tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post6076404221555962412..comments2024-01-04T04:11:55.717+02:00Comments on Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog: Climate and history (in Eastern Europe)Dienekeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02082684850093948970noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-65952240973763110812013-01-20T14:49:00.421+02:002013-01-20T14:49:00.421+02:00Andrew,
Sorry - no. What you describe doesn'...Andrew,<br /><br />Sorry - no. What you describe doesn't not fit 17th century Scandinavia, at all. eurologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03440019181278830033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-69740284504070450562013-01-19T01:45:44.655+02:002013-01-19T01:45:44.655+02:00"I have argued previously that significant co..."I have argued previously that significant cooling would have been a strong motivation first for the Danish (defeated), and subsequently the Swedish southward invasions - as has happened before - to secure hegemony over agricultural resources in warmer areas."<br /><br />Strong motivation, yes.<br /><br />"To secure hegemony over agricultural resources", no.<br /><br />The Viking raids in the early second millenium, like the earlier Vandal attacks on Rome, weren't wars of conquest for the most part. A better analogy would be the pirates of Somolia and the Mallucas.<br /><br />Raiding and banditry is probably not a stable long term basis for an economy but when all other means of supporting your society fall apart, it can come to be an economic basis on a par with terrestrial hunting and gathering, fishing, nomadic pastoralism, hoe farming, plough farming, or a commercial economy, at least for a while, for an entire society.<br /><br />A story where the Danes and Swedes transition to banditry on an overall societal level in the face of the collapse of their prior means of creating wealth from their (very late) adoption of farming seems like a better fit than an empire building tyrant war of conquest model.andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08172964121659914379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-66578207044526647932013-01-16T11:58:48.741+02:002013-01-16T11:58:48.741+02:00While climate is rarely mentioned as a factor in t...While climate is rarely mentioned as a factor in the 30-years war, I have argued previously that significant cooling would have been a strong motivation first for the Danish (defeated), and subsequently the Swedish southward invasions - as has happened before - to secure hegemony over agricultural resources in warmer areas.<br /><br />Agricultural production difficulties also make it easier to find conscripts - but likewise makes it more difficult to maintain standing armies. As a consequence, much of Germany lost ~50% of its population during this time.eurologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03440019181278830033noreply@blogger.com