The Forge of War and The Fountains of Knowledge
Through sheer military might, pragmatism and some good stoic thinking, Rome managed to dominate the Mediterranean for centuries. The Greeks were an amalgamation of city states and philosophers that could campaign and do battle quite good, but were too fractured to be a complete and dominating power. Compare this to some of the dynasties in …
Fighting a war in the mountains can be vastly different than fighting a war in a jungle. Some of the principles remain the same, like superior firepower, maneuvering into advantageous positions, and securing your resources, but the terrain and geography an Army fights in can dictate how a leader goes about establishing and maintaining certain advantages …
Continue reading Terrain and War: Terrain as an “equalizer” and constant of war throughout history
Allegory is as popular as ever. Unfortunately, I think it is overused. In the latest article I talk about two authors who successfully wrote allegorical works, and why I think it resonated so well. Nowadays, most allegory is low hanging fruit. It's all "Drumpf is just like Voldermort!!" or "Muslim refugees are just like the Orcs …
One of my favorite books is The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. It's an allegorical tale of his time in Vietnam, set in the "future" of 1996 (the book was published in the 1970's). A soldier goes on a journey through multiple planets, engagements and thousands of years to finally reach the conclusion of the war. …
Continue reading Criticism Through Literature: Science Fiction and a Combat Veteran Writer
Roman History is one of my favorite subjects. I have read about the Roman Legions, Caesar and the Republic since I was a boy. In college, I never really took any Ancient History courses, or studied Rome formally, but it is one of my favorite subjects to read up on and to write on. I …
In a previous article we looked at the Civil War and how The Union Army may have stacked the odds a bit in their favor by organizing their Army in a way that took distinct advantage of their superior numbers (both in men and material). This article will look at how the Roman Army kept …
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte led the country of Chile for 17 years (1973-1990) and used torture, repression, and even political killings to keep a firm hold on power. His tactics show a clear example of state sponsored terrorism. Pinochet’s rule is a highly interesting one because of his outright use of terrorism to maintain control and …
Continue reading Augusto Pinochet: The Rise and Fall of a Right Wing Warrior
Throughout history there has been a focus on various campaigns, battles and wars. Each of these has their definition and place within military history. A campaign is a long term, large scale military operation that incorporates multiple battles and is usually a part of a larger scale conflict (a war). Campaigns have an end goal, …
Continue reading Campaigning to Victory: The End of An Era? A bit on the “theory” of campaigns
The Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda are fundamentally different from groups that existed decades ago. 40 years ago, groups similar, but fundamentally different to ISIS and Al Qaeda wanted to see an Islamization of society and government, but did not seek for the unification of the world, and the Islamic World under one caliphate. …
Continue reading ISIS, Al Qaeda and others: Some context of Islamic Terrorist groups
I don't really think it's a groundbreaking argument I'm about to make here, but I believe that throughout history different militaries, commanders and generals have had great success just because they had an Army that broke down on organizational lines that better suited their situation. It's a pretty simple concept, which is probably why someone much …
Continue reading Military Unit Organization and the Civil War: Why the North Won?
