Tag: War

War and Gin

Had my father been alive, this month would have seen him celebrate his 100th birthday. Of course 1914 is better remembered for being the year that The Great War commenced.

It was an earlier great war, what Southern States call, ‘The War of Northern Agression’ aka the American Civil War, that saw the birth of my grandfather, in November 1862; exactly one year before President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

The Napoleonic Wars had not yet commenced when my great grandfather was born 220 years ago, in February 1794. However, they were well under way when, at the age of 16 he went off to fight with Wellington against the Corsican upstart. Much to his chagrin, my ancestor was wounded at the battle of Quatre Bras, which took place two days before Waterloo and thus was unable to take part in that more famous battle. Continue reading “War and Gin”

A War Monkey Called Sue! (Further adventures on the Internet.)

Yesterday I read Charles Moore’s review of Stephen Spielberg’s latest film, War Horse. Having seen and thoroughly enjoyed the play, which I saw inLondon, 18 months ago, I read the review with some interest. Without going into details,Moore was less than enthusiastic, criticising Spielberg for the gratuitous sentimentality. What was perhaps more interesting, was the comment section, some of which dealt with aspects of the Great War and the vast tragedy attached to it. Continue reading “A War Monkey Called Sue! (Further adventures on the Internet.)”

All Hell Let Loose

I was reading a copy of the BBC History magazine the other day when I came across an article by Max Hastings. He has written a book about the Second World War called, ‘All Hell Let Loose’. He says he was asked how it was possible to write yet another book about that period in history. Surely it had been done to death. He counters by providing a number of facts and statistics that may surprise many. The book is written with ordinary people, soldiers and civilians, at the centre of events, rather than the big-name politicians and generals who usually occupy that ground. Continue reading “All Hell Let Loose”