Kurz & Allison Part VIII: Overland Campaign

When Ulysses S. Grant became commander of all Federal forces at the start of 1864, he chose to personally oversee operations in Virginia, practically commanding the Army of the Potomac (General George Meade was still the technical commander, causing tension among the Union leadership). The ensuing campaign, which lasted through May and most of June, was a constant, hellish series of battles that saw high casualty rates among both Federals and Confederates.

Battle of the Wilderness

The Wilderness is a wooded area. In fact it is part of the terrain over which the Battle of Chancellorsville was fought. Grant planned to get around Lee by quickly penetrating the dense forest. General Lee, however, blocked him on May 5 and a confusing and bloody battle ensued. It looked like the Federals would push through anyways on May 6, but reinforcements under General James Longstreet stopped them. The weather was dry and the vegetation caught on fire, burning many of the wounded alive. Tactically the Wilderness was a Confederate victory, but Grant simply marched his arm southeast and continued the campaign. His plan was to wear down Lee’s force through sheer attrition, as the North could much more easily replace its losses.

Movie Review: The Woman King (2022)

The Woman King is a curious movie. I was entertained and absorbed for much of it, but as someone who’s fairly knowledgeable on the subject it covers, the West African kingdom of Dahomey, I found some aspects odd, perhaps a little troubling. First of all I will say that the marketing for this movie was bad. The trailer shows black women talking about fighting for freedom while girl power songs play in the background. When the main character Nanisca (Viola Davis) talks about fighting the enemy and for freedom there are shots of white colonists. This gives the impression that the Dahomey fought European slavers. When potential viewers conducted a little research and learned that the Dahomey were in fact massive slavers, seizing entire towns to sell on the coast, they felt lied to. They thought the movie was going to completely change history depict the Dahomey as heroic anti-slavery fighters. It did not help that Viola Davis tried to shame audiences by implying that anybody who did not see her movie was against black women. As it turns out these concerns can be both dismissed and verified. Let’s get into it.

The movie focuses on the Agojie, an all-female warrior unit. Black female fighters certainly checks boxes that are currently in vogue in Hollywood, but there is a firm historical basis. In the actual history they originated as a royal bodyguard, but thanks to a shortage of fighting men King Ghezo (portrayed by John Boyega in this movie) expanded it into a frontline unit. The Woman King thankfully remembers that the Europeans, the Portuguese in particular, were the Dahomey’s customer’s rather than enemies. In fact the film portrays the Oyo, a powerful Yoruba Empire, as the main antagonists. The Oyo had forced Dahomey into a tributary status, receiving annual gifts in exchange for no further invasions. This movie takes place in 1823, when Dahomey threw off Oyo domination.

The Sack of Athens

On May 2, 1862, a brigade of Union soldiers descended on Athens, a small town and transportation hub in northern Alabama. What ensued was one of the earliest incidents of hard war against civilians, at a time when Union military policy stressed policies that would win ostensibly reluctant Secessionists back into the Union. The man at the center of this controversy was Colonel John Turchin, known by his detractors as the Mad Cossack.

 

The Mad Cossack

John Basil Turchin was the Americanized name of Ivan Vasilyevich Turchaninov. Turchaninov was born in the Province of the Don (the historical domain of the Cossacks) on January 30, 1822. His father was a major in the Imperial Russian Army and a lower-ranking noble. Ivan thus got into a good school, where he excelled. At the age of 14 he followed his father into the military, rising to colonel of the Imperial Guard in 1841. In 1849 he helped quash a revolution in Hungary. One historian notes that the soldiers’ large scale theft of food from the peasants was approved of as initiative by their commanders, as they were having trouble bringing their own stores of food up to the front. This might have played a role in Turchin’s mindset 30 years later.

During the Crimean War (1853-1856) he first earned a position on the personal staff of crown prince Alexander and then established defenses along the Finnish coast (Finland was at this time part of the Russian Empire). In 1856 Turchaninov married Nedezhda Lvova, an aristocrat’s daughter he had met in Poland. Around this time Turchaninov began to chafe at the military system in Russia. It promoted men through the ranks by nature of their birth and connections rather than merit. It also got in the way of much needed reforms. As a competent officer unable to rise any higher because of his comparatively modest background, Ivan was especially frustrated by the Russian Imperial order. He and Nedezhda, both liberal Russians, decided to move away from their homeland and its firm class system. They sought life in the United States. There the ex-soldier gained his Anglicized name while running a farm in New York. Once he and his wife learned English they moved to Chicago where he used his military experience to become an engineer.[1]

Movie Review: Medieval (2022)

 

Medieval is a Czech film made in the English language and theatrically released in the States (it’s out as of the time of this review). The title is rather broad and simple (it’s like calling a film set within the last couple centuries Modern) but considering that the average American won’t know anything about the specific events depicted it’s just as well. I was drawn to this movie because it takes place in Bohemia, the land of my paternal ancestors. Czech director Petr Jakl focuses on the rise of Jan Zizka (Ben Foster), a famed Czech military hero, prior to the Hussite Wars (1418-1434). The Hussite Wars were a series of struggles within the Holy Roman Empire. These were centered in Bohemia, where theologian Jan Hus presaged the Protestant Reformation with his calls for church reform and an emphasis on Scripture over leading clergymen for authority.

Since Medieval’s narrative precedes the wars, Jan Hus is off to the side, but his criticisms of church and politics does tie into one of the story’s central conflicts, which is how the common people are victimized by the machinations of Papal and royal politics. In the early 15^th Century the Roman Catholic Church is split between two popes, one in Rome and the other in France, and the title of Holy Roman Emperor is unoccupied. This results in violent chaos throughout Europe. In an attempt to reunite the Church under Rome and stabilize Europe, Lord Bores (Michael Caine) plans to have Zizka escort Bohemian King Wenceslas IV (Karl Roden) to Rome where he will be crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Scheming King Sigismund of Hungary (Matthew Goode) also has his eyes on the throne, and forms an antagonistic alliance with tyrannical Bohemian nobleman Rosenberg (Til Schweiger). In an attempt to neutralize Rosenberg, Lord Bores has Zizka abduct his French fiancée Catherine (Sophie Lowe). Thanks to a series of double-crosses and Sigismund’s own agenda, Zizka and his mercenaries end up allying with peasant rebels against Sigismund and his nasty mercenary leader Torak (Roland Moller). If you think this is hard to follow, you’re correct. If you don’t have any decent historical knowledge of this period in history you might find yourself lost.