The Lamb by Cult Of Youth9/1/2023 ![]() ![]() Killing prisoners is a terrible and wicked act. BUCHAN TELFER (tr.), THE BONDAGE AND TRAVELS OF JOHANN SCHILTBERGER (London 1879), p. Then they took my companions and cut off their heads, and when it came to my turn, the king’s son saw me and ordered that I should be left alive, and I was taken to the other boys, because none under XX years of age were killed, and I was scarcely sixteen years old. Then each was ordered to kill his own prisoners, and for those who did not wish to do so the king appointed others in their place. Then he selected twelve lords, his own countrymen, also Stephen Synüher and the lord Hannsen of Bodem. When the Duke of Burgony saw his anger, he asked him to spare the lives of several he would name this was granted by the king. When the prisoners were brought before the king (Bayezid), he took the Duke of Burgony that he might see his vengeance because of his people that had been killed. I was one of three bound with the same cord, and was taken by him who had captured us. So they came the next day, each with as many prisoners as he had made, bound with a cord. Sultan Bayezid discovered that before the battle, the crusaders had killed all their prisoners: Johann Schiltberger has a terrible story of what happened after the crusaders were defeated at Nicopolis. They think that as a rule of thumb men should not have to fight after an age between 45 and 60, but they are not absolute and do not think that is too old for a general. When soldiers before the 19th century speak to me, they don’t think teenagers are ready for serious combat, and they don’t think generals get mouldy when they turn 50. ![]() And Timur destroyed Sultan Bayezid’s army in 1402 at the age of 66 and was on his way to invade China when he died three years later. I would haue none elected vnlesse they were of so great growth, & corporall disposition, as that they were able to perform the duties & effects of souldiors, which verie fewe at that age can.” Polybius’ Romans and Thucydides’ Athenians relegated eighteen-year-old soldiers to easy duty such as skirmishing and guarding fortifications. Sir John Smythe says that all ancient and modern nations agree that soldiers should be at least 18 years old, but he thinks that might be too young: “of the age of. Oh call me back, call me back… Al Stewart, “Old Admirals” Īnd yet when I ask soldiers who died before the year 1800, they have a completely different attitude. (It might have been this TED talk by Thomas Barnett but I don’t have energy to re-watch it). An American speaker calling for a reform of the relationship between their regular army and National Guard wanted the former to be “young” and focus on warfighting, while the older National Guard soldiers could focus on rebuilding and garrison duty. My colleague Jolene McLeod has listed the modern authors who insist that Plutarch cannot be correct that Eumenes’ Silver Shields were all 60 years and older when they marched up to Antigonus’ phalanx and stabbed it to pieces in a few moments of blood and horror ( Life of Eumenes 16.4). A friend joined the Canadian Army Reserve at 17 and was carrying a rifle in Kandahar a year or two later, and when Martin van Creveld wants to show how Prussian supply officers were inadequate in 1848, he accuses them of being aged from 55 to 69 ( Supplying War p. Reading Sir John Smythe and Harold Lamb and Martin van Creveld, I was struck by the fact that sometime in the 19th or 20th century, armies began to fetishize youth. ![]()
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