tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post8329039433413482531..comments2024-03-28T03:10:23.679-07:00Comments on Polemarch: Imperialist WargamingThe Polemarchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-92209456252451647842017-04-20T02:26:09.369-07:002017-04-20T02:26:09.369-07:00I suppose that a number of things happened in the ...I suppose that a number of things happened in the C19 - technological advances, for one thing, enabling mass death to be dealt out. Later C19 imperialism was either directed to Africa, where the problem really had been disease, and the east, where China was, I think, falling apart but Japan sort of managed to resist.<br /><br />Earlier colonialism had been directed to the Americas, where metal tools were significant (as well as disease) and Siberia. In N. America and Siberia the population densities were low, so what exactly was happening (particularly in America after the post-contact disease epidemics) is a little moot.<br /><br />Of course, we have no other structures to impose on everyone else but our own. This is exacerbated because the records we have are from within our culture. <br /><br />Quite what we lump in with what is, of course, moot. Geoffry Parker remarks, for example, that the interesting thing about Europe is not how it managed to dominate 90% of the globe with a huge technological advantage, but how it came by 30% of it with only, at best, marginal technological advantages.The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-80237859468729750262017-04-19T15:39:04.493-07:002017-04-19T15:39:04.493-07:00I see where Reinhard is coming from (going by what...I see where Reinhard is coming from (going by what you said of course: I haven't read him). If by colony we mean a trading post in a foreign country. In some ways that is no different to what happens in many cities around the world today. But that word 'colonialism' has baggage, at least by association. We tend to think of the later 'colonies' of the late 19th and 20th centuries where the white western nations, metaphorically and literally had the whip hand. But in the 17th and early 18th century we have relatively weak European powers with limited footholds usually at the whim of local rulers. There was more of an attempt to learn the local languages, understand the local cultures and integrate. That seemed to change as the 19th century wore on and the Europeans became more powerful until ultimately we saw the growth of theories of racial superiority and imperialism as a mission rather than localised attempts to make profits (by fair means or foul).<br /><br />In wargaming terms, it's probably not surprising we impose our Euro-centric structures on to non-Europeans. After all, how well do we understand our own ancestors? Can we disengage our post-industrial brains to see things how agrarian people saw them? In our minds do we lump the early period East India Company in with the world of Cecil Rhodes? Don't we colonise our own past? Cue the famous Hartley quote:<br />'The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.'nundankethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12895608927860103442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-2635822196914024222017-04-18T06:19:18.404-07:002017-04-18T06:19:18.404-07:00I am fairly sure that you are right about Rorke...I am fairly sure that you are right about Rorke's Drift / Isandlwana and talking up the heroic win rather than the abject failure. And of course, one person's freedom fighter can be another's terrorist...<br /><br />I think, too, that ideologies often get conflated and overlap. Thus the ideas of Nazi expansion, Aryan superiority (or Slav inferiority, if you like), antipathy between Stalinist communism and National Socialism all need to be added to the pot. Whether the brew is imperialist is probably a matter of taste - it is certainly nasty.<br /><br />Glad to have provoked a bit of thinking - I've no idea of the answers, of course... The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-37301006277417020802017-04-18T05:57:36.857-07:002017-04-18T05:57:36.857-07:00Some very interesting thoughts. In Australia, the ...Some very interesting thoughts. In Australia, the Indigenous people call Australia Day (Anniversary of the First Fleet's arrival) "Invasion Day" and it not hard to see why. <br /><br />While the colonies in Australia brought a great deal of advancement for British convicts and immigrants the Indigenous peoples suffered dreadfully.<br /><br />I certainly think that wargaming currently has a very western influence/view point.<br /><br />Some wargaming is quite explicitly Imperialist. For example the British versus Zulu wars, Wellington in India, Boxer Rebellion where the sole purpose of the wars were to increase or maintain the Empire/s.<br /><br />Would the Eastern Front in WW2 be Imperialist? The Germans wanted to create an empire. Although it was the Russians ended up with a bigger one.<br /><br />I think that the difference in warfare is more about logistics and resources than any inherent bias. Are the British Commando raids in WW2 or the French Resistance any different to the various native forces. Peoples/nations fight wars with what they have. Perhaps it is just a bias that "when we do it is OK" but no one else can. Each country feels that it is a little bit special and the rules can be bent for them. <br /><br />Going back to the Zulus I a have come to believe that Rorke's Drift was one of the first great modern examples of spin. "We just lost big at Isandlwana so let's talk up our win here and award lots of medals". Not to discount the bravery of the soldiers there but certainly wonder if the subsequent acclaim was influenced by the prior loss. (I have no doubt this is not an original thought - a quick search to pull up the correct spelling of Rorke's Drift proved this.)<br /><br />In the movie (obviously not a great historical source) the Zulus move off after two days due to the heroism of the defenders. But I always imagine it was because they were hungry and went off to find something to eat.<br /><br />This all leads to the hope that as the rest of the world gets wealthier and can afford wasting money and time on wargames we will get a lot more view points and ideas, figures, rules and terrain and our hobby will be a lot more diverse and interesting.<br /><br />Sorry that the above is a bit/lot rambling and disconnected but your posts have been very enlightening and led to a bit of deep thinking. :)Ben Catohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00132734496369774300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-29282967982416980872017-04-18T01:49:10.802-07:002017-04-18T01:49:10.802-07:00Agreed. I cannot immediately come up with a suitab...Agreed. I cannot immediately come up with a suitably neutral term either. Perhaps there's a reason for that ... :)<br /><br />Thanks for the tip on the book. It's a few quid cheaper from Postscript than from Blackwells, even with my discount.Ruaridhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003128932063213463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-22810914518321099362017-04-18T00:17:27.709-07:002017-04-18T00:17:27.709-07:00Fair enough, but I'm not sure there is any rea...Fair enough, but I'm not sure there is any reasonably neutral term to describe colonialism / imperialism.<br /><br />As for the book, I got mine from www.psbooks.co.ukThe Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-91142383157951201882017-04-17T07:23:34.272-07:002017-04-17T07:23:34.272-07:00I'm enjoying this series on wargaming as imper...I'm enjoying this series on wargaming as imperialist. Thank you. Within the dictates of the definition employed by Reinhard, much wargaming is imperialist in the sense that it colonises and repurposes/does violence to history. I still struggle with the use of colonialism as neutral though. I would suggest that imperialism is the ideology behind colonialism, and that both are functionally the same, even if semantically different. I shall have to read Reinhard to see if the book changes my mind on this. How irksome that it is not in the university library! Ah well, to Blackwells I shall go.Ruaridhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003128932063213463noreply@blogger.com