Category: History

Worthwhile Read

History

…and quite possibly one of the best Modern European History books I’ve ever read.  It should be the foundational text for all college courses of European history  of the post-WWII period.

I speak of Tony Judt’s excellent work: Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945

You don’t have to be interested in European history, or a history buff at all to enjoy this.  But if you ever look around at the total screaming insanity that has become a feature of our modern political and social era, read Postwar  and you’ll see exactly where it all came from.

And as one critic wrote, it reads with the pacing of a whodunnit, but contains all the detail and dispassionate analysis necessary for an outstanding study.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I wish I’d read it eighteen years ago, when it was first released.  I am most certainly going to re-read it within the next year.

Mae’s Top 10

Gun/Ammo Tests, History

Some while back, I linked to C&Rsenal’s wonderful series on WWI guns, but then I spotted a little addendum, namely Mae’s Top 10 Rifles.

Now, as the lady in question has fired almost all WWI-era rifles — and certainly more of them than I’ve fired — I think it behooves us all to pay the show a visit.  Here are her top ten WWI rifles, in no specific order (so as not to spoil the surprise at the end):

Mauser K98 TZ (8x57mm)

 

SMLE No.1 MkIII* (.303 Enfield)

 

Mannlicher-Schoenauer 1903 Carbine (6.5x54mm)

 

Ross Rifle MkIII (.303 Enfield)

 

Arisaka Type 38 Carbine (6.5x50mm)

 

Ottoman Mauser 1903 (7.65x53mm)

 

Springfield ’03 (.30-06 Spfld)

 

Serbian Mauser 1908 Carbine (7x57mm)

 

Carcano Moschetto 91 (6.5x52mm Mannlicher)

 

Enfield 1917 (.303 Enfield / .30-06 Spfld)

Some of Mae’s choices are seriously, shall we say, eclectic nay even controversial, but all of them are very well supported (and Othias’s reactions to them are alone worth the price of admission).  Have fun as you pick your way through her arguments.

For the record, I have absolutely no quibble about the composition of her list — I’d shoot any of them without a qualm, and carry any of them off to war.

And by the way:  I actually agree wholeheartedly with her #1.  It is unquestionably one of the rifles I most regret having to sell during Great Poverty Era I.

For those who haven’t seen my own (and I think vastly inferior) take on the topic, see Great War Rifles.

Reminder

History, The Gun Thing

For those who’ve been living on the Planet Zarq and have only recently returned to Earth, or for those with failing memories, let me remind you all of how Othias and Mae’s C&Rsenal has made amateur gun geeks like me completely superfluous (and that is a really good thing).

So if you’re doing nothing special tonight (and over the whole weekend, come to think of it), go there and indulge yourself.

They are absolutely my favorite couple on Teh Intarwebz.

Changing History, Just A Little

History, The Gun Thing

This little flight of fantasy was inspired by Chris Muir’s cartoon from yesterday and the day before.

In the spirit of our Crossing America series, imagine that you and a dozen of so of your best buddies were able to go back to any time during the Civil War and enlist in the army of your choice, at an appropriate age and level of fitness.  In your travel back through time you could take the battle rifle and sidearm of your choice and 500/50 rounds of ammo for each piece respectively, subject to the following conditions:

  • no full-auto rifles or machine guns of any type;
  • no explosive ordnance e.g. hand- or rifle grenades
  • no fanciful crap like lasers or photon pulse guns — you know what I’m aiming for, here.  You’d be a foot-soldier but by the standards of the time, a Starship Trooper.

To make life even easier, let’s assume that you could pick the campaign or battle you’d fight in, under your choice of battlefield commander, but you and your platoon would have a certain degree of autonomy.

Your choices and supporting arguments in Comments.

My weapons of choice:

Swedish Mauser M96 (6.5x55mm) as equipped below:

…with a bagful of loaded stripper clips, to save on weight.

Next (to nobody’s surprise):

Springfield 1911 in .45 ACP:

…ammo pre-loaded in five 10-round Chip McCormick magazines.

As to the battles and such, I’ll have to think about that for a while longer, but I’m leaning towards Stones River, on the Confederate side.

I Stand Corrected

History, Wokism

I love my Readers.

In response to this little comment of mine in the last News Roundup:

From the Dept. Of “Defense”:


...if I were a donor, I’d also hold off till they rename it the “Robert E. Lee Military Institute”.

…Reader Mike S. suggests via email:

I am second to none in my respect for General Lee (I’ve a framed print of him in my library), but VMI should be renamed “Thomas J. Jackson Military Institute.”

Gen. Jackson was a professor at the Institute before the Late Unpleasantness.

Gen. Lee was a graduate and later the commandant of West Point. THAT facility should be renamed for Lee.

All good points.  However, most people (especially the Racial Grievance Industry) probably have no idea of who Thomas J. Jackson was (maybe unless “Stonewall” is included in the nomenclature), but every damn one of them knows about Marse Robert.

So historically I’m in full agreement with Reader Mike;  but in terms of social impact on the Wokists…?

It’s a tough call.