Where does the impulse to write Silver and Blood come from ? What new features does it provide with respect to what has been previously published on the subject? A decade ago I became interested in analyzing issues related to imperialism, war and violence within the framework of the conquest of America. The result of this was the publication in of my book The Conquest of America. A critical review (Barcelona, RBA). I then realized the extraordinary importance of the civil wars in Peru. Throughout these last five years I have continued working on an exciting topic and the publishing house Desperta Ferro, whose managers I will always thank for their extraordinary initiative, has given me the opportunity for my work to see the light. My book, Silver and Blood , is an attempt to establish a new narrative of what happened from the perspective of New Military History which, in my opinion, had never before been applied to the Conquest of the Indies. Until not long ago, civil wars had been contemplated from the point of view of political history, with undoubtedly important works by D. Ramos, Varón Gabai, M. Merluzzi and many others, but the purely warlike aspects demanded a important historiographical review .
That's what I've tried to do. What distinguishes the conquests of Peru and Chile, and the civil wars between conquerors, from the European wars of the same era? It is obvious that the fact of fighting in a different space, different from Europe, greatly influenced the way of fighting of the contingents that conquered the Inca Empire. As these were bands of volunteers willing to sacrifice
B2B Email List themselves to the last consequences in exchange for the promise of loot, from the outset loyalty to a reigning dynasty was transferred very easily to some charismatic leader. As soon as several of these personalities emerged, quarrels were afoot. On the other hand, these contingents, these Indian hosts, armed themselves as best they could and adapted the war tactics learned in European wars by those, few, who had experience in such battles, to the American reality. In the Peruvian case, without a doubt the orographic difficulties greatly influenced some military approaches, but the fact of not facing conventional European or Muslim armies allowed the conquering contingent to opt for sometimes very creative war solutions. Improvisation was the order of the day.
They did not want to use the auxiliary Indian, the allied Indian, more than necessary, one of the great differences with the armies that fought in Europe in those years, to settle the great dispute between the Spaniards. Some of the attitudes exhibited on the battlefield were much closer to warfare as conducted in the th century than in the th century. Although the introduction of the firearm, whether portable or artillery, had undoubtedly already changed things profoundly. Battle of Huarina Peru Diagram of the Battle of Huarina (), the penultimate battle of the Pizarrist rebellion against the royalist forces, within the civil wars between Spaniards that followed the conquest of Peru. © of the map Desperta Ferro Ediciones, included (along with the development of the battle) in Plata y sangre . Steel swords and harquebuses or native auxiliaries; technology or politics? What was the key to the triumph of Pizarro and his host over the Incas? This is one of the great questions that we must ask ourselves and that would deserve a monograph. My position on the matter, very briefly, would be the following: the conquering host alone would have been incapable of conquering the great aboriginal empires.
發表於 2024-3-12 12:57:48