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Continued from this thread. All reviews and recommendations welcome!

Continuing from the old thread here. This thread is for quick/'simple' historical questions that do not have the scope for broad discussion to form their own threads. All time periods and geographical regions are fair game: discussions which develop may, from time to time, be split off into...

This is something of a spin-off from this thread, which started off on the depiction of the Gallipoli campaign in a recent film. I was particularly interested by how the film was the OP's (and, I suspect, many people's) first encounter with the historical subject matter. In this case, it was a...

The al-Sweady inquiry, set up to investigate claims that British troops mistreated and murdered several Iraqis following the so-called Battle of Danny Boy in 2004, has reported that the allegations are 'false' and 'a conspiracy'. Two parts of the coverage stand out in particular. One is the...

As is often the case, I've come across a question in the 'Questions not worth their own thread' thread which does merit its own thread. As part of a discussion of political ideologies, the point was raised that the word 'ideology' can seem to encompass people with no identification with each...

Cheetah requested this thread, and it's something I've been thinking quite a lot about of late. Firstly, a little biographical information - I spent most of my working life in the British Army, as both an OR and a junior officer, and have spent much of the time since then working in the cadet...

So do you propose that there should be no economic sanctions against Iran to deter it from enriching uranium? Furthermore, I'm not entirely sure that not being allowed to read Ian Banks' sci-fi necessarily constitutes punishment...

A postgraduate applicant to Oxford University is suing them, claiming that they discriminate against poor students in favour of those of means His case is that the figure is excessive, rather than that the concept is flawed: is the university justified in discriminating against poor...

In the interests of moving this debate away from the Rememberance Day thread, I thought I'd start one to contain the discussion which is developing over the morality of military action, military service, and the military as a concept. I've copied in some of the more relevant talking...

For those unaware, one of the major points in the Liberal Democrat (the junior partner in our ruling coalition) manifesto was the reform of the House of Lords. Currently, the Lords is composed primarily of 'life peers', who are appointed as an honour for their service in fields such as the arts...

As previously enjoyed here If I didn't in fact have privilege to start this, kindly ignore, but now at least it's off the ground.

Throughout this article, I have used British military terms for German ranks, formations and so on to make comparisons and reading easier - for example, Armoured Division for Panzerdivision, and Major for Stürmbannführer, excepting a few such as 'Luftwaffe'. Where 'battalion' is used for a...

Tell Them of Us - The British Army in Burma 1941-5 Flying Pig As far as dedications go, this article must be given to the hundreds of thousands of men who fought and gave their lives for King and Country in Burma during the Second World War. Its title comes from the epitaph laid for...

Split off from this thread. Read it again. I said in foreign policy - Hitler from 1933-1938 and Nasser until 1956 look very similar to me. Both stayed just on the right side of international hatred to 'rebel' against the great powers and advance their own countrys' agendas, and both managed...

Not Quite Mandalay - The Suez Emergency Flying Pig The Suez Canal has, since its opening in November 1869, been one of the world's most important strategic waterways. From the beginning it was instrumental in ensuring supply of resources, communications and in times of trouble...

Now it's official I thought I'd start a thread on it. The corporal has chosen not to receive identity protection and has today been identified as Benjamin Roberts-Smith having been presented with his medal by the Governor-General. He is now the second Australian SAS soldier to be awarded the...

Today the British Work and Pensions Secretary outlined his plans to force the long-term jobless to do compulsory community service. From the BBC: Article cut but you can find the full version here. Now as much as I'm totally against anybody who thinks they can use the welfare state as a means...

According to the Express, the British SAS have been given orders to be prepared to get staff at the British Embassy in Pakistan out of the country within four hours of an order. They are already stationed just across the border in Afghanistan Here's the link, sorry Another Sierra Leone...

Truely stunning. Not only shows how well-trained our boys are nowadays but the excellent quality of equipment they are getting. A hit at that range, let alone a kill, is something that not just any rifle can carry through. From what I've heard, a great soldier and a top bloke as well. Note...

According to two retired American generals. Apparently, there are so many obese youngsters in America that before long there simply won't be enough fit young men to fill the ranks of the world's most powerful military. It's supposedly so serious that they, along with other senior officers, have...