18th Century warfare history book – “The Occupation of Havana” (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) – Elena Schneider interview

Dr. Elena Schneider is a historian who specializes in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic World. She teaches at the University of California, Berkley and we spoke about her latest book on the British capture of Havana in the 18th century.

0:53 – Elena talks about how she got into studying the year-long British occupation of Havana.

3:30 – Elena talks about how she arranged the book.  There were many participants in this event from across the world.

5:20 – Elena mentions British celebrations in London when they heard of the capture of Havana.

7:41 – The occupation took place from summer 1762 to June 1763.

12:01 – Elena talks about the effect on the silver train and the Spanish Navy during this occupation.

16:45 – The War of Jenkins’ Ear prepared the British for this attack. They learned the importance of preparing for yellow fever.

21:00 – Elena talks about the large number of American colonists who died during this attack.

22:04 – Elena touches on how the British navy was affected by capturing so many Spanish ships.

23:52 – Elena talks about the effect American deaths had on American politics.

27:36 – Elena talks about how Cubans dealt with the British presence.

29:56 – Half of the population of Havan at the time was black.

33:24 – Elena talks about the archives she visited for this research.

36:13 – Elena talks about some of the art associated with this event.

44:20 – Elena talks about the companies of black soldiers on both sides of the fighting.

57:24 – Elena has a post on the Age of Revolutions webpage.

Links of interest

https://history.berkeley.edu/elena-schneider
https://ageofrevolutions.com/

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Elena Schneider

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, cuban history, london, armada, bay of pigs, seven years’ war, conquistadors, mexico, shipbuilding, silver, William Pitt, British naval history, Jenkins ear, yellow fever, rhode island, new york, new jersey, connecticut, south carolina, Lord Albemarle, Pontiac’s rebellion, Florida, Pensacola, Galvez, Walter Raleigh, Georgia, slavery, fortress, Jamaica

Ancient Greek Warfare archaeology and history book – “The Fortifications of Arkadian City-States in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods” (Oxford University Press, 2017) – Matt Maher interview

Dr. Matt Maher is an instructor at the University of Winnipeg. His specialty is ancient Greek military architecture. We discussed his latest book on the fortifications of Arkadian city-states.

0:56 – Matt talks about how he started studying classical Greek archaeology.

2:51 – Matt talks about how the book is laid out. He covers nineteen sites in detail in the book out of the forty or so cities that existed in ancient times.

5:41 – The book covers from about the end of the Persian wars to the death of Alexander the Great.

7:33 – Matt talks about how new technologies like catapults affected fortification construction.

12:23 – Matt talks about the material of the walls and what affected how they were physically built.

17:10 – Matt talks about the three different types of fortifications he divides the sites into.

22:56 – Matt talks about how he used Google Earth to find some of the cities that he examined.

29:51 – Matt talks about excavating the fill of the walls he looked at.

31:20 – Matt talks about how he did his research for the book.

36:20 – Matt talks about the vegetation he found around the sites and what vegetation might have existed in ancient Greece.

39:36 – Matt talks about some suprises he encountered as he did his research.

44:00 – Matt talks about how the fortified cities reinforced each other.

48:38 – Matt talks about dependent polis and how they might have been part of the defensive network.

59:51 – Matt is on academia.edu. He’s on twitter @drmattmaher. The book has links to other publications too.

Links of interest

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-fortifications-of-arkadian-city-states-in-the-classical-and-hellenistic-periods-9780198786597?cc=us&lang=en&

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Matt Maher

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Ancient Greece, Arcadian League, Greek warfare, fortifications, catapults, warfare, spartans, sparta, megalopolis