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The end of war, at least amongst developed nations...or is it?

(Source: www.toonpool.com)

I was listening to an interesting podcast titled, are wars on the decline, that was based on a segment from the Australian Radio National progam, Late Night Live in which a journalist as well as an academic were interviewed about research showing that war was on decline across the globe. The academic was Professor John Mueller from Ohio State University who has been researching this trend for a number of years while the journalist was Peter Hartcher from the Sydney Morning Herald. Peter had also written an article touching on the issues covered in the podcast. Below is a quote from the article.

There has been a pronounced decline in the number of wars and the deadliness of war in the world. One expert, John Mueller, professor of political science at Ohio State University, writes: "We may be reaching a point where war - in both its international and civil varieties - ceases, or nearly ceases to exist, a remarkable development that has attracted little notice."

Some pictures of the old fortifications on the South Head of Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour is one of the most beautiful harbours in the world but despite its wonderful vistas it is still a harbour and therefore it has been a location worth defending. Its beauty now conceals a number of sites throughout the harbour and its surrounds that were built for more worried times. Over the recent Christmas break I was in Sydney and went for a trip around a few of the old fortifications. The weather in Sydney over summer tends be gorgeous and wondering around old fortifications in a beautiful harbour setting under sunny weather conditions is a great way to spend a day. I have placed a number of pictures below that will hopefully show what can still be found in just one part of the harbour. North Head, Middle Head and Bradley's Head all have fortifications, some of which are more complete than the fortifications that I discuss below. I grew up around the South Head side of Sydney Harbour so it was nice to return there for a look around.

The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NSW NPWS) sign on South Head that explains about the fortifications.

Videos from the US Army on the evolution of modern warfare

 

While surfing through YouTube I came upon this terrific series of videos. They were created by the US Army's Combat Studies Institute to help instructors prepare themselves with additional information before they taught the evolution of modern warfare package. I have linked to the first of twelve videos above and you can then watch them in order as they appear on the right hand side of the page. Alternatively, you can go to the uploader's defence page, PublicResourceOrg, and watch them through that means. If you are very keen then it seems you can buy the supplementary reading package from Amazon as someone is selling a second-hand copy.

For a non-US national they do come across as very US centric but given the aim of the videos is to train US military personnel the focus is understandable. It is also interesting understanding how the lessons of military history are used to teach the current generation of leaders about the evolution of their vocation.

A historic picture on the threat from Asia - the Yellow Peril

I was listening to the New Books in East Asian Studies Podcast on Michael Kevaak's Becoming Yellow: A short history on Racial Thinking. It was interesting to hear the development of the colour 'yellow' being used to describe Asians and then how this also emerged as the 'Yellow Peril.' Kevaak discussed a picture that was created on the orders of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in 1895. It showed St Michael with a group of armed women, including Britannia, peering from a cliff top at an approaching, menacing Buddha. The picture was reproduced in Harper's Weekly thus reaching a wide audience.

 
Peoples of Europe, guard your dearest goods (Source)

Military History Carnival #27 is posted, and I have an entry

Military History Carnival #27 is posted over at the History News Network Blog. I finally got around to writing a submission which was included, so I am very happy.

Fittingly, this marks my 100th post for this blog. I know, its not climbing Mount Everest or winning an Olympic Gold but it is a milestone for my blog. Many thanks for those who pop by here regularly and for those who have left comments. It is nice to see the page view total continue to grow.

Vale Richard Holmes

 (From http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/castle.html)

I awoke this morning to the sad tweet from Adrian Murdoch, of the superb Bread and Circuses, that the distinguished British military Historian Richard Holmes passed away on Saturday, 30 April 2011. The Telegraph's obituary is here (Hat Tip to Adrian Murdoch's Tweet) and there are tributes to be found here.

If you have even a passing interest in military history then you have probably read, listened to or watched Richard Holmes. I remember his fascinating narration of the documentary of Rebels and Redcoats. He talked you through the war as a friend and a mentor. His engaging style complemented the actual locations where the history occurred.

One of the strengths in his work was letting the participants tell their stories. I read his book Sahib enjoying the way that he was able to join the narratives by the actual people, stepping back to let them tell their story, returning to guide the reader to the next original tale. I bought Redcoat based on Sahib and was planning to read it soon.

He was a prolific author, a wonderful historian and a captive narrator. Military history has lost one of its true masters and the world has lost one of the last real gentlemen. It is a sadder day knowing that Richard Holmes will not be producing any more work. Condolences to his family and friends; vale Richard Holmes.

The end of military history

This is not a crazy post nor is it a an announcement on the demise of this blog. It is actually a reference to the book by Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man, originally published in 1992 and recently re-released with a new afterword. To over-simplify his argument, Fukuyama postulated that as history was about a clash of competing ideologies and political systems as the world was moving towards liberal democracy and a free market, soon there would be no major conflicts. This was after all the time immediately after the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. Even John Keegan in his masterly A History of Warfare offers a similar hope for the end of major conflict at the conclusion of his book. I am not going that far as to say that conflict is ending but I wonder if we seeing a converging of military systems so that in the future we will see very similar militaries opposing each other. The spread of ideas and technology has led to a convergence of conventional military power structures. I am thinking through this as I write so hopefully by the time of my conclusion I will still see things the same way.

The humble bow

One of my Christmas presents this year was a book called Traditional Archery from Six Continents and an excellent book it is.

It also came at an opportune time as I had been thinking a lot about the development of warfare. At the most basic level the tools of warfare appear to have emerged in a single location in pre-historic times and then moved on from there. The sword is probably the clearest example of an exclusive weapon although its genesis is later than the bow, probably only appearing during the Bronze Age. The sword is not readily useful for anything else except fighting with another human. A spear is a much better hunting implement than a sword. Also, the sword has not swept completely across the world. While the Aztecs did use a club lined with sharpened stones, it was not a development of an existing sword but a refinement of a club. I suspect that the bow and arrow emerged earlier and that they did move across much of the globe.

A visit to the site of the Battle of Culloden

The Battle of Culloden is more than a battle it is everything from the romance of a lost cause to a litany of mistakes. The battle is more important in what it came to be than the hour of fighting would have us expect. Compared to the almost whole day of fighting at Hastings or Waterloo, Culloden was a brief affair. Like many people I had heard of Culloden and over the last few years I have read a little bit about the battle although I would not describe myself as one who has studied it. Culloden seemed to be the low point of the 1745 revolt, not just because of the defeat but because the Jacobite Army 'deserved' to lose that day because it could not get itself prepared for victory. I have included some photos below that I hope will show what I mean by that statement.

What is military history?

The question seems obvious enough but I found myself asking what is military history to myself? I have stated that this blog is some thoughts on military history but I could not come up with a clear explanation in my mind as to what military history was. I suppose it would be easy to say that military history is about battles, but what defines a battle. Was the British Army's suppression of the Quit India campaign part of military history or could a military historian legitimately brush it aside as belonging to another history discipline? I don't think that this post will change the world, nor is it intended to do so, I just want to figure out in my own mind what military history is. Please feel free to join me.

Mounted British Archers

Despite the preceding entry and this one I am not turning this blog into a blog about archery but while reading about English longbowmen I came across an interesting reference to British mounted archers. It appears that Edward III decided that he needed his archers to be more mobile on the battlefield and therefore mounted some on horses, thus creating prototype dragoons. Infantry had been mounted before in England to help improve their mobility  but the sources agree that this was the first attempt by the English and potentially Western Europe to mount archers on horses. It should be noted that no modern writers believe that the archers fought on horses back like eastern archers rather that they moved on horseback to where they were required and then dismounted to shoot.