Local 62-year-old dad Carl Strungis reportedly spends hours glued to The History Channel, absorbing absolutely nothing except the vague sense that explosions are cool and America rules.
    • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.worldEnglish
      33·
      13 hours ago

      In the late 90s/early 2000s it was the WWII channel. Non-stop First Reich munitions, strategies, successes, and failures. They may want to bring that back.

      • njm1314@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        8 hours ago

        Hey now they also had that one show where they recreated ancient battles using the total war engine. That was pretty cool.

        • Forester@pawb.socialEnglish
          10·
          12 hours ago

          I mean they did have better machining and chemistry infrastructure, but that’s more of a result of poor material conditions forcing inovations. Their presses and processes were really good. We did beat them easily with slightly worse technology because we could mass produce it. The US had more crudely tooled industry but we had a lot more industrial capacity.

          One of the major looted items after the war from both the US and the Soviets was the shrviving German metallurgists and chemists. Both also looted tooling and machinery.

          Operation paperclip was a lot more than rocket scientists

          • merc@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            4 hours ago

            but that’s more of a result of poor material conditions forcing inovations

            Well, also Germany was one of the world leaders in science and technology in the early 1900s all the way up to WWII. Just look at the list of winners of the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry and how many of them are German. You could even see this in the recent Oppenheimer movie, where they showed him travelling to the University of Göttingen because that was where you needed to be to study cutting edge theoretical physics. And this was the 1920s when Germany was already suffering having to repay massive war debts after WWI.

            What happened? When Hitler rose to power the Nazis drove off all the Jewish scientists, and scared off a lot of the gentiles. It’s almost exactly the same situation as in the US today. Even the chaotic Weimar Republic wasn’t enough to cause Germany’s lead on science to collapse. But, when Hitler came to power, the scientists left, and a lot of them came to the US. This was the start of the US dominating science for decades, something which may collapse now due to Trump.

            • Forester@pawb.socialEnglish
              1·
              3 hours ago

              But the reason Germany was so full of those scientists is because Germany lacked access to good coal seams and to petroleum reserves and also its massive dye industry from the 1800s. In a similar fashion, Germany learned to use metals like magnesium because they were abundant while pure iron was not

          • TexasDrunk@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            10 hours ago

            Dude, their printing presses were amazing. You can still find the Heidelberg Super Speed from 90ish years ago in working condition.

        • RagingRobot@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          10 hours ago

          I bought a Mercedes once and learned that was such a lie lol that thing broke down all the time. Expensive crap

      • LustyArgonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        9 hours ago

        The Travel Channel has had better historical shows than The History Channel lately, maybe History should buy some of the old ones.

        Eg Mysteries at the Museum - kinda funny editing but genuinely I learned SO MUCH History from this show and it really stuck with me. The story about Galloping Gertie and the dog stuck in the car for one.

        (Link is sad but not gory) https://youtu.be/j-zczJXSxnw

        Or Expedition Unknown, which that guy actually interviewed and nearly went on the Titanic sub. That episode was scrapped for safety concerns (lol) and not really historical, but he’s had plenty at old ruins etc.

  • ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.comEnglish
    21·
    13 hours ago

    I miss when the history channel was 90% Hitler content.

    Hitler’s rise to power. Hitler’s war on the eastern front. Hitler’s Nazi super megastructures. Hitler’s downfall. Hitler’s atomic weapon. Hitler’s dog.

    At least it was educational.

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      8·
      11 hours ago

      I recall it being more about WW2 than Hitler. I enjoyed it, but you can find better military history on YouTube these days.