The Causes and Reasons for the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848

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The Mexican-American war of 1846-1848 was not inevitable but both sides placed themselves on a collision course that seemingly made it so.   A combination of Mexican unwillingness to recognize Texas independence and the desire of Texans for statehood with American desire for westward expansion set the stage for the first offensive war in the short History of the United States.   Tensions between Mexico and the United States had been building for decades, ever since the Mexican government invited Anglo settlers into Texas in the 1820’s.   The war with Mexico was the result of long-standing Anglo grievances that were mostly of the Mexican government’s own making.   Perhaps … More after the Jump…

Europe and the Crusading Impulse

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Europe in the tenth and eleventh centuries was a continent in transition.   The states of Europe were still in flux and the kings of Europe had limited authority outside their own personal demesne.   Although individual French kings did wield considerable power, they waged a constant struggle to have their authority recognized by the great magnates in France, especially after the fall of the Carolingian dynasty in the ninth century[1].   The rest of Europe was no exception, in England the king was engaged in a great struggle with his leading barons and the Pope that would not be settled until the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215[2]. … More after the Jump…

I hate Citigroup

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I dabble in the stock market and one of the stocks I owned until recently was 5 shares of Citigroup stock.   I picked it up in late 2008 at $6 a share hoping to vulture-like profit share.   In the interests of full disclosure, I bought it before they got any TARP money.   It has since declined even further and sat in my stock portfolio like unwanted cheesecake consistently valued at less than I paid for it.   I decided about a year ago that as soon as it broke even I would sell it and wash my hands of the company I dislike anyway. I dislike Citigroup … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, The Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley

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I am planning a vacation trip to Malta this summer with my family and like all vacations I take there will be an element of historical tourism involved.   I have always wanted to visit Malta and I am finally getting a chance.   As preparation for that I am reading a few books with accounts of The Great Siege of 1565, the last battle of the Medieval Crusades.   The first book is Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley. Crowley does an excellent job of bringing the siege to life and … More after the Jump…

The Opening Months of World War I in the West

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This will be a series of posts laying out the general history of the major Fronts in World War I. The First World War was unnecessary in that if the diplomats of Europe had truly wanted to stop the war there was ample opportunity in the five weeks between the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the start of the fighting.[1] The outbreak of war in 1939 can be directly traced to the terms of the Peace dictated at Versailles in 1919, and World War II was incomparably more destructive than World War I both in terms of lives lost and property destroyed. It was fashionable in the aftermath … More after the Jump…

Book Review: The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar, translated by S.A. Hanford

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The Conquest of Gaul tells the story of the Roman Conquest of what is now France, Switzerland, most of the Low Countries, and parts of present day Germany.   It was written by Julius Caesar, the Governor of the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul from 59 B.C. until he was declared Dictator of Rome in 44 B.C.   He presents a linear account of the conquest of Gaul set forth as a series of books, each book covering one year of his governorship.   The first seven books were written by Caesar himself as yearly reports to Rome.   The seventh book covering 51 B.C. was written after Caesar’s death … More after the Jump…

Combatant Military Strategic Thought in 1914

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All classical military theorists point out that military strategy and national policy are intermingled.   Clausewitz devotes a lengthy portion of his treatise to the ways in which military action should serve the needs of the state; indeed, his most famous quote concerns politics and war.   Most of the combatants in World War I seem to have forgotten that policy drives strategy. When the Elder Moltke was Chief of the German General Staff, German war-plans and policy neatly interlinked however, during Schleiffen’s tenure as Chief of the General Staff that link between policy and strategy was lost.   The Great Memorandum of 1905 ignored political reality in favor of … More after the Jump…

Why the Western Front Stalemated in WWI

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The conventional explanation for why the Western Front in World War I settled into a stalemate is that the power of defensive weapons was stronger than the offensive methods employed.   The theory is that the defensive potential of machine-guns, artillery, repeating rifles, and trenches was unbreakable with infantry and artillery alone.   This simplistic explanation does not suffice under close scrutiny though.   If this were so, why were the Germans not stopped in France until after they had removed troops to the Eastern front for the Battle of Tannenberg and why were the French stopped cold when they attempted to invade Germany in August 1914? The reasons for … More after the Jump…

The Political Acumen of Otto von Bismarck

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Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) was probably the most accomplished politician that Germany has ever produced.   He was almost single-handedly responsible for the emergence of the nation of Germany during the nineteenth century.   He was appointed Prime Minister of Germany in 1862 by the Prussian King Wilhelm I (1797-1888) in the middle of a constitutional crisis in Prussia in which the Reichstag refused to authorize a state budget.   Bismarck handled this crisis with ease by using the machinery of state to collect taxes without the Reichstag thus making them irrelevant.   He continued to collect taxes and finance the state for four years until finally the Reichstag was … More after the Jump…

Book Review: The German Way of War by Robert M. Citino

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This book is an interesting read to say the least, Dr. Citino makes the case that there is a specifically German “way of war”. That way, is what he calls operational maneuver. He traces the development of this “way of war” from the 17th century battles of the Frederick William I, the “Great Elector” of electoral Brandenburg and scion of the Hohenzollern Dynasty through to the end of World War II and the final defeat of Nazi Germany. I am not myself so convinced that the discussion should end there based on my experience talking to current German soldiers about war and battle during partnership exercises while I have been … More after the Jump…

The Lack of New Posts Lately

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I was in the hospital last week after undergoing surgery to fix a herniated disk in my lower back so I have not posted anything until today. I injured my back almost 17 years ago in a Bradley rollover at NTC and it finally got bad enough that surgery was called for, I sincerely hope this fixes it.   Back pain sucks big-time as anyone who has experienced it can no doubt tell you. I did have the chance to get some pretty good drafts written while in the hospital though and I will be polishing those and putting them up over the next few weeks.   Anyway, I will … More after the Jump…

Ancient Roman Military Equipment according to Polybius

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Polybius provides a detailed description of Roman Legionary equipment in Book VI of his Histories. He begins by describing infantry equipment and then describes the equipment of the cavalry and auxiliaries in turn. This post will concentrate on his description of the equipment worn by the four classes of citizen infantry velites, hastatii, princeps, and triarii. The velites were light troops or skirmishers. They were equipped with a plain helmet, sword, javelins, and a shield called a parma. According to Polybius, the shield was round and about 3 Roman feet in diameter. The javelins were also 3 Roman feet long and had an iron point made such that it was … More after the Jump…

The Death of Bin Laden, a Good Start

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With Bin Laden dead, what next? It is a virtual certainty that terrorism will not stop because someone (even bin laden) who has been in hiding for the past 9 1/2 years was killed. Terrorism, specifically Islamic terrorism, is bigger than any one man. It is the result of an ideology that holds everything the Christian, liberal, West stands for in contempt. Bin laden is dead great, what happens next? I don’t think that the mythical moderate Muslim majority is going to suddenly come out of hiding as the Christian Science Monitor apparently believes. Where have they all been for the past ten years? Or were they hiding from bin … More after the Jump…

Justin Bieber stop spamming my webpage!!!!

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I have gotten at least 500 spam comments from Justin Bieber in the last week.   They look like this(hyperlinks removed): Justin Bieber 0 approved justinbieber24.pl Plomma14372@gmail.com 94.41.92.26 Submitted on 2011/05/01 at 08:57 Kanadyjski wokalista http://www.justinbieber24.pl justin bieber justin bieber – [url=http://www.justinbieber24.pl]justin bieber[/url] – justin bieber justin bieber justin bieber – [url=http://www.justinbieber24.pl]justin bieber[/url] – justin bieber justin bieber justin bieber – [url=http://www.justinbieber24.pl]justin bieber[/url] – justin bieber Kanadyjski wokalista http://www.justinbieber24.pl I just want him to quit spamming my site, his music is bad enough, does he have to be a spammer too?

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