Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 47

[cahn]

We haven't had a new post since before December 25, so obligatory Yuletide link to this hilarious story of Frederick the Great babysitting his bratty little brother, with bonus Fritz/Fredersdorf!

Comments

Re: The Pugachev Rebellion

[mildred_of_midgard]

I think you mean "Highlanders" here instead of "Jacobites"?

Yeah, I actually typed "Highlanders" first, then figured that might confuse cahn and decided to put "Jacobites" instead so she had a vague idea what period I was talking about, then I thought about adding a note for clarity, pretty much exactly on the lines of what you said here, but I got sucked back into Pugachev and forgot to come back to it. I should have known our resident Jacobite expert would call me on any sloppiness! :D

Many Highlanders also had experience from modern military units abroad and in other parts of Britain and were not some sort of primitive warriors.

Indeed, indeed.

But there are also ways in which they were great at working together as a unit. The clan was a ready-made regiment with an officer structure already in place, which had great cohesion and great loyalty to the officers.

Oh, yeah, *within* a clan was great! I was thinking more of the "My clan will fight on the right!" "No, mine!" type thing. But like I said, that can happen in more impersonal armies too.

There are always trade-offs when you compare organizations where more of the relevant bonds are between individuals and where they're more between abstractions like "the employee" and "the state". The early modern period is very much a transitional time along that continuum. But in pretty much any time, you'll see some elements of both, which is why I say "continuum".

Thank you for elaborating on the nuance that it was irresponsible of me not to elaborate on!

Re: The Pugachev Rebellion

[luzula]

Thank you for elaborating on the nuance that it was irresponsible of me not to elaborate on!
No worries, that elaboration was probably my job! *g* I mean, I could not resist when you brought it up.

There are always trade-offs when you compare organizations where more of the relevant bonds are between individuals and where they're more between abstractions like "the employee" and "the state".
Yeah, that's very true.

Re: The Pugachev Rebellion

[mildred_of_midgard]

I could not resist when you brought it up.

The thing is, I would not have been able to resist either, if someone had come in saying what I said there! I used to rant about people's sloppy language around Jacobites vs. Highlanders vs. Scots vs. Catholics when I was a teenager! It was only because it was an aside this time that I forgot to go back to it. :D

Re: The Pugachev Rebellion

[luzula]

I was just thinking of what you wrote the other day, about being super into some things, but not others which are seemingly adjacent. I'm listening to the revolutions podcast, and while I was definitely into the English Civil War, I am so uninterested in the American revolution! I just keep zoning out, especially in the military parts. Apparently, some military stuff is super interesting to me (most especially the Jacobite stuff)! And other military stuff just...isn't.