"Bunch of guys obsessed with Ancient Sparta can't beat the Persians at sea" was probably one of the known-knowns, come to think of it.

March 15, 2026 - 21:06 UTC

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your post is on its way to eternity 😂
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Valhalla, one might even say
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It's called the Persian Gulf 😭
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The real gulf was in the perceived-to-actual ability we encountered along the way
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look we just need some thin strip of land that we know the Persians have to get past and then our victory is assured

i saw a movie about that once so it must be true
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Okay tbf, Sparta didn't even HAVE a navy.
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Definitely a job for Athens
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"Threatening to bomb power plants", "seizing a single island": taking a series of small incremental actions rather than fighting a decisive naval battle is known as "slicing the Salamis".
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Hegseth is just Alexander the mid. All the alcoholism none of the willingness to be at the front of the cavalry charge.
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Check on leading the charge, but...Alexander wasn't an alcoholic. Common pop perception, alas. He did sometimes drink to excess, no question. But not an alcoholic. (Cultural thing/difference.) Probably making more of that than I should. Historian's fault. Alexander would've eaten Hegseth for lunch.
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And ironically far more of a straight obsessive.
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He *aspires* to mid.
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@aranaya.bsky.social retweeted this, well reality is Athens was massively involved in this.

For the record the people obsessed with Sparta were obsessed with every single thing EXCEPT what helped Greece beat Persia.

@buddhaferret.bsky.social I don't get why people don't understand this.
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Yep.
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Not to be that guy but:

Athens voted to put Sparta in charge of all the armed forces, including the Navy.

Sparta decided they weren't the experts at that, so went right back and ordered the Athenians to lead the Navy.
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Remember the 300, but also remember the Uvalde 400. Forget the Alamo. Guns make guys cowards.
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Even better because "fugit" is Latin for "he fled" i.e. root of "fugitive".
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