Skench

Skench is a British-German member on the Possible History Discord server. Despite her hatred of historytube, she joined the Possible History discord server after Marklin invited her in. 
=== Role on Possible History Discord ===
Skench is noted for her proficiency in history surrounding the first world war (known insistently by her as "The Great War," with the Second World War being "The Second War") as well as her interest in US Presidents. Her possession of a Masters Degree on the subject combined with her occupation as a teacher means her history takes are generally well respected (Although she is noted for being a bit meaner than fellow teacher Paladin, which many attribute to her being German). However, she is also notable for having some rather controversial views which she mostly keeps to herself, but often surprises newer members, with the most notable being her veneration of US President Woodrow Wilson. She is fighting an ongoing crusade against bad WW1 history, with a particular vendetta against Kaiserboos for "being let off too easy."
=== Views ===
Skench is also notable for her rather controversial political opinions in regards to the rest of PHcord. Despite claiming to be a Liberal, many of her views come across as very right wing, with immigration in particular being a hard sticking point (to the point she even claimed to support Greg Abbott's razor wire). She also is very supportive of Israel and Azerbaijan compared to the majority of the server. The big issue is that it can be hard to tell when she is joking vs when she is being dead serious, a byproduct of being part German. She is also a proud catholic, although generally she is live and let live when it comes to personal morality.
She also has a strong hatred for Historytube and most of alternate historytube, viewing them as poisoning history discourse with bad pop-history, and generally prefers books. The only historytuber she doesn't seem to hate is Indy Niedell (PH himself is a mixed bag in her own words).
=== IRL ===
She is a teacher in real life, with many of her students often being the same age as the average PH discord user. She also birthed two children as of January 11th 2024. The twins go by many names, although Skench usually calls them Victor and Rhea.
=== Recommended reading ===
During her time on PHCord, Skench has recommended many books for History, mainly revolving around her subject of the Great War. By her own demand, she is listing her main reccomendations.
Books
* A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War One and the Collapse of the Hapsburg Empire by Geoffrey Wawro
* Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914 by Prit Buttar
* July Crisis by Thomas G. Otte
* With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 by David Stevenson
* Catastrophe: Europe goes to War 1914 by Sir Max Hastings
* The First World War, Volume One: To Arms! by Hew Strachan
* Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914-1918 by Frank Davies & Graham Maddocks
* Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan
* The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan
* The Madman and The Butcher: The Sensational Wars of Sam Hughes and General Arthur Currie by Tim Cook
* The Last Great War: British Society and the First World War by Adrian Gregory
* Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning by Jay Winter
* Mud, Blood and Poppycock by Gordon Corrigan
* 1914-1918: The History of the First World War by David Stevenson
* Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918 by Richard Holmes
* Hundred Days: The End of the Great War by Nick Lloyd
* Germany's Aims in the First World War by Fritz Fischer
* War of Illusions by Fritz Fischer
* Myriad Faces of War by Trevor Wilson
* Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War by Annika Mombauer
* The Origins of the First World War: Controversies and Consensus by Annika Mombauer
* Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert Doughty
* The Deluge: The Great War, America and The Remaking of The Global Order, 1916-1931 by Adam Tooze
* The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914-1918 (Second Edition) by Holger Herwig
* Britain's Two World Wars Against Germany: Myth, Memory and the Distortions of Hindsight by Brian Bond
* Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War by Robert K. Massie
* A Scrap of Paper: Breaking and Making International Law During the Great War by Isabel Hull
* Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany by Isabel Hull
* Imperial German Army 1914-18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle by Hermann Cron
* Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914 by Jeff Lipkes
* The Spirit of 1914: Militarism, Myth, and Mobilization in Germany by Jeffrey Verhey
* The German 1918 Offensives. A Case Study in the Operational Level of War by David Zabecki
* The Unquiet Western Front: Britain’s Role in Literature and History by Brian Bond
* War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I by Vejas Liulevicius
* Between Mutiny and Obedience: The Case of the French 5th Infantry Division during WWI by Leonard V. Smith
* The Schlieffen Plan: International Perspectives on the German Strategy for World War I edited by Hans Ehlers, Michael Epkenhans, and Gerhard Gross
* Europe’s Last Summer by David Fromkin
* Germany Ascendant: The Eastern Front 1915 by Prit Buttar
* The Good Soldier: The Biography of Douglas Haig by Gary Meade
* The German Army in the Spring Offensives 1917 by Jack Sheldon
* British Fighting Methods in the Great War edited by Paddy Griffith
Articles & Theses
* Clio Deceived: Patriotic Self-Censorship in Germany after the Great War by Holger Herwig
* Goodbye to all that (again)? The Fischer thesis, the new revisionism and the meaning of the First World War By John C. G. Rohl
* The First World War: Inevitable, Avoidable, Desirable or Improbable? Recent Interpretations of War Guilt and the War's Origins by Annika Mombauer
* A Once in a Century Opportunity? Some Personal Reflections on the Centenary of the First World War by Gary Sheffield
* The Fischer Controversy, Documents and the 'Truth' About the Origins of the First World War by Annika Mombauer
* Germany and the "Short-War" Illusion: Towards a New Interpretation? by Holger Herwig
* Clausewitz and the First World War by Hew Strachan
* A Thirty Years War? The Two World Wars in Historical Perspective: The Prothero Lecture by Michael Howard
* British Army Corps in WWI by Andy Simpson
* The Myths of Reparations by Sally Marks
* American Reparations to Germany by Stephen Schuker
* The Imposed Gift of Versailles: the Fiscal Effects of Restricting the Size of Germany’s Armed Forces, 1924–9 by Max Hantke and Mark Spoerer
* "Nobility & War": The Unselfish Commitment? by John Grigg
=== Trivia ===
* Might be a vampire, due to her pale skin combined with the fact that she only ever comes on in the evening (a trait which has nothing to do with the fact that her job + taking care of children and a father with dementia sap up most of her daylight)
* Used to work on passports in the UK in the late 10s.