Ghosts, Part 2

"From the Hundred Year War to the Crimea
With a lance and a musket and a Roman spear
To all of the men who have stood with no fear
In the service of the King"*

This is a continuation of yesterday's post about Ghosts.

History is filled with the noble sacrifice of the brave. Men willing to lay down their lives with honor, no matter how terrible the cost. The ghosts of the past.

The Punic Wars were a series of clashes between Rome and Carthage. Two city states with ambitions. Three wars that lasted from 264 BC to 146 BC. It was truly a battle for survival.

And in the end, at the last battle Roman soldiers clawed their way through ferocious city combat. Every inch was contested. Planks were laid from building to building to cross streets. Behind them they burned everything. Thousands died.

In the end Commandant Hasdrubal of the Carthaginian threw himself at the feet of Scipio, General of the Roman forces, begging for pardon. Hasdrubal's wife found this so shameful she threw herself and her children into the flames.

Scipio, having seen the horror, said "Assyria had fallen, and Persia, and Macedon, Carthage was burning. Rome's day might come next."

And it did, it always does. Always with such scenes of horror and destruction. Yet, we can never find a way to avoid the end.

Nobody alive today really cares much for the fate of Carthage. It makes for interesting reading or boring history, depending on your tastes. But, at the time it was very important for the people involved, whose only real conflict was being the two largest powers at the time. Of course, they both wanted the same island, Sicily. But, 118 years later, hundreds of thousands of lives, and the complete destruction of an empire seems excessive.

Assuming for a minute that we can't find a way to live together, (and there is absolutely no reason tothink we can)  and end up kicking over the apple cart, and burning down the world as we know it what will people 2,000 years from now say about the role we played in the destruction? If there is anybody left.




* From The Card Cheat by The Clash

The Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Ok, so we are, admittedly, a little pessimistic about our discoveries here at History Explored. But, there seems to be little to offer much cheer.  We will keep looking, though.

Recently, we took a trip to the Black Hills, a wonderful place, and it seemed like a good time to delve into the more recent past.  Specifically, Custer's last stand. What was not so apparent, Little Big Horn is in Montana, not South Dakota, and was about 3 hours from where we were staying.  But, it was still closer than Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Assyria, the Roman Empire, or Mongolia and we already had the book, ("The Last Stand," by Nathaniel Philbrick*) so we ran with it.

Unfortunately, vacation does not offer a lot of time for reading, so we did not get far into the book, but far enough to understand this unfortunate incident follows a fairly predictable pattern.

According to the author, the Black Hills are "an oval shaped territory in about the size of Connecticut in the south west corner of modern South Dakota. Part Garden of Eden, part El Dorado, the Black Hills were a verdant and mountainous land of streams and lakes contained within a forbidding four thousand foot high ridge of ancient rock covered in ponderosa pine. When seen from a distance these steep, three shaded battlements appeared as dark as night, hence the hills name. Mysterious and remote (they were separated from the nearest American settlement by a hundred miles of desolate badlands), the Black Hills were sacred to the Sioux and - until Custer's expedition - almost unknown to the whites, save for rumors of gold."

It is a beautiful place, dark, forbidding and wonderful.  But, such things mattered little to the participants. Who, despite the fact that they were faced with battles, and blood, could not turn away from the path. Why is it always that way?

Looking back, through the annals of history, why is it nobody can ever learn that there are options?  How many of these things could have been avoided?  How many lives were lost almost accidentally?  Not "oh my gosh, did you push that button?" accidentally, but through careful avoidance of reality, accidentally.

World War I is a perfect example. Plans were drawn, and troop movements scheduled, and once they began they could not be averted, and they delivered us into the quagmire of trench warfare, artillery bombardments, and clouds of mustard gas.

Even the belligerent Genghis Khan tried to offer the Khwarazm Shah a face saving way to avoid invasion.  Pride, and stubbornness would not allow him to sacrifice a local governor to the Mongols to face retribution for killing an envoy sent by the Khan to establish trade.  And, the Shah's empire was destroyed, millions perished, and he died in exile.

And, the confrontation that is being described in the book, seems to follow these lines, something that could have been avoided, but for some reason wasn't. No real surprise.

Maybe we are wrong, probably not, though. We are going to finish the book, and update the blog regularly, so stay tuned. Plus tonight is gym night and we have downloaded "South Dakota Gold Rush and the Battle of the Little Big Horn" from Berkeley.edu, you h
ave to love technology.



*So far it is an excellent book, and we recommend it heartily.

Cinco De Mayo explained, sort of.

Today is Cinco De Mayo. It may not be a big deal to you, but in Mexico it is a very august occasion.  It was the day the Mexican Army defeated the French forces at the battle of Puebla.  It was an unexpected victory, at the time the French were kickin' some serious butt all over the globe.  Under the rule of Napoleon III the French territory doubled in Asia, the Pacific and Africa.  Why is it always that way?  A country has a little success, and right away they want everything.

There are countless stories of the lives destroyed by gambling, and addictive behaviors.  But, it seems like the apple does not fall far from the national government. A little success leads to the overwhelming desire for more. And if the odds are stacked against a gambler, or a government they have to roll the dice, one last shot. Humanity may be powerless to resist the call.

Sooner or later any real power worth it's salt is going to decide that expansion is the way to go.  It might be in pursuit of "more defensible borders," it might be "natural resources," there are about only so many "reasons" but they all lead to the same place. Taking somebody else's stuff, by show of strength, or brute force. Somehow the Bill Parcells quote seems ideal, "Everytime something happens you always have an excuse, and they are always good excuses.  But, some day you have to ask why do these things keep happening." There always seems to be some perfectly good reason to send an army, or navy somewhere
to take something, don't worry about the costs. So it went with the French.

After a costly and terrible civil war the Mexican government found itself unable to pay the debts owed to the European nations.  Spain and Britain negotiated a deal with and went on their merry national way. France decided to expand their empire, in Mexico.  Hardly surprising considering all we know about people. It makes a person wonder how Britain and Spain were able to resist the urge.

And, on May 5th, 1862 at Puebla 6,000 French troops (from what was considered the premier army in the world) were defeated by 2,000 poorly trained, lightly armed Mexican militia men. It was a shock to everybody, particularly France, and Mexico.

But, it is a proud moment in the history of a proud nation. And we should all toast the occasion. I am going to use a little tequila, and maybe make some Mexican food for dinner.

I grew up around immigrants from Mexico, and was proud to call them friend, they worked hard and sacrificed for their families, and carved a decent life in this country. In many ways they understood the American Dream much better than I.

So happy Cinco De Mayo, we should all celebrate. Today was a great day in History, and it should be a great day in the present, too.

Ancient Greece, a Road Map?

So far I have learned very little about the Messenian War, though it is still high on the list.  It is more the history of Ancient Greece that has grabbed and ensnared.  There is so much that is so amazing about Ancient Greece that it is almost impossible to focus on such a narrow topic.

Sparta itself, is a fascinating subject, with many intriguing aspects, not the least of which is the brutal repression of their neighbors, called "helots" by the Spartans, and fanatic devotion to military training.  Of course it makes the task of constant military training much more achievable if you have subjugated enough people.  Conversely, it makes the need to train constantly almost a necessity.  As Xenophon (an Athenian contemporary who knew the Spartans well) explained, "the Helots would gladly eat the Spartans raw."  When the people who produce your food and provide for your well being are so resentful and bitter it requires a certain amount of military preparation to ensure their continued "loyalty."

But, the whole history is fascinating.  From the rise of the Polis, to the advent of family owned farms the ancient Greeks were amazing.  It was a seminal, transformative, singularity.  Ingenious, industrious, and constantly evolving, they were a revolutionary force of unimaginable power with an almost infinite effect on the growth of humanity.  More than any other culture, Greece changed the story arc of history.

Plato is quoted as saying, "the Greeks never invented anything, but everything they borrowed they improved upon."  Since Plato was there, and Greek, he should know.  Even if this were the case, they improved on some things so dramatically that they became something completely new, an invention, and that is enough for me.

But, the history of Greece is a history of war.  They were not any worse than anybody else, before, or since.  In many ways, the history of Ancient Greece mirrors the history of man.  It is an abridged history of the human race, in a very small place.

Wars, alliances, treaties, shifting centers of power, allegiances formed, broken, intrigue, and rebellion.  It starts with the rise of Sparta, and pretty much ends Alexander the Great.  From one warrior to another, with a lot of warriors in between.

Just like human history the history of Greece is the tale of powerful states, deciding that the existence of the other was such a threat that war was inevitable, and once it had begun winning was the only option, no matter the cost.  Noted historian Donald Kagan, wrote "In peaceful and prosperous times both people and
nations behave reasonably because the tissue of material well-being and security that separates civilization from brutal savagery has not been torn away and people reduced to brutal necessity."*

It is the story of mankind, condensed into approximately 700 years, in an area about 51,000 square miles.  From one empire to the next, from one rapidly developing city state, to a super power in decline.  Sooner or later they all figure the results will be worth the cost, and occasionally they were.  Unless you happened to be the loser, or one of those sacrificed for victory, for them the stakes were a little different.

And, in all this time, the game really hasn't changed, nor have the motives.  They may seem more significant, but every war was justified, vital, absolutely essential, at the time.  And, they still are.  We haven't really learned much.

Next time we will look at one of the wars involving Ancient Greece.  Probably the Persian Wars, a time for Greek unity, a time for common ground, and cooperation.  But, when it was over, it was business as usual, and it could have been almost any where at almost any time.




*"The Peloponnesian War," page 117.

The Past, the Present, and the Future.

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."   George Santayana.  It seems that this quote may have been altered, or incorrectly attributed, but for this post that does not matter.  History has become my obsession.  Like any good obsession this started simply enough.

A friend of mine told me about "podcasts."  Little episodic units of information, or entertainment.  There are thousands of them, covering topics from ancient Egypt to futuristic science fiction, conspiracy theories to religious services.  I was lost, so it seemed like history would be a good place to jump in and start listening.

Soon, I was stopping at the library on my way to the gym and researching further the subjects from the podcasts.  It seemed like a good subject for My blog, a little about working out, getting in shape, and a little about the past.  

Of course, it would focus on the obscure details, and little idiosyncratic bits, the things that could easily be turned into light hearted fodder, for the endless parade of self indulgent fantasy that makes up Life Explained.

Unfortunately, most things recorded through history are not very damned funny.  In fact, most of it seems awful.  And it just keeps happening, over and over again.  None of which would fit in with the recurring theme of goofiness that makes up my other blog.  Hence, the new blog.

From this research, it seems we should alter the quote attributed to Santayana to say "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and those who do learn are doomed to watch others repeat it."  Or maybe "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and those who do learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Which brings us to our next quote, 

"In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath
Runs the all time loser
Headlong to his death."

From Jethro Tull's Locomotive Breath.

Throughout history, for various reasons, cities or states, later countries, would decide to take the possessions of their neighbors.  The reasons were many, and made sense to the rulers, maybe it was a more defensible position, maybe it was to enhance food and material supplies, maybe it was religious convictions, but the need to conquer was always there.  

Athens, the birth place of democracy, couldn't help itself.  Exerting "goodwill" all over the known world, until the rest of the world had just had enough.   Rome was born, if you ignore the story of the twins being rescued, and raised by a wolf, through a defensive struggle, and took over the whole known world in a "continuous defensive campaign," until the rest of the world decided to struggle for themselves.  

As I continued reading, and trying to understand how this keeps happening, and how the modern world could get off the Jetson like treadmill, it struck me, there may not be a way out.  This may be our destiny, the destruction of our "enemies."  And, trust me, even a cursory glance backward will provide ample proof that everybody will, at one point, become enemies. 

So, what is the point?  I don't know.  Since I am looking into all of these societies, and there rise, and eventual self destructive attempts to "have it all" I might as well share it with you,  and maybe we can all come together and say, this has gone on long enough.  

Tune in to our next exciting episode, it will either be Athens, or Assyria, or Rome, who knows?  It doesn't really matter, they are all eerily similar, and the lessons are the same, not that anybody is learning anything from them.