Mark Twain would argue with you, one of his characters went to Heaven and met the greatest military genius ever, and it turned out to be a Quaker who was born to early for one war and too late for the other, and never had to be military
I question if Alexander or Caesar could have risen to such heights without being part of the highest st…
Mark Twain would argue with you, one of his characters went to Heaven and met the greatest military genius ever, and it turned out to be a Quaker who was born to early for one war and too late for the other, and never had to be military
I question if Alexander or Caesar could have risen to such heights without being part of the highest strata of society, in a society devoted to war. Napoleon and Grant of course rose to the top from plebeian birth in something of a vacuum of talent, and that might break my claim that you need the man, the position in society and the society that can use them.
The opposite is true, of course, quite a number of incompetent aristos have brought about disaster to their commands, their armies and to their countries
Context matters, naturally. Talent avails little without opportunity, and Alexander and Caesar were born at the right time to make use of both. At the same time, to read their biographies and pretend that they did not leave a massive stamp on human history purely through the exercise of their wills is obtuse.
Mark Twain would argue with you, one of his characters went to Heaven and met the greatest military genius ever, and it turned out to be a Quaker who was born to early for one war and too late for the other, and never had to be military
I question if Alexander or Caesar could have risen to such heights without being part of the highest strata of society, in a society devoted to war. Napoleon and Grant of course rose to the top from plebeian birth in something of a vacuum of talent, and that might break my claim that you need the man, the position in society and the society that can use them.
The opposite is true, of course, quite a number of incompetent aristos have brought about disaster to their commands, their armies and to their countries
Context matters, naturally. Talent avails little without opportunity, and Alexander and Caesar were born at the right time to make use of both. At the same time, to read their biographies and pretend that they did not leave a massive stamp on human history purely through the exercise of their wills is obtuse.
Thank you, yes. I was focused on origin and cause, not effect.
Effect is very important, I forget that sometimes