JOURNAL: iserlohn

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  • More Academic Bullshit 2003-03-22 19:05:49 (footnotes are not copy-pasting right due to being superscripted...rest assured they're there...trust me.)

    Q4. Compare and contrast Garrett Mattingly and Carla Rahn Phillips as historians of Early Modern Europe.
    Carla Rahn Phillips and Garrett Mattingly share a common method of analyzing Europe in the Early Modern period. By looking at the primary characters in their period as either still medieval (Mattingly’s Phillip III) or modern (Phillips’s Martin de Arana), the transitional aspects of the period make themselves apparent. However, they use different means to get to their outcomes.
    Mattingly, for example, does not just present an academic look at the major figures surrounding the Spanish Armada. Rather, he encompasses his analysis in a compelling work of storytelling so approachable that he mentions in his introduction that he did not include footnotes because he wanted the book to be appreciated by casual readers. However, the quality of Mattingly’s scholarship does not get watered down to appeal to the lowest common denominator merely in order to sell more books. Besides telling a nice story, Mattingly was capable of hiding an agenda in The Armada in the form of Henry III of France.
    The story of Henry III is the distinguishing factor for Mattingly between an empty pop-history book and deep scholarship. The importance of Bernadino de Mendoza and the Guise family in France had been previously overlooked, but Mattingly brought them to the forefront in order to show a transition - France’s role as a subservient Catholic nation changing to the future great power which would contain Catholic Spain in the Thirty Years’ War. With the failure of the Armada and the executions of Mary Tudor and Henry of Guise, Spain lost many of its closest personal links in France and England.

    Mattingly uses these personal links to present Spain as a still-medieval nation. The interactions between Phillip, Medina Sidonia, and the commanders are all based on a personality-driven system. For example, Medinia Sidonia repeated attempted to refuse his position as commander of the Armada stating: “My health is not equal to such a voyage, for I know by experience of the little I have been at sea that I am always seasick and catch cold. My family is burdened with a debt […] and I could not spend a real in the king’s service.“ However, Sidonia’s loyalty to the crown eventually overcame his sense of incapacity and he took the position offered to him.
    Carla Rahn Phillips, however, presents a more modern Spain at a growing conflict with its still-medieval aristocrats. Although men such as Martin de Arana and Antonio de Oquendo repeatedly entered royal service and made deals with the crown, they, and many others like them, were worn down to the point of openly rebelling, such as Don Fadrique de Toledo’s remarks to Olivares, the king’s head minister: “Sir, [...] I […] risk[…] life and limb, unlike Your Excellency who by sitting in a chair makes more in a day than I do in a lifetime.“ Phillips presents this change in attitude as a result of too much work, too little reward, and a lack of understanding from the crown of its subjects’ necessities.
    Stylistically, Six Galleons for the King of Spain is a strictly academic work. Laden down with technical descriptions (and diagrams (as well as numerous footnotes), Six Galleons for the shows that Phillips has no desire to appeal to casual audiences, but rather wished to find a precise definition for the beginning of true imperial defense. While this hurts her accessibility, Phillips’s book can be seen as the more scholarly than Mattingly, even though they are both highly accredited historians.
    Both Phillips and Mattingly did extensive research for their works. Mattingly, a former archivist, used archival sources from six countries as well as numerous published and primary sources in multiple languages. While he did not individually cite every quotation or paraphrase in his book, his research is undoubtedly thorough. Phillips focused primarily on the Spanish archives as well as primary and published secondary sources in multiple languages. Phillips documented thoroughly throughout her book, and her archival work is varyingly balanced with secondary research depending on the chapter.
    Both Mattingly and Phillips also focus on Spain, the first continental power to change from medieval to modern. As the empire grew and the reformation spread throughout Europe, Spain had to adjust to revolutions in the Netherlands, French Hugenots demanding rights, and securing income from the New World with Dutch and English pirates continuously at their heels. By looking at both Mattingly and Phillips, a reader is able to get a complete timeline of the period, covering the Armada (which was fought to return England to Catholicism) and the Armadas del mar Oceano (which were used to defend possessions and trade).
     
  • Ever wonder what questions are like on graduate level midterms? 2003-03-22 18:31:41 Q2. Compare and contrast Martin van Creveld and Carla Rahn Phillips as historians of logistics.
    While Martin van Creveld and Carla Rahn Phillips both look at logistical issues in their works, their foci and techniques cover separate interests in the logistical process. These differences include monetary issues and supplier/supplied procedures, as well as the research methods and agendas of these authors.
    In his book Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton, Marten van Creveld looked at operational logistics in mobile European campaigns from the Thirty Years’ War through World War II. As he traces the path from logisticians being incapable of living up to their plans due to physical limitations to logisticians who are so capable that they attempt to limit the army’s movement despite having the capabilities to go farther, van Creveld debunks many of the worldviews concerning some of the greatest campaigns in history and uncovers the truth behind numerous successes and failures.
    For example, in van Creveld’s account of Rommel’s campaign in Northern Africa, he brings the belief that Rommel’s failure was “of Hitler’s volition” into question. Despite being allocated “a record number of supplies - 125,000 tons” during his first offensive, Rommel complained regularly that he was being underequipped. While Rommel was capable of taking his supplies and pushing them forward, he created all new logistical problems on his own - by 1942, Rommel had extended his lines so far that “On 9 February, 100 per cent supplies could no longer be guaranteed to the troops, and by the next day tactical developments had overtaken logistical possibilities to such an extent that, because of the enormous distances and chronic lack of vehicles, no more ammunition was reaching the forward troops.” In short, Rommel failed because of own ambitiousness and after repeatedly defying orders to hold, advanced himself so far from his bases that he could no longer sustain his army.
    Van Creveld’s approach to logistics does have one highly notable shortfall, though: supplies appear to come from nowhere before they get loaded onto carts or into supply depots, as does the source of the money to pay for them. The entire system of early taxation and acquiring revenue is avoided in Supplying War. The stages of acquisition get varying degrees of coverage throughout the book, however meager. Early acquisitions are described as “contrary to the spirit of the age, which always insisted war be waged as cheaply as possible” and the details of Early Modern foraging are given approximately two pages of description, the money issue gets none. Later purchase requirements are only referred to as shortages or in terms of incapacities (such as that of the German army’s vehicular shortage during the Russian campaign in World War II).
    While van Creveld’s book made a monumental impact on the field of military history, his research for Supplying War was heavily based on secondary materials. Van Creveld himself stated in his source notes “virtually all of the records [concerning the campaigns of 1870 and 1914] were destroyed by bombing during WWII.” Indeed, his archival research is lacking even in the chapters with numerous archives available. For example, in his chapter on Rommel, only eight of his thirty-eight sources are original archival documents. That being said, his secondary research is extremely thorough, including published document collections as well as using sources in no four major languages (English, French, German, and Italian).
    Phillips, on the other hand, did a substantial amount of primary research in numerous Spanish archives for her book, listing no less than seven archives in her sources for the book Six Galleons for the King of Spain. Phillips also used published primary and secondary sources in at least three languages (Dutch, English, and Spanish). The thoroughness of Phillips’ research comes through in her writing, which is full of meticulous details such as the number of calories eaten by sailors (“4,130 calories on meat days, 3,743 on fish days (not counting vinegar), and 3,609 calories on cheese days.”).
    Phillips, also unlike van Creveld, is concerned with the procurement of supplies during the pre-conflict stages of a campaign. In her Six Galleons, Phillips looks at the requirements of producing and supplying the world’s first standing navy. As supplies could not be easily replenished during her time period while at sea, they needed to be fully provided (as much as possible) before the fleet can sail. Much of Phillips’s writing, therefore, concentrates on the people responsible for arranging the contracts, the methods employed to fulfill them, and who paid for them and how.
    For example, when Martin de Arana was finished building his six contractual galleons, the crown requested that he move them to Portugalete, a port city where the rigging would be installed and the ships would be launched from. Arana’s original contract had not included the cost of doing so, and only after numerous complaints and rebuttals sent back and forth to the crown did he actually do so. In addition, Arana was required to pay for the cost of moving the ships out of his own pocket, which he did “in the faithfulness with which [he] serve[d]”, and was unable to convince the crown to reimburse him throughout his struggle to settle his accounts.
    Phillips also looked at the economics of producing the ships for the navy, and the necessity of the government to finance private builders, as neither sector (private or public) was capable of funding the production of the requisite number of ships itself. The costs of supplies are analyzed carefully throughout her chapters on building the ships and settling the debts the crown raised in order to build them in terms of Spain’s economics as a whole. One example would be the dependence of the crown and the commercial sectors of Spain on the influx of silver from the New World. Without the shipment, the merchants would have lost the value of their goods, and, in a logistical sense, the crown would have lost a major source of funding - the averia, a tax covering an increasing percentage of the wealth coming home.
    Phillips’s concern with finance is another detail in the logistical chain, which van Creveld greatly ignored. The issue of how the Spanish crown was to afford the cost of building ships, paying sailors and soldiers, and providing them with rations, ammunition, and other supplies, as well as finding the people capable of commanding them is a recurring theme in Phillips’s work. As stated above, the averia was one way of financing fleets, but as more and more fleets were required to secure the empire, the government frequently found itself at the mercy of an increasingly aristocracy scared to loan money to a crown whose capabilities to repay lenders depended primarily on the return of the ships. Phillips implies that the most effective coercive force was honor and royal favor - intangible concepts capable of supplying the next generation with a better standard of living than the current one.
    Overall, Martin van Creveld and Carla Rahn Phillips have looked at two different logistical problems (van Creveld’s mobile armies and Phillips’s contained navy) and taken two separate approaches to the question of getting supplies to them (mobile transport/foraging as a tactical measure and purchasing supplies and loading them onto ships with no chance of restocking until reaching land again). While their studies cover different sectors, they can be brought together to look at the logistical process as a whole - the government needs to supply the army, pays for supplies, and transports them to a base or ship. Once the recipients leave, they begin to consume supplies and need continuous replacements, which must somehow be delivered safely. Phillips and van Creveld both used a variety of sources and perspectives to reach their own original and sometimes controversial conclusions. Both are excellent historians with diverse backgrounds, and diverse answers to under-examined problems.

    1. van Creveld, Supplying War, 181.
    2. van Creveld, Supplying War, 186.
    3. van Creveld, Supplying War, 193
    4. van Creveld, Supplying War, 201.
    5. van Creveld, Supplying War, 39, 33-35.
    6. van Creveld, Supplying War, 151-2.
    7. van Creveld, Supplying War, 238.
    8. van Creveld, Supplying War, 246-248.
    9. van Creveld, Supplying War, 246-248.
    10. Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain, 245-246.
    11. Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain, 246-308.
    12. Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain, 170.
    13. Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain, 64.
    14. Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain, 64-5.
    15. Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain, 64-68, 84-89.
    16. Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain, 9, 16.

    Sources: Martin Van Creveld, Supplying War; Carla Rahn Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain 
  • Darling you got to let me know... 2003-03-22 11:37:04 Should I stay or should I go?

    I got accepted to spend a year studying in Vienna. The good news is that this means going back to Europe for the cost of rent and sustenance (and some odd €60/month fee), the bad news is it means being away from the scene here from October through July. On the other hand, there's 4-6 cons/year in Germany, which is just a train ride away. On another hand, the cheap cost of living is student housing, which means a roommate...on the other hand it looks like it's still private bathrooms/kitchens. On another side, it's a lot of work going away for that long...on the other hand, it's getting the hell away from here for a while...On the other hand it means a high potential for no DSL or video editing...

    So this is put up for a poll: Should I take advantage of this opportunity or stay with the safe and easy life? I should also comment that I have no confirmed acceptances yet from either of the remaining institutions to which I have applied. Email/PM your votes. 
  • To the SPPanda support group: 2003-03-19 19:29:41 Shut the fuck up you whiny twats.

    Panda was a nuisance to Phade and everyone trying to use the forum for - get this - useful discussion of AMVs, video, editing, etc. He deserved what he got, Phade said the ban is still only temporary, which is WAY nicer than I would've done if this was my site, so GET OVER IT AND GROW UP.

    In other news, Bush is indeed invoking the war powers act and opening conflict for his allowable 60 days before he needs congressional approval, and I'm having a mental breakdown from my 619 take-home exam.

    My AMV digest editorial is drafted, needs to be revised. Those who've seen it so far seem to be liking it. 
  • weil er lacht, weil er lebt, du fehlst... 2003-03-18 01:08:33 I am depressed as hell right now. Lot of work due this week as follows:

    Wed:
    Deutsch Aufsatz (2 pages)
    AMST anime paper (2-3 pages)
    AMST P&T paper (2-3 pages, revised)

    Friday:
    Deutsch Exam

    Saturday/Sunday Morning:
    HIST619 Take-home (12-15 pages)

    Like I said, lot of work.

    Also, I'm thinking of caving in and moving to LJ.Just seems to make sense nowadays. Who needs pseudo-privacy online anyways? Besides, it'll give me the joy of pissing a couple people off to have them on my list (LJ members can see who has them as friends). And in the meantime I'll get to archive everything from here, probably post it there. Jooooyyyy.

    And no, until I decide for sure that I'm moving, please don't send me codes. Hell, having my journal here is one of the few ways that I know I'll keep coming. The BS in the forum is just that - BS. Personally, I hope Phade keeps Panda banned forever, just to serve as a figurehead. Pity that most of the people here are too young to know what show trials are...

    Also finished drafting my editorial for AMV digest. It's about 150 words too long right now, so I get to spend some time revising it. In the meantime, going to sleep now and then wake up and do REAL work so that I can get it all in by the appropriate deadlines, and then, off to New York to go to museums and theatre rather than sit at home and edit all next week. Yeah, I know, missed time. I'm so fucking frustrated right now with this video - I honestly have no idea what to do to make it what I want it to be, what it should be, what it deserves to be. The answer's not going to come easily, either. Damn. 
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