Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Overview on Frequently Asked Questions

  • Personal & Background Questions
    • Are you German? Where are you from?
    • What is your educational/professional background?
    • Are you a soldier/officer?
  • Content Questions
    • Why Military History NOT Visualized? / Why is this not a Visualized Episode?
    • Are you going to do a video on [INSERT FAMOUS BATTLE/CAMPAIGN/WAR HERE]?
    • Are you going to do a video on [INSERT FAMOUS PERSONALITY HERE]?
    • Are you going to do a video on [INSERT RATHER UNKNOWN BATTLE/CAMPAIGN/WAR HERE]?
    • Are you going to use photos and/or footage?
    • Are you going to do a video on [COMPARISON BETWEEN ARMIES/DIVISIONS/VEHICLES/ETC]?
    • Are you going to cover [OTHER ERA THAN WORLD WAR 2]?
    • What is your opinion / will you cover on Einsatzgruppen/Extermination War/Holocaust/etc.?
    • Will you make a video about [INSERT ss-division here]?
    • Are you going to do videos in German?
    • Are you going to add subtitles to your videos?
  • Video Format Questions
    • Are you going to add music during your videos?
  • Computer Game Related Questions
    • Do you play Computer Games?
    • What Computer Games do/did you play?

Video covering some of these Questions

Answers

Personal & Background Questions

Are you German? Where are you from?

I am Austrian. To be more exact, Upper-Austrian. Austria is South of Germany and Upper-Austrian sounds very similar to Bavarian.

What is your educational/professional background?

I have

  • Master of Arts in History from the University of Salzburg (Austria)
  • Bachelor and Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Salzburg (Austria)
  • Internship at the Military Research Institute (Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt) in Potsdam (Germany)

Furthermore, I gave a class in Rhetoric on the University of Salzburg, worked as a teacher in Ecuador and as an IT-Specialist Trainer in Germany.

Are you a soldier/officer?

No, I only served the mandatory military service in the Austrian Army (Bundesheer).

Content Questions

Why Military History NOT VISUALIZED? / Why is this not a Visualized video?

There are several reasons for this:

(1) For some videos the “visualized approach” is just inefficient, best example probably is my video on “Why Rommel is so complicated”, the video is mostly just icons. As such it was not really visualized.

(2) I improved the quality of VISUALIZED videos in many aspect, this means  the videos take far longer to make.  A visualized episode can take up to 45 hours (current record with How Germany cheated Versailles), this is about 1.5 hours production time / 1 minute of video.

(3) With NOT visualized videos I can spend far more time on research and reading since the production is far more efficient, as a result the quality for my VISUALIZED videos improves as well. With VISUALIZED videos alone (2016-2017) I was basically just churning out videos, as such it was also not sustainable.

Are you going to do a video on [INSERT FAMOUS BATTLE/CAMPAIGN/WAR HERE]?

It really depends, in general I am not a fan of battles and campaigns. I am more into the general understanding of wars, armies, conflicts, politics, tactics, strategy, logistics, etc. I did some battles and campaign in the past, but usually my enjoyment was limited. Another issue of course is proper sources.

Are you going to do a video on [INSERT FAMOUS PERSONALITY HERE]?

Maybe and it may take a while, generally I am more into understanding processes, as such individuals for me are of limited interest.

Are you going to do a video on [INSERT RATHER UNKNOWN BATTLE/CAMPAIGN/WAR HERE]?

Probably, but it depends on good sources and if I deem it interesting.

Are you going to use photos and/or footage?

Yes, if they fit and if I have some where I don’t have to add loads of copyright information in the description or video itself, this means photos I took.

The reasons for this are simple, I sit in the European Union, which has NO  fair use. Not to mention that fair use is NOT a right, but a defense, in other words, if you have to rely on fair use you are already in trouble.

Copyright law-suits are expensive, because they require a lawyer. Also most photos and footage I could use, was already used a bazillion times by others anyway, so I couldn’t add much novelty anyway. Thus, the risk is not worth the benefit.

As such I switched to using footage from events and museums. Here are some example videos:

Are you going to do a video on [COMPARISON BETWEEN ARMIES/DIVISIONS/VEHICLES/ETC]?

Maybe, but there needs one of the following criteria fulfilled:

  • I have a certain amount of knowledge on this topic already, e.g., if I have done like several German Tank Division layouts and a few of the Allies, I am probably able to do a comparison video at one point. Basically, I won’t start with comparison videos, I did it with the Shokaku and Yorktown Class carriers, but this was also the video I spent the most time on so far (out of around 65 videos as of writing).
  • I have a proper article / book that covers such a comparison that is of good quality and ideally (not mandatory) I know the topic well or have another good source to “counter-check”.

I did some comparison of vehicles already, see here:

Are you going to cover [OTHER ERA THAN WORLD WAR 2]?

Yes, and I already did some videos on the Imperial Roman Army, Alexander the Great, the Vikings, Napoleonic Warfare, World War 1 and the Falkland War.

There will be definitely more non WW2 videos, I had already planned more more videos outside of this era, but there are two things to consider:

  1. I gained a lot of subscribers from the Hearts of Iron (IV) community and it also sparks more interest in WW2, thus I made more WW2 videos recently than originally planned.
  2. I have excellent resources and a good overall background knowledge on World War 2, thus I don’t need to double-check or do “overview research” in order to prevent talking out of my ass, errors can still occur, but they are less likely.

Will you Cover War Crimes, the HOLOCAUST, etc.?

Yes, to a degree. I briefly covered the Extermination War (“Vernichtungskrieg”) in my Barbarossa Blunders video. Additionally, related topics are mentioned in some other videos.

Since, I shifted my channel from a general approach (both in times and location) to mostly the Wehrmacht, it is now planned to cover German war crimes in World War 2 as well, since it is a fundamental aspect. Yet, since this is quite a difficult subject, this topic was delayed several times.

Will you make a video about [INSERT ss-division here]?

No, nope, NEIN, nyet, I have very little interest in the waffen-ss. Furthermore, it is just a political minefield. In short: little interest + loads of trouble.

Are you going to do videos in German?

Maybe on very special topics, but highly unlikely. I originally planned on releasing every video in German too, but nearly everything takes longer than expected, thus I couldn’t create 2 videos a week if I did them in German too. Also from the creative side, it is just boring as f**k to translate my own words in another language and tiring as well.

Are you going to add subtitles to your videos?

Well, for a few months I published all my scripts on this page, but nearly nobody looked them up. Although I linked them in every video and also noted it in the video itself. A few people added various subtitles (English, Spanish, German and Chinese) to a few of my videos (special thx to you guys!).

Since around 2020 I add subtitles to new videos, although I am not sure if I will discontinue this practice in the future, I will have to check the stats on this, since it is quite time consuming.

Video Format Questions

Are you going to add music during your videos?

No, for two reasons:

  1. Copyright (at the end of the video I can cut it out).
  2. I personally have an extreme distaste for music in the background, because it distracts and it doesn’t add nothing.

This might change – originally I had no music, now I have already an ending “jingles”.

Computer Games Related Questions

Do you play Computer Games?

Yes or better I played more, since I started this channel I play WAY less.

What Computer Games do/did you play?

Rarely still playing: (not complete, not really in order)

  • War Thunder
  • World of Warships
  • Steel Division 1944
  • Steel Division 2
  • Men of War Assault Squad II
  • Hearts of Iron III – AHOI Mod
  • Close Combat – Panthers in the Fog
  • Red Orchestra II
  • Civilization V
  • Colonization (Civ IV)
  • Company of Heroes II

Played: (not complete, not really in order)

  • Hearts of Iron III – Black ICE
  • RUSE
  • Company of Heroes
  • Unreal World
  • Steel Panthers Series
  • Close Combat Series
  • World of Tanks
  • Civilization Series