Comments for Investigations of a Dog

Comment on Winter in Windsor part 3: what the papers didn’t say by Gavin Robinson

Gavin Robinson — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:59:27 +0000

Trying Tears for Fears can lead to Haircut 100 which leads to the Blow Monkeys and before you know it you’ll be hooked on Kajagoogoo. Just say no, kids.

Your site looks really interesting. I’ll let you know if I come across any Beggars Bush references.

Comment on Winter in Windsor part 3: what the papers didn’t say by Neil Howlett

Neil Howlett — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:28:31 +0000

Now you’ve done it to me – the urge to go downstairs and put The Absolute Game at high volume. I can’t because my teenage daughter is watching Dr Who and that takes precedence over everything. It’s an lp I couldn’t give up in the recent cull – just in case. Nothing wrong with that, it was a gloriously unashamed full on record. Try some Tears for Fears ?

Comment on Winter in Windsor by Investigations of a Dog » Winter in Windsor part 3: what the papers didn’t say

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:24:49 +0000

[...] part 1 of this series I tried to find out what disparaging things Henry Marten said about the Earl of [...]

Comment on Your Archives: an obituary by Gavin Robinson

Gavin Robinson — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:50:48 +0000

Unlike you I don’t tend to come up with good structures straight away, so being able to break it down into small sections and move them around just by changing the order of lists of wikilinks was really useful. I also put lots of background information in the wiki which I could link to easily. And once the chapters started to take shape, extra ideas and questions could go on talk pages instead of having to be written into the main text straight away. Basically my private wiki is a very flexible notepad where I can store ideas and information and gradually shape them into finished texts without having to know where I’m going right from the start. The biggest limitation is not being able to put in footnotes that are automatically linked to my Zotero library but it doesn’t take too long to do proper references in Open Office or Word when I’ve finished.

Comment on Your Archives: an obituary by Andrew Hickey

Andrew Hickey — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:58:48 +0000

How did you use MediaWiki for drafting? I’ve considered something similar myself (though I’d probably use something like Zim, which doesn’t have the client/server overhead) but have come to the conclusion that the nonlinear nature is not best suited for production of linear texts like books. (It’s actually a shame there’s no commercial market for purchasing of hypertexts, as I have some ideas about those).

Comment on Cavalry Charges: Practice by Gavin Robinson

Gavin Robinson — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:22:04 +0000

I don’t have time to reply to this properly but if you have access to it, I had an article published this year which might make things clearer:

‘Equine Battering Rams? A Reassessment of Cavalry Charges in the English Civil War’, Journal of Military History, 75:3 (2011), pp. 719-731.

The post above is nearly 5 years old now. Since then I’ve refined my arguments and found some new evidence.

Comment on Cavalry Charges: Practice by John Hergt

John Hergt — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:13:01 +0000

As one who rides horses I think much of what you wrote makes perfect sense. I do however have some questions regarding what actually took place. There are numerous examples from the American Civil War where first hand accounts describe cavalry charges against cavalry, which resulted in tremendous impacts with both horses and men crushed in the attack (some of which were of course also the result of horses in the front falling). During the Napoleonic Wars Napoleon refused to create elite Cuirassier units stating that they were already elite units and explaining that their unit cohesion striking en mass would render an elite unit counterproductive. If not used for shock then what was the purpose of the heavy cavalry sword of the Cuirassier? Units reshaped the hatchet blade end and sharpen the tip to a spear point for greater penetration. The blade, which was straight unlike lighter cavalry units, was designed not for slashing but to be used as sort of a lance.

Now that have read your articles I am unclear about the purpose of a cavalry charge against infantry. If it was designed to stop before reaching its target whether at the canter or gallop then surely the infantry would have come to realize this and not have all feared it. Moreover did the charge stop before a line of infantry as well as a square. I cannot understand how a charge would have worked against infantry with fixed bayonets, but I could see that a charge could reek havoc on the flanks and creating holes in the line. I recall reading how at the battle of Waterloo some Cuirassiers went as far as trying to back their horses in against a square! There are also numberous examples of cavalry running down routed infantry in the American Civil War most notably during the battle of the First Bull Run. I would very much appreciate your response to the questions I have raised as I have much respect for your opinion.

Comment on Level Completed by Gavin Robinson

Gavin Robinson — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:57:13 +0000

Thanks. Annoyingly I had to drop all the discussion of the war horse and mill horse pamphlet as I ran out of space and it was one of the few sections that could disappear without affecting anything else. At least it’ll make some good blog posts.

Comment on Level Completed by Nick

Nick — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:53:50 +0000

Congratulations: eeally looking forward to reading it. There is also the added bonus that you are back blogging again!

Comment on Level Completed by Gavin Robinson

Gavin Robinson — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:47:33 +0000

It’s David Kenyon, Horsemen in No Man’s Land: British Cavalry and Trench Warfare 1914-1918, (Barnsley, Pen & Sword, August 2011). I’ll be buying it when I think I’ll have time to read it.