The Cuban Military Development - Article Review Example

This article envisages various circumstances that transpired during the early times of the development of the Cuban Military. The author of this article is a renowned historian called Allan Kuethe. He looks into the subject with the main aim of exploring the formerly weaker military force of Cuba which gradually gained muscles in performance over time. To a greater extent, the author has emphatically dwelt on the problems of financial support that inconvenienced the operations of Cuban soldiers. However, the article is biased in the sense that it covers only the economic aspects that were problematic while giving little attention to the social aspect.

The author has sourced his knowledge from numerous references, but the most acknowledged ones include Rafael Nietos Dignidades nobiliarias en Cuba," Origins of wealth by Knight, and The Royal Order by Madrid. The author manages to identify what had constrained the performance of the Cuban military force (increased taxation) and came out for the best resort to overturn the negative impact.

A contribution from the authors participation in this field is that he manages to identify four major areas of reforms that were to be focused on. The areas are namely: administrative changes, monetary reform, fiscal reform and military reform. The shortcoming of this paper, however, arises from the scope of its coverage. The author has failed to clarify the extent to which the increased taxation affected the political system of Cuba. Further studies on such a topic should expose how different economic factors were harmonized to address the tax effects and consequently strengthen the Cuban military force.

New World, New Stars

Jorge Esguerra is the outright author acknowledged to have pieced together the content of this article. He addresses some issues about the beliefs of the colonial Spanish Americans on astrological features. The author breaks down his intents of the study into two major sections with the first goal being to explore the negative astrological and climatological characterization by Europe. Secondly, the author seeks to investigate the reactions of colonists in Spanish America. The bias of this study, however, lies in the fact that it emphasizes on the astrological factors whose impacts are extremely long-term.

The sources used in support of the study include but not limited to The Star-Crossed Renaissance by Don Cameron, Cardanos Cosmos by Anthony Grafton, and The Clock and The Mirror by Nancy Siraisi. The literature from these resources informs Jorge that astrology was formerly taken seriously as it directly or in indirectly affect human temperaments. He manages to establish the correlation between the astrological impacts and the socio-religious behavior of the indigenous (Contribution in the field).

Shortcomings arising from this particular literary work include lack of clarity on concepts of discussion, mere assumptions of some narratives such as astrology versus religion, and, above all, the article is too wordy. Scholars who intend to study in such areas, in future, need to address these concerns accordingly.

Empire and Knowledge

This piece of article has been authored by Antonio Barrera. His primary aim is driven by the passion for expanding knowledge on the correlation between the Spanish Crown and various scientific developments in Spain. In addition to that, Antonio also expresses an intent of examining the relationship between the royal officials and natural historians. He also explores the way such historians had planned to explore the New World. The article is very well organized with its content properly articulated thus it lacks biases in its arguments.

One of the primary sources acknowledged by the author includes Las Capitulaciones de Indias en el Siglo by Vas Mingo. Secondary Sources, on the other hand, include Local Herbs, Global Medicines by Barrera himself and The Colombian exchange by Alfred Crosby among others. The author has taken an in-depth coverage of the sources, and he recognizes that he was able to cover all aspects of the New World. He contributes in this field by managing to meet his objectives for the study successfully.

The drawback of this paper is meager. The entire article is well prepared except that it has not been structured into sections thus some readers might find it difficult to follow up the various issues addressed. Further studies on a similar area should, therefore, be presentable in their structure.

Trans-Imperial Networks

The author of this particular article is named Fabricio Prado. He covers his topic of study into six sub-topics Trade opening, fall of Colonia, business strategies, reconnecting Rio de la Plata, Pushing the official limit, and Commercial network between Portugal and Spain. The author intends to explore the networks between Spain and Portugal based on trade and rulership. Here, the author has come out clear on his coverage, and as such, there is no element of biasedness.

The primary sources used by the author are: From Shipmates to Soldiers by Alex Borucki and The Edge of Crisis by John Fisher. Having done an exhaustive preview of the references, Fabricio succeeds in connecting his ideas together and finally manages to find out that there was a mutual trade relationship between the two countries and this facilitated understanding among the traders across their territories. However, the shortcoming of this work could be attributed to the fact that it has covered many sub-topics which, otherwise, should be studied individually as research topics on their own. Further studies intended in this area need to take that observation into account.

Bibliography

Barrera, Antonio. 2006. "Empire And Knowledge: Reporting From The New World*." Colonial Latin American Review 15 (1): 39-54. doi:10.1080/10609160600607424.

Esguerra, Jorge Canizares. 1999. "New World, New Stars: Patriotic Astrology And The Invention Of Indian And Creole Bodies In Colonial Spanish America, 1600-1650". The American Historical Review 104 (1): 33. doi:10.2307/2650180.

Kuethe, Allan J. 1981. "The Development Of The Cuban Military As A Sociopolitical Elite, 1763-83". The Hispanic American Historical Review 61 (4): 695. doi:10.2307/2514610.

Prado, Fabricio. 2016. "Trans-Imperial Networks In The Crisis Of The Spanish Monarchy: The Rio De Janeiro-Montevideo Connection, 17781805". The Americas: A Quarterly Review Of Latin American History 73 (02): 211-236. doi:10.1017/tam.2016.37.