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It was coincidence. The Archduke was going to the hospital to visit the people wounded in the earlier bomb attack and his driver took a wrong turn right in front of Prinzip. Prinzip saw his opportunity and tool it. It was sheer bad luck that the car stopped where it did while the driver tried to turn it around.
I simply think it is arrogant in the extreme to think we can predict things that happen on geologic time-frames based on a little more than a century's worth of hard data. I also really wonder how accurate their tree ring and ice core measurements really are. We essentially have to take these guys (climate scientists and their ilk) at their word that they are in fact right and change much of what we do because of it with no prospect of ever knowing if they were really right in the first place. That is my biggest problem with the whole deal in a nutshell.
My wife's grandfather did not return from SIberia until 1953 and he was captured just after Stalingrad fell. There was a POW camp in Oklahoma about 50 miles from where I grew up that did not get emptied until early 1947. In fact, that town now has many Germans living there who returned to the area after there release and married locals.
A list obviously made by somebody who watches too much History channel.Let's see,
The Bone? You mean people were not using rocks before that, which are both harder and hold an edge better than bone weapons do.
- The Phalanx is not a weapon
- The Gladius changed nothing, Roman operational methods did though
- Longbow, so prior to the English using the Longbow bows were ineffective? Don't tell the Mongols and Parthians that.
- Gunpowder - Probably the only thing on the list i would agree with because effective gunpowder weapons changed the paradigm of combat.
- Rifled Barrel - not as big a change as you might think. Don't believe me, compare casualty rates per engagement between the Civil War and Napoleonic War and look at the great battlefield killer. Hint, in neither war was it small arms.
- Colt Revolver - Do I need to do anything but scoff at this notion?
- Belt Fed Machine Gun - I will admit that this weapon temporarily strengthened the defense until doctrine caught up with technology.
- Tanks did at least reintroduce mobility to the battlefield although gamechangers they were not.
- AK-47 - I laughed out loud when I saw this. So ubiquity makes it a game changer I guess? The weapon is simple to use and fairly rugged but the weapon does not make the soldier; training, discipline, and dedication do that.
- Atomic Bomb - did not change the game because everyone is afraid to use them. They are like the guy in a fistfight having a pistol in a holster that he won't use because everybody else will pull their guns out too.
- Drones - When they become fully autonomous come talk to me until then I only laugh. They only seem effective because they are used in areas where there is no effective air defense. If they try and use them somewhere with an effective ADA net watch them drop out of the sky like flies.
He would have to come out in the open extra-constitutional means to do so. I don't think he is quite there yet and am not sure if he will ever get there.
They were saying the same thing about Japan in the 80's and look where Japan is at now. I think if the US an get their governmental house in order China will not be a threat militarily or economically for much longer.
The more I watch world events, te more concerned I am that the Long Peace in the West post-WWII is about to come crashing to an end.
I would not be surprised to see a European war in the next decade or so. I can think of two potential sparks.1. A fiscal revolt by the PIIGS group and other southern tier countries against the fiscal tyranny of the Northern tier that escalates into violence. I consider this scenario more likely because I suspect the Northern tier countries, Germany specifically, will eventually cut off the bailout tap to the south rather than face fiscal ruin themselves. 2. A quasi civil war across Europe as the Muslim minority makes themselves felt and feels capable of intimidating concessions out of native European. We have already seen shadows of this in the Riots in France of a few years ago and the increasingly aggressive Muslim push for the construction of mosques and Islamic cultural centers. The Muslims, or at least Muslim leadership, have also gotten much more slick at playing the victim/race card and using Western civilization. I consider this to be less likely in the short term but a real long term threat. It is also likely to be bloodier when the showdown comes as I don't see most native Europeans calmly accepting the coming Dhimmitude.There are a few other possibilities as well and don't discount Russia as a destabilizing influence on the Eastern periphery of Europe. Either way, I have a gut feeling that the long European peace is shortly going to end. Heck, I have the feeling for the world as a whole. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are mere sideshow compared to what I think is coming.
As I understand it, Apartheid was the policy if the Afrikaaners of the Transvaal and not British inspired at all. I can't point you to any good sources though. The most studying about South Africa I have done concerns SA operations in Angola in the 70's and 80's and eve those are sparse since sources are sparse.
Speaking as someone who will probably be furloughed next week when MWR funds run out, I hope the Republicans keep it up until they extract some concessions from Democrats for once. I am perfectly willing to forfeit a couple month's salary to bring sanity back to government.
Oh, and what kind of school district invests $1 billion into iPads for learning and neglects to put in proper restrictions on how students can use them?
The kind of school district that thinks if you just throw enough money at schools the kids will start to learn.
Those divisions in Europe have worked out so well? Don't let 50 years of peace in Europe fool you, the only reason there has been relative peace in Europe since 1945 is first the Cold War and second the way European countries have let their militaries become ineffective under the shield of the US. That shield is going away and military budgets are quietly creeping up. Expect another European war within 10-15 years. Probably over something stupid too. I also fully expect the EU to fracture under the continuing pressure of the Euro crisis. A North-South split is coming in Europe with England staying out of both sides. Their is a reason right wing conservative parties are consistently gaining in elections. I expect the left to try and stop the right through the courts or laws since they cannot win at the ballot box much longer.I would also say that in the long run, the devastation and loss of life in the Civil War was worth it as the US has been better off united than we probably would have been if the split had become permanent.
