Logistics is fun. “So this army is stopped in what looks to be more or less the middle of the day. From a logistics perspective, this is a disaster. As I tell my students, pre-modern armies are like sharks, they… Read More »Collections: The Preposterous Logistics of the Loot Train Battle (Game of Thrones, S7E4)
Russians being Russians.
Sometimes creating a permanent empire is just a side effect. “At first, a provincia was a temporary assignment, which came into existence when assigned and ceased to exist when completed. As the Romans decide to permanently garrison their overseas possessions,… Read More »Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Provinces
Having allies is easier than having subjects. “By contrast, the socii recruit themselves, equip themselves and organize themselves. And they fight hard, because they’re fighting for their home communities, to show their bravery to their own neighbors and family (who… Read More »Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Socii
Many reasons.
In 21st century we are back to roman camps. “I don’t know that US Army planners aimed to reconstruct a modernized version of the Roman playing-card fort, but the concerns of force protection for an army on the move (and… Read More »Collections: Fortification, Part V: The Age of Industrial Firepower
Gunpowder helped state formation in Europe. “The impacts of the sudden apparent obsolescence of European castles were considerable. The period from 1450 to 1550 sees a remarkable degree of state-consolidation in Europe (broadly construed) castles, and the power they gave… Read More »Collections: Fortification, Part IV: French Guns and Italian Lines
Castles are just fortified houses. “In short, home defenses respond to local conditions aiming not for absolute security, but for a balance of security and cost: in safe places, home owners ‘consume’ that security by investing less heavily in it,… Read More »Collections: Fortification, Part III: Castling
Battles purpose was to prevent siege. “the battle is, in this equation, a ‘second order’ concern: merely an event which enables (or prohibits) a siege. As we’ll see, sieges are quite unpleasant things, so if a defender can not have… Read More »Collections: Fortification, Part I: The Besieger’s Playbook
Even basic armor makes a lot of difference in a fight. “If a gambeson was all you could afford, it was a lot better than nothing. Assuming you kept moving and made yourself a hard target, there was a good… Read More »Collections: Punching Through Some Armor Myths