Loose Cannons

101 Myths, Mishaps and Misadventurers of Military History

Loose Cannons cover

Loose Cannons

101 Myths, Mishaps and Misadventurers of Military History

Description

From the author of Sticklers, Sideburns, and Bikinis comes this funny, often irreverent look at two thousand years of lies, inaccuracies, propaganda, deceit, downright foolishness, and little-known facts from the ars militaria.

On Hitler:
"[No one] ever produced 'proof' of Hitler having won the Iron Cross, Second Class without which the First Class could not be awarded. He was a liar, but his favorite WWI yarn, about his life being spared by a British soldier who had him dead in his sights, is unfortunately true. It seems we have Private Henry Tandy VC, then of the Green Howards, to thank for all the fun of Round 2 with Germany."

On Che Guevara:
"The darling of week-end rebels and champagne socialists, Guevara continues to be lauded by the intellectually bankrupt who sport his image on T-shirts, making Guevara the only racist, mass murderer to become a fashion-accessory. He neither lived nor died a hero and almost everything trumpeted about him is false."

On the Lusitania:
She was not an American liner; she was not sunk on her maiden voyage; she was not an 'innocent' sunk without warning by the nasty Germans; the incident was not responsible for America's entry into WW1, and as for British connivance into her sinking, the jury is still out on that.

On breast enhancement surgery:
One of the more unusual 'developments' from WWII, to say the least, but modern breast enhancement techniques were a direct result of the American occupation of post-war Japan.

Table of Contents

- THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DEADLY: little-known biographical detail of some of the more 'flamboyant' characters to grace or disgrace a uniform - MILITARY MISCONCEPTIONS: an overturning of some of the more established 'truths' bandied about the arena of military history - QUOTE-MISQUOTE: military 'quotes' that never touched the lips of those to whom they are attributed and an unscrambling of the mish-mash of half-truths and misunderstanding of others - SAD WARS AND MAD WEAPONS: Some of the ludicrous wars that have taken place through history, and the more lunatic devices contrived to wreak death and destruction but which proved more of a danger to the inventors.

Product details

Published Oct 20 2009
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 320
ISBN 9781846033773
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 30 b/w
Dimensions 7 x 5 inches
Series General Military
Short code GNM
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Graeme Donald

Graeme Donald has been researching the origins of…

Resources

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