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Never fight a land war in Asia
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s.bernbaum
Mostly lurking
It was a remark by some "witty" historian, looking back at what happened to Napolean when he invaded Russia and the British when they attempted to add Afghanistan to their empire in the 19th century. Like many of the sayings, it has no bearing on the play of CIV, and is only there to add a bit of humor.
mariogreymist
Deity
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- Aug 11, 2009
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I wouldn't say it has no bearing. It's generally pretty good advice to not get involved in wars on large continents with several neighbors and complex diplomatic situations. The potential to get back-stabbed is very high in such instances. Generally, the longer the borders are that you must defend, and the more neighbors along those borders, the harder it is to wage a war for new lands.
Better advice would be "consider your other options carefully before fighting a land war in Asia."
Of course, if you have a significant technological advantage (say a cannon monopoly) then it's very rarely a bad idea to start warring, even if the land is large, your borders long, and the diplomacy complex. You do need to be somewhat careful in such a situation, but fighting with a tech lead is a good way to win the game.
Better advice would be "consider your other options carefully before fighting a land war in Asia."
Of course, if you have a significant technological advantage (say a cannon monopoly) then it's very rarely a bad idea to start warring, even if the land is large, your borders long, and the diplomacy complex. You do need to be somewhat careful in such a situation, but fighting with a tech lead is a good way to win the game.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line"!". 
Yeah, i´ve seen it a couple of times. I think it just means that you should take advantage of your navy when playing the Asia scenario. Or it could refer to the real world. Land war in asia can be tough, because of the immense heat and the large forests. Asia is also over populated, which makes land war even more difficult. So doing warfare on sea makes sense. Also because of the large amount of islands, which can easily be taken.
Disgustipated
Deity
I do it all the time. As I play the Earth map alot... And sometimes I do go for domination victory, which involves, yup, you guessed it: land war in Asia.
It can be done, just pick your enemies carefully. The only time I ran into problem was when I was a different religion than everyone else on the continent (the continent is essentually Asia, Europe, and Africa as it all counts as one). It was tough. I had to conquer a Mongol city to get hinduism so I could switch. Once you make the switch you can pick and choose your targets. I got the domination win as China.
It can be done, just pick your enemies carefully. The only time I ran into problem was when I was a different religion than everyone else on the continent (the continent is essentually Asia, Europe, and Africa as it all counts as one). It was tough. I had to conquer a Mongol city to get hinduism so I could switch. Once you make the switch you can pick and choose your targets. I got the domination win as China.
Disgustipated
Deity
those islands aren't that easily taken
. We really had to fight the Japanese hard to get them back.Yeah, Genghis wasn't pleased.
MrWhereItsAt
Warlord
Is this true? I never knew there was an origin for that quote outside of The Princess Bride.
s.bernbaum
Mostly lurking
"The Princess Bride" is one of the handful of movies of which I actually own a copy. Although it may be that I've watched the movie so many times that I have internalized the quote, I think I recall reading it somewhere many years before that movie was made. (And yes, I am much older than the movie.)
mariogreymist
Deity
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2009
- Messages
- 2,201
A brief internet search hasn't turned up an additional source, so I'll go on thinking it's from Princess Bride. If someone does a more comprehensive search, maybe it will be proven older.
Apparently the phrase was coined by Douglas MacArthur as a warning to JFK about Vietnam
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Troop-Surge-In-Iraq-Will-Deepen-Quagmire/113076
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Troop-Surge-In-Iraq-Will-Deepen-Quagmire/113076
s.bernbaum
Mostly lurking
I thought that I remembered the phrase from somewhere in my misspent youth. BTW, how did you manage to find that?
Google is your friend.
s.bernbaum
Mostly lurking
After having a dial up account with only 3 kps access, I have gotten in the habit of avoiding google. Now that I've had a high speed access account for a few weeks, I am starting to use it but don't think of it right off the bat for things like this!
s.bernbaum
Mostly lurking
If you open the tips category in the civopedia, you will find that there are a fair sprinkling in there of remarks such as this one that are only there because they appealed to someone's sense of humor. Some of them are much more obvious than this one.
