Carthaginians were badass. “The Carthaginians inflicted more casualties on the Romans in a single day than all of the successor states (a label which does not include Epirus, so no Pyrrhus here; worth noting the Carthaginians beat him too) managed… Read More »Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part I: Finding Carthaginians
If something does not make sense, follow the money. “Intuition fails because normal people think of a building as a building, when in the majority of cases, a building is not a building, but a financial product. Behavior that makes… Read More »Why do commercial spaces sit vacant?
It always comes down to culture and values. “You can’t turn a cheat into a scientist by making a rule against cheating. The most important “rigor-enhancing practice” is caring about getting things right, and without that, nothing else matters.” https://www.experimental-history.com/p/shame-them-shun-them-ban-them-beat
Physics is weird.
You can loose a war while being technologically superior. “Wargame after wargame exploring a Taiwan scenario has reached the same conclusion: Most aircraft losses happen not in the air but on the ground. Airbases across the Western Pacific sit within… Read More »The F-35 Is a Masterpiece Built for the Wrong War
This. “If you’re not looking to culture as the foundation and the root cause of much of what ails you and your organization, then you’re not looking deep enough – you’re not actually thinking about what causes people to do… Read More »Don’t Solve the Wrong Problem: How to Trace Outcomes Back to Culture
Don’t be USA.
Rome had huge armies. “This is a common misconception in the public, that the ‘legion’ was essentially the Roman word for ‘army.’ It wasn’t (that word was exercitus); the legion was, by the Middle Republic, almost always a component of… Read More »Collections: Expeditions: Rome and the Perils of Verisimilitude
American general sacrificing a goat before a battle would loose his troops. And ancient Greek general not doing it would loose his troops. To motivate your people, you need to know what their culture expect out of you as a… Read More »Know Your Troops Culture
Do not believe simple headlines.