[September 25, 2018] In Disney’s movie The Lion King (1994), the song Be Prepared is one of five written specifically for the movie and features the villain Scar educating his Hyena allies about the undeniable benefits of ‘mission preparation.’ There is only one path to leadership and it runs through the requirement to be prepared.
- Scar:1
- Just listen to teacher
I know it sounds sordid but you’ll be rewarded
When at last I am given my dues!
And injustice deliciously squared
Be prepared!
If a leader is not thoroughly prepared, prepared in every way, they will fail. This is simple. It’s a fact. Lack of preparation leads to the destruction of the leader and those that follow.
History is full of cultures that failed to prepare themselves for external and internal threats. That is why I wrote earlier that war solves problems (a two-part article, here and here) and those who fail to prepare themselves are bound to be destroyed.
“For their nation does not wait for the outbreak of war to give men their first lesson in arms; they do not sit with folded hands in peacetime only to put them in motion in the hour of need … they never have a truce from training, never wait for emergencies to arise.” – Titus Flavius Josephus, Romano-Jewish scholar and historian
Josephus wrote this on the preparedness of the Roman army. His primary audience of fellow Jews by then needed no instruction in the matter. Many of them died at a desert fortress where the Roman army built an assault embankment to destroy the last holdouts at the Siege of Masada from 73 to 74 BC.
“Indeed, it would not be wrong to describe their [Roman army] manoeuvres as bloodless combats and their combats as sanguinary manoeuvres.” – Andreas Alföldi, in L’Antiquiti Classique 7 (1938)
The Roman Empire was the epitome of preparation for military conquest and defense of their territories. Once the empire was mobilized to fight, they did so with first-class leaders in charge of first-class legions. They were invincible.
Only later in the empire’s decline did the Romans fail to prepare. They had become lazy, fat, decadent, and had incompetent leaders. History teaches some hard lessons. One of them is that most nations and most people fail to prepare.
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History is replete with military leaders who failed to prepare for battle and all that accompanies being prepared. One of the most interesting, for me at least, is the Battle of Hattin. When superior forces are defeated by inferior numbers, it makes one wonder why and how the losing side’s leaders were placed in the leadership position in the first place. Agincourt anyone.
Good comment Terri and reference to the Battle of Hattin. For our readers, more can be found about this battle here: https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Hattin
Lack of preparation will cause anyone to fail. Leaders, however, fail and everyone suffers for it. I’ve seen it happen so many times that I certainly learned my lesson and I wasn’t even a Boy Scout.
Not that long ago it was hard to find much material on this battle at Masada. The idea that being prepared is reinforced by this historical example and well worth reading about it from contemporary historians. Remember however that many of them were not really historians but people who could read and write and there were very few of them.
Good comment, Lynn. Yes, it is both entertaining and you can gain a lot of info about the leadership that drove much of the first-rate Roman army.
Another good comment Lynn. Thanks for adding to the discussion.
Good article. I would like to see more on older battles and quotes from the historians of the times. It gives me a chance to see how things have changed.
The study of the Roman Empire is fascinating – to me anyway. You can learn about how their grand strategy changed over time based on how much they were expanding (or consolidating) the empire itself.
These are the kind of blog posts that I like to read. It gives me the opportunity to hunt down some of the sources and read more about a particular subject or event. The Seige of Masada is well known and so you can find some good writings on it. I haven’t read the book noted by Jerome but I plan to buy it.
I too do the same thing. If I come across something of interest here, I’ll track it down and read more on the topic.
There is a recent book out about this very battle at Masada for those interested. I haven’t read it but others are saying good things on the material.
The Siege of Masada: The History and Legacy of the Battle that Ended the First Jewish–Roman War Paperback, January 26, 2017.
This got me more interested in the battle at Masada. I’ll be doing more reading and studying the details. The problem? Lack of historical documents.
You can get more on the Masada Desert Fortress here: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/masada-desert-fortress
Thanks Mr. J.
I think if you look hard enough there are lots of historical writings that discuss the battle. Of course, being so long ago, we find that much of the information is contradictory or sometimes inaccurate, but the issues surrounding the battle are largely known.
Good and yet complex article today. Well done!
I always look forward to reading https://www.theleadermaker.com with coffee in hand and dog at my side. Thanks for an especially entertaining morning for me.
We often look back into history and think that everything is easy or simply gloss over the details that make things work. It is appreciated that you remind us of those who detailed out those things that, for example, make the Roman army a great winning machine.
Some good history here and well worth it. It is interesting that you quote Josephus. He is considered a traitor by the Jews and a “historian” by the Romans. Either way, he did switch sides after being captured by the Romans. If it were not for his writings we would have less understanding of both the Romans and Jews of the era.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Max. Keep it up because I’m becoming a fan of you more and more. Why don’t you consider writing for Gen. Satterfield’s blog?
Extra entertaining today. Thanks.
🙂
Brief history of Masada battle here.
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/masada
Yes, I agree.