梦里醉逍遥的笔记(253)
Machiavelli (1)
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The Malice of Fate
Who but Machiavelli would insist that having to listen to prayers all night was more painful than a session with the state torturer?... He was not one of those fair-weather skeptics who deny God in...
City of Fortune (7) 更多
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"In the Jaws of Our Enemies"
With the fall of Acre and the papal ban on Islamic trade, the Black Sea became the displaced center of world trade—the axis of a series of long-range routes for exchange from the Baltic to China—... -
Demand and Supply
In a daring response to circumstance, some enterprising Genoese armed two galleys and sailed out into the Atlantic just as Acre fell. Their objective was to discover a direct route to outflank Arab... -
At the Walls
It was “a terrifying prospect; along the three leagues of Constantinople’s land walls, the whole army could only besiege just one gate.… Never, in any city, had so many people been besieged by s... -
"A Dog Returning to Its Vomit"
Afterward, Innocent would lay the blame for what ensued squarely on the Venetians, but it was not their idea. It is uncertain if Dandolo knew in advance of the plan to divert the Crusade to Constan... -
The Blind Doge
Despite the fact that Venice, always profoundly conservative in its mechanisms, was never given to a heady admiration of youth, the blind man who had to be led to the ducal throne remained an unusu... -
Lords of Dalmatia
If there is a single moment that marked the start of the rise to maritime empire, it was now, with the doge’s triumphal return to the lagoon. The breaking of the Narentine pirates was an act of gr... -
Prologue: Departure
The city’s prosperity rested on nothing tangible—no landholdings, no natural resources, no agricultural production or large population. There was literally no solid ground underfoot. Physical sur...
Clausewitz and Contemporary War (6) 更多
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Strategy, Balancing Purpose and Means
Consequently, Clausewitz could claim that 'fighting is the highest law of war.' While he believed that the purposes war served were many, he held that only one means, fighting or combat, existed fo... -
Genius, Giving the Rule to Art
Danger, as Clausewitz explained, is often thought of in a romantic light, but appears quite different in reality. The excitement of a cavalry or bayonet charge might sweep away one's fear for a few... -
Policy, Politics, and Political Determinsm
Readers will find a number of statements in On War which lend credence to the belief that the primacy of policy became the core of Clausewitz's thinking. 'Policy', as he warned, is 'the intelligenc... -
War Is More than a Chameleon
Nonetheless, readers will find little agreement regarding what Clausewitz said about the nature of war. His articulation of that nature is far too complex for most analyses, which merely want to us... -
Validating Concepts and Principles
Policy or the will of one's political leadership always existed prior to war, and thus was not part of war itself, but external to it. Policy decided the purpose for which the war would be fought, ... -
A Search for Objective Knowledge
In Clausewitz's terminology, On War is a search for objective knowledge, which he proposed to find through scientific observation and analysis. In today's vernacular, the work is essentially an an...
Political Order and Political Decay (2)
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What is Political Development?
If there is a single theme that underlies many of the chapters of this book it is that there is a political deficit around the world, not of states but of modern states that are capable, impersonal... -
Introduction
By definition, institutions are persistent patterns of behavior that are created in response to the needs of a particular historical moment. But societies, especially those experiencing rapid econo...
