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Tragedy and Farce

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    Author: Thomas Brodey

    The Twilight of the Tank

    Today I’m here to share some good news (albeit with more charts than most good news you probably get). It often seems as though the world is… Read more “The Twilight of the Tank”

    April 15, 2023 by Thomas Brodey

    Tangled (2010) and the Premodern State’s Monopoly on Force

    Debates over private arms ownership may seem like a quintessentially modern issue, but states have struggled with the problem for millennia. The basic question is, how do… Read more “Tangled (2010) and the Premodern State’s Monopoly on Force”

    April 11, 2023 by Thomas Brodey

    History’s Most Overrated Fortifications

    Everybody knows about the Walls of Constantinople, often called the mightiest fortifications of the pre-gunpowder age. Famously, the walls saved the city, and thus the Byzantine Empire,… Read more “History’s Most Overrated Fortifications”

    March 26, 2023March 26, 2023 by Thomas Brodey

    Battleship Doctrine and the Dance of the Dragons

    George R. R. Martin’s Dance of the Dragons is an difficult war to understand because dragons are so unlike any other medieval military tool. However, if we… Read more “Battleship Doctrine and the Dance of the Dragons”

    February 24, 2023 by Thomas Brodey

    GRRM’s Worst World-Building Mistake

    This will be my least-read blog post.  In George R. R. Martin’s Fire and Blood, a history of the Targaryen dynasty, one little line always stuck out… Read more “GRRM’s Worst World-Building Mistake”

    February 4, 2023 by Thomas Brodey

    How Good of a Pilot is Darth Vader? Applications of Lanchester’s Laws 

    Who would win in a fight: five twenty-first century US Marines or fifty doughboys from the First World War? Would you rather face a hundred duck-sized horses… Read more “How Good of a Pilot is Darth Vader? Applications of Lanchester’s Laws “

    January 5, 2023February 4, 2023 by Thomas Brodey

    Mini-Take: Time Travel and Modern Technology

    For those of us not content with reading just about real history, the obscure genre of alternate history offers weird and often wildly creative takes on what… Read more “Mini-Take: Time Travel and Modern Technology”

    November 3, 2022November 3, 2022 by Thomas Brodey

    Misremembering the Western Front

    This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand… Read more “Misremembering the Western Front”

    October 12, 2022February 11, 2023 by Thomas Brodey

    Just War Theory and the Dance of the Dragons: Part II

    Last time, I discussed the morality of the actions taken by the Blacks and the Greens at the outbreak of the Dance of the Dragons, the fictional… Read more “Just War Theory and the Dance of the Dragons: Part II”

    August 16, 2022 by Thomas Brodey

    Just War Theory and the Dance of the Dragons: Part I

    Last year, I wrote an in-depth analysis of how the conflicts of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire relate to the principles of… Read more “Just War Theory and the Dance of the Dragons: Part I”

    August 14, 2022August 15, 2022 by Thomas Brodey

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