wulf
God-Emperor
Being new here, is that something I should worry about?Getting NO demerits from Barb is its own punishment!
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Milestones
- Thread starter admihoek
- Start date
M
montycrusto
Guest
Basically @Barbaria1 is our slot machine, we shove cheeky remarks into her slot and pull her tight little handle, and every now and then someone wins the jackpot - a shower of demerits!
wulf
God-Emperor
Sort of like 'pushing her buttons' ?Basically @Barbaria1 is our slot machine, we shove cheeky remarks into her slot and pull her tight little handle, and every now and then someone wins the jackpot - a shower of demerits!
Migoz2
Senator
Those were the days, when football fans just drank stupid amounts of alcohol before a big match, rather than drinking stupid amounts of alcohol, snorting cocaine and sticking a flare somewhere it really isn't meant to go........
(externally hosted image)
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montycrusto
Guest
Makes you proud to be English dunnit
Basically @Barbaria1 is our slot machine, we shove cheeky remarks into her slot and pull her tight little handle, and every now and then someone wins the jackpot - a shower of demerits!
Idiots
windar
Teller of Tales
Only 6, guys. I don't even remember what I said to get 23. Or maybe Barb has mellowed in herIdiots
wulf
God-Emperor
Wow.... that was easier than I thought.Idiots
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montycrusto
Guest
Don’t flatter yourself; I think you got 23 because Barb fell asleep with her nose on the demerit key.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Eighty years ago, on December 5th 1941, a largely forgotten turning point in World War II took place.
On the Eastern Front, the Red Army started a counter-offensive, intended to drive the Wehrmacht back from Moscow. German forces had approached the Soviet capital and had it in sight, but unprepared for the harsh Russian winter, their offensive had stalled. The Red Army counteroffensive would drive them back up to 200 km. With a Napoleon-like 1812 collapse of the front at hand, Hitler fired lots of field and staff generals and took over all the military decisions. The retreat was stopped, but this was not due to Hitler’s tactical genius. In Moscow, meanwhile, Stalin had become overconfident, and threw -and wasted - his reserves into futile attacks, equally spread along the whole Eastern Front, allowing the Wehrmacht to stop retreating.
The Soviet offensive sealed the fate of Operation Barbarossa, which had started six weeks too late, only achieved one of its three main targets (capturing Kiev, but not Leningrad and Moscow), which, despite spectacular tactical successes, had cost much more men, material and resources than anticipated, and which had ended up with an army unprepared for winter war.
The Wehrmacht would never be able again to put up an offensive like Barbarossa, so in 1942, choices had to be made. Stalin gambled that Moscow would be the objective again, so he held most of his troops in the north. But Hitler’s choice fell on an economical target : cut off the Soviet industry from its oil supply – and capture the oil fields of Baku and Maikop. Even if this required fighting across the Caucasus Mountains. The offensive towards Baku ('Case Blue') would require a turn of the Wehrmacht’s marching direction, from the east-facing front, to the south. It also needed the establishment of a defensive line north of the offensive, from the Don to the Wolga. This defensive line would reach the Wolga near a city that was initially not deemed the effort to get captured, had it not been named… Stalingrad.
On the Eastern Front, the Red Army started a counter-offensive, intended to drive the Wehrmacht back from Moscow. German forces had approached the Soviet capital and had it in sight, but unprepared for the harsh Russian winter, their offensive had stalled. The Red Army counteroffensive would drive them back up to 200 km. With a Napoleon-like 1812 collapse of the front at hand, Hitler fired lots of field and staff generals and took over all the military decisions. The retreat was stopped, but this was not due to Hitler’s tactical genius. In Moscow, meanwhile, Stalin had become overconfident, and threw -and wasted - his reserves into futile attacks, equally spread along the whole Eastern Front, allowing the Wehrmacht to stop retreating.
The Soviet offensive sealed the fate of Operation Barbarossa, which had started six weeks too late, only achieved one of its three main targets (capturing Kiev, but not Leningrad and Moscow), which, despite spectacular tactical successes, had cost much more men, material and resources than anticipated, and which had ended up with an army unprepared for winter war.
The Wehrmacht would never be able again to put up an offensive like Barbarossa, so in 1942, choices had to be made. Stalin gambled that Moscow would be the objective again, so he held most of his troops in the north. But Hitler’s choice fell on an economical target : cut off the Soviet industry from its oil supply – and capture the oil fields of Baku and Maikop. Even if this required fighting across the Caucasus Mountains. The offensive towards Baku ('Case Blue') would require a turn of the Wehrmacht’s marching direction, from the east-facing front, to the south. It also needed the establishment of a defensive line north of the offensive, from the Don to the Wolga. This defensive line would reach the Wolga near a city that was initially not deemed the effort to get captured, had it not been named… Stalingrad.
Marcius
Tribune
Eighty years ago today, on 7 December 1941, the Japanese Empire climbed Mount Niitaka.
When it climbed down almost four years later, it was a very different empire.
When it climbed down almost four years later, it was a very different empire.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto.
Silent_Water
Tribune
Really many Europeans hope that there will not be a "violent resuscitation attempt" for the Soviet Union this winter, because then, a lot of our common future probably would already have happened ...
Silent_Water
Tribune
Yesterday, Friday evening, 10th of December 2021, there happened something in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which let all alarm bells ring in many European capitals and in Washington, too, because it could reverse the fragile peace in South-Eastern Europe after the wars which destroyed Yugoslavia and ended in the peace treaty of Dayton about 25 years ago:
The parliament of the Bosnian Serb minority decided yesterday to install new laws which would separate them more and more of the legislation from the central state and even the new creation of a separate own Serb military would be possible again within this fragile state.
It sounds funny at first, but we Germans are sometimes joking about an independant Bavarian state with a Bavarian wall around it but even we Germans would probably not tolerate a separate Bavarian army, when only Bavarians would like to have one without talking with all other of our German "tribes" before "splitting".
So, you can easily imagine how dangerous such a "political game" could become again almost exactly 25 years after the most bloody war in Yugoslavia, which disassembled itself by megalomania and cruelty on all participating warring parties:
www.theguardian.com
Even the most famous Swiss newspaper says, that this is one of the most dangerous developments in Europe at this time.
www.nzz.ch
I do not really have a good feeling for next year, because of at least 5 unsolved "trouble spots" around the globe in which all superpowers of this planet could become involved during the next two years.
OK, we will probably finally get rid of most of the dangers of Covid-19, but we will probably never get rid of our human silly nationalistic-chauvinist politicians and it seems, only the weapons of mankind are becoming more and more "intelligent" but nothing and no one else.
In fact, being a German, European history is often really strange. When a former superpower or simply a multi-national breaks down, no matter if it was the Roman Empire or the Soviet Union, there always appear politicians who always believe they could enlarge or expand their own "little" power, territory or wealth by increasing tensions between the different nations - and they always have some "success" in destroying many human lives.
Well, let us hope the best and be prepared for the worst - again and again and again in human history ...
GOOD LUCK and a peaceful life for all the readers here!
The parliament of the Bosnian Serb minority decided yesterday to install new laws which would separate them more and more of the legislation from the central state and even the new creation of a separate own Serb military would be possible again within this fragile state.
It sounds funny at first, but we Germans are sometimes joking about an independant Bavarian state with a Bavarian wall around it but even we Germans would probably not tolerate a separate Bavarian army, when only Bavarians would like to have one without talking with all other of our German "tribes" before "splitting".
So, you can easily imagine how dangerous such a "political game" could become again almost exactly 25 years after the most bloody war in Yugoslavia, which disassembled itself by megalomania and cruelty on all participating warring parties:
Bosnian Serb leader likens himself to David Cameron in latest demands
Milorad Dodik cites former UK PM’s attempt to renegotiate Britain’s EU membership terms
www.theguardian.com
Even the most famous Swiss newspaper says, that this is one of the most dangerous developments in Europe at this time.
Bosnien: Serbenregion entzieht Zentralstaat Kompetenzen
Der Chef der serbischen Separatisten in Bosnien, Milorad Dodik, droht seit Jahren mit Abspaltung. Nun hat die Serbenregion dem Zentralstaat Kompetenzen entzogen.
www.nzz.ch
I do not really have a good feeling for next year, because of at least 5 unsolved "trouble spots" around the globe in which all superpowers of this planet could become involved during the next two years.
OK, we will probably finally get rid of most of the dangers of Covid-19, but we will probably never get rid of our human silly nationalistic-chauvinist politicians and it seems, only the weapons of mankind are becoming more and more "intelligent" but nothing and no one else.
In fact, being a German, European history is often really strange. When a former superpower or simply a multi-national breaks down, no matter if it was the Roman Empire or the Soviet Union, there always appear politicians who always believe they could enlarge or expand their own "little" power, territory or wealth by increasing tensions between the different nations - and they always have some "success" in destroying many human lives.
Well, let us hope the best and be prepared for the worst - again and again and again in human history ...
GOOD LUCK and a peaceful life for all the readers here!
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Flashback to the year 1721.
Would anyone in the Holy Roman Empire would have tolerated a separate Prussian state with a separate Prussian Army?
1745 : Prussian Army crushes Holy Roman Emperial Army (hence already conventiently calles 'Austrian Army' at Hohenfriedberg.
It is the War of Austrian Succession. The since long independent hereditary Electorate of Bavaria fights on Prussia's side with its long existing separate Bavarian Army.
The Kingdom of Prussia was only abolished in 1918. It had until then a separate army. Even after then, Bavaria has not stopped trying to impose the Reinheitsgebot over the whole of Europe!
Silent_Water
Tribune
Flashback to the year 1721.
Would anyone in the Holy Roman Empire would have tolerated a separate Prussian state with a separate Prussian Army?
1745 : Prussian Army crushes Holy Roman Emperial Army (hence already conventiently calles 'Austrian Army' at Hohenfriedberg.
It is the War of Austrian Succession. The since long independent hereditary Electorate of Bavaria fights on Prussia's side with its long existing separate Bavarian Army.
The Kingdom of Prussia was only abolished in 1918. It had until then a separate army. Even after then, Bavaria has not stopped trying to impose the Reinheitsgebot over the whole of Europe!
Mhm ... our Bavarians would say that the German "Reinheitsgebot" of German beer was and would allways have been worth all wars in which Bavaria was ever participating!
But you are speaking of times in which most German states still had their own "little" governing noble kings or lords, who decided the fate of their more or less little states.
Silent_Water
Tribune
Flashback to the year 1721.
Would anyone in the Holy Roman Empire would have tolerated a separate Prussian state with a separate Prussian Army?
1745 : Prussian Army crushes Holy Roman Emperial Army (hence already conventiently calles 'Austrian Army' at Hohenfriedberg.
It is the War of Austrian Succession. The since long independent hereditary Electorate of Bavaria fights on Prussia's side with its long existing separate Bavarian Army.
The Kingdom of Prussia was only abolished in 1918. It had until then a separate army. Even after then, Bavaria has not stopped trying to impose the Reinheitsgebot over the whole of Europe!
Talking about little German-speaking states, there is one of my most favourite stories from the so-called "German War" or "Austro-Prussian War" ...
Austro-Prussian War - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
... which took place in a strange coincidence near the time of the "Civil War" between North and South in the USA.
In this link, you will find this overview with participating commanders and little German-speaking states AAANND the "micro-state" of Liechtenstein which was possibly the most successful state in this war with their 80 (!) soldiers:
No other state was ever in a war with the German state of Prussia (= the German "Sparta" at this time!) and had such a luck like Liechtenstein!Liechtenstein was the smallest ally of Austria and sent all his youth - 77 young men, two police officers and their police chief as their "General", who all were not needed in the harvests of the year 1866 - to this war with Prussia.
Prussia had the most modern weapons and one version of the story is that the Liechtensteiner were walking as usual to their planned battlefield but when they arrived there, the Prussians had already won the last battle and the war.
The other version is that the Liechtensteiner Army was led by their Austrian scout to an Alpine Pass in order to protect Liechtenstein if the Prussians would ever come to the Alps in their advance.
In any case, their Austrian scout was said to have been a young goatherd before the war and he also was said to have had a lot of entertaining talents. He was also very successful to lead the Liechtensteiners on ways where they probably never saw a Prussian soldier!
Moreover, when the war was won by Prussia, the Austrians and their allies had to pay compensations and damage payment to the victorious Prussians in their dictated peace treaty. Because no Prussian and probably also no Austrian general ever saw a soldier from Liechtenstein, this micro-state was really forgotten in the peace treaty!
And now the best part of the story: Because the Liechtensteiners were so happy about their Austrian scout that all of their soldiers returned from the war with these deadly-dangerous Prussians, they promoted their Austrian scout to Liechtensteinian citizenship and made him their fourth policeman!
This was unique in all the German-Austrian history for ever and for all times: 80 (!) Liechtensteiner soldiers went to war with Prussia, which had one of the most dangerous modern armies in Europe at that time ... AND 81 (!!!) Liechtensteiner SOLDIERS CAME BACK FROM THE WAR !!!
And because Liechtenstein was forgotten in the peace treaty, it is still at war with Prussia !!!
(OK, Prussia does not exist any more since 1918, but if someone would ever try to revive it, he should know that Liechtenstein is still at war with Prussia!)
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Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Eighty years ago, on December 11th 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. None of both countries had treaty obligations with Japan to do so. The initiative had likely come from Hitler himself, who underestimated both the economical strength and the fighting spirit of the US. Hitler had consulted hardly no one about this decision, he probably saw things 'big', in the context of his self-declared major role in the world's destiny. Probably too, he also wanted to show that, after the recent defeat before Moscow, he still had control over the events. Hitler probably expected that the US would have had trouble enough struggling with Japan in the Pacific. Anyway, things turned different, the US soon prepared its intervention in Europe, and the declaration of war is generally considered as Hitler's biggest blunder in the war.
Hugin&Munin
Presenter Of Images
But the purity law for beer was published earlier in other German micro-states with the same ingredients for brewing. As from near my home in the city of Weimar as early as 1393 and not only in 1516 as in Bavaria. Likewise in the town of Weißensee in Sachsen Weißenfels in 1434 the "Statuta thaberna". Of course I say that without wanting to offend our southern neighbors in Bavaria.Mhm ... our Bavarians would say that the German "Reinheitsgebot" of German beer was and would allways have been worth all wars in which Bavaria was ever participating!
But you are speaking of times in which most German states still had their own "little" governing noble kings or lords, who decided the fate of their more or less little states.