaves”, is a great way for us to interact directly with our community and in this episode, Indy, Sparty and Astrid mainly look at comments from people offering extra details and analysis that we didn’t have the chance to include in our regular content.

Hope you enjoy hearing them. A big thanks to our community, especially our TimeGhost Army members.

March 1, 2021

Solothurn S18-1000: The Pinnacle of Anti-Tank Rifles

Filed under: Europe, History, Military, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published 13 Oct 2017

Among all the antitank rifles developed between the World Wars, the highest quality and most sophisticated was the Solothurn S18-1000. It fires the 20x138B cartridge which was also used in the Finnish Lahti L-39 and the German 20mm Flak guns, and it does so using a semiautomatic action and an 8-round box magazine. It is a short-recoil system, with a rotating bolt rather similar to that of the MG-34 machine gun.

The recoil-operated action of the Solothurn helps dampen its recoil more than the Lahti, and is definitely a more comfortable gun to shoot. The Solothurn is equipped with both iron sights and an optical sight (we used the irons in this shooting, because the rubber eye cup on the scope is fairly hard and brittle on this example). Remarkably for its 100+ pound weight, the gun definitely jumps back a few inches when fired unless one has firmly sunk the bipod feet into the earth. However, the recoil force is really more of a push than a sharp impact, and combined with the large surface area of the shoulder pad it is not at all a bad experience.

A number of different countries bought the S18-1000 (and many others bought the smaller S18-100), including the Italians and Hungarians. The only combat account I was able to find was from a Dutch antitank gun team that used one to successfully engage several German armored cars during the invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

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If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow

February 10, 2021

One Advantage of Swiss Neutrality: LSD! – WW2 – Reading Comments

Filed under: Britain, Europe, Germany, Health, History, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 9 Feb 2021

Another edition of Across the Airwaves, where Indy and Sparty look at interesting and unique comments from our videos. In this episode, they look at gentlemanly declarations of war, Partisan memories, and LSD.

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 & Spartacus Olsson
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
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory​)

Colorizations by:
– Daniel Weiss
– Mikołaj Uchman
– JHM Color
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/​

Sources:
– Imperial War Museums: MH 1324, CH 1533, HU111054, TR 1468, MGH 4464
– National Archives NARA
– United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
– Yad Vashem: 4360-99, 2725-5, 4788-73,
– Bundesarchiv
– Picture of Soviet Soldiers with DShK-38 gun courtesy of Leduytoan2003 from Wikimedia Commons
– Picture of 19th Army troops storming Mogile courtesy of Mil.ru

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “The Unexplored” – Philip Ayers
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “London” – Howard Harper-Barnes
– “Document This 1” – Peter Sandberg
– “Dark Beginning” – Johan Hynynen
– “Rubik’s Cube” – From Now On
– “Getaway Rock” – Elliot Holmes

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

November 25, 2020

Switzerland: Neutral or Nazi Ally? – WW2 Special

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

World War Two
Published 24 Nov 2020

After the fall of France in June 1940, neutral Switzerland found itself surrounded on all sides by a hostile expansionist power. The small nation would have been a valuable possession but the jaws of the Reich hesitated to swallow it. How did Switzerland manage to exit the conflict intact and largely unscathed?

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: Spartacus Olsson
Written by: Lennart Visser & Francis van Berkel,
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: Lennart Visser
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
Adrien Fillon – https://www.instagram.com/adrien.colo…
Cassowary Colorizations

Sources:
– Pictures of Swiss Army by Strübin Theodor courtesy of Archäologie und Museum Baselland Lizenzbedingungen
– Bundesarchiv
– Imperial War Museums: HU56131
– ETH-Bibliothek Zürich: 03258, LBS MH05-02-04, M01-0756-0001
– Fortepan:3889, 92301
– National Archives
– Staatsarchiv Bern – P362
– Plan of the defence lines of the National Redoubt courtesy of Auge=mit from Wikimedia Commons
– Picture of Swiss Soldiers with anti-aircraft gun courtesy of Paebi from Wikimedia Commons
– Picture of Swiss aircraft in 1943 from theM.Pilloud – Archive familiale
– United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Other Sides of Glory” – Fabien Tell
– “Moving to Disturbia” – Experia
– “Remembrance” – Fabien Tell

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

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
1 hour ago
As we draw close to the end of 1941, it becomes clear that neutrality is not a guarantee of safety. Its utility as a diplomatic strategy has been discarded and is non-existent.

A total of 12 sovereign and neutral nations have been invaded by Allied or Axis powers since the beginning of the war — Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940; Belgium, the Netherlands, Iceland and Luxembourg on 10 May 1940; Lithuania on 15 June 1940 and Latvia and Estonia on 17 June; Greece on 28 October 1940 and Yugoslavia in April 1941; Iran in August 1941. Even those that are spared are compelled to assist either the Allies or the Axis or both in financial and economic terms, such as Switzerland and Sweden. Others offer voluntary military assistance such as Portugal and Spain.

February 22, 2020

How Switzerland Managed to Remain Neutral with WWI and WWII Raging Around Them

Filed under: Europe, History, Military, WW1, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Today I Found Out
Published 30 Apr 2018

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In this video:

The tiny mountainous country of Switzerland has been in a state of “perpetual neutrality” since the major European powers of the time declared it as such during the Congress of Vienna after the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815.

Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.p…

December 6, 2019

“The Last Stand” – The 1527 Sack of Rome – Sabaton History 044 [Official]

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

Sabaton History
Published 5 Dec 2019

In 1527, a large Holy Roman army consisting of Germans, Spaniards and Italians march on Rome frustrated over unpaid wages and lacking supplies. Pope Clement VII seeks shelter as Rome is pillaged and burned while his brave Swiss Guard makes a heroic last stand.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Listen to The Last Stand (where “The Last Stand” is featured):
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iTunes: http://bit.ly/TheLastStandItunes
Amazon: http://bit.ly/TheLastStandAmz
Google Play: http://bit.ly/TheLastStandGooglePlay

Watch the official lyric video of “The Last Stand” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwfJs…

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
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Production Intern: Rune Vaever Hartvig
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski
Maps by: Eastory – https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory

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

Sources:
– Rijksmuseum
– Fondo Antiguo de la Biblioteca de la Universidad de Sevilla
– A massacre in a church during the Sack of Rome: a priest is about to be stabbed and another priest is lying dead on the floor before the altar. Wood engraving by R. Venturi after himself. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY
– Guy de Chauliac bandaging the leg of Pope Clement VII at Avi. Oil painting by Ernest Board. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY
– Photo of Sistine Chapel ceiling by Qypchak
– Photo of Arco delle Campane by Przemek Pietrak

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

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

July 19, 2019

Swiss 1929 Simplified Luger (Yes, Swiss and Simplified)

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

Forgotten Weapons
Published on 15 May 2019

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

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

Switzerland was the first nation to adopt the Luger as a service pistol, and they purchased them DWM in Germany from 1900 until 1914. World War One stopped deliveries, of course, and after the war the Swiss opted to begin their own production at Waffenfabrik Bern. These Swiss Lugers have become known as the model 06/24 by collectors, and were made until 1933. During that time, Bern was looking for ways to simplify and economize their production, and these efforts came together with the development of the Model 1929. It actually entered production in 1934, and was made until 1947 with a total of about 28,000 made for the military and about 1,900 made for the civilian market.

The main mechanical change to the 1929 pattern was a lengthening of the grip safety. Other changes included simplifying the profile of the front strap of the grip, removing knurling and serrations on the controls, and only serializing four parts. A production date stamp was also added to the inside of the frame, however.

Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
PO Box 87647
Tucson, AZ 85754

May 19, 2019

Samuel Pauly Invents the Cartridge in 1812

Filed under: Europe, History, Technology, Weapons — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published on 4 May 2019

(Video reuploaded to removed an allegedly copyrighted still image)

This Pauly shotgun (lot #1346) sold at Morphy’s April 2019 auction for $5,535.

Samuel Johannes Pauli was born outside Bern, Switzerland in 1766, and became an engineer of wide interests. Among them were bridge design, passenger-carrying balloons (he would work seriously on a 15-20 passenger balloon service between London and Paris later in life), and firearms. Only a few years after Forsyth’s invention of fulminate priming, Pauly would become the first to use it in a fully self-contained cartridge. He patented this invention in Paris in 1812, having moved there in 1802 in pursuit of financing for his many grand projects (going then by the name Jean Samuel Pauly).

Pauly’s cartridge was a multi-part affair with a rimmed brass base containing a fulminate powder, connected to a paper or cardboard cartridge body which held a charge of regular gunpowder and the shot or ball to be fired. It was an expensive system, but contained all the necessary elements of a modern cartridge.

Pauly would move to England in 1814 (then taking the name Samuel John Pauly) in pursuit of aviation inventions, although he continued to tinker on his firearms design and filed two additional patent improvements. He died in London in 1821, and his name and work became rather obscure. His former apprentices would carry on his legacy in their own work – Nicolaus Dreyse would produce the needle fire system of Dreyse rifles used by the Prussian military, and Casimir Lefaucheux would create the pinfire system based on Pauly’s designs. Lefaucheux in fact became owner of the company in 1827, and with his son would provide the most direct link between Pauly’s design and the modern metallic cartridge.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

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

Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
PO Box 87647
Tucson, AZ 85754

March 23, 2019

QotD: Pity the poor politicians

Filed under: Media, Politics, Quotations — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

The first reason to pity them, however, is that someone, or rather some group of people, has to do politics, just as people have to do other unpleasant jobs, such as cleaning lavatories. If it were not for the politicians whom we actually have, there would only be others, not necessarily better. Politicians are like the poor: You have them with you always — except in Switzerland, that happy land where people do not even know who their president is, he being so profoundly unimportant.

But the second and more compelling reason to pity the poor politicians is that theirs is a dreadful life judged by normal standards. If it has its compensations, such as power, money, and bodyguards, they are bought at a dreadful cost. The other day I caught a glimpse of what that life must be like.

A television crew came to make a documentary about me. It will last about 45 minutes, will be watched (thank goodness) by only a small audience, and took two and a half days’ filming to make. The television crew was very nice, which is not my universal experience of television people, to put it mildly; but even so, two and a half days being followed by a camera is more than enough to last me the rest of my life.

I found the strain of it considerable, even though, really, nothing was at stake. It did not matter in the slightest, not even to me, if I made a fool of myself by what I said. There would be no consequences for my career, such as it is (it is almost over); there would be no humiliating exposures of my fatuity in the press, no nasty political cartoons as a consequence, and no insulting messages over the antisocial media. The television team was clearly not out to trip me up or perform a hatchet job on me. It was friendly and I could trust it not to distort what I said by crafty editing. But all the same, the attempt to act naturally while in the constant presence of a camera and a microphone with a furry cover was tiring. The order to be natural is a contradiction in terms. You might as well order someone to be happy.

Of course, one grows accustomed to anything in time. Just as a bad smell disappears from one’s awareness if one remains for long enough in its presence, so eventually one forgets about the presence of a camera and a microphone. No doubt politicians who live half their waking time within the field of these instruments learn to ignore their physical intrusiveness; but, of course, much more is at stake for them than it ever was for me. They are under constant surveillance; and just as the pedant reading a book pounces upon an error, even if it be only typographical, and marks it with his pen, so journalists and political enemies pounce upon a gaffe uttered by a politician and try to ruin him with it. And the more subjects come under the purview of political correctness, the easier it becomes to make a gaffe that will offend some considerable part of the eggshell population. In fact, much of that population actually wants to be offended; being offended is the new cogito that guarantees the sum. I am offended, therefore I am.

Theodore Dalrymple, “Pity the Poor Politicians”, Taki’s Magazine, 2017-04-01.

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