A Game for the Amateur Military Historian.

[Ted Striker]

OPERATION DESERT STORM!!!

[molly bloom]

It could be the Hungarian Uprising of 1848.


And yet the towers of what looks like the gateway seem strangely reminiscent of Mexico City's cathedral....


And there was the Archduke Maximilian who was Austrian installed as Emperor of Mexico, although the troops that defended him were Third Empire French, I thought.

On the other hand perhaps it's the French troops fighting Garibaldi's men in Vatican City.


Or perhaps it's Savoy-Piedmont in action against the Austrians.

But then what the hell is that field of corn doing there?

Or perhaps it's the Austrian army retaking Vienna.

[Tingkai]

So how is the game played?

I've got the answer, but it required a bit of knowledge about weapons and a lot of googling. Is googling allowed in the game?

What I knew w/o googling is a clue from the weapon on the ground by the hat in the black and white picture. The hammer above the trigger means that the weapon used a percussion cap to ignite the gun powder. That dates the weapon post Napoleanic and before the Franco-Prussian War.

More importantly is the metal piece behind the trigger guard. That helped pinpoint the weapon.

The triangular bayonet and the caps worn by the soldiers suggest post-1850.

A bit more googling and the suggestions made by Molly found the answer.

Should I tell you the answer?

[SpencerH]

Go right ahead. My guess about the martians was a little off. Three paintings (and there are more) with mexican troops that looks to be in different locations despite being the same battle. hmmm?

The Alamo.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by molly bloom
But then what the hell is that field of corn doing there?

These are a lot of the things that were confusing me. I'm glad I'm in good company.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Tingkai
I've got the answer, but it required a bit of knowledge about weapons and a lot of googling. Is googling allowed in the game?

I think so.

[Tingkai]

Okay, so the weapon fires by percussion cap, has a unusual flang behind the trigger guard and a triangular bayonet. The flang rules out the British Enfield, but maybe the weapon was modified or the artist got it wrong.

After much googling I found this page (using the suggestion about Austrians as a lead):

http://www.butterfields.com/areas/arms/7350A/detail/7350a-1110.htm

A vaguely described Austrian Percussion Military Musket

So odds are pretty good that the defeated soldier is Austrian.

Firing mechanism and caliber is similar to the Enfield musket-loading rifle. So that narrows the time down to about 1860 - 1880 (end date is roughly the time when breech-loading rifleswith firing pins were common).

The first thing that pops to mind is the Austro-Prussian war. But no image match. Then I searched the old Max's adventure in Mexico where Austrian volunteers served. No match.

Molly's suggestion about Piedmont seems to be a dead end with no images turning up for the Austro-Italian Battle of Custoza, a Austrian vistory anyways.

A bit more searching scores a hit: The Battle of Solferino, June 24, 1859, the major "Italian" victory in the Second Italian Unification.

The victors were an alliance of troops from France and Piedmount.

The victory paved the way for eliminating Austrian control over most of northern Italy. Piedmount is able to build on the battle's momentun and eventually unite Italy under one king.

Che: excellent pick. Searching for the answer was fun.

[chequita guevara]

Tingkai wins!

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by Lonestar
I command you to give three of the four!

Nationality
Type
Location
War

Panhard AML 90, I should think. I don't think anyone answered that...

[Al B. Sure!]

i knew the white uniformed soldiers were Austrian... too bad i didnt have the time to do all that research, tingkai.

[Kidlicious]

Tingkai,

Your turn.

[SpencerH]

No way! Look at the soldier on the right and the officer on the left with the bandage in the BW pic. If they're Italien or Austrian I'll eat my hat. It's obviously a forgery of a Mexican painting of Santa Anna at The Alamo.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by SpencerH
No way! Look at the soldier on the right and the officer on the left with the bandage in the BW pic. If they're Italien or Austrian I'll eat my hat. It's obviously a forgery of a Mexican painting of Santa Anna at The Alamo.

One of the soldiers in the black and white picture looked Asian to me, or at least mestizo, which is why I was thinking of Maximilian's disastrous adventure in Mexico.

It turns out he did have an Austro-Belgian force with him, as well as a legion of foreign volunteers and the French.

Certainly Italian Unification was a good choice.

That field of golden corn or wheat really threw me- I was thinking in one painting it looked like a siege, then in another it's farmland.

[GePap]

Solferino was a rather wide battlefield, and Franco-Piedmontese troops did have to storm the town/castle of Solferino.

Interesting tid-bit- this was the battle that inspired the Red Cross, given how bloody it was.

[Tingkai]

What's happening in this photo and why is this photo particularly significant.