Chris Woolf

Humbled to see the #BumblingBook is Editor's Pick in the @booklife section of the latest Publishers Weekly! A book of "Outstanding Quality." BookLife covers independent authors for @PublishersWkly. Get your own copy to read (or listen to!) via: linktr.ee/chriswoolfbooks

@AV8intheblue I saw some talk on Saturday that it was actually glass or Perspex from the teleprompter. Nothing since.

@Asst_to_the_RM “Sir, you are my prisoner.” Tried that on my first field ex. I was ordered by my corporal not to let “anyone” through. Didn’t end well, but I did end up winning the platoon’s “Rocket of the Year” award, amid much beer and ceremony.

Annnnnnnnd Go.

@OliverBullough It panders to a propaganda trope among a right wing minority. Most of my American brethren, you’ll be pleased to hear, know it’s a fallacy. Even Republicans. To be fair, I’ve heard plenty of Brits say the same thing.

Anyone who understand American politics: is Vance's "Britain is Islamist" thing a joke, or a provocation, or ignorant? It just seems such a weird thing to throw out.

@NoahShachtman Heartbreaking

Your friendly reminder that loud mouths on Twitter do not represent the country. Most people do not take conspiracy theories seriously, and would never dream of hurting their neighbors. The world has not gone mad. These eccentric extremists have always been around.

@ChuckPfarrer @fascinatorfun Killed and wounded.

BURN RATE: British Ministry of Defense estimates that Russia has lost 70,000 killed in action in the last two months. yahoo.com/news/russia-lo…

@FXMC1957 And was Fanny his aunt?

12 July 1902. Conservative politician Arthur (“AJ.”) Balfour (pictured), became UK Prime Minister, succeeding his uncle Lord Robert (“Bob”) Salisbury, thereby giving rise to the satirical joke that he only got the job because “Bob’s yer uncle”.

@Clint_Davey1 The main UK powder mill was in Kent; Woolwich arsenal was also vulnerable. Would the UK fold rather than lose London? Would the militia be able to attrit the Grande armee? My money is on a major defeat for Boney, but he was at the height of his power, as was his army.

@Clint_Davey1 Absolutely he could have invaded if the bulk of the Channel Fleet could be lured away during good weather. IIRC, he said he needed a week or two. What happens next would make a great war game. How soon could the RN close his LoCs? How many men & horses can he get over? Etc etc

Could Napoleon have invaded England? I say yes. Two reasons: 1. Napoleon himself definitely thought he could. That was the point of the Grande Armee (originally the Army of England) training intensively in Boulogne. It was also the point of the French and Spanish fleets linking up in what became the disaster at Trafalgar. 2. Napoleon was not an idiot and he was not ignorant of logistics. If he thought it was possible, I tend to think it was possible too. Maybe my historical reasoning is faulty, but how can I argue with the Emperor himself?

@_F_B_G_ @ChurchTimes This should not be a shock to anyone interested in #genealogy.

In very normal news, have just learned from @ChurchTimes reporting of the Archdeacon of Blackburn’s speech at Synod that the Mormons are, er, trying to buy up graveyard data from the CofE so they can baptise the dead.

@BootneckStuff @FredThomasUK Good news. Mercer's conduct was verging on unbecoming for a gentleman.

Former Royal Marines Captain @FredThomasUK has taken Johnny Mercer's Plymouth Moor View seat in the general election. Fred, who represents the Labour Party, won 17,665 votes to Mercer's 12,061. I know we all have our differences when it comes to politics, and I think we all want to see the country prosper, just via a different pathway than others at times. Congratulations Royal.

@jbanningww1 Nice work. Survivors that I've traced are often reassigned to different battalions of the same Regt after any kind of medevac, or transferred to non-combat units if unfit, such as Pioneer/Labour Corps for garrison-type duty, eg PoW guards.

One for the #WW1 bods. I'm often asked by clients how many men from a battalion that went overseas in 1914 survived with that same unit to the Armistice. I always guess around 5%. But here's info from 2nd KOYLI war diary, listing each man who did just that! I make it around 3-4%

@KKriegeBlog It amuses me that these memes ignore the fact that what made colonization and revolution possible was collective action, which was often coerced when not offered freely. The modern image of gun toting mavericks is absurd.

Man this is rough. The British Army was not the largest or most highly trained army on earth during the Revolutionary War. It was a large European army of a great power, but France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia all had larger armies, and some were better quality.

@jzellis Great thread. I think like you, and now feel less alone. Cheers!

These are useful things to learn, I think. Useful for you and useful for the society of other people that you live in. Try it and see what you think.

I am big and I was bullied, but I also possess a modicum of basic manners and the knowledge that other humans are actual people and not just extras in a movie that I'm starring in, and so I make an effort not to get in people's way. Most of you don't, or maybe can't.

@AncientLoggie The original Leeroy Jenkins!

@pptsapper Smashed like a bowl of eggs, for his trouble.

@JackChambersGB There are plenty of fair-haired people in that part of the world. Like the Tajik family that sheltered me at their farm during a battle in Kunduz (Afghanistan) in 1991. After all, Central Asia is where Europeans evolved.

I know I know people do this periodically but I can't get over how White this Uyghur in Kashgar, China looks

@RDPHistory Thank you for recognizing his service. I was privileged enough to meet and dine with Sir Anthony when he came to talk to our international relations group at Cambridge, c.1984. A backbone of iron, but also a study in humility and grace. Quite the gentleman.

June 25th 1982: Sir Anthony Parsons ends his tenure as UK Permanent Representative to the UN... no one diplomat or politician or perhaps even military man keep his wicket up for so long under so much pressure as did Parsons, who played a blinder throughout... (continues)

@RobbieMacNiven Nice. Small fix: Engineer officers still wore red at this time, with black facings.

Love this candid reenactment shot, courtesy of Fort Ticonderoga, capturing what feels like a halt on one of Burgoyne's marches. Brunswickers in the foreground resting, a Royal Artillery/Corps of Engineers officer on the hunt for someone, regulars in the background. Good stuff.

@KKriegeBlog Great thesis, & glad you noted these exceptions. I recall at least one German officer in N.America c.1776 writing about the "usual" arrogance of the common English solders who saw themselves as superior to him by virtue of their birth.

Christopher Duffy argues that patriotism in its modern form was most recognizable in Russia and Britain, and the letters of British soldiers do occasionally express semi-patriotic sentiments: Thomas Plumb wrote home to his family in Feb of 1777, speaking about Americans: 2/20

For students, wargamers, reenactors, etc, I think one of the hardest things to grasp about the eighteenth-century wars that I study is the lack of nationalism on the part of combatants. Modern films, games, etc, usually filter this layer in, when it wasn't there. 🧵 1/