Combating Faufreluches – A Assortment of Unmitigated Pedantry

This week, time for one thing a bit foolish: we’re going to consider the plausibility of the warfare in Frank Herbert’s Dune! Particularly, I wish to method the query in two components: first asking if the mannequin of warfare among the many Nice Homes we’re launched to within the first e-book of Dune (that’s, within the first third of the e-book) is sensible given the fantastical expertise and social buildings Herbert has created to allow it. Then, subsequent time, we’re going to return to ask, on condition that mannequin of warfare, if the success of the Fremen jihad, occurring within the house between Dune and Dune Messiah truly appears believable. Might a navy society like Dune‘s Nice Homes exist given their expertise and in the event that they did, might the Fremen have conquered them?

I ought to notice right here that whereas I’m going to make use of just a few pictures from the current movie variations, I wish to focus right here strictly on the fight mannequin as introduced within the books. Villeneuve’s movie adaptation will get closest to replicating Herbert’s system of warfare – the opposite variations succumb to the temptation of merely introducing a lot of weapons of 1 type of one other – however there’s sufficient small modifications or variations that I wish to stick simply to the books and the ‘pure’ expression of Herbert’s imaginative and prescient of futuristic warfare.

However first, as we’re going to cowl beneath, equipping a combating pressure with Dune’s model of contemporary navy energy – shields, ornithopters and frigates – is dear. If you wish to assist me equip a Nice Home of educated fighters to problem the Imperium, you possibly can help this mission over at Patreon. If you would like updates at any time when a brand new put up seems or wish to hear my extra bite-sized musings on historical past, safety affairs and present occasions, you possibly can comply with me on Bluesky (@bretdevereaux.bsky.social). I’m additionally lively on Threads (bretdevereaux) and preserve a de minimis presence on Twitter (@bretdevereaux).

Warfare Below Shields

In fact for individuals who know books (and at the very least the Villeneuve movie), the basic expertise shaping warfare among the many Nice Homes of Dune is shields. It is a manufacturing of the fictional ‘Holtzman impact’ which is the (once more, fictional) physics precept within the Dune universe which permits the folding of house for faster-than-light journey (however not the secure navigation thereof), ‘suspensors’ that permit objects and folks to be levitated and at last the operation of vitality shields which might repel any object trying to cross by above a sure minimal pace.

Now I’ll notice that Herbert’s physics right here is definitely a bit dodgy. We’re advised that the rationale for the minimal pace is to permit air-flow into and out of the protect, however my understanding is that even in room temperature air that feels fairly nonetheless to us, the person fuel molecules transfer very quick (one thing like c. 450m/s), so a velocity-lower-limit wouldn’t work successfully as a ‘filter’ to let in air however not, say, bullets. However I’m ready to simply settle for that the shields work the best way they’re described, allowing slow-moving objects (and likewise air, for some motive) however repelling quicker transferring objects.

In fact in a approach, the rationale shields work this manner in Dune is that it produces the combating system that Herbert needs: shields successfully nullify missile weapons and explosives of all sorts, resulting in a return to contact weapons, notably knives. That has all kinds of knock-on results on the construction of armies on this universe which we’ll get to beneath, however allow us to keep centered right here on particular person fight. We’re repeatedly advised that the combating model that outcomes from this near-total emphasis on shields is uncommon and to a level synthetic, demanding combatants hold their offensive actions gradual sufficient to penetrate a protect.

So we’d first ask if this combating system, on the particular person stage, is sensible given the fantastical constraints Herbert’s shields impose. And I suppose my reply is…kind of? I believe the thought of a return to contact weaponry on this context works in the primary, however with two important exceptions, which is that the model of contact weapon combating that dominates isn’t what I might anticipate and second that the best way Herbert additionally excludes laser weaponry strikes me as maybe not totally thought out.

With regards to model you will need to separate the assorted movie variations – notably Villeneuve’s (which options plenty of armor) – from the books. Within the books, the sturdy impression is that physique armor isn’t a typical complement for shields: we by no means hear about heavy armor and as an alternative hear about shields being connected to material uniforms (akin to when Duke Leto’s uniform is torn the place the protect attachment was ripped off). In the meantime, the contact weapons of alternative appear nearly invariably to be brief blades, described as daggers or knives. The most typical weapon of the Nice Homes was the Kindjal and it’s described as having a 20cm blade, which is fairly brief, very a lot a dagger fairly than a sword (the smallest of swords usually nonetheless have blade-lengths upwards of 45cm).

That’s nice for producing a lot of cool, dramatic knife fights, however actually doesn’t make a lot sense to me given the constraints. The primary issue within the decline of physique armor was, fairly famously, the truth that it turned more and more not possible to armor towards firearms with out massively thick armor that was impractically heavy. However shields take away this downside: the speed (and thus vitality supply) of any strike is now strictly restricted, that means even comparatively skinny and light-weight armor will probably be efficient. Below these situations, a combatant carrying armor might render most of their physique’s surfaces functionally proof against contact weapons and not using a severe lack of agility, forcing an opponent to purpose just for issues like joints that can’t be armored simply with stable (if articulating) plates. No matter agility is misplaced can be greater than offset by with the ability to goal all of an opponent’s physique whereas solely providing a tiny portion of your personal in response.

Individuals in Dune are sometimes super-humanly clever, quick and agile, however they don’t seem like super-humanly sturdy to the purpose that they’d be capable to, say, drive a knife by a millimeter of metal (or no matter unique science fiction equal may be furnished). In brief, I might count on armor to dominate formal fight in issues like open battles or duels the place fighters had time to place it on.

That in flip goes to imply that fight goes to include plenty of grappling, as a result of to truly get a weapon by the comparatively small gaps supplied by that armor – or for that matter to slip a dagger at comparatively low pace by a protect – it’s going to typically be essential to get an opponent on the bottom and to some extent pinned. Knives can be helpful in that context, however talking traditionally so would many polearms, designed for hooking and levering assaults that do certainly happen at speeds sufficiently gradual to perform by shields, in an effort to throw opponents to the bottom. Alternately if for some motive physique armor does stay uncommon, then the plain optimum alternative for fight is the spear, given the super benefit that attain poses and the truth that a spear’s pin-point piercing assault has no downside penetrating a goal even at low speeds.

The associated downside is the relative lack of formation combating. Now I wish to be clear, there may be some formation combating within the books, notably the notice that the Sardaukar will be acknowledged in fight as a result of they cut up into teams of three combating in a triangle back-to-back when pressed. However we don’t see mass formation combating in teams bigger than three. However after all in the true world we’ve had plenty of expertise with societies the place close-combat combating was core to navy success and people societies nearly with out exception fashioned up their armies in giant blocks of troopers combating collectively. Spacing and such would possibly differ, however formation combating was a close to fixed for armies that anticipated to do most of their combating hand-to-hand. So whereas upper-elites may be educated principally in a dueling tradition, I might count on the frequent troopers to be educated to combat as models. These needn’t be large models, however one thing much less just like the Sarduakar of their trios and extra like a Roman maniple (120 males), with sufficient males to current a transparent ‘entrance’ to an enemy that’s laborious to get round.

As an apart, that is one level the place I believe the Villeneuve adaptation actually pushed the supply materials. We see the Atreides combat in armor, utilizing lengthy polearms and with a transparent formation combating approach, notably the scene within the fall of Arrakeen the place the Atreides troopers are defending the steps – and seem like succeeding till the Sardaukar drop in behind their formation. All of which is to say, as an alternative of being dominated by ‘swordsmen’ combating unarmored with knives constructed for slicing assaults, I might count on this method of warfare to be dominated by armored fighters wielding primarily polearms, supported by thrusting daggers (one thing like a rondel dagger), whose main technique of combating principally consisted of formation combating in teams and grappling when combating alone.

The second downside I see is the laser weapons of the setting, ‘lasguns.’ I actually discover it unusual that Herbert felt the necessity to even embrace militarized laser weapons, on condition that they appear to me to create fairly substantial issues that he solely imperfectly resolves. The limitation imposed on lasguns is that in the event that they strike a protect, the result’s ‘sub-atomic fusion’ (the fiction’s time period) which instantly produces a nuclear explosion, which happens at a random level wherever from inside the protect to on the lasgun or alongside the beam between the 2. The concept is that this creates a robust weapon which within the fiction can solely be used towards enemies with out shields. Within the context of the primary e-book (the one one of many originals wherein the navy methods of the Nice Homes are actually functioning), that principally comes up in using lasguns towards the Fremen, since they don’t use shields. The concept being that utilizing a lasgun towards an opponent with a protect is just too harmful.

And the issue right here is that there are simply clearly plenty of navy targets which may be protected by shields the place it might be value risking the destruction of what’s, I need to stress, a man transportable weapon-system in an effort to destroy by a protect. The obvious can be the primary palace of one of many Nice Homes: it’s essential that the Atreides residence in Arakeen is protected by a robust protect generator, however why wouldn’t an enemy take the danger of sneaking a lasgun near the protect and discharging it? Your troopers needn’t even be current (nor should you utilize some kind of ‘considering machine’): a easy egg-timer connected to the set off of a hid laser weapon can be sufficient to make sure your staff had time to retreat out of the blast radius. Even when the explosion didn’t emerge inside the protect, triggering an untraceable nuclear blast in the midst of an opponent’s capital or in the midst of their area military can be a actually efficient tactic and so one would count on ‘suicide’ lasgun assaults on a regular basis. Particularly in a society that engages in “wars of assassins.”

Now I can not discover whether it is ever made clear if lasgun-shield explosions fall beneath the Nice Conference’s ban on atomics (nuclear weapons) within the setting. I suppose in the event that they do it is a partial repair: no Nice Home might brazenly use the above tactic with out breaching the conference. However then after all the issue turns into the deniable or surreptitious use of those ways, as a result of most often the very act of a lasgun-shield assault goes to obliterate all proof one would possibly use to find out the perpetrator and on condition that all the homes have each lasguns and shields, any such explosion might have been an accident.

It all the time appeared to me the storytelling answer right here was curiously easy – simply make the lasgun-shield interplay detonate simply the lasgun and achieve this fairly much less intensely than a nuclear blast and also you obtain the identical outcomes by way of the story.

All that mentioned, transferring ahead on this little bit of foolish evaluation, we’re going to imagine that the combating system works as marketed: shields make principally all projectile weapons largely ineffective, lowering fight to contact warfare. Lasguns are highly effective and fairly available, however too dangerous to make use of in an setting the place shields may be frequent.

What sort of warfare does that produce among the many Nice Homes and does it make sense?

Armies of the Nice Homes

The in-universe time period for the society of the Nice Homes has by no means made it into any of the variations and so could also be unfamiliar however will probably be helpful to us: it’s the faufreluche system, with the plural, ‘the faufreluches’ used to imply the entire of imperial society.

What we see within the societies of the faufreluches is that they’re intensely stratified and inflexible, to the purpose of practically being a hereditary caste system.  This technique is guidelines over in flip by the Nice Homes who’re accountable for imposing it of their domains.  They try this with their armies and the sense we get from the Nice Homes that we see is that these are intensely militarized social establishments, wholly bent across the provision of violence in society.  They’re, in follow, navy aristocracies.

They’re additionally small.  Actually small.  Home Atreides is the federal government for a planet (initially Caladan, then Arrakis), however it’s decision-making core is maybe just a few dozen individuals, as small or smaller than Alexander’s companions or the conflict council of a Roman common.  Administrative capability can be clearly severely restricted: Duke Leto’s greatest response to having functionally no information or management over the ‘Deep Desert’ that covers most of his planet is to ship one man (Duncan Idaho) on a mission to go test it out.  We get no trace of the kind of huge administration we’d count on from a contemporary administrative state governing even a mid-sized county, a lot much less a planet.

The opposite little bit of proof now we have is that their armies are additionally actually small. We get a way of what the biggest kind of offensive operation the setting would possibly usually see with the Harkonnen invasion of Arrakis. We get in snippets that the Harkonnen dedicated “ten legions” (which required one thing on the order of two,000 ships), together with two legions of Imperial Sardaukar. The latter we could assume is a comparatively small portion of the emperor’s complete forces, however I believe we should always assume that the Harkonnen pressure represents primarily their total offensive navy potential. Thufir Hawat is completely shocked by the dimensions of the assault and Vladimir Harkonnen notes that the price of it meant burning by Home Harkonnen’s appreciable reserves of money.

Now nowhere within the core textual content is the scale of a normal legion ever said, that I might discover, however the broad fandom usually accepted – I imagine from the Dune Encyclopedia – {that a} Dune legion consists of 30,000 males, divided into ten brigades. It must be a reasonably customary unit measurement throughout the homes to ensure that it to be helpful for each Hawat and the Baron as a instrument to suppose with, so I believe we will assume it is a more-or-less customary unit measurement for main operations.

That might make the sum complete of offensive Harkonnen energy round 300,000 troops. Presumably some additional forces had been held again on Geidi Prime or couldn’t be transported, however this pressure needed to characterize the lion’s share of Harkonnen forces just because it anticipated to outnumber the Atreides defenders, which was all the Atreides troops and Home Atreides is a peer competitor to Home Harkonnen and each of them are within the high rung of Nice Homes by way of navy energy instantly behind the emperor himself (to the purpose that the emperor is threatened by the rising energy of Home Atreides and later by that of Home Harkonnen).

I wish to cease right here and reply a key objection I do know is coming which is that it’s only the artificially excessive prices the Spacing Guild expenses for transport that retains armies small. The issue with that is after all when the Harkonnen assault Arrakis, whereas Harkonnen offensive energy is proscribed by guild transport prices, Atreides defensive energy isn’t: The Atreides gave up Caladan to return to Arrakis, so they’re all there, the total navy pressure of a first-rate Nice Home. And but the Harkonnen nonetheless count on to outnumber them. That means not that these Nice Homes have enormous mass armies they’ll’t transport, however fairly that the Harkonnen, with a closely industrialized homeworld, can construct marginally extra shields than most opponents and so have an unusually giant military (which they’ll solely transfer, as a result of it’s so giant, by burning off a technology or extra’s value of wealth gained by the exploitation of probably the most beneficial planet within the universe). So it’s not simply the Spacing Guild that retains armies small – evidently these societies can not reliably elevate a lot bigger armies even for home protection.

(That mentioned, I do suppose an element within the sturdiness of the Nice Homes is probably going that few homes can do because the Harkonnen did – transport a big fraction of their total navy energy for an offensive operation – due to Guild prices, resulting in a robust ‘defender’s benefit’ in warfare within the setting. In fact the Atreides do relocate beneath this similar regime with – we’re advised instantly – the total Home, however we’d assume that for such an ’emergency’ measure (which is definitely a entice with the Guild complicit) these heavy prices had been decreased or maybe supported by the emperor.)

So I believe we could say it is a navy system wherein 300,000 males is quite a bit for a ‘first tier’ Nice Home (excluding the Home Corrino) to have as its navy. Most Nice Homes would have had smaller armies, presumably.

Which could sound massive however these are the militaries of total planets that are actively on a conflict footing. The Purple Military within the Second World Struggle reached a frontline energy of over ten million and it represented just one (very giant and highly effective) nation. If Nice Home armies had been related in construction even to fashionable peacetime standing forces, we’d count on their complete energy to be within the tens of tens of millions, simply to match the extent of militarization now we have right here on Earth throughout a interval of comparatively low warfare. These armies are very clearly not that enormous. The truth that an Atreides pressure educated by Duncan Idaho – a single particular person – is known to be a possible risk suggests how small they’re and the way impactful comparatively small our bodies of troops are understood to be.

I truly suppose these components match collectively pretty properly in suggesting a sure kind of society. It actually isn’t that it is a depopulated universe – Arrakis is handled as an underpopulated, resource-poor wasteland and but Arakeen is clearly a serious metropolis (and there’s one other even bigger heart, Carthag, we hear about however don’t see). Geidi Prime is described as a closely industrialized world as properly, implying a considerable inhabitants. It is a populated universe, however one with very weak states, which management comparatively little of the true day-to-day exercise.

We truly get one of many strongest options of this with the dimensions of the Guild Heighliner that takes the Atreides to Arrakis: the entire of Home Atreides matches inside a comparatively small portion of its inside. However presumably these ships weren’t constructed comically giant as a result of it was humorous, fairly a lot of the remainder of that house goes to be taken up by common business site visitors – the motion of products and personal individuals – which might then dwarf the scale of the motion of your entire Atreides navy. Which once more, implies that there are lots of people and manufacturing taking place beneath the extent of the Nice Homes.

And that in flip matches with what we’re advised concerning the nature of the faufreluches as a social system: it’s inflexible, hierarchical, and stratified, with restricted mobility beneath the motto “a spot for each man and each man in his place.” Below that kind of system, we’d count on the decrease courses to be systematically de-militarized and certainly it looks as if they principally are. Native magnates might need entry to small quantities of armed pressure, however principally it’s only the Nice Homes that wield giant quantities of armed pressure, with which they rule over their planets.

So what now we have are comparatively giant societies dominated over by fairly small Nice Homes which consequently can not attain or impact most of what persons are doing, akin to the very weak states one typically sees within the pre-modern interval: the state can implement tax assortment, however it doesn’t actually present providers (besides violence) or have a lot of a job in regulating the day-to-day interactions. Given the sturdy sense of hierarchy in how the fraufreluches are described, I believe we should always in all probability perceive that the frequent particular person is as an alternative ‘dominated’ on a day-to-day foundation by smaller native Massive Males (in all probability substantial native property house owners; in-universe the time period for this class are the richece) who wield pressure notionally within the identify of the Nice Home however in follow achieve this with minimal interference from ‘the state’ akin to it’s.

That construction permits the personalist, patrimonial kind of rule the Nice Homes appear to exert, but in addition inhibits severely their means to truly mobilize the sources of their society. Home Atreides very evidently lacks even simply the fundamental administration to, say, put all of Arrakis on a ‘conflict financial system’ footing. If 300,000 males was one of the best the Harkonnen might do from a completely industrial planet, they too lack this kind of administration (this even after constructing a conflict chest harvesting spice on Arrakis for years!). As an alternative, with weak administrations, the Nice Homes survive by siphoning off solely a comparatively small portion of total financial exercise in an effort to carry out their main functions: persevering with to extract that small portion and utilizing what of it they’ll to wage their petty wars.

Does It Work?

I truly suppose this kind of works given what we’re advised about warfare. The important thing elements that appear to help a society being structured this manner are the sharp limits to what number of fighters a society can produce and the particular sorts of business navy energy accessible.

To simplify, there are principally 4 parts of navy energy for the Nice Homes on account of their expertise: educated fighters, shields, plane (ornithopters) and frigates (the time period for the usual space-going warship/transport of the setting, able to surface-to-orbit flight, however requiring a Guild Heighliner for interplanetary journey). We’re going to put aside the latter two for now besides to notice that they exist and matter rather a lot.

What the system must work is that shields are costly and fighters are laborious to coach, however with out each, a navy on this technological setting is extraordinarily laborious to make and hold useful.

First, shields are an costly piece of kit. That is repeatedly pressured: the Fremen don’t use shields as a result of they enrage the sandworms, but in addition they can not afford them. Duke Leto assumes it should take a very long time, even with the large revenue of Arrakis, to build up the wealth essential to equip the Fremen with shields (which he assumes is critical to make use of them militarily). So the price of shields goes to shrink armies.

And it’s going to shrink armies quite a bit. Once more, the implication of the setting is that the armies of total planets include maybe just a few hundred thousand shielded fighters, which actually implies that shields are massively costly. The conventional counter-argument right here is that it’s in reality the price of guild transport that retains these armies small, however we’ve handled that already. I’ve a tough time imagining precisely what kind of man-portable system could possibly be so costly than a complete planet might area solely tens of 1000’s of them, however we’d think about the impact to be one thing like a supercharged model of the best way nationwide air forces have modified as the price of plane (and their capabilities) have risen. Regardless of being enormously extra productive immediately than it was within the Forties, the USA maintains only some thousand fashionable fighters (the world’s largest fighter fleet) in comparison with the a number of hundred thousand far cheaper fighters the USA constructed throughout WWII.

Evidently within the Dune universe, even a man-portable body-shield appears to be an financial expense on the dimensions of one thing like a contemporary fifth technology fighter, so entire planets can afford solely small numbers of them.

The opposite side, after all, is the provide of educated fighters. In fact one of many fantastical components of Dune’s universe is that human coaching and studying is able to producing far better outcomes than in the true world, a results of the refinement of human studying and coaching after the abandonment of ‘considering machines’ within the Butlerian Jihad. Because of this, the hole between a educated fighter and an untrained one in shut fight (a distinction that may matter quite a bit for subsequent week) could be very giant. The Baron Harkonnen observes that the 2 Sardaukar legions that accompanied his military to Arrakis would possibly properly be capable to overwhelm them, regardless of being outnumbered five-to-one. Now what we see of the Harkonnen doesn’t recommend their warriors are properly educated – the Harkonnen navy is a quantity-over-quality navy, trying to leverage its industrial capabilities to the diploma it could possibly to make up for what look like poorly motivated and educated troopers – however the truth that such efficiency gaps are attainable is notable.

However additionally it is clear that coaching good fightiers on this society means demanding many years of centered effort. So not solely do these societies have to help the manufacturing of what appear to be extraordinarily costly weapon-systems (shields), the fighters who use these shields are additionally actually costly, demanding an infinite quantity of coaching in an effort to be totally efficient.

Which then ends in a navy setting wherein a small variety of shielded warriors might dominate a really giant ‘weekend warrior’ militia pressure. Shades of closely armored knights on horseback: costly weapon-system, troublesome and uncommon coaching, main energy to pay attention within the relative handful of people (in Frank Herbert’s universe, seemingly all the time males) who possess each. I can see such a system, kind of, rising beneath the situations set out.

The issue I see, akin to it’s is that this method doesn’t strike me as steady and the one factor we’re advised fairly clearly within the textual content is that it’s extraordinarily steady. The fundamental construction of the Imperium beneath Corrino rule, we’re advised, persists for ten thousand years and Leto II’s total baroque plan (the ‘golden path’) needs to be calibrated to partly to interrupt the super inertia of society beneath the faufreluches.

The issue with this method being steady is fairly easy: these small noble homes are perched atop very giant, advanced societies, that are able to supporting a contemporary administrative state. As famous, we don’t appear to have such a state equipment: Home Atreides arrives to Arrakis nearly completely as a military, to the purpose the place they’ve to rent native housekeepers. Likewise it’s notable within the banquet scene, the foremost native notables are “a stillsuit producer […] an electronics tools importer, a water-shipper […], a consultant of the Guild financial institution […], a seller in substitute components for spice mining tools” and so forth (Dune, 128). What we don’t see are the heads of main bureaucracies – the Minister for Spice Refining or the Secretary for the Transportation and Orbit Administration, that kind of factor – as a result of there don’t seem to be any.

As an alternative, the Nice Homes are principally ‘all military’ and compelled to contract out or delegate different features to the native notables, the ‘richece.’ Which once more, above, explains why these Nice Homes can solely siphon off a comparatively small portion of the productive capability of their worlds: there’s a rich upper-class that’s important to their administration which may resist extraction.

The issue for stability is that these societies have the expertise (speedy communications) and the power (giant surplus inhabitants, capability for mass schooling) to create a contemporary administrative state and the primary Nice Home to take action would massively enhance its financial and navy place. Furthermore, the richece themselves nearly actually are operating giant, administration-heavy bureaucratic organizations – these stillsuit factories and electronics importation operations don’t run themselves – and so are actively constructing the category of educated bureaucrats that the the Aristocracy might harness (or the wealth to displace the the Aristocracy and rule themselves). So I might count on this method to be unstable, both tipping over into the emergence of contemporary, high-capacity administrative states or – if the significance of that coaching remained excessive sufficient – with repeated battle between the richece (with their wealth and administrative capability) and their Nice Home overlords (with their armies of educated combating males) main the rule of the Nice Homes over their very own planetary fiefs to really feel profoundly precarious.

Both approach, the setting should proceed fairly quickly from the considerably ‘medieval Europe’ really feel of its governing buildings into an ‘early fashionable Europe’ really feel of instability, political foment and fragmentation, doubtlessly resulting in the emergence of much more succesful states (some beneath their previous hereditary monarchies, some beneath the richece as republics). However in-universe that doesn’t occur: the social system is as an alternative introduced as extraordinarily steady, solely in a position to be disrupted by a serious influence from outdoors of it: the Fremen.

And that’s the place we’ll head subsequent week: how do the Fremen match into this? Might they disrupt the system? Would they win?