Welcome to Osprey’s Military History Carnival! I have had a really tough job choosing a selection of blogs this month – a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed! I am going to try to list the fantastic posts we have received in a vague semblance of historical order, so here we go!
Sassanians
Our first post has it all. Describing the rise of the Sassanian Empire, Judith Weingarten, author of The Chronicle of Zenobia: The Rebel Queen writes about gods, kings, war and chivalry here. Written with pace and verve it is a fantastic and exciting analysis.
Vikings
I love Mark Rayner's unique way of discussing military history – presenting it as Powerpoint presentations. I have read a number of these, but particularly loved this one on Viking raiding. Great for a chuckle – read the whole series if you have the chance
Mongol Hordes
I have only recently begun to develop an interest in the military history of the Mongols, prompted by the copy of Conn Iggulden's Wolf of the Plains that I received as a gift. Now Iggulden often ‘alters’ historical fact for the sake of his narrative (not something I agree with), so I was very interested in this review at Brian’s Study Breaks, discussing a factual book about the Mongols and how their military tactics have affected warfare throughout history.
On a similar note, this is a lovely piece by The Agonist about the movement of humanity in Central Asia and why this happened.
Napoleonic Wars
Moving on, in his blog Gary Smailes examines the importance of preserving historic battlefields. He talks fondly of a visit to Waterloo as a way of ‘understanding’ war, battle and what the ordinary soldier had to face. I wholeheartedly agree with him, and this links in to an email I received earlier in the week about the fact that the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre has reopened after a major refurbishment – it looks like money well spent, and you can have a look around at http://www.bosworthbattlefield.com
A post from the Disability Studies blog is very thought provoking, reminding us about the casualties of war with their post on the history of medicine and warfare. On a lighter note, and continuing the Napoleonic thread, Mark Rayner provides us with another comic Powerpoint presentation of history. This time it is his take on Napoleon’s surrender.
The American Civil War
I was bombarded with posts about the Civil War, and unfortunately had to wittle down the list. Here are the three posts that stood out for me:
The 48th Pennsylvania regiment examines the life and death of General James Nagle.
Civil War Women looks at the life of Nancy Hart Douglas during the Civil War, a great pleasure to see people acknowledge the role of women in war.
And this is an intriguing story about how one man dramatically affected history by saving the life of George Custer.
First World War
Airminded reminds us that it is the 90th anniversary of the Halifax disaster, which saw one of the largest non-nuclear man-made explosions ever. They go on to describe the reactions of the population of this Nova Scotian town to the disaster, an insight into early conspiracy theories which saw many of the inhabitants become convinced the explosion was part of a German attack.
Second World War
Another important day in the history of warfare has come and gone this week – Pearl Harbor Day, the sixty-sixth anniversary of the surprise Japanese attack that brought America into the war. Two of the posts received touch on this subject. First, Redondowriter offers a touching post about how their family were personally involved in the tragedy.
World History blog have posted a video about Pearl Harbor, in honour of Pearl Harbor Day. This post has footage of the attack and a clip of the speech made by the President as news of the attack filtered out to the nation.
Executed Today also have some fantastic World War 2 aviation footage posted, together with the story of an unknown Allied bomber crewman who was captured and executed by the Germans in November 1944 in direct violation of all pre-war treaties.
And the rest…
The two posts on this blog which have triggered the most excitable comments and reaction from our regular readers have been posts about war films. I asked what the Top Three Worst War films were and what war films our readers would like to see. So, I wasn’t really surprised when another war film post made its way into my inbox. But this one is a bit different. Here Michael Wentz posts a list of the Top Ten Veterans Day war films, as chosen by his father, a veteran of the Vietnam War. They are all great choices, and if you haven’t seen them (particularly The Longest Day) then have a watch!
Last, but not least, I received an email from Ho Chi Tim, a postgrad history student at the National University of Singapore. Together with a couple of colleagues they have set up The Citizen Historian blog as a place for locally based students and historians to pen their thoughts. I was asked to choose one of the five posts he suggested, but they were all so interesting I decided that they all needed a quick mention.
The first is a review of the documentary 'Chinese Warfare', one of the episodes in the Ancient Discoveries series of the History Channel. The next one is detailed look inside the structure and activities of the Oka 9420 Unit in Singapore. This is the unit which conducted research and experiments in bio-warfare during WWII in Singapore.
A Ph.D. candidate with the NUS history dept writes a piece about how the various calenders Japan had used before and during the war to mark time played a part in the naming of the Japanese Zero. The same author also gives us a story about the military origins of Japanese curry dishes, tracing the very practical beginnings of this popular dish to the Japanese Navy. Finally, we finish with a review of an academic article on the Battle of Pasir Panjang. This battle was one of the few instances where Malays fought during the Malayan Campaign in 1941–42, fighting for and defending their homeland.
And that is that for this edition of the Military History Carnival. I hope you have all found something interesting and enjoyable!
The January edition of the Military History Carnival will be hosted at Walking The Berkshires on 7th January.
Posting submissions can be e-mailed to greensleevesenviro@sbcglobal.net.