Mea Culpa July 29, 2008
Posted by knightofrook in Battle.Tags: Battle, tactics, warfare
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Mea cupla is a Latin phrase meaning “My Fault”, and is commonly used among Catholics during their confessions. The reason I have titled my post this, is because this is a confession: I screwed up.
A few days ago, a few friends of ours came to visit, some of the kids and I got to playing a little game: whacking each other with sticks and throwing walnuts. My little sister and I were on one team, and everyone else were on another team. We were trying to take their position behind a fallen log in a woods, but we were outnumbered, and the position was very strong. I came up with a plan, I was going to hold one place and strike another. One of us was going to continue fighting on the front, while the other would pretend to leave the combat zone to go get something, but in reality would go around and strike the rear of the enemy, catching them unsuspected, and thus take the position. Sounds like a good plan right? It’s a great plan! So why is my post titled ‘Mea Culpa’? When I carried out the plan, I made a fatal mistake: I left my little sister to hold their position, while I made the decisive hit in the rear, simply because I didn’t trust her. The problem was, as soon as I left the combat zone to make my sweep, she was captured.
The good news was that I still caught them by surprise when I approached their position from the back, what ensued was a fierce fight, I managed to capture their position in the end though, and stole all their ammunition. On the down side, they discovered my stock piles of walnuts, and acquired them. Another problem, was that after I took their position, they refused to surrender, but were rather outraged that I had “cheated” by taking them by surprise, thus, they kept on fighting. I was outnumbered and surrounded but I managed to hold onto my position in their fort that I had stolen.
It ended in draw, but I can’t help but think if I had only sent my sister to make the maneuver, we might have been able to shake them up enough to force a surrender, but, we live and learn.
Why Germany lost World War II July 21, 2008
Posted by knightofrook in Strategy, World War II.Tags: Germany, history, Hitler, Strategy, war, warfare, World War II
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This short article explains how and why Germany was strategically inferior to the allies. Click here to find out why.
Wall-E July 19, 2008
Posted by knightofrook in movie review.1 comment so far
Wall-E is one of the strangest films you’ll ever see, simply because it’s hard to classify by genre. The animation is superb, the script is well written, and the directing is great! It’s a charming and delightful movie for the family, and one that I personally will enjoy for years to come.
The earth is a mess, there’s nothing but trash everywhere, and humans have destroyed the earth so much with their cities and garbage, that the earth can no longer sustain life. The humans leave earth aboard a space station called the ‘Axiom’, and leave robots to clean up the earth. Wall-E, a trash compactor, is one of those robots.
The movie starts out with Wall-E compacting trash, and placing them into huge stacks, cube by cube. He is a jolly robot, who collects things that he finds in the trash, he enjoys watching old movies, and has a little pet roach to keep him company.
A spacecraft, carrying a probe lands near his home, and he follows the probe around, and meets the probe, (who’s name is Eve) and he falls in love with her (or at least as much as a robot can fall in love). However, Eve was sent to earth for a reason, to look for something, and when she finds it she immediately powers down and sits there, waiting for the space craft to return for her.
Wall-E of course does not understand any of this, and when the spacecraft comes and picks her up, he clings to the ship and goes into outer space with it. The space ship boards the Axiom, and Wall-E is launched on his quest to rescue Eve.
The people aboard the Axiom are totally dependant on robots and technology. They do nothing all day except sit in their hover chairs, eat, and play virtual games. From this inactivity they have all become so fat, and so lazy, that they cannot even get up out of their chairs. People have been away from Earth in the Axiom for 700 years, and none of the people aboard the Axiom have ever been on earth, and do not think of it as home. Their children are educated by robots who teach them things such as “A is for Axiom, your home sweet home.” And “B is for Buy ’n Large (the name of the company that made the Axiom) your best friend.” And no one on the entire ship has any desire to return to earth.
However, since Eve found what she was looking for, something that all of the other probes have never been able to find, the people of the Axiom are finally able to return to earth. The captain develops a deep desire to go back to earth, but the captain’s personal robot doesn’t want to go back to earth, so the robot locks the captain up.
Wall-E and Eve are reunited, and are set on a new mission: get the people of the Axiom back to earth.
Wall-E is a great movie, not because it’s just a great story, but because it has a good point. The people aboard the Axiom are weak, and dependant upon robots to take care of them day and night. They are desensitized and don’t even have a desire to go back to earth, and have forgotten the whole purpose of the Axiom: To give a temporary place for people to live until the earth may sustain life again.
The message of the film is that we should take care of the earth, it was not however presented in a tree-hugger way, where we worship the earth, but rather that we should take care of the earth as stewards, as God intended, instead of doing nothing but enjoy technology.
This movie is a movie worth watching. I give it an A!
Battle of Chaeronea: Using ‘Feigned Retreat’ to ‘Strike at enemy weakness’ July 17, 2008
Posted by knightofrook in Battle.Tags: alexander the great, chaeronea, greece, history, military, tactics
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This battle was fought between Macedon and Thebes.
The Battle of Chaeronea
Note how Phillip feigned retreat on the right flank, and how it caused the enemy to chase after him, causing a weakness in the Theban line, which allowed Alexander, from the left flank, to break through and win the battle.
Book Review: How Wars are Won by Bevin Alexander July 16, 2008
Posted by knightofrook in Battle, Book Review, Strategy.Tags: Bevin Alexander, Book Review, military, Strategy, tactics, war
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As we head into the twenty first century, wars will be fought with new weapons, in new ways, with new tactics, but the same principals that have governed warfare throughout history will still apply. “How Wars are Won: The 13 Rules of War from Ancient Greece to the War on Terror”, by Bevin Alexander is a tremendous book, showing plainly how the same strategies or “rules” used in past wars can still be applied to modern warfare.
Mr. Alexander breaks down war into thirteen clearly defined ‘rules’ that have been, and will continue to be methods for solving specific problems, instead of general rules to be used in all situations. The rules are as follows:
“Striking at Enemy Weakness”
“Defend, Then Attack”
“Holding One Place, Striking Another”
“Feigned Retreat”
“The Central Position”
“Employing a Superior Weapon”
“Driving a Stake in the Enemy’s Heart”
“Blocking an Enemy’s Retreat”
“Landing an Overwhelming Blow”
“Stroke at a Weak Spot”
“Caldron Battles”
“Uproar East, Attack West”
“Maneuvers on the Rear”
Mr. Alexander devotes a chapter to each of these rules, explaining how they work, and giving examples of battles that were either brilliantly won, or terribly lost by either the use of the rule, or the failure to do so. Mr. Alexander does not however, give a short synopsis of the battle, he examines the battle fully, how it was fought, the events leading up to it, the commanders, and some of the aftermath that resulted from the particular battle.
The book is tremendously well researched, and Mr. Alexander explains his point with a level of clarity that no one can misunderstand. “How Wars are Won” brilliantly applies how the methods used by previous commanders are still perfectly valid in modern warfare.
“The purpose of this book is to elucidate these key rules of war, identifying along the way those that are likely to be most relevant in future combat. Although conditions, arms, and the ways soldiers fight have varied greatly over the millennia, the problems commanders face and the solutions they reach are fundamentally identical. The method Alexander the Great employed to defeat the Indian king Porus in 326 B.C. is the same method a company of soldiers can use to win a firefight today.” –from the Introduction, can be found here
From Alexander, to Napoleon, to Macarthur, this book is a must read for all who are interested in strategy, or military history. The only fault I find with it is that there are a few evolutionary references, but these are few, and are not a main point. Click here to see book overview at Bevin Alexander.com
