Recent content by Calgacus

Especially given that Seeckt had placed quite some emphasis on fighting rearguard actions in 1920s doctrine and training. I may be misremembering, as my German isn't good enough to know if this is correct, but I believe the tactic was named 'Hinhaltendes Gefecht'. Considering that this was a...

What most people consider a constitution really doesn't matter. A constitution, at its root, is surely just the laws providing the framework for governance and legal rights within a state. Nothing about it has to be protected in any specific way, whether it be by two-thirds vote or anything...

I think the depressing part was that people are expecting someone to sort the problem out, to turn the lights back on, and make everything how it used to be. Then it becomes too late to do that. Even when authority returns, there's nothing they can do to return the way things used to be. It...

In Britain, they're yellow - as yellow is too hard to see, I've made it orange.

UK lists are a little pointless, as we don't vote for the man/woman, but the party. But I'm in procrastination mode, so here goes.... 1900: Campbell-Bannerman 1906: Campbell-Bannerman 1910: (Feb): Asquith 1910: (Dec): Asquith 1918: Asquith 1922: Asquith 1923: Asquith 1924: Asquith...

Well at least he didn't write "of" instead of "have". Although to give credit where it's due, he dropped an apostrophe. 1900: McKinley 1904: Roosevelt 1908: Debs 1912: Debs 1916: Hughes 1920: Harding 1924: La Follette 1928: Hoover 1932: Roosevelt 1936: Roosevelt 1940: Wilkie 1944: Dewey...

Well there was only one Anglo-Zulu War. And I doubt the Maoris would have made a whole lot of difference. The most effective tactics to counter the Zulus were found to be the discipline of regular soldiers (in forming laagers and beating back Zulu attacks with firepower, and the use of mounted...

I have no idea what you're talking about. :confused:

That's fine, but I take pulp fiction to be romance/westerns/etc. Science fiction long ago lost the right to hide behind the pulp excuse, as did almost every other literary genre. I'm not going to bother criticising romance novels (if I ever actually read any), but I'll criticise AH/Sci-Fi...

Alan Furst, who writes great books about interwar Europe, mostly espionage-related, though not quite as formulaic as most spy fiction. And I'm reading Zoo Station by David Downing right now. Also interwar espionage type stuff, but with a different feel. Excellent depiction of Berlin just...

Ooh, yes, we don't want those nasty elitists telling us what to think! People are perfectly entitled to read whatever they want, and as long as they're reading something, good on them. But that doesn't mean there isn't some literature that is simply better than the rest. It could probably be...

Well I think Turtledove is capable of some excellent writing. Some of his short stories and some stand-alone works are pretty good. Even the series are good in places, enough to enjoy at least some of the reading time. I don't want to waste my money on the books, but I am happy enough to get...

The wave of unrest in the early 19th century is exacerbated for some reason, and a revolution breaks out, turning Britain into a republic. The royals flee and set up in India or Australia or Canada. The question is - would any colonies side with the new republic? Ireland, I'd imagine. Any...

The screen name was joatsimeon@aol.com, so should be easy to find. I'd imagine he still uses the address.

One can read a book to enjoy it, but that doesn't mean one suspends one's critical faculties. That would imply that you'd enjoy reading any book no matter how good or bad it was. I'm sure this is not the case. For example, I recently read 'One Second After' by Forstchen. For the most part I...