Radio War Nerd EP #184 — The Incan Empire

I listened to this episode earlier in the year and now I’m in Puno, in the middle of a trip to Peru. After seeing the Inca systems of agriculture and learning about how they structured their society, seeing their engineering and construction achievements - I really feel sad that we never saw what Inca society might have evolved into. The episode was fantastic pre-trip background, but nothing prepared me really for the scale of what the Inca built.

One of the more interesting books you can read about the conquest of the Aztecs are the ones written by a soldier who took part in them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_Díaz_del_Castillo Both volumes of "The Memoirs of the Conquistador" can be found from places like Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32474

have you heard of Graham Hancock. He's got a new book out America Before and this interview was awesome. Give it a listen and try to have him on your show though I don't know how much he has to do with war? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxmw9eizOAo&t=4790s

Really enjoyed this one. Please do a whole episode on the Sendero Luminoso!

Must have heard you talking about the irrigation systems etc RWN first again https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/06/ancient-peruvian-engineering-could-help-solve-modern-water-shortages/

Haven't listened to the full episode yet but my favorite tidbit about the Incas is this quote from 1491 by Charles Mann (an excellent book): Because the Inka was believed to be an immortal deity, his mummy was treated, logically enough, as if it were still living. Soon after arriving in Qosqo, Pizarro’s companion Miguel de Estete saw a parade of defunct emperors. They were brought out on litters, “seated on their thrones and surrounded by pages and women with flywhisks in their hands, who ministered to them with as much respect as if they had been alive.” Because the royal mummies were not considered dead, their successors obviously could not inherit their wealth. ... In consequence, as Pedro Pizarro realized, “the greater part of the people, treasure, expenses, and vices [in Tawantinsuyu] were under the control of the dead.” The mummies spoke through female mediums who represented the panaqa’s surviving courtiers or their descendants. With almost a dozen immortal emperors jostling for position, high-level Inka society was characterized by ramose political intrigue of a scale that would have delighted the Medici.

Not related to this episode, but it's quite difficult to access your content now, probably related to Patreon changes. I generally don't have time to listen to an epsiode in its entirety. Patreon auto-closes the window the episode plays in if I don't look at it for more than few hours. Then, I have to scroll through to try to find my place again. The links to old episodes I've gotten by email also no longer work, so if I want to listen to one of them I have to scroll through pages and pages (on a touch screen device mis-clicking multiple times) in order to find a thing. Preventing me from sharing episodes by email seems self-defeating. I've shared episodes with 4 people: one is my spouse; the other is my dad, who I was visiting at the time; the other two people subscribed after listening to the episode I forwarded.

Are there plans for a RWN meeting stateside this summer?

Can I offer a suggestion? It would be great if you guys could post some pics and short videos of General Dolan’s and Colonel Kathrine’s conquests as they roam the world. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy or complicated; pics and videos taken with a typical smart phone or consumer grade camera will do nicely.

The whole thing about having notaries reading out judgments before they slaughtered the Incas had nothing to do with any desire for following the rule of law. It was more about placating their conscience since they knew, deep down, that what they were doing was morally and ethically indefensible; so they gave it an air of legality. Not so much for the Incas themselves, but to make them feel: ‘Hey: we’re actually nice people after all. We do things the right way. ‘

That was interesting. I think another fact about the Conquistadores was that a lot of them were younger sons and so did not inherit anything. They had to self-make or die (or go into the church). William Sullivan makes that point and also the point that the Incas expected to lose due to the aformentioned omens in his book Secrets of the Incas. I think it is a serious book (despite the title) but to be honest, I did not understand half of it, particularly the astronomy. Fun fact, there is such a thing as the Vatican Astronomer. He argues for the astronomical basis for the Incas fear of the omens and their own, extensive, knowledge of astronomy. You can find his documentary on YouTube. I think the Incas fielded 40,000 against 170 Spaniards. Even with just slingshots, you would think that they could have overwhelmed them in a human wave attack? I've seen it argued that the whole of the Inquisition was driven by lawyers and so fewer people were executed for witch craft than you might think due to burdens of proof. Though this might be of small comfort. The law seems to be more of a fig-leaf than a virtue. I've also seen it argued that the whole conquest was drive by debt though you could alse see it as entrepeneurship as well. Not a good adver for either though. Peter Hitchens is Christopher Hitchens brother.

Great episode! It would be awesome to have an episode some day on the Arauco war(s) and subsequent conflicts between the Mapuche and the Spanish and later the Chilean state.

Thanks for the recent deluge of content John + Mark! No jonesing for my next fix this month... I know the notion of taking a request may seem rather barbaric; a request for a WWII battle maybe even more so, but a future episode on the Battle of Okinawa (perhaps including the subsequent US annexation of the island) would be a rich, bloody, interesting and impactful show. There is plenty to cover in the Pacific theatres, but one could get bogged down on each engagement- the Battle of Okinawa serves (IMO) as the apex of horror and desperation.

Fun side-effect from the serious inbreeding: a guide at one of the Aztec pyramides in Mexico told us that the reason ancient Egyptian and Aztec faces are painted mostly in profile is that their faces were deformed.

Inga Clendinnen's work on the Aztecs would be a great starting point for a similar piece on that empire, if you have any interest in doing that -- she does a really good job of emphasizing how Aztec belief may have driven some of the choices that appear baffling to us now, and how totally alien those beliefs were.

any reason it isn't on the rss?

I've been looking forward to this for so long!

love all the content, thanks guy :)

Five in one month! Keep up the good work. Work has nearly been bearable.

Can you push this out to the RSS feed?