"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions… But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the same coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

— Thomas Jefferson, 1810

4:02 pm  •  26 August 2009

As Napoleon advanced across Europe in the early 19th century, Prussia stood defiant in the face of the oncoming threat. The Prussians believed Napoleon to be rash and his successes to have been the result of luck. His army was seen as unruly and untrained, his victories only possible due to weak opponents reacting with timidity. In the Prussian mind, such a force of chaos could easily be conquered with the systematic, mathematical style of war that Frederick the Great utilized to bring greatness to Prussia. Their whole Prussian conception of war was based around this rigid framework, wherein soldiers drilled until they acted together with astounding precision. Skilled and loyal, the Prussian generals compared these well-trained men to what they saw as the rabble of Napoleon’s army and saw no reason why victory would not quickly be theirs. Yet they were surprised. A mere nineteen days after being mobilized, on 14 October 1806, the Prussian army was effectively wiped out by the French “rabble” in what is now known as the Battle of Jena.

The Prussians had been planning for the encounter with Napoleon for years. Its top generals, all men in their sixties and seventies, had vast experience to draw upon from their years fighting with Frederick the Great. Napoleon himself saw Frederick as one of the greatest tacticians of all time, though during this battle such a fact gave the advantage to the French rather than the Prussians. The Prussian generals utilized the same formations as they learned from their great leader, all of which Napoleon had studied and likely knew well. All the efforts taken to become a precise, disciplined army, actions that should have lead to victory against a different enemy, in this case made the Prussians disastrously predictable.

Five days before the battle the Prussians, who believed that the French army was dispersed, learned from a scout that their opponent had reunited and was massing in the south of the country. Furthermore, the soldiers traveled only with the packs on their backs, making them highly mobile and quick compared to the lumbering Prussian army with its large wagons of weapons and supplies. Suddenly, the French turned north and began quickly closing the distance between themselves and Berlin. To the Prussians, who relied on intricate plans and unmoving, set battles in certain areas, this was a shock. The generals panicked and began to retreat north. It was left to Friedrich Lugwig, prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, to protect the fleeing mass.

On 14 October, Napoleon’s fast-moving army caught up with Hohenlohe’s rear guard near the town of Jena. What occurred next was a disaster for the Prussian army. As one writer summarizes,

“In a ritual dating back to Frederick the Great, a drum major beat out a cadence and the Prussian soldiers, their colors flying, reformed their positions in perfect perfect parade order, preparing to advance. They were in an open plain, though, and Napoleon’s men were behind garden walls and on the house roofs. The Prussians fell like ninepins to the French marksmen. Confused, Hohenlohe ordered his soldiers to halt and change formation. The drums beat again, the Prussians marched with magnificent precision, always a sight to behold - but the French kept shooting, decimating the Prussian line… Never had Hohenlohe seen such an army. The French soldiers were like demons. Unlike his disciplined soldiers, they moved on their own, yet their was method to their madness. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, they rushed forward on both sides, threatening to surround the Prussians. The prince ordered a retreat. The Battle of Jena was over.”

Within several days, the remnants of the Prussian army were destroyed by the French. At Jena alone, over 46,000 Prussian soldiers were killed. The once revered fighting force, suddenly facing a new style of war, completely disintegrated. Ultimately, what led to their defeat was an inability to innovate. While younger officers had for several years been speaking of the need to reform, the older generals held tightly onto the principles learned in the wars of their youth. As they were decidedly successful with these measures in the past, they assumed that they would keep working in the same way. Their soldiers were slow and robotic, unable to respond intelligently or quickly to a changing situation in battle. Napoleon’s army, in contrast, was quick and fluid. It used innovative strategies but, if the situation of the battle required, even adapted these when necessary.

Several years after the Napoleonic Wars, Prussian Carl von Clausewitz - who himself, at the age of 26, fought at Jena and was captured by the French - reflected on the battle. His words are a telling conclusion: “When in 1806 the Prussian generals… plunged into the open jaws of disaster by using Frederick the Great’s oblique order of battle, it was not just a case of a style that had outlived its usefulness but the most extreme poverty of the imagination to which routine has ever led. The result was that the Prussian army under Hohenlohe was ruined more completely than any army has ever been ruined on the battlefield.”

10:57 am  •  21 August 2009

How do Afghani drug lords spend their absurd earnings? It’s an intermittently vexing problem. Control of the heroin trade is divided among about twenty drug lords, who split an annual take of (at least) several billion dollars. Afghanistan, though, has trouble absorbing spending on this order: The country’s per-capita GDP is $429, the lowest on the Asian continent. A world-class paucity prevails there—of luxuries to buy, professionals to employ, penthouse suites to reserve. The infrastructure situation makes leisure travel difficult. (There is one golf course, the Kabul Golf Club, restored after the fall of the Taliban by its proprietors, who cleared landmines, Soviet tanks, and rocket launchers to make it playable. It’s a nine-holer.)

11:35 pm  •  20 August 2009

"It was [George Washington] himself who had aged the most. He was near fifty, and he’d had to cobble together an army for the past five and a half years, provide it with shoes, survive the cabals of congressmen and carping generals under his own command. It was Washington who fed the army, clothed it, fought the battles, ran his own stable of spies. Congress was bankrupt. Washington could not pay his soldiers. Some officers had already rebelled. But still he cobbled. His critics could not comprehend this. He was larger than their contradictions, relentless in his desire that the army not melt away, and with it the nation itself."

— From Johnny One-Eye: A Tale of the American Revolution by Jerome Charyn. It is partly because I am interested in American history that I found this book to be so remarkable. Yet that alone cannot be the only reason, as on its own the book is both fascinating and engaging. Charyn’s novel tells the story of a man by the name of John Stocking. Despite being educated at King’s College, witty, and talented, Stocking is perhaps the Founding Father who was never in the right place at the right time. Instead, he is constantly running afoul of both the British and the colonists. It is not only his tale which is intriguing, though. Charyn inserts a wide range of historical figures into the story, from William and Richard Howe to Benedict Arnold. Best of all are his portrayals of Alexander Hamilton, who is shown to be both elegant and treacherous, and George Washington, who is tired but unceasing in his work.

6:53 pm  •  18 August 2009

"Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike."

— Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist (No. 70)

5:29 pm  •  16 August 2009

The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role heavy bomber utilized by the United States Air Force. Work on the aircraft began in 1979 as part of a classified project meant to create an advanced technology bomber with stealth capability. In 1981, a design offered by Northrop Grumman was selected. In the following years, however, the B-2’s release was delayed several times due to the need to make changes in design because of the Air Force’s wish that that aircraft could function in more situations. For instance, Northrop Grumman was asked to engineer the B-2 in such a way that it could fly just as well at low altitudes as at high while still retaining its stealth advantage. This change took two years to complete. When calculated from initial conception to final production, each of the twenty one B-2s built cost approximately $1.157 billion. The aircraft was first released to the public on 22 November 1988.

Flown by a crew of 2, the 17 foot tall and 172 foot long plane is known for its ability to penetrate the most difficult defenses due to its low-observable characteristics. It is often used to attack the most heavily defended and most important targets. It has a range of around 7,000 miles, though this is easily extended with the assistance of in-flight refueling. This allows for the B-2 to stay in the air longer and thereby attack more targets. With its 40,000 pound payload capacity, the B-2 could feasibly attack between 16 and 80 targets, depending on the size of the bomb utilized.

The stealth features on the B-2 are created by a combination of technologies that give the aircraft reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual, and radar signals. These include its flying wing shape, composite materials, and special coatings - all of which remain classified. Even if it is detected, which is unlikely, these features make it very difficult to even track the aircraft. Such technologies require special care, however, and each B-2 requires its own climate-controlled hanger to protect the skin and coatings covering the aircraft.

Since its creation, the B-2 has been flown in three conflicts. The first of these was the 1999 Operation Allied Force, for which B-2 crews flew nonstop from Missouri to Kosovo and back for eight weeks. It has also been extensively used in Afghanistan and Iraq.

8:20 am  •  13 August 2009

The F-15E Strike Eagle was conceptualized in 1981, when the Air Force offered a contract for a new strike fighter that could operate independently and thereby not require the support of a fighter escort. In April 1988 the first model was delivered to the 405th Tactical Training Wing at Luke AFB, Arizona.

One of the more unique features of the Strike Eagle is its two-seat cockpit. The pilot retains the front seat while an added back seat is given to a Weapons Systems Officer (WSO). While the pilot has access to all of same information as the WSO, it is the WSO’s responsibility to keep track of any threats posed by the enemy as well as to control the air-to-ground missile system. This task includes selecting targets, navigation, and manning weapons. Occasionally, if a mission has been completed, the WSO will pilot the aircraft.

Of all the aircraft utilized by the U.S. Air Force, it is the F-15E that can carry the most weapons. Most of the air-to-ground weapons used by the Air Force can be carried by the Strike Eagle. For self-defense purposes, it can carry Sidewinders, Sparrows, and AMRAAMs. Should the need arise, it also is mounted with a 20 mm Gatling-style cannon.

Since its creation the F-15E Strike Eagle has been used in a number of military operations, the first being Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. There, while deployed to bases in Oman and Saudi Arabia, the aircraft were used mainly to attack SCUD missile sites within Iraq. The first (and as of the current time, only) air-to-air kill was claimed during the these Iraqi conflicts, when a F-15E shot down an Iraqi MI-24 helicopter. Following the end of the conflicts, it was the Strike Eagles which were tasked to enforcing the no-fly zones above Iraq. The F-15E has also been heavily used in the current conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

5:44 pm  •  11 August 2009

"It belongs to us to vindicate the honor of the human race, and teach that assuming brother moderation. Union will enable us to do it. Disunion will add another victim to his triumphs. Let Americans disdain to be the instruments of European greatness! Let the thirteen States, bound together in a strict and indissoluble Union, concur in erecting one great American system superior to the control of all transatlantic force or influence and able to dictate the terms of connection between the old and the new world!"

—

Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist (No. 11)

In this essay, entitled “The Utility Of The Union In Respect To Commercial Relations And A Navy,” Hamilton argues that one of the strongest reasons for the ratification of the drafted constitution is that it would allow for strong, cooperative commerce. This would provide competition for the European traders, a fact very much undesirable to them as American success would come at their own loss. The other nations’ concern, Hamilton also notes, was not solely about monetary matters either. A growing economy would signal increasing political power as well. Again, this would not be a welcome development for those in Europe. Hamilton asserts that in order to counteract this change - or at least blunt its effects - nations would compete with one another in order to gain favorable trade agreements with the United States. This guaranteed trading partner would further enhance the Union’s economy, though it all would only be possible through the creation of a strong central government over the states.

This commercial success, as enabled by the unification of the states, would then allow for the creation of a naval force. Hamilton anticipates this navy being of such strength that its alliance with any of the great European powers would shift the balance of power throughout the world. This, in turn, would allow for even further commercial gain for the Union: “…A situation so favorable would enable us to bargain with great advantage for commercial privileges. A price would be set not only upon our friendship, but upon our neutrality.” This, again, would only be possible through the existence of a strong central government. A loose alliance between the states would only lead to discord and weakness. Not even neutrality would be an option, as the European powers would simply manipulate the states at will should they lack unification and - consequently - strength.

10:00 am  •  9 August 2009

“Operation Restore Hope” was the U.S. code name for the mission of the multi-national task force created by the UN to carry out Security Council Resolution 794. The resolution recognized the “deteriorating of the humanitarian situation in Somalia” and acknowledged “the urgent need for the quick delivery for humanitarian assistance in the whole country.” Therefore, the United Task Force (UNITAF) was created and organized in the fall of 1992 by the United States with the cooperation of many countries - including the United Kingdom, France, Pakistan, Italy, Malaysia, Australia, and Canada - in order to deal with the clan violence that was interfering with famine relief efforts. It was granted by the UN authority to use whatever means necessary, even military force if required, to deliver aid.

On December 9, 1992 U.S. Marines came ashore at Mogadishu, where they there took control of facilities such as the airport so that they could set up the infrastructure needed to provide humanitarian relief. Somolia’s third largest city, the port city of Kismayo, was also seized, along with another airport in the city of Baidoa. Once there, the Task Force took charge of the security of supply routes, the protection of NGO workers and their convoys, and the detention of local citizens charged with crimes against the coalition or Somali citizens. They also conducted reconnaissance missions in order to gather information about hidden weapons caches, which were then seized. Over the next months, 30,000 American troops as well as 10,000 military personnel from the other nations participated in the operation.

By the following spring, the humanitarian situation within Somalia had been greatly improved. Mass starvation was no longer occurring and the issue of security had largely been brought under control. Despite this, however, the country lacked a functioning police force and a stable central government. To deal with this, in March of 1993 the UN passed Resolution 814, an agreement which transferred power from the UNITAF to a UN-controlled mission that would continue to provide humanitarian relief while simultaneously holding a mandate of nation-building.

On May 4, 1993, UNOSOM II assumed control. The following period is most well known for the Battle of Mogadishu, wherein U.S. forces fought for control of the capital against militias loyal to warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. After the battle the United States decided to  completely withdraw its forces from Somalia by March of 1994. In November of the same year, the Security Council voted to withdraw the remaining UN forces from the area as well.

Interestingly enough, the son of Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Hussein Mohamed Farrah Aidid, became president of the country following his father’s death. Hussein Aidid was a naturalized citizen of the United States and had been a member of the U.S. Marines. He served as a translator in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope.

9:42 am  •  7 August 2009

"Well, Hamid, at least I’m only ruining Kandahar. You’re ruining the whole country."

— Ahmed Wali, purported drug trafficker and half brother of Hamid Karzai, as quoted in this fascinating profile of Karzai.

8:41 am  •  7 August 2009