Mud, Blood and Poppycock challenges First World War myths
Gordon Corrigan's book disputes familiar claims of uniquely incompetent British command, needless slaughter, and a lost generation.
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Somme assault timing: barrages, Russian saps, and wave spacing
Corrigan's Somme analysis identifies the exposed interval after a barrage lifts, then weighs Russian saps, wider wave spacing, and flexible fire control as possible remedies.
French Somme advantages in artillery, terrain, and fire and movement
French troops attack over more favourable ground with heavier artillery and enough offensive experience to use fire and movement across exposed spaces.
Why Britain's 1916 mass army could not yet exploit initiative
The pre-war regular army knew fire and movement, but Britain's enlarged 1916 force lacked the shared experience needed to use it without losing control.
Mobilisation and training between the two world wars
Second World War tactical capacity drew on lessons from earlier mass mobilisation and the extra time available to train regulars, territorials, and new troops.
Science fiction exposes a fleet-design blind spot
A fictional missile-heavy fleet becomes more plausible when compared with real navies that concentrate on large weapons while leaving close-in protection relatively weak.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Sluys opens the Hundred Years War at sea
The Battle of Sluys is introduced as the first major clash of the Hundred Years War and an unusually lethal medieval naval action.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Aquitaine and Scotland turn a dynastic dispute into war
Edward III's French lands and Philip VI's support for Scotland explain how an unstable dynastic relationship became a prolonged war.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Truces sustained the Hundred Years War's arms market
Intermittent peace treaties encouraged rearmament, enriching banking networks and weapon suppliers across Europe.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
The industrial system behind England's longbows
Longbow effectiveness depended on planted timber, compulsory practice, mass arrow production, warehouses, and severe standards for storage.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Why Indian princely states did not build large navies
Without a local naval competitor to imitate or counter, princely states concentrated their military resources on armies.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Merchant captains supplied England's professional fighting companies
Paid companies of archers and men-at-arms gave Edward III a practical professional force outside noble household retinues.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
How were mercenary companies retained for battle?
Cash kept a company in service, while knighting a successful captain could expand the kinds of troops he attracted.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Why invasion fleets gathered in the Low Countries
Tides, currents, and nearby ports made the Low Countries a recurring launch point for invasion plans against England.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Merchant cogs became medieval warships
Both fleets relied mainly on merchant vessels converted to carry soldiers, archers, and boarding parties.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Chaining the French fleet surrendered maneuver
The French attempt to build a chained defensive wall collapsed into immobile, disordered groups under wind and tidal pressure.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Did noble sons inherit land, join the army, and enter the Church?
The familiar three-son pattern was plausible, but wealth and education shaped whether a younger son fought, entered the Church, or bought senior office.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Ruthless English command met a divided French leadership
Edward III and William de Clinton brought personal trust and ruthlessness against French commanders with sharply different judgment.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
How did peerage inheritance relate to the House of Lords?
Noble status carried a claim to sit in the Lords and ordinarily passed to an eldest son, though the answer does not assign the practice a single origin date.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Three-ship groups isolated the chained French vessels
English groups used two ships for archery support and a third for boarding, then worked methodically down the immobile French line.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Prize incentives drove the merchant companies forward
Captured ships and goods paid the merchant companies, forcing Edward III to protect prizes so crews would return to the fight.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
The Flemish intervention completed the encirclement
After waiting for the English advantage to become clear, Flemish forces struck the French rear and removed any remaining escape.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Could the French unchain their ships during the battle?
French crews tried to undo the formation, but the chains had been secured too thoroughly to restore maneuver under attack.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Sluys destroyed a fleet and a field army at once
French losses of roughly 16,000-20,000 men and 190 ships dwarfed the casualties of Crécy or Agincourt.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
When did the Battle of Sluys become a slaughter?
A viewer question opens a discussion of continued resistance, drowning, refusal to surrender to common soldiers, and retaliatory executions.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Were the French losses deaths or total casualties?
The 16,000-20,000 estimate represents French deaths or losses, while some contemporary French chronicles claimed an even higher total.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
How many French prisoners survived Sluys?
Capture often led to execution or reprisal, leaving fewer than one hundred French prisoners despite the enormous defeated force.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Why did chaining ships fail at Sluys?
A fixed defensive wall ignored the estuary's river flow, tide, wind, and waves, sacrificing the French fleet's superior experience and position.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
How large were the fleets at Sluys?
The French had roughly 400 vessels against 213 English ships, but many French hulls carried invasion supplies rather than a pure fighting load.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Could a medieval prisoner pay ransom on the spot?
A captive's carried possessions were already forfeit, while the ransom itself was calculated from lands and income.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Does Sluys qualify as a decisive battle?
The case for J. F. C. Fuller's verdict rests on the invasion stopped, the extraordinary French losses, and the campaign opportunities created for England.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
HMS Sluys commemorated the battle, but not its king
The Royal Navy named a Battle-class destroyer HMS Sluys, while Edward III never received the same individual honor despite commanding the victory.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Did Edward III and the Black Prince break wartime norms?
Their treatment of prisoners and civilians could violate contemporary expectations even while victory and selective pardons sustained heroic reputations.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Could the fleets at Sluys have fought a running battle?
The maneuverability of heavily laden medieval ships makes an open-water running engagement uncertain rather than an obvious alternative.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Was Edward III a poor king but a good warrior?
His record looks very different from Scottish and English perspectives, while his willingness to work through Parliament complicates a simple despot label.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Camperdown and Quiberon Bay test the meaning of decisiveness
Later battles in the same invasion geography show how a naval victory can be decisive for one campaign without ending a war.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Did the Hundred Years War contain years of peace?
Formal treaties interrupted royal war, but killings and conflicts among vassals continued while campaigns shifted between theatres.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Castillon joined field artillery to an English command failure
The French victory of 1453 combined extensive field artillery with John Talbot's premature attack on a fortified camp.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Sluys did not guarantee English sea control for the whole war
Later Castilian success and renewed invasion fears qualify any claim that Sluys established permanent English naval domination.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Midway proves a battle need not end a war to be decisive
Midway's destruction of four Japanese fleet carriers provides a modern example of a decisive battle that did not end its war.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Sluys was decisive because of the capability France lost
Comparisons with Trafalgar, Midway, Camperdown, and Quiberon Bay support a final verdict based on destroyed military capacity rather than peace treaties.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Taranto and Midway persuaded different navies about carrier power
Taranto demonstrated carrier striking power, while Midway convinced the United States that a carrier fleet remained viable after Pearl Harbor.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Cogs suited the North Sea better than galleys
High-sided cogs gave English archers an effective platform in local waters, so the merchant hulls were not simply inferior to Mediterranean-style galleys.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
England's military capacity did not require total mobilization
A deeply militarized political system let Edward III field a large expedition while retaining another substantial army in England.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Which books introduce the Hundred Years War?
Gordon Corrigan and Desmond Seward offer two accessible routes into the war, with the better choice depending on the reader's perspective.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
What separated a medieval cargo ship from a warship?
In a fleet of converted merchantmen, the decisive distinction was whether a vessel carried soldiers for combat or ordinary goods.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
What would an Anglo-American naval war in 1946 look like?
A speculative answer weighs fleet locations, carrier construction, jets, submarines, demobilization, and the very different demands of Atlantic warfare.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·
Former Allied anti-submarine teams would face the U.S. Navy
Canadian and Royal Navy anti-submarine teams would bring recent operational experience against a U.S. submarine force accustomed to fighting on the same side.
From Patreon 12: “The Battle of Sluys: ...one of the Western World decisive battles" ·