Underestimating Badassery: Difference between revisions

*** Rather ironically making some of the same mistakes Russia did when invading Finland.

*** What people forget when bringing this up, however, is that the so-called "poor performance" didn't matter. Both instances the USSR took on Finland, the Soviets won no matter how badly the Finns bled them. Finland ended up ceding territory to the USSR each time. Territory they still hold to this day. It wasn't {{reflist}}even a [[Pyrrhic Victory]] by Soviet standards since even the massive disparity of losses was, ultimately, ''tiny'' given the massive reserves the USSR brought to bear. So in a recursive case of this trope, modern internet audiences go "LOL, Russia lost against Finland," ironically underestimating the ''larger'' power.

*When Maria Theresa's father died and she took the throne, the princes of Europe thought she was no more then a [[Damsel in Distress]]. What they found was that she was a [[Lady of War]].

* Rudyard Kipling (somewhere or other) told this story about how western sailors in Japanese ports would have a wild [[Bar Brawl]]. And then some nice polite little cops would walk in. The sailors would turn at them and laugh. Only to find that these cops were all former Samurai...