Watchin' The Detectives

                                                                                                                                                   Battle of Agincourt                    By Antoine Leduc, Sylvie Leluc et Olivier Renaudeau (dir.), D'Azincourt à Marignan. Chevaliers et bombardes, 1415-1515, Paris, Gallimard / Musée de l'armée, 2015, p. 18-19, ISBN 978-2-07-014949-0, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10026708 "The Real War of Thrones," by France 5    "The Real War of Thrones" is a ten part docu-drama about the Hundred Years...

                                                                               We're going to be taking a deep dive into what makes a documentary a documentary. Which, as we write this, we're realizing it's not as easy to put to words as it is to know one when you see one.  In the broadest sense of the word, a documentary is any audio/visual media meant to document an occasion or to inform the viewer on a given subject. That much we can say for certain. There are as many ways to achieve this end as there are subjects to inform the viewer about, and the objective truth is not always the aim. So let's take a look at a few types of documentaries so we can start to get closer to the heart of what makes a documentary a documentary.  First up: Nature Documentaries.  The great great...

 The History of Weapons  By: ZDF Studios  Pt. 7 (cont. from Pt.6)                                                                                         Episode 7: War At Sea    In this episode the historians look at Greek Fire, The Ship Cannon and Torpedos.   Up first is Greek Fire. While the recipe for Greek fire is lost to us today, there's a few clues as to what it might have contained, including: Sulfur, Pitch, Bitumen, Petroleum, Naphtha, Quicklime and various other oils. (let's go with olive, since they were Greek) In the practical experiment, they build a pump that would pick up the substance, set it alight, (there's debate on whether an ignition source was needed or if it combustied upon contact with water) and propel it onto an en...

"The History of Weapons" By: ZDF Studios Pt. 6 (cont. from pt. 5) Episode 6:  The Power of Destruction                                                                                                  American Civil War Ketchum Explosive/Fragmentation Grenade         (note percussion cap impact detonator, wooden shaft and flights, meant to keep it moving in a                                                               straight line when thrown)    In this episode, they cover the machine gun, hand grenade and the tank.    As with the revolver, m...

 "The History of Weapons"  By: ZDF Studios, Episode 5 *Continued from Ep. 4 Episode 5: Faster Than the Enemy                                                                                                                                              Common Two Person Chariot                                                                           By Álvaro Pérez Vilariño - Flickr: Biga, CC BY-SA 2.0,            ...

Episode 4 of "The History of Weapons" Produced by ZDF Studios *Continued from Episode 3  Episode 4: Weapons for All                                                                                                                         Automatic Kalashnikov, or "AK-47"                                         https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nemo5576    This episode covers the weapons that were taken up by the average foot soldier pressed into service by a lord, to protect their village or lands and resistance fighters, or what call now with a bit of malice: we now cal...

    "The History of Weapons"       Produced by: ZDF Studios    *Continued from Intro, Ep.1, Ep. 2  Episode 3: Close Combat                                                                                                           Common War Hammer                                             By Samuraiantiqueworld - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,                                                                    ...

                                                Photo Credit: leonardo @ https://www.fluentland.com/weapons-vocabulary-word-list-different-types-of-weapons-with-images/                                                                 In this ten part review, I'll be discussing one of the most comprehensive documentary series on the history of weapons that I've ever had the pleasure to watch. (and many times, at that) It's a ten part series, each part about an hour a piece, produced by ZDF Studios. Some of my absolute favorite military historians (Mike Loades, Andrew Lambert & Stephen Bull) take on three separate weapons per episode, and over the course of  the series cover the evolution of weaponry; from...