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Fact or Fiction?

12/9/2014

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At home at the moment I am basking in the sheer joy of wandering through the streets of Revolutionary Paris in ‘Assassins Creed Unity’, climbing over rooftops and meeting some of the most memorable historical figures as part of the narrative. Decked out in 7.1 surround sound headphones and on a big screen, it is the closest I will ever get to time travel…probably.
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I am a historian…that is it… I teach History because I love it, it is the history itself that makes the job worthwhile. And as part of my lifelong love affair with History, I have enjoyed playing board games and computer games that take historical events as their starting point since I was a young boy.

There have been many debates on the Net that fixate on things like racism, sexism, and plenty of other ‘isms, and often I have read that historical games, in particular video games,  can be taken to promote or even excuse violent behaviour.

However, this popular view has been recently challenged, in a paper titled “Violent Video Games and Real-World Violence: Rhetoric Versus Data”, carried out by the guys (and I mean ‘Guys’ in the broadest sense) at Villanova University and Rutgers University in the US. The report they published based on copious research finds no correlation at all and claims…

"Finding that a young man who committed a violent crime also played a popular video game, such as Call of Duty, Halo, or Grand Theft Auto, is as pointless as pointing out that the criminal also wore socks."

Interesting? But apart from the issue of violence, what about social issues that belong in an historical period, but are simply not palatable to an audience today, for example Slavery, Sexism, or even Whaling?

This is less of a problem with the historian, as our job is never to judge the past by using the present. We document, analyse and explain, and we should be relied on to maintain as objective a view as possible. This does not have to be the case in the production of games however, where we accept that as playing characters, we have endless lives to expend, and are able to take far more physical punishment than anybody in reality! Clearly, games wouldn’t be games if they were made to be as brutally accurate as can be, for example, Call of Duty wouldn’t be a successful series if you got hit once with a bullet and that was it, dead, never to get to play the game again. Still, where do we draw the line?
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Games are by definition pleasurable, and played for fun in spare hours of downtime. How important is it that a game accurately reflect the period it is set? … What difference does it make? (Said with a shrug of the shoulders)… Well, I would argue that for many people, much of the History they absorb comes to them not from Historians, or the pages of a textbook, but from TV, games and of course feature films.

If the information contained in, let’s say, a blockbuster movie, is incorrect we run the risk of this ‘faulty’ history becoming the accepted norm. For example, "U571" which was released in 2000 was a film that supposedly showed an American submarine action that led to the capture of an Enigma coding machine, thereby changing the whole course of the War.

This movie came under heavy fire because, frankly, it was nonsense! It had been British sailors from HMS Bulldog that made the breakthrough, lifting a working machine from from U-110. This action had actually taken place a full SEVEN months before the USA even entered the War!

Another example is the 2001 film “Pearl Harbor”, which featured not only an American fighter pilot shooting down amazing numbers of enemy planes when the Japanese attack but also even includes President Franklin D Roosevelt getting up out of his wheelchair!

Now you might be thinking, "So what! It is just a bit of light entertainment?" But if the reality is not important, why not make it totally fictional, have the Americans capture some other important documents? Or a spy or, well, anything! Why produce a film purporting to show a ‘True Event’ and then lie? What about the sailors on board HMS Bulldog? They were the ones who gambled their lives on the plan to capture the Enigma machine, is this just a little disrespectful to their families? 

If "U571" raised a few interesting issues, I could write a book on the inaccuracies contained in some of the films of Mel Gibson! Where to start with "Braveheart" or the "Patriot"?

The article by Claire Suddath in Time magazine summed up Braveheart for me, a film I still can’t bring myself to watch in one sitting!

“Mel Gibson’s Scottish epic about Sir William Wallace is riddled with so many inaccuracies that it’s hard to know where to begin. How about the kilts? Scotsmen in the 13th century didn’t wear belted plaid… at one point in the film he appears to be wielding nunchaku, with no explanation of how the Chinese weapon came to exist in medieval Scotland. Furthermore, Wallace never met — much less impregnated — the Princess Isabella, who was 9 years old and not a Princess at the time this movie supposedly takes place.”

So for our example let us focus on the 2000 release, "The Patriot". This was rated by Rotten Tomatoes as…

“Entertaining to watch, but relies too much on formula and melodrama.”

Yes indeed, here again we have a film that should have a strong sense of the history of the American Revolution, but in an effort to appeal to a wide American audience, History has been dumped in favour of the aforementioned ‘Melodrama’. We have an idealised version of the Revolution in which all the ‘Patriots’ mingle in harmony regardless of skin colour, and the widespread use of slaves is swept conveniently under the carpet, an issue that led director Spike Lee to comment:

“The Patriot is pure, blatant American Hollywood propaganda. A complete whitewashing of history.”

This is also a film that shows the British (or more accurately the English) acting like 18th Century Nazis; in fact one of the key moments shows the British redcoats herding screaming women, children and old men into a church, setting light to the building and watching them burn! This event categorically did not happen, but I would bet that audiences left the cinema believing that it did…and there is the problem.

As a historian I can’t help but feel that is the responsibility of filmmakers to either use the historical truth, (when available of course), OR make the films obviously fictional. Don’t try to palm off the idea that ALL the colonists were brave, patriotic, fervent supporters of the Revolutionary cause in 1775…they were NOT…or equally, the red coated British, they were NOT evil drones, carrying out a wave of terror attacks against the poor downtrodden colonial settlers, like ‘Stormtroopers’ from Star Wars! As is usual in history, the truth is more complex, and much more intriguing than that. Thoughtful audiences of any nationality deserve to be given the best effort at historical truth in the films they watch, otherwise we perpetuate falsehoods, and that serves nobody well.

There is no doubt plenty more to be written about History and the Movies, but we set out at the start of this article to look at the bigger picture, so how is History utilised in another great leisure activity, gaming?

Many years ago now, an intrepid group of us set about designing a website and regular podcast that looked at gaming from a wide perspective, including table top gaming, RPG, video games, and board games. It was quite a success for a while, and during that time we took the opportunity to look very closely at the issue of history in gaming.

As an example, one of the games we focussed on was a board game called ‘Endeavor’ by Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray. This game tells the story, in an abstract way, of the exploration and empire building of the great European powers, tokens are collected representing power and these eventually decide the winner of the game.
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In an interview with designer Jarratt Gray, we discussed the thorny issue of slavery, which of course was a major component of the period. We spoke at length about the inclusion of slavery. In the end, the game designers chose to include the slave trade, BUT it was a decision left to the player…IF slavery was included in the game, players who took advantage of the early power it gave them suffer from a major loss of power and prestige when slave trading is finally banned in the British Empire in 1807. Clearly very, very few people playing the game today would really think that slavery was okay, but they could still recognise that it WAS a part of the period the game covers, and being aware of the issue is surely better than remaining ignorant of it?

A fairly recent, and very interesting board game that attempts to cover the issue of slavery is “Freedom - The Underground Railroad”: by Academy Games. The players are asked to on take a variety of roles based on characters from the Abolitionist movement of 19th century America.  What makes this game stand out is the way it forces the players to make difficult decisions. The transfer of resources from one area to another on the game board may just save a great number of runaway slaves, but this comes at the expense of others elsewhere on the map. It does a good job of introducing the player to key individuals like Levi Coffin, Josiah Henson and Anne Elizabeth Dickenson, and the historical information given on the cards fleshes out these unsung characters. This game is a prime example of how by taking a very emotive historical time frame, and by sensitively developing a game mechanic that gives a sense of place, but does not play fast and loose with history, game designers can produce a product that is both fascinating to play, thought provoking and historically accurate.

Another board game that has long been a favourite of ours is ‘Europe Engulfed’ by Jesse Evans and Rick Young, better known as "EE", a huge board game that allows the players to re-fight World War Two in Europe and North Africa. It is a block game, can take many hours to play, and has game mechanics that cover most of the crucial elements involved in waging war in the twentieth century.

However, this does raise an issue that lots of other games have faced, that is, it is acceptable to feature the Swastika symbol to represent the forces of National Socialist Germany in historical games?

Europe Engulfed does not. The symbols the game uses represent the Wehrmacht, but not the political leadership of the nation at that time. There are special blocks that stand in for SS Armour Units for example, and even though they would be extremely politically motivated in 1944/45, they do not sport the Nazi livery. However, the recent video game ‘Wolfenstein: The New Order’, does make use of the swastika and it serves as a striking reminder of the game World, a post WW2 alternative history. In current German law, the public use and display of the swastika, even if it is being used as a part of a satirical attack, is not allowed. Quite how that relates to video games like Wolfenstein, I’m not sure…I am in no way versed in the details of German state law!

But how would this theory of banning ‘Historical Symbols’ work in games based on other historical periods? The Crusades for example? There might well be groups of people offended by the use of religious symbols, both the Cross and the Crescent and Star? What about the Hammer and Sickle? As we all know, the Soviet Union under Stalin suffered a horrific death toll due to political induced starvation and the Purges? Would that be bad enough to warrant a ban on the symbol of Soviet Communism?

I guess we need to think about the issue of symbolism. Are the images themselves evil or does the close association with evil deeds forever link the symbol with the action? It would seem that no matter what is said about the swastika, and its use as a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. and the fact that it is a common sight in India or Indonesia, to the general western public, the swastika has been ‘taken over’ by the terror of National Socialism.

Even if we agree that some images are tainted in the public mind, does the fact that these symbols are a part of the past, for good or bad, mean that in an historical game we should use the symbols, or else are we simply attempting to Photoshop history?

In the end it is a tough choice. Nobody should be made to play a game that they find deeply offensive, BUT I do wonder if sometimes people can get offended a bit TOO easily? As for an answer, well, I don’t have one! My gut reaction is that if an event happened in the past, it is fair game… We gain nothing from trying to wash it away.

Perhaps we should make more use of the option of not playing, watching, buying, reading, or listening to,  material that we object to on a personal level. As long as it is clearly stated that the product, be it a film or a board game, is addressing events from 1933 to 1945, then the use of a swastika symbol is justified. Just a personal opinion.

Historical accuracy is our major focus point here, but perhaps it would be interesting to address another key debate point, and one that leads to many, many column inches in the gaming press.

A quick search online will soon highlight the anger often expressed that video gaming is the domain of the sexist. Outraged writers will point to the scantily clad female armour worn on some MMO’s and argue (with some justification) how it is that a thong, even an armoured one, can have the same stopping power as a full set of plate metal leggings!

It is difficult to argue with this as gaming, especially fantasy gaming, has a long history of this sort of imagery. BUT, it is worth pointing out that the same fantasy MMO’s also allow players to play any sex they like, and this will never have an impact on the power, strength, or abilities of the ‘toon’… There is complete equality in terms of fighting skills and playability. Freya, who writes on this site, has written two epic fantasy novels, ‘Heartwood’ and ‘Sunstone’ that use this total quality between the sexes as a base. Men save women and women save men…nobody is ‘The Weaker Sex’. Now I would argue that in this particular case, gaming is giving us a very honest, even-handed view of sexuality. A favourite current game in our house is "Dragonage: Inquisition", which features relationships as a small part of the open world story. The characters are straight, bi-sexual and homosexual, and it MAKES NO DIFFERENCE to the way they fight or play in the game. Their sexuality does not totally define the characters; it is a part of what makes them more rounded as protagonists in the game world.

Now I know that I have mentioned fantasy gaming here, but what about the depiction of women in video games like "Grand Theft Auto"? It IS a game that focusses on a dark, unattractive world of pimps, drug dealers, and car theft, and the portrayal of women is pretty unrelentingly misogynistic throughout the game. It does not actually show ANYBODY in a particularly good light, the men are often rough, shallow and often deeply unhappy, but it is a hugely popular game with buyers. Rockstar Games have admitted that the nature of the game is a talking point for the developers, and that a future game with a focus on a more female perspective might be in the offing? Now that would be an interesting game to try!

There have been some standout examples of female leads in video games. Lara Croft dominated the market in the early days of the PS and Xbox…Although it must be said that her rather…pneumatic chest did seem to cater for the stereotypical male gamer. Interestingly, in the recent Square Enix release ‘Tomb Raider’, it is very different Lara. The designers set out to avoid the more ludicrous proportions and aim for ‘physical realism’.  The game is all the better for it, and although this Lara is much younger, she is more grounded.  

Other recent games have continued the slow re design of female protagonists… the PS4 game “inFAMOUS First Light”, features Abigail “Fetch” Walker, a particularly interesting protagonist, and where would
“Alien Isolation” be without a ‘Ripley’, in this case the daughter of the film original. These women are not portrayed as being weak, they are not in constant need of being saved by men. Add to this list the fantastic ‘Ellie’ from "Last of Us" who is not only a strong female character, but a very young one too, and it is clear that there is movement within the gaming industry regarding the way gender is factored into the latest games.
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However, the issue of ‘Sexism in Gaming’ is still a hot topic, ‘Assassins Creed: Unity’ came under fire before release with its decision NOT to include a playable female character in the multi-player segment of the game. As you might expect, this did not go down well at all…. Brenna Hillier of VG247 reacted strongly to the statement that adding female avatars would be a huge extra cost to the production that Ubisoft were not prepared to make.

"Ubisoft has here trotted out a tired, stupid, constantly refuted excuse for why it has perpetuated the cycle of sexism and under-representation in the games industry."

Now, I’m not sure that Ubisoft made a good call there, and it has been highlighted that the money involved in extra production costs would have been easily off-set by the positive press coverage, and the final statement from the company…

"I understand the issue, I understand the cause, and it is a noble one, but I don't think it's relevant in the case of Unity. In Unity you play this character called Arno, and when you're playing co-op you're also playing Arno – everybody is.”

...while technically correct, fell on deaf ears for the most part. Later, when Unity shipped with more than its fair share of ‘Issues’, it all added up to a rocky launch for the Ubisoft, Next Gen rebuild.

Ubisoft should have been pre-warned, for the previous title in the Assassins Creed series, ‘Black Flag’, was set in the 17th century Caribbean, and as well as sailing around in a Pirate ship, the player had the opportunity to hunt and kill a wide variety of animals, including Whales. Now as most of us know, the hunting and culling of Whales today is threatening the existence of these majestic animals, but the use of hand thrown harpoons in the 17th century to catch them was never really going to damage the whale population like modern methods. So the inclusion of Whaling in ‘Black Flag’ is not a statement saying that it is okay to slaughter Whales, but a recognition that Whaling was a part of the economy of the Western World two hundred or so years ago. It is also worth mentioning that in ‘Black Flag’, the DLC or extra content focussed on the work of Adéwalé, a black pirate/assassin who sets about freeing slaves from plantations across the game map. This gives a fantastic impression of life on the plantations, and also the work of those trying to end this evil trade.

If we are completely honest, we know that human history has rarely been a tale of joy and hope…Certain periods are riddled with unhappy events, as Thomas Hobbes famously said, human life for the most part has always been , “Hard, brutish and short”. However, history is FULL of heroes, villains, evil events, romance, and settings that provide for film makers and game designers a huge database of material that they can use.

For the Historian, THE most important aspect of what we do is the desire to remain as objective and unbiased as we possibly can.  In many ways this is a ‘Holy Grail’ of history writing, as it could be strongly argued that any historian is influenced by the period of time they have been alive. 

Stepping outside your own time frame and viewing historical events in the context of the past is essential. Writing about a time when Slavery was common or Women had few if any political rights, is not stating that these are okay, it is recognising that for good or ill, these events have been part of us, of our makeup, and just like having a rather disturbing distant member of our family tree, they do not define who we are or what we chose to do today. We do not judge the past by the present, but neither should we judge the present by the past.

A fine balance should be struck between historical accuracy, and entertainment. This does not mean completely changing events or people to fit the story, unless it is made clear by the producers that that is what has happened. There are so many examples of fantastic, fascinating and yes, entertaining historical events in history that there should be no need to treat human history like a monstrous sandbox that can be altered to fit whatever version of history is popular at any given time.

Tony
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Prince Albert, and the World Cup

7/15/2014

1 Comment

 
Germany 7.  Brazil  1. (semi-final result World Cup 2014 Brazil)

Broken-hearted Brazilian fans ended a ninety minute routing of their national team and the destruction of any aspiration they had of securing world cup glory with tears and cheers for the footballing skill of the German football team.

Once again we watched a German team with surgeon-like precision dismember the playing prowess of probably one of the greatest football nations of the world. As an Englishman, complimenting what was without doubt a wonderful achievement is generally followed by one of the following put-downs: "they played like machines", "typical German precision", "Brazil’s defense was appalling". It is an accepted fact that for centuries our attitude to Germany has been less than brotherly, most often guarded.

But having reached the age of seventy plus years, I have a secret to admit. As a child of WW2, I have always held a begrudging respect for our German foe, along with almost all of my childhood friends.
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Photo credit: thardy1 / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
When splitting into groups for a "War Game", being picked to be an English "Tommy" was akin to being "put into goal". We all, much to the horror of the old people, wanted to be Germans, in beautifully tailored uniforms, with shining black leather riding boots, an imaginary Luger on our belt, and the obligatory monocle in our eye. The alternative was to be a Tommy, looking like a sack of potatoes tied at the middle with string. Never feeling the slightest guilt at the disrespect our dads would have felt, we would click our imaginary boots, clasp our imaginary monocle to our eye and say "vee eff vays of making you tolk". To be fair, the English always won these battles! We all thought German-made toys were better though, as were  German-made cars. So what moved me to make this admission?

I was trolling through the wonderful Internet reading an article on that most English of subjects "the Crystal Palace Exhibition", imagine my surprise when I read how much was owed to Queen Victoria and even more so Albert the royal consort, Franz Albert August Karl Emanuel, from the house of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. This led me to read a little more about this remarkable man. Born in 1819, he was suggested as a possible husband to his cousin the princess Victoria. After her first visit to meet him, Victoria wrote "Albert is extremely handsome, his hair is about the same colour as mine, his eyes large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose, and very sweet mouth and fine teeth but the charm of his countenance is his expression which is most delightful. She was obviously besotted with the young man.
Prince Albert 405130
Prince Albert
They married on 10th February 1840 but Albert was not very well received by the government who were determined that no political power should ever be given to him. Victoria herself was appalled at the annuity the house agreed for him of £30,000 – the norm at this time was £50,000. He was not awarded a title and was to be known as "the Prince Albert". He himself was little concerned at the refusal of a title, believing that any title like The Duke of Kent was in his estimation a retrograde step from those he already held.

Even the general running of the royal household was not his responsibility but that of the queen’s old housekeeper. Albert himself remarked "I am very happy and contented but the difficulty in filling my place with proper dignity is that I am only the Husband not the master in the house." His influence on Victoria however was immense and it was under his guidance that the young Queen radically changed the perception of her subjects to the monarchy from just the heir to the throne to that of the royal family with whom they could relate for the first time. He was astute enough to recognize the need for a change of attitude to the working classes, and encouraged education for the masses and a greater recognition of the contribution they made to the country and the British Empire. Parts of Europe were plagued by the ever resentful attitudes of the undervalued workers and civil unrest was prominent in many countries.

His introduction of his own country’s Christmas celebration tradition of bringing a pine tree indoors and decorating it with candles and sweet treats was greeted with enthusiasm especially given that a photograph of the Royal family was circulated to the press. For some years people had over the Christmas period been in the habit of bringing the bough of a tree, usually from a yew into their houses, but soon every person wanted a tree to celebrate the season, and the exchanging of cards with seasonal images also spread from the royal household to the whole country.

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en a display of the great British Empire was suggested, Albert was quick to see the possibility of making it a public exhibition, putting his effort into public access, something that was not well received by the prime minister or many of his party. The establishment heaped scorn on his proposals; the famous magazine Punch was most cutting, labeling it “Albert’s Folly”. However, he managed to win over many powerful industrialists who recognized the benefits of an Exhibition that their workforce could feel a part of.

So it was that a contest for designs for a building to house such an undertaking was held. The winning design was a large glass construction emphasizing the engineering prowess of British industry to be sited in Hyde Park in the centre of London. Ironically, it was Punch Magazine that laughingly referred to the design as the Crystal Palace, but the name became synonymous with this great Victorian achievement.
Wallpaper of Great Exhibition
Wallpaper of the Great Exhibition. The 1851 Exhibition held in London's Hyde Park inside the purpose built Crystal Palace received millions of visitors.This image is from the collections of The National Archives. Image no.375199
When completed, it was hailed as a “wonder of the age, a glass building larger than an ocean liner, a glittering palatial edifice like nothing ever seen before.” It was to be filled with the very latest industrial innovations and displays from every part of the great British Empire, all under one roof. At the opening, the public were stunned. Never before had such a spectacular sight been seen - a palace of glass set in a park in the centre of London housing the wonders of the modern Victorian Empire.

The entrance fee was set at a level making it accessible to the working class, and with special one shilling days throughout the week, it was soon to become the "must see" on everyone's wish list. People remarked on the fact that with the masses of visitors to the Exhibition they were struck by the silence of the crowd, who speechlessly looked in amazement as they took in the whole spectacle. Victoria herself made as many as thirty visits to the site. People from towns and villages all across the country (many of whom had never ventured outside of their villages) flocked to the capital to view the wonder of the modern world. Albert himself persuaded the Queen to make many of her royal visits on "the shilling days" adding to the excitement of the visiting masses. He had almost single-handedly altered the perception of the populace to the monarchy and given the working class a new found pride in their country. And against all the odds, he managed to endear himself to the great British public for the remaining years of his life.

You could be forgiven for wondering instead of being our feuding cousins how the map of Europe would have looked had we been allies. Perhaps two world wars would never have happened? Who knows?

John

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A Woman in a Man's World

6/19/2014

2 Comments

 
There are, of course, plenty of women interested in military history today. When I was growing up, however, I felt completely out of step with the other girls of my own age, none of whom knew anything about the subjects that fascinated me. While on the surface I pretended to be interested in boy bands and glittery nail varnish, in secret my time was spent reading history, especially military history.

In the first instance, I credit my love of history to my mother. When I was growing up, she used to read a lot of historical fiction (and still does), and she especially loved authors like Jean Plaidy, who wrote about the life and times of the European nobility. Plaidy is the reason I spent hours memorizing the dates of the reigns of English Kings and Queens (and yes, I can still remember most of them), and to a certain extent I continue to retain a fascination with the medieval English nobility.

We both read a lot of historical romance, because this was the only historical fiction marketed at women. The infamous “bodice rippers” were fun to read, and although critics have always poured scorn on historical romance, the authors of the genre usually carry out detailed research, and relationships are portrayed against a vivid historical panorama. Longer novels like Kathleen Winsor’s Forever Amber (about 17th English society) and Anya Seton’s Katherine (about Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt) were my favourites.
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But it was Sharon Penman’s Sunne in Splendour that propelled me out of historical romance and into military historical fiction. Initially marketed as a romance, the book had a terrible romantic cover that betrayed its true nature as a hugely detailed investigation of the Wars of the Roses. I finally persuaded Tony to read it a few years ago, and although reluctant at first, he went on to adore the book too, so if you haven’t read it, please look it up! The story follows Richard of York and his son Edward on their journey to depose the weak king Henry VI, the life of Edward IV, and the subsequent reign of his brother Richard III, and I was enthralled by her excellent descriptions of the battles, and the political wrangling that went on around them.

I was thirteen or fourteen when I read this book, and so began my fascination with military history. I spent many evenings making notecards of the battles of the Wars of the Roses, copying out battle formations, writing up accounts, and studying the complicated family trees of the York and Lancaster lines. Indeed, I won over my husband, Tony, by talking about how the Battle of Towton was fought in a snowstorm – the poor guy didn’t stand a chance!
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After this, I branched out into other military fiction, and especially loved Cornwell’s Sharpe novels. Around this time, I also developed an interest in archaeology, plus I began to consider a career in teaching. I took a combined honours History and Archaeology degree at the University of Exeter, and many of my courses focused on military history, including a study of fortifications in Europe, and analyses of the archaeological finds of weaponry. Templar knights, the Knights of St. John, and the Crusades fascinated me, and through studies of these I also grew interested in monasticism.

When I graduated, I continued to consider teaching as a career, but by this time I was writing practically non-stop, and to this day, the urge to bring the people in my head into reality has remained the main reason I haven’t ventured into the teaching profession (although I did teach archaeology to adults for two years). I branched out into reading fantasy fiction, my interest for this genre born from a lifelong love of fantasy and sci-fi created by my father’s insistence that I watch such quality TV shows as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Blake’s Seven in my formative years. Strangely, I began to realize how the historical and fantasy genres were often closely related, due no doubt to Tolkien’s influence. Books and their related movies like The Lord of the Rings sometimes discuss military strategy in detail, and I loved Peter Jackson’s portrayal of the attack on Helm’s Deep, for example. Episode 9 of Game of Thrones Season 4, The Watchers on the Wall, is a classic example of military history-meets-fantasy, and the siege by the Wildlings on the Wall was my favourite episode so far.

It was my interest in medieval fortification, in Templar Knights, and in monasticism, that forged the idea for Heartwood, a fantasy based around a group of holy knights who both worship and defend the world’s holy tree. The last third of the book focuses on the siege of the fortified temple, the culmination of years of fascination with medieval castles, weaponry, and sieges, as well as with fantasy.
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My favourite movies remain those with a fantasy or military-focus like LoTR, Kingdom of Heaven, Black Death, Ironclad, Master and Commander, the Band of Brothers series, the Sharpe series, Hornblower, 300, Henry V, pretty much anything with a military historical slant.

As a member of the female sex, my main disappointment with the genre is the almost non-presence of women in the majority of military historical books and movies. Obviously, this is a direct reflection of history, and I’m certainly not advocating the interjection of female characters where none would have been present. However, I have to say that it is becoming acceptable to cast people of colour in roles normally reserved for white actors, like Hamlet, because the assumption is that the actor is playing a role—in this sense, maybe in the future could we see female actors playing male historical roles? I’d certainly be up for some swinging of the sword!

It has been nice recently to get more involved with the factual side of things, and writing historical articles has been hugely enjoyable. It’s also brought me in touch with many other historians, and ultimately that’s the great thing, being able to share one’s love of a subject with others.

Freya
2 Comments

Music Appreciation - Army Style

6/18/2014

0 Comments

 
I joined the Army at the age of 16 being unable to read a note of music, I only listened to pop music that was current at the time and in general would have been classed as a Philistine to most music lovers. During the first term basic training was done during the day but the Army Apprentice School required all apprentices to join one of the clubs that provided after hours leisure activity. As new boys we were taken round all the clubs including canoeing, photography, judo and many more and I had to join at least one of them. My father had advised me I should learn to play a musical instrument, so I joined the brass band.

I was given an E- flat bass, a three valve monster that you had to carry with a plastic strap attached for support.
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I was given to an apprentice corporal who also played an e-flat bass to start my tuition. This sadist had a wind-iron (a piece of eighth-inch iron about 6 inches long hooked at one end for holding music down to your music stand on windy days) that he introduced to the top of my head every time I blew a wrong note when practising my scales. Within the first two months I was blowing notes well enough to sit in with the rest of the band during music rehearsals.

I had to serve 9 terms to pass my apprenticeship. Each term lasted three months with a break between each one. Before I left to go home at the end of the first term I was measured up for a dress uniform, or “blues”, that the band wore on ceremonial occasions. I was looking forward to going back in my second term to start learning my trade, military skills and further education.

The band met every day in the evening after work, where we practised the pieces of marching music required for Saturday’s parade, hymns for Sunday Church parade  and music scores from musicals like Oklahoma, West Side Story and many others that we played at Officers' Mess evenings and gala events. I also had to learn how to march, carry the instrument, read the music cards attached to the instrument and learn how to counter-march all at the same time.

It was during my second term that we were invited to play at the Royal Tournament during the warm-up session before the programme started. I practised with the band but was told by my trainer to concentrate on staying alert, keep in line and not to worry about playing too much music. On the evening of our performance I can remember the feeling of horror when the doors opened and we marched into the massive arena covered in rutted sawdust from the King's Hussars cannon troop and horses' earlier practice. I did stay on my two feet but I do not remember blowing much music!

Also during term 2 we had the honour of marching Mary Rand through the streets of Henley when she returned from Mexico with her gold medals.
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In my third and fourth term I was playing better, I felt like I was now a band member and we were touring the South playing at carnivals as a marching band leading the Parade. We also were invited to play at Windsor Castle for the Queen’s garden party. This was mostly show music sitting down in the park and I did get to see the Queen.

Terms 5, 6 and 7 went by with plenty of events but most of my time was spent concentrating on my apprenticeship exams. I was promoted during term 5 to Lance Corporal after attending a cadre course on Brecon Beacons with other members of my division. It was during term 6 we played at a ceremony when the school became an Apprentice College and put on the REME badge.

Term 8 arrived with me becoming Band Sergeant. I arrived at the gate to sign in for the start of a new term and was told to report to the Regimental Sergeant Major immediately. Our band master had been involved in a car accident during the holiday period and his return date was unknown at this time. I was to ensure the band was ready for the Saturday parade and had rehearsed the RSM’s favourite marches. Then the Padre gave me the hymns for the church parade on Sunday. The band master did not come back for another month so it was pretty busy, leading the band and getting ready for my apprenticeship final exams as well.

Term 9 was a lot more relaxed, exams over and I had passed my finals and heard I was being posted to West Germany. Then the band master said we had to stay for an additional two days and provide a marching band and church parade at Winchester. We had to learn “Winchester Cathedral” for this special day and played it at least four times during the day.

I left Army Apprentice College Arborfield with fond memories. The band had been my saviour during the early terms of being away from home for the first time. But as I progressed through the school it kept me busy and eventually when the band became mine for the last two terms it got me out of the day to day army routines. This philistine now plays the saxophone in his spare time and appreciates most music.

Barry
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An Accident of Birth - My Story of London

6/2/2014

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With absolutely no forward planning on my part, my mother gave birth to me in London, England, in 1941, where I spent the first happy years of my life. When I finished my education, I applied for a job as a tape room boy, in the newsroom of the "London Daily Mirror" one of the most popular daily newspapers in England. My father was already a Printer, and in those days the only way you could get into the printing industry was to have a close relative in one of the Printers’ Unions. As a tape room messenger, (at the age of sixteen) my job was to race around London without delay, to chase up breaking newsworthy stories and copy from contributors (from politicians to freelance hacks) plus features from a team of famous writers. As there was always a deadline to make before the presses were put to bed, speed was of the essence.

To this end, I was allowed to travel around London employing the fastest method of transport, whether it be the tube train or a London black cab. I was given a small expense account, enough to pay fares on buses or the Tube, and if I needed to use a Cab I would get the "Mirror" doormen to settle the fares. It was a very exciting life and I loved every minute of it. 

The London Cab drivers were (in their own way) wonderful tour guides; what they didn't know about London just wasn't worth knowing. I would sit in the back of their Cabs whilst they would keep up an informative dialogue on every historical monument, building, or district we drove through.
Black London Cab
I soon fell in love with this wonderful city, a love affair that continues to this day. Almost every week, I would learn something extraordinary about this place and the people that have lived here through the centuries. I couldn't believe that here was I, a young boy, sipping a coffee in "Ye Old  Cheshire Cheese" a favorite haunt of Dr S Johnson, and walking past the very house that (during the great fire) he was said to have buried his precious cheese in to protect it from the flames.

During my jaunts around London, I was constantly amazed by the unending historical sites and layer upon layer of this great towns' foundations: from the remains of Roman occupation, through the Iceni revolt led by Boudicca, the English Civil War, and two World Wars, over 2000 years of English History, a fascinating collage of bricks and mortar seeped in history.

"Look!" my cab driver guide would say, "this is one of the walls built by the Roman invaders. It would have run up to Aldgate, just one of the seven city gates they built: Aldgate; Bishopsgate; Cripplegate; Aldersgate; Newgate; Ludgate.” (Moorgate was not strictly an original, quite modern, having been built about 1415.) "Hey, look over the road! In that church are the mummified remains of a cat believed to have belonged to of one of London's most famous mayors: Dick Whittington."
Flickr - Duncan~ - Dick Whittington's Cat
"See the clock opposite? The two giants that ring the bells on the hour are Gog and Magog, protectors of the City; legend has it that a princess, Landona (a close friend of the giants) was with child and gave birth to a baby boy, who was given the name Prince Cockney. He was born in Bow (within the sound of the bells?) and as the boy grew older he developed a twisting of his legs, and they started calling him ‘Knocknee’."

After a while, and a little laughter (although this story is perfectly true) the cabbie would continue: "This building is the banqueting Hall, King Charles I was beheaded just here." He would point to the middle of the road. "Must have caused a bit of a hold up," I would quip. "Well, of course, the buses never used to run along here in those days," he would retort.

"Just over Southwark Bridge, Samuel Pepys watched as the great fire swept through London.There was Bankside of course, the Globe theatre, the Bear baiting pit—a bit of local entertainment, in case you got fed up with the hanging up at the Borough; there was once even a Rat baiting pit (dogs would wait whilst dozens of rats were freed into the pit, and the onlookers would make wagers on the time taken for the dog to finish them all off)."
Globe Theatre London
Navigating a series of narrow passages between Fleet Street and the Embankment, you will come upon a beautiful sand-coloured church in remarkable condition, (having survived for over 800 years). Stepping inside the Temple Church, you come face to face with nine grave effigies in full knights’ attire; these wonderful gentlemen are Knights Templar, included is the likeness of William Marshall a famous Knight. He made his early living jousting for riches, and he was also an accomplished swordsman. A legend in life, he died in 1219, a friend of King Henry II. The king in fact was so impressed with William and his fellow knights, he determined to become a Templar Knight himself, and he in fact joined the order just months before his death. A popular 21st century movie A Knight’s Tale was based on his early life. I have always been fascinated by the Knights Templar, and well remember the excitement of finding this wondrous place.

As many historical facts as you could wish to know, and all you had to say to your knowledgeable cabbie was, "What is that building over there called?" Then I would just sit back and enjoy.
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
In 1791, James Boswell published a biography of his good friend Dr Samuel Johnson; Boswell lived in Edinburgh, but loved the excitement of London. He would make regular visits every year to visit his friend "Johnson". During one of these visits he asked his friend, "I love London but fear I would tire of it after a while!" Dr Johnson's reply has become as famous as the man himself. "If an intellectual man is tired of London, he is tired of life itself, for there is, in London, all that life can afford."

Probably the finest books about this wonderful City have been written by Peter Ackroyd, and I would recommend them most highly; I think he could give my cab drivers a run for their money!!

When I was courting as a young boy, my now wife and I would take long walks in the evenings through the city streets and along the river, and we would seldom meet a soul. The city was devoid of people at night, save for office cleaners and the like. It was a strange but comforting being a very small part of it all.

John Robertson
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Military Re-enactment

5/19/2014

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It was probably about 7 years ago when first heard of "Living history" and "Reenacting".  There was a military open day at a local museum and, being interested in military history as a teenager, I went and had a look. Of course I was a big fan of the HBO series "Band of Brothers" at the time, and that chance to get up close and personal with men wearing the same uniform was exciting for me. I managed to get the chance to talk to some men who reenact the US 82nd Airborne as well as their German counterparts the Fallschirmjägers. We talked for quite a while about the equipment and weapons, and I got a real interest in the hobby and asked them how to join. At the time I was too young, but I did start reading up about it and in 2011 I finally had the time (and money) to join the hobby.
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Reenacting is not cheap. They tell you that right in the beginning and it's very true, however it can depend on what time period you reenact and what army. For example a Soviet conscript rifleman kit (what we call our equipment and uniforms) and rifle can cost you all in all about $700 while an 1809 Napoleonic era British line infantryman can cost you up to 3 grand!. Of course you don't just go out and buy everything. Some research needs to be done, (lots of it) and asking others in the hobby what to get is a real help. (It's better to do it once than to having to buy other equipment again).
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Having had an interest in the desert war, I naturally joined the German Afrika Korps (21st Panzer Division) unit based in Auckland, New Zealand, and at my first event pretty much borrowed all the gear from the unit commander. Living history is mainly divided into two parts, the public side and the private side. 
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The public side of the hobby is teaching the public about history, or being used in documentaries or films. Now what a lot of people don't realize is that if you go to a military show, ANZAC parade, an RSA evening or an airshow and see all these reenactors with all their gear, vehicles, horses, tents and weapons on display (as well as shooting in mock battles with lots of ammunition), none of it is funded. We don't get paid to be there, the event organizers don't buy us food or pay for the truck transport for vehicles (an example being for one show we brought with us our German army Steyr truck and the cost to bring is was $1000 for the weekend!!).
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The reason we are there is because we enjoy it, and we love getting people interested in history. This hobby lets us do it in a way like no lecturing room can; from a child getting to wear a real helmet to his dad struggling to hold up an MG34 machine gun as mum takes a photo of them posing. We bring history alive for them and they realise that history isn't just some black and white photo, but it's touchable and all around us.
Now as I mentioned earlier there's the other side of reenacting. The private side. Of course we don't just do the hobby for other people, but it's for us as well and the best way to do it is tacticals. Tacticals are about as close as we can get to what life could be back then. A tactical is when several units get together for a weekend (after much planning and notifying local police that there isn't a war breaking out!) and for 24 hours leave the 21st century and fight in fields and forests.
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My first experience for this was 3 years ago as a German soldier. We were given an hour in the 2km x 4km forestry location to find ourselves a good base position and dig in before the British and Americans joined. The day was spent preparing positions and sending out combat patrols. But it's at night where it gets interesting. In the dark you're freezing, sitting in a hole, no fires allowed so you're eating cold rations, and in the distance you hear gunfire and see flashes from rifles on the hills nearby as night patrols engage each other.
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It's there where most reenactors get what we call "seeing the white elephant" a term to describe those few seconds or minutes where you really feel like you are back in time and actually there. It's at tacticals where you realise just how horrible it must have been for men who were doing what we did for two days for months or years. Here is a video of one such tactical done in the States by some Vietnam reenactors.
Reenacting has been around since the 1970s, but it really took a boost in 2000 and has been growing ever since. So far it's estimated that internationally the hobby contains more than 100,000 people from all walks of life, mechanics, politicians, doctors, students and more who do all kinds of era and periods from the Roman ages to modern day Vietnam (my main focus being WW2 Eastern Front, though I do WW1 every now and then too). 
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Another way that my hobby contributes to history would be the reawakening of lost skills, be it cooking over open fires, blacksmithing (as there are no online vendors, Roman, medieval and Viking era reenactors must make all their clothing and armor themselves) playing old instruments, riding horses (and shooting from them) and so on.

Yes, it's an unusual hobby, but it's one I'll do for many years, it's a fantastic experience, and I really recommend it to anyone with an interest in trying out life in the past.

Richard 
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Bio:

My name is Richard and I'm a former student of Tony's. I'm a reenactor with a passion for WW2 and WW1 history as well as a budding historic firearms collector. I'm an encyclopedia of military machinery and weapons from the Napoleonic era to the first half of the 20th century as well as a student in gunsmithing and weapons restoration. 

My other interest are naval history of the Napoleonic era as well as the history of aerial warfare.

Richard
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It will be all over by Christmas...

5/17/2014

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Ann has a fascination with World War I, and this is the first in a series of articles looking at different aspects of the war, and the soldiers who fought in it.

Going over the top 02.jpg
"Going over the top 02" by Castle William Ivor (Lieutenant), Canadian official photographer. Post-Work: User:W.wolny - This is photograph CO 876 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 2600-03) . Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

"It will be all over by Christmas".

That's what all the Boys thought - as we all know, that wasn't to be.

Of course, most young men in the early part of 20th century, hadn't travelled at all, some not even out of their villages or towns.  There were farm workers, factory workers and it was thought that it would be "a bit -of-a lark".  When War was declared, there was a rush to sign up, because they thought if they left it too late, they would miss the whole 'shebang'; therefore there was an influx of volunteers.  Factories, towns, villages, all decided they would volunteer as a group, so was born the many Pals Companies.  Of course, that was such a tragic decision ultimately, because there were whole Pals Companies just wiped out, and left towns, factories, even streets without any men coming home.

There was very little training, and then they were shipped off to France and Belgium.  Here are the first of many statistics - between 1914 and 1918 there were 60 million European Military mobilised, 10 million killed, 7 million permanently disabled.  I had to check on those figures, because I just can't get my head around these figures.

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"SoldiersWWI" by Royal Engineers No 1 Printing Company - This is a small clip from the full image held by the IWM. This is photograph Q 1 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums. Originally uploaded to En Wikipedia.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Life in the Trench for the Tommies: Tommy Atkins was the name given to the ordinary British soldier, this dates back to 1743. Historian Richard Holmes states the reason for this is that in "1815 a War Office publication showing how the Soldier's Pocket Book should be filled out gave as its example one Private Thomas Atkins, No. 6 Troop, 6th Dragoons. Atkins became a sergeant in the 1837 version, and was now able to sign his name rather than merely make his mark."

Well, where shall we start; the winters each year (1914-18) were the coldest and wettest since records began. So began the mud and horror of Trench Warfare, something the boys had never had to deal with; even the Farm lads. This was the first thing to overcome, but of course it wouldn't be long before all the rest of this War would turn into an absolute nightmare.

Worcester Regiment sentry in trench Ovillers 1916 IWM Q 4100.jpg
"Worcester Regiment sentry in trench Ovillers 1916 IWM Q 4100" by John Warwick Brooke - This is photograph Q 4100 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums. . Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Most people didn't really know what 'this was all about'.  Yes, The Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated (this was successful after six attempts), but why did the Kaiser get Germany involved?  Depending on whose account you read, everything seems complicated but really I think the World Powers were all 'up for it'. There was Nationalism, and Military strength of each of the combative Countries.  Of course, there was the British Empire, which was just right to 'knock down a peg or two', besides which Germany especially thought they were just as deserving of an 'Empire'; after all they, Germany especially, had very many Colonies already.

I shall be talking mainly about the Western Front - the Eastern Front was equally as terrible but perhaps I'd like to debate it next time.

How can I begin to comprehend the awfulness of these Trenches. There were mud, lice, fleas, rats ("as big as yer 'at").  Nowhere to rest, nowhere to wash the filth off except perhaps an empty can that the dry milk used to come in; that held very little water as you can imagine.

On top of all this, the Boys (because that was what most of them were) were being shot at, bombed, and then of course there was the order to go Over the Top....of course, in the early part of the war Germany was militarily better equipped than us.  But we did have The Tanks! This was hopefully going to 'put paid' to those 'bloody Hun'. 
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria - b&w
Well, the first outing was at Cambrai, and seemed to be quite successful until the dreadful weather conditions, mud and rain, plus previous bombing made enormous craters, but more about the tanks later. We were lucky enough to visit a lot of the sites and cemeteries as well as Ypres.  Again, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

Later the Germans devised the Gasses, Chlorine, Mustard and Phosgene (it is interesting to know that the French, early in the War, used a type of Tear Gas on the Germans), but the Germans got to work and 'improved' the Tear Gas!  We, the Allies, soon followed.  One of my heroes Mr. Harry Patch described the Mustard Gas as a rolling, low to the ground, muddy yellow colour.  They were issued with Masks but they were pretty awkward to wear constantly, and had to be worn properly so that not even a puff could get in.  Death was slow and so terrible it's hard to imagine. Harry was the last veteran of WW1 and died peacefully on the 29th July, 2009, he was 111yrs old. R.I.P.

12th Royal Scots Lewis gunners in gas masks (detail) 25-06-1918.jpg
"12th Royal Scots Lewis gunners in gas masks (detail) 25-06-1918" by John Warwick Brooke - This is photograph Q 6776 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 1900-13) . Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Many soldiers suffered badly from Shell Shock, although the 'Donkeys' (i.e. the Generals etc.) thought, for a long time, this was just cowardice, and some were even shot, a fact that didn't come out until the doctors and nurses in the Aid Posts saw so many Boys with almost the same symptoms, and then and only then, were infirmaries opened in Britain just to look after these poor devils.

Of course I began this piece about the Volunteers, I omitted to say that these men volunteered from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and even some from America (before they too were embroiled in WW1).

Referring back to the early Tanks, if you ever get a chance to visit the British War Museum, they have a WW1 tank on show and you would be shocked, as I was, at how very small and cramped it was inside.  There was also on show some of the equipment given to them to wear whilst in the Tank.  One of the things that completely amazed me was a type of Medieval veil, about the size of a handkerchief, made from steel which attached to their helmets and was meant to stop them being shot in the face, but unfortunately as the bullets hit the Tank, they turned into molten lead and were practically worse than useless.  But of course it was a learning curve.

Next time I would like to continue with the long, long days and nights those Soldiers had to endure in the Trenches and perhaps talk more about the Battle of the Somme and the three Battles of Ypres.

Ann
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war - what is it good for?

5/16/2014

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When visitors to my flat start rummaging through the DVDs and flicking through the books on my shelves, they invariably say something like ‘You really like your war films don’t you?’ or ‘Why have you got all these books on history and battles then?’ Probably the most leading question I was asked, and put to me by a lady-friend after spying Ian Kershaw’s book, was the interrogational ‘Why are you interested in Hitler?’ That one really put me on the defensive because you just know that someone who’d ask that question in the first place has already made up their mind about you and your political leanings. It’s just lucky she didn’t see the polished jackboots under the bed!! I’M JOKING (I keep them in the wardrobe).
Stiefel 1914
Nevertheless my curious, or perhaps nosey, guests are, in their defence, right to be curious. I certainly can’t argue with their assessment of my interests as around 70% of my DVD and book collections are indeed concerned with the themes of war, battles and sieges, uniforms, weaponry and other aspects of military science, plus a fair few books, movies and documentaries on all aspects of political and social history. Indeed, if my observant guests take a look in the hallway they will see a rather dusty-framed CNAA certificate; an indication that my interest in all things historical is supported by an honours degree, although the award dates from 1984 - almost a historical document itself!

My modest academic background, together with my post-grad interest in political and social history, does at least allow me to make a case for an interest in military history. I would start by paraphrasing Trotsky and say that war is the locomotive of history, accelerating, and sometimes leading directly, to dramatic social, economic and political change. I could then allude to the famous Prussian military-theorist, Carl von Clausewitz and his dictum about ‘War being the continuation of policy by other means’ and use both as expert witnesses for my defence.
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Photo credit: gfpeck / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)
To lend further support to my adult/respectable case of my love of war, or rather, my interest in the military aspects of history ancient and modern, I would point out that many of those books on my shelves are brilliantly written, well-researched and absorbing stories that are so much more than just narratives of armed conflict. The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas, Dunkirk by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore and Liberators by Robert Harvey are just three I picked at random. Similarly, Ken Burns’ magisterial 1990s television series on the American Civil War or Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 feature film Paths of Glory are both masterpieces in their respective fields and both transcend narrow labels. But the real reasons for my interest in studying war and warfare happened a long, long time ago, some 50 years in fact.

The first thing to say is that back in the early 60s when I was at primary school, ‘war’ was one of the big themes in popular culture. The Second World War, a subject of hundreds of movies, TV shows, books, comics and toys, had only been over for eighteen years in 1964, when I was seven; and my Dad, like the fathers, uncles and grandfathers of many of my friends and relations had actually fought in it.

To these veterans of both the Second War, and to the smaller numbers of survivors of the Great War, films such as The Longest Day and 633 Squadron, and boys’ comics such as The Victor and Battle Picture Library, far from being the stirring action-adventure stories us kids loved so much, were real events that they had lived, and sometimes fought, through.

Also, at a time when there were no computer games, smart-phones, DVDs and 700 digital channels, the boys’ toys market was limited to: train-sets, toy cars, construction sets such as Meccano and a huge number of war-related toys ranging from plastic guns, swords, and bows and arrows, to toy soldiers, model forts and castles. and the relatively new phenomenon of the model plastic construction kit – a field dominated by the famous British company Airfix.
Modeltown2006
So where a lot of my mates played with Dinky or Corgi cars and train sets, I had my toy soldiers and model castle. Where they read the Dandy and Buster, I liked comics like The Hornet and The Hotspur that included war-themed strips. I vividly remember groups of kids in my class talking about the film A Hard Days’ Night and how the Beatles were great because they were both funny and could also play the guitar. I would tell anyone who’d bother to listen that The Alamo was a brilliant film too because it was a battle for an odd-shaped fort and the Mexican soldiers had all these colourful uniforms and loads of old-fashioned cannon. I don’t think any of my mates were interested in what uniforms a load of extras were dressed-in. To them it was an action movie in which John Wayne ended up on the end of a Mexican lance!

For me, films like Zulu and The Alamo provided: the testosterone-filled action, the fighting, the heroism and the ‘what would I do in their shoes’ fear that I, like most boys, craved. But they also gave me a Technicolor glimpse into the past where the clothes and weapons were exotic. This was supplemented by the odd comic-strip and by the fantastic Look and Learn, which was a sort of educational magazine that My Dad used to buy me, wherein you’d find lots of illustrations and features about these battles.
Civwar1
Another formative experience for me came on a family holiday visit to the Battlefield of Waterloo in the summer of 1965. On an overcast and drizzly day my Mum and Dad dutifully trudged around a bleak and featureless Belgian field, bored and wet for the love of their youngest son. Two things made that day very special for me and helped cement my love of military history. The first was the amazing 300 foot long, 360-degree Battle of Waterloo Panorama painted by Louis Dumoulin. The second was a small unprepossessing toyshop filled from ceiling to floor with beautifully painted toy soldiers; enough it seemed to refight the battle in miniature.

The panorama depicted the battle at its height, with massed squadrons of armour-clad cuirassiers, wheeling around neatly formed squares of kilted-Highlanders and scarlet-coated British infantry. I’ve since learned that the French cavalry in the painting are far too close to the foot soldiers to be galloping at the speed depicted! It wouldn’t have mattered to me if I’d been told that in 1965; I was too caught up in the drama and above all the colour of the thing. What I was interested in was the fact that the French were wearing blue coats but then some of their lancers were dressed in red! The British were predominately in red but the Royal Horse Artillery was in blue! Later in the little shop as I gazed open-mouthed at the three-dimensional miniature representations of these warriors from 1815, I thought of my anaemic collection of plastic toy soldiers in their wooden box back in South London.

I was finally persuaded to leave the toyshop after my Dad had parted with a few francs for a small box of white-coated French line infantry, a couple of Old Guard Grenadiers and a two-inch high Napoleon Bonaparte, who all these years later gazes across my living-room from his home on top of the telly.
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Photo credit: Jimmy Big Potatoes / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Even back then I knew that war wasn’t really like these Quality Street soldiers, all Georgian ruffles, lace and colourful flags. I only had to look at my Dad, with his chewed up ear and shrapnel-flecked face - the result of a meeting with a German booby trap in Italy in 1944, to realise that it was indeed a deadly activity. John Keegan’s account of the realities of Napoleonic Warfare in his 1976 book The Face of Battle where, in-part, he analyses the Battle of Waterloo from the point of view of both the generals and the ordinary soldiers, showed 19th century warfare in its true, brutal colours. And speaking of colours and those white-coated French toy soldiers I brought back from Waterloo, it is said that Bonaparte ordered the change of tunic colour to blue from white for his infantry after seeing the blood-splattered bodies of his soldiers after the Battle of Eylau on 8 February 1807.

I’m well aware that in reality war is hell, and I’m glad I wasn’t part of my Dad’s generation when I would have had to carry a gun for real. But at heart I’m still that 8 year old boy who likes looking at pictures of soldiers in colourful uniforms, who still gets a kick out of collecting and painting model soldiers particularly of the Napoleonic era, who still likes to play the odd war game, and who will continue to read and buy books and watch films and TV documentaries on military subjects. Culture Club famously said ‘War is stupid’ and you know, they were right, but it is also a source of some of the most dramatic true stories known to man, and when re-enacting it on a tabletop it's also fun!

Peter

HG Wells playing to Little Wars
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