DirtyHarry Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 The story of Gallipoli is pretty heartwarming though. The British commanders accidently misjudged where the ANZAC forces should land on the Turkish Coast sending them into an incredibly fortified death trap. Once they realized this they were too pompous and arrogant to admit they had made a mistake and withdraw, so the ANZACs just got massacred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Â Has anybody anywhere ever really figured out what got that bastard Woodrow Wilson, the "peace candidate", to commit so many good lives to what was clearly a ghastly horror show? Â Â ...of course, there's more to the story - like sending an unescourted liner into waters where Germany had promised to do just this very thing. I'm not a big proponent of active conspiracies, but Wilson (and the Brits) had to know the outcome beforehand.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Â Has anybody anywhere ever really figured out what got that bastard Woodrow Wilson, the "peace candidate", to commit so many good lives to what was clearly a ghastly horror show? Â Â ...of course, there's more to the story - like sending an unescourted liner into waters where Germany had promised to do just this very thing. I'm not a big proponent of active conspiracies, but Wilson (and the Brits) had to know the outcome beforehand.... Among other things the Germans trying to get Mexico to go to war with us didn't help (Zimmerman telegram). Actual, factual evidence of another nation meaning to do us harm. Â My GreatGrandfather volunteered as a medical officer; first he was detailed to a camp somewhere in the US South where he wrote notes in triplicate (!) instructing soldiers not to defecate while standing on the latrine seat, among other fine things, then he was shipped to Europe where he contracted the flu on the boat over, almost died in a hospital, then returned home. His maxim thereafter was "never trust the government" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murraysovereign Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Another vote for "The Guns of August"- after a lifetime of only a vague, confused sense of how that war started, Barbara Tuchman's book gave a clear explanation that even my addled brain could comprehend. The war itself still doesn't make sense (how could it, really?), but the events leading up to it, and the first month of the fighting I now understand. I highly recommend that book to anyone who, like me, found the history classes in school/college more confusing than helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal_Con Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 The story of Gallipoli is pretty heartwarming though. The British commanders accidently misjudged where the ANZAC forces should land on the Turkish Coast sending them into an incredibly fortified death trap. Once they realized this they were too pompous and arrogant to admit they had made a mistake and withdraw, so the ANZACs just got massacred. The person in charge of that operation was a young naval man by the name of Winston Churchill who the Aussies never forgave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 The person in charge of that operation was a young naval man by the name of Winston Churchill who the Aussies never forgave With the highest casualities of any serving nation, out of a population of some 5 million people 331,000 served overseas of whom 215,000 were captured, missing, killed or injured is that suprising? The Australia War Memorial is a sobering sight in Canberra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snugtop Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Good call on Tuchmans book, maybe one of the very best books: period. It made me want to read of bunch of her books, and "The Guns of August" still stands out. ("A Distant Mirror" would be my vote for second best Tuchman work) Â To take that obtuse sequense of events and put it down so it is both accurate and interesting is a major coup for her. I have read it twice. Very, very good book. Â Still don't know why that lying prick Wilson entered the US into the war. Â Bueller....... Â Â Â Bueller........? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Website with some somewhat interesting WW1 color photos:  http://www.worldwaronecolorphotos.com/index.html  Including this one of French colonial troops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Do we need a new HISTORY FORUM in spray???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted June 29, 2006 Author Share Posted June 29, 2006 90 million years ago, it was my birthday every 30 minutes. Now it's only once a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archenemy Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 According to my grandfather, the earth is only seven thousand years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted June 29, 2006 Author Share Posted June 29, 2006 Who says my birthday was on Earth? How old does your grandpa say Saturn is? Cause Saturn is the natural home of black people. Sun Ra told me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snugtop Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 ...and a geology forum while you're at it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted June 29, 2006 Author Share Posted June 29, 2006 Â It doesn't look like there were nearly as many countries in Africa back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordop Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Yeah but look how huge the I-5 was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted June 29, 2006 Author Share Posted June 29, 2006 (edited) You fool, that's the Inland Sea. You could swim to Yamnuska as long as a giant squid or a supercroc didn't eat you. Edited June 29, 2006 by G-spotter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archenemy Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Oh, that's a supercroc of shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackers Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 The story of Gallipoli is pretty heartwarming though. The British commanders accidently misjudged where the ANZAC forces should land on the Turkish Coast sending them into an incredibly fortified death trap. Once they realized this they were too pompous and arrogant to admit they had made a mistake and withdraw, so the ANZACs just got massacred. Â That's not actually true. That is a myth perpetuated by the ANZAC soldiers. Â What actually happened is a bit better and a bit worse. The Brits went in and put in wooden poles to direct the landings. That night Turks moved the poles to make the ANZACs land in their kill zones. The ANZAC officers in charge of the landing decided to go through with it although they knew the landing poles were in the wrong place. Â Go to Gelibolu on Rememberence day for a sober day of being drunk. They say that 1 in 5 Australians has a direct relative that died there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Wow. Thanks for the history, and correction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 ya, it made my day too. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 That's not actually true. That is a myth perpetuated by the ANZAC soldiers. Â What actually happened is a bit better and a bit worse. The Brits went in and put in wooden poles to direct the landings. That night Turks moved the poles to make the ANZACs land in their kill zones. The ANZAC officers in charge of the landing decided to go through with it although they knew the landing poles were in the wrong place. Â Go to Gelibolu on Rememberence day for a sober day of being drunk. They say that 1 in 5 Australians has a direct relative that died there. Â That's not the history I've read, but it makes sense the Turks would say that...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted June 29, 2006 Author Share Posted June 29, 2006 what's the point of having colonies if you can't send the colonials swarming in on certain death assaults? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Â Climbers camping at a SW BC trailhead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted June 29, 2006 Author Share Posted June 29, 2006 Where are all the paper plates then, Mike? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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