LOL. It was Indians, mate, who watered down all that expensively taxed tea belonging to George number 3. Didn't you see all the disguises, er...I mean buckskins, feathers and warpaint?
IMHO Mr. Keegan is a superb author and historian. I have read his "The Face of Battle" many times. If men were not so deadly to each other at times we surely would make the halls of Valhalla ring with laughter at our folly and utter stupidity.
I have seen those tribes of which you speak in action on TV and in some ways it does seem a more "civilized" way of waging battle. If battles must be fought at all.
So I think was the "our flaming champion meets your flaming champion" idea that gained much favor for a time. Two men, the best each warring side could muster fought to the death to determine the ultimate outcome of the whole conflict. It saved lives, gallons of blood, sweat and much R&D on weapons development expense.
Then one day someone cupped his tender hands over his pursed lips, tongue firmly in cheek and with fingers crossed, shouted from the safety of their battlements, "our big guy can thoroughly trounce your big guy". The other side shouted back a clever retort like " Oh, yeah,right then."
Shortly after that formal "throwing down of the gauntlet" ceremony a single combat was fought between two champions and to the death. All hell broke loose even before the dead guy could be placed six feet under because the losing side brashly reneged on the outcome. So much for "civilized warfare".
Chess is said to have been developed to replace real battle. Can you even imagine an older Bobby Fisher and a youngish Gary Kasparov facing off to decide the end of the cold war? How about Kasparov in a serious rematch against IBM's "Big Blue" chess computer. Now that would be a new twist.
------------------ "Blessed are they who expect nothing. For they will not be disappointed." - Edmund Qwenn, "The Trouble with Harry"
[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 02-03-2002).]
[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 02-03-2002).]
