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You are far too kind to the US military. Afghanistan was too tough a nut for the British long before the Americans showed up. Pastoralist herders with a country

You are far too kind to the US military. Afghanistan was too tough a nut for the British long before the Americans showed up. Pastoralist herders with a country that’s mostly mountain is practically perfect for making ungovernable people. See the Caucasus, Balkans and upland Indochina for further examples. All the more so when they were swimming with guns already.

specialist 6y ago
Not being a smart ass: Ditto Switzerland? IIRC, Hitler didn't invade for similar reasons. A well armed citizenry. (And a convenient fence for all the spoils of war.) Historically, was Switzerland it's own thing? Did Napoleon, the Hapsburgs, misc Papacies, Franks and Normans, etc, march around those mountains?
- iguy 6y ago
  Would be interesting to know more, but as far as I know Switzerland (or the area) was never especially like this. I mean it was always mountainous, obviously, but the people were not so different from their neighbors. Cheese-makers who worried about having enough hay for the winter, not cattle-rustlers. The obvious west-european example would be Scotland. And the "solution" was more or less to deport the people to Ireland & replace them with sheep.
  - Wildgoose 6y ago
    I think it was the people of the ungovernable borderlands between England and Scotland (both sides) that ended up being deported to Northern Ireland, (and of course the Scots originally came from Northern Ireland anyway). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debatable_Lands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debatable_Lands
- vondur 6y ago
  The Hapsburgs indeed tried to take over Switzerland. It didn’t go well. The Holy Roman Empire copied the tactics of the Swiss and incorporated it into the Landsknechts of Germany.
- adamjb 6y ago
  Napoleonic forces invaded Switzerland and established a client state. Napoleon and 40,000 men quite famously crossed the Alps from Switzerland (base camp at Martigny) as part of the Italian campaign in 1800, as depicted in [0] and [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaparte_Crossing_the_Alps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaparte_Crossing_the_Alps
disown 6y ago
It has more to do with ethnic divisions within afghanistan and being near major powers russia, china, india, iran, etc and now the US. Japan is mountainous but eminently governable.

specialist 6y ago

Not being a smart ass: Ditto Switzerland? IIRC, Hitler didn't invade for similar reasons. A well armed citizenry. (And a convenient fence for all the spoils of war.) Historically, was Switzerland it's own thing? Did Napoleon, the Hapsburgs, misc Papacies, Franks and Normans, etc, march around those mountains?

iguy 6y ago
Would be interesting to know more, but as far as I know Switzerland (or the area) was never especially like this. I mean it was always mountainous, obviously, but the people were not so different from their neighbors. Cheese-makers who worried about having enough hay for the winter, not cattle-rustlers. The obvious west-european example would be Scotland. And the "solution" was more or less to deport the people to Ireland & replace them with sheep.
- Wildgoose 6y ago
  I think it was the people of the ungovernable borderlands between England and Scotland (both sides) that ended up being deported to Northern Ireland, (and of course the Scots originally came from Northern Ireland anyway). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debatable_Lands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debatable_Lands
vondur 6y ago
The Hapsburgs indeed tried to take over Switzerland. It didn’t go well. The Holy Roman Empire copied the tactics of the Swiss and incorporated it into the Landsknechts of Germany.
adamjb 6y ago
Napoleonic forces invaded Switzerland and established a client state. Napoleon and 40,000 men quite famously crossed the Alps from Switzerland (base camp at Martigny) as part of the Italian campaign in 1800, as depicted in [0] and [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaparte_Crossing_the_Alps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaparte_Crossing_the_Alps

disown 6y ago

It has more to do with ethnic divisions within afghanistan and being near major powers russia, china, india, iran, etc and now the US. Japan is mountainous but eminently governable.