Ve Fight mit Sigel!
The French are too.
My family are reenactors and we met a group from France who were here to attend an event.
Sounds like a good exercise for Europe. But I think it’s emulating the wrong American war. The Germans should turn it back about a hundred years.
That's news to me too.
Funny how recently my daughter and I were watching a Civil War documentary, and she referred to the Confederates as "our side". Being from VA, I was kinda proud of her.
btt
Neither did I. But I’m not surprised. Nor am I surprised that they tend to choose the Confederate side.
The American Army that kicked their collective butts in two World Wars is, after all a direct descendant of the Union Army, so reenacting from the Union side would be uncomfortably like treason. Also, there is a certain wry fellowship among losers, although it is seldom expressed as such.
In any case, I don’t think that it needs to be taken that seriously. It’s just a bunch of overgrown kids playing in the wilderness. No need to get all psychological about it.
They call it “das Amerikanisches Buergerkrieg”.
German gun magazines have always been huge about American military history. Heck, when I was a kid in the 1960’s, Germans were already dressing up like Indians and U.S. Cavalry.
Safer than dressing up like Waffen SS. (Sorry, couldn’t resist) But there’s a side of the German character that likes to remind America of its own Teutonic roots, which is undeniable and dates back to the Revolutionary War.
I’ll bet these modern German reenactors have already constructed ancestral geneologies of German immigrants who fought in the American Civil War.
Lol. That would be funny to see.
just my “WAG”, but many people enjoy military history. the honor, courage, sacrifice, bravery, are appealing across national lines.
the Germans, are “discouraged” from celebrating their own military history. not just WW2, but even WW1. so, where WOULD their military buffs go?
Civil War reenactments are some of the largest in the world. and as for why the South, that’s easy. The sterotypes of southern soldiers, even in “John Wayne” movies, shows great honor and courage even in a losing cause.
and it certainly strikes parallels to me, of the Prussian grey. Especially in things like Pickett’s Charge.
...and i also think this is more of the leftist propaganda about the Civil War was all about slavery. Even President Lincoln admitted that VERY clearly, in his (in)famous quote.
the Atlantic is wrong, when it implies the southern soldiers portrayed by the Germans were fighting for slavery.
Most were poor men, without slaves, who were fighting to defend their own land, and their own state.
frankly, i am mystified by this revisionist rewriting i’ve seen in the past decade or so, trying to make it ALL about slavery.
anyway, thanks for posting this, and letting me ramble.
Don’t worry we will have a fresh CW for them to recreate very soon...
Can’t find the French group, but here’s an Italian one.
http://www.rievocazioni-guerra-civile.it/en/2.html
Because no matter which side they're on, they get to fantasize about killing Americans.
Germans are into Gospel music, too.
We American’s have some historical periods and events that are iconic around the world. Our Cowboy lore is iconic for being unique in the world as Europe, and many nations in Asia and the Middle East were well built out and conquered time and again centuries before our Cowboy period. There is a reason for the passion with those Spaghetti Westerns.
I’ve always thought the the US Civil War was the iconic war following the Napoleonic Wars.
Napoleon engaged in total war and reshaped it irreversibly. Following that, warfare did not change appreciably until the US Civil War.
Imagine living in Europe and reading about the accuracy and range of our Parrot Rifles when the rest of the world was still using Napoleons for artillery cannons. Imagine reading about troops using the Henry repeating rifle that fired 14 rounds in succession. Imagine reading about the turreted battleship Monitor. Imagine reading about troops speeding around the USA on locomotive trains.
I have to believe that the world’s people were fascinated by the martial developments that occurred during the US Civil War, and followed it extensively. Let alone the historical implications of the fracturing of the world’s foremost Republic.
Europe was still mainly ruled by Monarchs in Europe and in Britain. Queen Victoria was the ruler of Britain, not a mere figurehead. Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew was Emperor of France. Isabella was Queen of Spain, Wilhelm was King of Prussia, and Alexander was Czar of Russia.
I think the world was very much spellbound by the civil war going on in the USA at the time. It revolutionized war, beginning with Napoleonic tactics and ending in trench warfare seen through WWI.
I’m not surprised that there are be US Civil War enthusiasts in any country, let alone Europe. The US civil war was very iconic of the 19th Century. The USA was ascendant and the world was just getting a glimpse of things to come.
In my one trip to Germany, I saw a huge Confederate battle flag hoisted in the middle of a farm field while riding a train from Frankfurt to Bonn.
Not to nitpick but there was no Germany when the Civil War happened. There was Austria, Prussia, and a zillion other little Germanic states left over from the Holy Roman Empire. Most were in a loose onfederation with Prussia that wouldn’t become Germany for a few more years.
One of my great-great grandfathers was Prussian who served for the North.
My great-great-great-great grandfather was of German ancestry and their families settled in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
The Virginians fought for the South, and they fought against their brothers and cousins in the North.
Civil War re-enactments in Germany *ping*
Could it be because the Confederate generals were better tacticians?