A relatively
short time ago the principal author of this blog had a book published by TAN
Books. With the title Ten Battles
Every Catholic Should Know (2018), which will be featured — along with the
author! — on EWTN Live! January 8, 2020, 8:00 pm EST on the EWTN
Television Network, a cable television channel.
Check your local listings for when it airs in your area. If you miss it or don’t have cable, EWTN
usually puts the show up on YouTube within a couple of days.
To pique your
interest (and get you to watch the show and drive up ratings, not to mention
buy the book), we’re posting this synopsis of the book and explaining a little
bit about it. Of course, war should be avoided if at all possible, and to do so we must work for justice, specifically the Just Third Way, but when people fail to achieve justice (justice doesn't fail, people do), sometimes it is necessary to resist.
Frankly, with a
title like Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know, it was expected to
appeal to a somewhat limited (if extremely intelligent, as are all our readers)
audience. Well, it turned out to be
rather bigger than anticipated.
There were, of
course, a few criticisms — three, actually.
One, someone in Poland pointed out that the cover art showed Polish
“Winged Horsemen” in full dress armor, not field armor. It sure looks magnificent, though, as even
the critic admitted.
Two, a couple of
people complained that the book was too short.
They thought each battle profiled deserved a full book of its own. That, we felt, was actually more of a
compliment than a criticism, especially as the critic gave the book five stars
anyway.
Third, quite a
few people said the book has the wrong title!
Why just Catholics? Why not Ten
Battles Everyone Should Know? We
really didn’t have an answer for that, except to say, Don’t judge a book by its
title. . . .
But what about
the ten battles? Maybe these memes we
put together (and that are NOT in the book) might excite your curiosity:
Manzikert. This is the battle that began the long
conflict between Europe and the Grand Turk.
Not that there weren’t other crusades, but this one has been overlooked
for so long that we decided to make it the overall theme of the book.
Wallachia. So, you think you know all about the real
Dracula? Think again! He’s probably both better and worse than you
imagined!
Mohács. What happens when an army that is armored
from head to toe — and from ear to ear — meets an enemy with modern artillery
and isn’t troubled by any notions of chivalry?
The Tomb of Hungary.
Vienna. The Sultan wants to reduce your city to ruins
and eat his breakfast in the ruins of the cathedral. What do you do? Surrender?
Or deliver some take-out from your cannon on the walls?
Malta. A few thousand Knights of Malta and men at
arms against tens of thousands of the finest soldiers in the Ottoman
Empire. What could possibly go wrong?
Szigetvár. An force of a quarter of a million
battle-hardened veterans against 2,500 amateurs holed up in a tiny, unimportant
castle, the commander of which had raided the Sultan’s army. Punishing the upstart would take a few days
at worst. Or would it?
Nicosia. The Sultan wants a bottle of his favorite
wine. What better way to get it than
violate a sacred treaty, invade another country, and slaughter everyone who
gets in his way?
Famagusta. What happens when you are offered honorable
surrender terms, accept them, and then realize you were lied to in order to
trick you into surrendering? Not for
weak stomachs.
Lepanto. As Miguel de Cervantes said, “Even if it were
possible to work a miracle in my case, I still would rather have taken part in
that prodigious battle than be today free of my wounds without having been
there.”
Khotin. The beginning of the long twilight of Turkish
power in Europe, and an outstanding example of international cooperation in the
face of a common enemy.
#30#