History

Why Did Egyptian Hieroglyphics Become A Lost Language?

October 11, 2021 Leave a Comment

People didn’t read back then like we do today.

The average person never, ever learned to read. The average person worked in a field, or in a workshop, produced what they needed to, and paid their taxes (which was whatever the tax collector told them to pay).

Reading was reserved for officials, Priests, and Royals.

So, what. Happens when that land gets conquered and those officials, priests, and royals are no longer in charge?

This is what happened in Egypt.

Did Japanese WW2 Soldiers Suffer From Psychological Effects Of Their War Crimes?

August 11, 2021 Leave a Comment

Immediately after the war, a large number of medical clinics were set up in Japan to treat wounded Japanese soldiers.

Of approximately 30,000 patients seen in these clinics, around 10,000 of them suffered from mental illnesses, such as “war neurosis.”

The Japanese government did their best to suppress any knowledge of said psychological trauma (indeed a 1938 Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) statement declared how Japanese soldiers did not suffer war neurosis unlike Western soldiers).

For the IJA, “war neurosis” was something that detracted from the “masculinity” of the IJA, and it was utilized and associated with “hysteria,” which was often used as a blanket diagnosis for women in the West.

How Effective Were Kamikaze Attacks In WW2?

July 29, 2021 Leave a Comment

By 1944 suicide attacks had become de facto conventional air attacks for most Japanese pilots attacking American naval task forces.

For example, the Battle of the Philippine Sea justly earned the nickname the “Marianas Turkey Shoot” because the Japanese air units lost over five-hundred aircraft attacking the US fleet with only minor damage to the USS South Dakota to show for their efforts.

The reason for this lopsided tallies stemmed from several causes.

Although Japanese aircraft had a rough qualitative parity with American aircraft at the start of the war, the Japanese had lost whatever technological edge they had possessed by 1943.

What Was It Like To Fight Americans During World War 2?

July 27, 2021 Leave a Comment

If you were a German fighting Americans at the start of Operation Torch in Tunisia, you’d have a mixed view of American soldiers.

They were certainly brave, but they lacked experience of the British and ran into ambushes that the Brits had learned to avoid in 1941.

Their equipment was generally good, and they were well supplied.

So well supplied in fact, that you and your unit was evacuated to Sicily after your own supplies dwindled to nothing and the Americans were able to flank you.

Why Did The Aztecs Practice Human Sacrifice?

July 26, 2021 Leave a Comment

Sacrifice was a common theme in the Aztec culture. In the Aztec “Legend of the Five Suns”, all the gods sacrificed themselves so that mankind could live.

Some years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, a body of the Franciscans confronted the remaining Aztec priesthood and demanded, under threat of death, that they desist from this traditional practice. The Aztec priests defended themselves as follows:

Life is because of the gods; with their sacrifice, they gave us life. … They produce our sustenance … which nourishes life.

Was It Ever Possible For Germany To Win World War 2?

July 21, 2021 Leave a Comment

Yes. In fact, in the 1939-40 war against the original allies of France, Poland and Great Britain, Germany did win.

Today, we see these victories as inevitabilities. To the world in 1940, they were nothing short of unimaginable. These victories are not just tactical:

-Poland ceases to exist;
-France’s Third Republic is replaced by the Nazi collaborationist Vichy government;
-Great Britain’s forces are pushed off the continent, barely clinging to survival.

By the summer of 1940, Hitler’s stage-by-stage plan (‘Stufenplan’) as dreamed in the 1920’s is coming to fruition:]\

– Austria, Bohemia and Poland are now part of Greater Germany.
– France and the Treaty of Versailles are neutralized.
– The British, Hitler believes, are finished and will soon negotiate.

What Was Life Like During The Holodomor: The Great Famine Of Ukraine 1932 to 1933

July 20, 2021 Leave a Comment

It is known as the Holodomor. The communist induced famine killed up to 3.9 million people between 1932-33 in Ukraine alone.

The reasons for the famine are a subject of scholarly and political debate. Some scholars suggest that the man-made famine was a consequence of the economic problems associated with changes implemented during the period of Soviet industrialisation. There are also those who blame a systematic set of policies perpetrated by the Soviet government under Stalin designed to exterminate the Ukrainians.

So what was life like during the famine?

How Would Japan Have Fared In A Fight, Had The US Landed On Mainland Japan And No Nukes Had Been Dropped Or Developed?

July 13, 2021 Leave a Comment

Japan would have lost, horribly.

And it would have been a blood bath for the invaders. I personally question how much of Japan or Japanese culture would have survived such an invasion.

If the US had landed in Kyushu as originally planned, they would have been fighting against about 1,000,000 well fortified troops; troops that were well dug in.

The Japanese would have been heavily bombed and heavily shelled for months, and it still would have been hell for the invaders and death for the defenders. Just like the battle of Okinawa, the Japanese would have lost inflicting horrible casualties.

What Was Life Like For a Jester In The Medieval Era?

July 8, 2021 Leave a Comment

(art: Stańczyk by Jan Matejko)

Being a true Jester was very hard work. You had to be a one-man entertainment machine.

One had to be able to memorize long-form poetry, tailor jokes to fit the crowd, tactfully tease your patron without committing offense, and zing guests that your patron wasn’t fond of.

You had to play instruments, sing, dance, perform acrobatics, and design and maintain your own motley.

They would learn puppetry, ventriloquism, juggling, balancing, and slight of hand.

Did Japan Have a War Plan Against The US After Pearl Harbor?

June 28, 2021 Leave a Comment

Japan’s hopes was that after destroying the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that it would take at minimum 2 years for the US to rebuild the fleet back up to seriously take on the Japanese fleet.

Fortunately for us, the three air-craft carriers that were apart of the Pacific Fleet were out to sea, each on their own mission. The USS Lexington and Task Force 12 left Pearl Harbor on December 5th to deliver 18 SB2U Vindicator Dive Bombers designated VSMB-231 to Midway Island. USS Saratoga was in San Diego in order to embark her air group that had been training ashore during her refitting.. And USS Enterprise left Pearl Harbor on November 28th to deliver VMF-211 to Wake Island.

History

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If you were a German fighting Americans at the start of Operation Torch in Tunisia, you’d have a mixed view of American soldiers.