A fact from Kardarigan (6th century) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 8 March 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that because the Sassanid commander Kardarigan ordered his army's water supplies destroyed prior to the Battle of Solachon, many of his men died of thirst and water poisoning after the battle?
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So ... why did he destroy his own army's water supply? Was there some strategic rationale, or was he just a foresight-less ass? -- 174.21.235.250 (talk) 02:50, 8 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The rationale (if you can call it that) is explained in the Battle of Solachon article: in this way, he believed that his men would fight harder, since the only other water supply was the Arzamon river, to which access was blocked by the Byzantine army. Similar gestures have been made through history, e.g. Cortez burning his ships, only it did not end so well for Kardarigan's men... Constantine ✍ 09:20, 8 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
