A Collection of Unimitigated Pedantry

[Duque de Bragança]

How good is American Cyborg? Is it essential viewing?

Essential viewing as in Citizen Kane, no but I am sure you knew that.

It's US post-nuke B-movie territory with some kickboxing added to the mix, ripping off earlier '80s Italian post-nukes.
Not as crazy as say the finest Italian post-nukes but quite so-bad-it's good, your kilometrage may vary though.

[Malthus]

Steppe peoples were occasionally better militarily than settled peoples, but 90% of the time it was the nomadic types coming put second-best.  We just hear less about it because it was the common occurrence, and so not noteworthy.

As an example, nomadic peoples were a *constant* problem for whoever happened to be ruling the Iranian plateau from the time of the Achaemenids (themselves of nomadic origin) to the time of Reza Shah.  Most of the time they were just a nuisance and their presence and raiding activities didn't prevent the formation of enduring dynasties.  But when a dynasty weakened or a significant succession crisis occurred, they could take a more prominent role, either in supporting a claimant or supporting one of their own to form a new dynasty.

When it comes to nomadic vs. Settled peoples, each side had certain inherent military advantages that stemmed from their chosen way of life, but the decisive advantage in the pre-gunpowder age usually came down to political factors, not the inherent value of each sides' soldiers or warriors.

Simply put, the side that was capable of mobilizing its society's resources more effectively tended to win.

Usually, this left the advantage in the hands of the settled peoples, because nomadic societies tended to be even more fractious than settled societies. However, this was not always the case, and on occasion someone was able to unite the nomads into a single force - and when they did, the settled peoples had to watch out.

It is also worth stating that in many cases it was not a case of nomad vs. Settled purely, but each "side" consisting of a mixture of both - with war leaders anxious to correct the deficiencies in their army's composition with allies and mercenaries from both settled and nomadic peoples. The Romans/Byzantines routinely accepted nomadic contingents as mercenaries; the Mongols conscripted Persian and Chinese troops, particularly siege specialists. Light horse is great in many ways, but settled peoples long ago worked out how to hamper them with a series of fortifications - if they worked alone, that often reduced their raiding to nuisance levels. Such measures did not work against the Mongols at their height.

Not to mention the speed at which successful nomadic war leaders simply *became* settled ...

[Jacob]

Yeah I agree Malthus - you see that dynamic playing out back and forth between settled farmers in China and their nomad neighbours time and time again, in both directions. Not to mention the groupings that were semi-nomadic for long periods of time.

I'm less familiar with the interactions on the Western edge of the Steppes but I expect it's broadly similar.

[Berkut]

What a fun discussion!

[Duque de Bragança]

Ah, Joe Lara, "famous" in Spain for starring in the Epic Adventures of Tarzan.

American Cyborg riped off Terminator and somehow also Children of Men avant-le-lettre.

Joe Lara died yesterday in a plane crash.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/diet-guru-gwen-lara-husband-actor-joe-lara-among-seven-n1269111
RIP

[jimmy olsen]

Grumbler, the blog in question is saying that the Fremen mirage is wrong though. His argument is that it is largely a myth. Am I missing something from your critique?

My critique is that the Fremen Mirage is a strawman.  It's a plot device in a scifi book, not something actual historians have said or written about.

Plenty of pop-historians, pop-psychologists, and right wing internet nutters who are very popular believe in that kind of stuff and it is worth while to push against it. Just because no real historians believe it is besides the point.

[jimmy olsen]

]Haven't mass migrations come back into fashion with the genetic proof of repeated wholesale population replacement in many areas?

I think we've discussed this - the examples of complete pop replacement usually involve small base populations replaced over very long periods of times.  I.e. prehistoric Neolithic peoples occupying Britain over centuries of time and replacing small bands of fisher-gatherers.

I'm talking about things like Caesar's account of the entire population of Helvetica moving en masse across the Massif Central, or the older accounts of "barbarian tribes" moving huge distances in massive numbers through German forests.

Isn't there lots of evidence that Cimbri and the Tuetons migrated en masse down towards Italy?

[viper37]

What a fun discussion!

It can't beat the story about the 13 year old Italian princess!  Come on!!:P

[jimmy olsen]

What a fun discussion!

It can't beat the story about the 13 year old Italian princess!  Come on!!:P

Which story is that?

[The Minsky Moment]

Isn't there lots of evidence that Cimbri and the Tuetons migrated en masse down towards Italy?

Anything in particular you are thinking about?

[viper37]

What a fun discussion!

It can't beat the story about the 13 year old Italian princess!  Come on!!:P

Which story is that?

This one: (but it was 16, not 13, though)
http://languish.org/forums/index.php/topic,16322.msg1309699.html#msg1309699

Refering to this part:

Wow, that is really uninteresting.

[jimmy olsen]

He's started a great series on CK3

https://acoup.blog/2022/09/16/collections-teaching-paradox-crusader-kings-iii-part-i-making-it-personal/

https://acoup.blog/2022/09/23/collections-teaching-paradox-crusader-kings-iii-part-iia-rascally-vassals/

https://acoup.blog/2022/09/30/collections-teaching-paradox-crusader-kings-iii-part-iib-cracks-in-the-house-of-islam/

https://acoup.blog/2022/10/07/collections-teaching-paradox-crusader-kings-iii-part-iii-constructivisting-a-kingdom/

[jimmy olsen]

Bret wrote a fantastic series of posts on the workings of the Roman Republic

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part I: SPQR
https://acoup.blog/2023/07/21/collections-how-to-roman-republic-101-part-i-spqr/

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part II: Romans, Assemble!
https://acoup.blog/2023/07/27/collections-how-to-roman-republic-101-part-ii-romans-assemble/

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIa: Starting Down the Path of Honors
https://acoup.blog/2023/08/11/collections-how-to-roman-republic-101-part-iiia-starting-down-the-path-of-honors/

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIb: Imperium
https://acoup.blog/2023/08/18/collections-how-to-roman-republic-101-part-iiib-imperium/

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIc: Ten Tribunes, Two Censors and Twenty-Six Guys
https://acoup.blog/2023/08/25/collections-how-to-roman-republic-part-iiic-ten-tribunes-two-censors-and-twenty-six-guys/

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IV: The Senate
https://acoup.blog/2023/09/22/collections-how-to-roman-republic-part-iv-the-senate/

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part V: The Courts
https://acoup.blog/2023/10/06/collections-how-to-roman-republic-part-v-the-courts/

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Socii
https://acoup.blog/2023/10/20/collections-how-to-roman-republic-101-addenda-the-socii/

Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Provinces
https://acoup.blog/2023/11/03/collections-how-to-roman-republic-101-addenda-the-provinces/

Here's some other good Roman posts.

Collections: How To Raise a Roman Army: The Dilectus
https://acoup.blog/2023/06/16/collections-how-to-raise-a-roman-army-the-dilectus/

Collections: The Marian Reforms Weren't a Thing
https://acoup.blog/2023/06/30/collections-the-marian-reforms-werent-a-thing/

Collections: Roman Infantry Tactics: Why the Pilum and not a Spear?
https://acoup.blog/2023/11/24/collections-roman-infantry-tactics-why-the-pilum-and-not-a-spear/

[jimmy olsen]

Bret has begun another cool collection on the twighlight of the Hellenistic way of war and the rise of the manipular legion.

https://acoup.blog/2024/01/19/collections-phalanxs-twilight-legions-triumph-part-ia-heirs-of-alexander/

https://acoup.blog/2024/01/26/collections-phalanxs-twilight-legions-triumph-part-ib-subjects-of-the-successors/

More chapters to come

[celedhring]

Thanks for reporting it. I love his articles.