DEFEATISM IS THE ONLY ENEMY | 2008-07-16
I have said before that as a teenager I read the official West Point history of Warfare. War Through the Ages, a number of times. It was a thousand pages long. It emphasized EXACTLY the point that the Greatest Generation ignored.
You see, the self-styled Greatest Generation wanted to show how TOUGH they were. To be frank, I have known a lot of people who fought on about every side and on every front in World War II, and every single non-American said Americans were the worst troops in it, save maybe the Italians.
Those who adopted War Through the Ages back then were not trying to prove how tough they were. They were pros and knew it.
War Through the Ages emphasized REAL morale. That is, the book described each battle in detail, but it had one theme: having the biggest army is the same as having good propaganda. Alexander the Great was routinely outnumbered umpteen to one AND THE ARMY THAT BROKE AND RAN BEOFRE HIM STILL OUTNUMBERED HIM UMPTEEN TO ONE.
Also, War Through the Ages did NOT say the members of the giant armies that broke and ran on so many battles were made up of wimps or novices. That is Greatest Generation crap.
So how did Alexander and Robert E. Lee and Napoleon get superior forces to fall apart in front of them?
There were about as many of the enemy when they ran away as when the battle began. There was ONE difference and one difference ONLY. The army that ran was CONVINCED IT HAD LOST.
That was ALL.
That is why "Power comes from the barrel of a gun!!!" is such a silly statement. In many a battle, the losing side came and ran with more gun barrels.
The ONLY job of the enemy, with or without guns, is to convince us we are defeated. Those who try to convince us we are defeated, by any means, anywhere, is the enemy.