Hey remember when the US gassed Vietnam with Agent Orange?
One thing that I think doesn't get discussed that much is that military aid from NATO allies is great and all but providing tanks to Ukraine (for example) on the face of it, sounds pretty swell but unless troops are trained to operate that particular tank then they will be unable to be efficient and coordinated on the battlefield.
This varies depending on what is being provided. Obviously, for a gun, there's less of a learning curve than a missile battery or a helicopter which is of a significantly different design to what the Ukrainian military is experienced in operating in the theatre of war.
But there's a narrative that has developed in the mainstream audience in the west that you just plop down some additional tanks or what have you and it'll just *work*. But this is war, not some strategy game, and the average person doesn't seem to have any grasp of the realities on the ground.
Volkssturm tactics have been used by Ukraine since day one. They don't give a good goddamn if the "tank crew" can do their job or not.
Probably a bit premature, nevertheless:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64855760
There are no mines, it's all just shovels. The Ukrainian forces step on the shovels and get hit in the face. Russian shovel technology is too advanced for NATOists to overcome.
The russians don't have hypersonic missiles, they're just really good at throwing shovels super hard and super far and super fast
The 300 Spartans were also better trained. Still got merxied by Xerxes.
The longevity of this propaganda is truly astonishing, and it's not surprising that a group of people as fucked as the Spartans are such a well-known reference point of supposed heroism in the West's increasingly fascistic culture.
There is no actual historical evidence that the Spartans were militarily superior to anyone else. They were militarily insignificant by the time the actual myth about them had emerged after the war against Persia through their propaganda. For instance their military capacities would later be laughable compared to the Macedonians, let alone the Romans. But the time of the Roman invasion of Greece they became little more than a tourist attraction. As someone else here has noted, they would soon be out-classed by Thebes and their notable general Epaminondas. The Thebans were also notable during this period for their elite warriors made up 150 pairs of lovers: The Sacred Band. The Thebans would later be outclassed by the Macedonians.
Beyond not being better fighters - which doesn't matter on the individual level really because what actually matters isn't how fancy you can swing a sword but things like discipline, organization, morale, stamina, courage, etc., training, etc (another reason why the idea that GoT is realistic is laughable to say the least) - Sparta didn't show any real tradition of tactical or strategic brilliance.
Actually, Thermopylae was a disproof of the Spartan strategy that they should try oppose the Persians on land and then hold the Isthmus. But the Spartans then tried to insist that they should try that AGAIN, opposing them similarly along the Pelopponese. The Athenians knew that this was wrong, and that they could far better face them at sea and by retreating from the mainland. The Athenians actually had to trick the Spartans into following their plan, hence the battle at Salamis.
Honestly the Spartans contributed little if anything to human culture.
Also reminder that the the Spartan elite would annually declare war on their own helots every autumn, giving them the right to ritually murder them at whim, and this was probably a right of passage for the young men.
Just crawl on your belly over the mines and they'll be added to your inventory
"While you studied western tactics and equipment, I studied the mine."
the_dunk_tank
It's the dunk tank.
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