Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645)
“In short, the Way of the Ichi school is the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon and whatever its size.”
Snorri Sturluson (c. 1179-1241)
“The goddesses are no less sacred, nor are they less powerful.”
(75mm pack howitzer M1920, c. 1921 [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
By the end of the 19th century, into the early 20th century, the weapons of warfare were evolving at an alarming rate. Guns, explosives and machines were becoming increasingly more lightweight, powerful and exponentially more deadly. The tragedy of the situation was that very few people knew just how devastating many of these new weapons would be when a major war broke out. True, there were many wars in the years before World War One— such as the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the Boer Wars (1880-1881 and 1889-1902), the Spanish-American War (1898), and the Ruso-Japanese War (1904-1905). Yet, in these wars, countries often remained doubtful about the new weaponry in their arsenals, and were still in a phase of experimentation and implementation. By the start of WWI in 1914, however, most major powers had adopted the latest guns, artillery, explosives, ships and planes, resulting in a Great War the likes of which the world had never before seen.
(Fra Burmeister og Wain’s Iron Foundry, by Peder Severin Kroyer (1851-1909), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
In order to create and transport newer, stronger weapons, the major powers needed improved manufacturing systems, quick infrastructure and a streamlined military hierarchy to oversee and direct the growing armies. In the late 19th century, all of these requirements were achieved. Steam powered engines allowed forges to create sturdier, but lighter-weight, metals that were used in producing weapons. For the transportation of weaponry, supplies and soldiers, the locomotive and railway boom fit that bill perfectly. As for military hierarchical structure, the competent General Staff of the Prussian military impressed the major powers of the world after the Franco-Prussian War. Most countries either copied Germany’s General Staff, or they adapted pieces of the German system for their own militaries. The idea of conscription, or the military draft, was another favorite idea adopted by world powers from the German war machine.
(Munition workers painting shells at the National Shell Filling Factory No.6, Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, c. 1917, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
The powerful explosives, TNT (1863), and later dynamite (1867), were also produced and refined in the decades before WWI. At the same time, artillery was becoming larger and lighter, and could fire rounds much farther than before. The giant guns were also equipped with recoil mechanisms so soldiers were no longer required to push their canons back into position after each shot. Another inventor named Paul M. E. Vieille developed stable and safe smokeless gunpowder in 1884. In addition to reducing smoke emissions, Vieille’s new powder gave projectiles better range and stopping power. As an added benefit, it did not clog weapons as badly as previous gunpowders and the relatively smokeless battlefields led to better visibility during firefights.
(British artillery gun going to its position in Ypres, Belgium, c. 1918, [Public Domain] via Flickr Commons and the Creative Commons)
The advances in explosives and artillery were utilized in the design of the British Dreadnaught battleships, which were unveiled in 1906. Similarly, Wilbur and Orville Wright took flight in the world’s first stable and controllable airplane in 1903, and aircraft would be outfitted with weaponry by WWI.
(French soldiers waiting assault behind a ditch around 1914, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
While artillery pieces were becoming stronger, so were smaller firearms. Around the 1970s, the major powers began to equip their infantry with powerful rifles. Prussia led the charge with their Prussian Needle Gun around 1871, and they later switched to the Mauser metal cartridge bolt-action rifle. Rate of fire and ease of use further improved for rifles in 1885, when Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher invented the clip-loaded magazine. The last country to formally adopt a rifle was the United Sates, which experimented with the Krag-Jorgenson rifle in 1893, but soon decided on the Springfield in 1903. Even more devastating than the rifles, however, were the machine guns. The first self-powered machine gun was the Maxim Gun, produced in 1884, which could fire about 600 rounds a minute. As WWI approached, newer machine guns were produced, such as the Vickers machine gun, which was picked up by the British in 1912.
(British Vickers machine gun crew wearing PH-type anti-gas helmets. Near Ovillers during the Battle of the Somme, July 1916.)
With all of these military advancements, it is easy to see why the world powers were so shocked by the devastation of WWI, especially with the addition of mortars, flamethrowers, tanks and chemical weapons. Before WWI, the major powers did not truly grasp the terrible potential of modern weaponry, but they got to know the devastation intimately once the Great War erupted.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Sources:
The Roman emperor, Constantine the Great (c. 272/280-337), is commonly viewed with a positive light. This perspective is likely deserved—the man achieved a lot of impressive feats in his lifetime. He ended Christian persecution in the Roman Empire and was the only survivor in the civil war between the leaders of the Roman Tetrarchy. The tetrarchy divided the empire between two dominant emperors with the label, “Augustus” and two subservient “Caesars,” but Constantine’s victory in the civil war brought Rome, once again, under the rule of one strong emperor. Constantine also founded the city of Constantinople, the second great capital of the Roman Empire.
It is true that Constantine accomplished a lot of great things, and in many ways was a force for good, yet the darker side of Constantine cannot be forgotten—he was a brutal emperor. Brutality, however, should not be a surprising trait in Roman emperors, especially those involved in civil wars. Even the wise philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius had a few persecutions in his day. To be a successful civil war emperor, Constantine had to carefully craft his own image and tarnish the reputations of his enemies and, sometimes, make his rivals suspiciously disappear.
One of Constantine’s subtle skills was misinformation and distraction. The previous leader of the Roman Tetrarchy prior to Constantine, named Diocletian (emperor, 284-305), had carried out elaborate Christian persecutions during his reign. Diocletian’s persecutions, which occurred around 302-303, were in full swing when Constantine was in his thirties. At the time, Constantine’s father (Constantius Chlorus) was a member of the tetrarchy and Constantine was lobbying for a prestigious position in the court of Diocletian. In his successful bid to gain the support of the Christian population of Rome, however, Constantine later claimed he was younger than he actually was, separating himself from Diocletian’s policies of persecution, while exaggerating the abuses of his rivals, such as Maxentius and Licinius.
Yet, his old history was not all that Constantine could scratch out of existence. In one interesting story, Constantine reportedly executed two Frankish chiefs or kings in 307, by throwing them into an amphitheater in Trier that was filled with deadly animals. There are also several high-profile deaths in which Constantine had a hand. For one, Constantine’s rival, Emperor Maximian was forced to commit suicide in 310, during the civil war. After the war, Constantine controversially (and without much explanation) had his son charged with treason and executed in 326—an event that still baffles modern scholars. Soon after, Constantine’s second wife Fausta either committed suicide or was killed on Constantine’s orders.
One popular theory of what happened in 326 is that Fausta convinced Constantine that Crispus (her stepson) was treasonous, causing the chain of events leading to the execution. Yet, after the execution had occurred, rumor spread that Fausta’s claims were false. Once the public and the emperor believed the rumor, Fausta either committed suicide in shame, or Constantine took revenge for the wrongful execution of his son. This is only a theory, but it is a historical fact that Constantine did execute his son in 326, and his second wife, Fausta, suspiciously died within the same year as the execution of Crispus.
Again, it should not be too surprising that Constantine the Great had a cold and calculating side. All successful emperors of the Roman Empire had to have a certain ruthless grit and cunning to survive the deadly political climate of ancient Rome. Constantine, perhaps, was just a little less brutal than many of his imperial predecessors.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
“The existentialist will never consider man as an end because he is always in the making.”
When Philip II became the undisputed king of Macedonia around 359 BCE, he quickly went about cementing his legacy as a conqueror. Interestingly, Philip was able to closely study the strengths and weaknesses of Greek hoplite warfare during the reign of his brother, Ptolemy, because he was sent to be a diplomatic hostage in Thebes—home of the elite Sacred Band warriors. Using the data he collected as a hostage, Philip II created an efficient and deadly fighting force the likes of which had never been seen before in the ancient world. He outfitted his men in light armor with small shields and had his troops carry monstrously long spears, called sarissas. Philip also developed a corps of engineers and drilled his cavalry to work closely in concert with the infantry. The king’s new army of Macedonian phalanxes could outreach and outmaneuver the slower Greek hoplites of other nearby city-states—an advantage that would make Philip the master of Greece. Philip II gained his fame and prestige through military innovation and prowess, but he would receive many lasting wounds and scars during his long years of war.
Conflict came quickly after Philip II became king. One year after ascending to the throne of Macedonia, Philip’s new phalanxes got their first taste of battle against the Illyrians. The battle was a success and the Macedonian military reforms were proven to be effective. Next, Philip struck out against Athenian power. He captured Athens’ outpost at Amphipolis and their fortress at Pydna in 357 BCE. Macedonian troops also moved into Thracian lands, capturing the city of Crenides in 356 BCE.
Philip eventually set his sights once more on Athens in 354 BCE and besieged the city of Methone. The Athenians put up a strong defense, but Philip’s soldiers and engineers eventually found a way to attack the town. During one of the assaults that led to the fall of Methone, Philip II received a wound that would stay with him the rest of his life. The Macedonian king suffered a blow to the eye, likely caused by an Athenian arrow. There is little detail on whether the king received a glancing blow or a horrific puncture, and it is also vague if the eye had to be completely removed, or if it was just damaged and cloudy. Nevertheless, after the siege of Methone, Philip II of Macedonia was blind in one of his eyes for the rest of his life.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Source:
University Press, 2012.
Tertullian (2nd-3rd century Roman theologian)
“You ought to choose things that are good for you rather than things which are merely not bad for you.”
In July of 1853, United States Commodore Matthew Perry, a no-nonsense veteran of the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the U. S. campaign against pirates in North Africa, arrived in Japan, determined to accomplish his mission. The task at hand was to open Japan to United States trade, by force if necessary, and the first step was to deliver a letter from President Millard Fillmore into the hands of the Japanese emperor. Though the objective may sound simple to a modern reader, Japan, at the time, had been isolationist for around two centuries, with their only foreign contact coming from China and the Netherlands. Nevertheless, Commodore Perry entered Tokyo Bay with four ships and loomed threateningly until the Japanese officials accepted President Fillmore’s letter.
The bakufu of Japan—the government of the Tokugawa Shogun—naturally asked for time to contemplate their options. Commodore Perry agreed, but warned he would return the following year with an even larger naval force. The bakufu officials were startled enough by the Commodore that they requested advice from Japan’s powerful regional rulers, the daimyo. The bakufu’s uncertainty was a sign of weakness that the Tokugawa Shogun would soon regret, and the daimyo, certainly, would not forget the wavering self-confidence of the Tokugawa bakufu. This, however, is quite a digression from Commodore Perry.
Keeping his word, Commodore Perry returned to Japan with a larger fleet. He sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1854 with nine ships, and the Tokugawa bakufu warily let the foreigners enter Japan.
When the two countries met, the Japanese and the U. S. sailors put on a cultural show-and-tell. The Japanese brought Perry to see a sumo-wrestling match—he was unimpressed. On the other hand, the United States brought with them a train, a telescope, a telegraph and a variety of alcoholic beverages.
By March, 1854, the United States had secured itself a trade treaty. The Treaty of Kanagawa allowed U. S. ships to enter the Japanese ports of Hakodate and Shimoda. Also, the U. S. gained permission to set up a consulate at Shimoda. Finally, the conditions of the Treaty of Kanagawa spread to other imperial powers—most notably, Britain, France and Russia. Within four more years, Japan would have eight trade ports open to international commerce, and all it took was the threat of brute force from a United States naval officer.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Sources:
Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)
“Full of enthusiasm and ardour they thronged every highway, and with these warriors came a host of civilians, outnumbering the sand of the seashore or the stars of heaven, carrying palms and bearing crosses on their shoulders.”
Sun Tzu (Chinese strategist and philosopher, 6th-5th Century BCE)
“War is
A grave affair of state;
It is a place
Of life and death,
A road
To survival and extinction,
A matter
To be pondered carefully.”
