Re-enacting the American Revolution is very big in Japan, from what I hear. (A U.S. company that sells historical re-enacting stuff claims to have many Japanese customers.) I’m guessing non-U.S. re-enactors of the American Civil War are simply big U.S. history fans.
Seems like a lot of WWII battles would basically be squatting in the mud in a foxhole until a shell randomly killed you.
Per-20th century battles seem like they’d be a lot more conducive to fun re-enactments, with lines of troops in organized formations facing each other, rather then a bunch of guys in drab olive crawling through the bushes.
Now that’s hard-core!
Correct.
In response to Simplicio, Mahaloth and others - why we do it or pick the conflicts we decide to recreate is one of those things that is hard to explain. I could say that its because of my love of pre-Rev War history and how recreating it allows me to develop that love in others, some of my friends would say its the “applied archeology” aspect - that by living it we can learn things the books didn’t record. Some will write it off to a personal connection with an ancestor or an interest inspired by a movie or book. Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote are often cited as the reason the American Civil War (or War of Northern Aggression if you prefer) is so popular around the world.
But usually it comes down to something you can just describe as “fun”. I just got back from an event at a colonial fair this weekend. It wasn’t some big battle at a historic place; more a dog and pony show for the shoppers. It got cold at night and dusty during the day. And I had more fun in two days there than I often have in a week anywhere else including an amusement park. I like the other reenactors I work with, I enjoy the public who watch us and talk with us. And I just have this amazing amount or relaxation doing it.
I’m from the Wyoming Valley area of PA. French and Indian wasn’t thought of much there or fought there. I don’t have any personal reasons (ancestors or national heritage) reasons to do it. But I’ve tried other eras, including ones I could have a personal relationship with, and not enjoyed them as much. So I do what I like even if the only reason is it makes me smile when I’m done.
I’ve always wondered if he would be covered as a wounded in action veteran…
I was about to say something in the lines of “You git, why would you think anybody outside the US would reenact the US civil war?”, until I remembered that I attended a reenactment of the Siege of Vicksburg here in Sweden last year. (Though it was about 30 guys and a cannon)
So I retract the whole git-part, and reply: yes we do.
Also, as previously posted, some interesting reenactments are documented on EnglishRussia. If you check Youtube, Japan reenacts quite a bit of feudal warfare as well.
I used to know some people who reenacted the Thirty Years War in Australia. No one got their arm blown off but one guy did get shot with a ramrod.
A number of web sites of German language Civil War reenactors: http://www.dmoz.org/World/Deutsch/Freizeit/Hobbys/Lebendige_Geschichte/Nordamerika/Vereinigte_Staaten/Amerikanischer_Bürgerkrieg/
Regarding Germany I assume it’s because the US civil war is (a) well known from imported US popular culture (we are more interested in the US than vice versa) and (b) a conflict that Germany was not party to - for example reenactments of the 1870/1871 war would be severely frowned on because people would suspect the activists of identifying with the German side. The US civil war OTOH is more on the lines of Martians vs. Venusians.
There are WW2 re-enactors, here in the US.
One group even fields a half-track, as a substitute tank.
I suspect one big reason is that US civil war reproductions are mass-produced and usually not too pricy, which makes it easier to get into without investing a lot of time and money. Finding reproductions for something like the Crimean war would probably be an entirely different matter, despite taking place only a decade earlier and being just about equally well documented.
Pakistan Army heritage foundation reanacts battles and has period dress and weapons dating from about 2000 years ago.
I think the US Civil War is popular even outside the US for two reasons:
It has has been said to be one of the first major wars fought by mostly-literate soldiers, and they left a very large body of literature behind, much of it touching. And that’s been expanded upon ever since by scholars and novelists. This body of information and storytelling attracts lots of readers.
Secondly, it started out, at least, as a “romantic” war. In fact, it was one of the last “romantic” wars before total warfare replaced “glory” with industrial-scale suffering. An essential part of the tragedy of the US Civil War is the fact that it began as a romantic excursion with flags, songs, and favors from the ladies, and ended as an almost total war, with mechanized killing, trenches, starvation and scorched earth. Lots of other wars began as lighthearted excursions of course, but there was a real national transition in this case from blissful ignorance to grim awakening to hardened, bitter hearts.
I think those are pretty good explanations, kopek and Sailboat. I did Civil War reenacting for five years (with the 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Co. B, skyrocketing to the rank of corporal), and had a pretty good time before deciding to move on to other things. I saw foreigners from time to time at the really big events. IIRC it was an overenthusiastic French reenactor, using borrowed gear, who accidentally shot a guy at a Gettysburg event in the early 1990s. I have a friend who still does Napoleonic reenacting, and he’s been to events in Puerto Rico, France and Belgium.
There was a British murder mystery a few years back in which someone gets killed while on the battlefield at an English Civil War reenactment. Lots of guys around with guns, the corpse isn’t immediately noticed among all the other just-pretend casualties, and it’s almost impossible to figure out who did him in.
There’s also the Dark Ages Society
For that matter, is it even legal to wear German WW2-era military garb in France? I’m not sure it is in Germany - I know the swastika is illegal, but I don’t know if regular (non-SS) German Army units actually wore the thing.
I am sorely (and inappropriately) tempted to answer “yes.”
One very prominent Brit was quite interested in the ACW: http://clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com/articles/comment/churchill.htm
There was some controversy recently in Quebec surrounding a reenactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. That wasn’t exactly a civil war, being between the British and the French, but it has some elements in common, in that the current inhabitants are descendants of both.
An earlier discussion of this: The Plains of Abraham: Let's Try This Again! - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board
Lots of 'em, I’m sure.