Trivia - Stayin' Alive

Jul 3, 2021, 2:49 AM

On this date a young military officer had to suffer the embarrassment of surrendering his fort and explaining why to his superior. He had worked for his two older brothers earlier as a surveyor, but now, in his very first military command, he reacted a bit rashly, quickly got in over his head, and set off a spiral of events that led to a world war. Oops. That’s got to be a tough report to write for the boss.

But he learned. He was a pretty bad tactical commander and only won three battles in his whole military career...once against some drunks, once against some guys he caught by surprise, and ironically, once WITH the help of the guys he had previously surrendered his fort to.
The rest of his career he was either running for his life, trying to keep his army from disintegrating, or occasionally eeking out a meaningless draw.

But strategically, the one big lesson he did learn is that you don’t always need to win battles to win a war. Sometimes you can just win by being there. Bedraggled, raggamuffin, or even hanging on by a thread, sometimes just existing, refusing to get caught in a fight, and refusing to go away is good enough for victory.

Who was this most unusual military commander?

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Indeed, George's rashness against the French stirred up what would become the 7 years war in Europe, and the F&I war in America.

But as I mentioned he realized that fielding an army was the fastest way to get "cred" in the family of nations. If you can't field an army you are just viewed as rebellious rabble that will fade away. Of course, we almost did at Valley Forge anyhow, but it was the demonstration of organizational will and persistence, plus the fact that the Brits were occupied all over the world, that led the french (of all people) to loan us a few troops and more importantly a fleet for a few weeks.

That fleet helped bottle up Cornwallis at Yorktown and compel to Brits to say "cut em loose, they're not worth it. Our caribbean possessions are worth more to us than that whole continent."

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.480c5c5d79e8079ab4a8ad6b594a769d?rik=SaOKnri3xw5X7g&pid=ImgRaw

Trivia - Stayin' Alive

I'MA take two shots at this target.

FM was a strong choice but not sure he was alive then***

George Washington

Re: George Washington

Fencer and 85 take the day!

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