Tradition vs Modernization: An amazingly long look at the two.

                 Enemy at the Gate compares two sides. East and west, Christendom and Islam, and a style of fighting based on tradition and one based on technology. The Ottomans are a very traditional culture, with lavish events and customs. They fight with the same troops and the same tactics that they did centuries before the siege of Vienna; Cavalry wearing down the enemy, then a rush of Janissaries to break them. The Hungarians however use a much more modern style of fighting, cutting edge even. Leaning heavily on musketeers and pike men with a smattering of ranged dragoons, the Hungarian army is a mechanized steely being, with no culture directing their actions, but with a great tactical advantage.

                Spoiler alert: The Ottomans are soundly defeated. Their traditional army is no match for the modern force. For obvious reasons, having a not-with-the-times military is disastrous. Your enemy has better weapons, better strategies and is more adapted to the fighting climate.  A 16^th century army has no place in the late 1600s. It is easy for the reader, with the benefit of hindsight, to see that an old fashioned culture can be easily overwhelmed by a culture that is with the times, and adapts.

                While it simple to pass judgment on old style military operations, it is much more difficult for other aspects of life. The Kindle is a relatively cheap, light, and easy to use replacement for the book. One can hold hundreds of hard covers in one object, and switch easily from book to book. Indeed some people hail the Kindle as ‘the book of the future.’ Yet readers still cling to the old fashioned paperback. While the Kindle is more efficient and easier to read, many still resent it, I among them. A chalk board can be replaced with a smart board. Letters can be replaced with E-mail.  . But people still read books, use chalkboards and send letters. The U.S.A is falling behind more newly advanced countries  like China and India.

                Traditional methods can be blamed for this falling behind.  Two nights ago President Obama talked about it in his state of the union address. “They're right. The rules have changed. In a single generation, revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live, work and do business. Steel mills that once needed 1,000 workers can now do the same work with 100. Today, just about any company can set up shop, hire workers, and sell their products wherever there's an Internet connection.

                Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world. And so they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They're investing in research and new technologies. Just recently, China became the home to the world's largest private solar research facility, and the world's fastest computer.”

                Change has left a traditional America in the dust. But sentimentality is one of the main things that sets us apart from other animals. If an animal had to leave a home or abandon a tradition, they wouldn’t feel any sadness. We would. Another example is religion. It is important to many of us, and the whole theme of religion is that it never changes; it revolves around a series of set traditions and actions.

                If the Ottomans had just tweaked their army a bit, they could have won. They could have modernized some troops and strategies but kept their soul and culture. And that’s what we must do. We have to adapt for somethings, like more efficient and available energy, and smarter more technical savvy students. But we can also keep things like letters and religion and books. We must compromise between the super modernized Hungarians and the ultra traditional Ottomans.