Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
I think the comparison is in the being bought by former rivals, not that Russia is comparable to the Persian Empire.
I think the comparison is in the being bought by former rivals, not that Russia is comparable to the Persian Empire.
The prestige provided by the military bravado actually was part and parcel of the reputation that allowed Sparta to continue as a dominant power in the Greek sphere so long. Unsurprisingly the propaganda worked.The key thing about Thermoplyai was post-invasion Sparta could use it as yet another piece of propaganda. "We stood and fought to the End at Thermoplyai. You think YOU are hard enough to fight US?". Basically it was chest-beating done to scare down a city state army that dared to fight them.
I mean, sure, THEIR dominance of Greece lasted longer than the Spartans, but they aren't Spartans, DAMN IT!
I think the comparison is in the being bought by former rivals, not that Russia is comparable to the Persian Empire.
That framing doesn't really capture the dynamic either. The Greek city states were small powers on the periphery of an Achaemenid empire an order of magnitude larger and richer, and both the Athenians and Spartans would solicit the aid of the western satraps during the Peloponnesian War, who eventually adopted a policy of divide and rule to prevent the rise of any regional power strong enough to encroach into Anatolia.
They decided to front ships and cash to build Sparta a fleet in the Peloponnesian War to weaken the Athenian empire (nee Delian League). This backfired horribly when the Spartans won, helped their backer the western satrap Cyrus in his unsuccessful bid for the throne, and then got real uppity about their own imperial ambitions in Ionia (partially to reclaim their own self-image as defenders of Greece). The western satraps then opened their purse strings to convince a coalition of Greek states unhappy with the status quo - Thebes, Corinth, Athens and Argos - to fight Sparta, and built Athens a new fleet with which to fight the previously Persian-built Spartan fleet. The Athenians smashed the Spartans, and immediately about-faced to try and rebuild their empire, so the Achaemenids splashed the cash again and built the Spartans another new fleet , and managed to wrangle out the King's Peace, a favourable settlement between all the combatants of the Corinthian War where everyone agreed to play nice and keep their grubby mitts off Ionia.
I too remember the woeful year when Tsar Putin funded a navy of missile boats for the Republic of Texas to use in her interminable wars with the Dominate of New York and her vassal-states.
The only way you could compare Russia to the Persian Empire at that time, is if you only look at Eastern Europe and had no interference from Western Europe, or America. So the situation is obviously not identical.That framing doesn't really capture the dynamic either. The Greek city states were small powers on the periphery of an Achaemenid empire an order of magnitude larger and richer, and both the Athenians and Spartans would solicit the aid of the western satraps during the Peloponnesian War, who eventually adopted a policy of divide and rule to prevent the rise of any regional power strong enough to encroach into Anatolia.
They decided to front ships and cash to build Sparta a fleet in the Peloponnesian War to weaken the Athenian empire (nee Delian League). This backfired horribly when the Spartans won, helped their backer the western satrap Cyrus in his unsuccessful bid for the throne, and then got real uppity about their own imperial ambitions in Ionia (partially to reclaim their own self-image as defenders of Greece). The western satraps then opened their purse strings to convince a coalition of Greek states unhappy with the status quo - Thebes, Corinth, Athens and Argos - to fight Sparta, and built Athens a new fleet with which to fight the previously Persian-built Spartan fleet. The Athenians smashed the Spartans, and immediately about-faced to try and rebuild their empire, so the Achaemenids splashed the cash again and built the Spartans another new fleet , and managed to wrangle out the King's Peace, a favourable settlement between all the combatants of the Corinthian War where everyone agreed to play nice and keep their grubby mitts off Ionia.
...oh, how I hate to live in that timeline.I too remember the woeful year when Tsar Putin funded a navy of missile boats for the Republic of Texas to use in her interminable wars with the Dominate of New York and her vassal-states.
Meanwhile, the New Californian Republic is finishing up the unification of the Pacific Coast under a rather decent President. And his Speaker is even more brilliant and even more popular individual.I too remember the woeful year when Tsar Putin funded a navy of missile boats for the Republic of Texas to use in her interminable wars with the Dominate of New York and her vassal-states.
...oh, how I hate to live in that timeline.
I may be forced to root for the Yankees at gunpoint!
The team I'm rooting for lives in the old-fashioned league know as the National League, so I really don't give a shit about the Red Soxs (except that we swept them a few days ago, so I'm delighted).Yankee hate is such a silly thing to indulge in when you live with the Modern Era Red Sox.
They're having a poor season this year. This makes me happy.
The team I'm rooting for lives in the old-fashioned league know as the National League, so I really don't give a shit about the Red Soxs (except that we swept them a few days ago, so I'm delighted).
But fuck the Yankees and fuck the Mets.
lolmetsThe Red Sox have won four World Series titles in the 21st century.
The Yankees have won one.
The Mets have won none.
Actually "Molon Labe" suddenly seems a lot less like a non sequitur now
Work for us, fight in our wars, die for us. And oh yeah we can't have any helot veterans running around knowing which end of the spear is which so we're just going to extralegally terrorize you until our paranoia is satisfied. Only the slaveowners of Lacedaemon are allowed to defend their rights to arms and to join the brotherhood of warriors, helots are just tools and have no such rights.