How did certain people just end up being really fucking good

>>34940254
that written knowledge comes from people who invented it, geniuses are the ones who come up with that stuff in the first place.

Genghis Khan's success was pretty simple

>1. he was really pissed off at a lot of people, for some pretty good reasons
eg. Mongols killing his father, selling him into Chink slavery, foreigners killing his friends, etc.

>2. he was practical
eg. promoting based on ability in a time when that wasn't common, choosing Turkic as the language of the army instead of Mongolian, recruiting from the people he conquered, adopting customs from the cultures he conquered

The second is what gave him success, the first is what drove him.

Hannibal, I think he took a lot from that second point too. Plus, war was the family business for him.

Join the army when you're eight. If you're not dead by the time you're 20, you might be a decent leader.

>>34940254
It's a combination of luck and inborn ability. You never know how you're going to react in a life threatening situation until you're actually in one, and then you find out whether you instinctively run or fight, depending on circumstances that your ancestors found themselves in and adapted to.

I believe that is the same with great military commanders, they had some intrinsic intelligence, the ability to read battlefields and inspire soldiers, all of this coupled with the adrenaline of warfare they got the opportunity to lead soldiers and did well.

Not to mention, war is apart of the human condition and it's not surprising some people excel in it.

>>34940254
>How did certain people just end up being really fucking good at......

pick any topic

chess
cars
planes
economics robber barons

etc

>>34940254
You'd be surprised by how rare "common sense" actually is and the ability to apply it to warfare is even rarer.

File: Dead_Russian_soldier_in_the_Winter_War_1939.jpg (149KB, 900x1145px) Image search: [Google]

149KB, 900x1145px

Was Finnish success just Russian incompetence?

>>34941214

First thing that came to my mind. I was about to use Greek Mathematicians or Literature to make that point

>>34943686
Both.

>>34943686

Yes.

No matter how hard they fought or how skilled the Finns were, there is no feasible way they should have survived the Winter War. Just looking at the numbers and equipment, it should be impossible.

Same way some people are just good at math.

>>34945391
Or being a faggot, like OP.

>>34943686
pretty much. the finnish eventually surrendered because they knew the russians weren't fucking around anymore.

>>34946171
No, they negotiated a good deal because they were running out of men.

>>34946207
i guess not getting massacred is considered a good deal

>>34940254
Right guy with the right mental makeup, born into the right culture at the right time. There were likely many who had the right raw material, but were born in a place and time that didn't present the opportunities for grand conquest. There were many, many more who were born at the helm of such opportunities, but without the faculties, tools, or both to excel in a historic fashion.

>>34946286
Yeah, the russians did make a really smart call there.

Attrition. The ones that suck at war don't last long.