Soldados - History Lab

Boys playing soldiers

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

This tapestry cartoon by Goya shows children playing at being soldiers, marching with their rifles on their shoulders and beating a drum. The animation of the lead soldier, the martial air and the childlike, graceful pride with which he faces the spectator constitute one of the highest achievements in the depiction of childhood in Goya’s entire oeuvre. The resulting tapestry hung in the dining room of the Princes of Asturias (the future Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma).

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Codex Techialoyan of Cuajimalpa (anonymous)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:09 +0000

After the discovery of the new lands on the American continent, from the second voyage of Columbus onwards, the conquest of the Indian territories progressed through modern times. At the end of the 15th century, the indigenous lands were incorporated into the monarchy. Hernán Cortés arrived in Cozumel in 1518, receiving Moctezuma, ruler of Tenochtitlán in 1519. Once Veracruz was founded, Cortés marched to conquer the Aztec Empire with 400 Spaniards, 15 horses and 1,400 Totonac warriors (it is important to remember the conquistador’s alliances with the Mayan people to expel the warlike Aztecs), where he defeated Xicotencatl and established an alliance with the Tlaxcalan people. The impact of Dutch and English propaganda on the Spanish conquest of the Americas should be noted, as they warned of the bloodthirsty nature of the Castilians. It is also important to highlight issues such as the diseases brought from Europe that affected the Indians, the impact of legends and the arrival of divinity for the Mayans, as well as the war context that pitted Mayan and Aztec peoples against each other, leading to political alliances to defeat the latter. The difference between the indigenous peoples and the Spaniards was notorious and evident. The latter advanced in an organised manner and with metal protections with the morrion on their heads, while the American tribes had tanned leather protections.

The post Codex Techialoyan of Cuajimalpa (anonymous) first appeared on History Lab.

Provision of food supplies to the Spanish army in 1738

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:07 +0000

The arrival of the Bourbons to the Spanish throne at the beginning of the 18th century brought about a new conceptualisation of the State by taking on functions that either corresponded to the private sphere or were considered archaic as a remnant of the medieval past. In this context, during the 1930s, the State sought to bring order to the lack of control that existed in the private supply of provisions to the army. To this end, the General Accountant’s Office for the Provision of Army Provisions was created. Thus, the author shows how in 1738 more than 10% of the rations of bread and bushels of barley destined for the army were given to the troops of the Court and Royal Sites; 3,093,330 reales compared to the 27,211,024 that the supplies cost for the battalions and squadrons stationed in the territories of the national geography of the peninsula and Mallorca. The proportion of the bushels of barley destined for the Court and Royal Sites increased to 20% of the total expenditure on this item, an expenditure based on the greater proportional presence of cavalry among the troops of the Court and Sites. In sum, the cost of 30,185,372 rations of bread and 713,455 bushels of barley for the army was valued at more than 30 million reales.

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