Abstract
Nowhere is the impact of mineral resources on the military history of western civilization better shown than by the story of the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE, the culmination of the struggle between the Greeks and Persians for eastern Mediterranean hegemony. After blunting an earlier Persian threat at Marathon, the citizens of Athens were advised by the Oracle at Delphi that a “wooden wall” would save the city. The Athenians came to believe that this meant building a much larger fleet of ships and decided to use the revenue from the silver mines at nearby Laurion to accomplish the task. Silver from Laurion had long given Athens the financial means to support its rise to prominence in the Aegean world. Now, the citizens voted to forego their usual dividends from the mines, instead using the money to add 200 ships to their naval armada.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
“Victory had always gone to the side with the greatest material resources”
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Minerals are defined by geologists as naturally occurring inorganic materials with a fixed and symmetrical internal structure that gives them important properties such as crystal faces (so prized by gem collectors and jewelry wearers), hardness, strength, and the like. In this book, we will consider mineral resources simply as natural substances that can be economically extracted from the earth.
References
Boyle RS (1936) Virginia’s mineral contribution to the Confederacy. Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Bulletin 46:119–123
Craig JR, Vaughn DJ, Skinner BJ (2001) Resources of the earth; origin, use, and environmental impact. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Johnson PG (1986) The United States Army invades the New River Valley, May 1864. Walpa Publishing, Christiansburg, VA
Kennedy P (1989) The rise and fall of the great powers. Vintage Books, New York, p 439
Kennedy P (1989) The rise and fall of the great powers. Vintage Books, New York
Lynch ME (2001) Confederate war industry: the niter and mining bureau. M.S. Thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond
Marvel W (1992) The battles for Saltville. H. E. Howard, Inc., Lynchburg, VA
Mays TD (1998) The Saltville massacre. McWhiney Foundation Press, McMurry University, Abilene, TX
Mays TD (2008) Cumberland blood: champ Ferguson’s Civil War. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, p 120
Mays TD (2008) Cumberland blood: champ Ferguson’s Civil War. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale
McManus HR (1989) The battle of Cloyds Mountain. H. E. Howard, Inc., Lynchburg, VA
McPherson JM (2007) This mighty scourge: perspectives on the Civil War. Oxford University Press, New York, p 49
McPherson JM (2007) This mighty scourge: perspectives on the Civil War. Oxford University Press, New York
Mirsky A, Bland EL (1996) Influence of geologic factors on ancient civilizations in the Aegean area. J Geosci Educ 44:25–35
Noe WK (1994) Southwest Virginia’s railroad. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, p 115
Noe WK (1994) Southwest Virginia’s railroad. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, p 111
Noe WK (1994) Southwest Virginia’s railroad. University of Illinois Press, Urbana
Schroeder-Lein GR (1993) Niter and mining bureau. In: Current RN (ed) Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. Simon and Schuster, New York, pp 1146–1148
Walker GC (1985) The war in Southwest Virginia, 1861–1865. Gurtner Graphics and Printing Co., Roanoke, VA
Yergin D (1991) The prize: the epic quest for oil, money, and power. Simon and Schuster, New York, p 167
Yergin D (1991) The prize: the epic quest for oil, money, and power. Simon and Schuster, New York
Zabecki DT (2008) Why terrain matters. Mil Hist 25(5):58
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Whisonant, R.C. (2015). Introduction. In: Arming the Confederacy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14508-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14508-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14507-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14508-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)