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#1 |
Gruesome Spectre
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Heaven's doorstep
Posts: 8,039
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Well, Tolkien wouldn't have encountered massed enemy cavalry on the Western Front, anyway.
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Music alone proves the existence of God. |
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#2 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,481
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There are a couple examples of cavalry being used in WW2 which was critical to securing the outcome. It had a similar role to the German motorized units and saved some maneuvers when there was a shortage of tech. I'd have to do a little history research to find the specific examples though, don't remember off the top of my head. And anyways these would not be German troops, or ones Tolkien would have seen, or the right timing.
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#3 |
Loremaster of Annúminas
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,330
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Well, I wouldn't say "shortage of tech" so much as "nonexistence of tech." Automotive technology was at the Model T stage; while there were armored cars they were basically confined to roads and hadn't a prayer in mud or shell-torn ground. Tanks existed, but as of the Somme they were both few and ineffective (and snail-slow).
WWI was a horse-drawn war; even though mounted troops disappeared from the Western Front, all the guns and supply were pulled by old-school horsepower (this actually was true in WWII also, for every army but the US. Yes, including the "mechanized" Germans).
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it. |
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#4 |
Loremaster of Annúminas
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,330
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Oh, sorry: you said WW2. Yes, there were some cavalry that had a niche role. The US 26th Cavalry carried out a successful rearguard action vs the Japanese in the Philippines, covering the retreat into Bataan. Soviet Cossacks proved very effective in raiding German supply lines, especially in winter when most motor vehicles were stuck.
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it. |
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#5 |
Wight
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 118
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I've been looking forward to this, I'm sure it will have its flaws and inaccuracies but I have been waiting for it for a long time.
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#6 |
Gruesome Spectre
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Heaven's doorstep
Posts: 8,039
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I just hope that any "flaws and inaccuracies" don't cast unwarranted aspersion on the real man's character. Judging figures from the past based upon modern-day sensibilities has become increasingly common.
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Music alone proves the existence of God. |
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#7 | |
Curmudgeonly Wordwraith
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Ensconced in curmudgeonly pursuits
Posts: 2,515
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Quote:
If that were the case, I don't think the terms "flaws and inaccuracies" would span the chasm of incredulity created by such a rift from reality. I am not a religious person, but one has to acknowledge, in Tolkien's case quite forcefully, that Catholicism was a primary motivation of Tolkien's philosophical makeup.
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And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision. |
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