GIS systems as a tool in the Military Historiographic Methodology
Below you can see a english translation of the poster "The applications of Geographic Information Systems in the Military Historiography" presented by Sergio Pardo at the International Symposium on "The War of Independence in the Duero Valley: the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida".
The poster and the lecture show the possibilites of GIS as an aid to the study of military actions. The common thread of the presentation is the battle of Salamanca and several events strongly influenced by the topographic configuration of the battlefield: (1) The Wellington's observatory and his riding to order Packenham 'to drive everything before him to the devil', (2) the Tomières's mistake failing to see the advance of Packeham's division and (3) the poor positioning of the French artillery on the summit of the Great Arapil.
I hope the size of the poster will suffice to read the text!
Posts
That's really interesting! So often military history doesn't really take topography into account, or does so without a great understanding of the effects. The graphic relating to the artillery range really illustrates the point; I realise now why the French guns were so ineffectual. Thanks to you and your son for posting the translation.
ReplyDeleteI have some background in GIS, and an amateur interest in history, so it's cool to see this kind of poster/paper be put forward. Nice work!
ReplyDelete(also, just a word to say I'm following your battle of Connewitz to see what happens)
Guys
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interest. The use of a very powerful methodology to support historical research is always a good news.
Regards
Rafa