Multi-Agent Simulation of the Battle of Ankara, 1402

In 1402, at the north of city Ankara, Turkey, a battle between Ottoman Empire and Tamerlane Empire decided the fate of Europe and Asia. Although historians largely agree on the general battle procedure, the details are still open to dispute. Several factors may have contributed to the Ottoman defeat, such as the overwhelming size of Tamerlanes army, poisoned water, the tactical formations of the military units, and betrayal by the Tartar cavalry in the Ottoman left wing. The approach is divided into two stages: the simulation stage, which provides data to analyze the complex interactions of autonomous agents, and the analysis stage, which uses data mining to examine the battle outcomes. The simulation is built on a finite state machine to evaluate the current situation of each agent and then choose the most appropriate action. To achieve historical accuracy, the simulation takes into account the topography of the battlefield, line-of-sight issues, period-specific combat tactics, and the armor and weapons used by the various military units at that time. The analysis stage uses WEKAs AttributeSelection Classifier to evaluate the association strength between the battle outcome and the various factors that historians consider crucial to the outcome

Duces Christi : A thematic analysis of the non-combat aspects of military leadership in the First Crusade

Historical military research of the medieval period has concentrated heavily upon the battles and technology of the age. The aim of this study is to identify some of the principal combat support aspects of military leadership that were key to the success of the First Crusade in the period between the sermon at Clermont in 1096 and the victory at Aschelon in 1100. A focus has been made on those primary sources written both by pilgrims themselves and their contemporaries in the years immediately after the campaign’s conclusion. It concentrates on three non-combat themes of the First Crusade as a military campaign; Intelligence Gathering, Logistics and Psychology in the confines of conflict. These aspects of military leadership were utilised by the commanders of the crusade in order to overcome the many challenges that presented themselves to them away from the fighting. Without studying these facets, it becomes more difficult to gain a fuller picture of the events of the First Crusade, its success and perhaps as a highlight to why other campaigns of the medieval age and beyond have concluded in the ways that they have. This study has identified a number of previously unknown methods that have been used in warfare during the period as well as suggesting potential agents and agencies overlooked in previous studies. As a holistic study it has considered topics that encompass more than the participants and their battles, looking towards the use of and impact of non-combat aspects upon the pilgrims as they walked to the spiritual centre of their then known world

Master of Arts

thesisThe accomplishments of Philip II of Macedonia have long been overshadowed by those of his son, Alexander the Great, due to the spectacular nature of Alexander's achievements and to the survival of ancient sources, though written later, that have documented Alexander's reign. Little remains of the histories or writings of Philip's contemporaries, and those that do remain are hostile to Philip and almost exclusively pro-Athenian. Ancient sources focus on Philip's diplomacy, imperialism, and character flaws-all from the view of outsiders watching Philip's actions against their Greek states. These ancient literary sources have necessarily focused the modern discussion of Greece in the 4th century BC on those same subjects and away from a survey of Philip's policies, systems, and successes within Macedonia. This thesis reviews the ancient literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological evidence in an effort to investigate Philip's initiatives and actions within Macedonia and to suggest the ideology related to these plans and strategies. Based on a review of this evidence, this thesis argues that Philip created a Macedonian state based on traditional Macedonian institutions, as well as new practices, that served Philip's purpose of uniting his disparate territories and peoples into one nation; and that Philip's reformed army provided the mechanism for Philip's achievement of his political, economic, and social goals, and importantly, for defining a national culture

Historical Evolution of Weapons and Armors in India, Persia, and Greece

Our project focused on the history, military tactics, and weaponry used during the time from 550 BC to 300 BC in which India, Persia, and Greece were in contact with one another due to the wars waged in pursuit of expansion. This project was supplemented with the creation of a Kopis sword from the Iron Age because it is a Greek sword that heavily influenced other swords used by India and Persia

Defending Renaissance Italy: The Innovative Culture of Italian Military Engineers

The cultural and social effect of the Renaissance Italian military engineer is profiled within this thesis. It encompasses their vocational careers concerning the fluctuations in individuality, print censorship, and uneasiness attached to patronage and marketability. Their work and reputation directly coincided with the demand for trace italienne from numerous Italian city-states and entities throughout the cinquecento. As knowledge spread throughout the Italian peninsula, the individualistic demand for military engineers diminished, integrating their discipline with other professions. As the demand for patronage intensified, fears of fraudulence and plagiarism existed among printers and fellow engineers. This apprehension directly contributed to a lack of printed fortification treatises throughout the cinquecento and was escalated by foreign interventions (Sack of Rome, 1527). This thesis aims to tackle these issues met by Italian military engineers

A counterfactual study of the Charge of the Light Brigade

We use a mathematical model to perform a counterfactual study of the 1854 Charge of the Light Brigade. We first calibrate the model with historical data so that it reproduces the actual charge’s outcome. We then adjust the model to see how that outcome might have changed if the Heavy Brigade had joined the charge, and/or if the charge had targeted the Russian forces on the heights instead of those in the valley. The results suggest that all of the counterfactual attacks would have led to heavier British casualties. However, a charge by both brigades along the valley might plausibly have yielded a British victory

Virtus et disciplina : an interdisciplinary study of the roman martial values of courage and discipline

This thesis discusses Roman martial values, principally virtus and disciplina, and their literary characterization. This is an interdisciplinary study that employs data and methodologies from anthropology, evolutionary biology, moral philosophy, military history, and analytical psychology to supplement scholarship from classical studies. My aim is to analyze and interpret, as deeply and profoundly as possible, the values that the Romans regarded as essential to their military success. I argue that Greek and Roman authors depict nuanced but relatively consistent representations of Roman martial values, which both derive from actual Roman military practice and project an important component of Roman cultural identity. Virtus was a virtue that primarily denoted martial courage, an ethical quality, while disciplina functioned as a means to virtus, but it was not necessarily a virtue itself. The premises of my argument are as follows: 1) military doctrine reflects culture, which manifests in the projection of Roman values through military narratives; 2) there is significant agreement among classical authors discussing Roman warfare in the abstract; 3) historiography distorts to some extent but is not deliberately mendacious, which derives from the relatively meritocratic hierarchies cultivated by the Roman army; 4) an appreciation of archetypal imagery has utility in interpreting Roman values, given that the primary evidence for these qualities derive from stories imbued with moral instruction.Includes bibliographical reference

The Romano-Parthian Cold War: Julio-Claudian Foreign Policy in the First Century CE and Tacitus\u27 Annales

Many ancient and modern authors view the first century CE as an unprecedented era of peace and security for the Roman Empire. These writers often identify the Roman emperor Augustus’ diplomatic settlement with Parthia (ca. 20 BCE) as an important cornerstone of the Pax Romana. But while the two ancient superpowers may have averted large-scale conflicts, Romano-Parthian relations under Augustus and the Julio-Claudians were never entirely uneventful or especially peaceful. Whether the Parthian Empire posed a real threat to Rome’s internal security or not, Julio-Claudian emperors developed elaborate “cold war”-style strategies to keep Rome’s eastern rival in check. Augustus and his successors frequently dispatched dynastic pretenders to destabilize Parthia’s Arsacid regime and fought hard to maintain the Kingdom of Armenia as a strategic buffer-state. These strategies, for the most part, preserved the integrity of Rome’s eastern provinces for more than a century; however, that security came at some cost to the Julio-Claudians’ reputation at home. Despite the diplomatic strategy’s general effectiveness, Roman critics viewed the Julio-Claudians’ Parthian strategy with disdain—as a poor substitute for a more direct, more “Roman” militaristic approach to the eastern frontier. To better understand these critics’ objections, this study focuses on the Roman historian Tacitus’ Annales. Tacitus’ work, composed either just prior to or during Trajan’s Parthian War, contains a series of extensive passages dedicated to Romano-Parthian affairs in the first century. In the past, some Tacitean scholars have dismissed these eastern episodes as aimless digressions that bear no relevance for the historian’s overall purpose. Careful analysis reveals, however, that these passages, in fact, form a highly schematized literary argument which calls into question the wisdom of the Julio-Claudians’ Parthian strategy. Undermining the Julio-Claudians’ foreign policy allows Tacitus to portray Trajan’s Parthian War as the proper course of action all Roman emperors should adopt in terms of the eastern frontier

Arab / Islamic concept of intelligence in the case of Fatah paramilitary

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis provides a composite picture of the Islamic concept of intelligence traces the historical roots of Islamic intelligence activities and explains the (Ideological) relationship between the Islamic religion and the intelligence concept adhered to by modern Arab and Islamist paramilitary groups. Special reference is made to Fatah movement which has been taken up as a case study. The thesis shows that the two main sources of Islam (the Quran and the Sunnah) provided the regulative codes of practice towards intelligence activities. Prophet Muhammad’s intelligence tradition offers the ideal model that the Arab / Islamic paramilitary groups emulate. Referring to the Islamic roots, the research seeks to point out that the hallmarks of the Islamic intelligence concept which emerged from the Quran and Prophet Mohammed’s tradition, became the framework that accommodated ‘Arab / Islamic modern paramilitary intelligence activities’, such as Fatah’s. The thesis uses the modern concept of the intelligence to identify the ancient activities and compares data process within the intelligence cycle. The range of activities is broad: clandestine collection, counterintelligence, analysis and dissemination, and covert action. It also introduces the Arab intelligence tradecraft such as the uses of safe houses, methods of communication, secrecy and concealments...etc. This thesis also aims to correct the perception that Arab intelligence concept developed after the emergence and expansion of the Islamic Empire