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GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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Ego-bot posted:

What did opposing armies think of them? Feared/respected or the opposite? Any battles where they proved to be a decisive force, or were they just employed for more numbers?

Usually they where seen as a fairly effective fighting force, they were known to be both mobile during campaigns and disciplined during battle. Their flamboyant clothing and dissipated lifestyle also made the prospect of becoming a landsknecht mercenary appealing to lowly peasants and rich patricians sons alike, as it offered pay, adventure and possible promotion through the ranks.

However most common people saw the landsknechts as cruel and fearsome, since the landsknechts where known to plunder and loot whenever they could in a particulary cruel and horrible fashion, even more so than their other mercenary counterparts at the time according to some sources. This is a bit ironic since they supposedly had strict rules forbidding these kinds of actions in wartime, and they even had their own provost force(Military police) wich operate independantly of the main landsknecht force.

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GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AgentF posted:

Goddamn what a piece of poo poo. It sounds like a fragile, unreliable, temperamental nightmare.

Just like my ex :mmmhmm:

But seriously, if the M16 was this bad, why didnt the US military invest some money in some sort of AK replicant weapon system, or improve the M16?

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Panzeh posted:

Longer firearms are more accurate, and pre-rifling this was virtually the only way to make the weapon more accurate(though muskets are more accurate than people often say, training of the period eschewed aiming for firing more quickly). The bayonet's no good for accuracy itself, but in general, the longer the gun the more accurate.

Yeah but theres one thing i've been wondering about; the ammunition for the smoothbore weapons at that time was leadballs, most of wich were made in the field by the soldiers themselves; many armies in the 18th and the 19th century included "Make your own ammo" kit in the basic equipment handed out to soldiers. In other words, there was no standard calibre size.
And if the calibre of the ball was smaller than the barrel it was fired from, the balls would bounce rapidly on its way out, and veer off in a random direction upon exiting the barrel... Then, in theory wouldn't a longer barrel mean LESS accuracy, since the ball gets to "bounce" more on its way out?

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rodrigo Diaz posted:

The bullets did not "bounce around" inside the barrel.

If the ball was not the calibre of the smoothbore barrel, or was not properly "stuffed" it would be propelled at an uneven angle from the get-go and "bounce" inside the barrel. Ofc i do not mean rubber ball random bounce, but "ricochet" erratically off the sides of the barrel. Like so:

_______ /
*/\/\/\/
-------

(*being the ignition)



Xiahou Dun posted:

They used a press to make the lead ball, so it was at least within the neighborhood of standard. It's not like they grabbed some molten lead and rolled it in their hands.

If you had actually read my post you'd see that i mentioned that the soldiers used a molding-kits, however these kits were cheap and had irregularities themselves no doubt, and they were often dirty and damaged. Thus, the calibre of ammunition made by these varied greatly.

GyverMac fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 5, 2011

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

DarkCrawler posted:

Lately I have come to the realization that Vietnam was/is probably the most hardcore country on Earth.

Their country is also topographically perfect for defence: Lots of hilly terrain and thick jungles, with lakes, swamps, rivers everwhere.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Boiled Water posted:

What does the future hold for battalions of armor?

Some say the role of armour battalions in the future will diminish to the point of being almost obsolete if the current development continues. Anti-Tank weapons are getting smaller, more sophisticated and powerful. Infantry was once dominated by the presence of tanks; now they are the tank's worst enemy right after jet-planes and attack helicopters.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Didn't some Marine/Army guy throw a grenade into his commander's tent during the opening days of the Iraq War?

Yeah its mentioned in the fragging article on wikipedia:

wikipedia posted:

Iraq War: Captain Phillip Esposito and 1st Lieutenant Louis Allen were killed on June 7, 2005, by a Claymore mine placed on Esposito's office window at Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit, Iraq. The unit's supply sergeant was charged with the murder, but was subsequently acquitted at court martial.[9]

However it does not state the reason why they dedicded to frag the officers.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Speaking of podcasts, my favorites so far are Lars Brownworths 12 Byzantine rulers and Norman centuries podcast series, and Dan Carlins Hardcore history series. (strongly recommend Dan Carlins Ostfront series, its really well done. However be warned, its in five part with each episode lasting approx 90 minutes each.)
If anybody got any suggestion for history podcasts i should checkout, please share!

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Mr. Sunshine posted:

Civil war facts

I know next to nothing about the US civil war, and I'm under the impression there were very few different infantry "unit-types" at play there. Like for instance I have the impression there were mainly only two or three types of infantry; ordinary rank and file infantry, sapper/engineer units and scouts/jaeger/skirmishers units.

Is this true, or did they also employ units similar to grenadiers, life-guards, fusilier/light infantry regiments etc like the custom was in Europe around that time?

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH
For those of you interested in Napoleonic history I recommend this website:

http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/index.html

It features a summary of Napoleons armies, and the armies of his main adversaries of the era, what their forces were made up of, and how they fought etc.

By the way, does anybody know of a good website that has pictures/descriptions of napoleonic era uniforms and equipment? I searched everywhere but cant find any comprehensible sites, its just bits and pieces here and there.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Burning Beard posted:

In WWII the French fought like hell. One misconception is that the army of 1940 was in bad shape... not really true.

Some historians argue that the French army could have successfully invaded germany and taken Berlin relatively easy if they had done it in 1939 when the majority of the german armed forces were busy invading poland.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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Napoleons plans were first and foremost to make the Tsar yield, not completely eliminate him or Russia as he wanted him as a possible future ally against europe.

A good example of this is when several russian student cliques and intellectuals offered to help Napoleon by starting a big scale underground propaganda war, something that could have kickstarted the russian revolution before Lenin was even born, however he turned them down as his plan needed the Russian monarchy to be somewhat intact.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I cant say i envy Israel in this situation. If they decide to bomb the Iranian nuclear programme I support them whole heartedly. For them its like sitting in the same room with a man assembling a gun while saying "when this is done, im going to shoot you in the head"

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Boiled Water posted:

Except if he shoots Israel in the head his population is going to be devastated by nuclear fire so he won't do it.

What about tactical nukes? Or dirty bombs?

Rapey Joe Stalin posted:

What a ridiculously stupid statement.

Okay, I agree my earlier statement was a bit generalizing but i still stand by my point, Iran should never get acces to nuclear technology.

EDIT:
I'm not talking about a doomsday scenario where they just fire a bunch of nukes at Israel, but the fact that Iran as a society isnt suited to have such dangerous technology, the risk of critical components and tech ending up in the wrong hands is too great.
Iran is on a decline, some sources cite that the unemployment rate is as high as 25% and rising. The regime is getting more and more desperate in their efforts to subdue the opposition, corruption is rife in its government, not to mention that religuous extremist clerics are considered its head of state. Countries like Iran should NOT have access to nuclear technology.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

GyverMac fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Sep 14, 2011

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I know next to nothing about asian history, and lately I've been really curious about one thing; During the ancient times, more specifically the early era of republican Rome, what were countries like Japan, Korea and China doing?

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Klaus88 posted:

He still lost the war though.

Carthage needed a brilliant general just to break even. All Rome needed was someone half competent at leading.

Going through The History of Rome podcasts these days, and one thing struk me, and thats how the Romans ALWAYS win in the end, no matter how bad they get hosed. Rome getting sacked by barbarians? No problem, just pay the barbarians off and then invade them later after we'd rebuild. Loosing 50000 men in one day? Meh, no problem we got more where that came from.

The podcasts doesnt go in any particular depth about roman society, but im guessing the romans had warfare tactics and army-organisation written down somewhere, so whenever there was great losses of men and officers, their knowledge of warfare didnt die with them.
Does anybody have some info on how the republican era Romans stored information; did they inscribe lots of stone tablets? Did they even have paper?

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I'm curious about special operations during the cold war. Is there any information about special forces missions in either the US or the Soviet Union during the cold war? I'm not thinking about spy operations or missions in satelite/third party countries, but of actual special forces combat missions on soviet or american soil.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Mr. Sunshine posted:

but "pride" seems like a weird word for it. You gotta realize that I'm from Sweden, where words like "patriotism" and "proud of your country" are solely the domain of racists and neo-nazis.

As your brother from another mother (norwegian) I find it surprising you claim its THAT bad in Sweden. Just this summer i was participating in a joint exercize with the swedish national guard in Malmų and the impression i got was that they were people who were genuinely motivated because of normal patriotism, and not in a neo-nazi/gun-nut creepy kind of way.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Christoff posted:

Can you guys tell me aolbout drug use during any war? Just gnerally curious. I know the Nazis used meth but not much else. I'm sure less contemporary Militaries drank quite a bit around battles and he'll were maybe eating opium to numb pains.

Alcohol was a natural part of any soldiers daily ration when the more organized national armies started to appear in the 17th all through to the early 19th century. In some armies the alcohol consumption was more copious than others; theres stories about how whole regiments of Austrian soldiers were sent staggering drunk into battle.



EDIT:
Thanks to mr sunshine for clarifying the myth regarding the Amanita muscaria and its usage by the berserks of old.

GyverMac fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Dec 11, 2011

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Mr. Sunshine posted:

Sorry, even the article you linked claims that's a myth:

Thanks for pointing that out.

Funny how some erroneous/unproven historical facts just seem to not erase itself from the public memory. I've always heard about the connection between berserkers and shrooms since i was a kid, and at one point even my history teacher 4th grade told us about it, so I've just always assumed it was true without bothering to see any proof.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Wasn't booze largely responsible for that army which ended up fighting itself in battle?

Yeah that might be the Austrians and their self-inflicted defeat at Karansebes youre thinking of.

Basically some hussar scouts whilst out on patrol, found a gypsy caravan that sold schnaps. They proceeded to buy it all, and get hosed up on said schnaps, as any sane soldier would do.
Then when some infantry soldiers came along and saw what a great party the hussars were having, they wanted in on the action. The hussars responded with building a makeshift barricade and refusing to share. A squabble ensued, were one soldier fired a shot, and it rapidly devolved into utter chaos after that. After the smoke settled an approximate figure of 10.000 dead and wounded soldier was the result.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Did the crossbow even see widespread use in the middle ages on the same scale as the bows? I recon that they were fairly difficult and expensive to make and had a fairly high upkeep, what with the different parts and inner-workings of the trigger and winding mechanisms etc. Also i recon they'd be ineffective in rainy weather and downright dangerous to operate in cold weather temperatures.

EDIT:

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Dopilsya posted:

though I don't know what effect cold might've had on them.

In subzero temperatures below -5 celsius I recon that the flexible parts would become stiff and brittle, likewise with the string.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Grand Prize Winner posted:

Was it the bayonet in general or the socket bayonet that obsoleted the tercio?

I dont think bayonets had much to do with obsoleting the tercio-formations, it was more the general improvement of firearms and artillery that made the tercio formations obsolete as the new developments made linear formations much more favorable.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

LimburgLimbo posted:

More than that, I shudder to think about what might have happened during the campaign. Frankly I would not be surprised if there had ended up being mass rape a la the fall of Berlin.

One of the main reasons that the mass rapings and atrocities got so bad was because soviet troops were downright egged on to commit atrocities to the german civilians as they advanced into germany. There were even records or lists written up by the soviets about german atrocities, wich they in turn made sure to enact upon the german populace in kind.

I doubt the american army would be capable of atrocities on that kind of scale, no matter how hard the fighting got.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I'm wondering about just how involved the Soviet union was in the Angolan civil war. I understaind they had boots on the ground, but was it just in advisory roles, or did they actively participate in major battles with a large number of forces?

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

gradenko_2000 posted:

Speaking of battle wounds, I'm almost finished with Antony Beevor's Stalingrad and the last couple of chapters have been nothing but pure :smith: at the conditions inside the 6th Armee kessel. The conditions described were just so goddamn bad I had to put it down at times to cleanse my mental palate. Just the vision of hordes of lice living off soldiers for months at a time is enough to make one shiver.

Ive been so close to buying that book on several occasions, but everytime I put it back down because I know that reading about the eastern front just makes me go :smith: and loose all faith in humanity all over again.

GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ArchangeI posted:

I guess the idea is more about having a core of professional, trained soldiers that can serve as a cadre for a massive increase in army size should the security situation demand it.

Case in point; Pre WW2 german forces.

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GyverMac
Aug 3, 2006
My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
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TheFluff posted:

Incredible waste of ressources.

Wow. What happened to give these stuff to africa? Im sure the beds and shovels etc would be a great boon to many african countries and charity organizations.

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