Download or read book Naval Power in the Conquest of Mexico written by C. Harvey Gardiner and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2013-12-18 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this account of the naval aspect of Hernando Cortés's invasion of the Aztec Empire, C. Harvey Gardiner has added another dimension to the drama of Spanish conquest of the New World and to Cortés himself as a military strategist. The use of ships, in the climactic moment of the Spanish-Aztec clash, which brought about the fall of Tenochtitlán and consequently of all of Mexico, though discussed briefly in former English-language accounts of the struggle, had never before been detailed and brought into a perspective that reveals its true significance. Gardiner, on the basis of previously unexploited sixteenth-century source materials, has written a historical revision that is as colorful as it is authoritative. Four centuries before the term was coined, Cortés, in the key years of 1520–1521, used the technique of "total war." He was able to do so victoriously primarily because of his courage in taking a gamble and his brilliance in tactical planning, but these qualities might well have signified nothing without the fortunate presence in his forces of a master shipwright, Martin López. As the exciting story unrolls, Cortés, López, and the many other participants in the venture of creating and using a navy in the midst of the New World mountains and forests are seen as real personalities, not embalmed historical stereotypes, and the indigenous defenders are revealed as complex human beings facing huge odds. Much of the tale is told in the actual words of the protagonists; Gardiner has probed letters, court records, and other contemporary documents. He has also compared this naval feat of the Spaniards with other maritime events from ancient times to the present. Naval Power in the Conquest of Mexico as a book was itself the result of an interesting combination of circumstances. C. Harvey Gardiner, as teacher, scholar, and writer, had long been interested in Latin American history generally and Mexican history in particular. During World War II, from 1942 to 1946, he served with the U.S. Navy. As he relates: "One day in early autumn 1945, while loafing on the bow of a naval vessel knifing its way southward in the Pacific a few degrees north of the Equator, my thoughts turned to the naval side of the just-ended conflict, and in time the question emerged, 'I wonder how the little ships and the little men will fare in the eventual record?' Then, because I was eager to return to my civilian life of pursuit of Latin American themes, the concomitant question came: 'I wonder what little fighting ships and minor men of early Latin America have been consigned to the oblivion of historical neglect?' As I began later to rummage my way from Columbus toward modem times, I seized upon the Mexican Conquest as the prime period with pay dirt for the researcher in quest of the answer to that latter question."
Download or read book Mart n L pez written by C. Harvey Gardiner and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-10-21 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study of the life of a Spaniard who came to Mexico as a conquistador and remained as a civilian citizen of New Spain, C. Harvey Gardiner gives his readers a fresh view of the warfare between Spaniard and Indian and of the less dramatic processes of colonization which established European culture in America. Conquest and colonization, usually treated separately in the histories of the period, are here shown as phases in the life of a man who was not conspicuous among the conquerors, but was representative of the Spaniards of his generation who came to the new world in search of opportunity. Martín López attained some importance in the Mexican campaign as designer and builder of the brigantines which figured importantly in the Spanish victory at Tenochtitlan. Upon returning to civilian life, Lopez became one of the many conquistadors who found the rewards for his services under Cortes inadequate and sought redress in a long series of court battles. His career after the conquest brought him little wealth, but touched upon many aspects of the political, social, and economic life of the new country.
Download or read book The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare written by Geoffrey Parker and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-09-29 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now available in a revised and updated version, this book examines Western warfare from antiquity to the present day.
Download or read book To Dare and to Conquer written by Derek Leebaert and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2009-05-30 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Leebaert tells the stories of small forces that have triumphed over vastly larger ones and changed the course of history -- from the Trojan Horse to Al Qaeda. Maps and charts.
Download or read book Power over Peoples written by Daniel R. Headrick and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-28 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major history of technology and Western conquest For six hundred years, the nations of Europe and North America have periodically attempted to coerce, invade, or conquer other societies. They have relied on their superior technology to do so, yet these technologies have not always guaranteed success. Power over Peoples examines Western imperialism's complex relationship with technology, from the first Portuguese ships that ventured down the coast of Africa in the 1430s to America's conflicts in the Middle East today. Why did the sailing vessels that gave the Portuguese a century-long advantage in the Indian Ocean fail to overcome Muslim galleys in the Red Sea? Why were the same weapons and methods that the Spanish used to conquer Mexico and Peru ineffective in Chile and Africa? Why didn't America's overwhelming air power assure success in Iraq and Afghanistan? In Power over Peoples, Daniel Headrick traces the evolution of Western technologies—from muskets and galleons to jet planes and smart bombs—and sheds light on the environmental and social factors that have brought victory in some cases and unforeseen defeat in others. He shows how superior technology translates into greater power over nature and sometimes even other peoples, yet how technological superiority is no guarantee of success in imperialist ventures—because the technology only delivers results in a specific environment, or because the society being attacked responds in unexpected ways. Breathtaking in scope, Power over Peoples is a revealing history of technological innovation, its promise and limitations, and its central role in the rise and fall of empire. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
Download or read book The Chinese Navy written by Institute for National Strategic Studies and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2011-12-27 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the story of the growing Chinese Navy - The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) - and its expanding capabilities, evolving roles and military implications for the USA. Divided into four thematic sections, this special collection of essays surveys and analyzes the most important aspects of China's navel modernization.
Download or read book The Cambridge History of Latin America written by Leslie Bethell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1984 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enth.: Bd. 1-2: Colonial Latin America ; Bd. 3: From Independence to c. 1870 ; Bd. 4-5: c. 1870 to 1930 ; Bd. 6-10: Latin America since 1930 ; Bd. 11: Bibliographical essays.
Download or read book Conquistador written by Buddy Levy and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2009-07-28 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this astonishing work of scholarship that reads like an edge-of-your-seat adventure thriller, acclaimed historian Buddy Levy records the last days of the Aztec empire and the two men at the center of an epic clash of cultures perhaps unequaled to this day. It was a moment unique in human history, the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in carrying out his intentions by virtually annihilating a proud and accomplished native people is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story. In Tenochtitlán Cortés met his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma: king, divinity, commander of the most powerful military machine in the Americas and ruler of a city whose splendor equaled anything in Europe. Yet in less than two years, Cortés defeated the entire Aztec nation in one of the most astounding battles ever waged. The story of a lost kingdom, a relentless conqueror, and a doomed warrior, Conquistador is history at its most riveting.
Download or read book Department of the Army Pamphlet written by and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book War In The Early Modern World 1450 1815 written by Jeremy Black and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-09-23 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a collection of essays charting the developments in military practice and warfare across the world in the early modern period. It also considers the nature and role of technological change, and the relationship between military developments and state-building.
Download or read book The First Letter from New Spain written by John F. Schwaller and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The founding of la Villa Rica de la Veracruz (the rich town of the True Cross) is prominently mentioned in histories of the conquest of Mexico, but scant primary documentation of the provocative act exists. During a research session at the Spanish archives, when John Schwaller discovered an early-sixteenth-century letter from Veracruz signed by the members of Cortés’s company, he knew he had found a trove of historical details. Providing an accessible, accurate translation of this pivotal correspondence, along with in-depth examinations of its context and significance, The First Letter from New Spain gives all readers access to the first document written from the mainland of North America by any European, and the only surviving original document from the first months of the conquest. The timing of Cortés’s Good Friday landing, immediately before the initial assault on the Aztec Empire, enhances the significance of this work. Though the expedition was conducted under the authority of Diego Velázquez, governor of Cuba, the letter reflects an attempt to break ties with Velázquez and form a strategic alliance with Carlos V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. Brimming with details about the events surrounding Veracruz’s inception and accompanied by mini-biographies of 318 signers of the document—socially competitive men who risked charges of treason by renouncing Velázquez—The First Letter from New Spain gives evidence of entrepreneurship and other overlooked traits that fueled the conquest.
Download or read book Carnage and Culture written by Victor Davis Hanson and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times--from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes’s conquest of Mexico to the Tet offensive--Victor Davis Hanson explains why the armies of the West have been the most lethal and effective of any fighting forces in the world. Looking beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, Hanson argues that it is in fact Western culture and values–the tradition of dissent, the value placed on inventiveness and adaptation, the concept of citizenship–which have consistently produced superior arms and soldiers. Offering riveting battle narratives and a balanced perspective that avoids simple triumphalism, Carnage and Culture demonstrates how armies cannot be separated from the cultures that produce them and explains why an army produced by a free culture will always have the advantage.
Download or read book Latin America Between Colony and Nation written by J. Lynch and published by Springer. This book was released on 2001-03-13 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on a key period in Latin American history, the transition from colonial status, via the revolutions for independence, to national organization. The essays provide in-depth studies of eighteenth-century society, the colonial state, and the roots of independence in Spanish America. The relation of Spanish America to the age of democratic revolution and the reaction of the Church to revolutionary change are newly defined, and leadership of Simon Bolivar is subject to particular scrutiny. National organization saw the emergence of new political leaders, the caudillos , and the marginalization of many people who sought relief in popular religion and millenarian movements.
Download or read book Lone Star Navy written by Jonathan W. Jordan and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The little known naval force that helped Texas gain independence from Mexico
Download or read book World History of Warfare written by Christon I. Archer and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 648 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a wide-ranging and comprehensive coverage of warfare across times and cultures. Its main strengths are its ability to provide context for each period discussed, comparison between developments in Europe, Asia, and the colonized world, and critical and up-to-date bibliographies that allow the reader to pursue subjects in greater depth. - Jacket flap.
Download or read book Latin America Hemispheric Partner written by United States. Department of the Army and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Iberia and the Americas 3 volumes written by John Michael Francis and published by ABC-CLIO. This book was released on 2005-11-21 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Students of a wide range of disciplines, as well as the lay reader, will appreciate this exhaustive survey, which traces Spanish and Portuguese influence throughout the Americas and highlights how Iberian cultures have in turn been enriched by the diverse cultures of the Americas.
