G.D. Falksen's Blog, page 1346
March 7, 2012
This is FANTASTIC!
"Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage is...
This is FANTASTIC!
"Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage is a parody music video paying homage to Alice Paul and the generations of brave women who joined together in the fight to pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote in 1920.
For more information about this video, go to Soomo's "Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage" site [http://www.soomopublishing.com/suffrage]. "
French Honor Guard, 1814.
Artist: Hippolyte Bellangé
French Honor Guard, 1814.
Artist: Hippolyte Bellangé
An elite gendarme of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, early 19th...
An elite gendarme of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, early 19th century, by Hippolyte Bellangé.
A French grenadier (elite line infantry) and a voltigeur (elite...
A French grenadier (elite line infantry) and a voltigeur (elite light infantry), 1808.
Note the visible difference in height between the two soldiers.
Grenadiers were always extremely tall and strong men, a practice dating back to when they were grenade-throwing specialists and needed to be able to throw the heavy grenades far enough away not to hurt themselves or their comrades.
Voltigeurs on the other hand were generally small, lightweight men who could move quickly. Their original purpose was to ride with the cavalry to serve as a form of mobile infantry. When this proved unworkable, they were instead used as elite skirmishers and marksmen.
Artist: Hippolyte Bellangé
French chasseur à cheval (light cavalry), 1812.
Artist:...
French chasseur à cheval (light cavalry), 1812.
Artist: Hippolyte Bellangé
Tilda Swinton has fantastic eyes
Tilda Swinton has fantastic eyes
Designed by Franz von Stuck and found at Bremen City Hall,...
Designed by Franz von Stuck and found at Bremen City Hall, Germany.
Beautiful lock found in the lid of a chest, this time in...
Beautiful lock found in the lid of a chest, this time in Croatia.
One of the most impressive military innovations of Gustav II was...
One of the most impressive military innovations of Gustav II was the resurgence of cavalry. During the Early Modern Period, the development of pike tactics and especially the Spanish tercio (which combined pikes with firearms) severely threatened the previous supremacy of cavalry (disciplined and well-trained blocks of pikemen were effectively impervious to cavalry attacks). Cavalry was forced to wait until pike squares were broken before charging, so they developed a tactic of "rolling fire" where multiple ranks of pistol-armed horsemen would advance on the enemy, fire, and retreat to reload in sequence. In theory, this would weaken the pikemen sufficiently for a melee attack.
Gustav II abandoned this tactic and instead had his cavalry charge the enemy, fire point-blank, and continue on into melee range with swords. Combined with the firepower of musketeers and artillery, the cavalry were able to break the pike formations and close effectively.
