Questions tagged [military]
Questions pertaining to characteristics of armed forces' structure, manpower, equipment, or expenditures.
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Did soldiers wear helmets in the 19th century? [closed]
When trying to do research in military history, I got interested in 19th century warfare. I know that they wore a lot of hats back then, but did they also wear helmets? I know that helmets existed at ...
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Were the Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan officially volunteers?
I always thought they were conscripts, who were ordered to go there, but recently saw a mention that they all were volunteers. So, I wonder whether they signed any paper of consent before being sent ...
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Can anyone identify this military uniform, probably late 19th or early 20th century?
Have just unearthed this image and have no clues as to when it might relate to.
Possible contenders are:
My great-grandfather, who served in 1880 Afghan campaign (at the siege of Kandashar) and was ...
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Is this a case of “cut and paste” of two different weapons?
I recently inherited a sabre and two daggers that we assume belonged to a gg uncle who was born in 1870.
I tried searching images to identify to sabre but became confused as it has a ruby-eyed lion ...
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Has anyone come across WW1 large brass casing engraved with French cities?
I recently found two large brass casing, German made from 1901 and 1914.
They both have US military Divs ie. 2nd, 26th and 28th Div, along with cities in France and Germany that the Divisions were ...
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How would a Roman soldier address his superior officer? Reversely, how would a superior officer address a lower ranking Roman soldier?
Let's pretend for a second there is a legionnaire named Marcus and a centurion named Augustus. Would the legionnaire refer to his superior officer as "Centurion Augustus"? Or would he say &...
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Can you help identify these medals?
We were going through my Dads attic and found these medals. We think they belonged to my Granddad - we don’t know if he fought in the World Wars but had Welsh heritage and lived in the UK most of his ...
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Where did European armies find the huge amount of sulfur required for black powder? [closed]
Black powder requires charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur.
Charcoal and saltpeter can be made from natural renewable resources.
Sulfur has to be mined. Where can one find that much sulfur? All websites I ...
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In the early 20th century, was there any difference in the size of war horse between heavy cavalry and light cavalry?
In the early 20th century(during WW1), was there any difference among the sizes of war horses used by heavy cavalry (dragoons, schweres reiters, cuirassiers) and light cavalry (hussars, uhlans, ...
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How to coordinate the relationship between Corded Ware(Fatyanovo-Abashevo), Sanskrit and Graeco-Aryan?
The latest research shows that the R1a-Z93 of Sintashta and Andronovo originated from the Corded Ware culture (Middle Dnieper-Fatyanovo-Abashevo). If so, Sanskrit would be unified with Germanic and ...
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When would one carry a sword on a shoulder with grip upwards?
Usually, swords are depicted as being kept in scabbard on the back or by the hip - like this or this.
It got me curious when I saw videos of swords carried on a shoulder and held by the blade - with ...
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Can anyone help identify the name of the white vessel in this photo w/the masts and funnel?
Unidentified White hulled vessel, possibly in the Boston area in the 1940s. The harbor tug is named IWANA and it was in service in Boston up until 1942. What is the name of the mystery white vessel? I’...
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Can anyone identify this uniform for me please? He was a marksman and back of photo says trophies won in war
He was a military man who has marksman insignia on his uniform. The photo says trophies won in war and he was Irish.
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Who is the Pentagon General nicknamed Darth Vader referred to by Arthur C Clarke?
In an introductory blurb to his story "The Golden Seas" in "The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke", p.935, Arthur C. Clarke writes
This was my first response to President ...
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Can anybody identify this 1900-1933 uniform (possibly German)
I believe this image to be taken around 1900-1933. I also believe it to be a German uniform but I'm not certain. Any help would be appreciated!
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What was the process to join the army in WW2 England?
I'm currently (at the beginning of) researching the process people would go through for joining the British army (including the RAF and navy) during WW2 in England for a story I'm writing.
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What is the purpose of the iron structures seen on the sides of many WW2 flak towers?
I was researching World War 2 flak towers, and was unable to find the purpose of these iron(?) structures seen underneath the main walkway of many flak towers.
My first thought was that it would ...
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Where can I find information about Spanish soldiers in Porto? 1596-1598
Currently I'm doing a research on early-modern History in the city of Porto, Portugal. I'm very interested about demography- emigration- and what I wanted to do was to find Spanish people during the ...
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What is this military march sampled in "Hell March"?
The video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 features a song titled Hell March, which includes a voice sample of an unidentified military officer.
The sample appears to originate in the Series ...
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Are there any estimates of military spending as a percentage of total government expenditure anywhere in 15th century Europe?
A little piece of information stuck in my head about the military expenditure. Namely, the current expenditure on the military is incredibly low when compared to that in the middle ages. I am not sure,...
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Does anybody know the name to this British tune?
Does anybody know the name to this British tune? The march is from the show called George Washington (1984 mini-series).
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Why did the Jacobites lose the Battle of Aughrim?
Accounts of the Battle of Aughrim, the decisive action of the Jacobite uprisings, suggest the two armies were at roughly equal strength. The Williamite army was said to be better trained and equipped ...
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Please help identity this Italian military uniform
All I know about the man in the photo is he was an Italian. Any help on the date/what the rank, etc. was would be appreciated.
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How did MILAN ATGMs make their way to Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion?
Various sources mentions rather briefly that the mujaheddin used MILAN ATGMs against the Soviets.
Who supplied these exactly? Were they e.g. from French or UK stocks? And were the US intermediaries ...
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What's the date of this army uniform?
I have two photos of man and women. Guessing sweethearts. I’m thinking 1800s, there is writing on the back but I can’t read it.
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How were "Wehrbauern" (soldier peasants) in medieval Europe even a thing, at all?
Wehrbauer (German pronunciation: [ˈveːɐ̯ˌbaʊ.ɐ], defensive peasant), plural Wehrbauern, is a German term for settlers living on the marches of a realm, who were tasked with holding back foreign ...
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How does a commander estimate enemy's losses? [closed]
"Overclaim" is a common military problem. My primary example is
Stalin thought that Wehrmacht lost 4.5M people in 1941 (the actual losses ~1M) and expected to win the war in 1942.
Did ...
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When did the Royal Navy start to fill a given rank of admiral with more than one officer?
Admirals in the Royal Navy used to follow the coloured-squadron system. If I have understood correctly, when this practice first arose in the seventeenth century, there really were precisely nine ...
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Historically, what methods have irregular forces used to disable tanks?
During the 2022 war between Ukraine and Russia, it has been reported that Russian tanks have been abandoned due to running out of fuel.
Now, I do not necessarily believe this story as news stories ...
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How advanced was the satellite technology during the Yom Kippur War?
A couple decades after Sputnik, how advanced was the satellite technology during the Yom Kippur War, and how did U.S. intelligence completely miss the mobilization of Arabian armies?
I have read a few ...
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Why were P-39/P-400 sent to Henderson Field?
According to wikipedia, P-400 (export version of P-39) were part of the Cactus Air Force early in the battle of Guadalcanal, as soon as August 1942. This airplane was heavily armed but, according to ...
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What is CINCFAIRMED?
In JAG 01x13 "Defensive Action" 09:30, a character says "This just came in from CINCFAIRMED." (Online episode summaries suggest that this is the correct spelling, but don't give a ...
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Can anyone help me identify this uniform?
Can anyone help me identify this uniform?
I have been looking into an ancestor named Frederick Collins who served in the Royal Garrison Artillery, in Ireland in 1898, South Africa 1900-1902 then St ...
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What branch of Hungarian military service corresponds to this uniform?
Does anyone know the branch of service corresponding to the uniform in this photo from Veszprem Hungary? Is it a Hussar?
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What branch of service and rank is this (possibly Hungarian) 1920 photo?
1920 photo possibly Hungary. Does anyone know which service branch and rank the uniform represents? Thank you for any help.
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Who normally paid for soldiers in the Tudor period?
In the early medieval period soldiers were provided by feudal dues, but when did a monarch paying for the soldiers in their army instead become the norm? I have a source about Henry VII demanding ...
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Can you help identify the insignia and the country of origin of this uniform?
Can you help identify the insignia and the country of origin with this uniform?
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Did the Roman Republic really have 60 legions?
A common claim is that during the last civil war of the republic, the combined legions of Antony and Octavian totaled 60 legions. Another variant is that Octavian alone commanded 60 legions after ...
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Can you identify the military uniform on the man in this photo?
I found this photo in a box I inherited from my grandmother. The photo is on heavy card-like stock, but there is no writing or any markings on the back. My grandparents were born in Germany, but came ...
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What engineers chose the locations and oversaw runway construction for the airfields that the Flying Tigers used?
The section of NPR's The Flying Tigers: How a group of Americans ended up fighting for China in WW II includes the following:
Burma was central to keeping China supplied
The AVG's base was in Kunming ...
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What was the composition of a US Half-Track Unit during the Korean War?
For some reason I remembered a conversation with my grandfather that I had at least 25 years ago. I knew he had been in Korea with the US Army and I asked what every young kid asks at some point: &...
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What uniform is the man in this mid to late 19th century photo wearing?
This is a photo of my Grt Grdth's brother, George Anderson, born 1856 Kildare, Ireland. I have this studio portrait. What uniform is he wearing? He worked in Sth Africa at times.
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Why were slave armies used?
I’m aware of several instances where civilizations, mainly Muslim used slave armies. And so far as I’m aware this invariably resulted in the slaves becoming the de facto rulers of whatever people ...
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Could Japan have won WW2 without interservice rivalry? [closed]
Interservice Rivalry discusses the rivalry between the Japanese army and navy and I have listened to a video which says that a naval plane landing at a army air base would not be serviced, for example....
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What uniform is General Redvers Henry Buller VC GCB GCMG wearing in this colored photo?
Colored studio photograph circa 1900 of General Redvers Henry Buller VC GCB GCMG in uniform with decorations. Is it that of a General in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps? Confirmation or other ...
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Which kingdoms were using WWI weapons at the time of the second world war?
Which kingdoms, little dictatorships and all sorts of fiefdom had World War 1 armor (and nothing more modern) at the time of the second war? I bet there was a lot because after the First World War all ...
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What were the manpower and gunnery levels of the seven gunboats that assisted Grant at Fort Donelson?
Earlier on, I asked a question about General Grant's "true" force level at Fort Donelson. The argument was that Grant had been assisted by gunboats and gunners that were technically not ...
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What were the ranks of say, the five crewmen of a Panzer in World War II? [duplicate]
At Normandy, tank ace, Major Michael Wittmann commanded a group of seven tanks. This was probably a unit that had been decimated by casualties. Even so, my understanding is that an officer of Wittmann'...
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What made Fort Donelson particularly vulnerable to capture?
In February, 1862, Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Donelson in a little over a day.
Most forts hold out for "many" days, especially when the ratio of attacking to defending forces is less ...
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Which superior officer did Princess Elizabeth II report to during her service as a junior officer in WW2?
Prior to her reign, Queen Elizabeth II served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service of the British Army during World War 2. She held the rank of a junior officer (with a promotion to a Junior Commander ...
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