# "Civil War Re-enactment" equivalents elsewhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422 "2009-06-11T05:29:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/1 "2009-06-11T05:29:56Z")
Arising from a conversation at the dinner table this evening… In the US, there are groups of people who re-enact the US Civil War (1861-1865): they dress in period costume, put themselves through plausible material hardships of diet, lodging, etc. and fight mock battles. By reputation (I don’t know any re-enactors personally), they take their hobby very seriously and try for authenticity. My question: is this an American phenomenon only? Or are there equivalents elsewhere? Any English groups re-enacting the English Civil War or the Battle of Hastings? Any French re-enacting the French revolution? Does anyone re-enact the Crusades? And so on… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/2 "2009-06-11T05:45:10Z")
> [@E.Thorp](#): > > Any English groups re-enacting the English Civil War or the Battle of Hastings? [The Sealed Knot](http://www.thesealedknot.org.uk/index.asp) is the only one whose name I know but I’m pretty sure there are others. > [@](#): > > Any French re-enacting the French revolution? Napoleonic rather than revolutionary - I’ve seen small groups marching in local parades in France once or twice but not sure how much actual re-enactment goes on. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/3 "2009-06-11T06:14:45Z")
don’t know how these compare to the Civil War crowd. I hear some of them starve themselves to get the proper emaciated look. > **[Medieval reenactment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_reenactment)** > > Medieval reenactment is a form of historical reenactment that focuses on re-enacting European history in the period from the fall of Rome to about the end of the 15th century. The second half of this period is often called the Middle Ages. This multiplicity of terms is compounded by the variety of other terms used for the period. > The first period is sometimes called the Migration Period or Dark Ages by Western European historians, and as Völkerwanderung ("wandering of the peoples") by German his... ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/4 "2009-06-11T06:41:06Z")
There are these Italians that re-enact ancient gladiatorial combat: [Ars Dimicandi](http://www.arsdimicandi.net/) (plays video). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/5 "2009-06-11T09:16:04Z")
There was a [reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4110194.stm) on the 190th anniversary in 2005, with 3,000 participants. I seriously wanted to go there and be a part of it, as I have cousins who live about 30 km from Waterloo. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/6 "2009-06-11T10:22:17Z")
I believe there has been at least one Battle Of The Boyne reenactment. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/7 "2009-06-11T10:34:45Z")
There are large groups that do the English Civil War here. There is also a sizeable number that do the American Civil War. > **[Photos from Festival of History 2007 - Kelmarsh Hall - Historic UK](https://www.historic-uk.com/LivingHistory/PhotoGallery/2011-11-11/Festival-of-History-2007/)** > > 11 & 12 August 2007 at Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/8 "2009-06-11T10:38:25Z")
> [@Cat\_Jones](#): > > [The Sealed Knot](http://www.thesealedknot.org.uk/index.asp) is the only one whose name I know but I’m pretty sure there are others. According to [IMDb trivia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423409/trivia), the movie _Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story_ used The Sealed Knot for it’s “battle scenes.” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/9 "2009-06-11T10:39:05Z")
[Cowboy Action Shooting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Action_Shooting) is pretty close, as are the hardcore [Society for Creative Anachronism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Creative_Anachronism) crowd. [Re-enactment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_re-enactment) is surprisingly common- there are also heaps of World War I and World War II Re-Enactors the world over, and I believe they re-enacted Rorke’s Drift and/or Isandhlwana on location reasonably recently, too. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/10 "2009-06-11T11:40:11Z")
the Medieval Siege Society is the largest re-enactment group in the UK, they have lots of subgroups and chapters. [http://www.medieval-siege-society.co.uk/](http://www.medieval-siege-society.co.uk/) The largest UK event is at Herstmonceux castle late August [http://www.englandsmedievalfestival.com/](http://www.englandsmedievalfestival.com/) ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/11 "2009-06-11T12:22:29Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I believe there has been at least one Battle Of The Boyne reenactment. Ha ha! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/12 "2009-06-11T12:30:20Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > [Cowboy Action Shooting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Action_Shooting) is pretty close, as are the hardcore [Society for Creative Anachronism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Creative_Anachronism) crowd. > > [Re-enactment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_re-enactment) is surprisingly common- there are also heaps of World War I and World War II Re-Enactors the world over, and I believe they re-enacted Rorke’s Drift and/or Isandhlwana on location reasonably recently, too. I have a couple friends who do WW2 reenactments … they do the german side. They also get grumpy when I refer to them as the Ersatzgruppen 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/13 "2009-06-11T13:53:20Z")
My time is far too valuable to my employer to spend time searching for actual links, but I am sure there are multiple re-enacted Roman Legions (not full strength) in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/14 "2009-06-11T14:15:46Z")
> [@E.Thorp](#): > > By reputation (I don’t know any re-enactors personally), they take their hobby very seriously and try for authenticity. This is not true of the majority. A handful of them are as you describe, but most of them have the beer gut working and stay at the Holiday Inn on these excursions. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/15 "2009-06-11T16:15:13Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I have a couple friends who do WW2 reenactments … they do the german side. They also get grumpy when I refer to them as the Ersatzgruppen 😃 At least they’re not the _Gesta-faux_. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/16 "2009-06-11T16:20:19Z")
Wait … there are \*British \*groups who re-enact the \*American \*Civil War? Surely that requires more explanation, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/17 "2009-06-11T16:24:58Z")
In Peru we have yearly re-enactments of the Battles of Junin and Ayacucho, although it’s mostly for tourism purposes rather than a full-time hobby ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/18 "2009-06-11T16:28:35Z")
We host several re-enactments a year at this 19th-20th century British-built fort; the theme is kept to general connections with Canadian and local military history. We get a good range, from the [Royal Engineers](http://www.royalengineers.ca/) of the 1860s, the [Royal Marine Artillery](http://www.islandnet.com/~twinsix/simononguard.jpg) of the 1890s, a couple of cute WW2 [Canadian Womens’ Army Corps CWACs](http://www.islandnet.com/~twinsix/cwacfrh.jpg), and even a Spanish Civil War Canadian from the [MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion](http://www.islandnet.com/~twinsix/spanishcivilwar.jpg). ¡No Pasarán! (I was able to find a 1936 Canadian Communist Party leaflet about Spain, and had it copied for the re-enactors to give out to the public. Good times.) We have our re-enactment events the third week of May, the first week of August and the third week of September, which is our neat lantern tour of the fort in the dark. The [Bren Gun](http://www.islandnet.com/~twinsix/bobbren.jpg) is particularly spectacular at night! ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/19 "2009-06-11T16:38:43Z")
[the Battle of Pearl Harbo(u)r.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMqSmiC_xHg) ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422/20 "2009-06-11T16:41:41Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Wait … there are \*British \*groups who re-enact the \*American \*Civil War? Surely that requires more explanation, doesn’t it? Actually, like Elvis impersonators, there are US Civil War re-enactors pretty much everywhere. And it seems most like to portray the South. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-re-enactment-equivalents-elsewhere/499422.md?page=2)