Armies and Ecosystems in Premodern Europe The Meuse Region, 1250-1850 / Sander Govaerts.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Govaerts, Sander, author.

Series:

War and conflict in premodern societies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Armed Forces--Environmental aspects.

Armed Forces.

Europe--Meuse River Region.

Europe.

Europe--Armed Forces.

Europe--History, Military.

Meuse River Region--History, Military.

Meuse River Region.

Genre:

Military history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 volume) : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) ;

Edition:

New edition.

Place of Publication:

Leeds : Arc Humanities Press, 2021.

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Govaerts Sander : Sander Govaerts is postdoctoral researcher at the Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University.

Summary:

Using the ecosystem concept as his starting point, the author examines the complex relationship between premodern armed forces and their environment at three levels: landscapes, living beings, and diseases. The study focuses on Europe's Meuse Region, well-known among historians of war as a battleground between France and Germany. By analyzing soldiers' long-term interactions with nature, this book engages with current debates about the ecological impact of the military, and provides new impetus for contemporary armed forces to make greater effort to reduce their environmental footprint. "This is an impressive interdisciplinary study, contributing to environmental history, the history of war and historical geography. The book advances an original and intriguing argument that armed forces have had a vested interest in preserving the environments and habitats in which they operate, and have thus contributed to environmental conservation long before this became a popular cause of wider humanity. The work will provide a template for how this topic can be researched for other parts of the world or for other time periods." Peter H. Wilson, Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

Part One LANDSCAPES

Chapter 1. Frontiers

Chapter 2. Fortifications

Part Two BIOTIC COMMUNITIES

Chapter 3. Disturbances

Chapter 4. Policing

Part Three PATHOGENS

Chapter 5. Army Health

Conclusion

Appendix. Overview of plants found in the fortifications of Maastricht in 1868

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-64189-399-0

OCLC:

1250598821

Access Restriction:

Open Access Unrestricted online access