Military History Inside Out

Military History Inside Out, from warscholar.org, does not settle on a single format. Three strands run side by side, and each asks something different of a listener. The Invasion Scenario Series is the most distinctive. Each entry takes one country, sets out notional invasion scenarios and covers its military history from ancient times through the modern era. The show states its purpose plainly: to educate war gamers and military history enthusiasts, not to back any political position. Weapons are only part of the picture. Demographics, climate, geography, food, fuel and logistics all get weighed too. The writing is scripted and divided into sections, closer to a briefing read aloud than a conversation. The Cuba scenario calls the island the key to the new world. It then runs from Taino chiefdoms unifying the island to Diego Velazquez landing at Baracoa in 1511 with 300 men. The Iran scenario describes a Sasanian state bled dry by decades of war with the Byzantines, then Mongols targeting qanat irrigation to starve cities such as Merv and Nishapur. Greenland becomes an asymmetrical contest between Norse settlers and the Thule, whose dog sleds and kayaks suited the conditions. The interviews move at a completely different pace. The host talks with authors about their books and starts by asking for background. David P. Colley wrote 'The Folly of Generals', which argues that Eisenhower's broad-front strategy lengthened World War II. He remembers veterans coming home when he was young and argues that historical research sometimes does not go far enough. He wonders aloud what an attack at Belfort might have done, given how much German generals feared one. Jamie Holmes, author of 'The Free and the Dead', explains that the label Seminoles covered a loose confederation of different groups, and that General Jessup achieved a great deal simply by seizing people. The third strand is outright drama. The Isandlwana episode stages the Anglo-Zulu War battle through a British priority dispatch, a timestamped chronology, a Zulu point of view and a narrator's first-person death, all under the show's own warning about violent and offensive language. Where to start depends on appetite. The scenarios suit anyone who thinks in maps and supply lines, the interviews suit anyone who wants the argument behind a book, and the dramatization gives the physical weight of a battle. Across all three, the sign-offs invite corrections and criticism and urge listeners to research the details themselves.