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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (197585)	3/22/2023 10:28:02 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 219949

Thanks. putting it on the "to watch" list, but for times that are hopefully a little more settled then today. Here is something I watched a few weeks ago as it plugged a big gap in my education, both of history and in certain historical military matters. I am familiar with percussion firearms and the history of their use during the American Civil War. There was a technology changeover period before modern brass cartridges that were developed and used widely from about 1890 onwards. Also from the use of black power, which had a lot of fouling associated with it, to smokeless powders. For a muzzle loader you basically have to fight standing up to enable reloading. Breach loading "needle guns" still used black powder, a percussion cap and a paper cartridge, but reloading could be done lying down. A big change in military matters. The Franco Prussian War. (6hrs of documentary). Recommended. In the UK, history taught during the 60's and 70's almost omits the Franco Prussian War of 1870. It typically covers the Napoleonic Wars and then quickly moves onto WW1. imho, the Franco Prussian war reveals many important things about European history in the 20th Century and a lot about the wars that developed during that period. Although the casualties were light compared to the later wars in the 20th century, both France and Prussia were drained and very fed up with the war near the conclusion. Although railways were in good use, logistic supply, primitive manufacturing capacities, the required use of raw manpower, and poorer communications made a lot of the daily operations difficult. The thing is, although the French lost that war, the common soldiery fought tenaciously and in a determined manner not borne out in the results. They also had better rifles that shot more accurately, had a longer range, and could fire more rapidly (both attributes very important at the time). In the actual battles the Prussians suffered huge casualties in the attacks. The war ended with the French casualty list twice as high as the Prussians but that was mainly due to lack of care, disease, and logistics. The Prussians had much better Artillery and overall their forces were better trained. It was a period when normal war transformed into "total war" and the origins of guerrilla warfare became adopted, later seen again in the French Resistance of WW2. In the beginning both countries wanted the war. France because it wanted to cement the new Royalty into existence and help rid France of the Anarchists and Socialists or at least knock them back into insignificance. Prussia wanted to unite into a modern Germany and also had its problems with Socialists and Anarchists of various types. A "nice" patriotic war would fix all that, for whomever won. Losing war was not considered as a possible outcome. imho the French lost that war because they had far more corruption though the whole of society compared to the Prussians. Sure the Prussians had wayward Princes etc that were keen on building fairy tale castles in the air to show their manly qualities, but I expect that also kept the population busy and gainfully employed rather then being a total waste. To be honest they did build some nice pretty castles. The Prussian power brokers tolerated them just enough to keep everything working to the set goal... unification. Like all wars, it turned into a nasty war and the French suffered more. The Paris commune was a disaster and no wonder history sweeps that under the carpet. I am sure the commune had many dedicated humanists try to make it work, but overall for the nation, it just did not pan out. and the French military takeover must of been extremely demoralising for everyone. Cetainly lots of people died during that stage of matters. and no big surprise, there was a replay called WW1... and then WW2. The German unification was a big boost to the nation in the 1870's, but later (WW1 & WW2) that did not help the German citizens much either.