Geography is a branch of science that seeks to learn about the physical aspects of the earth, and how human activity is having an impact on it. War, on the other hand, is a militaristic conflict between two opposing parties, where violence and strategic thinking plays a big part. War relies on several aspects in Geography to help win battles such as using maps to have an overview of a battlefield, understanding how the land can be used to a commander’s advantage, and so on. Wars or other kinds of militaristic conflicts can sometimes occur due to the nature of Geography in many ways: expanding the territory of a country, conquering another nation for its resources, or for other reasons. Geography matters very much in warfare because the types …show more content…
The physical aspects of a battlefield is a key component in winning, or losing the battle. Whether it be swampy, mountainous, snowy, clear, or any other kind of physical attribute the land plays a part in combat. In a battlefield, a commander must find ways to use it to their advantage to overcome their enemies. The term to refer a particular type of land is called Terrain, but through understanding, and mapping all the different characteristics, attributes, traits, and various other features of it, a commander can impact the outcome to a battle. Sun Tzu a renown general that has written an entire book of warfare called “The art of war” mentions that an army who would have the high ground advantage, can use the height to their advantage in different ways, for instance having a better overview of the battlefield, and have more protection against enemies as they would have a hard time trying to hit them due to a height difference. The Vietnam War is considered to be the most devastating war right after both World war one, and two, but it is mainly …show more content…
A country’s location plays a great part in dealing with other nearby countries, and how they can aid, support, or possibly fight each other. For instance, Canada is the closest country to the United States, and near Europe, so trade between these three places is inevitable of course. However, Canada does not exactly have the strongest military in the world, and the country that has what is considered to be the most powerful, and well equip army is the United States, and is closest to Canada, so relations between these countries must be excellent, which allows Canada to be protected by the United States, and Canada having to economically support the United States, while also cooperating with their military forces (http://can-am.gc.ca/relations/security_defence-securite_defense.aspx?lang=eng). With different countries being geographically placed in a variety of different locations, while also having different strengths or weakness in various sectors from one another, it helps nations to try to build a healthy relationship with other nearby nations in order to get support, and giving it. On the other hand, some countries would try to at first have a healthy relation to another country, but later would try to back stab them, or to control another nation. Before 1941, the relationship between Germany, and Russia was rather great as both countries were pretty close
The course of the Iraq War has been shaped immensely by the geography of the region for nearly 40 years. The movement of Iraq forces throughout the region, for better or worse, has had many effects on the way in which the way has gone. For instance, these forces often threatened certain resources needed by many countries and regions. The result of this was often war or conflict, concluding in a devastating amount of casualties. This also left Iraq with debt as well as very low resources such as food and water. The basis of the whole entire war has been on certain aspects of the geography, which has had a result of creating many small wars throughout this whole ordeal as well as many other consequential occurrences.
As countries adapted to trench warfare, new techniques and tactics emerged. For instance, the countries made trenches in a zigzag pattern and surrounded them with barbed wire so the enemy could not bomb them in a straight...
For example, how the Spaniards conquered the Inca because geography was on their side. They received information/ technology from their neighbors, had books, writing, forging techniques, etc. When the Inca had limited resources, no form of writing, books, only had the llama, and were sheltered from the world. How germs, animals, steel, and writing separated these societies from one another because of how geography “raised” these people for over centuries. The world is unequal because of the exposure everyone has to different geography. Some civilizations have more to offer than other civilizations because they would make use of what they have. Being able to make use of things handed to us in our face helped to create things that allowed us to prosper. Geographic luck and exposure have separated people for centuries, and it has shown through the technology some of us have today compared to the late and undeveloped
The Art of War is a treatise written in Ancient China that discusses the most and least effective military strategies for successful warfare according to Sun Tzu, a military general whose existence is still debated to this day. While not every military commander in the history of warfare has read it, the strategies provided can be used as a way to assess said commanders and the effectiveness of their campaigns. In Sun Tzu 's own words, “The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:--let such a one be dismissed!”1 This paper will discuss various iconic battles throughout history and how closely the leading commanders of each army followed the advice of Sun Tzu. Despite the fact that Sun Tzu lived hundreds of years before many of these battles took place, the
"When a power vacuum separates great powers, as one did the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II, they are unlikely to fill it without bumping up against and bruising each other" (Gaddis). This 'bumping' and 'bruising' caused the tensions and hostilities that surfaced in the years following WWII.
Geography is the foundation of how civilizations and societies develop. Based on location, geography determines the amount of water available, temperature, available resources, and a variety of essentials. To form a civilization, the geography gives insight into whether a community can sustain, and how people need to adapt to continue growing. Ancient civilizations had to take many factors into account, and learn to adapt to the environment to become as advanced as they were. General geographical features which have an essential role in shaping societies include rivers, seas, and the flora of what the natural environment provides.
Samuel B. Griffith’s translation of “Sun Tzu: The Art of War” is an inside look at military practices of today. I did not find one technique that is not or would not be utilized in modern military maneuver, leadership, or training. The most astounding fact is that the Art of War was written well over two thousand years ago, even at the most conservative date. Although most of the techniques in this text are already in practice today, the value of “The Art of War” is a never-ending treasure chest of knowledge, and it deserves a place as a required reading for anyone seeking knowledge about war fighting or the history of war.
Human activity has major effects on geography. When studying the earth you can come to several conclusions about the geography of any particular civilization. Distribution of life in the civilization allows you to analyze whether their geography is their own destiny. Do people control their own destiny? Is geography something that people can control? Technology is really the key to why geography can be overcome by any people.
Due to the presence of natural resources a country may be subjected to Geopolitical fights and
In his Article “ The Origins of the First World War” William Mulligan clearly maps out the alliances of the central powers and the Alliance powers. The “block” of alliances as Mulligan puts it started to be put together in 1879. These countries would sign treaties with one another to strengthen their security of an area. A couple years prior to the WWI outbreak a few countries some allies some not worked together to calm down tensions in the Balkans. Though it was not as successful as it was thought out to be, though it did help keep th...
Throughout history, there have been many ups and downs that impacted the way countries interact with each other. The interaction between significant countries has caused major problems including wars, imperialism, and genocides. The overall impact of great world powers from the beginning of the 1900’s to present day has been more negative than positive because of events and occurrences such as of imperialism in Africa, the lasting impacts of World War I and the effects of the Cold War.
In ordinary discourse, geography is a rather contested concept, so for this purpose, I use the most widely accepted definition of the term, from the Oxford Dictionary, defining it as, “the nature and relative arrangement of places and physical features (Simpson, Weiner, Proffitt, Oxford English Dictionary).” With this clarification, I will begin by presenting the theories and evidence that illustrate why geography is important. The most obvious factor to analyze is the physical location, and thus what location means in regards to an economy and it’s productivity. Generally speaking, “coastal economies have a higher income than landlocked economies (Gallup, Sachs, Mellinger 1999 p.173),” which
The factors that motivated the creation of alliances between European powers, in the decades before the First World War began, included the need to secure Europe’s national and imperial interests, to protect themselves, and to increase their military and diplomatic power. Many factors worked to limit such ties, three of them were the Hague Conventions and literature by Baroness Bertha von Suttner and H.G. Wells. We will take a deeper look into the years before World War I, reasons for alliances, and the factors against them.
Geography is the foundation to how civilizations and societies develop. Based on location, geography determines the amount of water available, temperature, available resources, and a variety of essentials. To form a civilization, the geography gives insight to whether a community can sustain, and how people need to adapt to continue growing. Ancient civilizations had to take many factors into account, and learn to adapt to the environment to become as advanced as they were. General geographical features which have an essential role in shaping societies include rivers, seas, and the flora of what the natural environment provides.
For A-level AQA students, geography gives them the opportunity to study the relationship of human populations over space and times; within their physical environments, as well as work on a dedicated fieldwork practice. Studying geography at school and university requires looking at the physical and human sides. The table below categorises what type of content would be in each discipline.