Reddit reviews A History of Warfare

I wouldn't call being verbose awesome. As for the message in the text you should either read The Forever War, or watch the film again to learn why it's flowery but wrong.

> War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose.

The problem is that political purpose is often dictated by evil, power hungry, short sighted politicians (many of whom have had military experience and are often the worst when it comes to starting more pointless wars), and is counter productive to the continuation of the species (we came damn close to destroying the world many times during the cold war, like seconds away close). For a more contemporary example it was the chicken hawks elevated by military rhetoric that leveled Iraq just to hand out rebuilding contracts for their buddies, laying economic waste to both nations.

Plus I preferred Michael Ironside's delivery, juxtaposed with his missing hand. You don't need a bunch of prose to show violence as authority, "because fuck you" is it's own proof.

Other points that can be easily picked apart (and I'm not the first to do so).

> Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure" --Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was talking about rebellions and the rebellious as the patriots. The removal of tyrants, makes Heinlein's statement disingenuous at best. It's a reversal and celebration of authority, that is ironically only possible due to Jefferson's original rebellion.

> It's never a soldier's business to decide when or where or how—or why—he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the generals.

This is the Nuremberg Defense, nobody should have to explain why it's wrong.

Too many people read Starship Troopers then praise it without reading it's critiques or counter examples. Heinlein's theories haven't held up well in the years following his book. It's a good story, and a great window into the mind set of a WWII soldier, but as a model for society it's woefully inadequate.

If you really want to understand war and it's wide ranging ramifications in an easily approachable format I would suggest starting with John Keegan's: A History of Warfare. Then read Joe Haldeman's: The Forever War as a Vietnam era perspective counter example to Starship Troopers. Then try watching Verhoeven's Starship Troopers again as it was intended to be viewed, as an intelligent satire.

Weight training is old. Touring old castles and museums you see weight training gear.

Standing armies tended to be smaller than they are now, but the soldiers would train (as they do now).

While modern training techniques are almost certainly more efficient than medieval/ancient regimes, there was considerable incentive to have stronger soldiers.

Stronger soldiers can walk with heavier loads, wear heavier armour, wield heavier weapons, throw and shoot dangerous weapons further and more accurately. Where soldiering has some prestige or privilege, there would be a tendency for tall, muscular men to be chosen.

Basic training often consisted of drill wielding heavy weapons and armour, and marching wearing armour, carrying weapons, and carrying the equivalent of up to ten days of food (not modern dried food; heavy old food). Soldiers have always been required to do labour (building impromptu fortifications, shifting heavy weapons, etc.). The work of soldiering, in a serious army, would resemble heavy labour.

Most men will get quite muscular if they work hard for a few hours every day. Some will get ripped.

All up, you could expect pre-modern soldiers in a standing army to be taller than average, and quite muscular. Some will be really quite ripped. This will be much more the case for elite units.

Source: Lots of reading, but this more recently than anything else.

A History of Warfare by John Keegan [Goodreads] Gives a clear understanding of how different cultures influence military organization and tactics. I was looking for a book to help someone who doesn't have a military background (me) understand and describe how the military and culture intersect and influence each other.

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda [Goodreads]. Uses an interesting, anthropological POV to describe an alternative view of perception and reality. Very handy if you want to create a magic system that does not conform to clearly explainable rules of logic and order, but is still believable and self-consistent.

Reading John Keegan is what really got me into history, especially The Second World War. I strongly recommend any avid TW player pick up A History of Warfare.

I haven't read it myself, but this is the book everybody recommends when this question comes up: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0825436559/ref=pd_aw_sim_sbs_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TRDYYESNHZ2DE7D8QV8T&dpPl=1&dpID=51NrgC7XX4L

This book, which I have read, has some useful insights too: https://www.amazon.com/History-Warfare-John-Keegan/dp/0679730826

Those are all good. I'd add:

"A History of Warfare" by the late John Keegan. Covers everything military from the Stone Age up until modern times and includes a lot of counterintuitive things that (if you're anything like me) probably would never have occurred to you.

"Plagues & Peoples" by William McNeil, a very readable book by an eminent academic historian that explores how disease has shaped human civilization over the millenia.

Any of the "Connections" books by James Burke. These books give sort of a history of science and technology, but in a roundabout way. You can also watch the associated TV series via Youtube.

Not to jack your thread but I would like to put in a plug for John Keegan. He is a wonderful author and has a terrific style of writing (usually a combination of narrative and analytical) that is very hard to put down, once started.

Edit: And his A History of Warfare is an excellent read as well.

These 2 span a huge range of recorded (and pre-recorded) history rather than a single era, but are two of the history books I've learned the most from:

Plagues & Peoples by William McNeill (the -- often subtle & surprising -- influence of infectious disease on political and social issues throughout history).

A History of Warfare by John Keegan (exactly what it sounds like, from prehistorical hunter-gatherer bands to modern armies; chock full of fascinating & oftentimes-counterintuitive observations that you probably didn't get in a high school or college intro course).

Whilst I second John Keegan's A History of Warfare for the longer historical perspective, I recommend Robert R. Leonhard's The Principles Of War For The Information Age for a view on how classic strategic doctrine should change to be adapted for warfare in our time.

History of warfare, by john keegan

A History of Warfare, by John Keegan.

Read this back in high school.