Andreas Herberg‐Rothe
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199202690
- eISBN:
- 9780191707834
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202690.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Clausewitz draws different conclusions from his war experiences and analyses of Jena, Moscow, and Waterloo. Jena demonstrated for him the superiority of the strategies of unleashing violence, the ...
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Clausewitz draws different conclusions from his war experiences and analyses of Jena, Moscow, and Waterloo. Jena demonstrated for him the superiority of the strategies of unleashing violence, the attack and the decisive battle, and also the superiority of military power over policy. He developed from this experience an existential construction of war according to which the nation and the people should replace the state. The fundamental change in Clausewitz's thought began with Moscow. The superiority of the defence over attack, the military value of avoiding a decisive battle, and the realization of the immanent limits to what could be achieved by military action suggested a primacy of policy over the military aims. Waterloo finally demonstrated the primacy of policy and the negative side of Napoleon's strategy of unrestrained violence, which — as could now be seen — has led to self-destruction.Less
Clausewitz draws different conclusions from his war experiences and analyses of Jena, Moscow, and Waterloo. Jena demonstrated for him the superiority of the strategies of unleashing violence, the attack and the decisive battle, and also the superiority of military power over policy. He developed from this experience an existential construction of war according to which the nation and the people should replace the state. The fundamental change in Clausewitz's thought began with Moscow. The superiority of the defence over attack, the military value of avoiding a decisive battle, and the realization of the immanent limits to what could be achieved by military action suggested a primacy of policy over the military aims. Waterloo finally demonstrated the primacy of policy and the negative side of Napoleon's strategy of unrestrained violence, which — as could now be seen — has led to self-destruction.
S. J. Connolly
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199543472
- eISBN:
- 9780191716553
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199543472.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter provides a description of the death of Cormac McCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, at the naval battle off Lowestock in 1665 and introduces the book's central themes: the radical changes in ...
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This chapter provides a description of the death of Cormac McCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, at the naval battle off Lowestock in 1665 and introduces the book's central themes: the radical changes in political and cultural identity and allegiance that took place across time in early modern Ireland, and the inadequacy of narrow or deterministic ethnic or confessional labels.Less
This chapter provides a description of the death of Cormac McCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, at the naval battle off Lowestock in 1665 and introduces the book's central themes: the radical changes in political and cultural identity and allegiance that took place across time in early modern Ireland, and the inadequacy of narrow or deterministic ethnic or confessional labels.
Holger Hoock (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264065
- eISBN:
- 9780191734496
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264065.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This volume explores the commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar and Admiral Lord Nelson's death over the past two centuries. It includes the celebrations of 2005, which saw hundreds of official, ...
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This volume explores the commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar and Admiral Lord Nelson's death over the past two centuries. It includes the celebrations of 2005, which saw hundreds of official, commercial, and popular events celebrating and commemorating the bicentenary of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson. Leading historians of Britain and France reflect critically on complex notions of remembrance, celebration, honouring, and commemoration. Taking historical snapshots of the commemoration of Nelson at his death, a century later in 1905, and in contemporary Britain, the contributors ask: who drives the commemoration of historical anniversaries and to what ends? Which Nelson, or Nelsons, have had a role in national memory over the past two centuries? And who identifies with Nelson today? Focusing on Britain, but looking also at imperial and French contexts, the papers consider how memoirs, history writing, visual and modern media and museums, and official and unofficial interests, contribute to keeping and shaping memory. As the changing manner of memorializing key moments in national history allows historians to study cultural meanings and interpretations of national identity, the contributors to this volume exhort the wider profession to engage critically with ‘public history’. This work is about the history of memory and commemoration and will be of interest those with general interests in naval, maritime, cultural and public history.Less
This volume explores the commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar and Admiral Lord Nelson's death over the past two centuries. It includes the celebrations of 2005, which saw hundreds of official, commercial, and popular events celebrating and commemorating the bicentenary of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson. Leading historians of Britain and France reflect critically on complex notions of remembrance, celebration, honouring, and commemoration. Taking historical snapshots of the commemoration of Nelson at his death, a century later in 1905, and in contemporary Britain, the contributors ask: who drives the commemoration of historical anniversaries and to what ends? Which Nelson, or Nelsons, have had a role in national memory over the past two centuries? And who identifies with Nelson today? Focusing on Britain, but looking also at imperial and French contexts, the papers consider how memoirs, history writing, visual and modern media and museums, and official and unofficial interests, contribute to keeping and shaping memory. As the changing manner of memorializing key moments in national history allows historians to study cultural meanings and interpretations of national identity, the contributors to this volume exhort the wider profession to engage critically with ‘public history’. This work is about the history of memory and commemoration and will be of interest those with general interests in naval, maritime, cultural and public history.
J. G. Fuller
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198201786
- eISBN:
- 9780191675010
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201786.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History, Military History
The front-line soldiers of the First World War endured appalling conditions in the trenches and suffered unprecedented slaughter in battle. Their morale, as much as the strategy of their commanders, ...
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The front-line soldiers of the First World War endured appalling conditions in the trenches and suffered unprecedented slaughter in battle. Their morale, as much as the strategy of their commanders, played the crucial part in determining the outcome of ‘the war to end all wars’. This book examines the experience of the soldiers of the British and Dominion armies. How did the troops regard their plight? What did they think they were fighting for? The book draws on a variety of contemporary sources, including over a hundred magazines produced by the soldiers themselves. It looks at the trench journalism which played an important role in the lives of the ordinary soldiers. Other themes explored include the nature of patriotism, discipline, living conditions, and leisure activities such as sport, concert parties, and the music hall. The book's vivid study throws new light on the question of warfare, and in particular on how the British and Dominion armies differed from those of their allies and opponents, which were wracked by mutiny or defeat as the war went on.Less
The front-line soldiers of the First World War endured appalling conditions in the trenches and suffered unprecedented slaughter in battle. Their morale, as much as the strategy of their commanders, played the crucial part in determining the outcome of ‘the war to end all wars’. This book examines the experience of the soldiers of the British and Dominion armies. How did the troops regard their plight? What did they think they were fighting for? The book draws on a variety of contemporary sources, including over a hundred magazines produced by the soldiers themselves. It looks at the trench journalism which played an important role in the lives of the ordinary soldiers. Other themes explored include the nature of patriotism, discipline, living conditions, and leisure activities such as sport, concert parties, and the music hall. The book's vivid study throws new light on the question of warfare, and in particular on how the British and Dominion armies differed from those of their allies and opponents, which were wracked by mutiny or defeat as the war went on.
Catherine Clinton and Michele Gillespie (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195112436
- eISBN:
- 9780199854271
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195112436.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
When Europeans settled in the early South, they quarreled over many things—but few imbroglios were so fierce as battles over land. Landowners wrangled bitterly over boundaries with neighbors and ...
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When Europeans settled in the early South, they quarreled over many things—but few imbroglios were so fierce as battles over land. Landowners wrangled bitterly over boundaries with neighbors and contested areas became known as “the devil's lane.” Violence and bloodshed were but some of the consequences to befall those who ventured into these disputed territories. This book highlights important new work on sexuality, race, and gender in the South from the 17th- to the 19th-centuries. Chapters explore legal history by examining race, crime and punishment, sex across the color line, slander, competing agendas, and clashing cultures on the southern frontier. One chapter focuses on a community's resistance to a hermaphrodite, where the town court conducted a series of “examinations” to determine the individual's gender. Other pieces address topics ranging from resistance to sexual exploitation on the part of slave women to spousal murders, from interpreting women's expressions of religious ecstasy to a pastor's sermons about depraved sinners and graphic depictions of carnage, all in the name of “exposing” evil, and from a case of infanticide to the practice of state-mandated castration. Several of the chapters pay close attention to the social and personal dynamics of interracial women's networks and relationships across place and time. The book illuminates early forms of sexual oppression, inviting comparative questions about authority and violence, social attitudes and sexual tensions, the impact of slavery as well as the twisted course of race relations among blacks, whites, and Indians.Less
When Europeans settled in the early South, they quarreled over many things—but few imbroglios were so fierce as battles over land. Landowners wrangled bitterly over boundaries with neighbors and contested areas became known as “the devil's lane.” Violence and bloodshed were but some of the consequences to befall those who ventured into these disputed territories. This book highlights important new work on sexuality, race, and gender in the South from the 17th- to the 19th-centuries. Chapters explore legal history by examining race, crime and punishment, sex across the color line, slander, competing agendas, and clashing cultures on the southern frontier. One chapter focuses on a community's resistance to a hermaphrodite, where the town court conducted a series of “examinations” to determine the individual's gender. Other pieces address topics ranging from resistance to sexual exploitation on the part of slave women to spousal murders, from interpreting women's expressions of religious ecstasy to a pastor's sermons about depraved sinners and graphic depictions of carnage, all in the name of “exposing” evil, and from a case of infanticide to the practice of state-mandated castration. Several of the chapters pay close attention to the social and personal dynamics of interracial women's networks and relationships across place and time. The book illuminates early forms of sexual oppression, inviting comparative questions about authority and violence, social attitudes and sexual tensions, the impact of slavery as well as the twisted course of race relations among blacks, whites, and Indians.
Iain Mclean
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199546954
- eISBN:
- 9780191720031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546954.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, UK Politics
Temporary increase in number of veto players. Revolt of the landed class. Marxist explanation. Unionism and the British Empire. Primordial unionism. Bonar Law: the first non‐Anglican to lead the ...
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Temporary increase in number of veto players. Revolt of the landed class. Marxist explanation. Unionism and the British Empire. Primordial unionism. Bonar Law: the first non‐Anglican to lead the Conservative Party. Ireland: in the Union, but its opinions not to count.Less
Temporary increase in number of veto players. Revolt of the landed class. Marxist explanation. Unionism and the British Empire. Primordial unionism. Bonar Law: the first non‐Anglican to lead the Conservative Party. Ireland: in the Union, but its opinions not to count.
Peter McPhee
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207177
- eISBN:
- 9780191677533
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207177.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In the forty years after the Revolution of 1789, the peasants and former seigneurs of the isolated and arid region of the Corbières, Languedoc, fought a protracted battle over the consequences of ...
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In the forty years after the Revolution of 1789, the peasants and former seigneurs of the isolated and arid region of the Corbières, Languedoc, fought a protracted battle over the consequences of revolutionary change. Central to this conflict was control of the rough hillsides or garrigues used as sheep pastures, which the poorer peasantry seized and cleared. This social conflict culminated in the murder of two nobles by a band of villagers in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1830. This book highlights two new perspectives on the Revolution of 1789. First, the actions of poorer peasants in massive land-clearance occasioned an impassioned debate about the environmental consequences of uncontrolled tree-felling. Second, much of the cleared land was used for vineyards, suggesting the importance of far-reaching changes initiated by the poorest sections of the community.Less
In the forty years after the Revolution of 1789, the peasants and former seigneurs of the isolated and arid region of the Corbières, Languedoc, fought a protracted battle over the consequences of revolutionary change. Central to this conflict was control of the rough hillsides or garrigues used as sheep pastures, which the poorer peasantry seized and cleared. This social conflict culminated in the murder of two nobles by a band of villagers in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1830. This book highlights two new perspectives on the Revolution of 1789. First, the actions of poorer peasants in massive land-clearance occasioned an impassioned debate about the environmental consequences of uncontrolled tree-felling. Second, much of the cleared land was used for vineyards, suggesting the importance of far-reaching changes initiated by the poorest sections of the community.
R. R. Davies
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208785
- eISBN:
- 9780191678141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208785.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
In the two and a half centuries before the Black Death of 1349, Wales underwent economic, social, and ecclesiastical changes arguably more profound and far-reaching than any it experienced prior to ...
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In the two and a half centuries before the Black Death of 1349, Wales underwent economic, social, and ecclesiastical changes arguably more profound and far-reaching than any it experienced prior to the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Methodism. The extent and character of those changes have tended to be underestimated for several reasons. One such reason is that the clatter of battle and conquest has so engaged the attention of the historian, as indeed it did that of contemporary annalists and chroniclers, that it diverts attention from the much less obtrusive and slow-moving changes within society. All medieval societies were localized; few more so than medieval Wales. Such hints of change as survive are, therefore, of their nature fragmentary and localized. No Domesday Book or foreign trade statistics survive, as in England.Less
In the two and a half centuries before the Black Death of 1349, Wales underwent economic, social, and ecclesiastical changes arguably more profound and far-reaching than any it experienced prior to the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Methodism. The extent and character of those changes have tended to be underestimated for several reasons. One such reason is that the clatter of battle and conquest has so engaged the attention of the historian, as indeed it did that of contemporary annalists and chroniclers, that it diverts attention from the much less obtrusive and slow-moving changes within society. All medieval societies were localized; few more so than medieval Wales. Such hints of change as survive are, therefore, of their nature fragmentary and localized. No Domesday Book or foreign trade statistics survive, as in England.
Candida R. Moss
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199739875
- eISBN:
- 9780199777259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739875.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Early Christian Studies
This chapter examines the interpretation of the martyrs’ deaths in the early church and the significance of this kind of death both for the martyrs and for other Christians. It focuses on the ...
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This chapter examines the interpretation of the martyrs’ deaths in the early church and the significance of this kind of death both for the martyrs and for other Christians. It focuses on the presentation of martyrs as savior figures and the contribution this depiction makes for the history of soteriology. Against the dominant scholarly view, it argues that the martyr’s death was rarely viewed as a sacrifice for sin. Instead, it was interpreted differently in different accounts and regions. While allowing for the interweaving of various soteriological models, the chapter argues that martyrdom was viewed primarily as a victory over Satan in the apocalyptic cosmic battle and a moral example for imitation by the audiences of the account.Less
This chapter examines the interpretation of the martyrs’ deaths in the early church and the significance of this kind of death both for the martyrs and for other Christians. It focuses on the presentation of martyrs as savior figures and the contribution this depiction makes for the history of soteriology. Against the dominant scholarly view, it argues that the martyr’s death was rarely viewed as a sacrifice for sin. Instead, it was interpreted differently in different accounts and regions. While allowing for the interweaving of various soteriological models, the chapter argues that martyrdom was viewed primarily as a victory over Satan in the apocalyptic cosmic battle and a moral example for imitation by the audiences of the account.
Andrew Witmer
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195342536
- eISBN:
- 9780199867042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342536.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
During the second half of the nineteenth century, American intellectuals found much to argue over in the writings of Auguste Comte. A French social theorist generally credited as the founder of ...
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During the second half of the nineteenth century, American intellectuals found much to argue over in the writings of Auguste Comte. A French social theorist generally credited as the founder of modern sociology, Comte grounded his Positivist philosophy in a theory of history predicting the demise of theism and the triumph of naturalistic science and humanistic religion. Debates over Positivism peaked in the United States between the 1860s and 1880s, and became entangled with arguments over Darwinism and the alleged battle between religion and science. Most Americans dismissed Comte's predictions that belief in God would vanish, but his theories won over a small group of important thinkers, clothed Enlightenment attacks on traditional religion in the garb of scientific neutrality and historical inevitability, spurred on the academic secularizers who sought to reduce religion's public influence, and emerged during the middle decades of the twentieth century as a commonplace of modern sociology.Less
During the second half of the nineteenth century, American intellectuals found much to argue over in the writings of Auguste Comte. A French social theorist generally credited as the founder of modern sociology, Comte grounded his Positivist philosophy in a theory of history predicting the demise of theism and the triumph of naturalistic science and humanistic religion. Debates over Positivism peaked in the United States between the 1860s and 1880s, and became entangled with arguments over Darwinism and the alleged battle between religion and science. Most Americans dismissed Comte's predictions that belief in God would vanish, but his theories won over a small group of important thinkers, clothed Enlightenment attacks on traditional religion in the garb of scientific neutrality and historical inevitability, spurred on the academic secularizers who sought to reduce religion's public influence, and emerged during the middle decades of the twentieth century as a commonplace of modern sociology.
Ken Binmore
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195300574
- eISBN:
- 9780199783748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300574.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
This chapter develops the idea of a mixed strategy using the entry into a sealed-bid auction as a non-trivial example. Reaction curves are first illustrated for the case of pure strategies and then ...
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This chapter develops the idea of a mixed strategy using the entry into a sealed-bid auction as a non-trivial example. Reaction curves are first illustrated for the case of pure strategies and then applied to computing mixed Nash equilibria. The Hawk-Dove Game is equivalent either to the Prisoner's Dilemma or Chicken, depending on parameter values. The mixed-strategy reaction curves are plotted in each case. The interpretation of mixed Nash equilibria as polymorphic equilibria in a game played by a large population is considered. The matrix algebra necessary for handling mixed strategies is reviewed and illustrated with O'Neill's Card Game. Convexity ideas are reviewed and applied to the geometric representation of mixed strategies. Cooperative and noncooperative payoff regions are introduced and illustrated using Chicken and the Battle of the Sexes. Correlated equilibria are introduced after a discussion of self-policing agreements, cheap talk, and preplay randomization. The possibility of correlation without a referee using techniques from cryptography is discussed.Less
This chapter develops the idea of a mixed strategy using the entry into a sealed-bid auction as a non-trivial example. Reaction curves are first illustrated for the case of pure strategies and then applied to computing mixed Nash equilibria. The Hawk-Dove Game is equivalent either to the Prisoner's Dilemma or Chicken, depending on parameter values. The mixed-strategy reaction curves are plotted in each case. The interpretation of mixed Nash equilibria as polymorphic equilibria in a game played by a large population is considered. The matrix algebra necessary for handling mixed strategies is reviewed and illustrated with O'Neill's Card Game. Convexity ideas are reviewed and applied to the geometric representation of mixed strategies. Cooperative and noncooperative payoff regions are introduced and illustrated using Chicken and the Battle of the Sexes. Correlated equilibria are introduced after a discussion of self-policing agreements, cheap talk, and preplay randomization. The possibility of correlation without a referee using techniques from cryptography is discussed.
William R. Ryan
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387285
- eISBN:
- 9780199775774
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387285.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter deals with the rise of the radical Whig faction and how they, under the leadership of William Henry Drayton, antagonized the governor by trying to blockade the port, thus precipitating ...
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This chapter deals with the rise of the radical Whig faction and how they, under the leadership of William Henry Drayton, antagonized the governor by trying to blockade the port, thus precipitating the opening shots of the war in South Carolina. Moreover, this chapter demonstrates how tenuous the position of the Whigs was and how they simultaneously attempted to pacify insurgent white settlers and hostile Cherokee Indians in the backcountry. As the chapter title suggests, it deals with the volatile geopolitics of Revolutionary South Carolina, as well as the regional and class divisions that plagued the province during the fall and winter of 1775.Less
This chapter deals with the rise of the radical Whig faction and how they, under the leadership of William Henry Drayton, antagonized the governor by trying to blockade the port, thus precipitating the opening shots of the war in South Carolina. Moreover, this chapter demonstrates how tenuous the position of the Whigs was and how they simultaneously attempted to pacify insurgent white settlers and hostile Cherokee Indians in the backcountry. As the chapter title suggests, it deals with the volatile geopolitics of Revolutionary South Carolina, as well as the regional and class divisions that plagued the province during the fall and winter of 1775.
William R. Ryan
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387285
- eISBN:
- 9780199775774
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387285.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter illustrates how a mass exodus of slaves in Georgia (at Tybee Island) and a loyalist uprising in North Carolina hastened the drafting of an extremely conservative state constitution for ...
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This chapter illustrates how a mass exodus of slaves in Georgia (at Tybee Island) and a loyalist uprising in North Carolina hastened the drafting of an extremely conservative state constitution for South Carolina in March 1776. When the long‐anticipated British naval assault on Charles Town Harbor finally came on June 28, 1776, it was the skilled black navigators of South Carolina who piloted the Royal Navy ships over the bar. The “crime” that Thomas Jeremiah had been hanged and burned for just ten months earlier was carried out by a boatman named Sampson. Ironically, it was the insubordination of these pilots that ultimately led to Britain's humiliating defeat.Less
This chapter illustrates how a mass exodus of slaves in Georgia (at Tybee Island) and a loyalist uprising in North Carolina hastened the drafting of an extremely conservative state constitution for South Carolina in March 1776. When the long‐anticipated British naval assault on Charles Town Harbor finally came on June 28, 1776, it was the skilled black navigators of South Carolina who piloted the Royal Navy ships over the bar. The “crime” that Thomas Jeremiah had been hanged and burned for just ten months earlier was carried out by a boatman named Sampson. Ironically, it was the insubordination of these pilots that ultimately led to Britain's humiliating defeat.
Dennis E. Showalter
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199599486
- eISBN:
- 9780191595806
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199599486.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics, Political Theory
This chapter focuses on the rise and fall of operational art in the Prussian/German context. The rise began with Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke and two significant military successes: the defeat of ...
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This chapter focuses on the rise and fall of operational art in the Prussian/German context. The rise began with Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke and two significant military successes: the defeat of Austria in 1866 by Prussia and the defeat of France in 1870–1 by a Prussian‐led alliance. Erich von Ludendorff's operations on the Eastern Front notwithstanding, it would take another seventy years before the Germans again managed to take full advantage of operational art, in this case in the form of Blitzkrieg. The German invasions in 1939–40 reflected operational art at its best, while Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia in June 1941, marked ‘imperial overreach’ and marked the beginning of the end of German operational art.Less
This chapter focuses on the rise and fall of operational art in the Prussian/German context. The rise began with Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke and two significant military successes: the defeat of Austria in 1866 by Prussia and the defeat of France in 1870–1 by a Prussian‐led alliance. Erich von Ludendorff's operations on the Eastern Front notwithstanding, it would take another seventy years before the Germans again managed to take full advantage of operational art, in this case in the form of Blitzkrieg. The German invasions in 1939–40 reflected operational art at its best, while Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia in June 1941, marked ‘imperial overreach’ and marked the beginning of the end of German operational art.
Thomas E. Kaiser
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265383
- eISBN:
- 9780191760433
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265383.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
When during the French Revolution the deputies of the National Assembly pondered the reasons for France's decades-long decline as a world power, many attributed it to the Franco-Austrian alliance of ...
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When during the French Revolution the deputies of the National Assembly pondered the reasons for France's decades-long decline as a world power, many attributed it to the Franco-Austrian alliance of 1756, which had allegedly produced the humiliating outcome of the Seven Years' War. This chapter demonstrates how, why, and with what political effects the alliance was represented by its critics from its inception as the work of a powerful pro-Austrian ministerial lobby willing to sacrifice the interests of the nation to those of the dynasty and the Habsburgs. Reinforcing this view was the repeated appointment of incompetent military commanders loyal to the lobby supporting the alliance. At a time of rising national consciousness, the tale of infidelity, defeat, and impotence told by the alliance's many critics helped convince the general public that France was in desperate need of a new, nationally centred foreign policy as part of its general regeneration.Less
When during the French Revolution the deputies of the National Assembly pondered the reasons for France's decades-long decline as a world power, many attributed it to the Franco-Austrian alliance of 1756, which had allegedly produced the humiliating outcome of the Seven Years' War. This chapter demonstrates how, why, and with what political effects the alliance was represented by its critics from its inception as the work of a powerful pro-Austrian ministerial lobby willing to sacrifice the interests of the nation to those of the dynasty and the Habsburgs. Reinforcing this view was the repeated appointment of incompetent military commanders loyal to the lobby supporting the alliance. At a time of rising national consciousness, the tale of infidelity, defeat, and impotence told by the alliance's many critics helped convince the general public that France was in desperate need of a new, nationally centred foreign policy as part of its general regeneration.
Christina Shuttleworth Kraus
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter discusses the work narrative structure does in creating meaning through a case study of BG 7. It analyses how the text invites us to isolate and then pit paired elements against each ...
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This chapter discusses the work narrative structure does in creating meaning through a case study of BG 7. It analyses how the text invites us to isolate and then pit paired elements against each other: Caesar and Vercingetorix, who structure BG 7 and the history as a whole; Avaricum and Alesia, with their internally-divisive physical structures; and various doubled plot elements at Gergovia. Close reading of the Gergovia narrative shows how the interweaving of plots and the insistent doubling of conventional battle and ethnographical elements create significant echoes that signal to a reader both the constructedness of the narrative and its affinity with ‘proper’ literary historiography. Caesar leads us to consider not only the whats and whys, but most importantly the hows, of narrative. How we divide this (or any) text affects our interpretation; and the more conscious we are of the spaces, and the topoi that structure the narrative, the better we can understand it as historiographical re-presentation.Less
This chapter discusses the work narrative structure does in creating meaning through a case study of BG 7. It analyses how the text invites us to isolate and then pit paired elements against each other: Caesar and Vercingetorix, who structure BG 7 and the history as a whole; Avaricum and Alesia, with their internally-divisive physical structures; and various doubled plot elements at Gergovia. Close reading of the Gergovia narrative shows how the interweaving of plots and the insistent doubling of conventional battle and ethnographical elements create significant echoes that signal to a reader both the constructedness of the narrative and its affinity with ‘proper’ literary historiography. Caesar leads us to consider not only the whats and whys, but most importantly the hows, of narrative. How we divide this (or any) text affects our interpretation; and the more conscious we are of the spaces, and the topoi that structure the narrative, the better we can understand it as historiographical re-presentation.
John C. Wilkinson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199588268
- eISBN:
- 9780191595400
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588268.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter pursues the fortunes of the Azd and other ‘Gulf’ tribes in the Fârs campaign and then in Basra, their role in the Battle of the Camel, and the formation of the Azd khums. Misapprehension ...
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This chapter pursues the fortunes of the Azd and other ‘Gulf’ tribes in the Fârs campaign and then in Basra, their role in the Battle of the Camel, and the formation of the Azd khums. Misapprehension concerning the term Azd 'Umân has distorted this early history: all the Azd in Basra were Omani but there was a wave of new migrants, essentially bedu (who may well have been excluded by 'Uthmân) at the end of Mu'âwiya's reign and these new migrants played a crucial role in events in Basra at the start of the second civil war. Basra was now threatened by the Azâriqa, Khawârij extremists, and was saved by al–Muhallab, whose family were not originally of Omani ashrâf origins, but military leaders. This marked the real rise in Omani fortunes as Muhallab and his son Yazid received governorships of enormous dimensions and inevitably a growing determination of Hajjaj to break the powers of the great Yamani leaders, the Kindi al–Ash'ath from Kufa and Yazîd b. al–Muhallab al–Azdi from Basra.Less
This chapter pursues the fortunes of the Azd and other ‘Gulf’ tribes in the Fârs campaign and then in Basra, their role in the Battle of the Camel, and the formation of the Azd khums. Misapprehension concerning the term Azd 'Umân has distorted this early history: all the Azd in Basra were Omani but there was a wave of new migrants, essentially bedu (who may well have been excluded by 'Uthmân) at the end of Mu'âwiya's reign and these new migrants played a crucial role in events in Basra at the start of the second civil war. Basra was now threatened by the Azâriqa, Khawârij extremists, and was saved by al–Muhallab, whose family were not originally of Omani ashrâf origins, but military leaders. This marked the real rise in Omani fortunes as Muhallab and his son Yazid received governorships of enormous dimensions and inevitably a growing determination of Hajjaj to break the powers of the great Yamani leaders, the Kindi al–Ash'ath from Kufa and Yazîd b. al–Muhallab al–Azdi from Basra.
Mark S. Massa
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199734122
- eISBN:
- 9780199866373
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734122.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter introduces the law of unintended consequences for understanding Catholic changes since Vatican II. The law of unintended consequences simply refers to the insight that historical ...
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This chapter introduces the law of unintended consequences for understanding Catholic changes since Vatican II. The law of unintended consequences simply refers to the insight that historical actions, once undertaken, have consequences of their own, regardless of the actors who made them. This insight is especially important with regard to the Second Vatican Council, as recent debates centered on the intentions of the participants at the event in 1962–65. The chapter thus offers a distinctive point of view on what many refer to as the “Vatican II battles” over the meaning of that Council: it argues that Catholics first recognized historical change in the years after the Second Vatican Council. It was the growth of this historical consciousness within the Church that set off the battles within the Catholic community. The chapter thus sets up the narrative that follows.Less
This chapter introduces the law of unintended consequences for understanding Catholic changes since Vatican II. The law of unintended consequences simply refers to the insight that historical actions, once undertaken, have consequences of their own, regardless of the actors who made them. This insight is especially important with regard to the Second Vatican Council, as recent debates centered on the intentions of the participants at the event in 1962–65. The chapter thus offers a distinctive point of view on what many refer to as the “Vatican II battles” over the meaning of that Council: it argues that Catholics first recognized historical change in the years after the Second Vatican Council. It was the growth of this historical consciousness within the Church that set off the battles within the Catholic community. The chapter thus sets up the narrative that follows.
Edward Bispham
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231843
- eISBN:
- 9780191716195
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231843.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter examines the evolution of ‘Italy’ itself. It identifies the Pyrrhic Wars as a key turning point in the evolution of the concept of Italy in the middle republic. An example of terra ...
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This chapter examines the evolution of ‘Italy’ itself. It identifies the Pyrrhic Wars as a key turning point in the evolution of the concept of Italy in the middle republic. An example of terra Italia is presented, which comes from a discussion of Pyrrhos' invasion in Aulus Gellius. It is argued that as propaganda, terra Italia may have originated in the decades following the battle of Sentinum, redolent of an ideological unity in the face of foreign foes (Epirote, Punic, or Gallic). Its technical sense, denoting non-Gallic Italy, may have first appeared as Rome began to acquire spheres of interest in Sicily, Sardinia, and the Po valley, leading to the need to differentiate overseas territories from those of the Italian alliance.Less
This chapter examines the evolution of ‘Italy’ itself. It identifies the Pyrrhic Wars as a key turning point in the evolution of the concept of Italy in the middle republic. An example of terra Italia is presented, which comes from a discussion of Pyrrhos' invasion in Aulus Gellius. It is argued that as propaganda, terra Italia may have originated in the decades following the battle of Sentinum, redolent of an ideological unity in the face of foreign foes (Epirote, Punic, or Gallic). Its technical sense, denoting non-Gallic Italy, may have first appeared as Rome began to acquire spheres of interest in Sicily, Sardinia, and the Po valley, leading to the need to differentiate overseas territories from those of the Italian alliance.
Colin Pengelly
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813033136
- eISBN:
- 9780813038780
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813033136.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
The Siege of Yorktown — the military engagement that ended the American Revolutionary War — would not have been possible without the French fleet's major strategic victory in the Battle of the ...
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The Siege of Yorktown — the military engagement that ended the American Revolutionary War — would not have been possible without the French fleet's major strategic victory in the Battle of the Chesapeake on September 5, 1781. It was during this battle that British fleets lost control of the Chesapeake Bay and the supply lines to the major military base at Yorktown, Virginia. As a direct result, General George Washington's forces and the newly arrived French troops were able to apply the pressure that finally broke the British army. Sir Samuel Hood (1724–1816) was one of the commanders of the British fleet off the Virginia Capes during the American Revolution. Responsibility for some of the missed opportunities and gaffes committed by the British during the bloody Battle of the Chesapeake can be traced to him, specifically his failure to bring his squadron into action at a key moment in the action. Afterward, Hood defended his actions by arguing that ordering his ships to attack would have contradicted the orders sent to him by battle flag. Hood largely escaped blame, which was assigned to Rear Admiral Graves, who commanded the fleet. Though Hood's inaction arguably resulted in the loss of the American colonies, he ultimately rose to command the Mediterranean fleet. This book engages the details of this battle, and the author sifts through Hood's own propaganda to determine how he escaped subsequent blame.Less
The Siege of Yorktown — the military engagement that ended the American Revolutionary War — would not have been possible without the French fleet's major strategic victory in the Battle of the Chesapeake on September 5, 1781. It was during this battle that British fleets lost control of the Chesapeake Bay and the supply lines to the major military base at Yorktown, Virginia. As a direct result, General George Washington's forces and the newly arrived French troops were able to apply the pressure that finally broke the British army. Sir Samuel Hood (1724–1816) was one of the commanders of the British fleet off the Virginia Capes during the American Revolution. Responsibility for some of the missed opportunities and gaffes committed by the British during the bloody Battle of the Chesapeake can be traced to him, specifically his failure to bring his squadron into action at a key moment in the action. Afterward, Hood defended his actions by arguing that ordering his ships to attack would have contradicted the orders sent to him by battle flag. Hood largely escaped blame, which was assigned to Rear Admiral Graves, who commanded the fleet. Though Hood's inaction arguably resulted in the loss of the American colonies, he ultimately rose to command the Mediterranean fleet. This book engages the details of this battle, and the author sifts through Hood's own propaganda to determine how he escaped subsequent blame.
