Here's the new blog

I went ahead and created a new history blog last month, called The Casual Amateur Historian. Check it out.

A new start?

So here's the thing: I like posting about history on the very rare occasions that I remember to, but I feel stuck when it comes to posting here. With that in mind, I've been thinking for a bit* about just starting over with a brand new blog. A Matter of Expedients has been running since *checks* 2011, so I think eight years is long enough. I'll keep this up as an archive.

Of course, now I have to come up with a new name and hope that the few people who still read this thing will follow over.

Under Renovation - Keep Clear

A seawall under construction in Galveston, Texas.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Without intending to, I let this blog lapse into nearly two years of inactivity, which is unfortunate because while I never posted with any kind of frequency, I did enjoy posting here. I also let the focus of this blog slip into more modern, less historical concerns and that I regret. So, I'm going to try and remedy it and bring A Matter of Expedients back. Here's some ideas I have in mind:

I don't think I ever had any kind of limitation imposed on what time periods I posted about, but it did seem like most of what ended up on here was 19th century stuff. I'm aiming to maintain that but at the same time, I want to avoid touching on anything recent, so I'm going to impose a limitation: nothing beyond the 1950s. Maybe I'll push that line further back later on, but for now, I just want to avoid touching on subjects that are still sensitive or have become heavily politicized by today's political climate.

So basically, anything from the very beginning of history (or even before) up to December 31, 1959.

Another thing I noticed is that a lot of my posts are military history related and while that's fine because wars and battles and such interest me, I want to post non-military history items too. There's a tremendous amount of meat there, with major events and larger than life figures to post about, so it's not like I'm going to be scrapping the bottoms of any barrels for subject matter.

In terms of posts, I'm aiming for both long and short. The former will roll out less often than the latter because I want to take my time crafting them and not everything needs a 1000+ word article.

On a minor note, there might be a blog redesign in the works. Blogger added new templates a few months back and I think one or two might work for this.

Welp, here we are

Welcome to A Matter of Expedients, a blog with a focus on military history and warfare. I used to run the now defunct History Nerd blog, but after noticing that the majority of my posts were of a military nature, I decided to replace it with a blog focused on that subject. The title itself comes from a variant of a quote by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, an officer who served in both the Prussian and later, the German militaries. The original quote goes:

Strategy is a system of expedients; it is more than a mere scholarly discipline. It is the translation of knowledge to practical life, the improvement of the original leading thought in accordance with continually changing situations.

The variant I used is "War is a matter of expedients."

With this blog, I'll try and cover all eras of warfare, military figures, battles, weapons, etc. I hope you'll enjoy.

A quick note on the future of this blog

No, I'm not killing it. In fact, I plan on doing the exact opposite and *gasp* post more often! Shocking, I know. Take a moment to collect your wits.

....

Done? Good. While I plan on being more active, that in itself doesn't warrant a post. What does, however, are some changes I have in mind. First up, I'm altering the subject of this blog a bit, refocusing it towards military history and war. The reason is simply because I'm more interested in those subjects. I also have plans for a project that will involve history and I want to use this blog to catch the overflow. Second, I'm going to change the name of this blog to something else. History Nerd was always a placeholder until I could come up with a better name. As a result of my planned shift in focus, I want to give it a more appropriate name. I haven't thought of one yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

I won't merely change the name and URL though, since that would be too disruptive. Instead, I'll create a new blog, transfer everything over to it, then delete everything on here and leave a notice pointing to the new one for two weeks before deleting it.

So, any suggestions on what the new name should be?