There is login in the madness. “Once balancing fails, everyone’s interests suddenly recalculate in a diametrically opposed way. So long as balancing was possible, it was in most state’s interests to oppose the leading power in an effort to contain… Read More »Collections: The Status Quo Coalition
Adverbs matter. “‘great’ is not the superlative of ‘good’ (that, as a reminder, is ‘best’); I am not asking if the United States has had a positive impact on the world here (once again a deeply subjective question). Instead ‘greatness’… Read More »Collections: Is the United States Exceptional?
Definitions matter. Especially if people want to misuse terms for shady purposes. “by the narrow, technical definition, the United States is not, and has never been, a nation and is unlikely to become one in the near future.” https://acoup.blog/2021/07/02/collections-my-country-isnt-a-nation/
Statistics and stuff. “The first written mention of a controlled trial can be found as early as the 7th century BC in the Book of Daniel 1:11-16. The eponymous prophet asks the steward of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, for… Read More »In Praise of Observational Evidence
Only Carthage really threatened Rome. “Carthage spends a combined forty-years at war with Rome in the third century, peaking at more than 160,000 men in the field, matching Rome on land and at sea, matching the Roman capability of fighting… Read More »Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part V: How a Carthaginian Army Fights
Everyone is using this very old term nowadays.
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
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
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