Notes on historical live-blogging

With the War of 1812 live tweeting about to begin (see yesterday's post), I'm reminded of the World War II+70 liveblog that I follow intermittently. It's now just over a thousand days into its long campaign, and boy, does it demonstrate the ebbs and flows of a massive historical event like that war.  Weeks go by with only a grim litany of U-boat sinkings and peripheral skirmishes in places like Madagascar. Then suddenly you see a turning-point looming on the horizon: Japanese preparations for the attack on Pearl Harbour last winter, say.

Right now forces are being assembled for another big turning point: American and Japanese carrier groups are preparing for battle near a mid-Pacific atoll named Midway.

Picture source.