What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Military History Thread

M

MountieBoyOz

Eater of Worlds
Surprised no one has made a thread out of this yet, but I'll do it. I know we had a generals thread, but I wanted to expand on it.

This year is the 200th anniversary of one of the more underscrutinized wars and that is The War of 1812. Being from Upstate NY, this war has significance because some of the battles were only less than a 20 drive from me.

I know that the Revolution, Civil War and WWII are the big ones, but I love the history of WWI and other conflicts.

This is thread to discuss battles, tactics, generals and other things. Please do keep the conflicts somewhat civil and no guerrilla tactics. :D
 
Re: Military History Thread

MountieBoyOz said:
Surprised no one has made a thread out of this yet, but I'll do it. I know we had a generals thread, but I wanted to expand on it.

This year is the 200th anniversary of one of the more underscrutinized wars and that is The War of 1812. Being from Upstate NY, this war has significance because some of the battles were only less than a 20 drive from me.

I know that the Revolution, Civil War and WWII are the big ones, but I love the history of WWI and other conflicts.

This is thread to discuss battles, tactics, generals and other things. Please do keep the conflicts somewhat civil and no guerrilla tactics. :D
Click to expand...

Ah, the ol' Bridge Street bridge.
 
Re: Military History Thread

What about the Spanish-American war? Many argue the sinking of the Maine was an accident, self inflicted, which resulted in a manufactured war. We got the Phillipines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico for it, and kept just Puerto Rico.
 
Re: Military History Thread

alfablue said:
What about the Spanish-American war? Many argue the sinking of the Maine was an accident, self inflicted, which resulted in a manufactured war. We got the Phillipines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico for it, and kept just Puerto Rico.
Click to expand...
Shoulda kept Cuba too.
 
Re: Military History Thread

The Lincoln County War was an interesting one, featuring folks like Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett.
 
Re: Military History Thread

bigblue_dl said:
So the War of Northern Oppression is fair game?
Click to expand...

I thought is was the War of Northern Aggression..

bigblue_dl said:
Shoulda kept Cuba too.
Click to expand...

Except that the American people were all for the Cubans fighting to liberate themselves from the oppressive Spanish government. The Hearst chain was very good at sensationalism and some have attributed the war to the propaganda in the Hearst papers. There was no way we were going to keep Cuba.

FWIW, after we got the Phillipines, we had to put down the natives (mostly the Moslems) that did not like one form of colonial oppressor over another. Some interesting developments came out of the Spanish American War:
The US Army was equipped with the Krag rifle, that was essentially a single shot breach loader. The Spanish had Mausers that had a magazine. Figuring out the a magazine was good, led to the development of the '03 Springfield which was used by the Armed forces up until WW-II when it was replaced by the M-1 Garand.
Waterboarding got its start there as an interrogation technique on the Filipinos
And the Army developed the .45 pistol. The Filipino natives were too hyped up on juice for the .38 (?) service revolver to knock them down so the Army came up with a .45 caliber round that could knock anyone down (and blow big holes in them in the process).
Oh, and John Philip Sousa wrote "Stars and Stripes Forever" and Kipling wrote "The White Man's Burden" both a result of the War.
 
Re: Military History Thread

joecct said:
Except that the American people were all for the Cubans fighting to liberate themselves from the oppressive Spanish government. The Hearst chain was very good at sensationalism and some have attributed the war to the propaganda in the Hearst papers. There was no way we were going to keep Cuba.

FWIW, after we got the Phillipines, we had to put down the natives (mostly the Moslems) that did not like one form of colonial oppressor over another. Some interesting developments came out of the Spanish American War:
The US Army was equipped with the Krag rifle, that was essentially a single shot breach loader. The Spanish had Mausers that had a magazine. Figuring out the a magazine was good, led to the development of the '03 Springfield which was used by the Armed forces up until WW-II when it was replaced by the M-1 Garand.
Waterboarding got its start there as an interrogation technique on the Filipinos
And the Army developed the .45 pistol. The Filipino natives were too hyped up on juice for the .38 (?) service revolver to knock them down so the Army came up with a .45 caliber round that could knock anyone down (and blow big holes in them in the process).
Oh, and John Philip Sousa wrote "Stars and Stripes Forever" and Kipling wrote "The White Man's Burden" both a result of the War.
Click to expand...

Wasn't there also some issue with the smokeless powder that the Spanish used vs. big clouds of smoke that our rounds produced? IIRC, I've seen that issue brought up in documentaries I've watched.

There's some interesting pictures in the Ponce History Museum- the landings were about 40 miles to the west of Ponce, and it was fairly peaceful in Puerto Rico. It took over 50 years before the Puerto Rican's got some kind of status- as US citizens, but they are not a state- but a "free association". Not sure what it was between 1898 and 1951, and how citizens were viewed (they did fight in every war, and up until recently, there were US bases on Puerto Rico- where they did live fire training on Culebra and Vieques).
 
Re: Military History Thread

Oh, and since this thread isn't titled to be excusively about the US, the story about Finland in WWII is pretty interesting. How they did a job on the Soviets w/o help from Germany, and even after the Germans came to help, once the final push came, Finland did much to separate themselves.

While there was some support for the Nazis, the general feeling was to fight off the Soviets over any thing for Germany. And, Finland was the only German ally that did not get occupied by anyone, particularly the Soviets- since they attacked multiple times, and were fought off.

Yoopers should know all about this. :)
 
Re: Military History Thread

alfablue said:
What about the Spanish-American war? Many argue the sinking of the Maine was an accident, self inflicted, which resulted in a manufactured war. We got the Phillipines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico for it, and kept just Puerto Rico.
Click to expand...

I think it was Charles Foster Kane who said: "You provide the prose poems. . .I'll provide the war."
 
Re: Military History Thread

alfablue said:
Wasn't there also some issue with the smokeless powder that the Spanish used vs. big clouds of smoke that our rounds produced? IIRC, I've seen that issue brought up in documentaries I've watched.

There's some interesting pictures in the Ponce History Museum- the landings were about 40 miles to the west of Ponce, and it was fairly peaceful in Puerto Rico. It took over 50 years before the Puerto Rican's got some kind of status- as US citizens, but they are not a state- but a "free association". Not sure what it was between 1898 and 1951, and how citizens were viewed (they did fight in every war, and up until recently, there were US bases on Puerto Rico- where they did live fire training on Culebra and Vieques).
Click to expand...

The enthusiasm for Puerto Rican statehood diminished somewhat in the 50's when a bunch of 'em opened fire from the gallery and shot 5 congressmen.
 
Last edited:
Re: Military History Thread

alfablue said:
Oh, and since this thread isn't titled to be excusively about the US, the story about Finland in WWII is pretty interesting. How they did a job on the Soviets w/o help from Germany, and even after the Germans came to help, once the final push came, Finland did much to separate themselves.

While there was some support for the Nazis, the general feeling was to fight off the Soviets over any thing for Germany. And, Finland was the only German ally that did not get occupied by anyone, particularly the Soviets- since they attacked multiple times, and were fought off.

Yoopers should know all about this. :)
Click to expand...

I read a "pamphlet" that was a study (it was essentially a book) by the US Military about this whole Finnish/Russian/German situation in WWII and that was very, very interesting reading. I also read a "pamphlet" on German small units tactics in Russia in WWII put out by the Army, an awesome read as well.

I just read "Chancellorsville" by S. Sears. The whole backstory about what a mess Burnside had turned the Army of the Potomac into and how Hooker totally ressurected it was facinating. Hooker was so close to beating Lee, but inept Corps Commanders and too many communications issues with the telegraphs doomed him. Even after he was stuuned by that shell, had he had excellent Corps Commanders they still could have carried the day. Now I'm reading Gettysburg again; understanding Chansellorsville lays another level of understandingto the opening moves of Lee and Hooker.
 
Re: Military History Thread

alfablue said:
Wasn't there also some issue with the smokeless powder that the Spanish used vs. big clouds of smoke that our rounds produced? IIRC, I've seen that issue brought up in documentaries I've watched.

There's some interesting pictures in the Ponce History Museum- the landings were about 40 miles to the west of Ponce, and it was fairly peaceful in Puerto Rico. It took over 50 years before the Puerto Rican's got some kind of status- as US citizens, but they are not a state- but a "free association". Not sure what it was between 1898 and 1951, and how citizens were viewed (they did fight in every war, and up until recently, there were US bases on Puerto Rico- where they did live fire training on Culebra and Vieques).
Click to expand...

Apparantly the "shooters" in Dealey Plaza hadn't gotten the memo about smokeless powder, since many of the "witnesses" described seeing "puffs of smoke."
 
Re: Military History Thread

REDaero91 said:
In AP US History our favorite was the Aroostook War.
Click to expand...
In European History my favorite was the War of the Schmalkaldic League, ending in the equally fun Religious Peace of Augsburg. Cuius regio, eius religio will win you bar bets, if you go to the right bars.
 
alfablue said:
Oh, and since this thread isn't titled to be excusively about the US, the story about Finland in WWII is pretty interesting. How they did a job on the Soviets w/o help from Germany, and even after the Germans came to help, once the final push came, Finland did much to separate themselves.

While there was some support for the Nazis, the general feeling was to fight off the Soviets over any thing for Germany. And, Finland was the only German ally that did not get occupied by anyone, particularly the Soviets- since they attacked multiple times, and were fought off.

Yoopers should know all about this. :)
Click to expand...

That was a big part of the Finnish-American history class I took at NMU. The Winter War is documented well.
 
Re: Military History Thread

Agreed. I've always thought Finland was in a really tough spot during WW2 and made the best of it that they could.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top