Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Down in the weeds of military history

I’ve been doing some reading lately on European militaries of the 16th and 17th centuries.

19849892216_6801e20f43_k
19849892216_6801e20f43_k

 

 

I’ve been doing some reading lately on European militaries of the 16th and 17th centuries. I knew I was pretty deep in the weeds when I stumbled into this sentence: “There were, to be sure, a few exceptions — the Schmalkaldic War of 1547-8, the war of Ostia in 1557, the war of Saluzzo in 1600.”

Honestly, I am unfamiliar with all three of those conflicts. I half suspect the author just making them up, kind of like how map companies insert small mistakes to make sure their copyright isn’t violated by copycats.

Photo credit: Nigel/Flickr

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.