4 ms·

Regarding war before the 20th century, Total war[1] was an exception. The plan for European civilians since antiquity was basically life as usual, war was a mat

Regarding war before the 20th century, Total war[1] was an exception. The plan for European civilians since antiquity was basically life as usual, war was a matter of political power and resources, farms weren't burned and population killed since they were the goal of the war in the first place. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_war https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_war

TheAdamAndChe 7y ago
Everyone here is raised learning the history of USA, overthrowing a tyrannical empire and creating our own democracy. We're taught that the Constitution was designed with inherant distrust and selfishness of politicians in mind. Many of us in non-urban areas grew up in areas with police response times greater than 20 minutes. All this and more combines into a self-reliant culture somewhat distrustful of the government that makes us ready to protect ourselves and our families. When considering this culture and context, guns and ammo during times of stress makes more sense.
nl 7y ago
The plan for European civilians since antiquity was basically life as usual, war was a matter of political power and resources, farms weren't burned and population killed since they were the goal of the war in the first place. Total war may have been the exception, but farms and cities both suffered enormously during pre-20th century European warfare. Indeed the page you linked gave a bunch of examples of total destruction prior to the 20th century. Outside those examples, most warfare then relied on looting farms for supplies (including seed crops)[1]. Indeed there was a whole technique of warfare called Chevauchée which relied on this before the 14th century: A chevauchée [..] was a raiding method of medieval warfare for weakening the enemy, primarily by burning and pillaging enemy territory in order to reduce the productivity of a region, as opposed to siege warfare or wars of conquest... The chevauchée has gained recognition for its use during the Hundred Years' War between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France. It was not a new tactic and had been used many times before; for example, William the Conqueror had used the tactic before the Battle of Hastings to encourage Harold to engage in a battle.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_warfare#Supplies_and_logistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_warfare#Supplies_and_... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevauchée https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevauchée

TheAdamAndChe 7y ago

Everyone here is raised learning the history of USA, overthrowing a tyrannical empire and creating our own democracy. We're taught that the Constitution was designed with inherant distrust and selfishness of politicians in mind. Many of us in non-urban areas grew up in areas with police response times greater than 20 minutes. All this and more combines into a self-reliant culture somewhat distrustful of the government that makes us ready to protect ourselves and our families. When considering this culture and context, guns and ammo during times of stress makes more sense.

nl 7y ago

The plan for European civilians since antiquity was basically life as usual, war was a matter of political power and resources, farms weren't burned and population killed since they were the goal of the war in the first place. Total war may have been the exception, but farms and cities both suffered enormously during pre-20th century European warfare. Indeed the page you linked gave a bunch of examples of total destruction prior to the 20th century. Outside those examples, most warfare then relied on looting farms for supplies (including seed crops)[1]. Indeed there was a whole technique of warfare called Chevauchée which relied on this before the 14th century: A chevauchée [..] was a raiding method of medieval warfare for weakening the enemy, primarily by burning and pillaging enemy territory in order to reduce the productivity of a region, as opposed to siege warfare or wars of conquest... The chevauchée has gained recognition for its use during the Hundred Years' War between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France. It was not a new tactic and had been used many times before; for example, William the Conqueror had used the tactic before the Battle of Hastings to encourage Harold to engage in a battle.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_warfare#Supplies_and_logistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_warfare#Supplies_and_... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevauchée https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevauchée