War

"Strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

"A game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books."

"‘With burnish’d brand and musketoon So gallantly you come, I read you for a bold Dragoon, That lists the tuck of drum.’"

"At dawn the drums of war were beat, Proclaiming, “Thus saith Mohtasim, ‘Let all my valiant horsemen meet, And every soldier bring with him A spotted steed.’” So rode they forth, A sight of marvel and of fear; Pied horses prancing fiercely north, Three lakhs—the cup borne in the rear!"

"Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" he said: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred."

"Halfway down the trail to Hell, In a shady meadow green Are the Souls of all dead Troopers camped, Near a good old-time canteen. And this eternal resting place Is known as Fiddlers’ Green.Marching past, straight through to Hell The Infantry are seen, Accompanied by the Engineers, Artillery and Marines, For none but the shades of Cavalrymen Dismount at Fiddlers’ Green."

"If you want to have a good time, jine the cavalry! Jine the cavalry! Jine the cavalry! If you want to catch the Devil, if you want to have fun, If you want to smell Hell, jine the cavalry!"

"Если хочешь быть красивым, поступи в гусары."

"[T]he cavalry will never be scrapped to make room for the tanks; in the course of time cavalry may be reduced as the supply of horses in this country diminishes. This greatly depends on the life of fox-hunting, for which the class of horse required in the cavalry is used."

"There is no freer man alive than a captain of cavalry in command of his own troop."

"Sultãn Muzaffar… started for Îdar. When he arrived in the town of Mahrãsã, he sent armies for destroying Îdar. The Rãjã of Îdar evacuated the fort and took refuge in the mountain of Bîjãnagar. The Sultãn, when he reached Îdar, found there ten Rajpûts ready to lay down their lives. He heaped barbarities on them and killed them. He did not leave even a trace of palaces, temples, gardens and trees…"

"When the blessed canopy had been fixed about a mile from the gate of Arangal, the tents around the fort were pitched together so closely that the head of a needle could not go between them… Orders were issued that every man should erect behind his own tent a kathgar, that is wooden defence. The trees were cut with axes and felled, notwithstanding their groans; and the Hindus, who worship trees, could not at that time come to the rescue of their idols, so that every cursed tree which was in that capital of idolatry was cut down to the roots…"

"Sikandar on entering the fort, fell down on his knees, and returned thanks to God, and celebrated his victory. The whole army was employed in plundering and the groves which spread shade for seven kos around Bayana were tom up from the roots'... the Sultan ordered the temples and idols to be demolished, and mosques to be constructed. After leaving Mian Makan and Mujahid Khan to protect the fort, he himself moved out on a plundering expedition into the surrounding country, where he butchered many people, took many prisoners, and devoted to utter destruction all the groves and habitations; and after gratifying and honouring himself by this exhibition of holy zeal he returned to his capital Bayana."

"“He started for the conquest of Mandalgadh on 26 Muharram, AH 861 (AD 24 December, 1456) after making full preparation… Reaching there the Sultãn issued orders that ‘trees should be uprooted, houses demolished and no trace should be left of human habitation’… A great victory was achieved on 1 Zilhijjã, AH 861 (AD 20 October, 1457). Sultãn Mahmûd offered thanks to Allãh in all humility. Next day, he entered the fort. He got the temples demolished and their materials used in the construction of a Jãmi‘ Masjid. He appointed there a qãzi, a muftî, a muhtasib, a khatîb and a mu‘zzin and established order in that place…”"

"On the other hand, the European authors of this article consider that they have a responsibility concerning the misdeeds of colonialism in Africa. Like Italy, Spain also resorted to a strategy of scorched earth in its colonies, including the use of poison gas."

"He (Sikandar) offered up suitable thanksgivings for his success, and the royal troops spoiled and plundered in all directions, rooting up all the trees of the gardens which shaded Dhulpur to the distance of seven kos."

"I very much lament for what has happened to the groves in Madhura. The coconut trees have all been cut and in their place are to be seen rows of iron spikes with human skulls dangling at the points."

"They pursued the enemy to the gates and set everything on fire. They burnt down all those gardens and groves. That paradise of idol-worshippers became like hell. The fire-worshippers of Bud were in alarm and flocked round their idols…"

"The Emperor, within a short time, reached Udaipur and destroyed the gate of Dehbari, the palaces of Rana and the temples of Udaipur. Apart from it, the trees of his gardens were also destroyed."

"The king seizes the Brahmanas, pollutes their caste and even takes their lives. If a conch-shell is heard to blow in any house, its owner is made to forfeit his wealth, caste and even life. The king plunders the houses of those who wear sacred threads on the shoulder and put scared marks on the forehead, and then binds them. He breaks the temples and uproots tulsi plants… The bathing in Ganga is prohibited and hundreds of scared asvattha and jack trees have been cut down."

"As we know, peace did not ensue after Minsk. In spite of the agreements, the military operations conducted in eastern Ukraine continued with variable intensity. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for their non-implementation. Why did the agreements fail? Now that nominal efforts are underway to discuss a possible peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, it’s important to understand the myriad ways in which the Minsk agreements were inadequate and improbable, so that lessons can be learned from its failures. Perhaps the biggest failure of all was context. As the saying goes, possession is nine-tenths of the law. Indeed, diplomacy can only go so far if one party maintains possession of a territory and the military force to hold it."

"The ongoing war in the Donbas region in southeastern Ukraine was supposed to stop when the Minsk agreements were signed in 2014 and 2015 by the members of the Trilateral Contact Group—consisting of Ukraine, Russia, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and representatives of the self-proclaimed republics. Indeed, even heads of state Angela Merkel, François Hollande, and Vladimir Putin gave the final version a high-profile public blessing."

"Mr. President, this council was convened today to discuss the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, a goal that we all share, despite Russia’s persistent violations. These agreements, which were negotiated in 2014 and 2015 and signed by Russia, remain the basis for the peace process to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine. This council’s primary responsibility – the very reason for its creation – is the preservation of peace and security. As we meet today, the most immediate threat to peace and security is Russia’s looming aggression against Ukraine."

"Russia signed the Minsk agreements in 2014 and 2015, and President Poroshenko and President-elect Zelenskyy have reaffirmed that these agreements are the best vehicle for ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine. It is unacceptable that Russia would take steps to stymie the peace process just four days after Ukraine’s presidential elections. We welcome President-elect Zelenskyy’s expressed commitment to implement the Minsk agreements and redouble efforts to support Ukrainian citizens living in territories controlled by Russia."

"The United States also condemns Russia’s decision to grant expedited Russian citizenship to Ukrainians living in the Russia-controlled Donbas. Through this highly provocative action, Russia is clearly intensifying its assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Mr. President, Donbas is Ukraine, and the people there are Ukrainian—regardless of which language they prefer to speak. Conferring citizenship en masse to the citizens of another state undermines and violates the principle of sovereignty. Russia’s actions subvert the principles on which the Minsk agreements are based: that the Donbas is an integral part of Ukraine and the Ukrainian government must reestablish its control over this territory."

"In 1943, the United States began research into the use of biological agents for offensive purposes. This work was started, interestingly enough, in response to a perceived German biological biological warfare (BW) threat as opposed to a Japanese one. The United States conducted this research at Camp Detrick (now Fort Detrick), which was a small National Guard airfield prior to that time, and produced agents at other sites until 1969, when President Nixon stopped all offensive biological and toxin weapon research and production by executive order."

"In 1940, with Europe into its second great war, the federal government leased the field for use in its Cadet Pilot Training Program. The Army erected the barracks and the large hangar, and poured concrete for an aircraft tie-down ramp, a taxiway, and sidewalks. That was the physical state of the place when on March 9, 1943, the Army Chemical Warfare Service took formal possession of Detrick Field, annexed some of the surrounding farmland for field trials, and renamed it Camp Detrick. Personnel started arriving in April. They were not pilots or even, for the most part, military men. They were civilian biologists whose task was to mass-produce germ weapons. Their first order of business was to fill the British production order for "three kilo dried X.""

"Blome's admirers at Camp Detrick could not protect him from indictment. Instead they concentrated on securing his acquittal. Blome put up a spirited defense."

"There were some episodes of infection, but they weren't all that bad. In any case, anything that did happen on the post was restricted to the post. Nobody got infected at Camp Detrick and started an epidemic outside in Frederick, Maryland. It was contained on the post. I mention this because all of the horrifying scenarios that have been written by molecular biologists and science fiction writers don't have to happen. Many of these proved methods and techniques of handling organisms and storing them, having access to them, were developed in Camp Detrick. These are still the criteria by which most people in pathogenic microbiology operate."

"Around the corner from Jahrling's office is a room known as the Secure Room, which is always kept locked. Inside it there is a stew phone, a secure fax machine, and several safes with combination locks. Inside the safes are sheets of paper in folders. The sheets contain formulas for biological weapons. Some of the weapons may be Soviet, some possibly may be Iraqi, and a number of the formulas are American and were developed at Fort Detrick in the nineteen sixties, before offensive bioweapons research in the United States was banned."

"Painstakingly, the germ-development program at Fort Detrick had tested prospective germ weapons on nearly a thousand American soldiers, in sealed chambers and the wilds of the Utah desert. Reaching beyond the military, it had exposed prisoners at the Ohio State Penitentiary, where volunteers were carefully monitored. Clandestinely, it also sprayed American cities with mild germs to investigate the likely impact of deadly pathogens."

"What never happened, despite universal fears that it might, was a full-scale war involving the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies. The leaders of these countries were probably no less belligerent than those who had resorted to war in the past, but their bellicosity lacked optimism: for the first time in history no one could be sure of winning, or even surviving, a great war. Like the barbed wire along the Hungarian border, war itself-—at least major wars fought between major states—had become a health hazard, and therefore an anachronism. The historical currents that produced this outcome are not difficult to discern. They included memories of casualties and costs in World War II, but these alone would not have ruled out future wars: comparable memories of World War I had failed to do so. J. Robert Oppenheimer hinted at a better explanation when he predicted in 1946 that "if there is another major war, atomic weapons will be used." The man who ran the program that built the bomb had the logic right, but the Cold War inverted it: what happened instead was that because nuclear weapons could be used in any new great power war, no such war took place. By the mid-1950s these lethal devices, together with the means of delivering them almost instantly anywhere, had placed all states at risk. As a consequence, one of the principal reasons for engaging in war in the past—the protection of one's own territory—no longer made sense. At the same time competition for territory, another traditional cause of war, was becoming less profitable than it once had been. What good did it do, in an age of total vulnerability, to acquire spheres of influence, fortified defense lines, and strategic choke-points? It says a lot about the diminishing value of such assets that the Soviet Union, even before it broke up, peacefully relinquished so many of them."

"The world of Mutual Assured Destruction did in its mad way maintain the peace between the superpowers, although it came desperately close to failing in a series of errors, false alarms and miscalculations, most spectacularly in 1962 and in 1983. The world was lucky to have survived. Very lucky."

"We simply don't know whether nuclear weapons have been effective as a deterrent...whether they are effective today or can be expected to be so in the future. Nuclear policy has for years been framed in ignorance of the facts most central to its justification."

"Nations possessing nuclear weapons threaten each other with “Mutually Assured Destruction”, which has the very appropriate acronym MAD. What does this mean? Does it mean that civilians are being protected? Not at all. Instead they are threatened with complete destruction. Civilians here play the role of hostages in the power games of their leaders."

"The threat of mutually assured destruction worked for the United States during the Cold War because it had proved its willingness to drop nuclear bombs on enemy cities at the end of World War II."

"The threat to retaliate massively in the event of a nuclear attack is not rationale...contrary to the usual wisdom, we have no good reason to believe that nuclear deterrence has worked in the past, or that if it has, it will continue to do so in the future...even if nuclear deterrence should be one hundred percent effective, it still increases the probability of nuclear war."

"There is only one way safely and legitimately to reduce the cost of national security, and that is to reduce the need for it. And this we're trying to do in negotiations with the Soviet Union. We're not just discussing limits on a further increase of nuclear weapons; we seek, instead, to reduce their number. We seek the total elimination one day of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth. Now for decades, we and the Soviets have lived under the threat of mutual assured destruction; if either resorted to the use of nuclear weapons, the other could retaliate and destroy the one who had started it. Is there either logic or morality in believing that if one side threatens to kill tens of millions of our people, our only recourse is to threaten killing tens of millions of theirs?"

"The fact is that the two major nuclear powers have not gone to war against each other—because, I believe, nuclear weapons are achieving their purpose as a deterrent that makes the prospect of war too horrific. It is noteworthy that, since the last world war, there have been 140 conventional wars, fought with ordinary weapons, which are themselves horrific, and that nuclear weapons have been a deterrent to war. I therefore believe that we should keep them."

"With thundering engines, Quick as lightning, Towards the enemy, Protected in the tank. Ahead of our comrades, In combat we stand alone, We stand alone. So we strike deep Into the enemy's ranks."

"The drone combat in Ukraine that is transforming modern warfare has begun taking a deadly toll on one of the most powerful symbols of American military might — the tank — and threatening to rewrite how it will be used in future conflicts."

"As explosive drones gain battlefield prominence, even the mighty U.S. Abrams tank is increasingly vulnerable."

"We remember the fields, where our tanks held the line We remember our brothers in arms"

"It is hard to exaggerate just how many tanks the drones are destroying. One exceptional Ukrainian FPV operator was recently decorated for destroying 42 Russian tanks and 82 other armored vehicles over a 5-month period. It would be hard to match these numbers with any other weapon; missiles like Javelin simply are not supplied in large enough quantities. But Ukraine aims to produce 1.5 million drones this year, enough for multiple FPVs not just to attack every tank but every Russian soldier. The Russians aim to produce a similar number."

"Losing a tank track is like having a bicycle chain break. It stops the vehicle from moving, but is fairly easy to repair. If spare track segments are available, the tank crew can replace it in an hour or so. This is impossible when you are under fire, but an armored recovery vehicle can tow the tank back to safety. Russian engineers have the BREM-1M T-90 recovery vehicle for exactly this job — but it has to get there before the demolition drones."

"Western tanks are not invulnerable either, and both U.S. Abrams and British Challenger 2 tanks have been lost to Russian FPV attacks. The Ukrainians have taken to adding extra layers of reactive armor to their Western tanks, but the Russian experience suggests this will not greatly improve them. The only way for tanks to survive currently is simply not to get within FPV range. Many reports indicate the Russians now have a no-tank zone stretching back six miles from the front line. “The heavy armor no longer comes close to the front,” one soldier told Ukrainian-American freelance journalist David Kirichenko last month. “They move on motorcycles and ATVs [all-terrain vehicles] now. I don’t remember the last time I saw an enemy tank.” Similarly, in April Ukraine reportedly withdrew its Abrams tanks from the front line in April due to the drone threat. There have been very few sightings of Western tanks during the Kursk offensive. The Russians will continue to bolt Mad Max armor to their tanks and send them forward, but at present armored advances are producing heavy casualties rather than gaining ground. The only way to survive is to stay back."

"Whether it storms or snows, Whether the sun smiles upon us, [Whether in] The day's scorching heat, Or the ice-cold of the night, Dusty are the faces, But joyful are our minds, Yes, our minds. Our tank roars there, Along in the storm winds."

"We call ourselves the "6th Panzer Army", because we've only got 6 Panzers left."

"Find the reporter, Trombley. If Little Miss Rolling Stone gets run over by an Iraqi tank, Ray's band won't make the cover."

"Der Motor des Panzers ist ebenso seine Waffe wie die Kanone."