Concept of Time Portrayed in Art

Concept of Time Portrayed in Art Time is a determinant concept in forms of art where motion is a key factor in order for a narrative to be explored as it occurs, such as in video art, performance, and theatre. The concept of time is also an important parameter for a two-dimensional artwork, which can comprise time through movement or as a snapshot. On the basis of the above syllogism, this essay will determine the nature of time, through the moment, as a still/snapshot in a static artwork and as a sequence in forms of art such as performance. The concept of capturing time in art comprised subjects for contemporary artists such as demonstrated by Christiane Baumgartner and Marina Abramovic, whose works will be explored through this essay: how do two antithetical mediums, namely; printmaking and performance, deal with this same theme and what are the results of the two visual languages that arise in depicting the sense of time? The antithesis of time itself is not only a parameter which is reflected in the mediums themseleves, but also in the content. In other words, the antithesis is also portrayed on a theoretical level. While Christiane Baumgartner uses the illusion of the motion continuity and thus the illusion of time by freezing it, Marina Abramovic deals with the actual and real aspect of time by extending the duration of an occurrence. Hence, there is a differentiated perspective in depicting and presenting the real time and the illusion of it, with time consisting of a weaving of reality and deception. Introduction The issue of time comprises a parameter which, beside the natural sciences was also the object of research by predominately philosophy and anthropology and thereby the extension the art itself, as art was considered to be an essential cultural characteristic. In this essay, the concept of time will be presented via the perspective of perceiving time through the antitheses outlined above. Initially, time should be divided into two categories; such as in the philosophical and sociological frameworks; namely in its real form and in its non-real form that is not quite so obvious. For instance, acquirable time the procedure of measuring time periods, is completely different from the procedure of perceiving time as a representative of or bearer of consciousness. The existence and at the same time the non-existence (lack of obviousness) of time is an object of research for the artists so as to define the sense of time passing via numerous optical dimensions. The model of perceiving time is formed every time by the aesthetic view of the artist. Philosophy and sociology in many cases are related to the artists point of view and thus an interactive relationship in shaping or reconstructing thoughts, which include the phenomenon of time is developed. The contrariety in the approach on the other hand does not create gaps between the aspects of time but they assist in developing depth and assiduous assortment in determining time. However, the contrariety approach comprises a method of analysis; thus, within such a framework regarding contrariety in the perspective of the concept of time, art presents a visual codex and visual symbols and hence the antithesis in approaching and perceiving time can be comprehended. One very good example is the concept of the time sense as it is understood by most people, specifically time or, the symbol that represents time; the clock is an invention that accommodates humans to divide or to plan their everyday lives. On the other hand, there is an application of the above syllogism which is not an invention of the human civilisation but underlies biological or natural laws which is the concept of human age that accompanies human beings during their entire lives. These two antithetical examples could be characterized as external and internal time. The first one is determined by the sound that is produced by the second-hand and the other by the heartbeat. The parameter of their antithesis, however, does not preclude their interaction, but rather it is a matter of visual perspective of their characteristics (Rudolf Arnheim, Art and visual perception: a psychology of the creative eye, University of California Press, 2004). Time has had a significant influence in the world of visual arts. Artists have depicted various symbols for time in order to express its impact as a philosophical question that is reflected in the human existence, or important events in history in order to represent the passing of time. The antithesis will be the main subject of interest in this research and stillness-movement, internal-external time, and fluidity-futility will be some of the main points for analysis. The expressions of time concepts differ from artist to artist due to the different perspective each of them uses. Salvador Dali (1904-1989), the Spanish surrealist painter of the 20th century, created in 1931 the work The persistence of memory. Time is the theme here, from the melting watches to the decay implied by the swarming ants. The title of the painting suggests memorys ability to remain intact as time decays around it. Dali painted this work with the most imperialist fury of precision and the only nod to the real are the distant landscape golden cliffs in Catalonia, where he lived. (Alkis Xaralampidis, Art in 20th century, volume II, 1993). Furthermore, Fransis Alys (born 1959), a Belgian artist who lives and works in Mexico City, in his documented video performance Paradox of praxis I (Sometimes doing something leads to nothing) deals with the concept of time in a different way from surrealism. Alys in this work expresses the futility of time and effort. The artist pushes a large block of ice through the streets of Mexico City for six or seven hours until it melts. It is a film about transformation, but it is also about the futility of human endeavor. It is an epic kind of uselessness that turns his apparently meaningless effort into an almost heroic event; nothing to something. The subtitle of the work is ultimately an idea which speaks to the frustrated efforts of everyday Mexico City residents to improve their living conditions. (Mark Godfrey and Klaus Biensenbach, Fransis Alys: A story of deception, 2010). Performance too, which is very much related to the concept of time because of its nature, has presented a number of works which deal with the sense of time. As a time-based art primarily and by extension a media-based one owns its nature The work of Christiane Baumgartner Christiane Baumgartner was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1967. Her work deals mainly with specific aspects of time concepts; speed and standstill. The images are taken from her own video stills and the chosen format is that of monumental woodcut, mainly black and white. Her aim is to combine in a way two mediums; a traditional, printmaking, with a contemporary one, video art. As the artists herself states: Its about bringing together the different mediums of the video still and the woodcut, about combining the first and the latest reproduction techniques to produce an image (Catalogue Alan Cristea gallery, London 2011). What her subjects often deal with is the movement between figuration and abstraction and the space between with speed and the passage of time recurring themes throughout her work. What she is mostly interested in is the shifting within the woodcut and the way it changes the image and becomes a blurred, non-figurative image (Catalogue Alan Cristea gallery, London 2011). For instance, in 1 Sekunde (fig. 3) the image disappears at points and becomes blurred through the representation of speed. Other digital images are taken at a very low resolution, 3 dpi, and as a result the printmaking effect creates an abstract image, as occurs in Deutscher Wald (fig. 4). Speed, both in terms of subject matter and technique is something she has always been interested in. Many of her works are images taken from highways or tunnels because their inherent movement has been something that attracts her. Through this rationale are made works such as Lisbon II (fig. 5) or Solaris I (fig. 6). Technically, the final work is the result of a procedure that takes significant time. The first step is to film the subject in which she is interested in and afterwards, she selects an image from the film which she thinks is the appropriate for cutting. The main point is to figure out which image I will end up bringing into the world. I will devote so much time to making it and give it so much significance in terms of scale, that I have to choose it very carefully. The fact that I am using a technique in which it will be reproduced more than once further influence my decision. (Catalogue Alan Cristea gallery, London 2011) Her main subject of interest is urban development and how life is affected by the environment. This material world was produced for humans, but at the same time has made life become an aspect in which a main point is speed. Cars, computers, busy highways, and people running, are the common images that exist in big cities. That is why in her work bridges, tunnels, and roads appear so frequently. In a world which is governed by speed, Baumgartner tries to slow down the way information is processed, to better reflect the way people live nowadays. There is so much movement in our physical lives than 20 years ago. But also the time of information and communication has speed up in an extreme way. Because we are expecting such quick responses to our communications we miss the time for the thinking process and also to really prioritize. (philagrafika, blog, http://philagrafika.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-christiane-baumgartner.html) By choosing woodcut as a medium of expression, she asserts that is it her way of representing the contemporary situation. Her prints, which take a long time to make, effectively slow down time by extending the moment of the constitution of the image from a brief second, which in this case is the video still, to entire months, until the final work is ready. Baumgartner has created a visual language which needs to be viewed from a certain distance from the work so the image can be revealed. This language is consisted of horizontal lines which cut the subject in pieces so as to produce the illusion of movement and speed. When the viewer stands close to the work what he or she observes is actually thick and thin linear forms that reflect the virtuosity of the printmaker at a technical level. However, when the viewer keeps a distance from the artwork, then the entire theme is revealed. Specifically, the motifs assist the observer to comprehend the utility of the medium in relation to the forms in presenting the illusion of movement and thus, time itself. The visual language that is used makes the work of Christiane Baumgartner representative of the contemporary point of view in depicting motion and time. This is a very common perspective not only in fine art but also in contemporary media and video art. The work of the artist is the result of the contemporary perspective in depicting issues and concepts of time, through a more simplified aesthetic. The simplicity in using the medium and by extension, the thematic development in a composition also reflects the will of the artist to establish a relationship between the steady artwork and the viewer. In other words, she is trying to make the visual ability of the viewer actively participate mentally in the world she reconstructs. Hence, the concept of time is a parameter that connects the artist and artwork with the visual and mental ability of the observer. This is a conceptual tool in order for the artwork to communicate the illusion of motion portrayed to real time. This kind of reality is a vital factor for human beings because it produces subconscious images and memories. Due to the fact that Christiane Baumgartners works deal with the conceptual aspect of time in unreal time, she contributes to perceiving this issue from a point of view that functions as an antithesis. In a two-dimensional space she creates the illusion of a three-dimensional theme and in the end she also adds a fourth dimension (time), so as to reveal both the theoretical background of the concept and the sociological extension of it as it is formed in the contemporary life. The social character of Christiane Baumgartners artwork reflects in a way the contemporary model of life. Although the real time remains the same, the contemporary life in the modern societies goes faster. The human itself has created the speed in order to compress life inside the urban environment. Time compresses a contemporary citizen like motion in art is displayed through compression of lines. If a viewer observes the rush hour in a city then he or she will realise how in a mental form, motion is similar or equal to time. Namely, a passing person is a parabolic symbol of passing time. This is why the immediacy of the medium is related to the complexity passing time. The steadiness or the immobility that the medium itself includes is altered by the motion that is depicted. In the same logic, the steadiness or the immobility of environment is altered by human motion itself. All these examples reflect the antithetical nature in perceiving time. In one print of Christiane Baumgartne r a close observation will be a starting point to perceive moving time in a still depiction while she underlines the fact that she uses a slow medium like woodcut to express a fast idea. The work of Marina Abramovic Performance art contrasts to the above perspective regarding time via a static or still medium. Performance is a branch of artistic expression whose basic elements that create its nature are time and space, the presence of which along with the active involvement of the artist and essentially, the audiences presence or interaction is vital. Performance as a visual art incorporates the characteristic of time as a dynamic aspect of its nature. Thus, the medium itself includes the reality of the duration of time as an important parameter which is used extensively by the performance artists. It is like a tool for the performer in depicting the issue or the concept of his interest by using his or her presence. Marina Abramovic, born in 1946 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, has been a representative artist since the 1970s, the starting point for her career in performing arts. Her work of this type of expression indicates her perspectives of many aspects of her personal experiences but mainly her intellectual enquiries. In many of her performances there are references to the concept of time regardless of the fact that time itself is included in the medium. For instance, in the Relation in movement (1977) Abramovic and Ulay moved in a circle direction repeatedly by driving around a square in Paris for hours. They kept driving until it got dark. The only existing lights were those of the car. There was continuity and duration to this action until the next morning. The couple had different tasks to accomplish; Ulay followed the back wheel and Abramovic loudly stated the number of the accomplished rounds. Additionally, the next morning revealed the black marks that the wheels had created in the ground a nd they tried to follow those marks. Another significant point which is not a usual one was the lack of audience. Only passers-by witnessed the event. The main idea of the performance was to present the repeated movement in physical and mental level. Namely, they presented in a symbolic way the minds circles around an idea or thought. The concept of time enters this performance as an idea that is divided into two subcategories: the obvious time that comprises the duration of the night that the performance took place, and the time which was emphasised every time Abramovic shouted the number of laps completed. In the first case, the artists dealt with time as a frame to present their performance which was main aspect of the length of the performance. In the second case, time took the form of the space and the movement together. In other words the artists defined on the basis of both space and movement the nature of time. Each lap comprised the value of time according to their perspective. The symbolism is still the same, but the gravity of the importance in perceiving time is not solid and this was determined by the artists. Marina A bramovic and Ulay on the basis of relation in movement developed another performance of relevance to the present research, entitled Relation in Time (1977). In Relation in time a static situation is described. The couple Abramovic and Ulay are sitting facing back to each other with their hair tied together as a symbol of their connection. The duration of their performance lasted 16 hours in a gallery without any audience and only during the 17th and hour were the audience allowed to watch the performance. The couple was still sitting motionless for this final hour. During all this time there were only few changes in their presence. According to Lilian Haberer their shared plait, their external connection, their umbilical cord, works loose as the hours pass. She continues in the same sense to explain that there is a contrast to the outward connectedness in their inward separateness, their different feelings (Lilian Haberer, Collection: Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany). Abramovic and Ulays approach is revealing because of the fact that time takes the form of destruction, ruination, spoilage and damage. As an example of this destructive operation of time, the couple presents the human relationship which is the main subject of their performance. The direct reference to the ugly face of time in the human life represents the inner fear of all human beings. This type of continuity causes the objects and the living creatures to age and become old. The relationships and the parameters that enrich them are also under the fear of spoilage. The old man as a symbol of the age of time has now given its place to the more conceptual ones. Like Abramovic and Ulay present, time is not an annoying feeling. The impact of time in living creatures as a natural procedure leads them to fall despite its ugliness. It is as natural as death itself in a symbolic or literal way. In the case of Abramovic, time no longer leads down a threatening path of aging, death and ending: it is reproducible (Klaus Biesenbach, Marina Abramovic: The artist is present) This approach concerning time also involves sociological and philosophical understandings. If we consider the philosophical nature of time as a route to death or a procedure that leads human beings to physical and mental decay, then it is a rational conclusion that it also affects human social unity. With sociological determination, this model of understanding time has a significant behavioral impact. This syllogism transforms the concept of time from an ordinary system of measuring into a system of interpreting life. The performance reveals these parameters and gives multiple dimensions in interpreting the inner intellectual process of social life as a diachronic phenomenon. The perspective that is created makes the viewer redefine his or her position in the society. Admittedly, this rationale is a main idea in many performances produced by Abramovic and the personal experiences make the philosophical inquires more obvious via art. In her latest performance at MoMA The artist is Present Abramovic performed the longest work in her performing career. She sat motionless for more than 700 hours in total, seven hours every day the museum was open, for more than 3 months. In this performance she was sitting silent and motionless at a table in the museums atrium inviting visitors to sit silently across from her for how long they chose to, making the performance interactive and becoming in this way participants in the artwork. She will not talk or respond to any of the participants, but their involvement in the process is essential and fundamental element for the work to be completed. The artist is present is one of her most representative time based works as it deals with the long duration and the passing time remaining motionless and speechless. Most of her works contain a kind of mystic energy from which she derives great power in order to concentrate and remain motionless. In Nightsea Crossing she describes staring into Ulays eyes and from a certain moment on seeing only a blue, blind, empty screen in front of her, like the length of her arm, to achieve an empty timeless stare. (Klaus Biesenbach, Marina Abramovic: The artist is present) The artist is present features, according to Biesenbach, as many of her works do, in the endless act of sitting, which is a central aspect to her art. Biesenbach continues: in contemporary times sitting has taken the form of political protest (Klaus Biesenbach, Marina Abramovic: The artist is present). Durational sitting is the principal of The artist is Present which finds Abramovic sitting at a table and waiting for the visitors to get involved in the occurrence. The table here has a symbolic and a parabolic meaning. It functions as a stage and at the same time refers to another motif in her work, which considers images from the ritual daily familial gathering during mealtimes and the routine of a motionless life as time passes and its marks become obvious. The main idea in this last performance is the impact of time in the contemporary life. How much time one disposes in order to participate in the artwork is a personal decision and it depends on the way people nowadays divide time. In a world that is governed by speed, every moment is important. Hence, how willing is each of us to let time pass by is a matter that Abramovics performance deals with. Abramovic says you have to give me your time in order to see the workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Klaus Biesenbach, Marina Abramovic: The artist is present) and this is true in any aspect of contemporary life; we have to give time in order to do anything. Biesenbach underlines that while there is no empirical duration established for MoMAs visitors, the moment one sits in the chair, he or she participates in an unspoken agreement with the artist to enter into another perspective (Klaus Biesenbach, Marina Abramovic: The artist is present)

Bruce Dawe Homecoming Essay

Bruce Dawe is a famous and iconic Australian poet; his poems feature his numerous personal experiences and opinions about the futility and brutality of war. Bruce Dawe oft questions the need and validity of war; he talks about the dehumanization and utter brutality the young Australian men face. The poem â€Å"Homecoming† raises the public issue of military dehumanization and the futility of the men who enlist. This poem provokes us as individuals, and as a society to question why. In Bruce Dawe’s â€Å"Homecoming†, he explores personal and public issue of lack of identity and the indiscriminate slaughter of young men in the Vietnam War. Dawe refers to green bodies in â€Å"green plastic bags†, shows the lack of identity and invokes emotions from the reader. The dead soldiers are also being categorized as â€Å"curly heads, kinky-hairs, crew-cuts and balding non-coms†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this categorization further reinforces the idea of dehumanization and lack of identity. This certain technique gives us a detailed insight into the personal and public issues that families and the public would have faced. Another technique used in â€Å"Homecoming† that helps us gain an insight into the personal and public experiences is the use of irony. The title homecoming usually implies a heroic or celebratory return with family and friends. It also invokes a sense of anticipation for the return of a particular individual, however the title is ironic as the â€Å"Homecoming†, is related to the mourning and death of a nameless soldier. Another affective us of irony would be the repetition of the suffix -ing; â€Å"picking†, â€Å"zipping†, â€Å"tagging†, â€Å"giving† and â€Å"bringing†. These words are the actions of the processors; they usually imply life and strength but are used ironically as the processors handle the cold, limp and lifeless bodies. This also gives us an interesting insight into the personal problems families and friends would have to endure. Bruce Dawe explores different personal and public issues within his poems. In â€Å"Homecoming†, he talks about the futility and lack of identity these young  soldiers face. He explores these different personal and public issues through a use of effective techniques such as irony, repetition, imagery, metaphors and rhythm. All of these techniques give us a compelling insight into the personal experiences and public issues of the Vietnam war.

Assess the Importance of Developments in Military Technology as a Factor in the Changing Nature of Military Strategy in the Period C1850 â€C1985.

Assess the importance of developments in military technology as a factor in the changing nature of military strategy in the period c1850 –c1985. The development of military technology can undoubtedly alter the way in which a war or battle is fought. Major military innovations have allowed for strategies to be adapted and refined. For example the invention of tanks allowed for strategic usage of movement to end the stalemate of World War One. The advances in technology have reformed the way in which a war is fought in the air as well as on the ground and sea. If one side was in control of more advanced technology, it could be said they had a greater advantage over the enemy, with increased military capability. However the relationship between the technology and the strategy behind its deployment is essential. For the technology to achieve its goal, the planning, conduct and organisation must be beneficial. Technology however is not entirely responsible for the changes in military strategy, Leadership and tactics also play a part, but which is ultimately the most accountable? The key technology that fundamentally affected the battles of the Crimean war was the invention of an effective rifle. Neil Stewart states that â€Å"The greatest change in land warfare was the substantial increase in the range, accuracy and firepower of the percussion cap rifles and the rifled artillery. † This resulted in the attacking force standing little chance of succeeding and enabled the British to fight from greater distances with a higher chance of hitting the enemy. The infantrymen no longer had to load one bullet at a time, as a magazine could now take up to nine bullets in their magazine. This meant loading time was reduced and the British were more likely to cause greater damage to the enemy over a shorter period. Furthermore Massie announces â€Å"The introduction of the Minie rifle and then the Enfield, revolutionised the battlefield. The ordinary infantry soldier now possessed a weapon long-ranged and accurate enough to enable him to operate it independently. † This shows that now lines of infantry were now not needed and concentrated fire was not used. From the Crimean war, it is clear one strategy should never have been used. The charge of the light brigade saw a cavalry charge against infantry and artillery. A report by Lieutenant-General Liprandi states â€Å"The English cavalry appeared, more than 2,000 strong†¦The enemy made a most obstinate charge†¦notwithstanding the well-directed fire from six guns of the light battery No. 7, and that of the men armed with carbines†¦In this attack the enemy had more than 400 men killed and sixty wounded, who were picked up on the field of battle, and we made twenty-two prisoners. † Thus by the First World War, the cavalry were no longer used to attack against enemies laden with artillery. The dominance of the machine gun in the First World War led to great strategic changes. Whereas a rifle could fire around fifteen rounds a minute, a machine gun could fire six hundred. The stalemate of the War meant that the guns could be set up in permanent positions resulting in the war becoming a defensive one. Stewart states â€Å"Unprotected troops could not expose themselves to this deadly onslaught of fire for long†¦and this meant digging into the ground. † This explains how trenches became a popular method of escaping machine gun fire. Trenches were not only a defensive method, but were ideal for launching an attack from within. The machine gun meant that military strategy was now in fact to keep killing until there was nothing left of the enemy, otherwise known as a war of attrition. The Battle of the Somme was designed to simply mow down as many of the German enemy as possible and try to break their morale. However this tactic proved to unsuccessful by Corporal W. Shaw. Shaw states â€Å"Our artillery had been bombing their line for six days and nights†¦the result was we never got anywhere near the Germans†¦they were just simply slaughtered. The stalemate of trench warfare leant itself for the reintroduction of mobile tactics. Stewart explains â€Å"By 1918 the British troops had moved away from the long linear advance; their attacking force was now built around a heavily armed, mobile, semi-independent platoon of 40 men. † It could be said that long range tactics were now used, making the attac ks depersonalised. The introduction of tanks meant that a preliminary barrage was no longer needed and attacks often now had the element of surprise. Their main tactic was to clear the trenches of the enemy and make a clear pathway for the infantry to follow behind. A report by the war office in 1918 states, â€Å"At the end of the campaigning season of 1917 we tried the experiment at Cambrai of using tanks in large number to take the place of artillery bombardment. † The use of tanks meant that there was a saving to be made in infantry, compared to that required to follow up an artillery bombardment. To finally break the Hindenburg line, the coordination of sophisticated artillery cover along with tanks, aeroplanes and armoured cars was used as the military strategy and according to Stewart â€Å"The battle tactics of the Second World War had emerged at the very end of the First World War. The tactics and strategies used in the Second World War were often based upon those used in the First World War. Many of the weapons used were simply the same but improved versions of those used before, thus you would think the same military strategy would be used. However the main military strategy of World War Two was to use the coordination of all available weapons and forces to strike the enemy at its weakest point instead of over a long front. The British and French went into the war believing it was going to be a defensive one; however the Germans were planning on it being an offensive one and to win it quickly. According to Foley â€Å"The Allied armies, completely unprepared for the rapid, mobile operations of the Germans, had simply been out-fought at every turn. † Stewart backs this up with his quote â€Å"A large part of the effectiveness of blitzkrieg was the panic and confusion produced by this unimagined mobility and advance. Opponents became quickly demoralized and surrendered rapidly. † It can be said that this strategy was only effective with the use of advanced technology. Stewart states â€Å"A number of strategists†¦had advanced the theories of rapid mobile attack based upon concentrations of tanks. Putting this military strategy into practice resulted in the success of blitzkrieg. For example the French and British may have a higher number of tanks than Germany; however they chose not to concentrate them into large masses. Therefore it was not am advance in technology that forced the military plan to change, it was in fact then way in which the leaders chos e to deploy it. Stewart also states â€Å"The intensification of the bombing offensive in 1943, however, had only limited results and incurred disastrous losses. This produced a change of strategy by the allies. This explains that perhaps Germany had superior technology in the air and therefore the Allies formed a military strategy which consisted of the total destruction of the German air force to achieve air supremacy. The commander in chief of the American air forces issued the instruction to â€Å"Destroy the enemy air force wherever you find them in the air, on the ground and in the factories. † This shows how the Allies military plan was adapted to fully concentrate on the effectiveness of how to attack Germany’s air force. Leadership could also be considered a factor as to why military strategy changes. For example Haig has often been criticised for the tactics he used in the First World War. Laffin says â€Å"A great commander knows exactly what he’s sending his men into but Haig didn’t. The principle which guided him was that if he could kill more Germans than the Germans could kill his men, then he would inevitably win. Now that is an appalling kind of strategy. It’s not a strategy at all, it’s just slaughter. † Therefore it could be said that others would have chose a different strategy to Haig and not risked thousands of lives, meaning different leaders would address situations differently. However on the other side many have argued that in fact Haig’s tactics did finally work in 1918 when he had more tanks and artillery to support him, perhaps making technology responsible. Furthermore Clarke tells of a conversation apparently held between Hoffman and Ludendorff. â€Å"Ludendorff: ‘The English soldiers fight like lions’ Hoffman: ‘True. But don’t we know that they are lions led by donkeys. ’ This shows perhaps if the leaders had provided a better military strategy, the brave soldiers could have been ‘lions’ which accomplished greater achievements. Moreover Spilsbury states â€Å"Raglan†¦arrived at the top of this elevation Raglan was now in one of the most extraordinary positions ever taken up by a commander on the battlefield†¦Calthorpe reported ‘Lord Raglan at once saw the immense importance of getting guns up here, where they could enfilade all the Russian guns†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This shows Raglan to be an intelligent leader who could formulate and execute military strategy well and therefore having considerable influence in the way in which the battle was fought. Logistics should also be considered. Johnson states â€Å"The logistical difficulties of the war prompted army reform in Great Britain. † Speaking of the Crimean War, this quote shows that military strategy had to be adapted to fit around these problems. He then goes on to say â€Å"The first, and most important was the rationalisation of the chain of command for organisation in the field. † This shows how rationalising as a strategy was bought in due to complications with logistics. Moreover Overy states â€Å"Yet an operation designed to move 4000 ships, 2 million men and 12000 aircraft to France, from a base only a few minutes flying time from German airfields, appeared an impossible secret to keep for six long months. † This is regarding the d-day landing of World War Two. A large amount of men and supplies had to be landed without being seen by the Germans, which would mean an excellent military strategy would be needed. The moving of these men and supplies resulted in a strategy being produced like no other. Overall the tactics in Second World War had changed dramatically from the First World War. The technology was present in the First World War however its full potential had not been realised until later. From that it could be concluded that it was in fact factors other than technology that changed the nature of military strategy, such as leadership for example. If the leaders in the Second World War had not realised the mistakes made in tactics of the First World War, then perhaps they would not have been successful with their military planning. However as technology progressed, its users were capable of achieving success in many different ways. In the Crimean War, due to the innovation of a successful rifle, strategy changed from fighting together to being able to fight independently. Tanks and armoured cars brought back mobility and therefore strategies changed to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare in World War One. A good leader could be assessed by the way in which he managed to supply his troops, in other words logistics. So therefore logistics itself may have limited effect on military strategy as it is in fact the way in which a leader uses logistics to their advantage which is responsible for the change. To conclude, technology is forever changing and will carry on doing so long into the future. As it does so, the strategy behind the way it is deployed will have to change with it if it is to be a success. However whether or not a leader produces a high-quality military plan that supports the deployment of this new technology will also play a role in the development of military strategy.

Puffs of Escapism 1,000 Cigarettes Essay - 1148 Words

Imagine yourself, basking amongst the socialites of the highest class, all the while drowning in laughter, as the expensive mink drips off your shoulder, and your slender hand brings it back up gently, as the sweet, nicotine laced aroma lingers amidst the air. When all of sudden, a handsome billionaire waltzes towards you, and as he cracks a smile, he brings a gentle hand to your cheek, and at the same time that you inhale a sensual puff from your cigarette, you finally recognize him as your loving husband. Lamentably, this scenario sounds almost too exquisite to be true, because in reality it has been specifically engineered by ingenious tobacco companies to be used in their advertisements, in order to increase their revenue. Sadly,†¦show more content†¦Alas, as they are caught up in their cigarette obsessed conversation, sickly coughs begin to erupt consecutively from all the Glorias’. Even though they known, their coughing is a side effect from smoking, the Glorias ’ choose to blatantly disregard this because, as said by â€Å"Gloria 1: maybe we just like smoking too much to give a damn† (Broun). However, as they play tapers towards the end, the Glorias’ begin counting again, this time vowing to go two minutes instead of one, in between smoking their next cigarette. Moreover, perhaps the name Gloria comes from the Queen Gloriana, otherwise known as Queen Elizabeth I, who sought financial gain from tobacco, when it was first brought to her in 1565, thereby allowing it to flourish into what it has become today. Furthermore, when the Glorias’ are discussing the names of the cigarette, it is clear just how much of the marketing tactics of tobacco companies are in just the name of a cigarette brand. For instance, names like Yves Saint Laurent, who is a famous designer, are automatically linked to the high class fashion industry, and portrayed to be chic, while names like Virginia Slims, give a sense of a slender silhouette. The fact that these marketingShow MoreRelatedStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pagesits customers the top 40 lines of groceries. It was a publicity stunt, of course – a protest at the way supermarkets have started cherrypicking their business by selling records from the Top 40 chart. Tower†™s initiative amounts to little more than a puff of hot air, but behind it lies an issue of growing importance. Cherry-picking is hardly new, but its extent and nature are changing. Increasingly, the most aggressive and successful cherry-pickers are coming from ‘outside’ the industry concerned –