Citation

Cromley G. Prof. Geogr. 2016; 68(2): 249-260.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00330124.2015.1062702

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The study of landscapes is an important area of research in critical military geography. Historical military campaigns themselves are violent events that occur within the context of a landscape. Although the actual events are transitory, they can leave behind a tangible record in the landscape and a memory that will be interpreted by present and future generations. Many small-scale individual operations might leave no lasting imprint on the physical landscape and are only remembered in the experience of those who participated. For these less well-known events, such as operations in colonial conflicts, their existence lies in the textual documents of memoirs, military records, and literature on the history of the associated conflicts. This study explores possible methods for designing and constructing a military event gazetteer for organizing information regarding such military operations. Parachute operations during the French Indochina War were chosen for this analysis because of the role these operations played in the counterinsurgency actions of that conflict. Using the methods developed in this study, it is proposed that through a series of military event gazetteers related to colonial wars of independence, a broader understanding of the military (or violence) aspects of the counterinsurgency strategies used in these conflicts might be achieved.

Language: en