#tuchman

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Books are the carriers of civilisation. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. 

- Barbara W. Tuchman

[scaredofchange]

fck i love him

[noosphe-re]

The Russian colossus exercised a spell upon Europe. On the chessboard of military planning, Russia's size and weight of numbers represented the largest piece. Notwithstanding her shoddy performance in the war against Japan, thought of the Russian "steam roller" gave comfort and encouragement to France and Britain; dread of the Slav at their backs haunted the Germans.

Barbara W. Tuchman, The Guns of August

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Books are the carriers of civilisation. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilisation would have been impossible. They are engines of change (as the poet said), windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.

- Barbara Tuchman,  (Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Nov. 1980)

[blackswaneuroparedux]

War is the unfolding of miscalculations.

- Barbara Tuchman

“Reckless Challenge”. France threatens to set a Russian bear on the English John Bull, while a battle rages in the background with the inscription «Transvaal» (6 June 1900).

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Most wars have many diverse results but one dominant one transcending all others: disillusion.

- Barbara Tuchman

...and the seeds of the next war to come.

Photo: «Empty plate». British lion, Russian bear, Austro-Hungarian cat and dogs France, Italy and Germany gathered around the table for dinner. The lion is holding a knife with the inscription «Dismemberment of Turkey», but the plate is empty. The Turkish turkey has escaped and laughs outside (25 November 1903)

[weil-weil-lautre]

Barbara Tuchman - A WORLD OF IDEAS

[outsiderlookinginward]

Pause for thought: Barbara W. Tuchman Books are windows on the world.