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Armchair General Blog GreatHistory.com Debuts Respected writers blog on military history, American and world history, women’s history, history in pop culture and much more on the newest website from Weider History Group, the people who bring you ArmchairGeneral.com. Brief, entertaining, sometimes controversial insights into the past and current events - the best blogging in history!
New York Post Praises Armchair General And the winner for best magazine in the military history category goes to . . . Armchair General! Okay, so we didn’t get invited to the Academy Awards, but that didn’t keep the New York Post from noticing us. "We quite enjoyed Armchair General," the Post stated in a March 3 article titled "Hades to Hobbies," a magazine roundup. In case you’re wondering, we were mentioned among magazines in the "hobbies" section of the article, not the "Hades" part. Joining ACG on the Post’s hobby mag recommendations were Classic Trains, Guns & Ammo, and Plane & Pilot. Other publications were news magazines or New York regionals. On the entire list, only Armchair General and Newsweek received four stars—one more than The New Yorker and two more than Time! The Most Decisive Battle of All Time The "50 Battles That Shaped Our World" article in the January 2008 issue of Armchair General magazine spawned a basketball-style elimination tournament in the ACG Forums to determine The Most Decisive Battle of All Time. Forum members wanted more than 50 battles to choose from, so they created their own lists of battles from four eras: Ancient, Medieval, Gunpowder and Modern. The complete list of battles that began the tournament appears below. After four voting rounds, the choices came down to the land battle of Saratoga in 1777 and the sea battle Salamis in 480 BC. Saratoga is the singular name used to encompass two related battles of the American Revolution, fought in upper New York 18 days apart: Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights. The actions resulted in the surrender of a British army of 9,000 men. Saratoga is often called the turning point of the Revolution, leading ultimately to the establishment of the United States of America. Salamis was fought between the navies of the Greek city-states and Persia in September 480 BC. The underdog Greeks defeated the much larger Persian force, a turning point that eventually led to Greek victory. A different result would have given Persia, rather than Greece, the dominant role in the development of Western civilization at that time. In the fifth and final round of the ACG tournament, the winner was . . . Salamis, by a vote of 47 to 29! If you are not a member of the Armchair General forums and would like to join in the fun, go to http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/register.php to register. The instructions will walk you through. It’s a pretty simple process. There is no charge and we don’t spam our members; signup is required to allow us to monitor and maintain proper content. Most Decisive Battle Tournament
Ancient Era Medieval Era [continued on next page] Elimination Tournament - Greatest Western Movie Yippee-tie-yi-yo! From an initial list of 100 Greatest Western Movies in our forums, you picked the top 32. Now the real shootout begins. Cast your votes in an elimination tournament to pare that 32 down to 16, then 8, then . . . Ultimately, your choice of the top two Westerns will face off in the sun, and the winner - based on your votes - will be acknowledged as the Greatest Western Movie of all time. If you haven’t registered to join in the fun on our forums yet, it’s easy and we don’t spam our members. Just click here to get started. Greatest Westerns Online Tournament  Clint Eastwood in Hang 'Em High. Courtesy Everett Collection. On our partner site, HistoryNet, you’ll find a list of the 100 Greatest Westerns, selected by a team of experts that included Wild West magazine’s editor Greg Lalire and Armchair General magazine’s own Jerry Morelock. In our Wild West Magazine Forum, you’ll find those same 100 movies divided into groups. Vote for eight from each group. Later this month, we’ll put the top 32 vote-getters into a head-to-head faceoff, like the Earps and Doc Holliday challenging the Clantons and McLaurys at the O.K. Corral. At the end, one film from the original 100 will be left standing tall as the Greatest Western of them all. As for the others, well, as Clint would say, "Make 98 coffins." My mistake: 99. You’ve only got about a week to vote for your favorites before we begin the head-to-head showdown, so why are you still here? You’re burning daylight, pilgrim. 50 Battles That Shaped Our World - What Would You Pick? The January 2009 issue of Armchair General magazine published a list of 50 Battles that Shaped Our World. Ranging from ancient times to the current War on Terror, these are battles with effects far beyond the blood-soaked fields or the raging waves where they were fought. For the last few weeks, our forum members have been debating what battles should have been included on that list, and in some cases they came up with different ones than those selected by our staff. We’d like to know what you think. The list of 50 battles from the January Armchair General magazine appears below. In the comments section at the bottom of this page, leave a comment about the battles chosen and tell us if there were other battles that didn’t appear on the list, but that you feel should have. No signup is necessary.
Battle of Mexico City Animated Map  Battle of Mexico City at The Art of Battle: Animated Battle Maps. Photo Courtesty of Jonathan Webb. As an enthusiast of military maps, I have a special place in my heart for animated battle maps on the web. I think they really help visualize the ebb and flow of warfare in ways that pictures or words alone fail to do. One such site for this is The Art of Battle: Animated Battle Maps. The site owner, Jonathan Webb, has animated maps for great military battles in addition to a short tutorial on tactical maneuvers. I asked him to send me an update on his latest map;
The possibilities in history are endless, but some battles are more complicated than others. He already has about 20 battles completed, so what battle would you like to see Jonathan produce next? Armchair General Goes to Washington D.C. Last week some of the senior Armchair General staff went to our head office in Leesburg, VA for a meeting with top brass at Weider History Group. Most of our time was spent devising our mission plan for 2009 for the website. On our last day there we were able to squeeze in a trip to the center of Washington D.C., a place I’d never been able to visit up until this point. We only had a couple hours to spare, so we had to choose our destinations carefully. For me, the most important things I wanted to see were grouped together at the west end of the National Mall, including the Vietnam, Korean, and World War II memorials, and the Lincoln Memorial. We parked at a meter on a side street, which was only a couple blocks from the mall itself and made hitting the mall at the right spot easier. We walked up to the mall and immediately found ourselves at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We were able to snap one picture at the memorial facing the Washington Monument with no one in the background…just as a full bus load of tourists descended on the monument. We had to keep moving. Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial, which for me was the most powerful part of our fast walking tour. Forgetting for a moment the importance of this monument vis-à-vis Lincoln, think of all the movies, protests, and books which featured this amazing place. As I was walking up the stairs I felt as if I was touching a part of American culture unlike anything I’ve felt before. The thought occurred to me that I needed to share the moment with my wife and son, thus the picture of me on my mobile standing there on the steps! This alone was worth the trip. Our next quick stop was the Korean War Veterans Memorial, which was surprisingly well done. It is hard to describe, but basically it features stone soldiers walking through the rain alongside a marble wall not unlike the one over at the Vietnam Memorial. However, there are no names on the wall - only carved images. It leads to a pool of water and some benches in a cozy circle for intimate reflection. I really liked the presentation. Last on our tour was the National World War II Memorial which is prominently placed at the east end of the reflecting pool. As a final stop we decided to drop by the White House which was interesting mainly because its location is never shown accurately in mainstream media. The pictures always portray the White House as standing majestically alone, and you never really get a perspective of what is surrounding it. The buildings surrounding the White House are entirely unimpressive. If you’ve ever been to the Alamo you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’m looking forward to going back to Washington D.C. as there are about 100 things I want to see now that I’ve had a taste of the city. On my next trip to the home office I might have to spend an entire day exploring this area. If you have any recommendations or have any stories about your visit to D.C., I’d love to hear them! Image Gallery
          Another Letter from the Iraqi Front We have another letter from our friend serving in Iraq, Russ Vaughn. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, Russ is back in Iraq for another tour. I’m providing this as a link to his full article, and I’m including a batch of recent pictures he sent along from his position. Image Gallery
    He comments on #4;
And on his photo taken with the open window (#3), he writes;
His full letter, Letters From Iraq 8: Tractors and Laundry. Marines from Outer Space. No, Really. Somewhere in the Great Beyond, Robert Heinlein is smiling. The U.S. Marines want to make his Starship Troopers a reality within the coming decades. Rapid-response Marines could be delivered anywhere on the globe within a couple of hours, inserted from a space station via small craft designed to carry 13 warriors each. Since national air space ends 50 miles above the earth, they could pass over multiple international boundaries without needing to seek permission. (Remember, Turkey turned down the U.S. request to move troops through it during the Second Gulf War, and that had significant impact on what happened in post-invasion Iraq.) Of course, diplomatic issues could still be raised by the country to which they’re inserted. (Think Pakistan today.) A USA Today article by Tom Vanden Brook and several Web sites, including Popsci.com, provide details on the program and the difficulties it faces if it is to become reality. In a way, this is reminiscent of the challenges the Marine Corps confronted between the world wars. Traditionally, landing parties had been sent ashore at port cities, using small boats sent out from bigger ships. New amphibious invasion techniques developed by Holland "Howlin’ Mad" Smith and others during the peacetime years made possible the landings in the Pacific, Normandy (Yes, the Army adopted those techniques, too.) and elsewhere. As with the Space Marine concept – apologies to Games Workshop; the U.S. Marine program is officially called the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion program – 20th-century attempts at creating new ways to insert amphibious troops required challenging existing doctrine and finding the technology to make new methods possible, such as Higgins boats and Amtracs. Is the concept daunting? Oh, yeah. Is it possible? Moon landings, computers small enough to use at home, and portable telephones that take pictures were all considered science fiction within my lifetime. And never, ever, underestimate what a few determined Marines can accomplish. Photos From Iraq and Lending a Hand Back in 2006 and 2007 we were posting letters from Iraq from a soldier, and friend, serving a tour there. He sent us seven letters which you can read in sequence here; Letters From Iraq 1: Getting StartedLetters From Iraq 2: Devils, Dogs, and Dub Dub LizardsLetters From Iraq 3: Life, Death, and HelicoptersLetters From Iraq 4: Fobbits!Letters From Iraq 5: Sand, Pools, and RPGsLetters from Iraq 6: Light infantry, HOOAH!Letters from Iraq 7: Anger, Stay Back!Now, in 2008, our friend is back in Iraq and sending some photos from his new experiences. I’ll try to keep updating this post with new photos as he sends them. For now, I have a few to display; Image Gallery
   He writes of the center picture;
If you have an interest in sending a care package to soldiers in Iraq, Russ advises you contact anysoldier.com. If you’d like to send to Russ’s unit (the soldier above) please contact us here at Armchair General for his address. Additionally, here is a list of things Russ said are in high demand from fellow soldiers;
Thanks for your support! Red Storm Rising or Passing Shower? The recent incident between Russia and Georgia has been over hyped as the start of a second Cold War, with all the trappings of political re-alignments, proxy wars, and massive spending on defense budgets. Soviets bombers are flying over the Caribbean, the Russian navy is sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar, and the US and NATO allies are told they are on the decline. This is the stuff right out of a Tom Clancy novel - but before we get ahead of ourselves and dust off the fallout shelters let’s take a sober look at the Russian Bear. These two articles by Pavel Felgenhauer at Eurasia Daily Monitor outline some of the plans and problems of rearmament for Russia, something Russia clearly feels it needs in order to become a resurgent superpower on the world stage; MEDVEDEV’S PLANS FOR MILITARY REARMAMENT WILL MORE MONEY HELP BUY MORE MODERN WEAPONS? Another article by Murray Feshbach at the Washington Post highlights some of the social problems facing the Russians internally, which point not only to a decline in Russian influence vis-à-vis population decline, but also the unhealthy state of the existing population. Hardly the tidings of a resurgent superpower… Behind the Bluster, Russia Is Collapsing In contrast, statements of Western decline are greatly exaggerated and are designed to minimize the true strength of the West to a level of parity with Russia. Kicking out a few thousand Georgians 50 miles from your border is one thing, but pales against the US and coalition forces crushing Iraq militarily and then maintaining sufficient forces for half a decade or more on the other side of the planet. Sure, the West has problems of a resurgent Afghanistan and no one doubts the US military is strained, but if you consider how much skill and effort is needed to maintain an all-volunteer force thousands of miles from home for this amount of time you will realize just how wide the gap truly is. This doesn’t even begin to address such technological show pieces as stealth bombers, aircraft carrier battle groups and anti-missile systems which have at best crude parallels on the Russian side. If you throw in a comparison of living standards between Russia and the West the scales continue to tip. If this is Cold War II, there is already a clear winner. Have you read anything to suggest Russia can truly become a superpower again? Passing in Review - Some Questions for You I want to ask you a couple of questions, but first, here’s an amazing statistic you can toss into conversations: Three thousand books are published daily in the United States alone, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Three thousand daily! That translates to — let’s see, naught from naught is naught, carry the square of the hypotenuse — 1,095,000 books brought forth upon the American continent each year and that doesn’t include the totals from Canada and Mexico, let alone Europe and the rest of the world. Of that staggering total, a small but significant portion is comprised of works of history, military history, strategy and tactics, or geopolitical books (war is politics by other means). Add on all the historical fiction that’s published, and it is obvious no one can keep up with everything that’s coming off the printing presses. At the same time, book review sections — long a staple of newspapers and magazines— are being dropped or reduced in size. This is a cost-cutting measure, but it probably also reflects declining interest in reviews; otherwise, publications would hesitate to reduce the space given to them. Even on ArmchairGeneral.com book reviews draw fewer readers than many other articles do, although our Web visitors tend to be more inclined to read books than the general population is and many of them have extensive personal libraries. So here are those questions I mentioned in the first sentence: Do you read book reviews? Why or why not? If you do, what do you look for, what do you want in reviews? Do you read the author POV articles we publish? What would you like to see changed in how we handle book reviews on the Web page? If you were the Web editor — which I am — how would you change this section to make it more useful and meaningful? Or would you rather the whole section just went away? We’ve added discussion about this on our forums, but feel free to add comments to this blog directly. We want your opinions. Once A Marine on Book TV Oct. 4, 11am As many of you know already, Armchair General is a big supporter of our friend Nick Popaditch and are helping his effort to promote his memoir about his life and death struggle in Iraq (Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery). This weekend you can catch Nick on Book TV;
You can catch him at 11am on October 4, or 7pm the same day. More about Nick Popaditch and his book Once a Marine. Islamabad Marriott Hotel Bombing  A car bomber killed over 40 people in a suicide attack in the Pakistani captial. See link below for full article. On September 20, 2008, a bomb exploded outside the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The attack by a suicide car bomber left more than 40 people dead in the Pakistani capital. Attached is a Powerpoint presentation posted on the Overseas Security Advisory Council Web site with details of the Islamabad attack. Armchair General presents this information as a service to readers. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) is a Federal Advisory Committee with a U.S. Government Charter to promote security cooperation between American business and private sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State, according to its Web site. Established in the mid-1980s, today its constituents include over 3,500 U.S. companies, educational institutions, religious and non-governmental organizations.
The Dog Days of History  World War II Russian Mine Dog from the game Streets of Stalingrad Then, to my surprise another friend of mine was working on the same theme with some of his LEGO creations, making a LEGO "mine dog" which he proudly has displayed on Flickr. You MUST check it out! And, in marginally related news dealing with "history" in a different sense, does anyone remember the game Dog Daze? It is ancient history but I spent many an hour of my youth playing it. |
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What is Armchair General?Armchair General (ACG) and ACG online feature a unique, interactive editorial approach that invites the reader to decide the course of action in challenging historical scenarios, to step into the shoes of a battlefield commander. Leading historians and contributors lend integrity and credibility to this fresh presentation of historical and contemporary events. Armchair General is the INTERACTIVE history magazine where YOU COMMAND and decide the course of action! |
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