Castles at War
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The Asian Military Revolution: from Gunpowder to the Bomb Peter A
Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-60954-8 - The Asian Military Revolution: From Gunpowder to the Bomb Peter A. Lorge Frontmatter More information The Asian Military Revolution Records show that the Chinese invented gunpowder in the 800s. By the 1200s they had unleashed the first weapons of war upon their unsus- pecting neighbors. How did they react? What were the effects of these first wars? This extraordinarily ambitious book traces the history of that invention and its impact on the surrounding Asian world – Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Asia – from the ninth through the twentieth century. As the book makes clear, the spread of war and its technology had devastating consequences on the political and cultural fabric of those early societies although each reacted very differently. The book, which is packed with information about military strategy, interregional warfare, and the development of armaments, also engages with the major debates and challenges traditional thinking on Europe’s contri- bution to military technology in Asia. Articulate and comprehensive, this book will be a welcome addition to the undergraduate classroom and to all those interested in Asian studies and military history. PETER LORGE is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. His previous publications include War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China (2005) and The International Reader in Military History: China Pre-1600 (2005). © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-60954-8 - The Asian Military Revolution: From Gunpowder to the Bomb Peter A. Lorge Frontmatter More information New Approaches to Asian History This dynamic new series will publish books on the milestones in Asian history, those that have come to define particular periods or mark turning-points in the political, cultural and social evolution of the region. -
WAGNER and the VOLSUNGS None of Wagner’S Works Is More Closely Linked with Old Norse, and More Especially Old Icelandic, Culture
WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS None of Wagner’s works is more closely linked with Old Norse, and more especially Old Icelandic, culture. It would be carrying coals to Newcastle if I tried to go further into the significance of the incom- parable eddic poems. I will just mention that on my first visit to Iceland I was allowed to gaze on the actual manuscript, even to leaf through it . It is worth noting that Richard Wagner possessed in his library the same Icelandic–German dictionary that is still used today. His copy bears clear signs of use. This also bears witness to his search for the meaning and essence of the genuinely mythical, its very foundation. Wolfgang Wagner Introduction to the program of the production of the Ring in Reykjavik, 1994 Selma Gu›mundsdóttir, president of Richard-Wagner-Félagi› á Íslandi, pre- senting Wolfgang Wagner with a facsimile edition of the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda on his eightieth birthday in Bayreuth, August 1999. Árni Björnsson Wagner and the Volsungs Icelandic Sources of Der Ring des Nibelungen Viking Society for Northern Research University College London 2003 © Árni Björnsson ISBN 978 0 903521 55 0 The cover illustration is of the eruption of Krafla, January 1981 (Photograph: Ómar Ragnarsson), and Wagner in 1871 (after an oil painting by Franz von Lenbach; cf. p. 51). Cover design by Augl‡singastofa Skaparans, Reykjavík. Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter CONTENTS PREFACE ............................................................................................ 6 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 7 BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD WAGNER ............................ 17 CHRONOLOGY ............................................................................... 64 DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS ..68 ICELANDIC STUDIES IN GERMANY ......................................... -
Ming China As a Gunpowder Empire: Military Technology, Politics, and Fiscal Administration, 1350-1620 Weicong Duan Washington University in St
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations Arts & Sciences Winter 12-15-2018 Ming China As A Gunpowder Empire: Military Technology, Politics, And Fiscal Administration, 1350-1620 Weicong Duan Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds Part of the Asian History Commons, and the Asian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Duan, Weicong, "Ming China As A Gunpowder Empire: Military Technology, Politics, And Fiscal Administration, 1350-1620" (2018). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1719. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/1719 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts & Sciences at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY Dissertation Examination Committee: Steven B. Miles, Chair Christine Johnson Peter Kastor Zhao Ma Hayrettin Yücesoy Ming China as a Gunpowder Empire: Military Technology, Politics, and Fiscal Administration, 1350-1620 by Weicong Duan A dissertation presented to The Graduate School of of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2018 St. Louis, Missouri © 2018, -
Army Guide Monthly • Issue #3 (102)
Army G uide monthly # 3 (102) March 2013 Savings Served Up for Bradley Armor Plates Tachanka Hwacha Patria Delivered 1st Batch of NextGen Armoured Wheeled Vehicles to Sweden Micro-robotics Development Furthered with ARL Contract Extension Textron Marine & Land Systems to Build 135 Additional Mobile Strike Force Vehicles Saab Acquires Ballistic Protection Technology Scale Armour Textron Awarded Contract to Produce Turrets and Provide Support for Colombia's APCs US Army Developing New 120mm AMP Tank Round Siege Engine Heavy Tank Medium Tank Tanegashima Super-Heavy Tank www.army-guide.com Army Guide Monthly • #3 (102) • March 2013 Army to change the armor tile box material from titanium to Savings Served Up for Bradley Armor aluminum for more than 800 reactive armor tile sets. Plates "They wanted to change the material for several reasons," said Peter Snedeker, a contracting officer with ACC-New Jersey. "It was easier to manufacture with aluminum rather than titanium, so there would be shorter lead times. Aluminum was also more readily available and cheaper." However, changing a contract isn't a simple matter. The change can't have a material effect on the design, nor can performance be less than what the contract requires. The aluminum must perform just as well or better than titanium to support the demands of the Soldier. When a military contractor approached the Army ACC-New Jersey's technical team performed an with a proposal for significant savings on armor extensive analysis of the change proposal and continued tiles for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the impulse to to work with General Dynamics to determine if the quickly go for the savings had to be postponed: The Bradley played such an important role in saving material switch served the form, fit and function lives that keeping a steady flow of contracts was specified in the technical data package. -
Black Powder Free
FREE BLACK POWDER PDF Ally Sherrick | 368 pages | 04 Aug 2016 | Chicken House Ltd | 9781910655269 | English | Somerset, United Kingdom Dixie Gun Works muzzleloading, blackpowder and rare antique gun supplies. Gunpowderalso known as the retronym Black Powder powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powderis the earliest known chemical explosive. The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder was invented in 9th-century China as one Black Powder the Four Great Inventionsand spread throughout most parts of Eurasia by the end of Black Powder 13th century. Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate i. Ignition of gunpowder packed behind a projectile generates enough pressure to force the shot from the muzzle at high speed, but usually not enough force to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder thus makes a good propellant, but is less suitable for shattering rock or fortifications with its low-yield explosive power. However, by transferring enough energy from the Black Powder gunpowder to the mass of the cannonball, and then from the Black Powder to the opposing fortifications by way of the Black Powder ammunition eventually a bombardier may wear down an opponent's Black Powder defenses. Gunpowder was widely used to fill fused artillery shells and used in mining and civil engineering projects until the second half of the 19th century, when the first Black Powder explosives were put into use. The earliest Black Powder formula for gunpowder appeared in the 11th century Song dynasty text, Wujing Zongyao Complete Essentials from the Military Classicswritten by Zeng Gongliang Black Powder and A slow match for flame throwing mechanisms using the siphon principle and for fireworks and rockets is mentioned. -
'Perhaps Irrelevant': the Iconography of Tycho Brahe's Small Brass Quadrant
Nuncius 30 (2015) 9–36 brill.com/nun “Perhaps Irrelevant” The Iconography of Tycho Brahe’s Small Gilt Brass Quadrant Emma L. Perkins University of Cambridge, uk [email protected] Liba Taub University of Cambridge, uk [email protected] Abstract When Tycho Brahe published a description of his astronomical instruments in 1598 as part of a strategy to procure royal patronage, it was not with one of his grander, precision measurement tools that he opened his account, but rather a small brass quadrant with limited observational utility. The defining feature of this instrument was seemingly a small emblematic image inscribed within the arc of the quadrant. Through this symbolic motif Tycho conveyed a moralising message about the relative worth of astronomy. Considering a range of visual productions that may have influenced his iconography, the present paper situates the quadrant within the broader context of Renaissance visual culture and examines the significance of the quadrant in Tycho’s wider instrument collection. Keywords Tycho Brahe – emblem – scientific instrument 1 Tycho’s Astronomical Instruments and Astronomiae instauratae mechanica Having first offered him the island of Hven in 1576, Frederick ii of Denmark encouraged Tycho Brahe “to erect buildings on the island, and to construct © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi: 10.1163/18253911-03001002 10 perkins and taub instruments for astronomical investigations as well as for chemical studies.”1 The result of this generous patronage was the famous castle, Uraniborg, along with the underground observatory, Stjerneborg, which Tycho equipped with a vast array of astronomical instruments that he designed and constructed in his workshops on the island. -
The History of the Nordic Map
THE HISTORY OF THl- NORDIC MAP IV. FROM ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION TO MATHEMATICAL, MEASUREMENT 7~'7 Caerte van Oostlant 82 The father of Danish cartography, Mark Jordan 8b I. THE WORLD OF MYTHS 16 The versatile engraver, Melchior Lorck 89 Stella Polaris and Thule 22 The painter Peter Boeckel 9.2 Strabo, Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy 23 Abraham Ortelius and Gerard Mercator Oil Mappae Mundi — Medieval maps of the world 2~i Georg Braun, Frans Hogenberg and Heinrich Rantzau 98 Othere, Wulfstan and the Hereford map 29 Tycho Brahe and Ven 103 The spread of Christianity in Scandinavia 30 Hans Knieper, courtpainter at Kronborg .10') If. THE MAP OF SCANDINAVIA BEGINS TO TAKE SHAPE V. ARCTIC OCEAN POLITICS AND HNNMARK 109 'The Council of Constance, 1414—18 35 The Danish-Norwegian "King's streams" II I Claudius Clavus's maps of the North 36 Political and religious conflicts 11 </ Donnus Nicolaus Gerrnanus, Henricus Martellus Germanus The Noordsche Compagnie and Lucas Jansz. Waghenaer 1 A/ and Nicolaus Cusanus -AS Willern Barentsz's Arctic Ocean voyages, 1594-7 I2.(i The Vinland Map and the Zeno Map 4.5 The rivalry for Russian trade 12.6 Road maps 46 Border problems 127 The Reformation spreads and the Kalmar Union breaks up ?<S' The "Lapponia" map of 1611 128 Jacob Ziegler andfohannes Magnus 50 III, CARTA GOTH1CA - CARTA MARINA AN!) COSMOGRAPHY 5.? Eric XIV's orb (39 Johannes Magnus, Sweden's last Catholic archbishop 5"' A "spy map" of Southern Sweden in 1565 7i() Olaus Magnus's travels to Norrland and the Netherlands 57 A royal visit to Finland and its consequences 1 •s2 Olaus Magnus and his Carta gothica 58 Secretary to the King's chancellery 715 The Carta gothica is printed in Venice 63 Adrian Veen's map of the Nordic countries, 1613 Carta gothica - a picture of the cultural history of the North 66 Andreas Bureus's map of Lake Malar, c. -
Fitting Round Pegs Into Square Holes?
Fitting round pegs into square holes? Did Balduin of Luxemburg, Archbishop of Trier use gunpowder artillery in the siege of Eltz castle 1331/33 ? An analysis by Klaus Leibnitz Abstract:. This paper analyses a theory which attempts to show that a Loshult gun like artillery piece was used in Germany at the siege of Eltz castle in 1331/3. Keywords: Medieval gunpowder , artillery, gun arrows, Loshult cannon, Milemete codices 1.Introduction This paper is intended to stimulate further research into the very interesting topic of early gun arrows. The reason for presenting it is the publication of a series of articles by Wilfried Tittmanni, in which a separate section is devoted to the postulated artillery of Balduin of Luxembourgii , Archbishop of Trier, and which contains some conclusions with which we disagree. It is an undisputed fact that the first illustrations of gunpowder weapons in Europe appeared in the Milemete codicesiii, which can be precisely dated to 1327iv. About their actual size there are many dissenting opinions, but as to their missiles there are none i.e. they are shown to shoot arrows.v After these illustrations there is a gap of about 70 years before new pictures of guns can be foundvi. During this period the more or less ineffective firearm as well as the gunpowder used in them had matured and developed along two completely different lines. On the one hand the gun developed into the small Handbüchse or hand gun and on the other hand in to the large Steinbüchse or bombard. Gunpowder also improved further. From the simple, inefficient roughvii mixed fine-grained so-called meal gunpowder it developed into the wet-mixed Knollenpulver or grained powder and it was soon found by trial and error that a ratio of saltpetre to sulphur to charcoal of 6 : 1 : 2 was the most efficient mixture, a ratio which has remained almost unchanged to this day. -
Denmark and the Crusades 1400 – 1650
DENMARK AND THE CRUSADES 1400 – 1650 Janus Møller Jensen Ph.D.-thesis, University of Southern Denmark, 2005 Contents Preface ...............................................................................................................................v Introduction.......................................................................................................................1 Crusade Historiography in Denmark ..............................................................................2 The Golden Age.........................................................................................................4 New Trends ...............................................................................................................7 International Crusade Historiography...........................................................................11 Part I: Crusades at the Ends of the Earth, 1400-1523 .......................................................21 Chapter 1: Kalmar Union and the Crusade, 1397-1523.....................................................23 Denmark and the Crusade in the Fourteenth Century ..................................................23 Valdemar IV and the Crusade...................................................................................27 Crusades and Herrings .............................................................................................33 Crusades in Scandinavia 1400-1448 ..............................................................................37 Papal Collectors........................................................................................................38 -
Early 18Th Century Hand Grenades on the North American Atlantic Coast an Experimental Archaeology Study By
Early 18th Century Hand Grenades on the North American Atlantic Coast An Experimental Archaeology Study by Stephen Lacey April, 2019 Director of Thesis: Donald H. Parkerson, Ph.D. Major Department: History, Program of Maritime Studies ABSTRACT In the first half of the eighteenth century, standardization of weapons appears in cannon, shot, and small arms. No comparative study has been conducted to determine if grenades follow this pattern. In this study, three collections of cast iron grenades dating from 1700–1750 were compared to determine if any statistical significance exists. If so, this will form the basis to create a taxonomy to assist in dating sites. Furthermore, grenade blasts from this era are reported in the historical record but recorders barely understood ballistics. An experimental phase has been designed into the project to fully record a blast via controlled detonation. The concussive force and decibel levels were recorded to help assess potential damage. Upon completion, medical evaluations can be made to determine the full lethality of cast iron grenades. This allows an evaluation of historical records for unexplained deaths, altered behaviors post battle, and critical evaluation of historical documents on grenade lethality. Early 18th Century Hand Grenades on the North American Atlantic Coast An Experimental Archaeology Study A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of History East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master’s of Arts By Stephen Lacey April, 2019 ©Stephen Lacey, 2019 Early 18th Century Hand Grenades on the North American Atlantic Coast An Experimental Archaeology Study By Stephen Lacey APPROVED BY: DIRECTOR OF THESIS: ___________________________________________ Donald H. -
Nonlinear Robust Control of an Highly Manoeuvrable Missile
“Sapienza” Universita` di Roma Facolta` di Ingegneria DIS - Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica “Antonio Ruberti” Nonlinear Robust Control of an Highly Manoeuvrable Missile supervisor: candidate: Chiar.mo Prof. Salvatore Monaco Giovanni Mattei co-supervisor: Ing. Emidio Pizzingrilli A.Y. 2010-2011 Introduction Automatics and control theory should be considered at the top of modern engineering science. Control systems are everywhere and, over time, they are going to be more and more essential (not just incidental, as happens now) for the proper functioning of any system. This thesis is about control system design for a generic air-to-air missile autopilot and guidance system. For the autopilot, a nonlinear recursive approach is proposed, beginning from a simpler, nominal, implementation to arrive, in the end, to a more complicated robust one. The first two control systems proposed are based on a wiser version of Backstepping, which uses a non-quadratic Lyapunov function to achieve in a more natural way some necessary dynamic cancellations. A faster version of these two autopilots is also designed, including nonlinear damping terms. Then, nonlinear robust control theory is introduced, highlighting the structure of the generic nonlinear uncertain system. A nonlinear robust roll autopilot is designed, including in the robust recursive approach, that shall represent the baseline for the robust versions of the autopilot, also a revisited version of Lyapunov redesign, which has no counterpart in control theory literature. For pitch and yaw dynamics are, finally, proposed the static and dynamic robust recursive designs, two rigorous and systematic approaches to the problem of controlling a nonlinear uncertain system, which seem to be well suited to handle the structure of the missile vector-fields. -
Codex Reseniani: Sturla Þórðarson As an Encyclopaedic Writer
chapter 19 Codex Reseniani: Sturla Þórðarson as an Encyclopaedic Writer Sverrir Jakobsson We seldom get the chance to look into the process of writing medieval history. Usually, the traces of medieval historians have been lost, with the exception of single works, finished and polished in their final versions or even added to by later copyists. In this regard, Sturla Þórðarson may be an important excep- tion. It has been argued that Membrana Reseniana no. 6, a manuscript that burned in the great fire of Copenhagen 1728, was an encyclopaedic work origi- nally belonging to Sturla Þórðarson, and at least partly written by him. Copies of several individual parts of this compilation have survived, and from these fragments we are able to gain a partial insight into the learning and interests of Sturla in the very years he was composing the historical narratives for which he is best known. In the following article the relationship between the contents of this vol- ume, henceforth known as the Encyclopaedia of Sturla Þórðarson (Alfræði Sturlu Þórðarsonar), and the other works of Sturla will be explored in order to illuminate the scholarly process by which Sturla Þórðarson conducted his research and composed the books attributed to him. The varied contents of the Encyclopaedia and the lengthy period over which it was written (from the late 1240s to the death of Sturla in 1284) make it a work of unique importance for such an analysis. Through this text, we can glimpse a historian practicing his craft through the pursuit of his variagated delvings into the past, not all of which made it into his more coherent narrative works.