The American blog Progressive Historians compares the prominent but secretive mercenary company Blackwater, whose activities in Iraq have been recently in the news, to the Mamlukes of old. Mamluke and Mamluke-like groups have come up in both my World History class and Ancient Civilizations. Is it a reasonable comparison? How about the "free companies" of the Hundred Years War as an analog?
Progressive Historians is notable for providing detailed historical arguments more often than most political blogs. One would hope that would be the case.
I like your comparison to the free companies of the Hundred Years War (and thereafter). I keep thinking of Xenophon when I read about these western mercenaries wandering around Mesopotamia.
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