One of the things I remember from my history class in high school was our teacher making the statement that the Americans were better prepared for WWI than their European counterparts due to their recent experience in the Civil War. That this experience with modern warfare helped give their generals insight into how modern war was to be fought, thus allowing them to teach the generals on the European side how to overcome the quagmire of trench warfare.

Of course, I've since learned that America's role in WWI was in large part exaggerated by my teacher, but I have to wonder if it was in some part true that the Civil War made the Americans in some way mentally or strategically better prepared to deal with WWI combat than the other nations upon entering the war.

Morning chaps, got a slightly odd one for you. In advance, I'll apologise if I missed an obvious post about this. I did my best to use the 'search' function but I didn't find anything, so here goes;

I play a lot of historical wargames (if you aren't familiar with them, it doesn't matter - just adding a bit of context to the question). Currently my group has focused on playing ancient - early medieval stuff, which is fine as I'm very familiar with the context of ancient warfare and could happily call myself an amateur historian in medieval warfare.

Recently, however, the group's interest have shifted to the modern stage. More specifically, the Second World War. Now I know absolutely diddly squad about WWII (apart from the usual; Nazis, Allies, invading Russia is a bad idea, Michael Caine can't pull off a German accent etc.), but I'm kind of stuck as I really want to get some historical context to the game I'm trying to play, otherwise I lose interest far too quickly.

So what I'm looking for is some reading material on World War II military matters, specifically the British Army, Royal Marine Commandos, British Paratroops and other terrestrial British things.

Apologies for being a modern warfare luddite; hopefully get that situation fixed ASAP!

Cheers in advance. :)

Is the concept of a Classic 'Collapse' still widely accepted?

If yes, what are the major causes that are commonly brought up?

Edit: Follow-up question: did the Axis refer to the Allies as the Allies referred to themselves, or did they prefer a different name for the alliance opposing them?

I've always had a fascination with the middle ages, and the clothing is one thing that stands out whenever i see paintings / images / recreations of middle ages events.

Why did the British Empire never establish manufacturing bases in their colonies - what the underlying causes were for that method of thinking and what affects it had on the colonies and the empire?

Why was it launched? (apart from Alkibiades being very persuasive). And if it hadn't been launched - could the outcome of the Peloponese war been different?

I have come across the Catholic Monarchs (King Ferdinand Queen Isabella Trastamara of Aragon & Castile) and their accomplishments and legacy intrigues me greatly. So if anyone would have some suggestions or recommendations, I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks, Meriones.

I am curious if there is significant volume of historical discussion in English regarding (books or online) about important battles in Chinese history from Chin to modern day Ching.

Thank you.

Hi everyone,

I graduated with a degree in history (no specific focus) and have just entered graduate school. All of my new professors are saying I should find a field of study/focus for the next few years in order to shape my eventual thesis. The problem is, I don't exactly have a field, and am not sure what to focus on.

I do have great interest in the accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima, and in nuclear energy in general (I know it strays a bit into the field of science, but I've seen a few historical-based arguments and studies about them.) This also includes the events that led to the buildup, accidents and the aftermath.

Despite being relatively recent events, is there any way I focus on those, or create a study on them? I'm not asking for someone to find me a thesis; I am just hoping to find a direction to go with it, or decide on whether or not it's a feasible area to dive into.

Also, if this is the inappropriate subreddit to ask this question, I apologize in advance, and hope someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

I was watching Fury with Brad Pitt. The American army was in Germany in 1945 - street fighting town by town towards Berlin. One small German town had a bunch of kids in uniform who were supposed to die for Hitler but instead they surrendered. There was also a SS officer who the Americans executed on the spot after he surrendered. Did this really happen on a regular basis ? Was this protocol? Or was this drama for the film ?

Do you surrender your bed? Do I usually stay in a pavilion? Or do most nobles have special guest rooms for royalty and other higher ranked nobles?

I'm curious because in Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, a Lord would usually just surrender his castle to the King. How did it work in the real world?

What if I'm a king, noble, or official from a neighboring allied kingdom. Where can I stay?

I looked through the Atomic Bomb FAQ and couldn't find an answer to this question. All of my searches also led me to posts discussing Japan's reaction after they knew what had happened.

Essentially I am wondering how quickly Japan understood the magnitude of what happened, and how they were able to assess the situation. Did they send in people to scout the cities, and did these people develop radiation sickness as a result? Did they know that it had been caused by one bomb? Was the US in communication with them to make sure that Japan knew what they had done? I suppose that there would be reports of a giant mushroom cloud, but perhaps at the time the fact that it was caused by one bomb could be unimaginable.

I'm looking for any books detailing or containing the day-to-day experience of soldiers at war or during military campaigns. I am particularly interested in the Napoleonic era and the First World War but if you know of or have a particular favorite please send it my way. This is reading to inform some writing I am thinking of doing (non-academic). Thanks

It seems like the trenches were hell. Was it common for soldiers to commit suicide?

Conserving endangered animals is a hot topic today. I'm wondering what it was like in the past. I emboldened the interesting part of my question for if you don't want to read about Maldova.

I was reading about Maldova (a little landlocked country that I had never heard of until tonight), and the origin of the name stems from some myth about a dog named Maldova who chased an aurochs until it drowned in a river. The dog's handler named the river after his dog. So I read about aurochs, and this is the interesting part.

"The aurochs ... is an extinct type of large wild cattle that inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa. It is the ancestor of domestic cattle. The species survived in Europe until the last recorded aurochs died in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland in 1627.

This is a quote from the Wikipedia article about aurochs. I know that Japan took extensive measures to protect their forests in the past. What was animal conservation like in the past?