Page 201 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1978 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Characteristics of very survival at stake on the frontier, these conflicts took
European Warfare on the character of a total war of annihilation as opposed
The Europeans in a sense had a much more stylized form to the more limited goals of either Native American war-
of warfare with set-piece battles fought almost by arrange- fare or European state warfare. This intensity of conflict
ment and extended sieges of cities and fortresses. Like the often surprised and shocked both Native American ene-
Native Americans, Europeans fought primarily to expand mies and European observers. It is from these origins that
or defend border provinces and to acquire coercive power the American tradition of total war and unconditional
over their neighbors. In the sixteenth and seventeenth surrender arose.
centuries, this coercive power was often related to the reli-
gious beliefs of the states or groups involved as the The Impact of Disease
struggle between the emerging Protestant sects and the In addition to the increased intensity of warfare in North
formerly hegemonic power of the Catholic Church inten- America, disease played a dramatic role in many of the
sified.The religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth conflicts as the Eurasian disease pool was introduced into
centuries were similar in many respects to the wars of ide- North America among people who had no developed
ology of the twentieth century with a significantly immunities.The impact of smallpox, measles, and other
increased likelihood of noncombatant casualties over endemic diseases of Europe were devastating on the
what had been the rule in the fifteenth century and what Native American populations, often resulting in near
would be the case in the eighteenth and nineteenth total collapse of the native tribes and the decimation of
centuries. their populations. Likewise, however, certain diseases
Battle was a difficult event to orchestrate with the endemic in the Americas or tropical diseases, such as yel-
armies taking hours to draw up in their combat forma- low fever and malaria, could lay low entire settlements or
tions, thus battle was usually engaged by mutual consent armies of Europeans.
of the opposing commanders. Battle was waged by gen-
erally linear formations of infantry equipped with The Impact of Technology
firearms and pike, with massed cavalry and relatively The technology of the Europeans had a profound impact
static artillery in support. Due to the disciplined and well- on the Native Americans, both on the battlefield and
armed forces, casualties on one or both sides could within their varied cultures. The combination of horse,
equal or exceed 50 percent of the engaged armies. Due rider, armor, firearms, and steel weapons was formida-
to the nature of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century ble, especially in the early years of Spanish settlements
maneuver and battle, the more prominent form of com- and conquest. The only counter the Native Americans
bat was the siege of a fortified city or independent had was either to overwhelm their European opponents
fortress.These sieges had become very formalized with an with numbers or to strike quickly from ambush and
almost mathematical precision to their course and escape before the Europeans could effectively respond.
outcome. The other problem that European technology created
was a dependence on trade with the Europeans on the
Origins of the part of the hitherto self-sufficient Native American war-
“American Way of War” riors. The guns that the Europeans introduced required
In North America, these two conflicting styles would powder and shot as well as either replacement or repair
combine, resulting in a synthesized form of warfare that in the event of failure; the Native Americans were not
was characterized by both the surprise and ambush of sufficiently equipped culturally or technologically to
Native American warfare and the heavy firepower of produce their own or even to repair broken weapons in
European warfare. In addition, as the settlers saw their most cases.