Fun Krugman post about history
Jan. 18th, 2015 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitouthttp://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/mongols-of-the-sea-amateur-historical-speculation/
He speculates that the western Atlantic fringe dominated during war on the sea because of skills developed during peace time, just like nomadic steppe empires dominated because they had a lot of archers on horseback during peace time.
I love it! I don't see any obvious problems with it, but I don't think I've ever thought of those two side by side.
He speculates that the western Atlantic fringe dominated during war on the sea because of skills developed during peace time, just like nomadic steppe empires dominated because they had a lot of archers on horseback during peace time.
I love it! I don't see any obvious problems with it, but I don't think I've ever thought of those two side by side.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-01-20 03:51 am (UTC)YOU DON'T SAY.
From my dad's WWII memoir: "I started to tell about our gunners. In most of the stories I’ve read, the call to arms was answered by millions of clear-eyed, tanned American boys who grew up with guns, shooting from the hip and hitting squirrels in the eye at 75 yards. Well, we had some boys like that, and thank God we did. We also had wholesale jewelry salesmen from East Liverpool, Ohio, and bowling alley pinsetters from Rome, Georgia."
---------------------
I suppose there were somewhat fewer jewelry salesmen (and no pinsetters) during the Revolutionary War, which is when the squirrel-shooting types are supposed to have gotten the most accomplished.