Gordon is a captivating historian, the world needs more men like Gordon.

Thanks for the wonderful presentation. My grandfather left his home of Stockholm Sweden and joined the French Foreign Legion in 1914. He found himself at the front, and experienced the Christmas Truce himself. So, YES it certainly happened in French sectors. He told me many fascinating stories , here are two. 1) After being lightly wounded (gas I think, they had no masks and had to urinate on cloths to breath through); he was transferred to an aerodrome as an airplane mechanic. At the time, failures were so bad, that mechanics had to take a test flight in every plane they worked on. The pilot of such a flight cracked up on landing, and he was injured again. 2) After being more seriously wounded in the trenches by a German bayonet, he was in a hospital, with many wounded French Colonial troops. Something in the ward began to smell very bad, and a search turned up a severed German head in a burlap sack under a bed.

Gordon Corrigan is a legend. Could listen to him talk red paint and it would still be fascinating.

Gordon Corrigan always results in an instant watch from me!

Gordon Corrigan is indeed a pleasure to listen to. So much to learn.

Love Gordon´s quick side comments: I had no idea Kamal Ataturk banned irregular verbs (I'm sure Turkish has/had a bunch), and wouldn't English be easier to spell and pronounce if stripped of its irregularities! The photo (minute 35) that purports to be of the Christmas Truce football match is assuredly not of that game if indeed it actually took place: as Gordon points out, the men in the photo are all wearing British summer uniforms and if you look careful in the upper right-hand quarter of the photo you can see white tents, not exactly kit you are going to find near No Man´s Land!

@alganhar1

2 жыл бұрын

Problem with English is stripping it of those irregularities, and that is easier said than done. English is after all a mongrel language as we are a mongrel people. It is a language that has evolved from its original Anglo Saxon roots while retaining influences from a whole plethora of other languages. It is mostly those loan words where the spelling inconsistencies of English derive from, that and the Great Vowel Death which happened just after the invention of the Printing Press (yes, it really did happen, look it up 😀). It could be a lot worse, yes English has a lot of irregularities but at least it is not Gender based, and unlike Welsh it does not have letters that mutate. Coch and Goch in Welsh both mean red, Castell Coch, Yddraig Goch, whether it is spelt with a C or a G depends on what precedes it. Welsh is full of mutational letters that do not exist in English. Its a common factor in all the extant 'Celtic' Languages. In fact I would say it is the inconsistencies in English and its ability to absorb words from other languages (that are in common use every day, Pyjamas for example) that makes English one of the most expressive and adaptable languages on the planet, IF used correctly!

Another excellent video from this channel. What a great association, to attract such knowledgeable speakers and members.

One of my favorite lecturers of the WFA; a treasure! I always wonder what's on his mind; he keeps his thoughts so close to his vest ;)

Another great talk from Gorden Corrigan. I could listen to him all day . Has he taught at sandhurst?

Corrigan is correct in pointing out that Germany objectively did not require a blue water navy; what he gets incorrect is that Germany was building battleships *before* Dreadnought. In fact, it was the German Navy Laws and concomitant battleship building plans which partly inspired Dreadnought.

Reminds me of AJP Taylor

31:28 Truce lecture starts. If something only happened when it was mentioned in the War Diary, then a great many things never happened that actually did. Gordon's wrong, there was another truce, on a smaller scale, in 1915.

Wearing bras saved 28 000 tons of steel in the USA during WW1 that would have been used in corsets. Wearing bras was also more comfortable for women working in factories.

Since you were referring to one of the greatest deceptions of the still young century, I have to disagree with you. "There's not a lot we can do about it" is probably exactly what most soldiers back then kept saying...Oh the irony. In fact, there is a lot we can do about. We won't get shot at dawn for refusing the jab. But so many couldnt get enough and even queued up for the boosters as well...

You rightly mention IRA and Taliban but forgot to mention 1st Para, or is murdering civilians ok when it's done by HM Forces?

@morden279

2 жыл бұрын

Relevance and a subject's worthiness in regards to discussion is often predicated upon equivalence. Since 90% of extrajudicial killings during the Troubles were perpetrated by the IRA, perhaps Corrigan didn't see the singular example of the Paras and Bloody Sunday as worth mentioning?

@asnieres32

2 жыл бұрын

@@morden279 HM forces shooting captured members of the IRA, extrajudicial killings. They took their chances and paid the price. IRA purposefully murdering civilians, that is terrorism. 1st Para murdering civilians is state sponsored terrorism. Why bring the IRA terrorism into a topic but fail to mention British state terrorism. It makes no sense unless he considers what 1st Para did in NI at best poor judgement or at worst as legitimate.

@davemacnicol8404

Жыл бұрын

Yes.

slave father kaiser