Hardtack

The Battle of Tannenberg was one of the first major battles of World War I, fought between Russia and Germany in East Prussia. The early decisions of German leadership in World War I, and consequently the Eastern Front, resulted from the German war plan of 1914. However, Eighth Army’s operations in East Prussia did not adhere to the plan’s original course of action. Although outnumbered, the Imperial German Army successfully and overwhelmingly outperformed the Russian First and Second Armies in mobilization, strategic and tactical execution, logistics, and reconnaissance. The Battle of Tannenberg was one of Germany’s earliest, most decisive tactical victories.

The Saber and Scroll Socials:

The Battle of Tannenberg by Paul von Hindenburg, August 1914. Accessed July 24,

2021. https://www.firstworldwar.com/source/tannenberg_hindenburg.htm.

Gurko Vasiliĭ Iosifovich. Memories & Impressions of War and Revolution in Russia,

1914-1917. London: John Murray, 2010.

Hoffman, Max. “Chapter III - The Battle of Tannenberg.” Essay. In The War of Lost

Opportunities, 27–38. Eschenburg Press, 2018.

Showalter, Dennis E. Tannenberg: Clash of Empires, 1914. United States: Potomac

Books, Inc., An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, 2004.

Strachan, Hew. The First World War. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2013.

Sweetman, John. Tannenberg 1914. London: Cassell, 2002.

The Sengoku Period, or Warring States Era, of Japan began in 1467 with the Onin War. Feudal Japan was characterized by violence between warring states, where kinsmen cut each other down in bids for territorial superiority. Independent warlords among the domains unleashed their samurai and fighting men on each other in anarchic attempts to gain dominance. Rivalries ebbed and flowed. Alliances formed and were shattered. Allegiance among warlords was only to self, cooperation existed only when it benefitted the warlords. For the peasant class life was hell, which resulted in regular instances of ikki, or peasant class uprisings. Power began to consolidate in the mid-16th century when a group of warlords had singled themselves out as primary dominators in their regions, having bested their rivals. These “great power” warlords boasted superior militant groups, greater territorial expansion, and grew their base through the exploitation of their weaker neighbors. But when great powers exist, great conflict arises. From the conflicts of these superior warlords came the unification campaigns of Sengoku Japan. Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu were the three great warlords at the center of Japan’s unification. Nobunaga died in 1582 before Japan could be truly unified and the rogue warlords brought to heel. His successor Hideyoshi accomplished unification in 1590, though resistance had not been entirely eradicated. It was Tokugawa Ieyasu, after Hideyoshi’s death in 1598, that made Japan whole in 1600 after the Battle of Sekigahara. A battle which brought about Japan’s final Shogunate, and in which this episode’s subject participated at the age of only sixteen. Miyamoto Musashi, born Miyamoto Bennosuke, met with difficulty at a young age and some details of the legendary swordsman remain unclear. However, one defining theme is evident even in his earliest years: that Miyamoto’s life was to be one characterized by violence.

The Book of Five Rings: Link

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Miyamoto, Musashi, and William Scott Wilson. The Book of Five Rings. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2012.

Miyamoto, Musashi, Lawrence A. Kane, and Kris Wilder. Musashis Dokkodo (The Way of Walking Alone): Half Crazy, Half Genius, Finding Modern Meaning in the Sword Saints Last Words. Burien, WA: Stickman Publications, 2015.

TC 2-91.4 Intelligence Support to Urban Operations, TC 2-91.4 Intelligence Support to Urban Operations § (2015). https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/tc2_91x4 FINAL.pdf.

Wilson, William Scott. The Lone Samurai: the Life of Miyamoto Musashi. Boston: Shambhala, 2013.

Yoshikawa, Eiji, Charles S. Terry, Edwin O. Reischauer, and Eiji Yoshikawa. Musashi. New

York: Kodansha, 2012.

In 27 BCE, Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire. Emperor Augustus Caesar reinstated past political institutions and championed reform that enabled peace, prosperity, and targeted corruption. The rule of Augustus brought about the beginning of Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, a nearly 200-year period that is considered to have been Rome’s “golden age”. During this time, the Roman Empire reached the pinnacle of its expansion, its population increased, and economic, military, and government institutions experienced stability and growth. Rome laid its extensive road system, connecting the expanses of the Empire with the ancient world where “all roads lead to Rome”. The people of Rome lived in relative safety and security.

But the road to Roman Peace was not paved straight, level, or on solid foundation. It was treacherous, broken and twisted, with rises and falls, and it was built with the bones and blood of its people, and of the people that Rome had conquered. In the years before 27 BCE Rome had created for itself a multitude of enemies. Germanic tribes, British Celts, Dacians, Armenians, Numidians, and scores of others had reason to hate the great Empire, and desired only to add Roman bones to the ever-growing pile. However, not all enemies were of foreign origin. Some enemies could be found within Rome, on its streets, and some within Rome’s own Senate. So learned Dictator for Life, Julius Caesar, on the Ides of March, 44 BCE as he bled out on the floor of the Curia of Pompey, surrounded by some that he called “friend”. This is Hardtack Episode 27: The Assassination of Julius Caesar.

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Sources:

Sizgorich, Tom. "Julius Caesar." In World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2023. Accessed March 8, 2023. https://worldatwar2-abc-clio-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/Search/Display/1669996.

Nicolaus of Damascus' account appears in Workman, B.K. They Saw it Happen in Classical Times (1964); Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics), translated by Robert Graves (1957).

Dio's Rome, Volume 2 by Cassius Dio Cocceianus

Historian Richard A. Gabriel neatly summarized Philip II’s legacy, “Had there been no Philip to bring the Macedonian national state into existence, to assemble the economic and military resources to unite Greece, to create the bold strategic vision of conquering Persia, and to invent the first modern, tactically sophisticated and strategically capable military force in Western military history as the instrument for accomplishing that vision, the exploits of Philip’s son Alexander is Asia would not have been possible.” 

Give this episode a listen and learn more about the charismatic and amazing life of Philip II of Macedonia

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Sources:

Philip II of Macedon: Great than Alexander by Richard A. Gabriel

The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian

Tucker, Spencer C., and Lee L. Brice. "Philip II of Macedon." In World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2023. Accessed February 13, 2023. https://worldatwar2-abc-clio-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/Search/Display/1722643.

Diodorus on the death of Philip - Livius

Herodotus on the Macedonian royal House - Livius

The year was 9 CE. Autumn winds, rain, and cool air blew through the trees of western Germania’s forests. The waters of the Rhine River were beginning their annual swell in the wake of summer’s heat. Though the autumns of Germania were relatively moderate, the season was one of transition and marked by a climate subject to swift change, even week to week at times. So, it was in September in the north of the Germanic central uplands when a certain Roman general marched his men into a pass between Kalkriese Hill and dense, boggy swampland. Unbeknownst to the Romans, they were marching into a bloody, hellish gauntlet that, for them, was to characterize their last days on Earth. The days that followed were a harrowing bloodbath that destroyed three veteran Roman legions and rocked the Roman Empire, and its leader, to the core.

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Sources:

The battle that stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the slaughter of the legions in the Teutoburg Forest

https://brewminate.com/annihilation-of-a-roman-army-the-battle-of-teutoburg-forest/

Long Term Decline of the Roman Military

World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society - Long Term Decline of Roman Military (apus.edu)

A General History of Europe: The Decline of the Ancient World by A.H.M. Jones

History of the Goths by Herwig Wolfram

Dyck, Ludwig Heinrich. "Arminius." Ancient History Encyclopedia. July 12, 2019. Accessed July 14, 2019.

"Florus on the Germanic Wars." Livius. Accessed July 14, 2019. https://www.livius.org/sources/content/florus/florus-on-the-germanic-wars/

The year was 1962. In February, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. The World’s Fair took place on April 21st in Seattle, Washington and the Space Needle, which stands at 602 feet tall and features a rotating SkyCity restaurant, was unveiled to the world. Black student John Meredith attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi leading to public backlash and rioting. Marvel’s Spiderman swung onto the comic book scene. Algeria gained independence from France, Jamaica from Great Britain. Blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe famously sang Happy Birthday to American President John F. Kennedy in May, only to be found dead from an overdose three months later in August. Nelson Mandela was arrested for sabotage. The first James Bond film, Dr. No, hit London theaters. And for thirteen days in October the world held its breath, faced with the threat of nuclear war.

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Hardtack Recipe (Survival Bread) - Bread Dad

Civil War Recipe: Hardtack (1861) – The American Table

Sources:

The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Soviet View

The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

Hotline agreements: 1963 U.S.-Soviet Memorandum of Understanding

Speech by Nikita Khrushchev on the Cuban Missile Crisis

Kennedy Speeches 

The Kennedy-Khrushchev Letter

The Naval Quarantine of Cuba (navy.mil)

Executing a plan developed and approved by the Eisenhower administration, President John F. Kennedy deployed a brigade of 1,400 Cuban exiles to overthrow Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro in 1961. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was terribly executed and a significant disaster for the Kennedy administration. 

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Civil War Recipe: Hardtack (1861) – The American Table

Sources:

The History of the Bay of Pigs Invasion

https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-bay-of-pigs

Cuban Revolution

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-cuban-revolution-2136372

Cold War Timeline

https://titanmissilemuseum.org/about/cold-war-timeline/

U.S. and Cuba Relations

https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/wha/rls/fs/2001/2558.htm#:~:text=As%20a%20result%2C%20the%20United,the%20October%201962%20missile%20crisis.

U.S. and Cuba Relations

https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-cuba-relations

Germany 1945-1949

https://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/germany-1945-1949-a-case-study-in-post-conflict-reconstruction

Bay of Pigs Strategy Case Study

https://thestrategybridge.org/the-bridge/2017/5/2/bay-of-pigs-a-case-study-in-strategic-leadership-and-failed-assumptions

Operation Ajax

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/20/64-years-later-cia-finally-releases-details-of-iranian-coup-iran-tehran-oil/

The Founding of NATO

https://www.nato.int/wearenato/why-was-nato-founded.html

The Truman Doctrine

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/truman-doctrine#:~:text=With%20the%20Truman%20Doctrine%2C%20President,external%20or%20internal%20authoritarian%20forces.

The Cuban Revolution https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=headwaters

The Imperial Japanese Army was born of, and found its conclusion in, violent conflict. Westernization had come to Japan during the mid to late nineteenth century and divided the nation, for a time reversing the unification efforts of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Consisting of warring clans and provinces governed by a militarily ordered form of government, feudal Japan was a nation designed from warfare, and warfare had long been an essential thread in the weave of Japanese society.

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If you have any feedback on episodes or suggestions for future episodes, please send an email to [email protected]

Don't forget to rate us and subscribe!

Make your Own Hardtack!

Hardtack Recipe (Survival Bread) - Bread Dad

Civil War Recipe: Hardtack (1861) – The American Table

Sources:

Barker, A. J. Japanese Army Handbook 1939-1945. London: Ian Allan Ltd., 1979.

Brinkley, Frank and Kikuchi, Dairoku A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era. Andesite Press, 2015.

Clancey, Patrick, ed., TM-3 30-480 Technical Manual Handbook on Japanese Military Forces §. Accessed February 10, 2022. https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJA/HB/HB-7.html?fbclid=IwAR0u_LliAyyGUjGIvNLMTVIBQCiD8LvHzSQ_hUF4eF5yQLNPbxSW4ZPAVas.

Drea, Edward J. “In the Army Barracks of Imperial Japan.” Armed Forces & Society 15, no. 3 (1989): 329–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x8901500301.

Drea, Edward J. Japan's Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall 1853-1945. Read.amazon.com. Kansas City, KS: University Press Kansas, 2009. https://read.amazon.com/?asin=B01EBBK.

Paine, S. C. M. The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Smith, Richard J. “Meiji Japan and Late Qing China: Some Comparisons.” Charter Oath IWSM Preface. Accessed January 29, 2022. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~asia/CharterOathIWSMPreface.html.

The year 1915 was a significant year for the participants of the Great War, and a great many memorable events occurred. The Gallipoli Campaign commenced, along with the Raid on the Suez Canal, the Second Battle of Ypres began, the RMS Lusitania passenger ship was sent to the seabed by a German U-Boat, to name a few. A lot was happening. The Great War was heating up. These campaigns, events and battles are definitely areas of WWI that most military history enthusiasts have heard of, but have you heard of the Battle of Dogger Bank?

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Make your Own Hardtack!

Hardtack Recipe (Survival Bread) - Bread Dad

Civil War Recipe: Hardtack (1861) – The American Table

Sources:

https://archive.org/details/germanyshighseaf00sche

The king's ships were at sea : the war in the North Sea, August 1914-February 1915

by Goldrick, James https://archive.org/details/kingsshipswereat0000gold/page/n5/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/navaloperations00newbgoog/page/n14/mode/2up (from page 82)

Philbin, Tobias R., III (1982). Admiral von Hipper: The Inconvenient Hero. Amsterdam: B. R. Grüner Publishing Co.

Battle of Dogger Bank:

https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-themes/world-war-one/battle-of-dogger-bank/

The Battle of Dogger Bank as then Lieutenant AD Boyle serving in HMS New Zealand recalled it: https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-themes/world-war-one/battle-of-dogger-bank-lt-a-d-boyle/

SIGINT  and Electronic Warfare (As it relates to Room 40) https://web.archive.org/web/20120805161935/http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/cryptologic_spectrum/electronic_warfare.pdf

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-of-the-first-world-war-war-at-sea

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/the-battle-of-dogger-bank-january-1915/