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  1. Warships that should never been built?

    That would be the Cleveland class, which was developed from the preceding Brooklyn class and not an Atlanta sub-class. The Clevelands were an example of trying to get a quart into a pint pot, with too much armament on too small a hull; in practice they were found to be top-heavy and unstable and...

  2. What if ___________ Never Met ____________?

    Browning might still go into arms design at some later date, or turn his talents to some other field such as electrical engineering. We can be sure that whatever he designed would work and work well; many of the weapons he designed are still in use today, a century later. He might not achieve...

  3. Was the German Schlieffen Plan actually a good plan?

    It should be noted that the plan actually followed was not the original Schlieffen plan, but a toned-down version of it, with less allocated to the right wing and more allocated to the defense of Alsace-Lorraine, the North Sea and Baltic seacoasts, and East Prussia. The original plan was very...

  4. Question: Could Roman citizens be sold into slavery?

    Free Romans could only be sold into slavery if they were convicted of certain crimes, such as desertion from the armed forces. Such slaves were very much in the minority; most slaves were either prisoners of war or descendants of slaves.

  5. Japanese Carriers at Guadalcanal

    Not cancelled, but certainly postponed. Operation Watchtower was approved and went forward precisely because the Japanese losses at Midway had sufficiently altered the balance of forces in the Americans' favor. Without those losses the operation would have been postponed until the forces in the...

  6. Rise of English Muskets

    Let's expand on this a bit. An English longbow was between six and seven feet long and had a pull of between 75 and 100 pounds; the variance is because each was custom made for a particular archer. This means that archers needed to be both tall and strong, which necessarily limited the supply of...

  7. How did armies fight during the 17th and 18th centuries?

    From the front in all cases. Picture the 17th or 18th century battlefield; masses of men marching to and fro, volleys of muskets and cannon roaring, huge clouds of dust and smoke obscuring the view. A general at the rear would have no real idea what was going on and would be relying on what...

  8. How did armies fight during the 17th and 18th centuries?

    Short answer: During this period most of the fighting was done by the infantry, with cavalry and artillery in supporting roles. Long answer: At the beginning of the period (roughly 1600 to 1650) infantry was roughly two thirds pikemen, armed with a ten-to-twelve foot pike, and one third...

  9. Grand Registry of American Civil War trivia

    Concerning those camels, when the Civil War arrived the War Department terminated the program and disbanded the camel corps. The camels were simply turned loose; those in New Mexico and Arizona remained in the wild until they died out, but those in Texas were rounded up by the Confederates and...

  10. WI CSA builds Virginia as a broadside ironclad?

    The crew did indeed know they had lost the ram; the Virginia's ram actually became stuck in the Cumberland and the weight of the sinking ship nearly dragged the Virginia's bow under with it before the ram broke off. In retrospect the ram was merely an afterthought and, given the substandard...

  11. Super heavy tanks--any way to make them viable?

    Super-heavy tanks (and most heavy tanks as well) are proof that bigger =/= better. Pros: They are intimidating. They can carry a larger than normal gun. They can carry enough armor to make them very hard to destroy outright. Cons: They are prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to...

  12. Pancho villa survive

    Not much; he was a has-been at that point with his glory days behind him, living in retirement on his ranch with a few trusted friends and a handful of guards. A failed attempt might generate a little bit of publicity, but that will be the extent of it. The Mexican government had pardoned him on...

  13. WI: Longtreet put in charge of Confederate Armed Forces?

    At the moment there is no overall commander; Pemberton is leading the Army of Mississippi to its eventual destruction at Vicksburg and Bragg is leading the Army of Tennessee and about to be outmaneuvered by Rosecrans. Appointing an overall commander is not going to change the situation much, as...

  14. WI: Longtreet put in charge of Confederate Armed Forces?

    Even a loss isn't going to tarnish Lee's reputation enough to persuade Davis to supersede him, and Longstreet, although arguably the best corps commander on either side, is relatively junior and untested in independent command and therefore unlikely to be chosen should a replacement for Lee be...

  15. WI Japan couped during WWII and surredering early

    Just who would carry out such a coup? A coup, being an extra-legal change of government, usually requires military force or the threat thereof to carry it out. The government under Tojo has a virtual monopoly of military force which makes such a coup well-nigh impossible. One of Tojo's first...

  16. Was Roman civilization not European?

    Because the largest concentration of military, economic, and political power on Earth during that period was in Europe. Before 1600, the largest power concentration (outside India and China, that is) was the Ottoman Empire; after 1950 it was the United States. Note that the above includes...

  17. German Tank with 76 or 85mm Gun

    As stated above the Germans did make use of captured Soviet F-22 76mm guns, both in their original towed configurations and as Marder IIs and Marder IIIs. Note that this weapon was a field gun issued to artillery regiments of Soviet rifle divisions and not the gun which armed the T34. The Zis 3...

  18. WI 17-pounder ported in 1943?

    You don't have to penetrate the front of an AFV to destroy or disable it; in fact that is the worst way to deal with it. The best way to deal with it is to get around to its side or rear, where the armor is not only thinner but usually not angled as steeply. Failing that, aim for the tracks; an...

  19. WI 17-pounder ported in 1943?

    The Straussler conversion is an excellent example of the sort of thing which seems like a good idea in principle, but proves completely impractical in practice. The idea was to eliminate the need for a towing vehicle by providing a rudimentary system of propulsion. By the time the designers...

  20. Was Roman civilization not European?

    Contrary to the popular Romano-centric image Northern Europe was NOT peopled entirely by savages living in mud huts. Sure, they couldn't match Rome's wealth and power, but that doesn't mean they had none whatsoever. Germanic tribes lived in timber-framed dwellings, had iron tools and weapons...
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