Favorite moments in history

longshanks

Bob Z wrote: »

I know he fought for Germany but was Rommel a Nazi?

Latchy wrote: »

Rommel was one of the most devoted Nazis of them all .

Well a boy does neeed a hobby, because as we all know the devil finds work for idle hands

HalloweenJack

08.01.1947.

Latchy

Bob Z wrote: »

But he was looked up to even by his enemies? He disobeyed orders to kiull Jews and even tried to have Hitler killed

longshanks wrote: »

Well a boy does neeed a hobby, because as we all know the devil finds work for idle hands

His command and role in the quick invasion of France,Belgium and Hollond made him a popular General with german troops and put him in high regard by friend and foe alike .His part in attempt to have Hitler killed resulted in him ( by request ) commiting suicide .

Actors Jack Hawkins and Jame Mason both played the part of Rommel in a movies .

Wibbs

I've many faves, but with your indulgence I'll take it back to personally for me. It was watching the last moon shot as a child. I remember watching this very clearly(after watching the guys the previous days walk about the place like excited kids);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOdzhQS_MMw

And I also remember crying my eyes out. My dad years later told me at the time he tried to chill me out by saying we would be going back and I through kiddie tears saying "no we won't. the moon is all alone now". Sadly as of today I was right.

Luckily years later, though still a kid, I met one of the guys who was in that actual module. I didn't mention my tears though.

fontanalis

When the man from Del Motne said yes.

karma_

fontanalis wrote: »

When the man from Del Motne said yes.

The first orangeman in history indeed to do so.

Sticky_Fingers

Wibbs wrote: »

I've many faves, but with your indulgence I'll take it back to personally for me. It was watching the last moon shot as a child. I remember watching this very clearly(after watching the guys the previous days walk about the place like excited kids);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOdzhQS_MMw

And I also remember crying my eyes out. My dad years later told me at the time he tried to chill me out by saying we would be going back and I through kiddie tears saying "no we won't. the moon is all alone now". Sadly as of today I was right.

Luckily years later, though still a kid, I met one of the guys who was in that actual module. I didn't mention my tears though.

I envy you being around to see man walk on the moon in real time. It truly is a pity that we spend billions upon billions killing each other every year but we cannot be arsed as a species to spend a little bit of coin to achieve such feats again. Makes you wonder are we worth saving as a species, If we saw pandas beating each other over the head with bamboo instead of eating it we would judge them not worth the trouble and leave them to their fate.

up for anything

Morlar wrote: »

Mine (or one of them) would be the falling of the berlin wall/demise of communism.

Mine was the day that China held democratic, unrigged elections. I just can't remember the date though.

prinz

Latchy wrote: »

Rommel was one of the most devoted Nazis of them all .

Eh, no he wasn't. He was a professional soldier. He was anything but a devoted Nazi, just a few differences between Rommel and other generals..

1. Rommel banned officers and soldiers under his command from wearing swastika armbands etc, he was also known for not giving the straight arm Heil Hitler salute.

2. Disobeyed orders from above that Jewish POW's should be executed. Ordered his own units that they be treated as any other and that their religion should not be noted on any documents that might be seen by people above his rank, i.e. he hid them with the rest of his prisoners, saving them from death.

3. Diobeyed orders from above that commandos and partisans etc be executed on the spot.

4. There are many examples of his aversion to collective punishment etc meted out by his fellow generals.

5. He frequently reported fellow officers for war crimes in the field... of course they were acting under orders. He was ignoring them so his complaints were falling on deaf ears.

6. He joined the conspiracy to take down Hitler and his cronies and wanted Hitler et al tried for war crimes.

7. In France he was ordered to arrest any Jews his troops came across and prepare them for deportation. He refused that order.

8. In France when local French were used as labour, Rommel ordered that they be paid a decent wage for their work. Not used as slave labour.

9. He made many attempts to intervene on behalf of Jewish and other prisoners who were being 'taken away'.

10. There is a specific reason his Afrika Korps have never been accused of any sort of war crime be it against civilians, POW's, injured troops anything, and it certainly isn't that he was a devoted Nazi..


Sorry about the history lesson. I recommed reading a biography of the man, one by Desmond Young is rather good.

ClutchIt

5 July 1687

This is the day that Isaac Newton's 'Principia Mathematica' was published.

It described the world in mathematics.

Sticky_Fingers

prinz wrote: »

Eh, no he wasn't. He was a professional soldier. He was anything but a devoted Nazi, just a few differences between Rommel and other generals..

Despite his allegiance, he sounded like a decent man (perhaps in spite of his government would be a better phrase). I must read up more about him, though I always thought that he was against the assassination of Hitler, any clarification?

prinz

Sticky_Fingers wrote: »

Despite his allegiance, he sounded like a decent man (perhaps in spite of his government would be a better phrase). I must read up more about him, though I always thought that he was against the assassination of Hitler, any clarification?

He was. He favoured the arrest of Hitler and other high rankers and a trial to expose all their crimes just like Nuremburg and face the death penalty after if needs be, rather than an assassination and risk turning Hitler into a martyr/spark a civil war between those left behind trying to grab power.

Really fascinating character he was. Fought for some evil bastards all the same.

recyclops

Sinking of the Lusitania would go down as mine, historically significant and showed Churchill in his worst light in my view by essentially allowing it to happen.
pushed britan into world war one and will always have a closer connection to Cobh than titanic.

mojesius

It would have to be WW2 for me too. I find it a fascinating example of strength of human will, the sacrifices people make, the lengths that all sides went to for victory and the injustices committed. The siege of Leningrad and the battle for Stalingrad, purely astonishing how the Russians persevered.

In terms of the many human stories of WW2, it would be Slavomir Rawicz - the Polish officer who escaped a Siberian labour camp and walked to India with some of his inmates. If you haven't read 'The Long Walk', I highly recommend it.

Sticky_Fingers

recyclops wrote: »

Sinking of the Lusitania would go down as mine, historically significant and showed Churchill in his worst light in my view by essentially allowing it to happen.
pushed britan into world war one and will always have a closer connection to Cobh than titanic.

I think you mean America

K-9

The IRA ceasefire. Not big on the world scheme of things.

I grew up with Northern Ireland always being on the news, from Bobby Sands to Shoot to Kill, to Enniskillen, to Trick or Treat and Shankhill bombings.

What clicked for me was the Gibraltar, Milltown and Casement Park murders.

This was at the funerals of the Gibraltar killings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4NTHtCD2ac

Then, at the funerals of those victims:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jWgt2sKRK0

All that within a week, Gibraltar, Milltown and Casement.

Any illusions as a 12/13 year old about humanity disappeared.

ToniTuddle

Seeing photos is disturbing enough at times but seeing actual video evidence of people being attacked/dying is just....

Well that's me depressed for the night!!

K-9

ToniTuddle wrote: »

Seeing photos is disturbing enough at times but seeing actual video evidence of people being attacked/dying is just....

Well that's me depressed for the night!!

That's the whole point though and it isn't a political one.

Thank God people aren't being killed every week for some political cause that they deem worthy of murder.

scientific1982

It will never not be funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CT0a-Hgumo

Mr. Presentable

For pure spectacle:

In 55bc Germanic tribes had been raiding in Roman Gaul and retreating beyond the Rhine for protection.

Julius Caesar built a bridge spanning the river while the enemy watched in amazement and took his legions across. The shocked enemy fled East. The bridge is reckoned to have been about 7 metres wide and up to 100 metres long, the river depth about 9 metres. It took ten days to build the bridge, including cutting the wood. Following his sortie, JC returned across the bridge, destroying it behind him. The Germans sued for peace.

http://www.unrv.com/fall-republic/crossing-the-rhine.php

recyclops

Sticky_Fingers wrote: »

I think you mean America

You are correct tired day for me