Eliot Savarese's answer: For those reading who don't know what the Schlieffen Plan was, it was an operational plan written out by the German war theorist Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905. The oversimplified version of the Schlieffen Plan was to have the bulk of the German army immediately invade Fra...

Eliot Savarese's answer: Let's start with the abstract classics. First, the train problem: You control the switch on a set of train tracks. The train is currently going to hit and kill five people on the track. If you switch it, it will only kill one person.

Eliot Savarese's answer: There are a few ways to answer this question. The first way is to point out that the idea of a standing army is relatively new. What is a standing army? A standing army, simply put, is a collection of soldiers who's only job is to be a soldier.

Eliot Savarese's answer: Since you didn't specify whether your question is about the Western Roman Empire, which fell in 476AD, or the Eastern Roman Empire, which fell almost a full millennium later, in 1453AD, I'm going to answer your question in two parts. First, the fall of the West. It wasn'...

Eliot Savarese's answer: Before we get to the question asked, it's useful to get a quick over who Charlemagne was, what the geopolitical situation was, and what it meant for him to be crowned emperor. In 476AD, the last Roman emperor in the West, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed (however, the Eas...

Eliot Savarese's answer: Famous usurpations in history are more often the result of some clever adviser or servant seeing an opportunity and taking it than they are from some grand scheme, and the rise of Basil I of the Byzantine Empire is a prime example of this.

Eliot Savarese's answer: Question everything. Never be satisfied with any answer, whether it's coming from a "trusted" source, or coming from yourself. Always dig deeper. Always question, even if you know you won't get answers. Anyone who's taken a Basic Western Philosophy course should recogniz...