Part 71: Q&A - December 27

And that brings the Christmas programming to a close. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Now with Christmas behind us, I think it only appropriate that we take a small moment to listen to our audience. This is another call from Mr. Gil from Harrow. Hello there.


I was listening to your total war broadcast series once more, and was wondering, why couldn't the Austrians create another, less obvious breach in the Dutch walls at the siege of Munich? Wasn't there some way other than to run men through the breach?


The Austrians could not have easily created another breach in the Dutch fortifications. The light 6 pound cannon they Austrians had brought were not suitable for siegecraft, and in fact the only reason they were able to breach the wall in the first place was that the Dutch themselves had sapped the wall. Their only other real option was to scramble over the walls, take them in a bloody melee, and hope that the Dutch defenders were all killed before they were. Considering the risk and loss associated with an over the walls assault, it was no real surprise they had wished to try the breach.

Here's another call, this one in from a Mr. Fisher of Langley. Mr. Fisher, you're on the line.


With how advanced the Dutch used to be, what sort of military hardware are they producing these days?

The Dutch are no longer the technological super power that they once were. Though obviously still a modern industrial nation, and one of the top arms manufacturers in the world, they are no longer the sole producers of cutting edge technology. Their most recent contracts have been producing components for European projects that are not entirely Dutch. Their most recent military project was a joint project with Britain, Germany and Sweden.



The RA3-Pacifier F.A.V. MII was recently put into production throughout parts of Europe, with the cannon, main targeting system, stabilization system, chassis and power supply all being produced in Amsterdam, the majority of the project is Dutch. Propulsion, fuel injection, and several other aspects were designed in Germany, and the computer software, sans the targeting computers were designed in Edinburgh. Sweden has been producing the majority of the heavy industrial complexes for manufacture.

And another regular caller, Chuck, you're on the line.


I have two quick questions. When will the equipment for your total war series be online? Second, what could the Dutch do at that time to pull themselves together in the Americas? Some kind of defensive strategy would have to work out.


The crew are currently loading all the software, .PNG files and recordings into new computers. As soon as the loading has been completed, the uploading of transcripts will resume. Hopefully, the visual quality will be markedly improved by the upgrade.

As for the defense of the Americas, the only hope for the Dutch was a string of miraculous victories against greater numbers and with very little financial backing. It wasn't the first time the Dutch had to hold a theater with few men against very large armies. The Dutch could have lost hold of Austria by funneling money away from Europe, or have lost India by moving funds away from there. The Dutch opted for America, however, and decided that if any theater were to be lost, America was the least relevant and least harmful in the hands of their enemies.