I have an idea for confidence.

[jlujan]

O.k i am man enought to admit i might have over reacted, so i apologize if i put some pressure on Mac, i am just very touchy about these things, so in the spirit of getting back to business, lets put this thing to rest.

 

[Julius_Caesar]

I think that this idea, morphed a bit, has some merit. Now from my name you can probably guess that I know alot about Roman history, and if you know anything about Roman history you might also know that Romans were THE most badass people ever. The old Romans at least, the patricans, the aristocrats, those guys ruled the world. Now Julius Caesar came from one of the oldest families in Rome, the Julii, and Caesar, one of the greatest men in world history, took great pride in his ancestry. Caesar possessed the unique quality of being able to go in to any situation and demand the highest respect, probably oringinally from his confidence in his ancestry then from his undenible skill. One could say that Caesar, by thinking that because of his ancestry he DESERVED to be respected, was able to get respect and act as if nothing could touch his person, aka being coool at all times, because he was an aristocrat. Of course, there are also many other reasons that that behavoir could be true, but for our purposes thats all we need. So basically, if one were to try to assume all the behavoirs of a great Roman aristocrat, like Julius Caesar, and tried to think like you COMPLETELY DESERVE to be respected and liked and accepted and honored, then it just might be easier to do all sorts of things. If, for instance, you dread talking to people, just try to think that you are a Julii or Fabii or Sergii from ancient Rome and say that NOTHING can effect you, hey it is just other methods dressed up differently but it can work, so if you act like nothing others do can effect you it makes confedence much easier to come by. It is a concept that is rather hard to explain, but it works. Disregarding what others think because they will never be as good as you may be arrogant and selfish but who cares, lifes to short to worry about that.

 

[b_elusive_eyes]

****IN JEWS!!!!!!!

 

[Imbrondir]

Whenever I think I stumble upon a hard time, I like to think back at my ancestors, the Vikings. Not just the vikings but all older warriors

I was in the army some time ago. I was in a tiny overfilled tent, with stinky guys and I was sure my ass had become an ice clump. I was sure I was in the worst situation ever. But I remembered older warriors did these sort of things before. With a smaller and worse tent. With worse conditioned clothes. Knowing enemies could attack any minute. Not with bombs and bullets that usually gives a quick death. But with swords, axes and arrows, that could make the vicitims watch himself lose his arm, and still live. Watch his comrades lose their head with a fog of blood coloring the air.

Think go chatting with a girl, which has a man around her is risky? It could after all be her boyfriend. How about joining a relativly small viking ship, toward west (america, iceland, greenland), without any evidence at all that there would be land awaiting. Bad luck would be the certain death by drowning if in luck, by fighting your previous mates because he wants to drink your blood, if in not-so-luck. Having all your families, friends and even some authorities tell about dragons, sea monsters and 'the end of the world' doesn't help either.

Compared, we live in an easy world now.

 

[diplomatic_lies]

Its nice to research your family history. Gives you a certain sense of identity.

I can remember how good I felt when I looked at the ancient sword and diary of one of my ancestors, an army commander under the Wu kingdom. Don't you feel proud of your grandparents who fought during the World Wars? (well not if they ran away). My grandfather fought throughout against Japanese invasion then the Chinese civil war for most of his youth and adulthood, then again in Korea, and yes, I am pretty proud of him.



Speaking of which, during WWII the Russians almost collapsed before the Germans. German troops sometimes made kill ratios of 1:1000; 3 millions Russians died or surrendered in the first few months, the same number as the entire German invasion force. Had it not been for Hitler's insistence to take over his generals command, Germany would actually have captured Moscow before winter of 1941. It was the sending of Guthrine/Guredian (sp?) and whatshisname's panzer divisions down to join Army Group C which doomed the Wehrmacht approaching Moscow, and ultimately lost the war.

 

[mindbreaker]

Some facts of WW2 Germany and nowadays Germany!!

Actually, I didnt want to get involved in this threat put after flicking through it, I felt required to do so.
First of all, yes, germany led a two front war. France was quickly conquered, french troops surrendered pretty fast to the German army. Same with Holland.
The only Country holding against it, was the UK. Thanks to their finding of the Enigma-encoding machine which enabled them to read messages from headquarters to the German submarine division. Pretty lucky for the British, otherwise the war probably would have come to a worse end for them.
While fighting on the western front, Hitler suddenly had this crazy thought in mind to conquer Russia. Failed through "unfortunate timing" due to the russian winter. Both of my grandfathers fought in WW2, luckily both of them came back, allthough one of them couldnt be found for a period of over 3 years. He had been prisoner of war during at that time. I read an interesting letter addressed to my grandmother, sent from an officer that served in the same division as my grandfather. He lost trace of him after they were forced to spread out in the woods, after a suprise attack of the russians.
Both of my grandfathers hated to be in that war and didnt want it, as probably most of the Germans did. My question: what would u do, folks? Would u express ur true opinion and say **** Hitler and you and ur family, including ur pregnant wife and ur one year old son, would be killed? Or would u spare them that fate and go to war, so that u r the only one to be killed and the lives of three innocent people can be saved? Whats ur choice? I know mine already!
Another point I have to make is that...yes...I am proud of my country. Not for what had happened before 1945, but what had happened after that. A entirely destroyed nation - due to its own fault, I admit - built up economical power, democracy, human rights, freedom of speech....again...within only 50 years. The generation of my grandparents and my parents worked on it to make it the place it is now. No one has to be scared to live there or to express his/ her opinion.
When they started to rebuild, everything was destroyed. But people held together and said to themselves that this couldnt be a world where they want to raise their children in. They cleaned the whole mess up and one can see the results today. A secure social system supporting nearly everyone who deserves to be helped and even those who dont deserve it. No slums, no two class society, allthough I have to admit that we will soon be getting there, since it cannot be financed any longer. Partly due to the reunion taking place in 1989.
The results of 50 years hard work and commitment can be seen today. Allthough we are currently going to a deep recession, I admit also, Germany is present everywhere in the world and no matter where I am, I see BMWs, Mercedes, Siemens, Bayer,....and many more. Germany has reestablished itself and the generation of my parents and myself have nothing to do with things that happened between 1930 and 1945. In the contrary, we learned from our mistakes and avoid wars.
Thats why we are labeled the "Old Europe". Hahaha. Just a good laugh, Mr. Rumsfeld.

PS: Had to say that, coz it pisses me off, if other people still keep on thinking of the Nazi-Germany, when they just hear the word "Germany" falling. Fortunately, living in an international community now -not in Germany though- I can see that people who came around in the world have laid down all their prejudices and so became friend with people from everywhere in the world....ranging from West to East which I consider to be the future. Thats true globalization...not that business **** advertised everywhere.
Amen!

 

[jlujan]

What happened in Germany during the 3rd reich was unique, we can sit here and make this the longest thread ever here at SS but whats the point? theres two views of what happened in WW2, some claim that Germans lost because they where fighting two fronts, others claim that Germany lost the war do to a combination of poor strategy (Hitlers), the Russian army who transformed itself from a WW1 army to a WW2 military in just a few years, and the failure to allocate the resources to many weapons projects that couldve given Germany an edge to win the war. I am one that believes the second, WW2 was a war betwen Germany and Russia for the most part, the U.S. never engaged the full power of the German military machine the way the Russian did, and in my opinion, the Russians did most of the work and deserve full credit.

Heres some factual numbers from WW2:

80% of Germans casualties where inflicted by Russians.
The western allies defeated 40 Axis divisions, Russia defeated 650 Axis divisions.
3 million German troops where fighting in the eastern front.

I don't blame the Germany of today for what happened in the past, but you have to be careful, the same views, hate, and beliefs of the 3rd Reich have not died, theres still many people that believe in that crap and would love to turn not only Germany, but the west into another Reich, you might say its impossible and ridiculous, but i am sure many people said the same thing before WW2. Germans have many things to be proud of, their culture while young compared to the cultures of the great souther european empires is small, but they still have a long way to go before they can compare they achievements with what the great civilizations of Greece, Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica.

 

[Ronin I]

Originally posted by jlujan
What happened in Germany during the 3rd reich was unique, we can sit here and make this the longest thread ever here at SS but whats the point? theres two views of what happened in WW2, some claim that Germans lost because they where fighting two fronts, others claim that Germany lost the war do to a combination of poor strategy (Hitlers), the Russian army who transformed itself from a WW1 army to a WW2 military in just a few years, and the failure to allocate the resources to many weapons projects that couldve given Germany an edge to win the war. I am one that believes the second, WW2 was a war betwen Germany and Russia for the most part, the U.S. never engaged the full power of the German military machine the way the Russian did, and in my opinion, the Russians did most of the work and deserve full credit.

Heres some factual numbers from WW2:

80% of Germans casualties where inflicted by Russians.
The western allies defeated 40 Axis divisions, Russia defeated 650 Axis divisions.
3 million German troops where fighting in the eastern front.

I don't blame the Germany of today for what happened in the past, but you have to be careful, the same views, hate, and beliefs of the 3rd Reich have not died, theres still many people that believe in that crap and would love to turn not only Germany, but the west into another Reich, you might say its impossible and ridiculous, but i am sure many people said the same thing before WW2. Germans have many things to be proud of, their culture while young compared to the cultures of the great souther european empires is small, but they still have a long way to go before they can compare they achievements with what the great civilizations of Greece, Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica.

Yeah but we nuked the Japs.