A History Thread

[Bada-Bing!]

It's always harder too look back at history when you are not the so called "winners" especially with the global attention WW2 got.
Hence why a lot of the allies tend to be stuck on it whereas the Axis/More neutral governments.

Also got to remember that Britain especially got hit hard after the war, the government used it as propaganda to try and keep the masses content to some extent and it's basically stuck since then.

Yeah Germany and Japan didn't get stuck in their past like we have.

Britain getting hit after the war as it spent so much on the war effort and had to go to the USA with begging bowl via Keynes; a debt not paid off until 2006, with the interest charged and USA demanding relaxation of exchange controls.

But also due to the loss of the British Empire, meant our resources becoming depleted and no longer rely on it. Hence why we had to eventually join the common market, but delayed until De Gaulle was no longer French President as he kept blocking UK's entry. It turned out he was right to; saying UK was never European and more closely tied to USA.

 

[McTallshort]

@Amiga500

Point 1: Yes Halifax would have sued for peace that is in no historical doubt. It was between him and Churchill who would succeeded Chamberlin and if Halifax had won then Great Britain would have become a neutral but pro German state similar to Vichy.

Point 2: Yes the Germans established air superiority in the first months of Barbarossa but by December 41 it was massively depleted and also having to fight in the Med and increasingly over Western Europe. German industry could not keep up with the losses in aircraft after the Battle of Britain. The Luftwaffe would be bleed white by 1943.

those 10 divisions (all mechanised by the way) would have have proved decisive in December 1941, it would have doubled the effective strength of the Wehmacht.

Point 3: sorry trying to be polite but that's utter ********, American tanks equipped 20 Guards divisions, American trucks numbering 250000 supplied the Red army with most of its transport without which such operations like Operation Begration would not have been possible, American raw materials enabled the Red Army to keep its war machine going after areas such as the Ukraine had been captured. in 1942 most Soviet tank divisions were equipped with Lend lease tanks from both the UK and US due to the Red Armies catastrophic losses in 1941. Without these tanks Operation Uranus (the counter attack at Stalingrad) would not have been possible.

Point 4: I know the scale of Barbarossa but you dont grasp that the Germans attacked while being heavily outnumbered, any additional wear and tear on its tanks, planes, troops all decreased its already slim chance of success. Would an earlier attack have made a difference? time scales no but if the German formations had been fresher and had an additional 10 mechanised divisions (although the Africa Corps wasnt quite that big) then the chances of defeating the Soviets would have greatly increased.

To put that in perspective, the largest possible Luftwaffe formations fielded over England was 15th Sept.
533: Me109
107 Me110
484 He110/Do17

Splitting the bombers 50:50 and taking the full fuel capacity of every plane, that adds up to 611,800 gallons... and that was the busiest day of the BoB. Take the average sorties over the duration of BoB and, your likely looking at maybe 10 days additional fuel use in Russia!

Its not just aircraft that run on fuel...

 

[Every Time Ref]

Arguably more in the realm of anthropology than history but I've just started reading 1491 by Charles Mann, an excellent book about pre-Columbine civilisation in the Americas.

The basic premise is that there was far, far more going on before Europeans arrived than we are taught in schools, and than even most anthropologists realised for a long time. We have this image of much of the Americas being small societies with no "advanced" civilisations apart from the Inkas and Mexica (the group we incorrectly call Aztecs) - apparently the European diseases travelled much much quicker than the men that brought them, as a result an estimated 95% of American Indians died.

Most of the Americas was already decimated by the time Europeans arrived, so they didn't know they were witnessing societies that had been utterly destroyed a few years before. It's like an alien landing in Hiroshima in 1945 just after the bomb, and concluding that what they see is how Earth people live.

Really fascinating book, only a third in and have already massively rethought what I thought I knew about that part of the world. Highly recommend.

 

[bertiec]

The First World War was called the Great War and was commenced in the summer of 1914. It was supposed to be over by Xmas but instead they played a football match on Xmas day and
and it ended up dragging on and didn't end until 11am on 11 November 1918. This was supposed to be the war to end all wars.

Alas how the Allies treated Germany following their defeat and the fall out from the Great Depression, which gave rise to the Nazis and eventually World War II, which lasted from 1939 and ended in Europe on VE Day 8 May 1945. But the war against Japan didn't end until 15 August 1945 after the dropping of two Atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Long footie match.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

 

[Bada-Bing!]

 

[Bada-Bing!]

One of my Heroes and iconic figure.

 

[Yulia]

One of my Heroes and iconic figure.

I remember Bruce Lee statue in Hong Kong: I always thought they exaggerated his leanness in it, but , judging by videos with Bruce, they didn't. I like this gap between his appearance and his real strength. Strong body, strong mind and strong spirit - he was too good

 

[TRF_Cymro]

S4C - Pandemig: 1918 / 2020

Yng nghysgod Covid-19, Dr. Llinos Roberts o Gaerfyrddin sy'n archwilio stori Ffliw Sba...

www.bbc.co.uk

In Welsh, but you can have English subtitles. Very interesting how the Spanish Flu impacted on Wales and the UK, also looks at what happens to a small town on the coast of Wales that was the only place to lockdown during the Spanish Flu.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

BBC News - Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 75th anniversary of atomic bombings

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 75th anniversary of atomic bombings

It is 75 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on the two Japanese cities, leading to WW2's end.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Trump now reinventing history that the 1917 (it was actually 1918) Spanish Flu ended WW2 because the soldiers got so sick.

 

[The Seeker]

My Dad was a career Marine (33 years - USMC) and fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He gave all and died just three years after he retired. Doesn't seem fair to me.

 

[McTallshort]

My Dad was a career Marine (33 years - USMC) and fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He gave all and died just three years after he retired. Doesn't seem fair to me.

Depends. Did he enjoy his time in the USMC? Was it a forfilling career for him?

 

[The Seeker]

Depends. Did he enjoy his time in the USMC? Was it a forfilling career for him?

The USMC was his life, so yes I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it. But we never went on vacation, not once. I don't want to knock my Father, but he definitely put the Corps first over family. He came from a broken family due to the death of his parents at a young age so that probably had a lot to do with it. I'm not complaining, we never went hungry or lacked shelter. I just wish he would have spent some Dad time with me and my brothers. It's been a long time since he passed on and I've learned to accept it. Thanks for asking!

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Trump now reinventing history that the 1917 (it was actually 1918) Spanish Flu ended WW2 because the soldiers got so sick.

Incredible that he's so dim. Actually worrying. The clip has made me chuckle mind.

 

[McTallshort]

The USMC was his life, so yes I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it. But we never went on vacation, not once. I don't want to knock my Father, but he definitely put the Corps first over family. He came from a broken family due to the death of his parents at a young age so that probably had a lot to do with it. I'm not complaining, we never went hungry or lacked shelter. I just wish he would have spent some Dad time with me and my brothers. It's been a long time since he passed on and I've learned to accept it. Thanks for asking!

Think thats true of a lot of men of that generation. My Grandfather worked in a foundry in Derby. Worked everyday, came home had his tea, went to the pub, came home repeat. At weekends he umpired or played cricket. Never took my mum or Aunt on holiday, in the end my Grand mother got fed up and left him but that behaviour was quite normal for men of that time.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

 

[Bada-Bing!]

 

[Bada-Bing!]

1901.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Wilmington 1898: When white supremacists overthrew a US government

In 1898 a white mob stormed Wilmington, North Carolina and forced locally elected leaders to resign.

www.bbc.co.uk