Yeah, I’m removing this after someone else asked and I checked. I figured it was something small that was exaggerated, but I should’ve known it was too perfect.

FUBAR FUBAR FUBAR FUBAR

I mean, the thing is, artillery is generally pretty inaccurate up until a pretty late point. Even in the US Civil War, explosive shot was the exception, not the norm, and if you hit the unit you were aiming for, much less aiming for any particular rank or file, it was considered a good shot.

Famously, General Sedgewick exposed himself under artillery fire for a prolonged period, reassuring his men that the Confederate artillery couldn’t hit an elephant at the distance they were at.

… he was killed shortly thereafter, but by a hidden sharpshooter, not the artillery.

Flags in later combat were used for the same reason (and with the same notions of honor and dishonor from losing it) as Roman standards. The flagbearers were around to KEEP THE COLORS HIGH, both to encourage the troops and to give them something recognizable to follow in the chaos of the battlefield. Lost your way? Look for the standard waving at the front of your unit, and follow them forward!

The flagbearers of the US Civil War were separate from the signaling corps, who used different flags and had to run them up and down as needed.

tbf, artillery was pretty inaccurate - by the time it was accurate enough to hit single individuals, sharpshooters were the bigger problem.

But yeah, there’s a reason why flag-bearers have such ridiculous casualty rates. “HERE, SEE MY BRIGHT COLORS WAVING ABOVE MY HEAD? I’M WORTH BONUS POINTS”

One of my favorites is bands during the US Civil War playing polkas while under fire.

Explanation: Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, was a wildly successful military leader and reformer. After defeating the Neo-Babylonian Empire, he came across many exiled Jews, who had been held from their homeland by Babylonian captivity for several decades. In-line with his standing policy of religious tolerance and support for all faiths under his rule, he not only released the captive Jews from their exile, but also declared the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, which was core to pre-Rabbinic Judaism, and furthermore returned all the treasures looted by the Babylonians from Israel to the hands of the returning exiles and paid the cost of rebuilding the Temple from the Persian royal treasury.

For this reason, he is highly honored by biblical tradition, notably granted the title of ‘messiah’ (‘annointed one’), the only non-Jew so named by the Hebrew biblical authors, and is noted in Hebrew writings as a model of righteousness.

In addition, this was not simply a matter of favoritism, but of general policy - it was noted by the Greeks, whom were often threatened in later years by the Persian Empire, that Cyrus, exceptionally amongst conquerors, remained honored as ‘Father’ to many of the nations he conquered (or liberated, depending on your point of view) even long after his death.

Cyrus certainly pursued an expansionist foreign policy, but clearly he understood that it’s better to make friends of one’s subjects than enemies!

“Why isn’t fascist apologia allowed here???”

Sorry that I’m not some civility politics liberal like you twats are used to dragging your knuckles around.

That wealth is stolen from the periphery countries, who slave away for our quality of life.

Capitalism has to go, but the vast majority of the proletariat in developed countries see only pennies on the dollar in ‘gains’ from the proletariat in developing countries being exploited currently; and even the overall situation of lopsided wealth distribution is more the function of how long the exploitation has been going on for rather than the effect of current exploitation of the labor market.

Feeling a little peckish rn

Explanation From Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumans#Settlement_on_the_Hungarian_plain

In 1238, after Mongol attacks on Cumania, King Béla IV of Hungary offered refuge to the remainder of the Cuman people under their leader Khan Köten, who in turn vowed to convert his 40,000 families to Christianity. King Béla hoped to use the new subjects as auxiliary troops against the Mongols, who were already threatening Hungary. The Cumans were joined by the Iranian Jasz people, who had been living with the Cumans.[21]: 44  Batu Khan of the Mongols then ordered Bela to stop giving refuge to the Cumans and made a particular point that if attacked the Cumans could easily run away, for they were skilled horseman, but not so for the Hungarians, who were a sedentary nation and had no such luxury. Bela rejected this ultimatum.

Around December 1240, news came that the Mongols were advancing towards Hungary. King Bela then installed front line defenses at the Carpathian Mountains, after which he returned to Buda and called a council of war and ordered unity against the Mongols. The opposite happened, however, as many of the barons were hostile towards the Cumans. The Hungarian barons noted that there were Cumans in the Mongol armies, but they did not realize that this was because they were conscripted into it and had no say in the matter. In particular the barons did not trust Köten, despite the fact that the Mongols had attacked his people for nearly 20 years. This chaos pushed Bela into a corner; feeling he needed to show his strength and keep the rebellious barons on his side, he ordered Köten to be placed under house arrest. This did not placate the barons and had an opposite effect of erroneously seeming to admit that the King harboured doubts about Köten, too. This angered the Cumans, who were far from happy about the actions taken against them, and who had done nothing to invite such actions and hated the Mongols.

News arrived on 10 March that the Mongols had attacked the Hungarian defenses at the Carpathian passes. This prompted Bela to send a letter to Duke Frederick of Austria asking for help. Frederick had previously wanted Bela’s throne, but Bela responded by amassing a vast army and marching to the gates of Vienna, which forced Frederick to step back. On 14 March, news had arrived that the Carpathian defense forces were defeated by the Mongols. Ironically, given the suspicion of the Cumans, they were the only ones who seemed willing to fight the Mongols, the memory of the fate that had befallen them on the steppes still being fresh in their minds. By this time Bela had lost control of his army and many towns were destroyed. Soon thereafter Frederick arrived, and, wishing to harm the country’s defense (in revenge to Bela), he stirred up further feelings against the Cumans.

After crushing defeats and facing complete collapse, the Hungarians engaged in a suicidal betrayal of the Cumans, the people that had done the most in repelling the Mongols. Some of the barons went to Köten’s house with the intent of killing him as scapegoat or handing him over to the Mongols, possibly believing the Cuman–Kipchaks were Mongol spies. However, the barons had Köten assassinated in Pest on 17 March 1241.[93][c] When news of this outrage reached the Cuman camp there was an eruption of “Vesuvian intensity”. In revenge for this victimization they slaughtered a vast number of Hungarians.[11]: 117 [13]: 22  The Cumans then left for the Balkans and the Second Bulgarian Empire, going on a rampage of destruction through Hungary “equal to that which Europe had not experienced since the incursions of the Mongols”.[15]: 37 [94]

With this departure of its only ally and most efficient and reliable military force,[26]: 43 [95] Hungary was now further weakened to attack, and a month later it was destroyed by the Mongols.[15]: 186 [64]: 173  After the invasion, King Béla IV, now penniless and humiliated after the confiscation of his treasury and loss of three of his border areas, begged the Cumans to return to Hungary and help rebuild the country.[15] In return for their military service, Béla invited the Cumans to settle in areas of the Great Plain between the Danube and the Tisza rivers; this region had become almost uninhabited after the Mongol raids of 1241–1242.[96]

Explanation: During the ancien regime of the French Monarchy, the population was split into three groups for ‘representation’ - the first estate, consisting of the Catholic clergy who were not only tax-exempt, but ALSO empowered to tax the peasantry on their lands; the second estate, consisting of the nobility, also largely tax exempt; and the third estate, consisting of literally everyone else.

After a financial crisis caused by runaway spending on military adventures and luxuries for the royal family, the three estates were called together to approve new taxes to be levied on the French people - obviously, still exempting the priesthood and nobility!

The representatives of the Third Estate were not happy about this, and after some quarreling over representation (as the First and Second Estates could outvote the far-more-numerous Third Estate), they declared themselves the representative of the French people - the first step of the French Revolution which would eventually lead to the (literal) decapitation of the monarchy and its replacement by the First French Republic. Vive la France!

Explanation: Later in the Roman Empire’s existence, the center of political power moved away from Rome itself - and, subsequently, even the formal institutions of imperial power. Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul is the best known, but Ravenna in Italy and the travelling courts of the Emperors are also notable in this.

There was a strange and unique strength in treating a continents-spanning empire like the extension of a single city-state, both culturally and structurally - something that was lost with the increasingly dynastic and elite-cosmopolitan rule of the Late Empire.

Explanation: While, contrary to popular belief, Roman conquests were generally not particularly profitable for the Roman state, there are notable exceptions - one of them being the Emperor Trajan’s conquest of Dacia.

A bit of background - the Roman Empire raised the majority of its taxes in two forms - tariffs (including an internal tariff known as the portaria), and government monopolies. There are other taxes imposed for various reasons, but it’s estimated that upwards of 70% of the Empire’s revenues were raised by these two sources.

As such, conquering even wealthy lands would not necessarily result in profit for the central government… unless there was some resource that was easily controlled by a small number of bureaucrats. In Iudea, it was Balsam trees for perfume. In Dacia, it was gold! Precious metals mines were owned by the Empire, and either ran directly or rented out to private businesses, depending on the mine. When Trajan conquered Dacia, he not only enriched the men on campaign, but ensured that the treasury was full for the rest of his reign as well!

This little curiousity is a contributor as to why Emperors generally did not occupy defeated foes after most successful wars - it simply would not be profitable to bring the barbarians civilization!

Yeah. Their energy source is renewable.

If you believe the greens don’t have a shot in the UK you’ve not been looking at the polling. Both the major parties are polling atrociously while the greens are currently sitting in second.

Really? I’ve been unplugged from world politics in all but the most obvious events, because… well, living in a crumbling fascist society and all that jazz.

That news about the UK Greens is fantastic!

OP (and the instance itself) is Aussie. They have a Green Party with actual influence, including seats in the national legislature.

The peculiar form of fuckedness that mandates tactical voting in the US has to do with our political and voting system, which has resulted in only two viable parties nationwide, which is especially apparent in presidential elections (the only elections that are ACTUALLY nationwide).

It’s… not fucking great.

Otherwise, the only tactical voting I would say is necessary would be in mass coordination to deny the far-right a seat, or choosing a viable party over a nonviable one - ie the Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism Party might be based, but if it’s not viable, picking the Greens over Labour or the Liberals is the legitimate choice unless you’re really feeling a protest vote is important at that junction.

God I wish we had more than two parties here in the States. Being able to support a left-wing third party, however flawed, with a nonzero chance of electoral influence, like the Aussie Greens, would be a fucking godsend.

Gotta fuckin’ kill FPTP here. It’s killing us.

And fuck anyone who says that giving votes in the fucking legislature to a left-wing party is somehow sabotaging anti-conservative efforts. There may be a few circumstances where strategic voting is needed - but generally that’ll be coordinated on a large scale, like the massive effort in France to deny the far-right a legislative majority, not simply supporters of the less progressive party starting (metaphorical) brawls with supports of the more progressive one.

Literal monsters run a more functional society than our monsters.

.ml, lemmygrad, and Hexbear all enforce standards of atrocity apologia and denial.