Hillfighter

For the past few weeks, I have been watching a number of youtube videos, discussions of various sorts. I stumbled rather by accident into the lectures by Prof. Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian. His articulation of western civilization is superb.

In the video "Why Greece Matters" www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-pOwv… he describes in great detail the various aspects of modern western culture which find their origins in the Greek city states.

In a presentation at the Hoover Institute www.youtube.com/watch?v=go8uMp… explains a number of the foreign conflicts currently being waged around the globe as the Greeks would have seen them. He seems to argue that struggles over land are really more like shoving matches where the actual prize is the honor and prestige that comes from victory.

I was tagged by ~W1TS

Rules:
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4. Go to their page and tell them you have tagged them.
5. No tag backs.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about "you're tagged if you're reading this". You legitimately have to tag 9 people  

Six things about me
1 - I drink whole milk. I do this because the vitamins in milk are bonded to the fat molecules.
2 - I tend to wear a lot of grey t-shirts.
3 - I'm 5' 9"
4 - I prefer plain vodka to all other spirits. In general, I enjoy simple things.
5 - I thing I enjoy most is driving my car on the small, coastal roads of California in winter, when the hills are at their greenest.
6 - Although I try to be as reasonable as possible, I do accept that my head is full of various opinions whose basis in reason is dubious at best. Nevertheless, I think this is part of what makes character.

I tag ~arminius1871, ~rakaith, ~eduardogaray, ~mdc01957, ~generalhelghast, ~piojote, ~wookieoftheyear, ~lamnay and ~vaipabg

I created a new video map that properly illustrates the legal status of slavery in the United States between 1772 and 1868.

Have a look, it's in HD! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHFYAy…

I was looking at the Wikipedia page on latin America when I spotted this map en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eth… . Honestly, this is a map I wish I could have created.

Then I realized that I already had created what will probably be the most important deviation I will ever create, depicting the abolition of slavery on the American continent Hillfighter.deviantart.com/art…

As the world moves closer and closer together through globalization (which is just a fancy word for increased travel, trade and ship tonnage) I have begun to contemplate more and more what it means to be an American and more specifically a citizen of the United States.

I have also contemplated the future of race in America and what that means today. Let me be clear that racism is not dead. It has been shot and lynched, it has be dragged behind trucks, it has been beaten with bats, sticks, rocks and pipes; but it is not dead.

It will return in a lighter form. Like the Faccetta Nera Hillfighter.deviantart.com/art… of the 1930s the lite version will appear better through comparison with it's harsher cousins. It will wear masks and hide behind catchy tunes.

I can't say for sure weather racism-lite is just a healthy background manifestation of lingering resentments that will never be acted upon or weather it is something that ought be opposed until it is finally dead. Only time will tell.

I just watched the first episode of the new season of The Deadliest Warrior where George Washington faced off against Napoleon Bonaparte. I'm not sure if a direct comparison can be made in this case because neither faced the other's challenges.

George Washington had to personally lead his men into battle and just as often lead them out of battle in a phased retreat. Perhaps his greatest battle was at Trenton where at dawn the Americans surprised the isolated garrison of Hessian mercenaries who were many miles away from the main British base in New York. Washington fought a protracted guerrilla war that the US won in part thanks to the entry of the French, Spanish, Dutch and Mysore that shifted British soldiers and resources to fronts in the Caribbean and India. Washington also had to coordinate his own ill funded Continental Army with local militias while holding 13 divisive colonies together.

By contrast Napoleon fought most of his battles in Europe (except for the Egypt campaign). His campaigns largely rested on enormous battles where the stakes were all or nothing. Perhaps his finest battle was at Austerlitz where the combined armies of Austria and Russia were obliterated, for as the Russians routed across the frozen lake Napoleon's artillery shot through the ice drowning them. Napoleon's greatest ability and weakness was that only he alone could command his army, as soon as he began to age and falter in his abilities the army suffered as well. We should perhaps reappraise the usual story of Napoleon's invasion of Russia being doomed by the Russian winter, because he lost more men going in at the battle of Borodino than he did after he left Moscow upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… .

Perhaps the most versatile commander of the period was Arthur Wellesley. In India he defeated Mysore at Seringapatam and then the Maratha at Assaye commanding company soldiers and sepoys, and after expanded British India from a few territories in Bengal and Madras to cover almost all of India except Pakistan. While Napoleon was elsewhere in Europe Wellesley coordinated the major British offensive on the continent and with the assistance of Portuguese and Spanish guerillas pushed the French out of Spain. His final glory was at Waterloo where he defeated Napoleon using an army composed of British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers.