Curious History & Facts About Warfare

You want to sell newspapers? Start a War.
1898: Press magnate William Randolf Heart, the Rupert Murdoch of his day, gave his New York Journal the edge in a newspaper circulation war with his rival World by launching a successful campaign for U.S. intervention in the Cuban struggle for independence, leading to the Spanish-American War. What's a little war to sell a few newspapers, eh?

Sparta on boosting morale:
Lycrugus of Sparta (c. 800 B.C.) encouraged gay sex for soldiers as a way of bonding. He wrote it into the Sparta constitution.

Trotsky's 'Blocking detachments':
During the Russian civil war (1918-1920) Leon Trotsky ordered troops for "blocking detachments" behind the front lines in order to shoot soldiers who attempted to retreat.

The past lives of General George S. Patton:

1. A prehistoric mammoth hunter
2. A Greek hoplite who fought the Persians
3. A soldier of Alexander the Great at the siege of Tyre
4. Hannibal
5. A Roman legionary under Julius Caesar
6. An English knight during the Hundred Years' War
7. A Napoleonic marshal

Patton uses the tough love approach:

"Hell, you are just a goddamned coward, you yellow son of a bitch. Shut up that goddamned crying. I won't have these brave men here who have been shot seeing a yellow bastard here crying. You're a disgrace to the army and you're going back to the front to fight, although that's too good for you. You ought to be lined up against a wall and shot. In fact, I ought to shoot you myself right now, goddamned you!" -- George S. Patton, who was notorious for slapping and punching shell-shocked soldiers as well as threatening them with his pistol

Gays in the Military:
(Commanders reputed to be homosexual or bisexual)

• Achilles
• Leonidas of Sparta
• Alexander the Great
• Julius Caesar
• Richard the Lionheart
• Saladin
• William of Orange
• Frederick the Great
• Lawrence of Arabia

U.S. Navy Seal Training Program:

FIRST PHASE (Basic Conditioning), 8 weeks:  Begins with four-mile timed runs in boots, timed obstacle courses, and two-mile ocean swims. The  fourth week is known as "Hell Week," in which recruits undergo five and a half days of continuous running, swimming, boat drills, and lifting 500-pound logs, with no more than four hours' sleep in total. The ordeal commenses just before midnight with an instructor waking trainees with machine-gun fire. The remaining four weeks are spent in the classroom.

SECOND PHASE (Diving), 8 weeks: Qualifies recruits as basic combat simmers.

THIRD PHASE (Land Warfare), 9 weeks: Trains candidates in weapons, demolition, and small unit tactics. Physical training becomes more strenuousas run distances increase and the passing times are lowered for the runs, swims, and obstacle course. The final three and a half weeks are spent on San Clemente Island, where recruits apply all the techniques they have learned.

Did you know:

• Mexico's Special Forces are called Zorros.
• Edgar Allen Poe was a West Point dropout.
• In 1991, it was more than 4X more likely that you'd die fishing (1 in 714) than in the first Persian Gulf War (1 in 3,162). (Assuming you're American, of course)