Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms .
97-741: Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain , the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent , the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and various Muslim conquests , to mention just a few. The Norman conquest of England provides an example: it built on cultural ties, led to the subjugation of the Kingdom of England to Norman control and brought William
194-420: A military secret . Scholars still do not know the exact nature of Greek fire , for instance. Researching Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, for example, have presented unique challenges to historians due to records that were destroyed to protect classified military information, among other reasons. Historians use their knowledge of government regulation and military organization, and employing
291-472: A broad view of warfare's role in the nation's history. They typically include displays of weapons and other military equipment, uniforms , wartime propaganda , and exhibits on civilian life during wartime, and decorations , among others. A military museum may be dedicated to a particular or area, such as the Imperial War Museum Duxford for military aircraft, Deutsches Panzermuseum for tanks,
388-533: A combination of sulfur, saltpeter ( potassium nitrate ), aconitine , oil, resin, ground charcoal and wax." Joseph Needham argued the Chinese were able to destroy buildings and walls using such devices. Such experimentation was not present in Western Europe, where the combination of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal were used exclusively for explosives and as a propellant in firearms. What the Chinese often referred to as
485-430: A company bought out by Winchester , which made new and improved versions. Springfield rifles arrived in the mid-19th century also. Machine guns arrived in the late 19th century. Automatic rifles and light machine guns first arrived at the beginning of the 20th century. Serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism , specifically relating to manorialism , and similar systems. It
582-402: A cultural exchange and stimulus; frequently the conquerors have taken over the culture of their subjects. With subjugation, further class distinctions arise. The conquered people are enslaved; thus the widest possible social classes are produced: the enslaved and the free. The slaves are put to work to support the upper classes, who regard war as their chief business. The state is in origin
679-451: A fee for the right to leave her lord, and in compensation for her lost labour. Often there were arbitrary tests to judge the worthiness of their tax payments. A chicken, for example, might be required to be able to jump over a fence of a given height to be considered old enough or well enough to be valued for tax purposes. The restraints of serfdom on personal and economic choice were enforced through various forms of manorial customary law and
776-410: A few years of crop failure, a war, or brigandage might leave a person unable to make his own way. In such a case, he could strike a bargain with a lord of a manor. In exchange for gaining protection, his service was required: in labour, produce, or cash, or a combination of all. These bargains became formalised in a ceremony known as "bondage", in which a serf placed his head in the lord's hands, akin to
873-519: A full complement of labour to the lord, often forcing them to rent out their services to other serfs to make up for this hardship. Villeinage was not a purely uni-directional exploitative relationship. In the Middle Ages, land within a lord's manor provided sustenance and survival, and being a villein guaranteed access to land, and crops secure from theft by marauding robbers. Landlords, even were legally entitled to do so, rarely evicted villeins because of
970-499: A historian's political position on current events on interpretive disagreement regarding the causes of 20th century wars. He surveyed the ideological preferences of 109 active diplomatic historians in the United States as well as 54 active military historians. He finds that their current political views are moderately correlated with their historiographical interpretations. A clear position on the left-right continuum regarding capitalism
1067-515: A knight or baron "fought for all" and a churchman "prayed for all"; thus everyone had a place (see Estates of the realm ). The serf was the worst fed and rewarded however, although unlike slaves had certain rights in land and property. A lord of the manor could not sell his serfs as a Roman might sell his slaves. On the other hand, if he chose to dispose of a parcel of land, the serfs associated with that land stayed with it to serve their new lord; simply speaking, they were implicitly sold in mass and as
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#17328371331841164-424: A larger interest in the details of battles, equipment, and uniforms in use. The essential subjects of military history study are the causes of war, the social and cultural foundations, military doctrine on each side , the logistics, leadership, technology, strategy , and tactics used, and how these changed over time. On the other hand, just war theory explores the moral dimensions of warfare, and to better limit
1261-467: A man was a primary issue in determining a person's rights and obligations in many of the manorial court -cases of the period. Also, runaway slaves could be beaten if caught. The usual serf (not including slaves or cottars) paid his fees and taxes in the form of seasonally appropriate labour. Usually, a portion of the week was devoted to ploughing his lord's fields held in demesne , harvesting crops, digging ditches, repairing fences, and often working in
1358-551: A number of legal restrictions that differentiated them from the freeman. Within his constraints, a serf had some freedoms. Though the common wisdom is that a serf owned "only his belly" – even his clothes were the property, in law, of his lord – a serf might still accumulate personal property and wealth, and some serfs became wealthier than their free neighbours, although this happened rarely. A well-to-do serf might even be able to buy his freedom. A serf could grow what crop he saw fit on his lands, although
1455-429: A part of a lot. This unified system preserved for the lord long-acquired knowledge of practices suited to the land. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands without permission, nor did he possess a saleable title in them. A freeman became a serf usually through force or necessity. Sometimes the greater physical and legal force of a local magnate intimidated freeholders or allodial owners into dependency. Often
1552-568: A patch of land. As part of the contract with the landlord , the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields. The rest of their time was spent farming their own land for their own profit. Villeins were tied to their lord's land and could not leave it without his permission. Their lord also often decided whom they could marry. Like other types of serfs, villeins had to provide other services, possibly in addition to paying rent of money or produce. Villeins could not move away without their lord's consent and
1649-419: A product of war and exists primarily as an enforced peace between conquerors and conquered. From slavery and from conquest, another result of war, sprang differentiation of classes and occupations termed the division of labour . Through conquest, society became divided into a ruling militant class and a subject industrial class. The regulative function devolved upon the conquering soldiers and operations side to
1746-538: A sanitised version of warfare." The actual bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan became the focus of an angry national controversy with veterans attacking curators and historians when the Smithsonian Institution planned to put its fuselage on public display in 1995. The uproar led to cancellation of the exhibit. The documentation of military history begins with the confrontation between Sumer (current Iraq ) and Elam (current Iran ) c. 2700 BC near
1843-455: A serf's taxes often had to be paid in wheat. The surplus he would sell at market . The landlord could not dispossess his serfs without legal cause and was supposed to protect them from the depredations of robbers or other lords, and he was expected to support them by charity in times of famine . Many such rights were enforceable by the serf in the manorial court. Forms of serfdom varied greatly through time and regions. In some places, serfdom
1940-458: A source of agricultural labour . Serfdom, indeed, was an institution that reflected a fairly common practice whereby great landlords were assured that others worked to feed them and were held down, legally and economically, while doing so. This arrangement provided most of the agricultural labour throughout the Middle Ages . Slavery persisted right through the Middle Ages, but it was rare. In
2037-409: A targeted and systematic research strategy to piece together war histories. Despite these limits, wars are some of the most studied and detailed periods of human history. Military historians have often compared organization, tactical and strategic ideas, leadership, and national support of the militaries of different nations. In the early 1980s, historian Jeffrey Kimball studied the influence of
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#17328371331842134-434: A technological bias, a focus on leading military powers and dominant military systems, the separation of land from sea and recently air conflicts, the focus on state-to-state conflict, a lack of focus on political "tasking" in how forces are used. If these challenges were not sufficient for military historians, the limits of method are complicated by the lack of records, either destroyed or never recorded due to their value as
2231-416: A very wide coverage of military history, with over 180,000 articles . Its editors sponsor Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Military history and encourage readers to join. Military museums specialize in military histories; they are often organized from a national point of view, where a museum in a particular country will have displays organized around conflicts in which that country has taken part. They typically take
2328-495: A year include scholarly articles reviews of new books, and a bibliography of new publications and dissertations. The Society has 2300 members, holds an annual convention, and gives out prizes for the best scholarship. Historiography is the study of the history and method of the discipline of history or the study of a specialised topic. In this case, military history with an eye to gaining an accurate assessment of conflicts using all available sources. For this reason military history
2425-507: Is first recorded in English in the late 15th century, and came to its current definition in the 17th century. Serfdom was coined in 1850. Serfs had a specific place in feudal society, as did barons and knights : in return for protection, a serf would reside upon and work a parcel of land within the manor of his lord . Thus, the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity. One rationale held that serfs and freemen "worked for all" while
2522-578: Is named after Bayonne , France where it was first manufactured in the 16th century. It is used often in infantry charges to fight in hand-to-hand combat. General Jean Martinet introduced the bayonet to the French army. They were used heavily in the American Civil War , and continued to be used in modern wars like the Invasion of Iraq . Balloons were first used in warfare at the end of the 18th century. It
2619-477: Is periodised, creating overlaying boundaries of study and analysis in which descriptions of battles by leaders may be unreliable due to the inclination to minimize mention of failure and exaggerate success. Military historians use Historiographical analysis in an effort to allow an unbiased, contemporary view of records. One military historian, Jeremy Black, outlined problems 21st-century military historians face as an inheritance of their predecessors: Eurocentricity,
2716-467: Is that if your enemy has a potentially war winning weapon, you have to either match it or neutralize it. Chariots originated around 2000 BC. The chariot was an effective, fast weapon; while one man controlled the maneuvering of the chariot, a second bowman could shoot arrows at enemy soldiers. These became crucial to the maintenance of several governments, including the New Egyptian Kingdom and
2813-406: Is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity , and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships . Professional historians normally focus on military affairs that had a major impact on the societies involved as well as the aftermath of conflicts, while amateur historians and hobbyists often take
2910-525: The Nautilus . The Howitzer , a type of field artillery , was developed in the 17th century to fire high trajectory explosive shells at targets that could not be reached by flat trajectory projectiles. Organizational changes resulting in better training and intercommunication, made the concept combined arms possible, allowing the use of infantry, cavalry, and artillery in a coordinated way. Bayonets also became of wide usage to infantry soldiers. Bayonet
3007-782: The Lange Max Museum for the Western Front (World War I) , the International Spy Museum for espionage, The National World War I Museum for World War I , the "D-Day Paratroopers Historical Center" (Normandy) for WWII airborne, or more generalist, such as the Canadian War Museum or the Musée de l'Armée . For the Italian alpine wall one can find the most popular museum of bunkers in the small museum n8bunker at Olang / Kronplatz in
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3104-555: The Middle French serf and was derived from the Latin servus ("slave"). In Late Antiquity and most of the Middle Ages, what are now called serfs were usually designated in Latin as coloni . As slavery gradually disappeared and the legal status of servi became nearly identical to that of the coloni , the term changed meaning into the modern concept of "serf". The word "serf"
3201-676: The Shang dynasty and the nation states of the early to middle Zhou dynasty . Some of the military unit types and technologies which were developed in the ancient world are: For settled agrarian civilizations, the infantry became the core of military action. The infantry started as opposing armed groups of soldiers underneath commanders. The Greeks and early Romans used rigid, heavily armed phalanxes . The Macedonians and Hellenistic states would adopt phalanx formations with sarissa pikemen. The Romans would later adopt more flexible maniples from their neighbors which made them extremely successful in
3298-572: The Tanker War , as part of the Iran–Iraq War . The first navigable submarine was built in 1624 by Cornelius Drebbel , it could cruise at a depth of 15 feet (5 m). However, the first military submarine was constructed in 1885 by Isaac Peral . The Turtle was developed by David Bushnell during the American Revolution . Robert Fulton then improved the submarine design by creating
3395-441: The explosive charge was ignited by a lit match or hot coal held in the other hand. In the mid-15th century came the matchlock , allowing the gun to be aimed and fired while held steady with both hands, as used in the arquebus . Starting about 1500, clever but complicated firing mechanisms were invented to generate sparks to ignite the powder instead of a lit match, starting with the wheel lock , snaplock , snaphance , and finally
3492-534: The flintlock mechanism , which was simple and reliable, becoming standard with the musket by the early 17th century. At the beginning of the 16th century, the first European fire ships were used. Ships were filled with flammable materials, set on fire, and sent to enemy lines. This tactic was successfully used by Francis Drake to scatter the Spanish Armada at the Battle of Gravelines , and would later be used by
3589-487: The kholops in Russia, could, by contrast, be traded like regular slaves, could be abused with no rights over their own bodies, could not leave the land they were bound to, and could marry only with their lord 's permission. Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land. In return, they were entitled to protection, justice, and the right to cultivate certain fields within
3686-406: The manor house . The remainder of the serf's time was spent tending his own fields, crops and animals in order to provide for his family. Most manorial work was segregated by gender during the regular times of the year. During the harvest , the whole family was expected to work the fields. A major difficulty of a serf's life was that his work for his lord coincided with, and took precedence over,
3783-444: The serfs and slaves. After a conquest where a minority imposes itself on a majority, it usually adopts the language and religion of the majority, through this force of numbers and because a strong government can be maintained only through the unity of these two important facts. In other cases, especially when the conquerors create or maintain strong cultural or social institutions, the conquered culture could adopt norms or ideas from
3880-673: The "fire drug" arrived in Europe, fully fleshed out, as gunpowder. Cannons were first used in Europe in the early 14th century, and played a vital role in the Hundred Years' War . The first cannons were simply welded metal bars in the form of a cylinder, and the first cannonballs were made of stone. By 1346, at the Battle of Crécy, the cannon had been used; at the Battle of Agincourt they would be used again. The first infantry firearms, from fire lances to hand cannons , were held in one hand, while
3977-462: The 12th century also became important in the Middle Ages. It helped to give the English a large early advantage in the Hundred Years' War , even though the English were eventually defeated. The Battle of Crécy and the Battle of Agincourt are excellent examples of how to destroy an enemy using a longbow. It dominated battlefields for over a century. There is evidence for gunpowder evolving slowly from formulations by Chinese alchemists as early as
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4074-569: The 2nd century BC Han dynasty invented rudders and sculled oars for their warships. Fortifications are important in warfare. Early hill-forts were used to protect inhabitants in the Iron Age . They were primitive forts surrounded by ditches filled with water. Forts were then built out of mud bricks, stones, wood, and other available materials. Romans used rectangular fortresses built out of wood and stone. As long as there have been fortifications, there have been contraptions to break in, dating back to
4171-600: The 3rd–4th century AD, heavily armored cavalry became widely adopted by the Parthians, Sasanians , Byzantines , Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms , etc. The early Indo-Iranians developed the use of chariots in warfare. The scythed chariot was later invented in India and soon adopted by the Persians . War elephants were sometimes deployed for fighting in ancient warfare. They were first used in India and later adopted by
4268-470: The 4th century, at first as experiments for life force and metal transmutation, and later experiments as pyrotechnics and incendiaries. By the 10th century, the developments in gunpowder led to many new weapons that were improved over time. The Chinese used incendiary devices based on this in siege warfare against the Mongols starting in the mid 13th century. "Pots with wicks of flax or cotton were used, containing
4365-668: The Abolition of Slavery also prohibits serfdom as a practice similar to slavery. Social institutions similar to serfdom were known in ancient times . The status of the helots in the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta resembled that of the medieval serfs. By the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire faced a labour shortage. Large Roman landowners increasingly relied on Roman freemen, acting as tenant farmers, instead of slaves to provide labour. These tenant farmers , eventually known as coloni , saw their condition steadily erode. Because
4462-509: The British by Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore during the Anglo-Mysore Wars . Rockets were generally inaccurate at that time, though William Hale , in 1844, was able to develop a better rocket. The new rocket no longer needed the rocket stick , and had a higher accuracy. In the 1860s there were a series of advancements in rifles . The first repeating rifle was designed in 1860 by
4559-654: The Chinese Qing dynasty (1644–1912) as also maintaining a form of serfdom. Melvyn Goldstein described Tibet as having had serfdom until 1959, but whether or not the Tibetan form of peasant tenancy that qualified as serfdom was widespread is contested by other scholars. Bhutan is described by Tashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, as having officially abolished serfdom by 1959, but he believes that less than or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold situations. The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on
4656-605: The Chinese, Russians, Greeks, and several other countries in naval battles. Naval mines were invented in the 17th century, though they were not used in great numbers until the American Civil War . They were used heavily in the First and Second World Wars. Air-deployed naval mines were used to mine the North Vietnamese port of Haiphong during the Vietnam War . The Iraqi Navy of Saddam Hussein used naval mines extensively during
4753-514: The Conqueror to the English throne in 1066. Conquest may link in some ways with colonialism . England, for example, experienced phases and areas of Anglo-Saxon , Viking and Franco-Norman colonisation and conquest. The Ottomans used a method of gradual, non-military conquest in which they established suzerainty over their neighbours and then displaced their ruling dynasties . This concept
4850-628: The French. Status-wise, the bordar or cottar ranked below a serf in the social hierarchy of a manor, holding a cottage , garden and just enough land to feed a family. In England, at the time of the Domesday Survey, this would have comprised between about 1 and 5 acres (0.4 and 2.0 hectares). Under an Elizabethan statute , the Erection of Cottages Act 1588 , the cottage had to be built with at least 4 acres (0.02 km ; 0.01 sq mi) of land. The later Enclosures Acts (1604 onwards) removed
4947-775: The Internet for many more resources than are typically available in nearby libraries. Since 1993, one of the most popular sites, with over 4000 members (subscriptions are free) has been H-WAR, sponsored by the H-Net network based at Michigan State University. H-War has six coeditors, and an academic advisory board that sets policy. It sponsors daily moderated discussions of current topics, announcements of new publications and conferences, and reports on developments at conferences. The H-Net family of lists has sponsored and published over 46,000 scholarly book reviews, thousands of which deal with books in military history broadly conceived. Misplaced Pages itself has
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#17328371331845044-618: The Persians. War elephants were also used in the Battle of the Hydaspes River , and by Hannibal in the Second Punic War against the Romans. One of the most important military transactions of the ancient world was Chandragupta Maurya 's gift of 500 elephants to Seleucus I Nicator . Naval warfare was often crucial to military success. Early navies used sailing ships without cannons; often
5141-694: The Prussian States in 1792 and finally abolished it in October 1807, in the wake of the Prussian Reform Movement . In Finland, Norway, and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist; in Denmark, serfdom-like institutions did exist in both stavn s (the stavnsbånd , from 1733 to 1788) and its vassal Iceland (the more restrictive vistarband , from 1490 until 1894). According to medievalist historian Joseph R. Strayer ,
5238-573: The University of Maine, has explored the advantages and problems of teaching a course of "Modern War and Its Images" entirely through films. Students said they found the documentaries more valuable than the dramas. However, military historians are frustrated by their marginal status in major history departments. Academic historians concerned with military topics have their own scholarly organization, Society for Military History . Since 1937 it has published The Journal of Military History . Its four issues
5335-525: The acceptance of the lord to whose manor they proposed to migrate to. Villeins were generally able to hold their own property, unlike slaves. Villeinage, as opposed to other forms of serfdom, was most common in Continental European feudalism, where land ownership had developed from roots in Roman law . A variety of kinds of villeinage existed in Europe in the Middle Ages. Half-villeins received only half as many strips of land for their own use and owed
5432-621: The analysis of a leader was taken by Xenophon (430–355 BC) in Anabasis , recording the expedition of Cyrus the Younger into Anatolia . The memoirs of the Roman Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) enable a comparative approach for campaigns such as Commentarii de Bello Gallico and Commentarii de Bello Civili . The nature of warfare never changes, only its superficial manifestations. Joshua and David , Hector and Achilles would recognize
5529-493: The ceremony of homage where a vassal placed his hands between those of his overlord . These oaths bound the lord and his new serf in a feudal contract and defined the terms of their agreement. Often these bargains were severe. A 7th-century Anglo Saxon "Oath of Fealty" states: By the Lord before whom this sanctuary is holy, I will to N. be true and faithful, and love all which he loves and shun all which he shuns, according to
5626-451: The combat that our soldiers and Marines have waged in the alleys of Somalia and Iraq. The uniforms evolve, bronze gives way to titanium, arrows may be replaced by laser-guided bombs, but the heart of the matter is still killing your enemies until any survivors surrender and do your will. New weapons development can dramatically alter the face of war, the cost of warfare, the preparations, and the training of soldiers and leaders. A rule of thumb
5723-631: The concept of feudalism can also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia , ancient Mesopotamia , Egypt from the late Old Kingdom through the Middle Kingdom ( Sixth to Twelfth dynasty ), Islamic-ruled Northern and Central India , China ( Zhou dynasty and end of Han dynasty ) and Japan during the Shogunate . Wu Ta-k'un argued that the Shang-Zhou fengjian were kinship estates, quite distinct from feudalism. James Lee and Cameron Campbell describe
5820-464: The conquering culture to expedite interactions with the new ruling class. These changes were often imposed on the conquered people by force, particularly during religiously motivated conquests . Scholars have debated the existence of a norm against conquest since 1945. Conquest of large swaths of territory has been rare, but states have since 1945 continued to pursue annexation of small swaths of territory. Military history Military history
5917-594: The cottars' right to any land: "before the Enclosures Act the cottager was a farm labourer with land and after the Enclosures Act the cottager was a farm labourer without land". The bordars and cottars did not own their draught oxen or horses. The Domesday Book showed that England comprised 12% freeholders, 35% serfs or villeins, 30% cotters and bordars, and 9% slaves. Smerdy were a type of serfs above kholops in Medieval Poland and Kievan Rus' . Kholops were
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#17328371331846014-422: The destructive reality caused by war, seeks to establish a doctrine of military ethics. As an applied field, military history has been studied at academies and service schools because the military command seeks to not repeat past mistakes, and improve upon its current performance by instilling an ability in commanders to perceive historical parallels during a battle, so as to capitalize on the lessons learned from
6111-688: The discipline of military history is largely due to the rapid change of military forces, and the art and science of managing them, as well as the frenetic pace of technological development that had taken place during the period known as the Industrial Revolution , and more recently in the nuclear and information ages . An important recent concept is the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) which attempts to explain how warfare has been shaped by emerging technologies, such as gunpowder. It highlights
6208-424: The duties of serfdom, people bound themselves and their progeny. The social class of the peasantry can be differentiated into smaller categories. These distinctions were often less clear than suggested by their different names. Most often, there were two types of peasants: Lower classes of peasants, known as cottars or bordars , generally comprising the younger sons of villeins; vagabonds; and slaves, made up
6305-520: The evolution of society. Conquest brings humans into contact, even though it is a hostile contact. Plunder has in all times and places been a result of war, the conquerors taking whatever things of value they find. The desire for it has been one of the most common causes of war and conquest. In the formation of the modern state, the conspicuous immediate causes are the closely related facts of migration and conquest. The state has increased civilization and allowed increased cultural contact allowing for
6402-607: The field of battle. The kingdoms of the Warring States in East Asia also adopted infantry combat, a transition from chariot warfare from centuries earlier. Archers were a major component of many ancient armies, notably those of the Persians, Scythians, Egyptians, Nubians, Indians, Chinese, Koreans and Japanese. Cavalry became an important tool. In the Sicilian Expedition , led by Athens in an attempt to subdue Syracuse ,
6499-569: The goal was to ram the enemy ships and cause them to sink. There was human oar power, often using slaves, built up to ramming speed. Galleys were used in the 3rd millennium BC by the Cretans . The Greeks later advanced these ships. In 1210 BC, the first recorded naval battle was fought between Suppiluliuma II , king of the Hittites , and Cyprus , which was defeated. In the Greco-Persian Wars ,
6596-544: The heard of the dolomites of South Tyrol . The U.S. Army and the state National Guards operate 98 military history museums across the United States and three abroad. Curators debate how or whether the goal of providing diverse representations of war, in terms of positive and negative aspects of warfare. War is seldom presented as a good thing, but soldiers are heavily praised. David Lowenthal has observed that in today's museums, "nothing seems too horrendous to commemorate". Yet as Andrew Whitmarsh notes, "museums frequently portray
6693-483: The institution persisted until the mid-19th century. In Russia, serfdom gradually evolved from the usual European form to become de facto slavery, though it continued to be called serfdom. In the Austrian Empire , serfdom was abolished by the 1781 Serfdom Patent ; corvées continued to exist until 1848. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861. Prussia declared serfdom unacceptable in its General State Laws for
6790-545: The later Middle Ages, serfdom began to disappear west of the Rhine even as it spread through eastern Europe. Serfdom reached Eastern Europe centuries later than Western Europe – it became dominant around the 15th century. In many of these countries serfdom was abolished during the Napoleonic invasions of the early 19th century, though in some it persisted until mid- or late- 19th century. The word serf originated from
6887-563: The latter. The decline of serfdom in Western Europe has sometimes been attributed to the widespread plague epidemic of the Black Death , which reached Europe in 1347 and caused massive fatalities, disrupting society. Conversely, serfdom grew stronger in Central and Eastern Europe , where it had previously been less common (this phenomenon was known as " second serfdom "). In Eastern Europe,
6984-503: The laws of God and the order of the world. Nor will I ever with will or action, through word or deed, do anything which is unpleasing to him, on condition that he will hold to me as I shall deserve it, and that he will perform everything as it was in our agreement when I submitted myself to him and chose his will. To become a serf was a commitment that encompassed all aspects of the serf's life. The children born to serfs inherited their status, and were considered born into serfdom. By taking on
7081-502: The less organized societies around them. Military adventures were on a larger scale and effective conquest for the first time became feasible. Military conquest has been one of the most persistent causes of human migrations . There is a significant influence of migration and conquest on political development and state formation. Conquest leading to migration has contributed to race mixture and cultural exchange. The latter points influence on conquest has been of far greater significance in
7178-471: The lower class of workers. The colonus system of the late Roman Empire can be considered the predecessor of Western European feudal serfdom. Freemen, or free tenants , held their land by one of a variety of contracts of feudal land-tenure and were essentially rent-paying tenant farmers who owed little or no service to the lord, and had a good degree of security of tenure and independence. In parts of 11th-century England freemen made up only 10% of
7275-496: The lowest class of serfs in the medieval and early modern Russia. They had status similar to slaves, and could be freely traded. The last type of serf was the slave. Slaves had the fewest rights and benefits from the manor. They owned no tenancy in land, worked for the lord exclusively and survived on donations from the landlord. It was always in the interest of the lord to prove that a servile arrangement existed, as this provided him with greater rights to fees and taxes. The status of
7372-400: The manor to maintain their own subsistence. Serfs were often required not only to work on the lord's fields, but also in his mines and forests and to labour to maintain roads. The manor formed the basic unit of feudal society, and the lord of the manor and the villeins , and to a certain extent the serfs, were bound legally: by taxation in the case of the former, and economically and socially in
7469-408: The manorial administration and court baron . It was also a matter of discussion whether serfs could be required by law in times of war or conflict to fight for their lord's land and property. In the case of their lord's defeat, their own fate might be uncertain, so the serf certainly had an interest in supporting his lord. Villeins had more rights and status than those held as slaves, but were under
7566-597: The modern Basra . Other prominent records in military history are the Trojan War in Homer 's Iliad (though its historicity has been challenged), The Histories by Herodotus (484–425 BC) who is often called the "father of history". Next was Thucydides whose impartiality, despite being an Athenian , allowed him to take advantage of his exile to research the war from different perspectives by carefully examining documents and interviewing eyewitnesses. An approach centered on
7663-541: The navy became of increasing importance. Triremes were involved in more complicated sea-land operations. Themistocles helped to build up a stronger Greek navy, composed of 310 ships, and defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis , ending the Persian invasion of Greece. In the First Punic War , the war between Carthage and Rome started with an advantage to Carthage because of their naval experience. A Roman fleet
7760-487: The past. When certifying military history instructors the Combat Studies Institute deemphasizes rote detail memorization and focuses on themes and context in relation to current and future conflict, using the motto "Past is Prologue." The discipline of military history is dynamic, changing with development as much of the subject area as the societies and organisations that make use of it. The dynamic nature of
7857-570: The peasant population, and in most of the rest of Europe their numbers were also small. Ministeriales were hereditary unfree knights tied to their lord, that formed the lowest rung of nobility in the Holy Roman Empire . A villein (or villain ) represented the most common type of serf in the Middle Ages. Villeins had more rights and higher status than the lowest serf, but existed under a number of legal restrictions that differentiated them from freemen. Villeins generally rented small homes, with
7954-433: The right to gather deadwood – an essential source of fuel – from their lord's forests. In addition to service, a serf was required to pay certain taxes and fees. Taxes were based on the assessed value of his lands and holdings. Fees were usually paid in the form of agricultural produce rather than cash. The best ration of wheat from the serf's harvest often went to the landlord. Generally hunting and trapping of wild game by
8051-413: The serfs on the lord's property was prohibited. On Easter Sunday the peasant family perhaps might owe an extra dozen eggs, and at Christmas, a goose was perhaps required, too. When a family member died, extra taxes were paid to the lord as a form of feudal relief to enable the heir to keep the right to till what land he had. Any young woman who wished to marry a serf outside of her manor was forced to pay
8148-447: The short outbursts of rapid change followed by periods of relative stability. In terms of the history profession in major countries, military history is an orphan, despite its enormous popularity with the general public. William H. McNeill points out: In recent decades University level courses in military history remain popular; often they use films to humanize the combat experience. For example, Eugene P. A. Scleh, history professor at
8245-471: The tax system implemented by Diocletian assessed taxes based on both land and the inhabitants of that land, it became administratively inconvenient for peasants to leave the land where they were counted in the census. Medieval serfdom really began with the breakup of the Carolingian Empire around the 10th century. During this period, powerful feudal lords encouraged the establishment of serfdom as
8342-463: The times of Romans and earlier. Siege warfare is often necessary to capture forts. Some of the military unit types and technologies which were used in the medieval period are: Bows and arrows were often used by combatants. Egyptians shot arrows from chariots effectively. The crossbow was developed around 500 BC in China, and was used heavily in the Middle Ages . The English/Welsh longbow from
8439-422: The value of their labour. Villeinage was much preferable to being a vagabond, a slave, or an unlanded labourer. In many medieval countries, a villein could gain freedom by escaping from a manor to a city or borough and living there for more than a year; but this action involved the loss of land rights and agricultural livelihood, a prohibitive price unless the landlord was especially tyrannical or conditions in
8536-470: The village were unusually difficult. In medieval England, two types of villeins existed – villeins regardant that were tied to land and villeins in gross that could be traded separately from land. In England, the Domesday Book , of 1086, uses bordarii (bordar) and cottarii ( cottar ) as interchangeable terms, cottar deriving from the native Anglo-Saxon tongue whereas bordar derived from
8633-763: The well-trained Syracusan cavalry became crucial to the success of the Syracusans. Macedonian Alexander the Great effectively deployed his cavalry forces to secure victories. In battles such as the Battle of Cannae of the Second Punic War , and the Battle of Carrhae of the Roman-Persian Wars , the importance of the cavalry would be repeated. There were also horse archers , who had the ability to shoot on horseback—the Parthians , Scythians , Mongols , and other various steppe people were especially fearsome with this tactic. By
8730-454: The work he had to perform on his own lands: when the lord's crops were ready to be harvested, so were his own. On the other hand, the serf of a benign lord could look forward to being well fed during his service; it was a lord without foresight who did not provide a substantial meal for his serfs during the harvest and planting times. In exchange for this work on the lord's demesne, the serfs had certain privileges and rights, including for example
8827-474: Was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery . It developed during late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century. Unlike slaves , serfs could not be bought, sold, or traded individually, though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land. Actual slaves, such as
8924-537: Was apparent in most cases. All groups agreed with the proposition, "historically, Americans have tended to view questions of their national security in terms of such extremes as good vs. evil." Though the Socialists were split, the other groups agreed that "miscalculation and/or misunderstanding of the situation" had caused U.S. interventionism." Kimball reports that: People interested in military history from all periods of time, and all subtopics, are increasingly turning to
9021-473: Was built in 261 BC, with the addition of the corvus that allowed Roman soldiers to board enemy ships. The bridge would prove effective at the Battle of Mylae , resulting in a Roman victory. The Vikings , in the 8th century AD, invented a ship propelled by oars with a dragon decorating the prow, hence called the Drakkar . The 12th century AD Song dynasty invented ships with watertight bulkhead compartments while
9118-507: Was first introduced in Paris of 1783; the first balloon traveled over 5 miles (8 km). Previously military scouts could only see from high points on the ground, or from the mast of a ship. Now they could be high in the sky, signalling to troops on the ground. This made it much more difficult for troop movements to go unobserved. At the end of the 18th century, iron-cased artillery rockets were successfully used militarily in India against
9215-531: Was first systematized by Halil İnalcık . Conquests of this sort did not involve violent revolution but were a process of slow assimilation , established by bureaucratic means such as registers of population and resources as part of the feudal timar system. The ancient civilized peoples conducted wars on a large scale that were, in effect, conquests. In Egypt the effects of invasion and conquest are to be seen in different racial types represented in paintings and sculptures. Improved agriculture production
9312-452: Was merged with or exchanged for various forms of taxation. The amount of labour required varied. In Poland, for example, it was commonly a few days per year per household in the 13th century, one day per week per household in the 14th century, four days per week per household in the 17th century, and six days per week per household in the 18th century. Early serfdom in Poland was mostly limited to
9409-578: Was not conducive to peace ; it allowed for specialization which included the formation of ever-larger militaries and improved weapon technology . This, combined with growth of population and political control, meant war became more widespread and destructive. Thus, the Aztecs ; Incas ; the African Kingdoms Dahomey and Benin ; and the ancient civilizations of Egypt , Babylonia , Assyria and Persia all stand out as more militaristic than
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