The Military Thread

[Sebastian]

How Trump Can Fix The Army's Tank Fleet, Deter Russia and Boost Midwest Manufacturing -- In 5 Years

The last plant in the U.S. that can build tanks is a sad symbol of America's industrial decline. Located in Lima, Ohio, midway between Dayton and Toledo, it currently produces only one M1A2 Abrams tank per month. During the Reagan years, it turned out 60 per month. Another 60 were built each month at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, but that site was closed during the Clinton years. So now there is only Lima, assembling a mere dozen tanks per year.

They're still the best tanks in the world, but they won't be for long if they aren't upgraded. The Congressional Research Service warned earlier this year that "in the not-too-distant future, foreign armored vehicle design and capabilities could surpass existing U.S. systems." The biggest threat comes from Russia, which is modernizing its own tank fleet with an eye to becoming the dominant military power in Europe.

That won't be hard. The U.S. only has two relatively light brigades permanently stationed in Europe, and Germany -- once the most fearsome military power in the world -- has reduced its Cold War tank fleet 90% to a mere 256 tanks. If America's Army doesn't field a bigger force of tanks in the NATO region that can at least match the capabilities of Russia's latest armored vehicles, Russia really will dominate.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorent...idwest-manufacturing-in-5-years/#78cddb4c38da

Other points aside, the Germans having only 256 tanks is just a disgrace.

The thing is that we don't need many more tanks.

We currently have over 8000 Abrams with most in storage. Many need to be upgraded to the A3 standard but we have more than enough at the moment. We should offer good deals to NATO allies and partners. Sweden would like to double its tank fleet to 250 but it may take too long to restart the (excellent) Stridsvagen 122 line. They might be in the market for 130 M1A2s modified to fit Swedish requirements (meat ball warmer and AUX jacks for playing ABBA for the whole crew).

Yes, Germany needs to increase their fleet to about 800. They aren't keen on building more Leopard 2s because they are already designing their next generation MBT equipped with either a 140mm or 152mm main gun. The German panzer officers I met are also depressed that they only have six Panzer battalions left. Those guys are well trained and very professional.

The Poles would love to buy Abrams at a reduced rate. I say sell them 400 because they alone aren't afraid to fight the Russians.

Edit: We should also gift Finland about 200 to go along with their 160 Leopard 2s. We know how well they fight the Russians.

 

[Sebastian]

Military Leader of the Day:

His use of fluid defense allowed the Finns to use both defensive fortifications, the terrain and quick counter-strikes against a greatly superior enemy to rob the Soviets of maneuver capability and the initiative. He achieved a 10-1 kill ratio against the Soviets. He had a clear-minded, logical approach to both military and political matters that allowed him to make the right decision at the exact correct time. This allowed Finland to make a favorable peace in 1940 and to de-couple from Hitler in 1944. His brilliant defense of Finland in 1940 and 1944 is the blueprint for all small nations looking to thwart the ambitions of rapacious and overpowering neighbors (usually Russia no matter the continent). It is due to him that Finland remained an independent and a free nation. Even the Swedes revere him (because Finland is a great buffer zone against the Ancient Enemy). @BimboColesHair


Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈkɑːɭ ˈɡɵˈstav ˈeːmɪl ˈmanːɛrˈheɪm]; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military leader and statesman.[1] Mannerheim served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War, Regent of Finland (1918–1919), commander-in-chief of Finland's defence forces during World War II, Marshal of Finland, and the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946).

Mannerheim made a career in the Imperial Russian Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant general. He also had a prominent place in the ceremonies for Tsar Nicholas II's coronation and later had several private meetings with the Russian Tsar. After the Bolshevik revolution, Finland declared its independence but was soon embroiled in civil war between the pro-Bolshevik "Reds" and the "Whites", who were the troops of the Senate of Finland. Mannerheim was appointed the military chief of the Whites. Twenty years later, when Finland was twice at war with the Soviet Union from late 1939 until September 1944, Mannerheim successfully led the defence of Finland as commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces. In 1944, when the prospect of Germany's defeat in World War II became clear, Mannerheim was elected President of Finland and oversaw peace negotiations with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. (Finland was never at war with the United States.) He resigned the presidency in 1946 and died in 1951.

In a Finnish survey 53 years after his death, Mannerheim was voted the greatest Finn of all time.[2] Given the broad recognition in Finland and elsewhere of his unparalleled role in establishing and later preserving Finland's independence from Russia, Mannerheim has long been referred to as the father of modern Finland,[3][4][5][6][7]and the Finnish capital Helsinki's Mannerheim Museum memorializing the leader's life and times has been called "the closest thing there is to a [Finnish] national shrine".[5]

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_Emil_Mannerheim

 

[AZ_]

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

The Spartans are often considered the greatest warriors of the ancient world. Here's the guy who beat them - while outnumbered.

Military Leader of the Day

Epaminondas ( d. 362 BC) was a Theban general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state of Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre-eminent position in Greek politics. In the process he broke Spartan military power with his victory at Leuctra and liberated the Messenian helots, a group of Peloponnesian Greeks who had been enslaved under Spartan rule for some 230 years after being defeated in the Messenian War ending in 600 BC. Epaminondas reshaped the political map of Greece, fragmented old alliances, created new ones, and supervised the construction of entire cities. He was also militarily influential and invented and implemented several major battlefield tactics.

The Roman orator Cicero called him "the first man of Greece", and Montaigne judged him one of the three "worthiest and most excellent men" that had ever lived, but Epaminondas has fallen into relative obscurity in modern times. The changes Epaminondas wrought on the Greek political order did not long outlive him, as the cycle of shifting hegemonies and alliances continued unabated. A mere twenty-seven years after his death, a recalcitrant Thebes was obliterated by Alexander the Great. Thus Epaminondas—who had been praised in his time as an idealist and liberator—is today largely remembered for a decade of campaigning that sapped the strength of the great land powers of Greece and paved the way for the Macedonian conquest.

Battle of Leuctra

The Spartan army contained some 10,000 hoplites, 700 of whom were the elite warriors known as Spartiates. The Boeotians opposite them numbered about 6,000, but were bolstered by a cavalry superior to that of the Peloponnesians.[34]

Epaminondas was given charge of the Boeotian army, with the other six Boeotarchs in an advisory capacity. Pelopidas, meanwhile, was captain of the Sacred Band, the elite Theban troops....During the course of the battle, Epaminondas was to display a grasp of tactics hitherto unseen in Greek warfare.[36]

The phalanx formation used by Greek armies had a distinct tendency to veer to the right during battle, "because fear makes each man do his best to shelter his unarmed side with the shield of the man next him on the right". Traditionally, a phalanx therefore lined up for battle with the elite troops on the right flank to counter this tendency.Thus, in the Spartan phalanx at Leuctra, Cleombrotus and the elite 'Spartiates' were on the right, while the less experienced Peloponnesian allies were on the left.

However, needing to counter the Spartans' numerical advantage, Epaminondas implemented two tactical innovations. Firstly, he took the best troops in the army, and arranged them 50 ranks deep (as opposed to the normal 8–12 ranks) on the left wing, opposite Cleombrotus and the Spartans, with Pelopidas and the Sacred Band on the extreme left flank.[39] Secondly, recognizing, that he could not have matched the width of the Peloponnesian phalanx (even before the deepening the left flank), he abandoned all attempts to do so. Instead, placing the weaker troops on the right flank, he "instructed them to avoid battle and withdraw gradually during the enemy's attack". The tactic of the deep phalanx had been anticipated by Pagondas, another Theban general, who used a 25 man deep formation at the Battle of Delium. However, the reversing of the position of the elite troops, and an oblique line of attack were innovations; it seems that Epaminondas was therefore responsible for the military tactic of refusing one's flank.

The fighting at Leuctra opened with a clash between the cavalry, in which the Thebans were victorious over the inferior Spartan cavalry, driving them back into the ranks of the infantry, and thereby disrupting the phalanx. The battle then became general, with the strengthened Theban left flank marching to attack at double speed, while the right flank retreated. After intense fighting, the Spartan right flank began to give way under the impetus of the mass of Thebans, and Cleombrotus was killed. Although the Spartans held on for long enough to rescue the body of the king, their line was soon broken by the sheer force of the Theban assault. The Peloponnesian allies on the left wing, seeing the Spartans put to flight, also broke and ran, and the entire army retreated in disarray.[42] One thousand Peloponnesians were killed, while the Boeotians lost only 300 men.

Most importantly, since it constituted a significant proportion of the entire Spartan manpower, 400 of the 700 Spartiates present were killed, a loss that posed a serious threat to Sparta's future war-making abilities. When, after the battle, the Spartans asked if they and the Peloponnesians could collect the dead, Epaminondas suspected that the Spartans would try to cover-up the scale of their losses. He therefore allowed the Peloponnesians to remove their dead first, so that those remaining would be shown to be Spartiates, and emphasise the scale of the Theban victory.

The victory at Leuctra shook the foundations of the Spartan dominance of Greece to the core. Since the number of Spartiates was always relatively small, Sparta had relied on her allies in order to field substantial armies. However, with the defeat at Leuctra, the Peloponnesian allies were less inclined to bow to Spartan demands. Furthermore, with the loss of men at Leuctra and other battles, the Spartans were not in a strong position to reassert their dominance over their erstwhile allies.

 

[Sebastian]

Military Leader of the Day

Alexei Brusilov

Aleksei Alekseevich Brusilov (Russian: Алексе́й Алексе́евич Бруси́лов; 19 August [O.S. 31 August] 1853 – 17 March 1926) was a Russian general most noted for the development of new offensive tactics used in the 1916 Brusilov Offensive. The innovative and relatively successful tactics used were later copied by the Germans. Born into the aristocracy (his father was a general) Brusilov trained as a cavalry officer, but by 1914 he realized that cavalry was obsolescent in the new style of warfare because of its vulnerability to the machine gun and artillery. Historians portray him as the only Russian leader capable of winning major battles. However, his heavy casualties seriously weakened the Russian army, which was unable to replace its losses. His greatest achievement was the Brusilov offensive. He had a small numerical advantage (600,000 to 500,000), but in 72 hours advanced 50 miles, took 200,000 prisoners, and seized 700 heavy guns.

His war memoirs were translated into English and published in 1930 as A Soldier's Notebook, 1914–1918. After the war he served with the Bolsheviks, and czarist historians avoided praising or even mentioning his historical roles.[1]

The Brusilov Offensive


Brusilov in 1913

On 29 March 1916, Brusilov was given command of Southwest Front, and managed to secure a certain degree of freedom of action. Previous Russian offensives demonstrated a tendency to assault smaller and smaller sections of front with increasing density of artillery and manpower to achieve a breakthrough. The narrow frontage of these attacks made counterattacks straightforward for German forces, and this approach met with repeated failure for the Russians.

Brusilov decided to distribute his attack over the entirety of Southwest Front. He hoped to disorganise the enemy over such a large area that some point would fatally give way. He decided not to waste resources by saturation bombardment of worthless areas, but to use interdiction fire against command posts, road networks, and other critically important targets to degrade German command and control over the whole front. The noted German artillery commander, Georg Bruchmüller, having served opposite Brusilov's Front at this time, would learn from and adapt these tactics when planning the preparatory bombardment for Operation Michael on the Western Front in 1918. Brusilov was not even concerned with securing a great local advantage in manpower, permitting Divisions under his command to be transferred to other Fronts (so long as they attacked in support of his offensive).

Brusilov's new techniques were, by First World War standards, highly successful and over the next three months, Southwest Front advanced an average of more than 30 kilometres along a front of more than 400 kilometres (250 mi), taking 400,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners in the process. However, the planned supporting attack from West Front (the Army group to Brusilov's north) was not delivered, and Germany was able to transfer 17 divisions from France and Belgium to halt the Russian advance.

Brusilov would be awarded the Sword of Saint George with Diamonds for his greatest victory, one of only eight Russian commanders to receive this rare award during the First World War.

On 18 June 1916, an article "Hero of the Hour in Russia, Described Intimately by One Who Knows Him Well"[2] by Brusilov's brother-in-law, Charles Johnson, appeared in the New York Times.

Brusilov's main ideas

• To increase the points of sally, thereby preventing a concentration of the enemy's strategic reserve. This approach aims to confuse the enemy by using several points of attack.
• To make the width of attack wide – greater than 30 kilometres.
• To limit the duration of bombardment – less than 5 hours.
• To advance artillery in secrecy and to cooperate with the infantry.
• To advance the strategic reserve beforehand and to join with the storm troops after a breach of the enemy's front trench has been achieved. Not to avail cavalry.
• To get the trench lines as close as possible to the enemy's trenches prior to the battle.

 

[TopGun]

Badass of the day:

Simo Häyhä
Simo "Simuna" Häyhä , nicknamed "White Death" by the Red Army, was a Finnish marksman. According to western sources, Using a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle (a variant of the Mosin–Nagant rifle) and the Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun, he is reported as having killed 505 men during the 1939–40 Winter War, the highest recorded number of confirmed sniper kills in any major war. However, Antti Rantama (Häyhä's unit military chaplain), credited 259 confirmed sniper kills were made by Simo Häyhä during the winter war.

Winter War service
During the 1939–40 Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union, Häyhä served as a sniper for the Finnish Army against the Red Army in the 6th Company of JR 34 during the Battle of Kollaa in temperatures between −40 °C (−40 °F) and −20 °C (−4 °F), dressed completely in white camouflage. Because of Joseph Stalin’s purges of military experts in the late 1930s, the Red Army was highly disorganised and Soviet troops were not issued with white camouflage suits for most of the war, making them easily visible to snipers in winter conditions.

According to Western sources, Simo Häyhä has been credited with 505 confirmed sniper kills. A daily account of the kills at Kollaa was made for the Finnish snipers. However, he was also known to carry and use a submachine gun, and though very few of his kills using this weapon were confirmed, as such, the true count is thought to be much higher, more than likely around 800 kills. All of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in fewer than 100 days – an average of just over five per day – at a time of year with very few daylight hours.

However, Simo Hayha's result is impossible to check, because his targets were always on the Russian side. During the war, the "White dead" is one of the leading themes of Finnish propaganda. The Finnish newspapers frequently featured the invisible Finnish soldier, thus creating a heroic myth. Depending on the statistics, Häyhä is believed to have killed between only 200 to 500 enemies by sniper rifle.

A. Svensson, Häyhä's division commander, credited Häyhä with 219 confirmed sniper kills, and an equal number of kills by submachine gun, when he awarded Häyhä an honorary rifle on 17 February 1940. In his diary, military chaplain Antti Rantamaa reported 259 confirmed sniper kills and an equal number of kills by machine/submachine gun from the beginning of the war until 7 March 1940, one day after when Simo Hayha was seriously wounded.

Some of Simo Hayha's figures are from a Finnish Army document (counted from beginning of the war, 30/11/1939):

• 22 December 1939: 138 sniper kills
• 26 January 1940: 199 sniper kills
• 17 February 1940: 219 sniper kills
• 7 March 1940 (when Simo Hayha was seriously wounded): total of 259 sniper kills

Häyhä used his issued Civil Guard rifle, an early series SAKO M/28-30 (Civil Guard district number S60974). The rifle was a Finnish White Guard militia variant of the Mosin–Nagant rifle, known as "Pystykorva" (literally "The Spitz", due to the front sight's resemblance to the head of a spitz-type dog) chambered in the Finnish Mosin–Nagant cartridge 7.62×53R. He preferred iron sights over telescopic sights as to present a smaller target for the enemy (a sniper must raise his head few centimeters higher when using a telescopic sight), to increase accuracy (a telescopic sight's glass can fog up easily in cold weather), and to aid in concealment (sunlight glare in telescopic sight lenses can reveal a sniper's position). Häyhä also did not have prior training with scoped rifles thus using captured Soviet scoped rifle (m/91-30 PE or PEM) in combat without proper training was not what he preferred to do. As well as these tactics, he frequently packed dense mounds of snow in front of his position to conceal himself, provide padding for his rifle and reduce the characteristic puff of snow stirred up by the muzzle blast. He was also known to keep snow in his mouth whilst sniping, to prevent steamy breaths giving away his position in the cold air.

In their efforts to kill Häyhä, the Soviets used counter-snipers and artillery strikes, and on 6 March 1940, Häyhä was hit in his lower left jaw by an explosive bullet fired by a Red Army soldier. He was picked up by fellow soldiers who said "half his face was missing", but he did not die, regaining consciousness on 13 March, the day peace was declared. Shortly after the war, Häyhä was promoted from alikersantti (Corporal) to vänrikki (Second lieutenant) by Finnish Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.

 

[Sebastian]

He stomped those Mohammedans in the Kush bloody well. Cheers. He fought his sixth and last war at the age of 82 during WWI.


Military Leader of the Day

Field Marshal, the Lord Roberts

Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, VD, PC (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914) was a British soldier who was one of the most successful commanders of the 19th century. He served in the Indian Rebellion, the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second Anglo-Afghan War before leading British Forces to success in the Second Boer War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904.

Indian Rebellion of 1857

Roberts fought in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (also known as the Indian Mutiny) seeing action during the siege and capture of Delhi where he was slightly wounded,[5] and being present at the relief of Lucknow, where, as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General, he was attached to the staff of Sir Colin Campbell, Commander-in-Chief, India.[1] He was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions on 2 January 1858 at Khudaganj.[1] The citation reads:

Lieutenant Roberts' gallantry has on every occasion been most marked.

On following the retreating enemy on 2 January 1858, at Khodagunge, he saw in the distance two Sepoys going away with a standard. Lieutenant Roberts put spurs to his horse, and overtook them just as they were about to enter a village. They immediately turned round, and presented their muskets at him, and one of the men pulled the trigger, but fortunately the caps snapped, and the standard-bearer was cut down by this gallant young officer, and the standard taken possession of by him. He also, on the same day, cut down another Sepoy who was standing at bay, with musket and bayonet, keeping off a Sowar. Lieutenant Roberts rode to the assistance of the horseman, and, rushing at the Sepoy, with one blow of his sword cut him across the face, killing him on the spot.[6]

He was also mentioned in despatches for his service at Lucknow in March 1858.[7] In common with other officers he transferred from the East India Company Army to the Indian Army that year.[4]


Abyssinia and Afghanistan

Roberts and his staff on horseback inspecting captured Afghan artillery in the Sherpur Cantonment, 1.5 kilometers north of Kabul. British artillery was usually superior to Afghan armament, but occasionally it was ineffective, as at the Battle of Maiwand in July 1880
Having been promoted to second captain on 12 November 1860[8] and to brevet major on 13 November 1860,[9] he transferred to the British Army in 1861 and served in the Umbeyla and Abyssinian campaigns of 1863 and 1867–1868 respectively.[1] Having been promoted to brevetlieutenant colonel on 15 August 1868[10] and to the substantive rank of captain on 18 November 1868,[11] Roberts also fought in the Lushai campaign of 1871–1872.[1]

He was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 5 July 1872,[12] appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 10 September 1872[13] and promoted to brevet colonel on 30 January 1875.[14] That year he became Quartermaster-General of the Bengal Army.[10]

He was given command of the Kurram field force in March 1878 and took part in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, distinguishing himself enough at the Battle of Peiwar Kotal in November 1878 to receive the thanks of Parliament, be promoted to the substantive rank of major general on 31 December 1878[15] and be advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on 25 July 1879.[16]

In September 1879 he was despatched, along with Maurice Abraham Cohen an expert in the Urdu language, to Kabul to seek retribution for the death of Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British envoy there.[10] He was also given the local rank of lieutenant-general on 11 November 1879.[17]He was commander of the Kabul Field Force and brought at least 20 field guns (usually horse-drawn mobile cannons) with his army during the conquest and occupation of Kabul during the second phase of the war. His move against Kabul was sparked by the assassination of Cavagnari, the British envoy in Kabul and the official who had signed the Treaty of Gandamak with Amir Mohammad Yaqub Khan in May of that year.[18]

After completing his mission to occupy Kabul, he was appointed commander of the Kabul and Kandahar field force and led his 10,000 troops across 300 miles of rough terrain in Afghanistan to relieve Kandahar and defeat Ayub Khan at the Battle of Kandahar on 1 September 1880.[1]For his services, Roberts again received the thanks of Parliament, and was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) on 21 September 1880[19] and appointed Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) during 1880.[20]

On 23 February 1892 he was created Baron Roberts of Kandahar in Afghanistan and of the City of Waterford.[30]


Second Anglo-Boer War
Lord Roberts enters the city of Kimberley after the relief of the besieged city during February 1900.
On 23 December 1899 Roberts returned to South Africa on the RMS Dunottar Castle to take overall command of British forces in the Second Boer War, subordinating the previous commander, General Redvers Buller. His appointment was a response to a string of defeats in the early weeks of the war and was accompanied by the despatch of huge reinforcements.[36] For his headquarters staff, he appointed military men from far and wide: Lord Kitchener (Chief of Staff) from the Sudan, Frederick Burnham (Chief of Scouts), the American scout, from the Klondike, David Henderson from the Staff College, Neville Chamberlain from Afghanistan and William Nicholson (Military Secretary) from Calcutta.[37] Roberts launched a two-pronged offensive, personally leading the advance across the open veldt into the Orange Free State, while Buller sought to eject the Boers from the hills of Natal. Having raised the Siege of Kimberley, at the Battle of Paardeberg on 27 February 1900 Roberts forced the Boer General Piet Cronjé to surrender with some 4,000 men.[38] After another victory at Poplar Grove, Roberts captured the Free State capital Bloemfontein on 13 March. His further advance was delayed by his disastrous attempt to reorganise his army's logistic system on the Indian Army model in the midst of the war. The resulting chaos and shortage of supplies contributed to a severe typhoid epidemic that inflicted far heavier losses on the British forces than they suffered in combat.[39] On 3 May Roberts resumed his offensive towards the Transvaal, capturing its capital Pretoria on 31 May. Having defeated the Boers at Diamond Hill and linked up with Buller, he won the last victory of his career at Bergendal on 27 August.[40] The Boers continued to fight using guerrilla tactics. Strategies devised by Roberts to force the Boer commandos to submit, included concentration camps and the burning of farms. Conditions in the concentration camps, which had been conceived by Roberts as a form of control of the families whose farms he had destroyed, began to degenerate rapidly as the large influx of Boers outstripped the ability of the minuscule British force to cope. The camps lacked space, food, sanitation, medicine, and medical care, leading to rampant disease and a very high death rate for those Boers who entered. Eventually 26,370 women and children (81% were children) died in the concentration camps.[41] The Boer forces disintegrated, and with the war apparently effectively over, Roberts handed over command on 12 December to Lord Kitchener.[42] He returned to England to receive yet more honours: he was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter[43] and also created Earl Roberts of Kandahar in Afghanistan and Pretoria in the Transvaal Colony and of the City of Waterford and Viscount St Pierre.[44]

He became a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John on 11 March 1901[45] and then a Knight of Justice of that order on 3 July 1901.[46] He was also awarded the German Order of the Black Eagle during the Kaiser´s visit to the United Kingdom in February 1901.[47][48] He was among the original recipients of the Order of Merit in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902,[49] and received the order from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 8 August 1902.[50][51]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Roberts,_1st_Earl_Roberts

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Xenophon of Athens (c. 430–354 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, historian, soldier and mercenary, and a student of Socrates. Anabasis is his most famous work and was composed around the year 370 BC. In translations, Anabasis is rendered The March of the Ten Thousand or The March Up Country. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history", as Will Durant expressed it.

Xenophon accompanied the Ten Thousand, a large army of Greek mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger, who intended to seize the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Though Cyrus' mixed army fought to a tactical victory at Cunaxa in Babylon (401 BC), Cyrus was killed, rendering the actions of the Greeks irrelevant and the expedition a failure.

Stranded deep in Persia, the Spartan general Clearchus and the other Greek senior officers were then killed or captured by treachery on the part of the Persian satrap Tissaphernes. Xenophon, one of three remaining leaders elected by the soldiers, played an instrumental role in encouraging the 10,000 to march north across foodless deserts and snow-filled mountain passes, towards the Black Sea and the comparative security of its Greek shoreline cities. Now abandoned in northern Mesopotamia, without supplies other than what they could obtain by force or diplomacy, the 10,000 had to fight their way northwards through Corduene and Armenia, making ad hoc decisions about their leadership, tactics, provender and destiny, while the King's army and hostile natives barred their way and attacked their flanks.

Ultimately this "marching republic" managed to reach the shores of the Black Sea at Trabzon (Trebizond), a destination they greeted with their famous cry of exultation on the mountain of Theches (now Madur) in Sürmene: "Thálatta, thálatta", "The sea, the sea!".[5] "The sea" meant that they were at last among Greek cities but it was not the end of their journey, which included a period fighting for Seuthes II of Thrace and ended with their recruitment into the army of the Spartan general Thibron. Xenophon related this story in Anabasis in a simple and direct manner.

The Greek term anabasis referred to an expedition from a coastline into the interior of a country. The term katabasis referred to a trip from the interior to the coast. While the journey of Cyrus is an anabasis from Ionia on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, to the interior of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, most of Xenophon's narrative is taken up with the return march of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand, from the interior of Babylon to the coast of the Black Sea. Socrates makes a cameo appearance, when Xenophon asks whether he ought to accompany the expedition. The short episode demonstrates the reverence of Socrates for the Oracle of Delphi.

Xenophon's account of the exploit resounded through Greece, where, two generations later, some surmise, it may have inspired Philip of Macedon to believe that a lean and disciplined Hellene army might be relied upon to defeat a Persian army many times its size.[6]

Besides military history, the Anabasis has found use as a tool for the teaching of classical philosophy; the principles of leadership and government exhibited by the army can be seen as exemplifying Socratic philosophy.

As a historian, Xenophon is known for recording the history of his contemporary time, the late-5th and early-4th centuries BC, such as the Hellenica, about the final seven years and the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC); as such, the Hellenica is a thematic continuation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.

Despite being an Athenian citizen, born to Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, Xenophon was also associated with city-state of Sparta, the traditional enemy of Athens. As such, his pro-oligarchic politics, military service under Spartan generals, in the Persian campaign and elsewhere, and his friendship with King Agesilaus II endeared Xenophon to the Spartans; thus, some of his works have an admiring pro–Spartan bias, especially the royal biography Agesilaus and the Constitution of the Spartans.

Besides the philosopher Plato (427–347 BC), Xenophon of Athens is an authority on Socrates, about whom he wrote the dialogue Apology of Socrates to the Jury, which recounts the Trial of Socrates (399 BC). The works of Xenophon are in several genres, and are written in plain-language Attic Greek, for which reason they serve as translation exercises for contemporary students of the Ancient Greek language. In the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes Laërtius said that, as a writer, Xenophon of Athens was known as the “Attic Muse”, for the sweetness of his diction.

 

[Sebastian]

Speaking of Phocus, @The Human Q-Tip .

Military Leader of the Day

The death of one man can have an enormous impact on history. Just as the death of the Emperor Julian signaled the end of classical Greek civilization and learning, the tragic and undeserved death of the Emperor Maurice triggered a series of events that led to the Muslim domination of the former Roman Mediterranean world; the effects of which are still felt today. The Empire Maurice inherited in 582 was still that of Augustus, Constantine and Justinian. Within a generation of his death, the Empire had reverted to a rump state in Asia Minor and the Balkans, ravaged by multiple invasions and unprepared for an unanticipated onslaught from the vast deserts of Arabia. What survived the cataclysm was Greek, not Latin, and forced on the defensive for 200 years.

The Emperor Maurice constitutes a major fault line in history. Though in his 60s at the time of his execution at the hands of the usurper Phocas, he was still vigorous. More importantly, he had six sons, four of which were in the prime of their adulthood and trained in statecraft since their teenage years. Had Maurice lived it is entirely possible that his successors, his experienced eldest sons Theodosius as Emperor in Constantinople and Tiberius as Emperor in Rome, would have ruled over a prosperous Empire at peace with Sassanid Persia and free of a real threat in the Balkans. Roman armies would be available to wage war against the Lombards to reconquer Italy once again. An Empire that spanned from the Pillars of Heracles on the Atlantic Ocean to Egypt and the Caucuses in the east would reign.

The armies of Mohammed would have met a wealthy and well-protected Empire, instead of one broken by decades of war with Persia that left it in poverty, depopulated and at its weakest in its long history. Would the armies of Islam, composed of light cavalry and medium infantry, overthrow those of Byzantium at its height, where armored cataphracts specialized in both the heavy charge and mounted archery (Arab armies had no answer for mounted archers with composite bows) were the primary maneuver element in a combined arms force with armored heavy infantry and skirmishers synced to deadly perfection as prescribed in the Strategikon? At Yalmuck, the Arabs met a spent force devoid of the expensive elite troops of 50 years prior. Anything can happen in a battle, but an Empire at full strength never falls on the result of a single battle. A Byzantine (and Sassanid Empire) at full strength likely means that Islam remains a regional religion focused on the Arabian peninsula rather than one that expanded rapidly in the vacuum left by the devastated and decayed Great Powers of the known world.

What would the world look like had Maurice lived?



Maurice, Emperor of Rome


Maurice (Latin: Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus; Greek: Φλάβιος Μαυρίκιος Τιβέριος Αὔγουστος) (539 – 27 November 602) was Eastern Roman Emperor from 582 to 602.

A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians. Once he became Emperor, he brought the war with Sasanian Persia to a victorious conclusion: the Empire's eastern border in the Caucasus was vastly expanded and for the first time in nearly two centuries the Romans were no longer obliged to pay the Persians thousands of pounds of gold annually for peace.

Maurice campaigned extensively in the Balkans against the Avars – pushing them back across the Danube by 599. He also conducted campaigns across the Danube, the first Roman Emperor to do so in over two centuries. In the West, he established two large semi-autonomous provinces called exarchates, ruled by exarchs, or viceroys, of the emperor.

In Italy, Maurice established the Exarchate of Ravenna in 584, the first real effort by the Empire to halt the advance of the Lombards. With the creation of the Exarchate of Africa in 590, he further solidified the power of Constantinople in the western Mediterranean.

His reign was troubled by financial difficulties and almost constant warfare. In 602, a dissatisfied general named Phocas usurped the throne, having Maurice and his six sons executed. This event would prove cataclysmic for the Empire, sparking a twenty-six year war with Sassanid Persia which would leave both empires devastated prior to the Muslim conquests.

His reign is a relatively accurately documented era of Late Antiquity, in particular by the historian Theophylact Simocatta. The Strategikon, a manual of war which influenced European and Middle Eastern military traditions for well over a millennium, is traditionally attributed to Maurice.



Origins and early life

Maurice was born in Arabissus in Cappadocia in 539, the son of a certain Paul. Maurice first came to Constantinople as a notarius, and came to serve as a secretary to the comes excubitorum (commander of the Excubitors, the imperial bodyguard) Tiberius, the future Tiberius II (r. 578–582). When Tiberius was named Caesar in 574, Maurice was appointed to succeed him as comes excubitorum.[1][7]

Persian War and accession to the throne


Map of the Roman-Persian frontier showing Maurice's gains after he reinstated Sassanid king Khosrau II on the throne in 591

In late 577, despite a complete lack of military experience, Maurice was named as magister militum per Orientem, effectively commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army in the East, in the ongoing war against Sassanid Persia, succeeding the general Justinian. At about the same time, he was raised to the rank of patricius.[8]He scored a decisive victory against the Persians in 581. A year later, he married Constantina, the Emperor's daughter. On 13 August, he succeeded his father-in-law as Emperor. Upon his ascension he ruled a bankrupt Empire. At war with Persia, paying extremely high tribute to the Avars, and the Balkan provinces thoroughly devastated by the Slavs, the situation was tumultuous at best.

Maurice had to continue the war against the Persians. In 586, his troops defeated them at the Battle of Solachon south of Dara. Despite a serious mutiny in 588, the army managed to continue the war and even secure a major victory before Martyropolis. In 590, the two Parthian brothers Vistahm and Vinduyih overthrew king Hormizd IV and made the latter's son, Prince Khosrau II, as the new king. However, the former Persian commander-in-chief Bahram Chobin, who had rebelled against Hormizd IV, claimed the throne for himself and defeated Khosrau, who along with the two Parthian brothers subsequently fled to the Byzantine court. Although the Senate advised against it with one voice, Maurice helped Khosrau regain his throne with an army of 35,000 men. In 591 the combined Byzantine-Persian army under generals John Mystacon and Narses defeated Bahram Chobin's forces near Ganzak at the Battle of Blarathon. The victory was decisive; Maurice finally brought the war to a successful conclusion by means of a new accession of Khosrau.

Subsequently, Khosrau was probably adopted by the emperor. Khosrau further rewarded Maurice by ceding to the Empire western Armenia up to the lakes Van and Sevan, including the large cities of Martyropolis, Tigranokert, Manzikert, Ani, and Yerevan. Maurice's treaty brought a new status-quo to the east territorially, enlarged to an extent never before achieved by the Empire, and much cheaper to defend during this new perpetual peace – millions of solidi were saved by the remission of tribute to the Persians alone. Afterwards, Maurice imposed a union between the Armenian Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Balkan warfare

After his victory on the eastern frontier, Maurice was free to focus on the Balkans. The Slavs, having pillaged the Byzantine Balkan provinces for decades, probably began settling the land from the 580s on. The Avars took the strategically important fort of Sirmium in 582, using it as a base of operations against several poorly defended forts alongside the Danube. In 584 the Slavs threatened the capital and in 586 Avars besieged Thessalonica, while Slavs went as far as the Peloponnese. In 591 Maurice launched several campaigns against Slavs and Avars – with good prospect of turning the tide.

In 592 his troops retook Singidunum from the Avars. His commander-in-chief Priscus defeated Slavs, Avars and Gepids south of the Danube in 593. The same year he crossed the Danube into modern-day Wallachia to continue his series of victories. In 594 Maurice replaced Priscus with his rather inexperienced brother Peter, who despite initial failures, nonetheless scored another victory in Wallachia. Priscus, now in command of another army further upstream, defeated the Avars again in 595. The latter only dared to attack again peripherally in Dalmatia two years later. In 598 a treaty was signed with the Avar leader Bayan I, only to be broken for retaliation campaigns inside Avar homeland. In 599 and 601, the Byzantine forces wreaked havoc amongst the Avars and Gepids. In 602 the Slavs suffered a crushing defeat in Wallachia. The Byzantine troops were now able to hold the Danube line again. Meanwhile, Maurice was making plans for resettling devastated areas in the Balkans by using Armenian settlers.[9]

Measures of domestic policy

In 597, an ailing Maurice wrote his last will, in which he described his ideas of governing the Empire. His eldest son, Theodosius, would rule the East from Constantinople; his second son, Tiberius, would rule the West from Rome. Some historians believe he intended for his younger sons to rule from Alexandria, Carthage, and Antioch. His intent was to maintain the unity of the Empire, making this idea bear a strong resemblance to the Tetrarchy of Diocletian. However, Maurice's violent death prevented these plans from coming to fruition.

Maurice's efforts to consolidate the Empire slowly but steadily found success, especially due to the peace with Persia. His initial popularity apparently declined during his reign, mostly because of his fiscal policies. In 588, he announced a cut in military wages by 25%, leading to a serious mutiny by troops on the Persian front.

Death

In 602, Maurice, always dealing with the lack of money, decreed that the army should stay for winter beyond the Danube, which would prove to be a serious mistake. The exhausted troops mutinied against the Emperor. Probably misjudging the situation, Maurice repeatedly ordered his troops to start a new offensive rather than returning to winter quarters. After a while, his troops gained the impression that Maurice no longer mastered the situation, proclaimed Phocas their leader, and demanded that Maurice abdicate and proclaim as successor either his son Theodosius or General Germanus. Both men were accused of treason, but riots broke out in Constantinople, and the emperor left the city with his family for Nicomedia. Theodosius headed east to Persia, but historians are not sure whether he had been sent there by his father or if he had fled there. Phocas entered Constantinople in November and was crowned Emperor, while his troops captured Maurice and his family.

Maurice was murdered on 27 November 602 (some say 23 November). It is said that the deposed emperor was forced to watch his six sons executed before he was beheaded himself. Empress Constantina and her three daughters were spared and sent to a monastery. The Persian King Khosrau II used this coup and the murder of his patron as an excuse for a renewed war against the Empire.

Legacy


The Roman Empire during Maurice's later reign in 600 AD.

The Roman Empire in 622, 20 years after Maurice's murder. Torn asunder by Avars, Lombards and the Sassanid Empire.

Maurice is seen as an able emperor and commander-in-chief, though the description by Theophylact may be a bit too glorifying. He possessed insight, public spirit, and courage. He proved his expertise on military and foreign affairs during his campaigns against Persians, Avars and Slavs, and also during peace negotiations with Khosrau II.

Maurice is traditionally named as author of the military treatise Strategikon, which is praised in military circles as the only sophisticated combined arms theory until World War II. Some historians now believe the Strategikon is the work of his brother or another general in his court, however.

His fault was too much faith in his own excellent judgment without regard to the disagreement and unpopularity which he provoked by decisions in themselves right and wise. He was a better judge of policy than of men.[11]

It was this flaw that cost him throne and life, and thwarted most of his efforts to prevent the disintegration of the great empire of Justinian I.

The demise of Maurice was a turning point in history. The resulting war against Persia weakened both empires, enabling the Slavs to permanently settle the Balkans and paving the way for Arab/Muslim expansion.

 

[Sebastian]

Xenophon of Athens (c. 430–354 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, historian, soldier and mercenary, and a student of Socrates. Anabasis is his most famous work and was composed around the year 370 BC. In translations, Anabasis is rendered The March of the Ten Thousand or The March Up Country. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history", as Will Durant expressed it.

Xenophon accompanied the Ten Thousand, a large army of Greek mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger, who intended to seize the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Though Cyrus' mixed army fought to a tactical victory at Cunaxa in Babylon (401 BC), Cyrus was killed, rendering the actions of the Greeks irrelevant and the expedition a failure.

Stranded deep in Persia, the Spartan general Clearchus and the other Greek senior officers were then killed or captured by treachery on the part of the Persian satrap Tissaphernes. Xenophon, one of three remaining leaders elected by the soldiers, played an instrumental role in encouraging the 10,000 to march north across foodless deserts and snow-filled mountain passes, towards the Black Sea and the comparative security of its Greek shoreline cities. Now abandoned in northern Mesopotamia, without supplies other than what they could obtain by force or diplomacy, the 10,000 had to fight their way northwards through Corduene and Armenia, making ad hoc decisions about their leadership, tactics, provender and destiny, while the King's army and hostile natives barred their way and attacked their flanks.

Ultimately this "marching republic" managed to reach the shores of the Black Sea at Trabzon (Trebizond), a destination they greeted with their famous cry of exultation on the mountain of Theches (now Madur) in Sürmene: "Thálatta, thálatta", "The sea, the sea!".[5] "The sea" meant that they were at last among Greek cities but it was not the end of their journey, which included a period fighting for Seuthes II of Thrace and ended with their recruitment into the army of the Spartan general Thibron. Xenophon related this story in Anabasis in a simple and direct manner.

The Greek term anabasis referred to an expedition from a coastline into the interior of a country. The term katabasis referred to a trip from the interior to the coast. While the journey of Cyrus is an anabasis from Ionia on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, to the interior of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, most of Xenophon's narrative is taken up with the return march of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand, from the interior of Babylon to the coast of the Black Sea. Socrates makes a cameo appearance, when Xenophon asks whether he ought to accompany the expedition. The short episode demonstrates the reverence of Socrates for the Oracle of Delphi.

Xenophon's account of the exploit resounded through Greece, where, two generations later, some surmise, it may have inspired Philip of Macedon to believe that a lean and disciplined Hellene army might be relied upon to defeat a Persian army many times its size.[6]

Besides military history, the Anabasis has found use as a tool for the teaching of classical philosophy; the principles of leadership and government exhibited by the army can be seen as exemplifying Socratic philosophy.

As a historian, Xenophon is known for recording the history of his contemporary time, the late-5th and early-4th centuries BC, such as the Hellenica, about the final seven years and the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC); as such, the Hellenica is a thematic continuation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.

Despite being an Athenian citizen, born to Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, Xenophon was also associated with city-state of Sparta, the traditional enemy of Athens. As such, his pro-oligarchic politics, military service under Spartan generals, in the Persian campaign and elsewhere, and his friendship with King Agesilaus II endeared Xenophon to the Spartans; thus, some of his works have an admiring pro–Spartan bias, especially the royal biography Agesilaus and the Constitution of the Spartans.

Besides the philosopher Plato (427–347 BC), Xenophon of Athens is an authority on Socrates, about whom he wrote the dialogue Apology of Socrates to the Jury, which recounts the Trial of Socrates (399 BC). The works of Xenophon are in several genres, and are written in plain-language Attic Greek, for which reason they serve as translation exercises for contemporary students of the Ancient Greek language. In the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes Laërtius said that, as a writer, Xenophon of Athens was known as the “Attic Muse”, for the sweetness of his diction.

Xenophon. Who hasn't read him?

Classic.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Xenophon. Who hasn't read him?

Classic.

Got chills the first time I read the Anabasis, when the Greek troops finally reached the sea. The part where they were stuck in the snow gave the whole thing a bit of a Chosin Reservoir vibe.

It really is a hell of a story, and very well-written.

 

[bcort]

Hey @King Stannis and @Marcus and @KCOTT and anyone else.. What shit am I forgetting for deployment? I have Amazon prime says left to get it..

Just remembered I need a worldwide adapter for electric shit..

 

[Sebastian]

Hey @King Stannis and @Marcus and @KCOTT and anyone else.. What shit am I forgetting for deployment? I have Amazon prime says left to get it..

Just remembered I need a worldwide adapter for electric shit..

Are you carrier bound or on land the whole time?

 

[bcort]

Are you carrier bound or on land the whole time?

Carrier.

 

[Sebastian]

Carrier.

An Xbox One with the physical game discs due to bandwidth (blu-rays for the same reason), some nice civvies for port calls (along with your preferred condoms and lube), a big hard-drive for porn, a spare electric razor, a musical instrument you want to master and a real nice camera.