To understand the current lie we must understand its generation.
For a tale of The Thirty Years War I recommend C.V. Wedgwood's book by the same title.
For a movie, look at The Last Valley with Omar Shariff and Michael Caine.
For a game treatment consider Here I Stand and the more recent and tactical, Lion of the North.
Some things to consider:
Currently, the universalist power that geopolitically stands in for the Catholic Church in our age, is Secular Globalism.
The struggle between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy was strong as far back as the 1200s, when one Emperor was known as "Stupor Mundi" or "Wonder of the world" when Lithuania and Prussia were still pagan and sent his soldiers to surround the cardinals as they selected the Pope and the soldiers pissed so much that the cardinals within the stone building were nearly overcome by ammonia fumes.
In the age of upheaval past the universal slave system and other powers vying for supremacy were served primarily by mercenary armies, not nationalistic armies. In that sense, we, in a new age of mercenary armies—which is more a function of technological advancement than politics, but linked to politics—are poised for our own deconstructing battle, which, if it follows suite, will be waged disastrously and usher in a drastically new age.
The Swedish army under warrior king, Gustavus Adolphus, was the model for modern armies, used mobile artillery and combined armed tactics and also forced Catholic peasants to drink sewage...
Do not forget the Hellburner of Antwerp, producing the loudest manmade sound before WWI.
The last battle of the war at Rocroi saw the defeat of the, until then, model army of the age, the Spanish Terico, a bulky regimental-level formation.
What an excellent podcast!
link › jameslafond.blogspot.com
Masculine Axis: A Meditation on Manhood and Heroism
I still hold the belief that the Spanish Tercios were one of the greatest armies the world has ever seen.
They were, to me, a recreation of the Roman Legion and their European battle record alone sets them at the top of unit formations in history. What made them really special—perhaps due to their regimental size—was their ability to function well in break down formations and in miniature, as they were used in the Conquest of the New World.
Bruno—you just extended the ancient warrior book. I'm going to do a top unit formations section.
Wow, the talented cricket player named Michel Chalhub is in this flick. He went to Victoria College in the Maadi suburb of Cairo along with Palestinian scholar, Edward Said, and Jordan's future King Hussein. They all lived in the same neighborhood as al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's number two man until the death of Bin Laden of kidney failure a couple of years before Obama and Seal Team Six, I think it was, supposedly waxed his ass. I bring this up as Michel, the talented cricket player, changed his name to Omar Shariff. I'll have to check out the flick.
History by Sabaton....
King Charles XII of Sweden
youtube.com/watch?v=Us2ylGAwBnk
Siege of Vienna
youtube.com/watch?v=75zmIj_4LFQ
Thirty Years War
youtube.com/watch?v=tkBXrenRhPQ
Lion from the North....
youtube.com/watch?v=QLt0lerdgKs
James, if you want to see a Spanish Tercio in Action, check outthe movie "Alatriste", with Viggo Mortensen. Great battle scenesand some of the most real-looking sword fights i've ever saw in a movie.
Check out the trailer:
youtube.com/watch?v=vAcrIr84OdQ