A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
A look at history and popular culture
This week, time for something a bit silly: we're going to think about the plausibility of the warfare in Frank Herbert's Dune! In particular, I want to approach the question in two parts: first asking if the model of warfare among the Great Houses we're introduced to in the first book of Dune (that is, … Continue reading Collections: Warfare in Dune, Part I: Fighting Faufreluches
This week we're going to take a look at mercenaries in the ancient Mediterranean world! This was one of the runners-up in the latest ACOUP Senate poll, coming out of quite a few requests to discuss how mercenaries functioned in antiquity. In order to keep the scope here manageable and within my expertise, I am … Continue reading Collections: Ancient Mediterranean Mercenaries!
This week, continuing in the vein of some of our previous strategy and military theory primers, I wanted to off a basic 101-level survey of the strategic theory behind efforts, in a sense, directed against the state itself, both violent approaches (what we might call 'terroristic insurgency') and non-violent approaches (protest). It may seem strange … Continue reading Collections: Against the State – A Primer on Terrorism, Insurgency and Protest
This week, by order of the ACOUP Senate, we're talking about the Late Bronze Age Collapse (commonly abbreviated 'LBAC'), the shocking collapse of the Late Bronze Age state system across the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East during the 12th century (that is, the 1100s) BC. In the broader Mediterranean world, the Late Bronze Age Collapse … Continue reading Collections: The Late Bronze Age Collapse, A Very Brief Introduction
This is, at long last, the last part of our four-part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb). last time we looked at the social status of hoplites and the implications that had for the political and social structure of the polis and even the very basic question of how many people there were … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part IVb: Training Hoplites?
This is the last part of our four-part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb) on the debates surrounding ancient Greek hoplites and the phalanx formation in which they fought. We've spent the last two entries in this series looking at warfare quite narrowly through the lens of tactics: hoplite spacing, depth, fighting style, … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars: Part IVa, The Status of Hoplites
This week we're going to take a brief break from our series on hoplites (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb) to address a broader question in how we understand the mechanics of warfare with contact weapons, which is the mechanics of the concept of a 'battle pulse.' This notion, that front lines in contact … Continue reading Intermission: Battle Pulses
This is the second half of the third part of our four-part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb) discussing the debates surrounding ancient Greek hoplites and the formation in which they (mostly?) fought, the phalanx. Last week, we discussed the development of hoplite warfare through the Archaic period (c. 750-480). Our evidence for … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part IIIb: A Phalanx By Any Other Name
This is the third part of our four-part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb) discussing the debates surrounding ancient Greek hoplites and the formation in which they (mostly?) fought, the phalanx. Last week, we looked at how the equipment which defined the hoplite - hoplite (ὁπλίτης), after all, means 'equipped man') - and … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part IIIa: An Archaic Phalanx?
This is the second part of what looks like it'll be end up as a four part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb) discussing the debates surrounding ancient Greek hoplites, the heavy infantry of the Archaic (800-480) and Classical (480-323) periods. Last week, we outlined the contours of the debate: the major points … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part II: Hoplite Equipment, Hoplight or Hopheavy?