CitySimon

I guess that mainly the ACW is re-enacted in Britain due to the very fact that we had no (official) involvement in the war...

A large number of Britains wars are still quite political (in certain circles) but the ACW can be represented without the problem of the viewing public taking one side or the other!!


Personally, I got into it through relatives of mine already being in the regiment and looking for recruits.

Jabba1

I was under the impression that British school children are generally taught little to nothing about the ACW. Do people in Britian ever get confused when you re-enact the war.

Jabba1

Here's a photo of another great coaster that I have had the honor of riding. Superman: Krypton Coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio TX.

Jabba1

LOL!!! Gotta love that sign!!!:scared: :scared: :scared:

Jabba1

Gotta love that view!!!:scared: This is Mr. Freeze at Six Flags over Texas near Dallas TX. No other coaster could give you such a cool view of I-30. LOL!!:scared:

Jabba1

But this has to be the best coaster of them all, the one and only "X" at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Yosser

Yep, been on this one, you start off sitting there all cosy like, then you take off like shit off a shovel straight into a 90 deg vertical climb, I swear I thought my neck was going to break with all the twisting around.


:scared:

DaveC

Every time I go on it I come off with sore ears, I get such a battering from the head rests. You been on the Texas Titan yet - the new one which is so tall you can see it from DFW airport. I think that's its name?

Yosser

No I haven't been on that ride yet Dave, the last time I went it was so flippin hot all I wanted to do was find some shade and some ice cream, I couldn't believe the length of some ques to get on those rides, some were hour and a half and people were fainting due to heat stroke.

CitySimon

I have to say that sometimes people think we are doing the English Civil War (until the flags come out and the uniforms go on) but most people do atleast know that the war occured.



Prior to joining the regiment myself (12 years ago), all I knew of the ACW was what I had read in my own history books (not taught in schools) which was.... not much!

I knew that one side wore blue and the other side wore gray (sorry, grey)... and that the side wearing blue won! Pretty sad really!!!

ejay1

Its kind of weird though having Civil War battles re-enacted in Britain. I can understand for it being re-enacted in battle fields here in the states(due to history and heritage). But why are they fascinated by the ACW?

CitySimon

I don't really think that the British population are fascinated by the ACW but it is a general interest in world history which draws people to our events. Anybody who isn't interested doesn't come!


They re-enact the ACW all over the world!

I was in Gettysburg this summer and ran into some Australians who re-enact with a regiment which was in the same brigade as mine in the war!

Their is a regiment in the modern German Army which re-enacts the ACW as a full strength Union regiment in Germany.

Their are units in Sweden, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Norway... etc... (most of Europe really)


Their is a bi-annual event held in Staffordshire which all of the European units get together (along with several hundred Americans) and they re-enact one of the big battles of the war...
We re-enacted Gettysburg a few years ago and had the largest attendance for any single historical re-enactment outside of the USA!


Why do people re-enact it? mainly out of respect for an important event in military history... The ACW is widely regarded as being one of the first modern wars.

- Military tactics developed in the ACW are still used today.
- Early versions of weapons used in the ACW are still used today (eg. machine guns, submarines, bolt-action rifles, air-surveillance (well, hot-air balloons anyway), telegraph).
- It gave us a glance into the future with regards to trench warfare in WWI.


Obviously, people in the USA re-enact this war for considerably more reasons that elsewhere,

- It is their history!
- They had relatives who fought (and died) in the war
- They still believe in "the cause" (in some cases)
- They want to educate others to the event which killed more American military personnel than have been killed in all other american involved wars before or since


In the rest of the world, we re-enact this war for all of the historical reasons and also for our own reasons...

- Britain supplied the CSA with ships, guns and ammunition for the war! The Union tried to blockade the CS coastline early on in the war, but fast ships (mostly made in England) were used to outrun the Union war ships and stock up with supplies in the nearby British colonies.

- 45000 citizens of the British Isles (largely Irish) fought in the war. Everybody knows about the Irish Brigade but their were several regiments which were entirely made up of Europeans... The Garibaldi Guard was made up of Italians who fought for the Union (they said all of their orders in Italian!). Their were also German and French regiments within the Union army.

- This was a war which Britain could very easily have got involved in! We had soldiers in Canada who were prepared to join in the fight... That scenario was binned following Abraham Lincolns "Emancapation Proclamation" which made the war more of a slavery issue. Britain, having freed their slaves some time earlier, could not be seen to be joining in a war on the side in support of slavery"


I hope this answers your question Ejay , I tried to answer your comments last night (failing obviously).

CitySimon

Before anybody points it out...


I know that it should be "there" and not "their".

English was never my best subject at school.

Jabba1

You mean this!!!




Yep, I've been on it, mean ride!!!!!