Were the Comanches stronger than the U.S. military in the early 19th century?
Best Defense is in summer reruns. Here is an item that originally ran on June 27, 2016.
Best Defense is in summer reruns. Here is an item that originally ran on June 27, 2016.
I have never seen a comparison, but some of my recent reading begins to make me suspect that was the case.
Best Defense is in summer reruns. Here is an item that originally ran on June 27, 2016.
I have never seen a comparison, but some of my recent reading begins to make me suspect that was the case.
If the answer is yes, then my next question is, when did the U.S. military surpass the Comanches? Was it around the time of the Mexican War?
But I asked some smart historian friends, and they said the answer is that, while the Comanches had some short-term battlefield advantages — numbers of weapons, fighters, and horses — they were vulnerable in the longer term to superior logistics and communications systems.
Again and again, one of the lessons of good history is that those are just as important to military power as is firepower, and sometimes far more important.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
More from Foreign Policy

Xi’s Great Leap Backward
Beijing is running out of recipes for its looming jobs crisis—and reviving Mao-era policies.

Companies Are Fleeing China for Friendlier Shores
“Friendshoring” is the new trend as geopolitics bites.

Why Superpower Crises Are a Good Thing
A new era of tensions will focus minds and break logjams, as Cold War history shows.

The Mediterranean as We Know It Is Vanishing
From Saint-Tropez to Amalfi, the region’s most attractive tourist destinations are also its most vulnerable.