Today’s column is about a world famous person who you may have never heard of; her name is Ayaan Hirsi Ali who was born on November 13th, 1969 in Mogadishu, Somalia. Upon reading her story, her name may be engraved in your memory.

In the world of ancient Greece and Rome, collective reverence for the war dead helped explain why hoplites and legionaries fought so fiercely.

On August 18, 1812, General Mikhail Kutuzov, 67 years old, took command of Russia’s army, which had been forced to retreat as Napoleon’s Grande Armée, the world’s best fighting force and three times its size, advanced into Russia. Destroying the Russian army was Napoleon’s objective. Preserving it had become the Russians’ proximate objective.