Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The Middle Ages Now!

I got an email today from my friend The Engineer of Knowlege. In it he compared the present situation of America, rapidly sinking into a sea of debt, dragged into a mad war by a deranged leader to England and it's pursuit of an impossible goal in the 1300's.
One of my favorite areas of history is the middle ages and I have read much on the Hundred Years War and the quest of the English Monarchy for the French Crown.
The Engineer took the events and transposed them them to the War in Iraq and here's what happened:

The Middle Ages version:

“In the early years of the war, Edward III allied with the nobles of the Low Countries and the burghers of Flanders, but after two campaigns where nothing was achieved, the alliance fell apart in 1340. The payments of subsidies to the German princes and the costs of maintaining an army abroad dragged the English government into bankruptcy, heavily damaging Edward’s prestige. At sea, France enjoyed supremacy for some time, through the use of Genoese ships and crews. Several towns on the English coast were sacked, some repeatedly. This caused fear and disruption along the English coast.”

The Present Version:

“In the early years of the war, George W allied with the nobles of Texas Oil and the burghers the Arms’ Industry, but after two campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan where nothing was achieved, the alliance fell apart in 2006. The payments of subsidies to the Saudi princes and the costs of maintaining an army abroad dragged the American government into bankruptcy, heavily damaging George’s prestige. The re-emergence of the Russian Empire enjoyed supremacy for some time, through the use of their own oil reserves being marketed around the world along with their own military hardware sales. Several cities and towns in the U.S. were feeling the economic depression as the real-estate values and stock markets dropped drastically along with the basic value of the U.S. dollar on the world market. This caused fear and disruption with the population in the United States for many years as they tried to work out and pay off the massive debt.”

How will this play out in the history books of the future?

Thanks again Mr. Engineer!

2 comments:

mud_rake said...

Exactly! Sad to say, but you are right on point!

By the way, I too am infatuated with Medieval Europe.

The Culture Ghost said...

Excellent analogy. Should be quite "interesting" to watch as this plays out.