Author POV – Rommel’s ‘War Without Hate’
Amid the brutality of World War Two, what made the North Africa campaign a "War Without Hate?"
Read MoreJohn Huston’s war documentaries to air April 21
If you've seen John Huston's "Battle of San Pietro" and "Let There Be Light," what were your opinions?
Read MoreTrivia 006: Japanese Balloon Bombs
Japan hoped to set America ablaze with unmanned bombs. Test your knowledge of this strange plan.
Read MoreWhat’s the carbon footprint of YOUR warhead?
It’s doing my head in – from where I’m sat the entire world (except perhaps China) is banging on and on about carbon footprints, climate change, global warming and what have you. I can’t even plan a route on my PC without a dire warning of the damage my little jaunt is going to do to the planet. Oh, and it now costs me more than £1.00 a litre for fuel – that’s about $7.60 a gallon by my (admittedly) very rough maths for you chaps in the US. For a LEGO fan, this is quite scary – LEGO is of course made of plastic, Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) if you really want to know – and what’s plastic made from? Oil of course…and suddenly the end of my world seems a little bit nearer. But what about wars and things like that? How does "going green" compete with the absolute and unfortunate need to smash armies into little tiny pieces every so often? Will the Generals of...
Read MoreSimulations Meet Reality at National WWII Museum
When a museum of the stature of The National World War II Museum recognizes the value of simulation wargames as tool for teaching history, it shows the educational value inherent in the hobby. Have you used wargames in a museum, classroom, or other public setting this way?
Read MoreTrivia 005: World War I
Test your knowledge of the "war" within World War I, when politicians and generals often disagreed.
Read MoreA little bit of politics…and a new comic strip…
I got slightly annoyed yesterday having seen on the BBC news website that a teachers union here in the UK was in favour of banning Army recruitment at schools on the basis that the Army issues "misleading propaganda" about its operations. One chap on the news was nearly foaming at the mouth as he talked about events in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ve never served in the forces myself, but in my opinion, this is merely sour grapes on the part of certain elements of society to punish the Army for its role in recent fighting. It’s fine of course for people to disagree with Government policy, but to take it out on the troops seems very petty to me. The British Army just goes where it is told to, they don’t make policy and they aren’t responsible for the conflicts themselves, but they are duty bound to pursue those conflicts as best they can once committed. Furthermore, from a recruitment perspective, it’s not as if the Army just shoves...
Read MorePracticing History: The William E. Colby Military Writers’ Symposium
We have never avoided the hard issues that are central to the public’s understanding. This month I’m taking the opportunity to highlight one of the finest military programs in the United States. Now in its 13th year, the William E. Colby Military Writers’ Symposium has established itself as a premier forum for the discussion of military history, military intelligence operations and international affairs. Since its inception it has brought to my alma mater, Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont—the nation’s oldest private military college—over 82 top authors, historians, journalists, and filmmakers for a two-day event consisting of open forums, lectures and a public panel presentation. In 2008, the symposium is poised for yet another residency of inspired debate, discussion and sharing of knowledge. What began as an experiment quickly evolved into a program of national prominence. As you will see, the program is also ably supported by Armchair General magazine. From an idea to reality: A Brief History of the Colby Symposium A program to bring influential writers to the...
Read MoreTrivia 004: The Cold War
Test your knowledge of the Cold War era. Take Cold War Trivia Test....
Read MoreVeterans charities: comparing apples and lemons.
Recently, a reader asked us a question about donating to charities that purport to help veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many "charities" may meet the legal definition of that word, but the bulk of the money they receive from well-meaning donors ends up in the pockets of highly paid administrators instead of going to help vets. People want to give to veterans, who have given so much of themselves; accordingly, an appeal to help vets is an easy way to get people to open their checkbooks. Sadly, some “charities” are more interested in benefitting their bank accounts than in aiding those they purport to help. This is not unique to veteran-oriented charitable groups. So how do you tell the apples from the lemons, determine which groups spend most of their donations on the vets, or on whomever they claim to serve, and which ones divert most of the money to overhead and administrative costs? ConsumerReports.org provided some recommendations for checking out...
Read MoreFour Years of Armchair General
It’s hard to know where to begin with a piece dedicated to the history of the Armchair General website. I’ve been personally involved with every aspect of creation, updating, maintenance, design, troubleshooting, marketing, advertising, and community building since the day I stepped into the Armchair General headquarters in the spring of 2003. I’ve put considerable sweat and tears into the growth and evolution of the site, and I can say without hyperbole that I’ve enjoyed and thrived on the challenges every day I’ve been here. Now it is time to share the load… At the four year mark I have the pleasure of handing off the editing and author management portion of my duties to our new full time Senior Online Editor, Gerald D. Swick. As you can see, he now has a nice fresh new website to carry us into the next four years. I would also like to thank Andrew Summersgill for his contributions over the past several years as the de facto Senior Editor, helping me in more ways...
Read MoreTrivia 003: US Civil War Cavalry
Think you know all about Cavalry actions in the US Civil War? Maybe you do… ACW Cavalry...
Read MoreTrivia 002: War on Terrorism
This trivia challenge focuses on what you know about the War on Terrorism. WoT...
Read MoreArmchair Trivia Welcomes You!
We here at Armchair General love trivia. We love taking trivia tests and we love making them. Convenient really, since it is something we want to do a lot more in the future. We invite you to check back each week as we build a new trivia test to challenge the military historians in our audience. Generally we won’t make them too hard – but then again we might just push your skills to the edge! Welcome to Armchair Trivia. Let’s see how much history you know! –Armchair General Staff We are interested in reader-submitted trivia as well. If you can put together 10 questions about your favorite subject we might use yours for our weekly challenge. Be sure to contact us before submitting anything though, as we want to make sure we don’t have two people working on the same era! You can also leave comments below if you’d like to request we do trivia on certain...
Read MoreNo Encirclement at Stalingrad?
An alternative outcome at Stalingrad is not just a fantasy “what if†scenario. Here we take a look at one possible and plausible outcome. Read the article and let us know what you think!
Read MoreArmchair General’s New Online Editor
Reporting for duty, sir! Let me introduce myself. I’m the new senior online editor for armchairgeneral.com and HistoryNet. The rest of the staff who have been bringing you the history and interactive features you enjoy are still here and will have greater opportunities to develop exciting new content as I assume more of the editorial responsibilities. Some of you may remember me as the author of the “Commander Dossier” and “Weapon Files” departments in the print version of Armchair General magazine, as well as some of its interactive articles like “Yamamoto’s Dilemma” and “ Washington at Germantown .” You may have seen my name among the authors of articles in ABC-CLIO’s The Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political, Social and Military History or The West Virginia Encyclopedia from that state’s Humanities Council. I may also have rolled dice with you at Historicon, Nashcon, Origins or other game conventions. A couple of days before writing this blog, I visited Fort Morgan at the mouth of Mobile Bay, where Confederate...
Read MoreIntroducing Grunts!
Regular readers of this website may be familiar with my work for ACG. Over the last four years I’ve written nearly one hundred articles for the site, visited museums, battlefields, re-enactments, reviewed books, films, games and personally transcribed about 40 or so articles from my personal friend Doctor Sinister for the Incorrect Art of War series. Coming from the UK, I’ve even been able to visit the USA to attend a show on behalf of the magazine, and I’m a constant presence on the forums. I’ve been very lucky, and honoured to be able to assist ACG in whatever way I can. But this isn’t the real me. No no no. In fact, it’s time I came out of the closet once and for all. For I have interests other than military history, gaming and sci-fi. I am, in fact, a fully-fledged AFOL. What’s an AFOL I hear you ask? Well, it’s not a naughty word, it’s merely an acronym – and it means that I am an Adult...
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HistoryNet
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