tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post754822264115969556..comments2024-03-29T05:41:35.119-07:00Comments on Graphic Firing Table: Decisive Battles: Fall of Granada 1492FDChiefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-64928843947330958152012-06-28T15:32:45.921-07:002012-06-28T15:32:45.921-07:00Hi there. I don't have a problem if you want t...Hi there. I don't have a problem if you want to use my maps on your blog. But please write under each map: "map courtesy of ExploreTheMed.com" with a link back to my site if you want to use them.<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />ExploreTheMed.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-61361201409357861962012-01-26T20:53:46.790-07:002012-01-26T20:53:46.790-07:00BF: Bust? Lo siento pero no etiendo.
jim: Betwee...BF: Bust? Lo siento pero no etiendo.<br /><br />jim: Between work and the fam the time I write most of these is in the late night or early morning - between 10 and 2am. It's very quiet, and I read, think, and write fairly well until a couple hours after midnight.<br /><br />And my guess is that the French and Brits would have poured west in the absence of the Spanish. But I think that the tragedy of Granada is that the Spanish didn't really NEED to conquer them, any more than the English needed to take Scotland. It would have been a Scotland-like pain in the ass to the Spanish, but they would probably have managed to contain them and still find a way to take their American colonies.<br /><br />Like Scotland, eventually the Moors of Granada would probably have been absorbed in Spain, but it would have been less painful for the residents if it had been after the heyday of the Inquisition. And that, in turn, might have brought a different Andalusia into Spain. Better? Worse? Like all the Western-vs-Eastern colonial wars, we'll never know.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-37438295751966053942012-01-26T06:24:07.499-07:002012-01-26T06:24:07.499-07:00Chief,
i find this essay very interesting and remi...Chief,<br />i find this essay very interesting and reminiscent of the Punic wars. <br />Spain was the linchpin and Africa provided the invaders with fighters/horsemen.<br />controlling Spain in effect meant controlling Rome.<br />in your battle it meant controlling the direction of western civ. i wonder how america would've developed IF the spaniards had lost.<br />i really don't understand where you find the time and energy to write these reports.<br />my hat is off to you.<br />jimrangeragainstwarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02126542922536584950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-91873065388811995882012-01-25T18:40:48.332-07:002012-01-25T18:40:48.332-07:00Chief you have been bust. I approve.Chief you have been bust. I approve.BigFrednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-42700557049059884042012-01-25T14:54:59.326-07:002012-01-25T14:54:59.326-07:00pharris: Sounds like a terrific read; I will look ...pharris: Sounds like a terrific read; I will look for it.<br /><br />I've always been intrigued by the way that traditional enemies often end up looking, acting, and sounding more like one another than outsiders. Listen to the music for "Paseabase de Rey Moro" and tell me that doesn't sound like the music of North Africa; Andalusia and Andalusian culture often seems to me to have more in common with their neighbors across the water than it does with, say, the Pyrenean regions far to the north...<br /><br />I would love to visit someday, as Don Francisco did. It sounds like a fascinating place.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-88599806877642714302012-01-25T01:03:27.781-07:002012-01-25T01:03:27.781-07:00Great article.
I recommend, if you're not fam...Great article.<br /><br />I recommend, if you're not familiar with it, "The Ornament of the World" by Maria Rosa Menocal. It gives a first rate account of Moorish Spain: military, social, artistic, & scientific from its' founding to the fall of Granada. I think I picked it up at Powells.pharrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-7123987611538201762012-01-24T17:37:57.122-07:002012-01-24T17:37:57.122-07:00Glad you liked it, guys; it was fun to research an...Glad you liked it, guys; it was fun to research and write.<br /><br />DF: My understanding, though, is that the Spaniards of the time DID sort of ignore it; everything I read suggested that it was in terrible condition by the 20th Century and it was only after the fall of Franco that restoration began.<br /><br />And I guess I think of the Battle of Manila as the bookend for this one; the Spanish beginning their journey towards imperial greatness in 1492, and almost exactly 400 years later they're clapped out, monstrously corrupt, impoverished, and generally utterly fucked up.<br /><br />What is, I think, a cautionary tale to certain other nations with aspirations of global hegemony; Spain in 2012 is a fairly happy, tidy little state. Spain in 1898 was an effing disaster and, as you point out, most of that can be traced directly to the corrupting effects of imperial overstretch, economic fecklessness and greed, and piss-poor leadership.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-36142931615152509842012-01-24T13:46:46.990-07:002012-01-24T13:46:46.990-07:00Chief - this one is a cracker.
I've had the p...Chief - this one is a cracker.<br /><br />I've had the privelidge of actually being to the Alhambra. It says something about the impact of Islamic art and architecture that the christians, despite their intolerance, left much of it intact. <br /><br />The point you make about political competence I think is key.We know how easily bad leadership can take us down the road to ruin - the fact that our modern leaders are elected in this regards doesn't seem to result in any improvement in quality. <br /><br />I find the development of the Spanish Empire fascinating, especially its decline - ravenous for golf and silver pillaged from its empire, accidentally destroying the entire Spanish economy.Don Francisconoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-67376982710174580512012-01-24T11:40:27.683-07:002012-01-24T11:40:27.683-07:00Another excellent article chief.Another excellent article chief.Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15715768191516712688noreply@blogger.com