T. E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the memoir of a British junior officer during the Allied campaign against the Turks during the First World War. A remarkable work that remains germane in the current operating environment, Seven Pillars was not the book that Lawrence intended to write upon embarking on his adventures in southwest Asia. He had drafted a book on seven great cities of the Middle East but lost his initial text prior to completion. As a tribute to this work Lawrence maintained the title, which he derived from the Bible, Proverbs 9:1, “Wisdom hath builded a house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars” although not relevant to his seminal writing. Lawrence captures many essential aspects of war. He depicts war as brief …show more content…
Although untrained for his role in the Arab Revolt, Lawrence demonstrates a firm grasp of Clausewitzian principles and their presence in the campaign. Writing while directed to bed rest, Lawrence develops his text’s arguably most significant chapter. In it he cautions strategists from thinking in a linear manner while contending that one must holistically view the environment if one is to succeed in shaping it. Lawrence describes this approach as the “Algebraical element of things, a Biological element of lives, and the Psychological element of ideas”. He asserts that viewing events through an algebraic lens enables him to encounter, “known variables, fixed conditions, space and time, inorganic things… with mankind in type-masses too great for individual variety with all artificial aids and the extensions given our faculties by mechanical invention.” His ability to comprehend his tactical means as a mathematical component of the strategic ends enabled fluidity and tempo in Arab action while generating frustration in his enemy.
Lawrence interprets Maneuver Warfare by likening armies to firm-rooted plants while the Arabs were, “a vapour, blowing where we listed.” He advocated his forces be, “an influence, an idea, a think intangible, invulverable, without front or back, drifting about like a gas”. Countering the conventional wisdom of the time Lawrence viewed
Friar Lawrence was responsible for the demise of Romeo and Juliet. Firstly because, he married Romeo and Juliet way too quickly. Romeo was in love with Rosaline hours before he fell in love with Juliet and Friar Lawrence knew this. He told Romeo, ““Thy love did read by rote, that could not spell.../In one respect I’ll thy assistant be:/For this alliance may so happy prove/To turn your households’ rancour to pure love” (2.3. 88-92). In this quote, Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that he does not truly understand love because he went from loving Rosaline to loving Juliet so quickly, however, he still agrees to marry them. Friar Lawrence had no reason to act rash like Romeo and Juliet did. His only reason to marry Romeo and Juliet was to end the feud.
In his writing, he stated that war is intrinsically vast, communal (or political) and violent. It is an actual, widespread and deliberate armed conflict between political communities, motivated by a sharp disagreement over governance” (p.135)
The concept of war as a static and unchanging occurrence is an outdated and dangerous miscalculation. More accurately, war is a fluidic, evolving and shifting phenomenon constantly reinventing itself, rendering stagnant, inflexible principles potentially disastrous. Consequently, as students of war and future players in this transforming theatre, the study of eras of significant development is an extremely relevant pursuit. Recognizing the need for adaptation and the creation of doctrine is now a prerequisite for any effective modern commander. War is unpredictable in nature and particularly so in current theatres of operation, in which change is rapid
Friar Lawrence, murder, a man foiled by fate, or just not that smart? In Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, there was a Friar which Romeo and Juliet went to for most of their problems regarding their love. This Friar is a philosophical man and extremely knowledgeable with plants. He marries Romeo and Juliet without their parents blessing or constant, makes a plan for Romeo after he is banished, and makes an elaborate plan for Juliet not to marry County Paris but runaway with Romeo. As people can see he tries to help.
Even though he was not actually on stage for most of the play, he was the most important character in the play. There was basically three major parts that lead to the tragedy; marriage, the plan and the deaths. In all three of these parts Friar Lawrence played a vital role. His attempts to make the marriage of Romeo and Juliet was very admirable but were poorly planned. It these attempts that make his role the most significant one in the play. This is why Friar Lawrence is the most powerful character in the play.
Friar Lawrence is a character in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that served as a mentor for Romeo and Juliet, the two star-crossed lovebirds. He served as a mentor and a friend throughout the entire play, and because of it, his life was forever changed. In the beginning of the story, we meet the friar and can see that he is a happy go lucky guy, frollicking through the fields and giving advice to Romeo. However, the friar has to deal with quite a bit more than a two lovestruck teens, and it changes him for the worse. By the end of Act V, all of the drama that had taken place had taken it’s toll on Friar Lawrence and he was very upset and seemed to have been broken by the events of the week. The first time that we hear him speak,
Professor Freeman, in her lecture titled: “The Logic of a Campaign (or, How in the World Did We Win?)”, talks about “logistical” problems that the British Army faced. First and foremost was the simple problem of supply and demand; regarding both fighting men and basic supplies. England was an ocean away and America’s ports were not always welcoming. Second was the actual lay of the land. British forces were not accustomed to fighting over such a vastly spread out region, nor were the accustomed to guerilla style warfare (Freeman).
This paper will examine the Battle of Fredericksburg through the research of analytical papers, historical articles and technical reports by conducting the four steps of battle analysis. It will analyze the effects of the use and dismissal of intelligence assets and disciplines when applied to the planning of a territorial battle campaign. Using terrain analysis it will discuss how the choice of advantageous terrain can sway the outcome of a battle. It will also discuss how timing and momentum can be critical to our overall military planning. Finally, it will present an alternative outcome to the battle by establishing the utilization of intelligence assets available to both commanding generals and how altering critical decision points would have presented a significantly different result.
Romeo and I are standing next to each other, Friar Laurence standing between us and nurse sitting down on the church seats. Nurse looks some what happy, she did want me to marry young. I feel happy and kind of guilty. I can't believe I snuck out. Even though I feel kind of guilty I’m glad I snuck out to marry Romeo. I know I met him like two days ago, but it feels like I've known him forever. It was love at first sight, something I had never experienced before.
War is a human endeavor. Humanity continually pursues solutions to counter evolving threats with the end of preserving power while also enabling peace. Civilizations resort to war to maintain their perception of this equilibrium. Defined threats and adversaries have changed throughout history, however, the essence of human nature and the base concept of conflict itself have not. Carl von Clausewitz’s theories on warfare capture the relationship between humanity and its application of war, remaining relevant in today’s era through their pensive explanations of timeless philosophical principles regarding the concept of war. These theories regarding war in politics, the key factors affecting war, and the extent that war is applied are inherently interconnected, providing insight on the relationships between humanity and its application of war.
According to Amin Maalouf, “It seems clear that the Arab East still sees the West as a natural enemy. Against that enemy, any hostile action-be it political, military, or based on oil-is considered no more than legitimate vengeance. And there can be no doubt that the schism between these two worlds dates from the Crusades, deeply felt by the Arabs, even today, as an act of rape” (Amin Maalouf). When reflecting on The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, this quote always sticks out as the most powerful piece of Maalouf’s work. As a growing college student this quote brings harsh reality to the world I live in. I believe as you grow through life, you become more and more aware of the world around you through education. In order to
According to Amin Maalouf, “It seems clear that the Arab East still sees the West as a natural enemy. Against that enemy, any hostile action-be it political, military, or based on oil-is considered no more than legitimate vengeance. And there can be no doubt that the schism between these two worlds dates from the Crusades, deeply felt by the Arabs, even today, as an act of rape” (Amin Maalouf). When reflecting on The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, this quote always sticks out as the most powerful piece of Maalouf’s work. As a growing college student this quote brings harsh reality to the world I live in. I believe as you grow through life, you become more and more aware of the world around you through education. In order to be aware you must
The influence of various theories and concepts on the conduct World War I has generated a range of studies in an attempt to understand how and why World War I was fought. Specifically, Clausewitz’s theories on warfare have come under a considerable amount of scrutiny with regards to their influence on World War I. This scrutiny has led to the ascertation that the protracted and bloody stalemate of World War I was largely due to a stubborn reliance on Clausewitz’s theories. The question that this paper attempts to address is weather the cause of the bloody and protracted
On War is not just a manuscript on of how to understand war; it also provides insight into what Clausewitz thought about the dynamics of human thinking. Similar to what Claxton outlined in Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, Clausewitz believed that, “knowledge must be absorbed into the mind that it almost ceases to exist in a separate, objective way.” (Clausewitz, p147). In other words, Clausewitz believed knowledge
These politics do not have to be just foreign or international politics, but also domestic politics. To achieve these objectives, Clausewitz believed in two levels of war: strategic and tactical (Echevarria, 1995). One must also remember that Clausewitz did not believe war could be down to a science, it is far too diverse and unpredictable. He was a strong believer that a theory is an explanation, not a solution. In “On War” Clausewitz states, "the primary purpose of any theory is to clarify concepts and ideas that have become confused and entangled” (Clausewitz, 1832). His theory harps on this idea that if conflict of politics reaches an emotional high, organized violence can breakout. Clausewitz’s theory today is taught with “policy” and “politics” as interchangeable components. However, Clausewitz created his theory based around a dual meaning. He believed war could lose sight of its policy aims, but war could never escape politics. On this basis, he combined three forces into one, which is referred to as ‘wondrous trinity’ (Echevarría 1995).