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.
Yeah, isn’t there a French guy who’s made a whole career out of looking like Napoleon in reenactments?
Honestly I’d rate the Japanese or Italians as slightly less problematic, and the Nazis on a similar level. American chattel slavery was deeply fucked up. Hasn’t anyone watched Roots?
Of course, way too many participants are denialists about that bit.
I’d rate the Italians as less problematic, but the Imperial Japanese have a lot of blood on their hands as well.
And as horrific chattel slavery has come out to be, there are still whitewashers of it.