Comments by "Britta Kriep" (@brittakriep2938) on "The Armchair Historian" channel.

  1.  @perrydb9299  : Don ' t forget military observers! When in 19th century a war happened , licenced officers from not involved countries travelled to theater of war to watch the military incidents. In US civil war the licenced ,Kriegsbeobachter' of Kingdom Württemberg, Ferdinand von Zeppelin saw balloons.....
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  2. One mistake: Zeppelin was an officer of lancers, Ulanen. In germany lancers and the in Württemberg not existing hussars had been light cavallry. So in the war of 1870/71 Zeppelin became famous for a brave adventure during a reconnaisance ride. Today the descendants of Zeppelin call themself ,von Brandenstein(?) - Zeppelin'. As far as i know, there are two branches, one of them lives near the town of Ravensburg.
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  3. To the armed forces of imperial Germany. The german army consisted of four armies : 1) The royal prussian army, including the troops of the greatdukes and dukes, also the soldiers of the principalities and free towns. The non prussian troops had the right to keep their regiment flags and regiment names. 2) The royal saxon army 3) The royal wurttembergian army. The saxon and wurttembergian armies could keep their regiment flags, their regiment names and their Generalstab/ general staff, but their general staffs had been allways under prussian command. 4) The royal bavarian army. They could keep their regiment flags, tegiment names and their general staff. The bavarian general staff was only in wartime under prussian command. Also the jackets of bavarian soldiers had been in , bavarian blue', the non bavarian soldiers had jackets in ,prussian blue'. The helmets had been the same in all german armies, but the coat of arms and cocardes had been different. Also the leatherhelmet with point was only used by line infantry and dragoons. Artillery gunners used a similar helmet with a ball to prevent accidents, and light infantry ,technical troops and parts of reserve units used the Tschako. Hussars had a cylindric hussars cap made of fur ( See Feldmarschall von Mackensen) and lancers/Ulanen used a small leather helmet with a tip down pyramide to remember the polish origin of the Ulanen ( The polish ceremonial guard still uses caps with square/ quadratisch top). Heavy cavallry and palace units used pointed helmets made oft steel vor copperbased metal.
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  4. The ,prussian' army? The army of the german states had been may be 65% prussian soldiers. You totally have forgotten the soldiers of Bayern, Sachsen, Württemberg, Baden, Hessen- Darmstadt, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg- Schwerin, Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Sachsen- Weimar- Eisenach, Anhalt, Braunschweig, Sachsen- Altenburg, Sachsen- Meiningen, Sachsen- Coburg- Gotha, Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg- Sondershausen, Waldeck- Pyrmont, Lippe- Detmold, Reuß- Greitz, Reuß- Schleitz, Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck.
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  5. The mitrailleuses are often noted, but the two batteries of bavarian ,Feldl Kartätschütze' are nearly never noted.
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  6.  @okey289  : This started wwl, but was not the reason.
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  7.  @lahire4943  : My mistake, didn ' t read carefull enough.
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  8.  @michaelbell3952  : Das Wehr means a kind of Damm at a river. Die Wehr means the weapon. The verb ,sich wehren' means to defend yourself. So Feuerwehr means firedefence and Bundeswehr means Federal defence.
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  9. With the exeption of independance war,1812 and the corean war, the US only fought against weaker enemies, so it is easy to win.
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  10.  @NapalmStrike802  : French advantages: Size of Navy, infantry armament, better armament and training of cavallry. German advantages: Better armament of artlillry, better training and orgaisation of infantry, better organisation of mobilisation and preparing for war.
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  11. Pänzer?
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  12. In German South West Africa there had been NO black soldiers in german service!!
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  13. He attacked many countries, he brutally fought freedom fighters , mostly in Spain, but in case of Andreas Hofer also in german region, he forced the conquered countries to pay much money for his army, he forced the conquered countries to send thousands of men for his russia campaign. My german federation state Baden- Württemberg consisted of Greatduchy Baden and Kingdom Württemberg. This countries had to send 22000 men. 700 came back, More than 21000 of my tribesmen died for the worldruler dream of Napoleon. He killed millions for his dream of power and french dominance, he was NO good man.
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  14.  @alexzero3736  : Wrong written, it is Schlieffen.
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  15.  @genericname5909  : San Marino still exists, it is one of Europas micro nations like Liechtenstein, Monaco or Andorra, with today perhaps 35000 inhabitants. Their army is only a ceremonial unit.
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  16.  @busodelor1977  : Wurden ihre Vorfahren von den Indonesiern eingeladen? Hat die VOC nichts Böses getan? War der Kongo nicht eine belgische Kolonie in der König Leopold grässliche Dinge zulies? Haben dänische und norwegische Wikinger in Norddeutschland und im Rheinland mit Genehmigung der Deutschen gehandelt?
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  17. The last relicts of HRE are the principality Liechtenstein and inside Germany Hamburg and Bremen are still Federation states.
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  18.  C.F.P.N Hans bring ze luger  : I allways thought, that there had also been british, french, russian, italian, japanese and portugise forces in wwl, and british, russian, resistance forces etc. in wwll. Thank you, for giving me the right information!
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  19.  @dflatt1783  : There was a naval blockade against Germany from the Britisch Channel to the coast of Norway, so Germany could not import food. On paper Germany could import food from neutral countries Switzerland, Denmark, Norway or Sweden. But: Because of the war of 1864 Denmark was Allied friendly. Up to 1903 the king of Sweden was also king of Norway, a socalled ,personal union'. But from 1903 to 1906 the Norwegians tried to get an own king and had sucess. In this non violent fight for total independence from Sweden, France and Great Brittain supported Norway, Germany supported Sweden. So Norway was Allied friendly, Sweden Germany friendly ( When WW l started, a large number of swedish officers wanted, that Sweden enters the war on german side to reconquer the in 1809 lost Finnland, but the swedish King and Gouvernement had been more intelligent than the officers). Switzerland had a food problem in both world wäre, they could not sell food to Germany. In policy the swiss gouvernement had agreements with France and Germany: In case of a german attack the swiss army would follow the French High Command, in case of an allied attack the swiss troops would follow the German High Command. So there was a great food problem in Germany , the people had not enough food and lots of germans died. The people had to eat ,Steckrüben' , i don' t know the english name of this plant. It has rather few calories and is today sold as ,weight losing diet food'. In one of the german language military history magazines i read, the toppic ,Steckrüben' was also noted.
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  20.  @dopepopeurban6129  : Des isch richdigs schwäbisch, ond wenn' d' s ed glaubsch, no schlag ' dr d' Laif aa, daß' d ' of de Schtomba hoimmausla kasch!
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  21.  @billyfoster1868  : I am german and in daily life i prefer my swabian dialect over Standard german. But the people, prefering dialect become in all regions of Germany fewer and fewer. In my swabian dialects, such long , for non swabians sometimes funny ,swears/ Flüche, are common. My english is not so fluent, but i try to explain some. ,Dir henk e s' Kreiz aus' ( Standard german: Dir hänge/ henke ich das Kreuz aus) means in english about: I will remove your backbone. , Wenn e mid dr ferdich be, kaaschd da Asch en dr Schleng hoimdraga'( Standard german: Wenn ich mit dir fertig bin, kannst du den Arsch in der Schlinge heimtragen).In English about: When i have finished you , you can carry your arse home in a ( medical) sling ( like a broken arm). ,Di vrhopf'e' ( Standard german: Dich zerhüpfe ich). In english about: I jump on until you die. ,Dir schlag e d Laif aa, daß' d of de Stomba hoimmausla kaasch' ( Standard german: Dir schlage ich die Arme und Beine/Läufe ab, daß du auf den Stümpfen heimkriechen kannst.), Läufe is the huntsman word for animal legs, so in english: I cut away your arms and lege, so that you can crawl home on the remaining arm and leg pieces. So this swabian swears/ curses sound funny, but would be a cruel thing if done in reallity.
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  22. To some of the commenters: Some old people still remembered the napoleonic time personally. And there had been people who knew, what the french did in Germany during the thirty years and the time of Louis XIV, they know it by reading old documents or books, or: my grandfather told me something his grandfather said. So i think , that in the mid 19th century many nationalist circles used this stories of old times as propaganda against the French.
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  23.  @lanzknecht8599  : I did not know that, because cavallry was the army branch, most liked by noblemen. As fas as i know, two princes/ Fürsten had been the leaders of the last german cavallry divisions in wwll.
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  24.  @TravelerZ24  : When you mean ,von Mackensen' he lived from 1849 to 1945, he was allive, when wwll ended in Europe. Perhaps 15 years ago , i met a descendant/relative of the german Feldmarschall near the town of Tübingen at a dancing event.
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  25. Which army of allied powers could stop attacking russian army, having much fewer men and lacking of equipment and supplies for four days?
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  26. Two small mistakes: Saxony was not a kingdom, it was an electorate (Kurfürstentum), and Frederik II was ,king in' not ,of ' Prussia. In the 18th century the prussian kings called themself in this way for political reasons.
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  27. Panzer Tanks? Pferd horses? Gewehr rifles? Flugzeug plane?
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  28. In german ,arianisch' ( a no more practisiced version of christian believe ) and ,arisch' ( the indoeuropean people).
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  29. In 1866 innergerman war , blind King Georg Ii of Hannover was also with his army at Langensalza, the only battle of this war the prussian forces did not win.
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  30.  @Ruhrpottpatriot  : After the spectacular defeat of 1806 ( Jena and Auerstädt), Prussia lost a lot of territory and the army was limited to 42000 men by Napoléon. So the prussian army analyced the mistakes ( to old officers in high ranks, only noble officers, to much parade training but to few field training, training and thinking only on regiment level, recruting etc.), this change was one of the reason, why prussian became so good in many military thngs after 1813. In the time of German Federation (1815 - 1866) only Austria,, the kingdoms and great dukes had the money and capability for usefull troops. The contingents of the Dukes, princes and free towns, often fewer than 300 men, had so low training, that they could only be used as guards, escorts, patrol men or fortress men.
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  31.  @damianchristopher205  : Surprising. But for german gun law reason, i rarely read the pages of arms companies.
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  32.  @ingratus8160  : The cap on the wellknown photo of Feldmarschall von Mackensen is simply a Hussarenmütze / hussars cap, the skull was only a special sign of ,his' hussars regiment.
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  33.  @ingratus8160  : As far as i know, yes. The use of this sign started in second quarter of 18th century, but i don't know the real reason.
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  34.  @dpeasehead  : In my country, Germany, after reformation in 16th century, there had been for decades some tensions/quarrels between the protestantic and the catholic states. In 1618 a violent event in Bohemia, in those days a part of Germany, escalated to a war. It was rather long, many parts of Germany had been involved, but it was an ,average' innergerman war ( the last one was 1866). In 1630 the war was basicly over with a victory of the imperial / catholic side. But now France and Sweden intervented with troops, the war lasted until 1648. Most parts of Germany had been destroyed, and diseases, hunger and the fury of war killed 30% of german population, in some regions nearly 90%. And Germany had up to early 18th century problems with rebuilding. So the intervention of foreign armies into a german civil war caused the greatest destruction of my country, not ww ll.
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  35.  @zefft.f4010  : From 1815- 1866 the German Federation existed, including Luxemburg, Liechtenstein and the german part of Austria. This federation consisted of about 36 independent states at the start, later fewer for historical reason. The federation army consisted of 300000 men, plus the Reservedivision ( about 12000 men). Every state had to send a contingent of 1% of population. So the coningent size varied from 90000 men of german austria, 80000 men of german prussia ( the parts of prussia and austria with no or few germans had not been in German Federation) at one end, and 180 men of Hohenzollern- Hechingen and 55 men of Liechtenstein. So only Prussia, Austria, and to a lower degree, Bavaria,Saxony, Württemberg, Hannover and some greatdukes could field usefull troops. The contingents of the dukes, princes and free towns had only low training and equipment. So Prussia realy had the best army in the german language countries. After 1866 Austria, Luxemburg and Liechtenstein ( Army disbanding 1867) left Germany and the remainng german Staates adopted prussian army training. In 1648 Switzerland left Germany, during an offical visit in 1912 Wilhelm ll watched swiss ( militia) soldiers and said to Swiss Gouvernement: Your soldiers are well trained.
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  36.  @ludovisuis : Even in the cold war era , many parts of the Autobahnen had been prepared for plane landing. When driving on the Autobahn, look for very large parking lots(?)/Parkplatz next to the road, this can be the prepared locations.
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  37. It is difficult to beat half or more countries of world at once.
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  38. When in 1815 German Federation/ Deutscher Bund was formed, three nongerman kings had been ,Federation Princes'/ Bundesfürsten. The dutch king as Greatduke of Luxemburg ( up to 1832), the danish king as Duke of Holstein und Lauenburg ( up to 1864) and the british king as King of Hannover ( from where they moved to Britain in 1714). This ended in 1839, when Queen Victoria became british queen. In contrast to Great Brittain in Hannover was ,salic law' which not allowed a female ruler. So in 1839 a reltive of Queen Victoria, Georg von Hannover- Cumberland became king of Hannover, his son Georg Ii lost his kingdom to Prussia. So when Victoria would have had the possibiliy of being Queen of Hannover, Bismarck would have had a large Problem.
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  39. Karl der Große macht sich in die Hose, Pippin der Kleine macht sie wieder reine. ( German pupils joke, translated in english, it doesn' t rhyme: Karl the Great shits in his trousers, Pippin the Short makes them clean again).
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  40.  @davidandresgonzalezvillami4935  : But after napoleonic age a formerly unknown natioalism started in Europe, this caused unnecessary hate. Also in some parts of Germany the people thought, in becomes better when french revolution forces entered Germany, but this changed rather fast. I personally don' t trust everybody, who enters my country and says: We make the situation better! Why should do someone this? Nobody does something for others, without the hope for getting money etc.. And from 17th century french troops often attacked Germany to steal territory and destroy dozens of villages and towns. It was easy for them, because Germany was split in more than 300states which often had troubles with each other. What right had the French ( Richellieu and later ,Sunking' Louis XlV to do so? Which right had Napoleon to attack other countries? Both had no right!
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  41. Before 1274 the Habsburg dynasty had been only unimportant counts/ Grafen. This unimportance was the reason, that Rudolf l was elected as German/ Roman King. A sidenote: In german monarchy time, there had been three important dynasties: Habsburg, Hohenzollern and, no more allive, Hohenstaufen. All three dymasties had its roots in medieval duchy Swabia.
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  42. There wasn' t much. The german colony ,Tsingtao' in China was well fortfied, so the german garrison could resist for about three months against mostly japanese troops. The ammunition run out, and the japanese reached the weakest point of german fortifications, so the german troops surrenderd. In the South Sea there had been only few german soldiers and policemen, some hundreds of indigenous policemen/ soldiers divided to a lot of islands, japanese forces took it without resistance. From Tsingtao the german East Asia Navy Squad tried to reach Germany via Cap Horn, they won a small seabattle against a british squad of elderly ships, but lost a second battle at Falkland Islands, all german ships sunk and Admiral Graf( Count) Spee died in action. Another single german warship ,Emden' die some merchant raiding, also merchant raider ,Seeadler' a ship of sail ( !) under command of Graf Luckner reached Pacific.
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  43. One small mistake. Prince Leopold , who tried to become the spanish king was a member of the Hohenzollern family, but not really prussian. He was a member of the swabian branch ,Hohenzollern- Sigmaringen'. The mountain and castle Hohenzollern is at the swabian Alb mountains near the town of Hechingen. The swabian branch is older than the prussian branch, but they only had a small teritory , which became a part of Prussia in 1849. Fun fact: For some weeks the town Sigmaringen was the capital of France (when the Vichy gouvernement had to flee).
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  44. Heinrich Himmler, the commander of SS, was also commander of police.
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  45. In Togo there had been only a small force of ,Kaiserliche Landespolizei'. The black policemen had similar training than black Askari soldiers in other german colonies, so they had been declared as ,Schutztruppe'(Military). In the other colonies the same was made, units of ,Landespolizei' had been integated into ,Schutztruppe'.
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  46.  @einundsiebenziger5488  : Achtung! Die Jäger hatten bis zum M71 ein anderes Modell als die Linieninfanterie.
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  47.  @talltroll7092  : Up to late 50s/ early 60s you could see farmers using cows for pulling wagons, ploughs etc. in Stuttgart region. My parents, born 1938 and 1942, often speak about this time and the problems with the cows.
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  48.  @adankmeme651  : From my homevillage you can see the mountain Hohenstaufen, when you are at the Plateau of this mountain, where once Hohenstaufen castle was, you have a good view to a beautyfull landscape.
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  49. Karl is more correct, but i , german myself, would not call him german, but germanic, because Germany did not exist before 843/ 911/919, even we germans are unsure, when Germany started.
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  50. The prussian army had been in fact the troops of Kingdoms Prussia and Saxony, Great Duchies of Oldenburg, Hessen- Darmstadt, Mecklenburg- Schwerin, Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Sachsen - Weimar - Eisenach, Duchies of Braunschweig, Anhalt , Sachsen - Coburg- Gotha, Sachsen - Meiningen, Sachsen - Altenburg, principalities of Lippe- Detmold, Waldeck- Pyrmont, Schwarzburg- Sondershausen, Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt, Reuß- Schleitz, Reuß- Greitz, the hanseatic towns Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck. Also the ,Felddivisions' of Württemberg and Baden seem unknown to you.
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