My country has had a civil war, invasions by the french, by the spanish, more recently a revolution that threw a fascist government, followed by a very colourful period of internal squirmishes between anti-regime forces, but we settled those events and that was that: off to the history books.
What motivates so many people to re-enact battles from the American Civil War?
It sounds cruel. Re-enacting a war where so many died gruesome deaths.
We’re very keen on ours in England too. Re-enactments are a big community and some take a lot of trouble to be accurate. (Apart from Derek who forgets to take off his digital watch)
I think it has a genuine part to play in bringing history to life, especially when done in old castles where kids especially seem to really ‘get’ it. History is often taught very badly - dry, dull and boring - sitting in a classroom being spoken at with a long list of names and dates. Anything that makes it more interesting has to be good.
The alternative is burying history, isn’t it? And that’s a dark path to tread, my friend. A very dark path.