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defeated dacia king Decebal cut his own throat rather to be taken alive.

This is one of the best comments I’ve read on Reddit. I don’t have the expertise to question it closely, but I’d want to agree with you even if I knew you were wrong.

A question for anyone that may have info in this subreddit, I've been doing research into the Burma rifles, and from my understanding of my readings, the Burma rifles turned into the Burmese military, is this correct?

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Currently reading “God’s Chinese Son”, Jonathan Spence’s history of Hong and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Highly recommend, Spence was one of the greats. Definitely agree with you, fascinating subject.

Hassan, Ali and Reza are absolutely not “Shia” names. While the names are popular amongst Shias, they are also popular amongst Muslims generally.

Just want to point out that the “educated v religious” dichotomy that many posters assume, didn’t exist. Khomeini and his immediate followers were highly educated men. Shia Islam has long has a tradition of scholarship amongst its clerical class.

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Caesar was very clear about this in his own writing on the Gallic War - a great "first person" source answer to your question. In his 10 years, he sometimes fought tribes three or four times. He always talked about mercy first, then being tougher, and then being real tough. Tribes who rebelled too many times often ended with executions and mass sales into slavery.

The Averni tribe actually did receive mercy, because they mostly tried to work with Caesar; Vercingetorix went against the cautious nobles in the tribe (who expelled him) and then raised his own army and went back and conquered. So he was a personal threat to the potential internal Gallic allies of Rome.

Me thinks you may be an unbiased observer, u/Brutus_The_Stabber

Caesar had a mountain of ruinous debts, a growing number of enemies in Rome, and little at his disposal aside from his governorship and the legions that came with it. Pompey Magnus feared he would be outshone and displaced by Caesar, just as he had outshone and displaced Sulla.

Caesar's war was certainly not a necessity, of course, but an illegal/unauthorized campaign, the aims of which were to fill Caesar's coffers and enhance his popularity with the people. However, I think he was compelled to action by his circumstances.

Over the course of Caesar's life, there are numerous examples of a desperate gamble that should have ended in disaster, but somehow, he just kept getting dealt a royal flush: the Cilician pirate incident, the Gallic wars and Alesia in particular, his invasion of Italy, the Battle of Pharsalus, the siege of Alexandria. The man's entire career was a string of calculated risks that came up in his favor, until they didn't -- i.e. the calculated risk of trusting his former enemies and showing them clemency.

In Caesar's mind, I believe the Gallic wars were more than simply a means to an end. They were a gambit for political (and literal) survival. This wanton slaughter was palatable to the people of Rome because of their deep-seeded hatred for the Gauls; in the Roman psyche, the Gauls were their most fearsome and ancient enemy, rivaled only by Carthage in terms of cultural animosity.

Inhabitants of Britain pre 1071 - I'm in danger Inhabitants of Britain post 1071 - I am danger

I loved reading this write-up, informative and entertaining, thanks!

The Gauls were not treacherous. Julius Caesar led an unjustified invasion of Gaul without senate approval, and by his own account committed genocide of both Celtic and Germanic peoples. He was truly a horrid man, and his assassins were too kind to him

Any good books on Belgian colonisation?

Where in his journals does he say this?

There's a word for that!

The values of that empire were established in the republic "bud".

The fact that Caesar reached the terminus of continental Europe, then crossed the channel and invaded Britain is clear evidence that he wasn't planning on leaving Gaul without having taken it all. I think you're framing it as Caesar being in a position where he had to fight, when history shows us that he continually pushed further despite absolutely not needing to do so.

That's a curious theory. Shame Aurelian didn't live longer for so many reasons, the least of which is so we could better understand why he kept Zenobia alive. Ave restitutor orbis.

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