Monday 27 July 2020

The Sacrifice of 155 Battery, Sidi Nsir 1943 - Lindybeige

Now I don't normally re-post youtube videos, but I have been a fan of 'Lindybeige' (he wears a lot of beige) for a while now.

He has a large history / wargame based youtube channel, but this one echoed a lot of my thoughts surrounding the arc of 'forgetful-remembrance' that we seem to be using to redefine WW2 and its aftermath in recent years for a young, impressionable future generation (now sadly placed in some economic strife - which makes understanding history even more important, lest they veer down the wrong path once more).

Watch right to the end, and listen to his views regarding those who say 'oh the war was so long ago, not worth remembering eh?' and the arrogance of the 'what's the point of remembrance' crowd.

These are the reasons that we should still be teaching World War Two as a defining moment, in history class; whatever your thoughts on poppies, marches, medals and remembrance, or even modern crises, there's always a bigger fish...





14 comments:

  1. Well said, sir! I do like the occasional Lindy Beige video. My favorite is "Napoleon's Greatest Foe" which I heartily recommend you go watch immediately! It may surprise you and the result was someone I've never heard of!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahhh , I had actually seen that one - the English Naval bloke that everyone forgot about, I think?
      The more I watch of Lindy, the more I realise that he has the inside track on understanding history.

      Delete
  2. Revisionist history has been a thing locally for years it is now a global agenda.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have read histories or watched the odd documentary which has caused me to rethink certain events and I like this. I don't like these being labelled 'Revisionist' which seems rightly or wrongly to me to come across as an insult or it is hijacked to be used by bogus historians pushing their own agenda rather than an alternative view. I shall catch this later.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good point George. I'm currently researching a massive amount of revisionist history with respect to Irish concerns.
      Ireland puts the 'R' in Revisionist. Everything from political movements to misremembered history (1789, I'm lookin' at you).
      Guy Beiner is a key academic in this regard.
      My concern, and reason for posting, is that we start to see some of these same attitides being foisted upon WWII. It's not that they're necessarily devisive, but impressionable youth in today's society need to hang onto history, not have it re-written for them.

      Delete
    2. When our yoof think Churchill is a dog which sells insurance and some do not even know who we fought against in WWII I despair. I was born seven years after the war so I have no doubt this fuels my prejuidices. I remember being quite taken aback that in my first ever WWII rules the British had to take morale tests which might cause them to run!

      Delete
    3. I know. It becomes difficult to appreciate where the yoof are coming from now. I know we had our diet of comics, (dangerously inaccurate) movies, plastic figures and commando magazine etc.; we even had to understand where the cold war had come from to some extent.
      With that gone, there seems to be movement to forget rather than commemorate, to re-educate (dangerous term) rather than quantify in a historical context.

      Argue this point to its zenith, and we start to see dangerous re-interpretations of WW2. Such a defining moment should see its context in history education of the 'yoof' maximised, not sidelined.

      When we consider some of the stats for nationals killed during the war, and set it in context with the 'covid crisis', there is little comparison.

      Interestingly, we also don't see any single comparison with the 1968 pandemic in this regard, when well over 1 million died (estimates up to 4 million exist), and bodies in Berlin had to be stored in tube stations. Imagine that happening today - the Beeb would have a field day!

      Has history officially become 'bunk'?

      Delete
    4. Having said all that ...I have late war Reb flags in my previous 1862 battle ...oops

      Delete
  4. Oh man, I haven’t watched a LindyBiege in ages! I can’t remember why I fell out of the habit. Nice find. 😀

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Stew. I think his stuff is great - he even takes teh p*ss out of his own sponsors LOL

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice post Darren, I can now add Lindy Beige to my watch list. As an ex-gunner I found this particular episode fascinating. As for revisionist history - bah! I was recently asked to proof read a Uni essay, by one of the kids in the office on the cause of the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Well written but no idea about the facts. Cheers Greg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Greg.
      Actually, I'm not joking about the PhD - part-time, but it centres on folklore, revisionism, and the Jacobite movement - thereby creating a historiographical re-framing of Irish history across 400 years.
      For better or worse? Therein lies the research topic.

      Guy Beiner recently did a lot of similar work for the 1789 rebellion, and how powerful an intermingling of politics and 'engineered forgetting' can be in terms of historical precedent.

      There's a thin line between facts and 'fact'ion. It gets blurred like the line between historical 'truth' and politics.

      Delete