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Wittenberg History Journal Spring 2014

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Wittenberg History Journal Spring 2014 THE POLITICS OF LEADERSHIP: FROM ALEXANDER THE GREAT TO JOSEPH STALIN Wittenberg History Journal SPRING 2014 | VOLUME XLIII The Politics of Leadership: From Alexander the Great to Joseph Stalin Wittenberg University Springfield, Ohio 2014 Editorial Board Senior Editors Robert Everett ‘14 Audrey Zielenbach ‘14 Junior Editors Ashley R. Pierce ‘13 Clint Rodgers ‘14 Hannah Sanders ‘13 Faculty Advisor Joshua Paddison The Hartje Paper The Martha and Robert G. Hartje Award is presented annually to a senior in the spring semester. The History Department determines the three or four finalists who then write a 600 to 800 word narrative essay on an historical event or figure. The finalists must have at least a 2.7 grade point average and have completed at least six history courses. The winner is awarded $500 at a spring semester History Department colloquium and the winner paper is included in the History Journal. This year’s Hartje Award was presented to Clint Rodgers. On the Cover Sebastiano Conca, Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem, 1735-1737, Museo Nacional de Prado, Madrid. Address Correspondence to: Editor The Wittenberg History Journal Department of History Wittenberg University P. O. Box 720 Springfield, OH 45501-0720 Contents Hartje Award Winner The Nicely Family: The Effects of an Ohio Disaster Clint Rodgers I. NEW AppROACHES TO ALEXANDER 1 The Many Faces of Alexander the Great: Ruthlessness and Benevolence in the Asiatic Campaigns of 331-326 B.C.E. Madison Law 13 The Sexuality of Alexander the Great: From Arrian to Oliver Stone Maggie Jonsson II. POWER AND PLAGUE IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE 23 Family Ties to Anarchy: King Stephen and Empress Matilda Clint Rodgers 31 The Black Death: A Doctor’s Narrative Sarah Blanton 39 The Power of Medieval Queenship: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Blanche of Castile Jenna Langa III. MODERN DIPLOMACY 53 The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend: Soviet Foreign Policy in Europe, 1933-1939 Rob Everett Dedication This publication represents the hard work and tremendous efforts of the History Department’s students and professors, particularly the contributors and editors. We would like to dedicate this journal to Dr. Tammy Proctor, Professor of History for her commitment to improving and developing the History program here at Wittenberg. Your efforts regarding academic success and the overall structure and organization of the program have greatly influenced the development of the department as well as the experience of the faculty, staff, and most importantly the students. Thank you for making the Wittenberg History Department an example of excellence in academia, which allows or eth celebration of community and success through programs such as this journal. The History Journal Editorial Board The Nicely Family: The Effects of an Ohio Disaster Clint Rodgers The Ohio Flood of 1913 is recorded as the largest his family, but the excessive rain influenced his attitude. One weather disaster in the state’s history. For a five morning, they awoke to find their home and farm buildings day period, society was devastated. Lives were lost, completely surrounded by water. Rain continued to pour as crops were destroyed, and buildings were ruined. All Vernando and Ralph explored the region surrounding the lowlands and riverbeds were susceptible to incredible house. They found no escape route through the water: they flooding; therefore, no part of Ohio was unaffected. were trapped. On March 27, the last day of the rain, Norman had his second birthday. They were unable to fully celebrate This account of the Vernando Nicely family is based the event because pessimism overcame the evening easily. entirely in historical fact. Only some small details Dampness lurked in the very air they breathed and was a about the way Vernando experienced the situation are constant reminder of a potential inability to plant. the author’s speculation. The next day, Robert saw a boat coming through the Outside Bellevue, Ohio, Late March 1913 high water. Depressed as he was, not even the sight of rescue made Vernando feel better. Jennie answered the door and Vernando H. Nicely only resided in Bellevue for a short was told by the man to collect their essentials. They would time. Mr. Nicely was from Defiance; his wife, the former be taken into the city for shelter. She hurried about the Jennie O’Donnell, came from Wood County. Bellevue was house grabbing belongings. Vernando walked aimlessly, a clean slate for Vernando and his family. Like many others, comprehending his destruction in his waterlogged fields. the Nicelys arrived in Bellevue for employment. A city Bellevue would claim fate was against the Nicelys from at the crossroads of many different railroad lines, Bellevue the beginning. However, the next twist it had in store for was a bustling place that offered new chances. Vernando’s them was quite horrific. Just as they had gotten settled two brother-in-laws worked for the railroad there already. in the small boat with all of their essential belongings, a Though originally from Defiance, they brought their combination of a breeze and the distribution of weight families to Bellevue between 1905 and 1907. His other capsized the boat. All of the family fell into the water. After brother Cassius also moved to the Bellevue area to farm. By a few moments, Vernando, Jennie, and a rescuer were able to relocating, Vernando moved closer to the majority of his get everyone safely back on board. They, and their belongings, family, but also gave his children and wife a chance to restart were completely soaked. It was several hours before they after several setbacks, including the death of an infant son. were safely in town at Vernando’s sister’s house to dry. That In early March, Vernando prepared his crop. The fresh was the day he began to cough; the rainfall had not claimed start in Bellevue rejuvenated his family’s attitude. He had its last victim. three children: Ralph, 11; Robert, 5; and Norman, 2. Jennie Vernando Nicely died on June 30, 1913 of typhoid was pregnant again; he looked forward to the new addition fever, leaving his wife with four children. He was buried in to his family. A new baby was a symbol for hope. Economic Bellevue Cemetery, where you can still see his marker today. stability hinged on the survival of his crop; everything Vernando and the Nicelys were victims of the flood, just seemed to indicate joy coming to fruition. like many Ohio residents. Yet, rather than generalizing by Then the rain came. The skies opened and for five days saying that “lots of people died,” it is significant to examine straight water pummeled the earth, inundating his fields. a specific case and the grievous toil the flood took upon real Vernando felt cursed. Had God turned his back on him human beings. forever? He tried to act as though everything was normal for Vol. XLIII, Spring 2014 • 1 Bibliography Brown, Robert M. “The Ohio River Floods of 1913.” Bulletin of September 12, 1907. Accessed January 9, 2014. https:// the American Geographical Society. 45 (1913): 500-9. familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X876-RPH. “Obituary of Vernando Nicely.” Bellevue Gazette. July 3, 1913. “Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953.” Index and Images. FamilySearch. Daily Edition. Verando Hilton Nicely. June 30, 1913. Accessed January 9, “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994.” Index and Images. Family 2014. https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X86P-DMF. Search. Norman Nicely and Hazel Frombley. May 1938. U.S. Census, 1910. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Accessed January 9, 2014. https://familysearch.org/pal:/ 2006. MM9.1.1/2Q48-Q1M. “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994.” Index and Images. Family Search. Vernando H. Nicely and Jennie A. O’Donald. 2 • The Wittenberg History Journal Section I. New Approaches to Alexander Alexander the Great in the Battle of Issus, 333 B.C.E., House of the Faun, Pompeii. The Many Faces of Alexander the Great: Ruthlessness and Benevolence in the Asiatic Campaigns of 331-326 B.C.E. Madison Law As a historical figure, Alexander the Great inspires perhaps I. The Structure of Alexander’s Army more curiosity and confusion than many others. At times “With a small army, but distinguished for its intrinsic pitiless in his pursuit of greater territory and at others perfection, Alexander overthrew the decayed fabric of the merciful and benevolent towards those around him, Asiatic States: Without rest, and regardless of risks, he traversed the figure of Alexander is quite a contradictory one. By the breadth of Asia.”1 What would Alexander the Great examining multiple contemporary biographies of Alexander’s be without his vast army to voyage across deserts, rivers, life against and in conversation with the narratives put and mountains? After the death of Philip II in 336 B.C.E., forth by Plutarch and Arrian, a dualism emerges between Alexander inherited his father’s army, which had been built Alexander’s supposed ruthlessness and his actions of up and improved over the years into a formidable collection benevolence. Though he is frequently shown to distrustfully of phalanxes, or a rectangular military formation. It was purge members of his own inner circle and various others in organized primarily into several parts: “Macedonian troops, battle, he is also portrayed by historians as acting mercifully the phalanx battalions, territorially recruited, the Hypaspistai toward the kings of toppled empires and the captured or foot-guards, and the Companion cavalry or horse-guards, relations of said monarchs. remained his main striking force and the core of his army to In this paper I aim to explore this binary characterization the end. .”2 Most of the chief officers were Macedonian, and of Alexander in three overarching sections, beginning with it was this initial Macedonian force that would remain the an investigation of the structure of Alexander’s army and how nucleus of Alexander’s army, even when it would eventually he related with and commanded both the Macedonian and include Persians and other conquered ethnicities.
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