Milstack Saturday (28 September 2024)
The best articles on military subjects I read (or listened to) in the past week
Readers may have noticed that, here at the Old Headquarters Building, I define ‘military’ in rather broad terms. Thus, the first of the my recommendations for the last week of September is a piece in which a student of French history (which is rich in both) offers thoughts on the differences between mobs and crowds. For similar reasons, I learned much from an article that characterized the recent Israeli pager attacks against Hezbollah as an exercise in disruption.
The Rise of Shot and Sail provides a primer on the Anglo-Dutch Wars, a series of three largely maritime conflicts that did much to shape the development of the Royal Navy.
The Joys of Triangles looks at the way that military theorists have used simple three-sided shapes to illustrate complex relationships.
The Legend of "40-Second" Boyd posits a strong relationship between the experience of flying fighter jets and the ideas that America’s premier military theorist would develop later in life.
In Oilers and Other Auxiliaries, Commander Salamander reminds us of the central role played by the humble ships that navies neglect at their peril.
In How Dogs Make Us Ancient Again, emeritus SEAL Sam Alaimo explains that one of the best antidotes to the nonsense that abounds in the modern world can be found at a nearby animal shelter.
Did I miss anything? Please use the comments section to post links to recently published articles that might interest readers of The Tactical Notebook.
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Last week, I reposted a lightly edited version of my 2014 "Origins of the First World War", which started as a series of blog posts leading up to the 100 year anniversary of the beginning of the war. It was a far bigger project than I anticipated, running much longer than I expected when I casually started. Fair warning ... I'm not a historian and this isn't original research -- I was writing for my blog readership and some fellow bloggers at the time who were becoming more interested in WW1 thanks to the centenary.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-149215969
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