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doesn't know REAL wrestling...
Before I begin, having no personal experience of war, I do not claim any real authority regarding. Everything I hope to discuss comes from at least secondary if not tertiary source material and my own thoughts on what they tell us.
Also by highlighting specific instances of conflict, I in no way mean to demean any other action performed by any other army/unit/person. Indeed, I hope that this thread will encourage you to write about such other conflicts that you have come across in your own reading or perhaps even personal experiences.
Also I would like to say that I do not intend for this to fade into a discussion on the Holocaust or any other genocide inflicted upon a people or group. While many such acts were perpetrated at least in part by armies or in the context of a war, they are not what I hope to look at.
War has been around since the first life appeared on this planet. Some kind of survival instinct is programmed into the DNA of every living thing and those struggles or 'wars' are fought every second of every day.
However, as with almost every other aspect of life, man has made war far more organised and widespread - animals might have family wars or even between herds but man has taken such conflict to devastating levels to the point the his war machines are capable of destroying the planet in seconds.
War has also seen man test the limits of his physical and mental endurance and at times go beyond them. It is these kinds of military conflicts and actions that I intend to highlight - where man has been forced to confront the worst kind of circumstances.
Teutoberg Walde
As always I start with something that I know most about - the Roman Empire; most specifically the Battle of Teutoburg Walde, which I mentioned in my Defeating a Superpower Part II
I will not repeat everything from that post but the bare facts - through a careful web of deceit, a Germanic army led by Arminius had led the Roman army of Quinctilius Varus into a trap, blockaded in front and behind and surrounded by bloodthirsty tribesmen, miles from help.
The combination of constant fighting and the periods of calm surrounded by the dead and the wounded knowing that and perhaps even hearing the multitudes of surrounding them in the forests combined with the awful weather conditions must have been truly horrifying.
The legionaries will quickly have realised that there were no grounds for being optimistic about their chances of survival. The lack of German calls to surrender will have told them that no quarter was going to be given by their ambushers. This would be a fight to the death.
Over the course of three days, it will have been revealed to them that they would be lucky they would receive a quick death for being taken alive, while potentially allowing escape back to the Empire through ransom, also brought the possibility of being forced to take part in some horrendous barbarian ritual that ended with a slow, painful death (not all that likely but the Romans, influenced by the negative propaganda espoused by their leaders would not have known that). It is perhaps not surprising then that many Romans, traumatised by their experience and what they perceived to be their future treatment and once their position in the fragmented defences had been overrun, resorted to suicide rather than taking the chance of being taken alive.
Afghanistan: The Graveyard of Empires
It is claimed that no power from the west has successfully conquered Afghanistan since Alexander the Great over 2,300 years ago. Despite the errors in such a generalisation (the Parthians, Sassanid Persians and Muslim Arabs came from west of Afghanistan and successfully conquered it), there is still some legitimacy to it.
The terrain seems to be perfectly suited to guerrilla fighting and over the course of many centuries the Afghans have become extremely proficient at it. Ruthless empires such as the British and the Soviets have tried to conquer the country, succeeding in defeating the native army in battle but failing miserably to deal with those who disappeared into the foothills and valleys. One British army of 4,500 men and up to 12,000 civilians under Major-General William Elphinstone on a retreat from Kabul in 1842 virtually disappeared to a man.
However, this it is not about whether the US-led coalition should be there or not. Rather it is that Afghanistan provides the most recent example of the dangers of guerrilla warfare. Let's face it: every major empire in history has faced such opposition - the Romans, Muslims and French had difficult times of it in Spain (another territory with its rocky valleys that provides perfect cover - just look at the success of the Basques in retaining their own way of life and language that is unrelated to any other surviving tongue over the course of millennia despite being 'conquered' on several occasions); the Americans in Vietnam; the Germans in much of Europe a la La Resistance and many others.
Now in the 21st century, when the technological divide may seem unbelievably big between Afghan herdsmen and a western GI, the ease of use in an AK47 or in making an IED had made guerrilla warfare even easier for the defenders Is it any wonder that the US-led forces are having such a hard time of it or the Israelis did not have it all their own way the last time they went into Lebanon?
Such sneaky and at times suicidal warfare is the only way that small forces have any chance of dealing with the massive armies of technologically and numerically superior forces. But what toll does such warfare take on the individuals? Aside from the actual casualty figures, the physical and mental toll of such modern day guerrilla fighting is frightening. The number of soldiers and civilian amputees due to IEDs is simply horrifying while the indiscriminate nature of such fighting and the tactics sometimes needed to defeat it leads to both non-combatants and soldiers being exposed to oppressive paranoia and stress. I for one would rather have to face an enemy face to face rather than wonder if each and every step I take, move I make, door I open, hand I shake, chair I sit in, car journey I take might be my last.
It will not be surprising if in a few years time there is a whole new wave of 'Gulf War Syndrome' and Post-Traumatic Stress sufferers amongst military veterans, while the civilian cost in Iraq and Afghanistan will never be fully documented.
Hopefully, time permitting, I will be able to add a few more examples. The First and Second World Wars are littered with hellish events on the battlefield and will probably be my next port of call.
However, in the mean time, discuss my selections above or add any other military episodes that you feel highlight the 'Worst of War'
Also by highlighting specific instances of conflict, I in no way mean to demean any other action performed by any other army/unit/person. Indeed, I hope that this thread will encourage you to write about such other conflicts that you have come across in your own reading or perhaps even personal experiences.
Also I would like to say that I do not intend for this to fade into a discussion on the Holocaust or any other genocide inflicted upon a people or group. While many such acts were perpetrated at least in part by armies or in the context of a war, they are not what I hope to look at.
*This is my way of highlighting the horrific circumstances that soldiers have had to face as well as giving brief history lessons.*
War has been around since the first life appeared on this planet. Some kind of survival instinct is programmed into the DNA of every living thing and those struggles or 'wars' are fought every second of every day.
However, as with almost every other aspect of life, man has made war far more organised and widespread - animals might have family wars or even between herds but man has taken such conflict to devastating levels to the point the his war machines are capable of destroying the planet in seconds.
War has also seen man test the limits of his physical and mental endurance and at times go beyond them. It is these kinds of military conflicts and actions that I intend to highlight - where man has been forced to confront the worst kind of circumstances.
Teutoberg Walde
As always I start with something that I know most about - the Roman Empire; most specifically the Battle of Teutoburg Walde, which I mentioned in my Defeating a Superpower Part II
I will not repeat everything from that post but the bare facts - through a careful web of deceit, a Germanic army led by Arminius had led the Roman army of Quinctilius Varus into a trap, blockaded in front and behind and surrounded by bloodthirsty tribesmen, miles from help.
The combination of constant fighting and the periods of calm surrounded by the dead and the wounded knowing that and perhaps even hearing the multitudes of surrounding them in the forests combined with the awful weather conditions must have been truly horrifying.
The legionaries will quickly have realised that there were no grounds for being optimistic about their chances of survival. The lack of German calls to surrender will have told them that no quarter was going to be given by their ambushers. This would be a fight to the death.
Over the course of three days, it will have been revealed to them that they would be lucky they would receive a quick death for being taken alive, while potentially allowing escape back to the Empire through ransom, also brought the possibility of being forced to take part in some horrendous barbarian ritual that ended with a slow, painful death (not all that likely but the Romans, influenced by the negative propaganda espoused by their leaders would not have known that). It is perhaps not surprising then that many Romans, traumatised by their experience and what they perceived to be their future treatment and once their position in the fragmented defences had been overrun, resorted to suicide rather than taking the chance of being taken alive.
Afghanistan: The Graveyard of Empires
It is claimed that no power from the west has successfully conquered Afghanistan since Alexander the Great over 2,300 years ago. Despite the errors in such a generalisation (the Parthians, Sassanid Persians and Muslim Arabs came from west of Afghanistan and successfully conquered it), there is still some legitimacy to it.
The terrain seems to be perfectly suited to guerrilla fighting and over the course of many centuries the Afghans have become extremely proficient at it. Ruthless empires such as the British and the Soviets have tried to conquer the country, succeeding in defeating the native army in battle but failing miserably to deal with those who disappeared into the foothills and valleys. One British army of 4,500 men and up to 12,000 civilians under Major-General William Elphinstone on a retreat from Kabul in 1842 virtually disappeared to a man.
However, this it is not about whether the US-led coalition should be there or not. Rather it is that Afghanistan provides the most recent example of the dangers of guerrilla warfare. Let's face it: every major empire in history has faced such opposition - the Romans, Muslims and French had difficult times of it in Spain (another territory with its rocky valleys that provides perfect cover - just look at the success of the Basques in retaining their own way of life and language that is unrelated to any other surviving tongue over the course of millennia despite being 'conquered' on several occasions); the Americans in Vietnam; the Germans in much of Europe a la La Resistance and many others.
Now in the 21st century, when the technological divide may seem unbelievably big between Afghan herdsmen and a western GI, the ease of use in an AK47 or in making an IED had made guerrilla warfare even easier for the defenders Is it any wonder that the US-led forces are having such a hard time of it or the Israelis did not have it all their own way the last time they went into Lebanon?
Such sneaky and at times suicidal warfare is the only way that small forces have any chance of dealing with the massive armies of technologically and numerically superior forces. But what toll does such warfare take on the individuals? Aside from the actual casualty figures, the physical and mental toll of such modern day guerrilla fighting is frightening. The number of soldiers and civilian amputees due to IEDs is simply horrifying while the indiscriminate nature of such fighting and the tactics sometimes needed to defeat it leads to both non-combatants and soldiers being exposed to oppressive paranoia and stress. I for one would rather have to face an enemy face to face rather than wonder if each and every step I take, move I make, door I open, hand I shake, chair I sit in, car journey I take might be my last.
It will not be surprising if in a few years time there is a whole new wave of 'Gulf War Syndrome' and Post-Traumatic Stress sufferers amongst military veterans, while the civilian cost in Iraq and Afghanistan will never be fully documented.
Hopefully, time permitting, I will be able to add a few more examples. The First and Second World Wars are littered with hellish events on the battlefield and will probably be my next port of call.
However, in the mean time, discuss my selections above or add any other military episodes that you feel highlight the 'Worst of War'
