The Arch of Victory

 

Since the age of Rome, great triumphal arches have been built to glorify the conquests of a great leader.  One of the oldest known was the 29 BCE Arch of Augustus that once graced the road by the Temple of Vesta in Rome.  The arch commemorated the victory of Augustus over Marcus Antonius at Actium.  The arch no longer exists and only coins of the era give any idea as to its design. 

Around 1806, Napoleon ordered the construction of the 19m tall by 23m wide, L'arc de Ttriomphe du Carousel.

The L'arc de Triomphe du Carousel was built to honor the great French victories of the previous year.  It was modeled after the 23m tall by 25m wide, 203 C.E. victory arch of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus.

For his greatest arch, in 1806, Napoleon decided to create the gigantic-Arc de Triomphe, one of the largest arch's ever built (the 1982, triumph arch in Pyongyang is 10 m higher) to honor military victories. Based on the 1st century 15m tall Arch of Titus, the Arc is a massive 50m tall and 45m wide and took over 30 (although construction was halted for nine years due to regime changes) years to complete.

"Carthage Must Die"

For more than a century the two greatest powers of the Western Mediterranean Sea, Rome and Carthage competed for supremacy.  Three brutal wars were fought between the two powers, the 1st Punic War (246-241 BCE), the 2nd Punic War (218-201 BCE) and the final, 3rd Punic War (149-146 BCE). 

In the 1st Punic War (Punic came from Punicus, the Latin word for Phoenicians as the Carthaginians were called by the Romans.) was a victory for Rome who won her first overseas province, Sicily, the beginning of the Roman Empire.  In the 2nd Punic War, Rome overcame several massive defeats at the hands of the Great Carthaginian General Hannibal and again defeated the Carthaginians. 

During the uneasy peace after the 2nd Punic War many Romans felt the only lasting solution to the War many dangers of Carthage was the total destruction of the city.  The great Roman senator, Cato the Elder, expressed this deep hatred through his famous comment "Carthago delenda est," ("Carthage must be Destroyed") that he added to the end of every speech he made in the Senate.  The death of Carthage came in the 3rd Punic War, where 80% of her population died, the rest were sold into slavery, the city was burned to the ground, the soil plowed with salt and the land cursed (the Romans really hated Carthage).  With her greatest rival destroyed, Rome was now the sole major power in the West and well on the road to becoming one of the greatest Empires in World History.

Renaissance Cannon - Death with a Bang

"Vive le Roi," (Long Live the King), cannon of the armies of the king of France. Note the fleur de lys design embossed on the barrels.

A deadly serpent ready to strike.

Ottoman splendor that brought death to the enemies of the Sultan.

Early bombards such as this spelled doom to the tall Medieval castles that had protected the nobles for centuries.

The development of artillery was a trial-and-error process.  Some ideas such as this early breech loading design were centuries ahead of their time (in other words, a good idea that couldn't safely work with the metallurgy of the era)

But some improvements were very successful as this improved bombard clearly shows.

The last sight any enemy would want to see, the mouth of one of the improved artillery pieces right before it goes BOOM!

The Crossbow

Renaissance Armor-High Point of Personal Protection

From elite (and expensive) Imperial plate armour, ribbed for extra strength (don't worry about the open space between his legs-it and his bottom would have been covered by more flexible chain-mail armour),...

to common (cheap) leather and metal gorget (protected the throat and upper chest) ...

and simple brigantine (leather with metal studs), armor has protected warriors for thousands of years.  Here we have samples of the best of the Renaissance armor maker's work. These are but a few of the hundreds of full and partial suits found at the Musee de l'Armee at Hotel des Invalides.

One size did not fit all, quality suits of plate were tailored for the individual user, one reason for their tremendous cost.

Suits of full plate were even made for wealthy young boys for training as well as protection should they accompany their fathers onto the battlefield.

And let's not forget our four-legged friends, armor for them could cover as little as their foreheads...

our encase both them and their riders in complete metal protection.

Those that could afford the best, purchased full plate for both man and beast (at a cost in modern dollars of over a quarter million).

But an new technology was to soon be so effective as to render the wearing of expensive plate armor useless-the flintlock musket. Easier to use than previous weapons and deadly up to seventy-five yards through even the best armor of the day.

Ancient Chinese Inventions-an Ancient Cultures Gifts to the World

From its earliest days, the Chinese Culture has been inventive, creating many of the World's greatest inventions.  From humble pasta to the greatest war discovery in 5000 years, gunpowder, the creative minds of the people of China have produced many of the foundations of the products our Modern World that we take for granted. The Silk Road trade routes were often the source of introducing these new concepts to the other cultures of Asia, Europe and North Africa.  While the initial inventions often had little resemblance to their modern decedents, the original creations were none the less remarkable achievements for their time periods.  Listed here are some of the more important inventions that have been credited to the Chinese:

Pasta-circa 2000 BCE

Crossbow- 5th Century BCE, Zhou Dynasty

Sun Tzu's The Art of War-circa 5th Century BCE, Warring States Period

Wheelbarrow-3rd Century BCE, Qin Dynasty

Horse Collar- 2nd Century BCE, Han Dynasty

Writing Paper- 1st Century CE, Han Dynasty

Blast Furnace- 1st Century CE, Han Dynasty

Cast Iron- 2nd Century CE, Han Dynasty

Seismograph- 2nd Century CE, Han Dynasty

Cast Iron Plow- 2nd Century CE, Han Dynasty

Fishing Reel- 2nd Century CE, Han Dynasty

Ships Rudder-3rd Century CE, Period of Disunity

Matches-6th Century CE, Period of Disunity

Porcelain- 6th Century CE, Sui Dynasty

Toilet Paper- 6th Century CE, Sui Dynasty

Gunpowder-7th Century CE, T'ang Dynasty

Fireworks-7th Century CE, T'ang Dynasty

Brandy-7th Century CE, T'ang Dynasty

Woodblock Printing- 8th Century CE, T'ang Dynasty

Paper Money-8th Century CE, T'ang Dynasty

Bicycle Chain-10th Century CE, Song Dynasty

Movable Type-11th Century CE, Song Dynasty

Mechanical Clock-11th Century CE, Song Dynasty

Compass-12th Century CE, Song Dynasty

Medical Encyclopedia-12th Century CE, Song Dynasty

Windmill-12th Century CE, Song Dynasty

Guns-13th Century CE, Yuan Dynasty

Cardinal Richelieu Master of 17th Century European Politics

Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac (1584-1642), Chief Minister of France -1624-1642. An expert at Machiavellian Politics and intrigue... " I have made the King (Louis XIII) the most powerful monarch in Europe...while I am the most powerful man in France" Chooses Nationalism over religion during the Thirty Years War when he supported the Protestant factions over the Catholic Hapsburg Alliance. Thus were the major ideological wars of religion replaced by wars for the national interest. The Age of Enlightenment was at hand.

Louis XIII (1601-1643), King of France 1610-1643. A weak king under the constant influence of others, first his mother, Marie de Medici and later the powerful Cardinal- Richelieu.