Few events have shaped the course of American history more than the Civil War. It is virtually impossible to imagine what would have happened if the South had been able to secede or forced the North adopt their ideology. In an age where virtually all of our country’s battles are fought thousands of miles away, it is difficult to comprehend the schism that years of internal fighting created.
Evidence of the Civil War’s indelible impact on our society is still manifest throughout the country. At various locations where infamous battles were fought there are still staged reenactments featuring Civil War replicas. Although these displays offer us insight into the battles and historical perspective, it is impossible to grasp the amount of bloodshed and sacrifice that the War necessitated.
When people think of the ancient western world, the two societies that come to mind most often are Greece and Rome. This association makes sense, as much of the culture and traditions between the two civilizations were quite similar. While the Greeks are often considered the founders of modern thought thanks to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the Romans also contributed greatly to the world that we live in today.
From our art and literature to our vary language, much of what we take for granted today was made possible via these cultures. These societies also made significant advances in math, science and various other technologies and areas of study. Most of the original artifacts from these cultures have been destroyed, but there are still accurate Greek and Roman replicas to be found.
We are entering into the time of year when you don’t have to be a diehard football fan to be interested in the NFL. With just a handful of teams left in the race for the Lombardi Trophy, cities that still have a team left in the playoffs are galvanizing their citizens to support their squad. Nowhere is this more evident than in Minnesota.
Although the city has hosted what will be their only playoff game of the season, the Viking fans showed their unwavering support. Not only were loyalists decked out in purple and gold attire, but there were also several members of the crows donning a variety of Viking replicas. Even if fans are still coming out of the woodwork late into the season, it is exciting to see people show such enthused support.
When many people hear the term “chain mail” it conjures up images of inbox spam and annoying chain letters. In actuality, chain metal is an ancient form of armor that is constructed of small metal rings that are linked together. These rings formed a mesh pattern that protected soldiers from a variety of medieval weaponry.
While today we refer to this armor as chain mail, the people who actually wore it as early as in the 4th century BC referred to it simply as mail. With the significant advancements in weaponry, there are few—if any—areas in the world where chain mail is still a viable option for protection. Most of the medieval chain mail on display today is found at Halloween parties and Renaissance fairs.
Get one of the most efficient side arms used by the United States Armed Forces from 1911 to 1985. The Springfield 1911 or the M1911 served the U.S. armed forces throughout two world wars, the Korean war and the Vietnam war. During the 2nd world war, its official designation was Automatic Pistol Caliber .45. The basic design of the M1911 is the short recoil principle self-loading pistol. This system replaced the traditional revolver handguns that carried several limitations.
During the span of its service for over 70 years, the US government procured around 2.7 million units of M1911. Among John Browning’s designs, the M1911 is the most famous and most widely copied by other gun manufacturers. The M1911 operating system has become the foundation of almost all 20th century modern center fire pistols. My grandfather gave me his original for Christmas last year, and I have it proudly exhibited in a gun display mount on my mantel.
Among the movie genres, Westerns are one of the most classic and most popular. Most take place during the latter half of the 19th century in the area that became known as the American Old West or Wild West, but several well known western films, including Vera Cruz, The Wild Bunch, The Proposition, Quigley Down Under, and others have been set in Canada, Mexico and even in Australia. The earliest Western movies were filmed entirely on set, and utilized canvas paintings as Old West backdrops and other Western replicas as props.
The primary theme of these films is often how created but primitive ways of life and routine conflict when confronted with social change, most commonly depicted by conflicts between settlers and ranchers or natives and the coming industrial revolution. This theme of the modern impinging on the established is represented in most films of the genre. The set-up order of things was continuously changing for real Old West settlers as well, since they started to construct towns and farms the land of the new frontier, and this sense of being at the forefront of a new age is often found in many Westerns as well.
Marinara sauce, meet Tex-Mex. The rise of the “Spaghetti Western” genre in the 1960s was unlikely as it was immediately successful. Led by influential film director Sergio Leone and embodied by American movie star Clint Eastwood, the genre married Western tropes with an Italian visual sensibility. It just so happened that the Andalusia region of Spain bore a striking resemblance to parts of the American Southwest, so the director took advantage and saved big on production costs.
Spaghetti Westerns subverted a few of the conventions of traditional Westerns as created in Hollywood films of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. For example, rather than casting the hero in a pure light and the villain in an evil one, all characters dealt with moral struggles and were painted with shades of gray. Some of the authentic western guns the actors used have been emulated in the form of historic replicas.
In a very real sense, Vikings were a precursor to our modern-day version of terrorists. The Vikings rose to power shortly after a major plague outbreak decimated much of Europe’s population. The kingdoms that remained in England, France and much of the rest of Western Europe were small and comparatively weak. They didn’t yet have the major fortifications and embattlements that would protect against an onslaught.
The Viking swords were sharp and formidable, but their real secret to success involved water travel. Their boats featured shallow hulls, allowing them to pass quickly through rivers and far into the interior of England. There they would collect plunder and perform serious acts of violence on peasants and royals alike. In the end, European kingdoms were forced to band together and build better castles for defense.
This is a continuation for our last blog entitled Ancient Japan…
Between the 9th and 12th centuries, Japan was engulfed in an ongoing war for land between the three ruling families: the Minamoto, Fujiwara, and the Taira clans. This epic struggle for control of the Japanese islands produced the samurai; astonishingly, they resembled the European knights in practically every way. Both rode horses, wore elaborate japanese armor, and used exquisite, ceremonial historical weapons - samuari swords. Both swore allegiance to a landowner (in Japan, they were known as Daimyo), and were eventually given land of their own. The most remarkable similarity, though, was in the behavior; the knights had their code of chivalry, the samurai, their Bushido, or “Way of the Warrior”. Bushido will be the topic of our next blog.
Medieval Europe and Ancient Japan were a world apart. From the early days of its culture, Japan was a closed society that shunned contact with other civilizations. The earliest recorded contact with Europe was in 1543, when a Portuguese trading vessel brought the first guns to the Japanese weapons arsenal. In fact, it’s entirely possible that Europe and Japan were unaware of each other’s existence until that time. Amazingly, both cultures developed a similar class of professional warriors: Europe had knights, and Japan its samurai. We talked about the knights a while back, and if you read that one, you’ll recall that they were specially trained, highly respected fighters, sworn to obey a king. Land ownership meant power, and was the ultimate sign of status; to be a landowner was to gain entrance to a special ruling class, the nobility. In return for their services, they were granted small landholdings of their own to rule over. From the 8th century onward, Japanese culture was much the same. (to be continued…)
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