US would be winning if conditions were totally different
I remember when the story about the American revolution was “haha those stupid prideful redcoats just wanted us all to line up in a big field and shoot each other, but we just sniped and skirmished.” And now the US empire is the one getting mad that it’s enemies don’t want to line up all their stuff in a big field, and are instead cheaply taking advantage of this newfangled bullshit called “terrain.”
There were pragmatic reasons for the lines and formations when it came to fighting btw. It eas just cause they were stupid. A big part is the smoke. Guns from the era put out a fuckload of smoke, especially if fire en mass. Having a guy next to you to orient yourself meant you would all be shooting in the same direction and not towards one another by accident. The goal was to get into range for a bayonet charge while your enemy was reloading. The formation also helped with cavalry flanking. Same with the drums, they were there so you could hear what to do, it was loud as hell and you couldnt see shit. In a more standard war neither side wanted it to get too chaotic cause it would just be a bloodbath that doesn’t help either side. The bright colors were also cause of the smoke. I cannot overstate how much smoke there was on battlefields at the time.
I’m not super informed on the amerixan revolution cause im not from there and dont care much, but sniping with a smooth bore single shot gun even into a large crowd isnt gonna do much. And it’s not like the entire army was marching in formation. They had scouts and cavalry on the flanks and in advance of the main forces.
The Americans would do a lot of feinting and the running into a swamp or something. And you mentioned that sniping into a large crowd wouldn’t do much, which is why the American troops would mostly target officers or people in charge of supplies. The only other thing I can think that was unorthodox at the time were night raids. The American troops would sneak into the enemy camps at night, stab important people to death, then run away.
However despite all that the core American strategy was still in traditional line formations like you’re talking about, a basic necessity of using smoothbore muskets that generate huge plumes of smoke. The only unorthodox thing I know about that is the Americans would send advance scouts to hide in trees or inside dirt mounds to harass the enemy formation as it was getting organized, as in, both sides were already getting into position to have a typical European style line formation battle, but the American side would have a couple of guys who’d start early.
Also I think most historians are of the opinion that unorthodox guerilla tactics were not what decided the American revolution. It was more of a problem of over-extended supply lines and the UK fighting multiple wars simultaneously.
I’m kinda surprised even targeting officers etc would be effective enough to risk it just cause bad range and accuracy. I guess having a guy on a hill take a single shot and hope for the best before running away can be low enough risk in the right circumstances.
Were night raids unorthodox because in these circumstances it was more practical given that it was a civil war and the territory was relatively small and forested compared to say your average Napoleonic land battle or was it a rules of engagement kinda deal cause there was no electricity and everyone went to bed at the same time?
I foind the idea that guerilla tactics being a deciding factor in the American revolution to be deeply doubtful on its face. Both sides were badically the same guys but on different teams. British officers vs former British officers arent gonna think all that differently as far as doctrine goes. And war just like…wasnt done like that on any meaningful scale during that time and under that culture, it would be a weird exception and a huge deviation from standard doctrine. It would be like modern soldiers today wearing bright colors and firing in formation.
Edit: did just get an idea for making a certain section of the scale model scene mad. A few like to make battle replicas. Ill just photograph some smoke and post it as a battle. These nerds are sticklers for realism
Night raids were unorthodox because it was a huge risk with potentially no payoff. They were usually only done in Europe out of desperation is my understanding. Like you said, battles would become filled with impenetrable smoke. Night raids combine that with it being pitch black and you couldn’t use drums to keep people together, since you know, trying to be sneaky. The bright colored uniforms also don’t help since it’s night.
I think the Americans only got away with night raids in the instances they did because of spy networks. Like the famous Christmas night raid was able to happen because Washington had a double agent cattle trader who was also friends with a British colonel. He would pretend to be ‘captured’ by the Americans, the escape and give false troop movement info to the British officers. I guess the British had fewer local assets.
Makes sense. It would make sense you also wouldnt night raid without a good chance of getting results cause they would do it back and then both you and your armies are tired on either side for the whole thing.
Americans did have special units with rifled flintlocks. The rifles were just way more expensive to manufacture and took longer to reload as you had to jam the misketball down the barrel, fighting the rifling all the way. But they were popular with frontiersmen, and so there were rifled units that would attempt to snipe and ambush British columns. The tactic was successful enough that the British would have their own rifled units during the Napoleonic wars, most famously in the guerrilla campaigns during the peninsular war in Spain.
Neat! I wish more war history guys would explains things exactly how you just did. Theyre usually gun nerds and assume everyone else is.
Didnt the americans just barely hold out until the french arrived to save their asses?
I would be winning if I was stronger!! 😤
Woah, hold on there Vegeta.
“If my grandma had wheels, she’d be a bicycle!”
UNPOPULAR OPINION: I WOULD HAVE GONE PRO IF NOT FOR MY BUM KNEE AND MY OPPONENT’S ABILITY TO BEAT ME
But four touchdowns in a single game
I’ve noticed this is a thing fascists and wehraboos do when theyre talking about WW2. “Oh if only all the conditions were different, then Germany couldve won!” If you want to imagine a different timeline with made up reality, how about one where the nazis never came to rule?
Don’t siege Leningrad, seize it immediately.
“Mein commandant! Weez are just outside Leningrad, we have more than enough forces to take it yah!”
“Mmmm, I don’t know Hans, I think to be fair we should hold back and let the Red Army dig in. It would be boring to take it right now.”
Waiting for the burger war so I can turn St. Petersburg, Fl, into Leningrad South.
I’m always laughing at this, because Nazis tried and got bogged down in trench fighting on Pulkovo heights!
I dont even get the point of Monday morningg quarterback historical conflicts. You dont get a redo, so it really doesnt matter
They get to pretend that they would be extremely smart ubermensch, when the people doing these wars had a much better (but still limited by both their personal knowledge, ideology and technology) understanding of how to conduct warfare during that period of time, when more than likely they would have ended up on the other end of a firing squad for contradicting Hitler one too many times.
Translation: the US can only win against adversaries that cannot fight back
A great example of this is their predator/reaper drones. The US has killed thousands of people with them but the second they tried flying over someone with intact air defences they lost dozens of the things. Absolute paper tiger only good for murdering those who can’t shoot back
Really funny tbh
Practically speaking, it’s an unmanned prop plane, no shit a military is gonna be able to down them
Cracks knuckles Nuh-uh, I’ve got 1000s of hours of War Thunder under my belt
The US would have won this war if they could just kill defenseless people.
Well if that ain’t an admission that every country should have a competent military and maybe (definitely) a nuke than I don’t know what is.
Perhaps the US should have considered that before they started the war, then
americans complaining geopolitical luck of countries lmao. usa would not have this power if they were not thousands of kilometers away from every major conflict.
them fighting back is really unfair. fortunately the US has fiercely independent journalists who are willing to call them out for it:
(click for video)
she keeps being expressionless when he replies. no agreement just indignation that american vril is being spilled at all, it must be the foreigner’s fault.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Burgerbrains who grew up during insurgent wars of Iraq and Afghanistan getting the sticker sock of a standing army that can fight back and control chokepoints.
Millennium Challenge intensifies
If not for all their advantages in this war, they would have no advantages in this war!
I would have simply won the war
UNPOPULAR OPINION: WATER IS WET
For those wondering if he’s joking, here’s a post he made recently:
Reza Pahlavi spoke about Israel as a future partner for Iran:
“Iran and Israel are the only two countries that have a biblical relationship.
Iranians didn’t die for the Strait to remain open or for a nuclear deal. They died for liberty.
Once this regime is gone, we will be able to rebuild Iran.”
Writer: Sol
IIRC this is the same Mario that had Benny Johnson and Liz Crokin on for his Epstein Symposium ™ years ago
Imagine your “claim to fame” being “hosting the largest show on X, the everything app.” that’s your life, your legacy, the thing you will be known for.
Every single time without fail when I notice a Lebanese name in American/Western public life (especially a Christian name)
I know I occasionally joke about us having an inherent thirst for fascism but I swear most of us really are normal people
Woah, this one makes my brain do some weird shit. I had to read this like 5 times.
Like my brain won’t keep a consistent tone as I read it, keeps involuntarily slipping between “satire”, “sincere liberal style imperialism-for-their-freedom”, and “stroke / schizo-affective / unwell”.
I actually don’t know which of the 3 is my ending interpretation. Gatdamn this is some weird poison. Or I’m whooshed or similar.
Wtf lol
