Post by Battlemaster on Jun 18, 2007 23:02:06 GMT -5
Something to gain inspiration from, news item on a highly successful reenactment event in Europe: 
Waterloo reenactment draws thousands
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jun 18, 11:00 AM ET
WATERLOO, Belgium - When Edmund Gulvin first joined the Black Watch regiment, he was a 6-year-old "powder monkey." He is now a rifleman and hopes to make sergeant one day — if he manages to make it through the Napoleonic Wars
Gulvin, 18, is one of tens of thousands of enthusiasts around Europe who share a common passion — the reenactment of famous historical battles. Over the weekend, about 4,000 set up camp, donned uniforms, strapped on bayonets and sabers and took up muskets for the anniversary of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.
"You have to be passionate to do this. I could be clubbing back home, but instead I'm marching around in a skirt in this rain," said Gulvin, who with his father Keith and friend Richard Heymann had driven up from Chatham, in southeastern England, to take part in the mock battle.
All three wore the representative kilt of the 1815 Black Watch uniform and carried "Brown Bess" muskets, the standard British firearm of the Napoleonic Wars.
History buffs from Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland and elsewhere said the Waterloo commemoration is one of the most important events on their calendars. The actual anniversary of the battle was Monday but the event was on the weekend.
Such gatherings also are popular and highly developed elsewhere in the world, including the United States, where reenactments of Civil War battles such as Bull Run, Gettysburg, and Antietem draws tens of thousands of enthusiasts.
The clash between France's Grande Armee and combined British, Dutch and German forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington played a pivotal role in world history, ending 26 years of warfare and Napoleon's dream of uniting Europe under French rule.
Spectators lined the fields and perched atop the Butte du Lion, a 130-foot earthen mound crowned by a massive lion built to commemorate the allied victory. They watched infantry and cavalry converge on the battlefield where Napoleon lost his empire.
The sound of cannon fire, fifes, drums and bagpipes filled the air as the soldiers raised their banners, moving shoulder to shoulder, and recreated the events of June 18, 1815. Most significant was the dramatic French assault on Hougoumont Farm, on whose massive wooden gate, in the words the Duke of Wellington, the outcome of the entire battle hinged.
British dragoons and French hussars crossed swords and charged with horses through thick cannon smoke.
Two hundred years after Napoleon's efforts to unite Europe the hard way, the capital of the modern European Union is located only eight miles down a highway from the battlefield, in Brussels.
Once a rural hamlet with a few taverns surrounded by rolling farm fields, Waterloo is now an upscale community of spacious family homes — popular with foreign residents — international schools, huge hypermarkets, drive-in hamburger joints and a bustling commercial center, all still surrounded by cultivated fields. Perhaps not surprisingly it's home to a large part of Brussels' expat British community.
The reenactors set up their camp on the grounds of Hougoumont, still a working family farm.
Nearly 1,000 women, mostly wives and girlfriends, accompanied these weekend warriors, much like the women who followed armies on their campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars. Also in period costume, they set about preparing period food — stews and sausages cooked over wood fires — and mending uniforms.
"The soldiers then ate one-pot meals with horsemeat, rabbit or other game, so we prepare similar foods," said Lesley Collins, who was chopping meat for the evening meal. "We enjoy this as much as the men, and the kids love running around the camp playing soldiers or drummer-boys."
The reenactors usually belong to individual clubs that represent specific military units from various wars. Members meet once or twice a month to practice drilling, fighting and even "dying."
"It's just huge fun," said David Dore, a London businessman who belongs to a society that portrays the 17th Lancers cavalry regiment. He said that in the last two years, his group joined numerous reenactments, including the Charge of the Light Brigade in the "Valley of Death" on the Crimean Peninsula and a Boer War battle in South Africa.
But passion for this pastime is inevitably tempered by finances. A complete kit of uniform, boots, weapons and other trappings for just one historical period costs between $2,660-$5,320, so many reenactors stick to one period costume. Those with deeper pockets can buy more expensive uniforms like the cavalry outfits, typically costing more than $6,650, or acquire kits from several periods.
"We all have to like history, but the main attraction is the social side of things," said Frederich Loggen of the Dutch town of Deventer. "We become good friends here."
Alison Strait, the wife of a cavalryman, described the hobby as the ultimate boys' club.
"Not only do they get to hang out with their friends, they get to dress up as soldiers and fight battles," she said.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070618/ap_on_re_eu/waterloo_reenactment
(Currently: There is still a slide show option in this url address)
Waterloo reenactment draws thousands
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jun 18, 11:00 AM ET
WATERLOO, Belgium - When Edmund Gulvin first joined the Black Watch regiment, he was a 6-year-old "powder monkey." He is now a rifleman and hopes to make sergeant one day — if he manages to make it through the Napoleonic Wars
Gulvin, 18, is one of tens of thousands of enthusiasts around Europe who share a common passion — the reenactment of famous historical battles. Over the weekend, about 4,000 set up camp, donned uniforms, strapped on bayonets and sabers and took up muskets for the anniversary of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.
"You have to be passionate to do this. I could be clubbing back home, but instead I'm marching around in a skirt in this rain," said Gulvin, who with his father Keith and friend Richard Heymann had driven up from Chatham, in southeastern England, to take part in the mock battle.
All three wore the representative kilt of the 1815 Black Watch uniform and carried "Brown Bess" muskets, the standard British firearm of the Napoleonic Wars.
History buffs from Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland and elsewhere said the Waterloo commemoration is one of the most important events on their calendars. The actual anniversary of the battle was Monday but the event was on the weekend.
Such gatherings also are popular and highly developed elsewhere in the world, including the United States, where reenactments of Civil War battles such as Bull Run, Gettysburg, and Antietem draws tens of thousands of enthusiasts.
The clash between France's Grande Armee and combined British, Dutch and German forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington played a pivotal role in world history, ending 26 years of warfare and Napoleon's dream of uniting Europe under French rule.
Spectators lined the fields and perched atop the Butte du Lion, a 130-foot earthen mound crowned by a massive lion built to commemorate the allied victory. They watched infantry and cavalry converge on the battlefield where Napoleon lost his empire.
The sound of cannon fire, fifes, drums and bagpipes filled the air as the soldiers raised their banners, moving shoulder to shoulder, and recreated the events of June 18, 1815. Most significant was the dramatic French assault on Hougoumont Farm, on whose massive wooden gate, in the words the Duke of Wellington, the outcome of the entire battle hinged.
British dragoons and French hussars crossed swords and charged with horses through thick cannon smoke.
Two hundred years after Napoleon's efforts to unite Europe the hard way, the capital of the modern European Union is located only eight miles down a highway from the battlefield, in Brussels.
Once a rural hamlet with a few taverns surrounded by rolling farm fields, Waterloo is now an upscale community of spacious family homes — popular with foreign residents — international schools, huge hypermarkets, drive-in hamburger joints and a bustling commercial center, all still surrounded by cultivated fields. Perhaps not surprisingly it's home to a large part of Brussels' expat British community.
The reenactors set up their camp on the grounds of Hougoumont, still a working family farm.
Nearly 1,000 women, mostly wives and girlfriends, accompanied these weekend warriors, much like the women who followed armies on their campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars. Also in period costume, they set about preparing period food — stews and sausages cooked over wood fires — and mending uniforms.
"The soldiers then ate one-pot meals with horsemeat, rabbit or other game, so we prepare similar foods," said Lesley Collins, who was chopping meat for the evening meal. "We enjoy this as much as the men, and the kids love running around the camp playing soldiers or drummer-boys."
The reenactors usually belong to individual clubs that represent specific military units from various wars. Members meet once or twice a month to practice drilling, fighting and even "dying."
"It's just huge fun," said David Dore, a London businessman who belongs to a society that portrays the 17th Lancers cavalry regiment. He said that in the last two years, his group joined numerous reenactments, including the Charge of the Light Brigade in the "Valley of Death" on the Crimean Peninsula and a Boer War battle in South Africa.
But passion for this pastime is inevitably tempered by finances. A complete kit of uniform, boots, weapons and other trappings for just one historical period costs between $2,660-$5,320, so many reenactors stick to one period costume. Those with deeper pockets can buy more expensive uniforms like the cavalry outfits, typically costing more than $6,650, or acquire kits from several periods.
"We all have to like history, but the main attraction is the social side of things," said Frederich Loggen of the Dutch town of Deventer. "We become good friends here."
Alison Strait, the wife of a cavalryman, described the hobby as the ultimate boys' club.
"Not only do they get to hang out with their friends, they get to dress up as soldiers and fight battles," she said.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070618/ap_on_re_eu/waterloo_reenactment
(Currently: There is still a slide show option in this url address)
