More from Robert K. Massie, Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea.
Decades ago I read John Irving’s The Smoke Screen of Jutland and so was familiar with the course of the battle. I had not known, or had forgotten one story:
Continue reading
I recently read Robert K. Massie’s, Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea
Some of this story I knew from other books, notably Dan Van der Vat’s The Ship that Changed the World: The Escape of the Goeben to the Dardanelles in 1914. In the 1920s Winston Churchill wrote that the Goeben brought “more slaughter, more misery, and more ruin than has ever before been borne within the compass of a ship.” This was because the Goeben forced the Ottoman Empire into World War I on the German side. This in turn led to the breakup of the Ottoman Empires. Long after Churchill wrote those words we are still dealing with the consequences of that: Modern Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel were all Ottoman provinces in 1914.
Notes and quotes concerning Myke Cole’s, The Bronze Lie: Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy. From Amazon:
“The last stand at Thermopylae made the Spartans legends in their own time, famous for their toughness, stoicism and martial prowess – but was this reputation earned?”
Continue reading
Notes and quotes concerning Myke Cole, Steel Lobsters: Crown, Commonwealth, and the Last Knights in England
“The total time from the moment they donned their armor , to the battle that would see them pass into legend, was about a month. It was a bright, final flash of glory – like the sparkling sun on their polished metal armor – before winking out forever.”
A large Roman army commanded by Marcus Licinius Crassus was defeated by a numerically inferior Parthian force under Surenas near Carrhae in northern Syria. From Rogueclassicism.
Convergence is coming soon and colgaffneyis, as usual, will be well represented there. I wonder how many of my fellow members have read Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. I read it in High School, more than 40 years ago. I was immediately fascinated by the pike-and-shot era, and soon afterwards read Oman to learn something of the real history. I have been reading more ever since. It was all started by science fiction.
I have started a daily “column” on colgaffneyis e-mail list. Continue reading
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 