Category Political History
The tactical and strategic situation at the beginning of 1917 was little changed from that at the beginning of 1916. All that the offensives on the Western Front had managed to accomplish the previous year were minor changes in… Continue Reading →
Both Sun-Tzu and Clausewitz have something to offer for the serious student of warfare. The biggest distinction between the two seems to be their different approaches to the art of war. Sun-Tzu advocates a more subtle and indirect… Continue Reading →
Ace of Spades put up an excellent post a few weeks ago about the lack of Civics knowledge in this country.http://ace.mu.nu/archives/318322.php#318322 The best part of the post are the links to the old Schoolhouse Rock videos that just about everyone… Continue Reading →
At the present time, Germany is in a strategic position unparalleled in its history. The German state shares no borders with any potential enemies in the near future. Historically Germany has had to contend with one or more… Continue Reading →
I have been pondering this one for a while now. Â What exactly, is the west trying to accomplish in Libya? Â I have posted on this before here and here, and I am still puzzled as to what we are trying… Continue Reading →
What happens if Iran develops the bomb? That is a question often asked in the press but never really answered. Â A new report from the RAND Corporation seems to suggest that Iran may be in possession of a nuclear warhead… Continue Reading →
After Turkey’s entry into the war towards the end of 1914, the Dardanelles was closed to allied shipping and thus the only warm water route to Russian ports was closed. The allied solution to this dilemma was to use… Continue Reading →
The opening months of World War I on the Eastern Front did not proceed at as the German General Staff thought they would. When General Alfred von Schlieffen (1833-1912) was drawing up the German war plan that would subsequently… Continue Reading →
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… Continue Reading →
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… Continue Reading →
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… Continue Reading →
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… Continue Reading →
Is there such a thing? That question hit me this morning as I was reading a book review in an old copy of the Journal of Military History. The book in question was Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns… Continue Reading →
The Histories by Polybius is the next book in classics arc. It covers the period from the beginning of the First Punic War in 267 B.C. to 167 B.C. when he claims the Roman Empire was essentially complete and ruled… Continue Reading →
Last Shuttle Mission
The last shuttle mission will go up on Friday July 8th. The Mission, STS-135 by Space Shuttle Atlantis will the 135th and final shuttle mission and mark the end of an era at NASA. What is really pathetic is the… Continue Reading →