Infinite Wisdom

"War is a psychological drama as well as a physical contest."

La Triviata

• On January 1, 1946, the senior-most ranks of the U.S. Army, including the Army Air Forces, totaled four Generals of the Army and 12 full Generals, for a force of 8,200,000 men and women, while as of mid-2010 the combined strength of the Army and the Air Force was only abut 825,000, commanded by 24 full Generals (11 Army and 13 Air Force), with five more pending promotion.
• While in Rome as an aide to Prince Henry of Prussia in 1845-1846, Helmuth von Moltke spent his leisure time making a map of the city, which proved so good it was for several decades considered the best ever made, the original of which is preserved in the library of the American Academy in that city.
• During World War II monthly American aircraft output peaked at 9,113 in March of 1944.
• When 12 year old Horatio Nelson joined the Royal Navy, in 1771, he did so through the patronage of his mother’s brother, Captain Maurice Suckling, who was able to take on the boy as a midshipman because the fleet was mobilizing for a possible war with Spain, over the ownership of the Falkland Islands.
• On January 28, 1918, Cpl. Roberto Sarfatti, the 17-year old son of Margherita Sarfatti, Benito Mussolini’s mistress, was killed in action serving with the Alpini on the Asiago Front, in the process becoming the youngest Italian soldier ever to win the Medaglia d’oro for bravery.
• Although several of the 27 men who reigned as Roman Emperor (East and West together) from the death of Theodosius I (379-395) to the accession of Heraclius (610-641), had distinguished military backgrounds, no sitting emperor between the two led troops on campaign, which was certainly an important factor in the collapse of the Empire’s fortunes, especially in the West.
• Formed in 1901 to promote the adoption of military conscription by Britain, on the eve of World War I in 1914, the National Service League seems to have had 200,000 affiliates, between members and associate members.
• In December of 1783 French Army Captain of Engineers Lazare Carnot wrote a proposal for a military aeronautical service, which he himself later founded when he effectively became minister of war a decade later during the French Revolution.

More...