@Jbn3ex@LoschbourStev The only reason solitary animals like bears fight is for food and sex. There’s no element of social consequence, much less any internal sense of pride or shame from picking/avoiding a fight. Non-bears arent sexual competitors, and theres usually squirrels and berries around, so..
@gracecamille_ You have to treat it impressionistically , comprehension will come in fits and starts among some of the most mindblowing, insightful, memorable passages and set pieces in literature. But that first read is largely an exercise in letting go
@Legsmcfatface@SpectoCustodes@AnalyticaCamil1 Reformation exacerbated it the 30 years war was completely savage. Also attended by the development of real state capacity and large armies which is totally correlated with lethality and savagery as the practice of warfare is scaled up and detached from social/feudal particulars
@Legsmcfatface@SpectoCustodes@AnalyticaCamil1 Notable exception being anything involving peasant rebellions or heretics - that is, where the enemy is undermining the righteous Catholic order
@SpectoCustodes@AnalyticaCamil1 I’ve heard similar claims about early Greek warfare - that phalanx battles were more like big shoving matches than hyperlethal slaughters, bc Greek city states with low pops + elite-restricted mobilization couldn’t sustain the latter