Scientia Militaria最新文献

{"title":"Michael Davitt's Wartime Visit to South Africa (March-May 1900) and its Consequences","authors":"D. McCracken","doi":"10.5787/46-2-1238","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-2-1238","url":null,"abstract":"In view of renewed interest in the radical Irish nationalist leader and land reform agitator Michael Davitt and his ideas, this article reconsiders his much publicised fact-finding visit to the war-torn Boer republics in South Africa and its context. Davitt resigned as an Irish nationalist member of parliament (MP) from the British House of Commons over the Anglo-Boer War, rather than any Irish issue. He was in South Africa from late March to early May 1900, where he met the leaders of the republics and senior generals. On his return to Ireland, Davitt wrote a 600-page partisan book on the Anglo-Boer War. The South African experience remained special to him. After his return to Europe, Davitt became closely associated with the Kruger-exile coterie, drifting away from mainline Irish nationalism. This article traces Davitt’s visit and discusses the effect it had on him, on Irish nationalism and on the Boer republics he visited.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82034954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chemical and Lead Isotope characterisation of First World War shrapnel balls and bullets used on the Alpine Austrian–Italian Front","authors":"Vittoria Latterza, V. Ros, C. Turetta, J. Gabrieli, Warren R. L. Cairns, E. Balliana, C. Baroni, M. Salvatore, A. Bondesan, C. Brabante","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1230","url":null,"abstract":"Chemical and lead isotope characterisation was carried out on shrapnel balls and bullets dating back to the First World War (WWI). These ammunitions were widely utilised in the Alpine Austrian–Italian front located in the Italian Alps. The investigation has been performed using inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry equipped with an octopole reaction system (ORS-ICP-QMS). The main goal of this work was to identify the elemental and lead isotope composition of raw materials and to discriminate between the military objects analysed. The results of multi-elemental analysis indicate that the shrapnel ball samples consisted of soft Pb or hard Pb with Sb depending on the use, the weapon type and the specific nation. The Italian shrapnel balls were made from hard Pb, as opposed to those of the Austrian–Hungarian samples. Through the investigation of lead isotope ratios, it has been possible to differentiate most of the Italian shrapnel balls from those of Austrian–Hungarian origin. Furthermore, some Italian shrapnel balls had a different lead isotope composition depending on their calibre. The elemental composition and lead isotopic signature of bullets show a clear discrimination between the external jacket and the core in relation to projectile type and nationality. The bullet cores consist of Pb–Sb alloy regardless of the region of origin. This work allowed us to investigate the potential applications of trace elements and lead isotope analyses to discriminate military artefacts of different origins.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"144 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85283706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Military Use Of Environmental Degradation by Islamic State, Northern Iraq","authors":"M. Bulmer","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1228","url":null,"abstract":"Members of the co-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) took control of Qayyara and the surrounding oil fields in June 2014. They were expelled by Iraqi forces in August 2016, but as they withdrew north, they created a complex battlespace igniting fires at the Al-Mishraq sulphur plant and at oil wells, as well as allegedly using chemical weapons. The fires were originally intended to deter coalition airstrikes, but later became a ground tactic to thwart the advance of US-backed Iraqi government and Peshmerga forces. Oil wells in the Qayyara and Najma oil fields were intentionally set alight and it took on average 30 days to put out a single well. Plumes from oil fires were observed in satellite images over 267 days, and it is estimated that 1,33 million barrels of oil burned. The market value of the sour crude burned was between $26,7 million and $45 million. Additionally, the fires denied IS earning between $105 000 and $472 000 from road tankerage of oil to Syria. The sulphur piles ignited by IS at the Al-Mishraq sulphur plant generated plumes of sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) and hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S). Using ozone monitoring data, it is estimated that 83 461 metric tonnes (MT) of SO 2 were released into the atmosphere over six days. The market value of the combusted sulphur is estimated at $6,1 million. The fires set at oil wells and sulphur piles by IS caused significant lost revenue to the ‘caliphate’ but also amplified an existing humanitarian crisis in an environmentally degraded region. This was caused by a toxic legacy from previous conflicts, coupled with desertification and unsustainable agricultural practices. The fires and areas affected continued to have real health effects on civilians even after IS had been defeated. For humanitarian aid and military personnel who were exposed by being in the areas, the severity of the effect was dependent upon the level of toxicity and length of exposure. This highlights the need to monitor environmental degradation in conjunction with accurate and timely health and environmental threat assessment in conflict areas. These must continue after the fighting ends if the true effects are to be understood. Keywords: Islamic State, Qayyara, oil wells, oil fires, sulphur fires, environmental degradation","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75563745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"50 must-see geological sites in South Africa","authors":"B. Mtshawu","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1232","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1232","url":null,"abstract":"Book Title: 50 must-see geological sites in South Africa Book Author: Gavin Whitfield Johannesburg: Penguin Random House. 2015. 320 pages. ISBN 9781920572501 Paperback","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84563033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Officers of 42nd geological section, South African Engineer Corps: Geologists and geophysicists who created a unique unit that supported the British Army during the Second World War","authors":"E. Rose","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1223","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1223","url":null,"abstract":"Within British and Commonwealth forces of the Second World War, 42 nd Geological Section was the only unit in which geologists and geophysicists deployed as a team into campaign areas. Water supply was a problem in many arid or semi-arid regions, and the section used geophysical methods (primarily surveys by electrical resistivity) to locate optimum sites for drilling boreholes to abstract potable groundwater – methods utilised also by the German Army but not otherwise by the British. Mobilised in August 1940, the section was operational first in East Africa and subsequently North Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean region until the end of the war. By September 1943, its core strength comprised five officers and 33 other ranks, commonly and widely deployed as detachments of one officer plus about seven other ranks. In total, thirteen officers are known to have served with the section, the first three from the Geological Survey of South Africa. Most were exceptionally well qualified and many achieved distinction in their civilian careers after the war. The section provides a little-known example of the significant specialist skills contributed by the South African Engineer Corps to the Allied war effort.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79599248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The International Association for Military Geosciences: A History to 2017","authors":"E. Rose","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1222","url":null,"abstract":"The International Association for Military Geosciences (IAMG) was founded in 2013 at Aviemore in Scotland, during the 10 th International Conference on Military Geosciences. The conference series had begun in 1994 in the United States, with subsequent almost biennial meetings alternating between Europe and North America. Initially, geological in their focus, however, the meeting themes broadened over the years to embrace military aspects of both geology and geography, and subsequently geosciences as a whole. Numbering was introduced (and applied retrospectively) in 2005, and the series title stabilised in 2009. The IAMG foundation reflected a developing international interest in military geosciences, evidenced by a significant number of books and journal articles as well as ancillary conferences focused on this discipline in recent years.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74626920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Military Environmental Literacy in the South African Army","authors":"H. Smit, J. V. D. Merwe","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1225","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1225","url":null,"abstract":"Traditional military activities, such as fighting wars, are inherently destructive. Modern militaries undertake a diverse range of military activities, use large areas for military training and operational purposes, and are confronted with a global focus on environmentally responsible behaviour. These conditions compel militaries to ensure that soldiers display the correct attitude toward, behaviour in and knowledge about the diverse physical, social and cultural environments they occupy and on which they have an effect. Globally, and in South Africa, this is not only a moral obligation but a legal imperative too. The aim of this article is to report on the military environmental literacy (MEL) (attitude, behaviour and knowledge regarding the environment in which the military operate) of the members of the South African Army (SA Army). To achieve this aim, existing environmental questionnaires were evaluated to ascertain their suitability for use in an SA Army context. None of them was usable to appraise MEL in a SA Army context effectively. Consequently, an iterative process was initiated to develop a tailor-made, valid, reliable and organisation-specific questionnaire to assess MEL in the SA Army.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79712508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Airborne Assault on Corregidor: A Study in Weather, Terrain, and Cultural Landscapes","authors":"Andrew D. Lohman","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1227","url":null,"abstract":"In many ways, military forces using advanced technologies have been able to overcome a number of the inherent and traditional challenges posed by physical geography. However, geography continues to play a significant role in military planning and operations in two areas that have received little attention in the literature, namely airborne operations and the cultural landscape. This case study sought to contribute to these discussions by analysing the American operation to seize Corregidor Island in February 1945. As a primarily airborne assault, the operation was heavily contingent on weather, but also on terrain for sufficient drop zones, and the cultural landscape and terrain intelligence of the American forces proved vital in this regard. Through analysing archival military planning documents, maps, images and other primary and secondary sources, this study found that the physical terrain and enemy defences dictated the overall plan, but two features of the cultural landscape, the parade ground and golf course, were essential to the airborne operation, serving as the smallest drop zones used in World War II by US forces. While these two spaces enabled the assault, their small size, the buildings surrounding them, and the prevailing winds made this mission the most dangerous and highest jump casualty airborne operation of the war. Despite the casualties incurred by these features, the bombed-out buildings and debris on the drop zones arguably prevented even greater casualties because of the cover these provided once paratroopers were assembled on the ground. The intent of this discussion is to demonstrate how airborne operations are inherently contingent on geography and the challenges and opportunities the cultural landscape could pose during a military operation.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91249744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of Geomorphic Controls on the development of defensive networks along the Western Front during the Great War: Case study of Champagne and Argonne (France)","authors":"Pierre Taborelli, A. Devos, Sébastien Laratte, Jérôme Brenot","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1229","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1229","url":null,"abstract":"The Great War was marked on the western front mainly by a war of position (for 40 out of the 51 months of the conflict) along the 750 km of the front area from Flanders to Alsace. The objective of this article is to understand the spatial organisation of defence networks in the eastern part of the Champagne region (Champagne seche), the Vallage d’Aisne and in the Argonne region in 1918 by means of an analysis of geographical information system (GIS)-processed trench maps. This article presents a methodology, involving the transfer of fire trenches, communication trenches and vegetation, integrated into a geodatabase, and then cross-referenced with the digital terrain model (DTM). This comparison of three distinct regions with a chalky plateau (Champagne seche), a wet plain (Vallage d’Aisne) and a sandy plateau covered with forests (Argonne), not only makes it possible to qualify the role of geographical conditions on the Great War but also to quantify the defence networks.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82292995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Field guide to the battlefields of South Africa","authors":"Clinton D. Van der Merwe","doi":"10.5787/46-1-1231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/46-1-1231","url":null,"abstract":"Book Title:  Field guide to the battlefields of South Africa: Anglo-Zulu War, 1 st & 2 nd Anglo-Boer Wars, colonial & frontier conflicts and indigenous & voortrekker battles Book Author:  Nicki von der Heyde Cape Town: Struik Travel & Heritage. 2013, 351 pages. ISBN: 9781431701001 Paperback","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72525949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}