Research URLs For Mod Makers

Ozymandias

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I know many of us have done quite a lot of research in the course of our mod making -- and will continue to do so.

With that in mind -- and the general intelligence and curiosity of the "typical" Civ player -- I've begun compiling and organizing a library of URLs, using the following categories to begin with:

I. HISTORY
  • Political & General History
  • Military History (General)
  • History of Science & Technology
  • Cultural History -- Wonders of the World, etc.
  • Economic History
  • Historiography
  • Obscure
  • Alternative Histories
II. MAPS
  • Link to .BMP > .BIC file converter
  • Historical Maps & Atlases
  • Physical Maps
  • Climatological Maps
  • Resource Maps
  • Earth History (Past & Future - Plate Tectonics)
  • Imaginary Realms
III. MILITARY HARDWARE, STRATEGY & TACTICS
  • Land - Ancient & Medieval
  • Land - Renaissance
  • Land - 1700 - 1900
  • Land - Right On The Cusp - ca. 1900
  • Land - 20th Century - Present
  • Land - Near-term future
  • Naval - Multi-Era
  • Naval - Ancient & Medieval
  • Naval - Renaissance through Ironclads
  • Naval - Ironclads - Present
  • Naval - Near-term future
  • Aerospace - Lighter-Than-Air
  • Aerospace - Fixed Wing
  • Aerospace - Rotary Wing (helicopters)
  • Aerospace - Hybrid
  • Modern - Comprehensive
  • Experimental, Prototype and Cancelled Projects, 20th & 21st Centuries

IV. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

V. MILITARY MODELS, SCHEMATICS, ILLUSTRATIONS, ETC.
  • Historical
    -General / Multi-Category
    -Aviation
    -AFVs
    -Ships
  • Fantastical
  • Science Fiction

VI. MODELS OF BUILDINGS

VII. MISCELLANEOUS & OTHER

VIII. URLs To Be Sorted

IX. OOBs (Order Of Battle)

  • kiwitt's 1939 Global OOB


This is very much an ongoing effort -- there are about 200 links so far (18 October '03).

PLEASE POST ADDITIONS / COMMENTS / SUGGESTIONS / ETC. IN THIS THREAD!

-- This is a change from my original request, now that I have things somewhat organized.

... Oh and many thanks to Zulu & Mithadan for helping to kick-start this list :thumbsup:

-Oz
 
I. HISTORY

Political & General History

World History Chronology - Another excellent, timeline based history from Plexus, with many well written sub-links for different events, etc.
Hyperhistory Online -- Covers everything from technology history to maps
WWWVL The World Wide Virtual Library -- A very large accumulation of resources, many with an academic emphasis (methodology, historiography, etc.)
All Empires - fine overview site
World History Overview - Very short but also very many entries ...
Wikipedia History Of The World By Millenium & Century
Regnal History - Names and dates for just about every known ruler, anywhere in the world!

The Ancient World & Byzantium

Ancient World Web Much varied info here
About.com - Ancient & Classical History (a decent general site; beware pop-ups ...)
Mesopotamia (Links)
Achaemenid Persia Everything you've ever wanted to know on the subject (thanks to Kryten!)
The Illustrated History Of The Roman Empire - Interactive maps (choose a year; see the Empire's extent); many well-organized sections on history, with the "The Roman Army" and associated illustrations being real standouts
Explore Byzantium - Overview of Byzantine History
The Dual Nature of the Byzantine Empire And The Anecdota of Procopius - A general history of the Byzantine Empire

The Middle Ages

ORB - The Online Reference Book For Medieval Studies
Internet Medieval Sourcebook
The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies - Georgetown University links to many online resources
Medieval Life & The Hundred Years War - A 200,000 word, well-illustrated e-book. With thanks to TopGun69!

Regional History - General

"Encyclopedia Of The Orient" - Actually North Africa & the Middle East
Pictish Nation - A History Of The Picts
American History Overview - About.com

"Short overview of African civilizations and their importance"
Ethiopian History

Chinese History

A Complete History Of China
Chinaknowledge - "A universal guide for China studies"
Eastern Zhou Dynasty: Warring States Period (475-221 BC)


Military History (General)

"A Short History Of War" - like it says. A nice find by Mithadan.
A VERY Succinct Military History/Timeline Of The World
On War -- including "A comprehensive guide to armed conflicts in the last two hundred years."
Technology of Warfare - in 4 sections: WW1, WW2; Vietnam; Persian Gulf War 1 - focused on introduction of weapons and weapons platforms
Maps Of Ancient Warfare
The (Largely Military) History of Protestantism
Ancient & Medieval Japanese Naval article
Napoleonic Glossary - For the Grognards ...
Mao Tse-tung On Guerilla Warfare
Russian Battlefield (WW2)
The World At War - History Of WW2
Aviation History - from the Montgolfier Brothers onwards
Historic Information For The "Total War" Series - Rome; Medieval; Shogun - One of the best gamer-oriented history sites I've seen
A thousand years of the Hungarian art of war - Regionally specialized and extremely thorough!
Historic Battles: History Revisited Online - Nice e-mag.
WWII Tech: World War II History - Excellent site; thanks to TopGun69!

History of Science & Technology

The Medieval Technology Pages - A beautifully organized, in-depth, and very accessible resource for Europe and the Islamic world.
History of Gardening [ =Agriculture -Oz ] from ancient times to 1600
HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SHIP -- the best such resource I've found, period (from ~Ancient Egypt to ~the 16th Century CE)
History Of Copper
History Of Tin
Aluminum

Cultural History -- Wonders of the World, etc.

7 Wonders+ Of The Ancient World
A Visual Sourcebook for Chinese Civilization
SILKROAD FOUNDATION
The Silk Road -- Ukas made a wonderful Silk Road Wonder at my request ... :)
Cheng Ho & The Chinese Treasure Fleets (15th Century)
Samurai Archives - Excellent resource covering Japan in the era of the Samurai, approximately 1180-1600 CE.
The Germanic Heritage Page

Economic History

Origins Of Money & Banking
Mediaeval Trade - Interesting section; part of the much larger online version of Hendrik Van Loon's "The Story Of Mankind"
The Hanseatic League

Historiography*
(*The study of determining what are the driving forces and/or organizational "themes" of history - hardly as dry as it sounds :) )

Warring States - excellent notes from a 2002 UMass-Amherst conference on similarities and dissimilarities between pre-industrial multi-state systems.

Primary Sources
Documents in Military History - Large collection spanning all recorded military history.
The World War I Document Archive - "This archive of primary documents from World War I [...] is international in focus and intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War."
PSM Data Primary and Secondary sources and Material ("PSM"), best for 18th-20th Century Europe -- good for population figures etc.

Obscure

A Brief History of New Sweden In America 1638-1713 - Swedish colony on the Delaware River ... who knew? ;)

Alternative Histories*
*Inspiration for mod makers ... ?
Uchronia - Where Harry Turtledove is only the tip of the iceberg ...
 
II. MAPS

Note: a .bmp to .bic converter (converts any map in a .bmp file format) can be found HERE.

General Collections & Link Sites

Open Directory Project's Map Resources -- mind boggling
National Geographic "Map Machine" -- National Geographic's excellent online map generator (contemporary & historical); also has very detailed maps of eco-regions and resources
Visible Earth - NASA Map Site - d/l .jpegs & .tiffs
A Wide Variety Of Global Projections
The Geography Network
http://www.refdesk.com/factmaps.html
The Lonely Planet
U Texas Historical Maps

Historical Maps & Atlases

Europe & The Near East: Antiquity & Early Medieval INCLUDING RESOURCES
Internet Medeival Sourcebook - Maps & Images -- An extraordinary collection of maps & links
Maps Of Ancient Warfare
Historical Maps Of Europe From AD 1 to AD 2000
Mapping History: The Darkwing Atlas Project - American and European Maps, including resources
Medieval European / Baltic / Mediterranean Trade Routes Map
Political "Snapshot" of Europe in 1492 - In French, but easily understood.

Physical Maps

The Global Land One-km Base Elevation (GLOBE) Project: A Gallery of Images - Some fantastic downloadable maps
Altapedia.com - both physical and political maps
A Map of Mars

Climatological Maps

Major Biomes of the World
UC Berkeley Checklist of Online Vegetation and Plant Distribution Maps
GLOBAL ATLAS OF PALAEOVEGETATION SINCE THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM
Global Distribution Of Original And Remaining Forests
Extreme Sea Level Changes - Global Projections
Global Forest Watch - generate maps of forest coverings today and 5000 years ago.

Resource Maps

Mapping History: The Darkwing Atlas Project - American and European Maps, including resources
Europe & The Near East: Antiquity & Early Medieval INCLUDING RESOURCES
World Maps - Resources, Vegetation & Physiography
wine
aluminum
uranium - Good starting point
salt - Don't underrate this! - In historical times this has been traded 1:1 by weight for gold dust.
Australian Resources - dig around and ye shall find
Coal and other resources
National Geographic "Map Machine" (see note under listing in "General Collections & Link Sites" section

Earth History (Past & Future - Plate Tectonics)

Global Maps From The Precambrian - 250 Millions From Now
The Future Is Wild - Click on "As The Earth Evolves" - global map projections 5, 100, and 200 million years from now

Imaginary Realms

Dutch Geo-Fiction Association

Other

The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Online Map Creation -- pick your parameters (longitude, latitude, etc.) and go
 
III. MILITARY HARDWARE, STRATEGY & TACTICS

NB: The line between items on this page and the "Illustrations" page can be a fine one - generally, entries on this page go into greater technical and/or historic detail

Land - Ancient & Medieval

Ancient Egyptian Warfare
Traditional African Weapons Hurst Gallery collection
Late Roman Shield Patterns taken from the "Notitia Dignitatum"
Excerpts On Ancient & Medieval Warfare - See the items under the heading "On War"
Warfare throughout the Middle Ages - AN excellent series of articles on the topic.
Experimental Reconstruction of a Medieval Trébuchet
11th Century Chinese Military Technology (Song Dynasty)

Land - Renaissance

Introduction to Politics & War in the Renaissance
A Renaissance Military Glossary
The Renaissance Art Of Warfare - Fine overview with separate sections for representative battles
Eduseek - 15th to 17th Century Conflicts
The Geometry of War - Online exhibit on : the role played by geometry in Renaissance warfare, including aiming cannon, the design of fortifications, and formations of infantry.
The Spanish Tercios
Hungarian Renaissance Warfare
Polish Renaissance Warfare
English Late Medieval Military Costumes/"Uniforms"
Galloglass Warriors
A Book of Five Rings The 16th Century Japanese classic on strategy.

Land - 1700 - 1900

"Infantry Tactics and its Material Causes 1700-1870"

Right On The Cusp - ca. 1900

Armored Cars 1896-1913 - Small but very cool site! - With thanks to TopGun69

Land - 20th Century - Present

Achtung Panzer - Well organized, illustrated and researched site, including might-have-beens, from WW1-2

Land - Near-term future

Naval - Multi-era

Dept. Of The (U.S.) Navy Historical Center

Naval - Ancient & Medieval

THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN SAILING-SHIPS (7th - 15th century)

Naval - Renaissance through Ironclads

A Concise History Of The Devleopment Of The Western Square-rigged Sailing Ship After The Middle Ages. - "From the carrack to the full-rigger"
Ye Olde Booke O' Seadogs - Renaissance Seafaring

Naval - Ironclads - Present

Naval - Near-term future

Here's an engrossing extract from Jane's on "near-term" use of directed energy weapons etc. by the USN.

Aerospace - Lighter-Than-Air

British Airships
Modern Zeppelins

Aerospace - Fixed Wing

The Virtual Aviation Museum - comprehensive compendium on European aircraft, in English and German.

The Aerodrome - nice site for WWI aircraft stats, photos, and aces.
German Aircraft Armament Unit Structure during the First World War - "The bomb armament and unit structure of ground attack forces. A short description." Also links / galleries of some interesting aircraft etc. of all ages, with detailed histories.

The World's Ugliest Aircraft - an uninspiring name yet with some genuine rare avis - "rare birds"

Aerospace - Rotary Wing (helicopters)

All The World's Rotocraft - much well organized info on everything from plain choppers to beasties you probably never guessed existed ...

Aerospace - Hybrid

"Flatlander's Aerospace Force" - An intriguing and comprehensive history of "parasite" aircraft -- i.e., those designed to be carried by either airships or other aircraft

Modern - Comprehensive

Army Technology
globalsecurity.org
Jane's Defence Weekly - authoritative site on modern military affairs; non-subscriber excerpts of current articles are available
Monch Publishing Group - Defense Industry Resource - a wide variety of features

Czech "Ultimate Military Collection" A wide range of info on the modern Czech military (primarily air force) as well as many WW2 aircraft and armor (check out the "Tanks In WWII" link). Good illustrations and technical info.
The Swedish Journal of Military Technology - NB: the archive is free of charge

Experimental, Prototype and Cancelled Projects, 20th & 21st Centuries

The Strange Mechanism Museum - "This page recommends Experimental projects, Prototypes, Paper plans ,Canceled projects, and many interesting mechanisms." Check it out -- there's some wild stuff here --
-- and here: Unreal Aircraft
Arsenal Ship - a joint Navy / DARPA program high firepower stealth ship
 
V. MILITARY MODELS, SCHEMATICS, ILLUSTRATIONS, ETC.

Note: unlike the "MILITARY HARDWARE, STRATEGY & TACTICS" section, I have included none-English-language sites here (1) if they are relatively easy to navigate and (2) provide interesting images. Also note there are some great images to be found in that other section as well. -Oz

HISTORICAL

General / Multi-Category

Painted Armies Of DBA Online - A VERY extensive listing from Sumer to the 15th Century CE
JED Military Equipment Directory -- extensive collection
Onno van Braam - Computer Graphics Artist - Blueprints[/URL] -- an even more extensive collection ...
Suurland Blueprints -- OK so Zulu's amazing ...
Gunpoint-3D
Turbosquid -- also has scifi; membership required
Military Miniatures Of All Periods
Pegaso Models
The FriedrichFiles - Ships, Aircraft & Airships
xlegio - I would have this under "Military History" except that the site's in Russian; nevertheless many fine illustrations of ancient warfare can be found by poking around
3D Heaven - 3D Models & Meshes
L'histoire du monde.net - 20eme siecle - many fine photos; easy navigation; in French
http://telias.free.fr/index.html - "good things for Bryce, Poser and Max," says aaglo, and how can you not believe him?

Aviation

Aviation Sites - A HUGE number of links to aviation sites
http://onnovanbraam.com/index.php?main=blueprints
Aviaworld Online - large aircraft photo collection, by nationality
Air Force Museum - Monino, Russia - Many photos of Russian/Soviet aircraft.
B.I.I.C. Aviation Museum - many fine photos, schematics and misc details for both fixed and rotary wing aircraft
mittlere Bombenflugzeuge - nice bomber overview page; in German
Dassault Aviation History Pages - excellent site for Dassault (and subsidiary company) aircraft. In French.
Virtual ircraft Museum

Armored Fighting Vehicles

AFVs of WW1 and the 1920s
Tanks! -- great AFV photo site
A World Of Tanks - An EXTRAORDINARY gallery of excellent color prints of lesser known WW2 AFVs

Ships

Asian Ship Models
Age Of Sail Prints Beautiful - inspiration for all you sailing ship makers!
Online Library of Selected Images: Ships of the Spanish-American War -- Modern U.S. Navy Monitors

FANTASICAL
Alternate History ca. 1900 AFVs
"Landships - Spurious Victorian Armored Fighting Vehicles"
Luft '46 (Luftwaffe Might-Have-Beens)
Dan Johnson's Model Gallery (more Luftwaffe Might-Have-Beens)

SCIENCE FICTION
3d Model Forge
IMI 3D Intelligent Modeler - a number of free d/ls
The Ultimate Guide To Sci-Fi & Fantasy Art - OVER 1100 ARTISTS AND GALLERIES!"The Starfleet Museum" Star Wars AND Star Trek Blueprints
 
Originally posted by ozymandias
PLEASE POST ADDITIONS / COMMENTS / SUGGESTIONS / ETC. IN THIS THREAD!

-- This is a change from my original request, now that I have things somewhat organized.
Uh, okay! :) Under the heading "Micellaneous & Other," the link "UK Channel 4 Guide to Roman Empire; Medieval-Stuart England/Britain; Napoleonic EmpireMinnesota State" doesn't work. I think you've got three backslashes after "http" or something.
 
Pol_cop posted this link

http://www.xlegio.ru/

It has a great deal of ancient ships & weapons. There's one downside - it's a russian site, so most of us don't know what are they saying. But there are many nice pics. ;)
 
Mithadan & aaglo - thanks!

Link fixed and link added, respectively --

aaglo, I added the site under "Models etc." and not "Military History" as I presume that most people at this site don't read Russian (if I'm wrong, surely they'll let me know ;) ) -- an excellent site, irrespective.

-Oz
 
Originally posted by ozymandias


PLEASE POST ADDITIONS / COMMENTS / SUGGESTIONS / ETC. IN THIS THREAD!

-- This is a change from my original request, now that I have things somewhat organized.

-Oz
I just noticed the change. I posted a bunch of links on the old thread.
 
Originally posted by MarineCorps
heres one to go under military hardware
www.globalsecurity.org

Many thanks -- I posted it under "MILITARY HARDWARE, STRATEGY & TACTICS" / "Modern - Comprehensive" along with Jane's et. al. -- Believe me, I somehow doubt this is the "final" organization / breakdown ... :)

-Oz
 
This looks great, looks like you got your wish after all.

btw You might have to change your title form Iconoclast (what is that?) to librarian.
 
Originally posted by Sir Eric
This looks great, looks like you got your wish after all.

Thanks! I'd basically been doing much of this for myself, and noticed that certain types of info were regularly requested, so it wasn't much of a stretch, especially given how much effort so many others have been willing to contribute to the common good (I SWEAR Wyrmshadow's cloned himself ... )

Originally posted by Sir Eric btw You might have to change your title form Iconoclast (what is that?) to librarian. [/B]

"Iconoclast" literally means "breaker of icons". Although it historically refers to a movement within the Byzantine empire to melt down golden icons (1) ostensibly to help reconcile with the Western (Catholic) Church and (2) assist the state's depleted coffers, the notion of shattering images/preconceptions -- and, e.g., not choosing an avatar -- simply fits my temperament well.

EDIT: Changed fom "iconoclast" to "Civ3 Modding Archivist". Better late than never. :rockon:

Best,

Oz
 
After a quick perusal of the Military History category (it's late, I can't stomach a thorough perusal), it appears that we haven't got a link to A Short History of War. So far, I rather like this site! :ack: :sleep:
 
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