User:A D Monroe III

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[edit] Me

Number of Edits Date
1 December 19, 2004
100 January 8, 2005
250 February 5, 2005
500 March 5, 2005
1000 July 15, 2005
2500 TBD

Hi. I'm an average (a few edits per day) Wikipedian.

I unwillingly contribute to the lack of cultural diversity of typical Wikipedians, except that I'm way older than most.

My profession is disk storage and software. My primary hobby is military history, specializing in how militaries change through history. My pet peeve is how little technology has to do with this, despite what most professional historians have to say about this. My secondary hobbies are games, science fiction, anthropology, technical writing and writing in general.

[edit] Useful Links

But, is it art?
But, is it art?

[edit] To do

[edit] Quotations

Here are my favorite quotations on military history:

Lo, the enemy had stationed them in battle array, concealed northwest of the city of Kadesh. They came forth from the southern side of Kadesh, and they cut through the division of Re in its middle, while they were marching without knowing and without being drawn up for battle...

Egyptian Account of the Battle of Kadesh, c. 1295 BC

Either bring this back or be brought back upon it.

Traditional Spartan mother's words to her son on giving him his shield, c. 800 BC

We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.

Archilochus, Greek Soldier, Poet, c. 650 BC

To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away.

Confucius, Chinese Sage, c. 551--479 BC

Mardonios ... sent the cavalry to attack the Hellenes: and when the horsemen had ridden to attack them, they did damage to the whole army of the Hellenes by hurling javelins against them and shooting with bows, being mounted archers and hard therefore to fight against.

Herodotus, Greek Historian, c. 440 BC

Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War, c.400--320 BC

I do not fear an army of lions, if they are led by a lamb. I do fear an army of sheep, if they are led by a lion.

Alexander the Great, 356--323 BC

In battle, it is the cowards who run the most risk; bravery is a rampart of defense.

Gaius Sallustius Crispus, Roman Historian, c. 86--34 BC

Him when he spied from far, the Tuscan king Laid by the lance, and took him to the sling, Thrice whirl'd the thong around his head, and threw: The heated lead half melted as it flew; It pierc'd his hollow temples and his brain; The youth came tumbling down, and spurn'd the plain.

Vergil, Roman Poet, The Aeneid, c. 19 BC

Their drills are bloodless battles, and their battles bloody drills.

Flavius Josephus, Jewish Historian, AD 37--101, on the Roman military

The courage of the soldier is heightened by the knowledge of his profession.

Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Roman Author, Epitoma rei militaris, c AD 390

The shield-wall they split, hewing the war-wood with hammered iron ...There lay many a man by spears destroyed; Northern men, shot over shield, likewise Scottish also, weary, war sated. The West-Saxons advanced, all day long; in troops they pursued the hostile people. They hewed the fugitive from behind grievously...

Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, AD 937

William de Braose also testifies that one of his soldiers, in a conflict with the Welsh, was wounded by an arrow, which passed through his thigh and the armor with which it was cased on both sides, and, through that part of the saddle which is called the alva, mortally wounded the horse.

Archdeacon Giraldus Cambrensis, Welsh Historian, 1175--1204

Then the bond-army pushed on from all quarters. They who stood in front hewed down with their swords; they who stood next thrust with their spears; and they who stood hindmost shot arrows, cast spears, or threw stones, hand-axes, or sharp stakes.

Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic Poet, Historian, on the Battle of Stiklestad, Saga of Olaf Haraldson, c. 1225

Gentlemen of the French guard, fire first.

Irregulars
Irregulars
Lord Charles Hay, Colonel, British Army, at the Battle of Fontenoy, 1745

Sir, we never fire first; please to fire yourselves.

Comte d’Auteroches, French Army, reply to above

Dead as Chelsea, by God!

Unknown British Grenadier at that same battle, on having his leg carried away by a cannonball

It is not the big armies that win battles -- it is the good ones.

Maurice, comte de Saxe, Marshal, French Army, 1696--1750

If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one would remain in the ranks.

Frederick the Great, King and General, Prussian Army, 1712--1786

Where a goat can go, a man can go, where a man can go, he can drag a gun.

Colonel William Phillips, British Army, 1731--1781

You damned cowards, halt and fight! There is more danger in running than in fighting, and if you don't stop and fight, you will all be killed!

Lieutenant Joseph Hughes, South Carolina Militia, Battle of Cowpens, 1781

Cavalry is useful before, during, and after the battle.

Napoleon I, Emperor of France, 1769--1821

The valley was filled with an impenetrable smoke and nothing could be seen but the fire belching from the guns. Loud above all was the exultant, fiendlike yell of the Confederate soldiers.

Private Thomas Southwick, US Army, on the Battle of Gaines' Mill, June 1862

We were lavish of blood in those days, and it was thought to be a great thing to charge a battery of artillery or an earthwork lined with infantry.

General Daniel Harvey Hill, CS Army, on the Seven Days Battles, June--July 1862

Come on boys! Give them the cold steel! Who will follow me?

General Lewis Armistead, CS Army, 1817-1863, final moments of Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg

There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.

General William T. Sherman, US Army, 1820--1891

Well, I got there first with the most men.

General Nathan Bedford Forrest, CS Army, 1821--1877

On came the savages, filling the air with their terrible yells.

General George Armstrong Custer, US Army, 1839--1876

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Count Helmuth Graf von Moltke, Prussian Army, Chief of General Staff, 1800--1891

Forty years after a battle it is easy for a noncombatant to reason about how it ought to have been fought. It is another thing personally and under fire to have to direct the fighting while involved in the obscuring smoke of it.

Herman Melville, US Navy, Author, 1819--1891

Military history, when superficially studied, will furnish arguments in support of any theory.

General Paul Bronsart von Schellendorf, Prussian Army, 1832--1891

The concentration of troops can be done fast and easy, on paper.

Field Marshal Radomir Putnik, Serbian army, 1847--1917

A battle won is a battle that we will not acknowledge to be lost.

Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French Army, 1851--1929

I heard the whistle of the Lieutenant, who was now in command, sound the retreat. The few who were left of our company turned and went back through the marsh as fast as they could go, and I knew it was certain death to remain, so I came back, leaving the Captain hanging on the wire.

Unknown Russian Private, 1915

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, US Army, 1890--1969

Few men are killed by the bayonet; many are scared by it. Bayonets should be fixed when the firefight starts.

General George S. Patton Jr., US Army, 1885--1945

I can't ever remember being young in my life.

Lieutenant Audie Murphy, US Army, 1924--1971

The creepy thing about battle is you always feel alone.

Samuel Fuller, US Army, Screenwriter, 1911--1997

[edit] Legal Stuff

Multi-licensed into the public domain
I agree to multi-license my eligible text contributions, unless otherwise stated, under the GFDL and into the public domain. Please be aware that other contributors might not do the same, so if you want to use my contributions in the public domain, please check the multi-licensing guide.

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