Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/06659_Field_TCUM T224.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 986b | 16 lines

     Writing about the new straight avenues of the
seventeenth century cities, Mumford points to a factor that
was also present in the Roman city with its wheeled traffic;
namely, the need for broad straight avenues to speed military
movements, and to express the pomp and circumstance of
power. In the Roman world the army was the work force of a
mechanized wealth-creating process. By means of soldiers as
uniform and replaceable parts, the Roman military machine
made and delivered the goods, very much in the manner of
industry during the early phases of the industrial revolution.
Trade followed the legions. More than that, the legions were the
industrial machine, itself; and numerous new cities were like
new factories manned by uniformly trained army personnel.
With the spread of literacy after printing, the bond between the
uniformed soldier and the wealth-making factory hand became
less visible. It was obvious enough in Napoleon’s armies.