The Big Fat History Thread

[Eddie Yates]

I would also add, if there’s anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, The Last King of Scotland, do yourself a favour and watch it if you get chance.

It’s an astonishingly good movie, and Forest Whitaker is superb as Idi Amin.

Try the book by Giles Foden

Apparently Amin phoned Thatcher in the middle of the night and asked to borrow some fighter jets so he could attack Tanzania

[Advert Break]

[Carlos]

I'd have thought you could get one even in Scotland, no need to smuggle it through customs.

I've just found the first to be put on the rack when I'm in power.

[Carlos]

Try the book by Giles Foden

Apparently Amin phoned Thatcher in the middle of the night and asked to borrow some fighter jets so he could attack Tanzania

He was proper mental wasn't he I should read about him more, it's someone I don't know much about.

[Erik]

I've just found the first to be put on the rack when I'm in power.

I'm not worried, your reign will soon go down the pan.

[Strummer]

Try the book by Giles Foden

Apparently Amin phoned Thatcher in the middle of the night and asked to borrow some fighter jets so he could attack Tanzania

Yeah, I’ve got the book; it’s another cracker, and some of the stuff in it is bonkers.

[Lefkasman]

Try the book by Giles Foden

Apparently Amin boned Thatcher in the middle of the night and asked to borrow some fighter jets so he could attack Tanzania

Doesn't surprise me.

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[Buckaroo]

Fascinating piece

https://www.gransforsbruk.com/en/axe...20up%20tubers.

[Buckaroo]

I was at a woodcraft fair a couple of years ago and this stall featuring medieval weaponry caught my attention. I was talking to the chap who was dressed as an English archer and he was telling me fascinating stories about all the reproduction weapons he made in his garage and the gruesome uses they were put to (I made notes). I asked him where he was based and it turned out he's in the same village, just up the road. I asked him if he'd show me how to make a 15th century English long bow from yew. He readily agreed but with one thing and another, mainly one thing, I haven't seen him since.

[Carlos]

I was at a woodcraft fair a couple of years ago and this stall featuring medieval weaponry caught my attention. I was talking to the chap who was dressed as an English archer and he was telling me fascinating stories about all the reproduction weapons he made in his garage and the gruesome uses they were put to (I made notes). I asked him where he was based and it turned out he's in the same village, just up the road. I asked him if he'd show me how to make a 15th century English long bow from yew. He readily agreed but with one thing and another, mainly one thing, I haven't seen him since.

They are absolutely fantastic, I'd love to learn how to make things like that. These days we have machines making things rather than highly skilled craftsmen and women.

[Ravi]

I was at a woodcraft fair a couple of years ago and this stall featuring medieval weaponry caught my attention. I was talking to the chap who was dressed as an English archer and he was telling me fascinating stories about all the reproduction weapons he made in his garage and the gruesome uses they were put to (I made notes). I asked him where he was based and it turned out he's in the same village, just up the road. I asked him if he'd show me how to make a 15th century English long bow from yew. He readily agreed but with one thing and another, mainly one thing, I haven't seen him since.

That sounds amazing. A 15th Century English long bow made of yew. Iconic.

I remember reading that in those days if an Englishman was practising with a long bow and accidentally killed someone they were absolved of guilt. Defeating the French was far more important than a few stray arrows.

[Phooey]

We had a leaving do in London that took in the National Army Museum a few years ago and the staff gave us a lecture on weapons through time. Really interesting subject if you don't think about the effects of these weapons too much.

[Redemption]

They reckon that the Nazis barely considered invading the USA because they would have come up against a huge civilian army, armed to the teeth.

Gerhard Weinberger, who posthumously published Hitler's other book, believed that Hitler had a plan to invade America.

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/32084

But there is still a lot of debate on whether it was really his intention. But is there much corroborating account that the potential size of the US civilian militia being a reason why he didn't?

[Redemption]

I was at a woodcraft fair a couple of years ago and this stall featuring medieval weaponry caught my attention. I was talking to the chap who was dressed as an English archer and he was telling me fascinating stories about all the reproduction weapons he made in his garage and the gruesome uses they were put to (I made notes). I asked him where he was based and it turned out he's in the same village, just up the road. I asked him if he'd show me how to make a 15th century English long bow from yew. He readily agreed but with one thing and another, mainly one thing, I haven't seen him since.

Is there something in the local water?

[Strummer]

Gerhard Weinberger, who posthumously published Hitler's other book, believed that Hitler had a plan to invade America.

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/32084

But there is still a lot of debate on whether it was really his intention. But is there much corroborating account that the potential size of the US civilian militia being a reason why he didn't?

There‘s one school of thought that Hitler and the Nazis were initially of the opinion that there would be no need to attempt a ground invasion of the US (which would frankly be a logistical nightmare) as instead, there was the supposition that fascism could actually be fermented in America, toppling its democratic government (such a premise was actually fleshed-out by Philip Roth in the fantastic The Plot Against America).

When WWII broke out, the Nazis were pleased that the Americans were willing to sit on their hands initially, as that meant Hitler could concentrate efforts on the Eastern and Western campaigns without interference.

Remember the US only became a combatant after December 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour; had that never happened, events night have taken a completely different turn.

[Carlos]

There‘s one school of thought that Hitler and the Nazis were initially of the opinion that there would be no need to attempt a ground invasion of the US (which would frankly be a logistical nightmare) as instead, there was the supposition that fascism could actually be fermented in America, toppling its democratic government (such a premise was actually fleshed-out by Philip Roth in the fantastic The Plot Against America).

When WWII broke out, the Nazis were pleased that the Americans were willing to sit on their hands initially, as that meant Hitler could concentrate efforts on the Eastern and Western campaigns without interference.

Remember the US only became a combatant after December 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour; had that never happened, events night have taken a completely different turn.

What was the deal between them and Japan? Would they have had a peaceful alliance should Hitler succeed in Europe?

[Strummer]

What was the deal between them and Japan? Would they have had a peaceful alliance should Hitler succeed in Europe?

Good question.

In Europe, a Hitler victory would have seen him expand his Reich into France, and east into Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Balkans, and take a chunk out of Russia. He’d have left his fascist cohorts - Franco in Spain and Mussolini in Italy - alone.

The supposition from the other side was that the Japanese would take China, and the Indo-Chinese peninsula and Malaya, and possibly even push down to Australia.

Neither side would have wanted to fight a ground war in North America, mainly because of the horrendous logistical issues of supplying such a campaign.

[Freddie]

My 100 years study at A level History was about German foreign diplomacy. I got a U and nearly missed out on going to uni.

Some years later and I'm working the job I do now, I had a meeting with a History researcher and a couple of history lecturers who seemed incredulous at the idea of fitting 100 years of German foreign diplomacy into 3000 words. Made me feel a lot better about it after all those years.

The only thing I remember, and suppose actual contribution to this thread, is this comment from A.J.P Taylor in 'The Course of German History': "It was no more a mistake for the German people to end up with Hitler than it is an accident when a river flows into the sea"

I think he used this phrase more than once and came out with something like "War to Germans, is as natural as a river that flows into the sea" in a book he did not long before he died but I can't remember the title of it. Might have been in a foreword for a reprint of something.

[Rob1965]

When I first moved to Germany I read a couple of very good books on German history.

To reiterate Freddie's point about war being natural to Germans, Germany or at least the peoples that make up what we think of as modern day Germany have been involved in one war or another almost constantly for two thousand years culminating with the end of the second world war.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Germany-Mem...0479308&sr=8-4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shortest-Hi...s%2C214&sr=8-1

[Strummer]

That ties in with Hitler‘s delight when, told his „Thousand Year Reich“ would prompt a thousand years of conflict, he responded that this was excellent, because it would ensure that the ordinary German Volk were always alert and well-prepared.

[Strummer]

And yes, Memories of a Nation is one of the best books you’ll read about German history.

[OK SpidermAndy!]

It's almost like the EU has helped serve the longest period of peace, and most would say prosperity ever in Europe. Nah, fuck them brussel sprouts off, we've got BoJo leading us into a new empire (of dirt)

[Ravi]

It's almost like the EU has helped serve the longest period of peace, and most would say prosperity ever in Europe. Nah, fuck them brussel sprouts off, we've got BoJo leading us into a new empire (of dirt)

Nuclear weapons and the Western European nations having a common adversary helped keep the peace between them during the Cold War 1945-1991.

[Ravi]

On that, I highly recommend the book Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis by Martin J. Sherwin.

[Carlos]

I'm going to need to buy another bookcase at this rate.

[Freddie]

As a technical librarian I say, buy e!