Re-enactments go back as far as the Romans, who were recreating historical battles in amphitheatres as a form of public entertainment.
In Europe the phenomenon has become highly popular in recent years, perhaps paradoxically because of the long period of peace the continent has experienced: re-enacting is not something you do right after a war, when the wounds are still fresh. But by now it has become a fully fledged European wide industry, with original (or imitated) clothes, weapons, cars and tanks.
You could see it as a nostalgic, homage to heroism without the bloodshed.
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