Nah, history memes are a stable investment. Always a good market of people who haven't seen them yet. But it's a very slow growth investment. There's only so many historical events that most people know about, and so you quickly run out of material. Each new one that actually lands will have a good ripple but, by its nature, you're probably going more and more niche each time. Soon, you're talking about Lord Castlereagh and the Concert of Europe, and you've probably made a good joke, but no one gets it.
You'll never get rich on historical memes, but I don't see them crashing any time soon because there's no bubble.
The Maginot Line worked. Its goal wasn't to stop the Germans entirely, it was to force them to go around - to take the long way - so that they could reliably be met, fought, and stopped in Belgium rather than in France. The Germans DID go around, and the French and British did get field armies into Belgium in time to meet the Germans.
The problem wasn't the Maginot Line, or even the mindset it reflected. It was poor planning with regards to the Ardennes - it was assumed to be impassable to armor, and so lightly guarded - and a series of staff failures with regards to modernization. Tanks lacking radios to coordinate, infantry being unable to easily coordinate close air support, three armies not being well fused into one and the like.
German victory in 1940 was rapid, but that's because you can drive 300 miles about 30 times faster than you can walk it. Because Germans spearheads were freed up from their prior dependence on railheads (although the bulk of their forces were not), they were able to exploit breakthroughs much quicker. So it was literally a case of, make one mistake and it's all over. And that's what happened - the Allies made one mistake in the Ardennes, and then didn't have time to recover.
KaiserWilhelmThe2nd on May 26th, 2017 at 12:32 UTC »
When they don't learn from the schlieffen plan the first time so you do it again
Tenure on May 26th, 2017 at 13:36 UTC »
Nah, history memes are a stable investment. Always a good market of people who haven't seen them yet. But it's a very slow growth investment. There's only so many historical events that most people know about, and so you quickly run out of material. Each new one that actually lands will have a good ripple but, by its nature, you're probably going more and more niche each time. Soon, you're talking about Lord Castlereagh and the Concert of Europe, and you've probably made a good joke, but no one gets it.
You'll never get rich on historical memes, but I don't see them crashing any time soon because there's no bubble.
whistleridge on May 26th, 2017 at 15:16 UTC »
Sigh.
Ok, fine. I'll be That Guy.
The Maginot Line worked. Its goal wasn't to stop the Germans entirely, it was to force them to go around - to take the long way - so that they could reliably be met, fought, and stopped in Belgium rather than in France. The Germans DID go around, and the French and British did get field armies into Belgium in time to meet the Germans.
The problem wasn't the Maginot Line, or even the mindset it reflected. It was poor planning with regards to the Ardennes - it was assumed to be impassable to armor, and so lightly guarded - and a series of staff failures with regards to modernization. Tanks lacking radios to coordinate, infantry being unable to easily coordinate close air support, three armies not being well fused into one and the like.
German victory in 1940 was rapid, but that's because you can drive 300 miles about 30 times faster than you can walk it. Because Germans spearheads were freed up from their prior dependence on railheads (although the bulk of their forces were not), they were able to exploit breakthroughs much quicker. So it was literally a case of, make one mistake and it's all over. And that's what happened - the Allies made one mistake in the Ardennes, and then didn't have time to recover.
It had nothing to do with the Maginot Line.