States are something different. “States tend to have a relatively rigidly defined territory, whereas non-state societies do not. States tend to have more complex social stratification with both a greater degree of labor specialization and a greater degree of social… Read More »Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part II: Government Without States
I like having a beer with one particular friend every month. We talk about life and I am free to talk aloud and think as I go. Every time I figure something new about myself or my situation and am… Read More »Talking With Friends
How people get food dictates structure of a society in a major way. “one of the best ways to start thinking about any historical society is to begin with the subsistence foundation it is built on, because how people get… Read More »Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part I: Aristocrats, Retainers and Clients
Slow mo is cool not only on screen.
This is the closest thing you can see in modern times to ancient battle formation and warfare. Also, who wins is not the one who kills the most but the one that breaks morale of the other side. That is… Read More »Riot Policing and Ancient War
Morale is not one number. “Morale is the commitment the combatants have to their leadership and their cause. To simplify a bit, we might say that soldiers with good morale believe three things: that their cause is a worthy one,… Read More »Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIc: Morale and Cohesion
Having an army is expensive. “expense of doing this would have been in most cases enormous and of course those are resources that could be deployed to any number of other uses, including simply raising a larger army of less… Read More »Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIa: Discipline
Seems simple, yet we tend to forget this. The more different other people are from us, in terms of culture, background, knowledge etc., the more differently they will evaluate our actions from what we think they will. We might think… Read More »Different People See You Differently
Leading in battle is sometimes more important than commanding. “We have to start not with tactics or the physics of shouting orders, but with cultural expectations. First, we need to establish some foundations here. First, in a pre-modern battle (arguably… Read More »Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part II: Commands
In Slovak, there is a great term “šuchtať sa”. It is hard to translate directly, to drag one’s feet or to dally are probably the closest but are not exact. You can also “šuchtať sa” when you are working. You… Read More »To Drag One’s Feet