Miscellany Friday
Warning: Overt Shilling Ahead
This just in…
Bring Me The Kittens! No, Only the Real Cute Ones! Again!
Noted Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld has kidnapped yet another large batch of particularly cute kittens. He’s holding them in his impregnable secret underground fortress located at 2698 Lincoln Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50310. You should be aware that this particular batch of particularly cute kittens are so cute that their use in visual media has been banned by the Geneva Convention. No one can resist them unless you’re a cold-hearted kitten hater. Now van Creveld is threatening to sell this cute little bundle of mass cuteness into LOLcat slavery unless you pre-order your very own dead tree copy of The Handbook of 5GW. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go towards ransoming these particularly cute kittens from van Creveld’s evil grasp.*
For 99.999999999999999999999999% of human history, every human being on this planet was denied the right to own both the Kindle edition of The Handbook of 5GW and the hardback edition of the The Handbook of 5GW. Now everyone has that right.
- if you love freedom, buy The Handbook of 5GW
- if you love capitalism, buy The Handbook of 5GW
- if you love PurpleSlog, buy The Handbook of 5GW
Save a kitten. Feed the Slog. Buy The Handbook of 5GW today.
* None of the statements in this paragraph are actually true except for Martin van Creveld’s hatred of kittens, the book’s title, and the fact the book is a hardback.
Disclaimer: All proceeds from Handbook of 5GW sales will go into to a secret Masonic slush fund located in the Republic of San Marino. Some of these funds may reach the Committee of Public Safety at any time. Joseph Fouche contributed an essay to The Handbook of 5GW under the pen name of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major. No kittens were actually harmed in the making of this post.
Someone Save Me! Again!
Afghanistan 2050: Flood Work
Afghanistan 2050: “A Muslim Yugoslavia”
Mark Safranski reinforces the point that President Obama’s popularity would rise if he took off his shirt for the camera every time he faced a crisis.
2050: Newly Published History of the American Army’s Disaster in 2016
Col. Gian Gentile interrupts his training for his Steel Cage match with Lt. Col. John Nagl (ret.) and dramatizes the effect that training for COIN causes loss of conventional military skills.
Back to the Future: Afghanistan in 2050
Karaka Pend uses photos from Afghanistan 1950 to reflect on Afghanistan 2050. Another sign of the waning of the West.
A Head That Gets Around
Science Fiction and Strategy: The Eternal (No Kidding!) Clausewitz: The infamous Disembodied Floating Clausewitz Head demonstrates an unforeseen level of inter-blog promiscuity.
Disembodied Floating Clausewitz Head
European Martial Arts
Europe had martial arts. Really. Says the Internet:
Despite the fact there is a more than 2,400-year-old military tradition within Western civilization of close-combat proficiency, few subjects have received as unfortunate neglect by historians and academics than the martial arts of Western Europe. But a growing amount of modern research has centered on the historical methods of using various types of Medieval and Renaissance swords and weaponry in historically accurate and martially sound manners. This emerging study of historical European martial arts involves a fascinating combination of military history, fencing history, literature, art, language, and archaeology.
Much effort has been given by modern scholars and writers in trying to define what is or isn’t a true “martial art” (the focus of much of which has revolved around the modern practice of traditional Asian fighting arts). The historical function of martial arts within the context of the Medieval and Renaissance eras however was as combatives—systematic skills or disciplined methods of close-combat for single-combat and battlefield survival. This craft always proceeded pragmatically, reflecting the demands of the martial environment it faced, with its manner of warfare, habits of social violence, and arms and armor technology. Empirical and concrete, it had no display or performance art dimension (such was left to the tap-fighting carnival-masters). Given cultural, social, and athletic components tying these closely to the warrior class, the art and science of self-defense often had associated recreational, ritualistic, and sporting components along side its practical application. With the changes in military and social conditions of later centuries, their martial necessity decreased over time and these secondary elements came eventually to overshadow (and even replace) the craft’s original function.
The history of European arms and armor is itself one of established continuity marked by sudden developments of necessitated innovation. As new tools were devised, so too were new methods for using them. These methods in turn influenced still newer designs. By studying the historical systems for employing such arms and armor, we come to the best possible understanding for how and why they were designed as they were. This further leads to a greater appreciation for the little known martial arts of the age.
While the term “martial arts” today is typically synonymous with “Asian fighting art”, for centuries highly sophisticated European martial systems existed. It is from the Latin that we actually derive the English term, “martial arts” – from “arts of Mars”, the Roman god of war. The term “martial art” was used in regard to fighting skills as early as the 1550s and in an English fencing manual of 1639 referred specifically to the science and art of swordplay. In reference to Medieval and Renaissance combat systems the terms “fencing” and “martial arts” should thus be viewed as synonymous. Fencing was in essence the “exercise of armes” –and arms meant more than just using a sword.
Here’s some moving pictures that discuss European sword martial arts with occasional glamor shots of a mumbling Viggo Mortensen (props Verteidigung und Freiheit):
A Forgotten Threat
Speaking of German defense issues, Germany remained vulnerable to Andorran conquest until 1957. Andorra declared war on Germany during World War I and remained in “an official state of belligerency” with Germany until 1957. Germany may have had great reason to fear Andorra being left out of the Versailles Treaty. The need to defend against possible Andorran invasion may have been one reason Germany was unable to counter the D-Day invasions. Franco’s decision to keep Spain neutral during World War II may have been driven by similar fears.
As it was, it took major concessions from Germany to win recognition. Germany was forced to cede all of its claims to an exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea to Andorra.
We’ll see how China fares.
Future Andorran Territory
