In Reply to: A little more history on “Burn the boats” posted by BruinBones on November 05, 2026 at 08:39:44
I had thought the Greeks burned their boats in the Trojan War, so I hopped on AI: Nope.
But, in about 300 BCE a Syracusean leader was trying to counter and imperialist invasion by Carthage. He and his troops set sail for the Carthegenian Empire to attack and force Carthage to defend, rather than attack. In that process, according to a reliable historian .... they burned the boats.
Since the tactic was used as a defensive measure against Imperialistic subjugators, it is probably safe to use as a sporting metaphor. Phew!