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| Battle of Mars-La-Tour, August 16,1870 Emil Hünten Source |
Nothing, nada, nichts, it's just that I had to finish up mowing my yard Wednesday and the thickness of the grass made that task take a bit longer than I cared for. At the end of which I ate my supper, then decided that I didn't much feel like writing. So ...
I did find a cool video on the rifles used in the Franco-Prussian War, the French Chassepot and the Prussian Dreyse. Here it is ...
After finding that, I decided to look for other cool videos on the war. I found one that covers the entire war, start to finish. I started watching it, which is reason #2 I didn't do a full-blown historical fiction post today.
The video is six plus hours long, and I watched quite a bit of it, so ...
You don't have to watch all of it, but if you watch the first ten minutes or so, you'll see how the war started. Much like World War I, everyone was itching for the chance to start shooting.
Well, everyone except the poor shmucks who had to do the actual fighting.
The more things change ...
Back tomorrow with, hopefully, another tale of the Franco-Prussian War.
Ciao!
Worth waiting for.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThanks for the vids Sarge, especially the first one, had always wondered how the "needle" rifles worked but had never taken the time to look them up. New weapons demand new tactics and the old men who made up the general staff weren't the most adaptable thinkers. Rain coming in this afternoon, think I'll start that second vid then.......:)
ReplyDeleteThat second video is very long but it's broken into chapters (you can see the markers on the time line at the bottom of the video). If you hover over them it'll tell you the topic being covered. I thought the video very well done, especially as they used a real human to narrate it. Fellow pronounces all the German and French names accurately, always a plus for me.
DeleteBest of luck with the lawn. Rain down here has been just enough to water the lawn but not dry out enough to mow. Can you spell jungle? I feel your pain, my friend.
ReplyDeletejuvat
Our rain has been spotty, but as the grass hadn't been cut since October, it was rather lush and thick. Thick enough to run the batteries on the mower down far too quickly. The only time I've missed my gasoline mower since I got the new all-electric mower.
DeleteMost of my historical research "projects" start with a "Hey. I wonder if there is any information on this particular historical fact or person." Many hours and usually several books later...
ReplyDeleteOh, the information is out there, sometimes in copious amounts, sometimes in dribbles, but it's there. (Hopefully in English as well, my German isn't as good as it used to be. Funny how if you don't speak a language for 27 years it kind of fades away.)
Delete6 Hours? I don't even spend that much time sleeping! haha. That's what used to be called a mini series. And I remember when YouTube videos were limited to 10 minutes max. Looks like you're enjoying your retirement for sure.
ReplyDeleteOh yes indeed!
DeleteEnjoyed the Dreyse vs Chassepot video, especiallly since it was done by a shooter, and with ballistic gelatin to show results, not just Bubba opining about stuff. The caliber difference, yielding better trajectory, range and terminal ballistics was something new to me.
ReplyDeleteOn the 6 hour video, I think my thirst for F-P war knowledge will be quenched by Sarge's enlightening installments.
Thanks!
John Blackshoe
Six hours is a tad long.
Delete