Category: interview

Georgios Theotokis interview about his Tenth century Byzantine military history book “Byzantine Military Tactics in Syria and Mesopotamia in the 10th century” (Edinburgh University Press, 2018)

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Georgios Theotokis Byzantium

Georgios Theotokis interview about Byzantine military history in the 10th century

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3kbS9gO

Interview Summary

Georgios Theotokis studies warfare in medieval Europe and the Mediterranean.  He’s written extensively on this subject and we spoke about his latest book on the Byzantine and Arab militaries in the tenth century.

0:51 – Georgios talks about how he got into writing a book on the tenth century Byzantine military. 

2:51 – Georgios talks about the military situation at the time period the book focuses on. 

4:10 – Georgios talks about the book.  It’s a comparison of military cultures of the period.

6:49 – Georgios talks about the Byzantium grand strategy. He also touches on tactics and equipment.

11:15 – Georgios touches on espionage in the period.

14:15 – Georgios talks about border security during the period.

20:16 – Georgios talks about how control is established in the towns of the border.

24:40 – Georgios talks about raids and skirmishes on the border.

28:31 – Georgios talks about how borders changed during this period.

34:32 – Georgios compares the equipment of the Arab and Byzantium militaries in the tenth century. He talks about heavy infantry among other types of units.

37:51 – Georgios talks about the evidence, documents and such, that support his research.

40:12 – Georgios talks about the evidence that informs researchers about the military equipment – armor or weapons.

45:12 – Georgios talks about why saints in Greek and Anatolian churches were painted wearing contemporary armor and weapons.

52:24 – Georgios talks about the discoveries that he would most like to see happen in relation to his work. 

54:50 – Georgios mentions about the battles of Tarsus and Al-Hadat. 

1:06:10 – Georgios has a page on academia.edu.

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/3kbS9gO

https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-byzantine-military-tactics-in-syria-and-mesopotamia-in-the-10th-century.html

http://bogaziciuniversity.academia.edu/GeorgiosTheotokis

Contact information

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: Georgios Theotokis

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, academic, podcast, Edinburgh University Press, Medieval warfare, 

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3kbS9gO

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Kurdish conflict studies book – “Anatomy of a Civil War” (University of Michigan Press, 2018) – Mehmet Gurses interview

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Dr. Mehmet Gurses is trained as a social and political scientist.  He’s spent a great deal of time studying civil wars around the world.  He eventually began studying the Kurdish conflict and has written a book about his research.  We spoke about the book. 

0:54 – Mehmet talks about how he got into the subject.  He is Kurdish and grew up in Southeastern Turkey.

7:07 – Mehmet talks about how the book is laid out and what it discusses.

12:37 – Mehmet talks about the four years of research he did on the Kurdish conflict to write this book.

16:29 – Mehmet talks about his response rate for interviews and security issues.

17:45 – Mehmet talks about the positive effects of the conflict.

32:36 – Mehmet expands on how he did the research for the book.

59:28 – Mehmet has writings available on google scholar. 

Links of interest

https://www.press.umich.edu/9946395/anatomy_of_a_civil_war
https://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/politicalscience/faculty/gurses/

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: Mehmet Gurses

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Turkey, Kurd, Kurdish conflict, trauma

Apache Wars history book – “A Bad Peace and A Good War” (University of Oklahoma Press, 2018) – Mark Santiago interview

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Mark Santiago is a historian and director of the New Mexico Farm & Ranch heritage Museum.  He’s written articles and books on Spanish history in the Americas and we talk about his new book on the Spanish-Apache War of 1795. 

 0:52 – Mark talks about how he got into studying history.  He’s currently the head of a New Mexico museum.

2:00 – Mark talks about the details of the book.  It deals with a period of 30 years when the Spanish were trying to deal with the Apaches. Many historians have called this a period of peace but in 1795 there was a large scale conflict between the Mescalero and the Spanish.

6:53 – Mark talks about the basis for Mescalero resistance to Spain.  This includes conflict with other Native American groups.

19:01 – Mark talks about the demographics and population patterns in this area in the late 18th century.

24:59 – Mark talks about the size and make-up of the garrisons in the Presidios.  He also discusses their weapons, armor and tactics. There is a lot of similarity to what the US cavalry did a hundred years later.

32:15 – Mark talks about cannons at the Presidios, the effectivness of the Presidios in controlling war parties, and where the troops at the Presidios came from.

 42:00 – Mark talks about three Presidios of Indian soldierson the northern frontier.

43:55 – Mark talks about the resources he used for the book.

58:55 – Mark talks about the end of the Spanish Empire.

1:09:20 – Mark can be reached at msantiagobooks@gmail.com to answer questions about his work.

Links of interest

https://www.oupress.com/books/15037346/a-bad-peace-and-a-good-war
http://www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org/

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: Mark Santiago

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict,war, interview, non-fiction book, Spanish borderlands, Bourbon reforms, Apaches,New Mexico, French, british, Spanish Empire, Spain, Arizona, Texas, Comanche.Bernardo De Galvez, reservations, presidios, Lepan, Chiracahua, Revolutionary France, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, carbines, dragoons, Carlos III