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Lessons from the dustbin of History.


Yggdrazil

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The life of a nation is measured by the willingness of the citizens to defend it against all enemies foreign or domestic. The trash heap of History is filled with nations that forgot this important fact, including that we in the west consider the pinnacle of ancient nations-Rome. When those who received the benefits of that nation state refused to defend it and relied on its defense from hired mercenaries, Rome fell.And a darkness fell across the formal Empire known to us now as the " Dark Ages".Thus all leaders need to know "what makes a men fight".A nation life relies on this premise.

In World War II, a generation that some call the U.S.'s greatest, fought the greatest horror to rise in the modern era-Nazi Germany.At Kesserine Pass the "greatest generation" failed with the worse debacle in the History of Arms. They did not know what made men fight and it took a genius at it,Patton, to alter those that were left into an effective force that would fight.

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who was the third man in the Second Triumvirate that followed the death of Julius Caesar, the other members being Mark Antony and Octavian Caesar (who later became the emperor Augustus). Lepidus, a wealthy citizen from a good family, does what the other two are doing: he raises an army, so that he can take part in the great power struggle that followed Julius Caesar's death. An intelligent and capable man, Lepidus does this very well, taking great pains to see his troops are properly equipped, housed, trained, and fed. To these ends, Lepidus is a little can-do America, performing prodigies of administration and organization, and conscientiously making a credible military man of himself.

Lepidus could make out the encampment of his own seven legions. Even at this distance their huts showed better built and better aligned than the ramshackle bivouac of the slacker Plancus, or the flimsy shelters of improvident Antonians. Yes, his seven legions were the flower of the army, as brave and well-trained as their comrades and more efficiently administered. There was an advantage to being led by an industrious, conscientious man of business, too wealthy and too honourable to be tempted by the bribes of contractors.

Unfortunately Octavian shows up at Lepidus's camp. There is a confrontation, and Octavian is slightly wounded by a javelin hurled by one of Lepidus's men. Seeing this, the main body of Lepidus's troops are dismayed.

"We have shed the blood of Caesar," they screamed in a frenzy of self-accusation. Someone reopened the gate and they streamed out after [Octavian's] retreating cavalry. ... Lepidus thrust himself into the gateway, trying to stem the tide of hysterical desertion. Looming above the helmets he saw the towering staff of an Eagle, unescorted, clutched precariously by a solitary Aquilifer. To see this sacred image thus desecrated was almost as painful to him as the desertion of his soldiers. As the Eagle came up with him he strove to wrest it from its bearer. "Out of the way, fatty. All the Eagles of Rome follow Caesar, and shall until the ending of the world," shouted the Aquilifer...

All Lepidus's wealth, capability, courage, and managerial prowess counted for nothing when Octavian showed up. Plainly there was something about the mood of his troops Lepidus had failed to understand; something about Octavian that, when it touched Lepidus's noble intentions and splendid qualities, turned them instantly to dust. What was it, I wonder?

Yet, we need to know the answer.So far in the U.S.'s History we have had men who stepped into the breech and answered this .I fear modern thought and political correct philosophy make us less able to find those men again.

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