6 ms·

First Battle of the Marne – Entente forces counter attack

28 points by domnuprofesor 8y ago

jbscpa 8y ago
The link is broken. But, after a google search I got to the website. Great Site!!. I am trying to add to my knowledge of WWI. The site's tagline is "the most natural and easiest way of learning history" And indeed it does seem natural and easy.
- erpellan 8y ago
  Took me way too long to realise that all the text is in hover-overs on the images. I had to go back several screens and start again.
- danesparza 8y ago
  Sidenote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzf9aHZmCAM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzf9aHZmCAM is a great WWI documentary. Also, If you like Dan Carlin, his WWI podcast series is amazing: https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-blueprint-for-armageddon-i/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-bluepr...
  - 24gttghh 8y ago
    Related: http://www.wdfpodcast.com/vap/ http://www.wdfpodcast.com/vap/ This series just started on the 100th anniversary of the 1918 armistice, and the content is simply epic and bottomless. Can't recommend it enough.
  - mfourcade 8y ago
    pure gold ! I think bataille of the Marne starts in episode 2. https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-51-blueprint-for-armageddon-ii/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-51-bluepr...
  - thrower123 8y ago
    The Great War youtube channel is a good follow. Although perhaps was, they were doing week by week of 100 years ago, so I don't know if there'll be new content... https://m.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar/featured https://m.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar/featured
- m0skit0 8y ago
  Yeah, I am trying as well, however I find it extremely complex, compared to WWII for example. Many decisions are very counter-intuitive unless you dig deep into the motivations. It's like the quantum mechanics of wars.
  - benj111 8y ago
    Can you expand on this? WW1 has never struck me as more complex than WW2, except maybe the events leading up to the start.
- bloopernova 8y ago
  Agreed, this site is wonderful. Definitely something I need to come back to after work and dedicate some serious reading time towards.
  - domnuprofesor 8y ago
    Glad you like it. Here is our whitepaper that explains the concept and mission of History Lapse: https://en.historylapse.org/whitepaper https://en.historylapse.org/whitepaper
- StavrosK 8y ago
  I've always wanted a history format that would present events as headlines in newspapers of the time. I think that would give a much more direct feeling to the history, as if you're living it now.
- WesleyLivesay 8y ago
  A bit of self-promotion here, I am the creator of a World War 1 podcast focused on being approachable to people without a ton of knowledge about the war called History of the Great War Website: https://www.historyofthegreatwar.com/ https://www.historyofthegreatwar.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/history-of-the-great-war/id894243371 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/history-of-the-great-war...
avn2109 8y ago
The link should be https://en.historylapse.org/first-battle-of-the-marne https://en.historylapse.org/first-battle-of-the-marne cc: @dang
- paulddraper 8y ago
  I wish there were a better way than this of correcting bad posts.
  - dang 8y ago
    There is: email hn@ycombinator.com. We don't see most of the posts where people are trying to contact us in comments, simply because there are far too many comments to read. I noticed the GP randomly. We do, however, read all the emails.
    - paulddraper 8y ago
      Good to know; thanks!
    - avn2109 8y ago
      Oh I assumed you had a parser written that notified you when your name gets mentioned, or something like that.
forinti 8y ago
https://en.historylapse.org/first-battle-of-the-marne https://en.historylapse.org/first-battle-of-the-marne
maxxxxx 8y ago
It always bothers me when war is told from the perspective of the generals who lived in splendor while they were sending thousands and ten thousands of soldiers into certain death and have them live in misery in the trenches.
- tssva 8y ago
  I can understand resenting the generals and politicians that sent men to misery and death, but the men on the ground, the generals, the politicians and the general population all play key roles in any conflict and it is important that the perspective of each be documented in order to gain a true understanding of events. This site happens to document the perspective of the generals involved in this battle. Other sources document the other perspectives.
- JetSetWilly 8y ago
  That's a bit of a stereotypical view not backed up by history. Generals didn't really "live in splendor". Generals visited the front line every day and were if anything more involved in the business end of the war than generals today would be. Many of them (more than 200 British generals) were killed or captured in action! More generally, the officer class had a higher casualty rate than the troops, at least in the British army. On top of that, they strategised a whole new type of industrial war for which they hadn't been trained or prepared, and they weren't any more or less enthusiastic about the war then the troops they led or the society they came from. And it is particularly odd thing to say if you consider it from the perspective of, say, French generals. Their country was being invaded by a militaristic neighbour, but according to your formulation generals are callously squandering men and material for a pointless cause - except from the point of view of the people involved it was anything but pointless, the future of their country was at stake.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    Read a little about history of WW1. Especially the French generals ignored new developments in warfare like camouflage clothing or steel helmets. They sent probably hundreds of thousands of soldiers into death out of sheer arrogance. And yes, they lived in splendor. They liked to set up their headquarters in castles and other luxury properties. They didn't live in trenches or underground while artillery was falling on them. They ate well while their infantry almost starved and had no water. I am German and I am aware of the crimes the Germans committed during WW1 and WW2. I just object to the tendency of making generals virtuous heroes while nobody talks about the foot soldiers. The German generals were callous assholes and so were most of the other generals.
rossdavidh 8y ago
Lots of very interesting content, especially the images, and for some stupid reason they decided to reinvent a way to display images and text together on a website. As a result I stopped reading after having clicked on a text box in order to be able to read it all (otherwise some of it was lost below the window I had to view it in), and then there was no back button to return to where I was at. Great content. Could have been very well served up by even (perhaps especially) a static web page. Reinventing how web pages work makes it not worth the effort, and I leave.
- Isamu 8y ago
  Before this I hadn't known how much I like to go back and forth between the text and picture, sometimes just skimming so I can interpret the picture, then maybe reading more carefully, etc. When the text covers the image, sometimes even adding a scroll bar, that really increases the friction. Well, it is a learning experience in more ways than one. I was just getting to this part of the war in Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast so it was great to look at a good photo collection. https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-51-blueprint-for-armageddon-ii/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-51-bluepr...
- parktheredcar 8y ago
  I actually like the fresh approach to telling a story they're experimenting with, but they do have some bugs. Specifically that pop-over dialog you're talking about - if you set the window to half-size, a close button appears that apparently is getting lost in the responsive layout breakpoints. Pressing Escape will also close it. If the site owner ends up visiting - please consider using some form of javascript routing or html5 history tied in to any full-page repaints to allow for backing out and using native browser functionality! Interesting page that I'll be checking back to later at any rate.
  - rossdavidh 8y ago
    ...or maybe just put p-tags and img-tags right next to each other, which works perfectly fine in any browser ever.
  - 8y ago
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
24gttghh 8y ago
I find the lack of maps to be a huge disappointment, but the photography and other content seems quite good and well organized.
- domnuprofesor 8y ago
  History Lapse is a start-up with no financial support other than my income on my full-time job. I think I have a great idea on how to implement the map concept on History Lapse but at the moment I am stuck in my current predicament.
  - 24gttghh 8y ago
    When I say maps, I simply mean having something like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Battle_of_the_Marne_-_Map.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Battle_o... In place of one of the photographs you have now. Does that not jive with the way your site is organized?
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
tcopeland 8y ago
Martin Crevald has a book on the USMC reading list (https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/intermediate-level-enlisted https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/intermedia...) "The Changing Face of War: Combat from the Marne to Iraq". Interesting that he uses that battle as one of the fenceposts.

28 points by domnuprofesor 8y ago

The link is broken. But, after a google search I got to the website. Great Site!!. I am trying to add to my knowledge of WWI. The site's tagline is "the most natural and easiest way of learning history" And indeed it does seem natural and easy.

erpellan 8y ago
Took me way too long to realise that all the text is in hover-overs on the images. I had to go back several screens and start again.
danesparza 8y ago
Sidenote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzf9aHZmCAM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzf9aHZmCAM is a great WWI documentary. Also, If you like Dan Carlin, his WWI podcast series is amazing: https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-blueprint-for-armageddon-i/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-bluepr...
- 24gttghh 8y ago
  Related: http://www.wdfpodcast.com/vap/ http://www.wdfpodcast.com/vap/ This series just started on the 100th anniversary of the 1918 armistice, and the content is simply epic and bottomless. Can't recommend it enough.
- mfourcade 8y ago
  pure gold ! I think bataille of the Marne starts in episode 2. https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-51-blueprint-for-armageddon-ii/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-51-bluepr...
- thrower123 8y ago
  The Great War youtube channel is a good follow. Although perhaps was, they were doing week by week of 100 years ago, so I don't know if there'll be new content... https://m.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar/featured https://m.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar/featured
m0skit0 8y ago
Yeah, I am trying as well, however I find it extremely complex, compared to WWII for example. Many decisions are very counter-intuitive unless you dig deep into the motivations. It's like the quantum mechanics of wars.
- benj111 8y ago
  Can you expand on this? WW1 has never struck me as more complex than WW2, except maybe the events leading up to the start.
bloopernova 8y ago
Agreed, this site is wonderful. Definitely something I need to come back to after work and dedicate some serious reading time towards.
- domnuprofesor 8y ago
  Glad you like it. Here is our whitepaper that explains the concept and mission of History Lapse: https://en.historylapse.org/whitepaper https://en.historylapse.org/whitepaper
StavrosK 8y ago
I've always wanted a history format that would present events as headlines in newspapers of the time. I think that would give a much more direct feeling to the history, as if you're living it now.
WesleyLivesay 8y ago
A bit of self-promotion here, I am the creator of a World War 1 podcast focused on being approachable to people without a ton of knowledge about the war called History of the Great War Website: https://www.historyofthegreatwar.com/ https://www.historyofthegreatwar.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/history-of-the-great-war/id894243371 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/history-of-the-great-war...

avn2109 8y ago

The link should be https://en.historylapse.org/first-battle-of-the-marne https://en.historylapse.org/first-battle-of-the-marne cc: @dang

paulddraper 8y ago
I wish there were a better way than this of correcting bad posts.
- dang 8y ago
  There is: email hn@ycombinator.com. We don't see most of the posts where people are trying to contact us in comments, simply because there are far too many comments to read. I noticed the GP randomly. We do, however, read all the emails.
  - paulddraper 8y ago
    Good to know; thanks!
  - avn2109 8y ago
    Oh I assumed you had a parser written that notified you when your name gets mentioned, or something like that.

forinti 8y ago

https://en.historylapse.org/first-battle-of-the-marne https://en.historylapse.org/first-battle-of-the-marne

maxxxxx 8y ago

It always bothers me when war is told from the perspective of the generals who lived in splendor while they were sending thousands and ten thousands of soldiers into certain death and have them live in misery in the trenches.

tssva 8y ago
I can understand resenting the generals and politicians that sent men to misery and death, but the men on the ground, the generals, the politicians and the general population all play key roles in any conflict and it is important that the perspective of each be documented in order to gain a true understanding of events. This site happens to document the perspective of the generals involved in this battle. Other sources document the other perspectives.
JetSetWilly 8y ago
That's a bit of a stereotypical view not backed up by history. Generals didn't really "live in splendor". Generals visited the front line every day and were if anything more involved in the business end of the war than generals today would be. Many of them (more than 200 British generals) were killed or captured in action! More generally, the officer class had a higher casualty rate than the troops, at least in the British army. On top of that, they strategised a whole new type of industrial war for which they hadn't been trained or prepared, and they weren't any more or less enthusiastic about the war then the troops they led or the society they came from. And it is particularly odd thing to say if you consider it from the perspective of, say, French generals. Their country was being invaded by a militaristic neighbour, but according to your formulation generals are callously squandering men and material for a pointless cause - except from the point of view of the people involved it was anything but pointless, the future of their country was at stake.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  Read a little about history of WW1. Especially the French generals ignored new developments in warfare like camouflage clothing or steel helmets. They sent probably hundreds of thousands of soldiers into death out of sheer arrogance. And yes, they lived in splendor. They liked to set up their headquarters in castles and other luxury properties. They didn't live in trenches or underground while artillery was falling on them. They ate well while their infantry almost starved and had no water. I am German and I am aware of the crimes the Germans committed during WW1 and WW2. I just object to the tendency of making generals virtuous heroes while nobody talks about the foot soldiers. The German generals were callous assholes and so were most of the other generals.

rossdavidh 8y ago

Lots of very interesting content, especially the images, and for some stupid reason they decided to reinvent a way to display images and text together on a website. As a result I stopped reading after having clicked on a text box in order to be able to read it all (otherwise some of it was lost below the window I had to view it in), and then there was no back button to return to where I was at. Great content. Could have been very well served up by even (perhaps especially) a static web page. Reinventing how web pages work makes it not worth the effort, and I leave.

Isamu 8y ago
Before this I hadn't known how much I like to go back and forth between the text and picture, sometimes just skimming so I can interpret the picture, then maybe reading more carefully, etc. When the text covers the image, sometimes even adding a scroll bar, that really increases the friction. Well, it is a learning experience in more ways than one. I was just getting to this part of the war in Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast so it was great to look at a good photo collection. https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-51-blueprint-for-armageddon-ii/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-51-bluepr...
parktheredcar 8y ago
I actually like the fresh approach to telling a story they're experimenting with, but they do have some bugs. Specifically that pop-over dialog you're talking about - if you set the window to half-size, a close button appears that apparently is getting lost in the responsive layout breakpoints. Pressing Escape will also close it. If the site owner ends up visiting - please consider using some form of javascript routing or html5 history tied in to any full-page repaints to allow for backing out and using native browser functionality! Interesting page that I'll be checking back to later at any rate.
- rossdavidh 8y ago
  ...or maybe just put p-tags and img-tags right next to each other, which works perfectly fine in any browser ever.
- 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

24gttghh 8y ago

I find the lack of maps to be a huge disappointment, but the photography and other content seems quite good and well organized.

domnuprofesor 8y ago
History Lapse is a start-up with no financial support other than my income on my full-time job. I think I have a great idea on how to implement the map concept on History Lapse but at the moment I am stuck in my current predicament.
- 24gttghh 8y ago
  When I say maps, I simply mean having something like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Battle_of_the_Marne_-_Map.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Battle_o... In place of one of the photographs you have now. Does that not jive with the way your site is organized?

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

tcopeland 8y ago

Martin Crevald has a book on the USMC reading list (https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/intermediate-level-enlisted https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/intermedia...) "The Changing Face of War: Combat from the Marne to Iraq". Interesting that he uses that battle as one of the fenceposts.