2.7. AWARENESS OF ECONOMIES WOULD AVOID TRAGEDIES LIKE THIS

"WE WERE NAIVE," SAID THE LAST COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ALLIED FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN..

"We did not understand that Afghan corruption was inevitable, and when the authorities took the pay of the teachers and soldiers, we lost the support of the people."  

-- General John Nicolson, talk at the American University of  September 27, 2019

If Americans had understood underlying economies' determining role, they would not have tried to impose their way of life (or would have had to announce deeper reasons for invading). 

But the history we are taught,

which itself stems from the economy,

is about everything except the economic base.

End of this introduction.

*    *    *

Next chapter,

III.
Curbing growth: kings and ritualized warfare