Military and Naval

AN EXEMPLARY MARITIME REPUBLIC: VENICE AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES PartĀ IV

Military and Naval Sail 10 Min Read

Venetian carrack Bernard Doumerc By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the reconciliation of economic policy with the constitution as well as with the defence of a colonial empire was no longer appropriate. Then, it was said, ā€˜the whole navy is devoured by the armyā€™ and numerous voyages of merchant galleys cancelled at the last moment or diverted from their…

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CHIOS 201 BC: A COALITIONĀ COMMAND

The legend has it that the dying Alexander was asked who was his heir, and answered, ā€˜The strongestā€™. The wars among his generals, later called the Successors (Diadochot), resulted in three powerful military states clustered around Greece and other fragments of the empire on and within the Mediterranean. None of…

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The Great Northern WarĀ (1700-21)

Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth The Great Northern War (1700-21), which marked Russiaā€™s decisive bid for power against Sweden, was launched for reasons quite incidental to Polish-Lithuanian affairs. Augustusā€™s treaty with Russia, negotiated exclusively in his capacity as Elector of Saxony, did not involve the Republic (Commonwealth). His attack on Swedish Livonia in…

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Siege Warfare 1500-1830

The Surrender of Breda by Diego VelĆ”zquez. Oil on canvas, 1635. Map of the siege of Breda by Spinola. J.Blaeu. If gunpowder revolutionized combat, its effect upon siege operations was equally well recognized by contemporaries. Beginning in the sixteenth century, much ink had already been spilled to analyze the competition…

Medieval Military and Naval Sail 10 Min Read

AN EXEMPLARY MARITIME REPUBLIC: VENICE AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES PartĀ I

Bernard Doumerc In Venice, ā€˜the sea was all that matteredā€™. Truly, this was the founding principle that marked the history of this celebrated city.1 For a very long time historians made the Serenissima a model of success, wealth, and opulence, sometimes asserting that the Venetians ā€˜had a monopoly of the…

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AN EXEMPLARY MARITIME REPUBLIC: VENICE AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES PartĀ II

Venetian Galley Bernard Doumerc In 1302, the Venetian government implemented a revision of ā€˜the corrections and additionsā€™ to the Arsenal regulations.8 This action was necessary to encourage the full development of the technological revolution that would maximise the Republicā€™s naval potential. A short time later, between 1304 and 1307, the…

Military and Naval Piracy 21 Min Read

AN EXEMPLARY MARITIME REPUBLIC: VENICE AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES PartĀ III

Bernard Doumerc Henceforth, the state owned the merchant fleet, chartering galleys to merchants who operated them. The operator was the highest bidder in the auction for charters. Only nobles were allowed to participate in this auction, an exclusive privilege that gave them control of the financial and commercial operations of…

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The History of theĀ Galley

The history of medieval naval warfare is the history of the galley. Since ancient times,…

The Great Northern WarĀ (1700-21)

Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth The Great Northern War (1700-21), which marked Russiaā€™s decisive bid for power against…

Anglo-Saxon Military Organisation PartĀ I

Recruitment and Obligation The words used by Anglo-Saxons themselves for ā€˜armyā€™ vary between the word…

The Vandals as a NavalĀ Power

Later Roman Liburnian type galley Geiseric (428ā€“477) was certainly the most important of the Vandal…