Chesty Puller Quotes

He later provided a copy to Hezekiah Niles, February 5, 1819 which is the source of the quotation since Henry never mentioned it.

Referring to Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, who was a forceful administrator constantly telling all others what to do:

Although jihad was a duty of Muslims, it was not a duty to die in a fight against overwhelming odds which was determined to be 2 to 1. So 2 Muslims could run from 4 but not 3.

Clausewitz’book is one of the political classics that is read bby the George by almost every national leader and senior military officer in the world. This basic principle was totally violated George W. Bush and his administration team when, in the aftermath of September 11, they ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, and then before they could get that nation stabilized, ordered the invasion of Iraq which was very successful but there was no plan for the occupation after the initial victory. The Bush administration not only did not plan the last step of either war, but they had almost no planning for the any of the steps after the initial invasions.

This quotation is very controversial among historians. Beverly was in a sense the first American historian, although he had no formal training. His extolling the military and sharpshooting virtues of his fellows may or may not have been an exaggeration both as to their skill with firearms and their ability as soldiers. There is much evidence that only a minority of the people of Virginia possessed firearms at the time yet Beverly’s image is the one that has come down to us in the romanticized view of early America. Even fellow Virginian, George Washington {613056} complained that his Virginia civilians made poor soldiers compared with “regulars” who had been trained to shoot, and when Virginia militia reported for duty less than one quarter had firearms which were very expensive and not very accurate at the time.

1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley. Though members of the same Conservative Party, Churchill was a major opponent of Baldwin’s peace and “appeasement” efforts and publicly castigated Prime Minister Baldwin. Yet Baldwin, if he could not stave off war, wanted his critic to serve as Prime Minister if war was inevitable. Churchill never had much respect for Baldwin. See {626930}.

See {637854} for a quote on the soundness of our military planning.

Ruling group of France during the French Revolution. The purchase and transportation of an army in the field was a very expensive element of war and was very difficult as well. The Directory urged its generals to live off the land and get their food from the enemy country they were invading. Rarely did they pay for it but typically just took it from the civilians. Napoleon who served under the directory took this principle one step further. He also stole the invaded country’s art—paintings and statues mostly. These he sent back to Paris where they were sold to rich people. This way he could pay the salaries of the troops and buy more weapons and ammunition. Napoleon could conquer so much territory because France did not have to pay for the military effort as other countries did. This is one of the major reasons for example that the Louvre Museum in Paris has so many great Italian and Spanish paintings.