A multitude of interesting articles today.
The Journal of Conflict Archaeology has three items of
interest.
Sigrid
Van der Auwera and Annick Schramme write on national celebrations of the First
World War in general and on Flanders Fields in particular. Their research indicates that the level of
celebrations is based on extent of involvement in the war, the effects the war
had on participants, the level of civil society involvement and so on. Some nations stress a peace message whereas
some celebrate the event. Ultimately
the celebrations are determined by the social and historic constructs that are
in place in the particular nations.
Soldiers of Belgium - probably early 1918
Jean-Loup Gassend points out that shells were the most destructive
weapon used in the twentieth century with vast amounts produced and used on
battlefields. Gassend states that
shell fragments are the most common artifacts found on modern battlefields and
uses WWII shells as an example to illustrate how a battlefield archaeologist
can use these fragments to find a wealth of information on the shell itself and about the battlefield being studied.
Grzegorz Podruczny and Jakub Wrzosek provide details on an archaeological
study of a Russian Observation Corps grenadier found during excavations of the
site of the Battle of Kunersdorf which occurred on August 12, 1759. They describe how they identified the
grenadier, the context of the find and new details concerning the history of
the battle.
19th century - Russian grenadiers and musketeers in 1762
Italian
Studies presents an article by Robert Black discussing Machiavelli and his
government’s appointment of don Miguel de Corella as head of the
Florentine native militia. There
were apparent political ramifications to this appointment and the author
provides information that there were political goals
associated with this action.
The English Historical Review provides two
interesting articles on military history.
Ian Stone
writes on the Rebel Barons of 1264 and their oath of mutual support. In March 1264, the commune of London and
twenty other rebels vowed to stand together,six weeks before the
battle of Lewes . The oath has not
previously been translated and transcribed.
Stone compares the oath to others from this period and provides
information on the sympathies and motivations of the oath takers.
Stephen
Conway provides a detailed examination of British use of European troops to
sustain the British Empire from 1756 to 1792. Conway focuses on their use in North America, India, Gibraltar
and Minorca. Conway discusses why the
British used Europeans rather than locals or even British and Irish troops. Then he assesses the actual numbers and
extent of use of these troops and finishes with an assessment on the quality of
these troops.
1791 - Fanciful watercolor of Indian demons attacking British East India Company during the Third Mysore War (1790-1792)
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