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Bismarck?s true genius was his mastery of Realpolitik, which he largely created. He was Realpolitik?s best practitioner. He knew exactly what position he wanted Prussia to be in and had the bureaucratic and diplomatic skills to achieve those goals. His Diplomacy for one was masterful. He managed to goad other countries into declaring wars that he wanted, which let Prussia play the aggrieved party while his army was busy trouncing their opponents. The pity is that his successors had neither his clarity of vision nor his diplomatic abilities. Bismarck created the modern German state and Wilhelm II and his weak Chancellors destroyed it.
I will be visiting there later this summer. Of all the battlefields in the States the two I have mosted wanted to visit were Shiloh and Gettysburg. I went to Shiloh last year and I am relly looking forward to going to Gettysburg. I am very curious to examine the terrain at Little Round Top and the Devil's Den.
Both brands of Orthodox Christians are a result of the first great Schism in the church having to do with the nature of God. Roman Catholics espouse the doctrine of the Trinity while the orthodox specifically refute the divinity of Jesus if I remember correctly. Anglicanism is directly related to Catholicism because the Pope refused to grant Henry VIII an anullment.
I wonder how they got so muddy. It must have been from a combination of heavy rains, lots of marching, and tanks/vehicles driving around. I wonder what it looks like today.
I had the good fortune of visiting the Ypres battlefield in 2004 when I was on R&R from Iraq. It is now very pleasant farmland and looks very similar to what it did in 1914. The battlefield there was so muddy because much of Flanders is land that was reclaimed from the sea like in Holland and protected by a system of dikes and canals. These works were destroyed in the fighting and since the water had nowhere to go it collected in shellholes and trenches making life miserable and movement nearly impossible after heavy shellfire. You have to keep in mind that much of the Ypres battlefield is either under sea level or only a few feet above it. If anybody wants them I think I have the pictures I took in '04 on digits and I would be happy to dig them up and send them, just e-mail me.
One has to cite the Industrial Revolution. The British started it and were very successful because they didn't have the strict import/export regulations that Napoleonic France did.
If you really look at the history of it, the French started the Industrial Revolution. It was an outgrowth of the Republican attempts to rationalize military production and supply the huge army created by the Levee en Masse. Paris in the 1790's was a huge workshop turning out all the equipment required for the army.As to Napoleon, the reason he inspired such loyalty is that he had both charisma and intelligence as well as a record of success. He could point to his past accomplishments and the glory he brought France. I would guess if America had produced a leader such as he, many would follow him too. Napoleon's problem is that he did not know when to quit.
