morality judgements aside, there were some very *serious* strategic
considerations that i'm sure weighed heavily on reinhard's mind. not the
least of which was the vulnerability of his own long, stretched-out lines
of supply and communications. in a logistic sense, longer is inherently
inefficient.
reinhard had to know that a siege of geiersburg fortress would be a
drawn-out and bloody affair for his own forces, unless he can lure the bulk
of the lippschadt forces out for a decisive battle. but if he had to lift
the siege for lack of supplies, it would not only be a psychological
defeat, but by then his own forces would have been greatly fatigued and
weakened. in the end, if he had to withdraw, it's clear that his forces
would be harried by fresh reserves previously bottled up within the
fortress. well, if merkatz were in charge, anyway. ;-)
oberstein realized, and i think reinhard did too, that with all the
forces from both sides concentrated at geiersburg, it created great
opportunity throughout the empire for revolt against either him or the
nobles. but how to light the match and ignite rebellion AND turn them his
way without having to dispatch fleets out there? no, it has to be a
compelling psychological impact that will achieve both without having to
divide his own forces. as oberstein put it, a massacre at westerland by
the nobles "will show their true colors now."
and in the final calculation, assuming that sacrificing the 2 million
people living on westerland saved an equivalent number of soldiers from
dying in battle later in a drawn-out conflict, which would you rather have?
i mean, even if reinhard is the only power left standing in the empire,
it's still a large empire to govern. very likely there are still loyalist
elements lurking out there, and possibly even civil unrest. so reinhard
must not only win, but also have large force intact after the dust has
settled, in order to be able to restore order afterwards.
just my $0.02 worth. :-)
-- Wayne H. Yin why@mail.utexas.edu
At 11:10 AM 96.10.27, Michael Renjie Tom wrote:
> Disappointed. Simply disappointed. Nothing changes the fact that he is > larger than life. the "ordinary man" I interpret as the ignoring of the > principles that he so passionately layed out to Seigfried Kircheis all > through his life. Reinhard's essence, though, ultimately demands respect > and admiration from anyone and everyone. > I suppose there is blood on everyone's hands in some form or another. > Save maybe Kircheis whom I think they made way too pacifist to have > realistically risen to High Admiral in the series. He's somewhat better > in the manga in the sense that if aroused, he can be quite the force to > contend with. > mike