The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern (27 page)

Read The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern Online

Authors: Victor Davis Hanson

Tags: #Military History, #General, #Civilization, #Military, #War, #History

Demosthenes, 16, 217

Deng Xiaopin, 37

deterrence, 35, 38

39, 48, 246

Diodorus, 85, 92

diplomacy, 17, 38, 165, 220, 222, 246

Don Juan of Austria, 97

98

Douglas, Paul, 80

East Africa, U.S. embassies in, 115

Eastern Europe, 153, 165, 167

Egypt, 45, 46, 117

Eisenhower, Dwight D., 12, 141, 148, 166, 174

elections of 2008, U.S., 218

enemies: and alternatives to punitive war, 212

15; and asymmetrical wars, 213, 215, 227

32; and challenges to spread of democracy, 210; and constraints on military power, 212

13; as different, 46

47, 101; and future of American warfare, 150

51; humiliation of, 39

40, 177, 202

6; and military errors, 180

81, 184; and new-isms, 220

26; and security versus freedom, 215

20; and war as “human thing,” 156; and way of war in America, 150

51; and wealth versus poverty, 225

26; and Western advantages, 233

35

Enemy at the Gates
(film), 11

England.
See
Great Britain

Enlightenment, 43, 44, 47

Epaminondas, 29, 133, 196

error, military: and acceptance of defeat, 187; and blame, 184; change in attitudes about, 183

87; and culture, 161; and enemies, 180

81; and home front, 179

82; and intelligence failures, 163, 164

67, 183; and leadership, 173

76; and lessons learned, 176

79, 186; and luck, 181; and media, 176, 178, 181

82, 185

86; and morality, 161; and perfection, 186; and public, 184; and strategic and tactical lapses, 167

71; and technology, 161, 162, 172, 179; and unintended consequences, 181; and victory, 183, 184, 186

87; and weapons, 172

73.
See also specific war

Euripides, 27, 29, 34, 41, 52, 86, 231, 243

Europe: anti-Americanism in, 231; and asymmetrical wars, 231; as battlefield, 234

35; and contradictions and paradoxes about war, 244; and isolationism in U.S., 153; and military errors, 168; and paradoxes of the present, 238; and present wars as reflective of origins of war, 241.
See also
European Union;
specific nation

European Union, 112, 113, 121, 196, 230, 241

exceptionalism: American, 78

79, 140; Western, 45

49, 221

Fahrenheit 911
(film), 218

Falkland Islands, 25, 36, 92, 109, 115, 238

Fallujah, Iraq, 10, 81, 163, 178, 203

4, 230

Fallujah
(play), 203

4

Feifer, George, 78

Ferguson, Niall, 201

film, and security versus freedom, 218

Fitna
(film), 218

Foch, Ferdinand, 21

22

Ford, Gerald, 6

Forrestal, James, 174

Fox News, 185

Fox, Robin Lane, 67, 69

France, 136, 167, 171, 172, 191, 217, 241

Franks, Tommy, 162

Fredendall, Lloyd, 175, 178

Frederick the Great, 14, 43

free markets, 45

46, 144

free speech, 41, 55, 215

20, 223, 225

freedom, 47, 140, 201, 204, 215

20, 221, 234.
See also
free markets; free speech

Freeman, Douglas Southall, 28

Fukuyama, Francis, 201

Fuller, J.F.C., 27

Fussel, Paul, 78

Gadhafi, Mu’ammar, 109, 182, 208, 209, 214

galley warfare, 100

Gallic Wars, 112

Gandhi, Mahatma, 7

8

Gatling, Richard, 172

Gaza, 228, 232, 237

genocide, 33, 119, 205, 208

Georgia, Russian invasion of, 37, 224, 237

Germany: and antithetical cultures, 191; and classical lessons about modern wars, 85, 86; and democracy, 193, 202, 210; and military culture, 191; and present wars as reflective of origins of war, 240

41; public opinion about U.S. in 1945 in, 42; and Versailles Treaty, 22; way of war in, 143; and way of war in America, 150

51.
See also
Hitler, Adolph; World War I; World War II

Gettysburg, battle of, 9, 22

23, 107, 114, 115, 166

Gibbon, Edward, 31, 43

Gilbert, Martin, 29

globalization: and asymmetrical wars, 229; benefits of, 239; and contradictions and paradoxes about war, 243; and democracy, 206; and future of battles, 115

20; and paradoxes of the present, 238, 239; and “revolution in military affairs” (RMA), 126

32; and technology, 126

32; and wealth versus poverty, 226; and Western advantages, 233

Gordon, Michael, 198

Gore, Al, 162

government, American distrust of central, 144

Grant, Ulysses S., 12, 27, 29, 87, 140

41, 145

46, 166, 171, 175, 178

Great Britain: and classical lessons about modern wars, 85

86; and democracy, 194; and Falklands, 92; and Iranian hostage-taking of British sailors, 39, 40; and Iraq War, 162; and military errors, 167, 171, 172; and paradoxes of the present, 238; and present wars as reflective of origins, 242; and Sudan, 130; and technology, 131; in Victorian and maritime eras, 85

86

Greeks: and classical lessons about modern wars, 33, 34, 36

37, 41, 45

46, 49; and contradictions and paradoxes of war, 246; culture of, 137

38; elected governments of, 54; freedom of expression among, 55; in Persian Wars, 27, 63

70; and present as reflective of origins of war, 239

43; and roots of war, 36

37, 41; and security versus freedom, 215

16.
See also
Athenians; Sparta;
300
(film);
specific person, war, or battle

Grenada, 109, 115, 164, 185, 192, 193, 214

Grozny, battle of, 108, 114, 118, 178, 224

Guadalcanal, 79, 167

Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 155

56, 217, 218, 232

Gulf War (1991): and alternatives to punitive war, 213; and American way of war, 143, 148, 150; critiques of, 148, 198; and decisive battles, 108

9; and democracy, 197

98; and future of battles, 118; and laws of war, 133

34; media coverage of, 118, 213; and military errors, 165, 172, 181, 185; and military liberalism, 193; and nation-building, 201; and paradoxes of the present, 238; and technology, 133

34; and utility of military history, 15, 18; victory in, 21; weaponry in, 20

guns, ownership of, 144, 145

Haass, Richard, 201

Hagel, Chuck, 162

Haiti, 109, 185, 193

Halleck, Henry, 174, 175

Halliburton, 204, 232

Hamas, 117, 118, 208, 227, 231

32

Hanson, Victor, at Okinawa, 76

Hanson, Victor Davis: books by, 29, 106, 206; and decisive battles, 106; educational background of, 4

5, 31, 56

57; family background of, 25; at Fresno, 11, 31, 55, 56, 57

58; and prerequisites for democracy, 206

Hastings, Max, 11

hate, and roots of war, 38

Haydon, Benjamin Robert, 70

hearts and minds, war for, 106, 150, 155, 199, 227, 228, 233

Herodotus, 6, 32, 50, 52, 53

54, 66, 193, 216

Hersh, Seymour, 176

Hezbollah, 117, 118, 227, 230, 231

32

Hitler, Adolf: and antithetical cultures, 191; biography of, 29; and classical lessons about modern wars, 85, 91; end of Weimar Republic by, 191; and Germany as democracy, 202; and military errors, 167

68, 180; and morality of military history, 25; and reasons for war, 18, 37;

Hitler, Adolf

U.S. actions compared with, 232; and utility of military history, 14, 15, 16; way of war of, 143, 144; where to start studying about, 29

Holocaust, 119

Homeland Security Department, U.S., 220

Homer, 27, 119, 243

Honduras, 195

Horne, Alistair, 28, 29

Hostage-taking, 39

40

hot spots, potential, 237

38

human nature: and American way of war, 154

57, 181; and future of war, 243, 246; and military error, 162; and reasons for war, 7; and roots of war, 40; Sledge’s views about, 72; and study of military history, 7, 27; Thucyides’s assessment of, 57, 66, 90; as unchanging, 81, 133, 243, 246; and war as “human thing,” 91, 154

57

“human thing,” war as, 91, 154

57

Huntington, Samuel P., 28, 189

Hussein, Saddam: and alternatives to punitive war, 214; capture of, 182; and nation-building, 209; and reasons for war, 18; removal of, 14, 21, 22, 148, 201, 210, 243; and renewal of interest in Xenophon, 67; and utility of military history, 14.
See also
Gulf War (1991); Iran-Iraq War; Iraq War

idealism, 29, 211, 233

India, 113, 114, 207, 238, 242

Indonesia, 207, 224

insurgencies: and alternatives to punitive war, 214, 215; and American way of war, 150; and asymmetrical wars, 228

29; and contradictions and paradoxes about war, 244; and decisive battles, 109; and demonization of U.S. military, 203; in Iraq War, 124, 162, 178

79, 203; and military error, 162, 178

79; and military liberalism, 192; and nation-building, 201; and spread of democracy, 192, 201, 203; and technology, 124; and Western advantages, 233

intelligence, failure in, 163, 164

67, 183

international law, 241

International Year of Peace (1986), 44

Internet, 47

48, 115, 126, 206, 239, 244

interrogation techniques, 156

Ionian War, 36, 41

Iran: anti-Americanism in, 209; and asymmetrical wars, 227, 229, 230; and constraints on military power, 213; and contradictions and paradoxes about war, 244; and decisive battles, 112; and democracy, 197, 198; and future of battles, 117, 120; hostage-taking by, 39

40, 209; and military errors, 163, 168, 183, 184; and military liberalism, 193; and nation-building, 200, 209; nuclear power of, 227; and present wars as reflective of origins of war, 240; and return of battles, 121; and roots of war, 38

39; and technology, 125; and
300
film, 51; U.S. relations with, 38

39; and Western advantages, 234

Iran-Iraq War (1980

89), 108, 167, 238

Iraq: boycotts and embargoes on, 202; and future of battles, 114, 117; 1998 bombing of, 213; peacekeeping in, 210; sectarian violence in, 114

Iraq War: and alternatives to punitive war, 213, 214; as asymmetrical war, 227, 228, 230, 232; casualties in, 13, 16, 24, 166, 183, 204, 210, 230, 243; and civilian-military relationship, 190; and classical lessons about modern wars, 67, 85; and contradictions and paradoxes about war, 244; criticisms of U.S. concerning, 203

5; and decisive battles, 109; and democracy, 190, 193, 197, 198, 199, 203, 204

5, 234, 243; as “different,” 162; insurgency in, 124, 162, 178

79, 203; and military errors, 162, 163, 164, 173

74, 175, 176, 177

79, 181

82, 183, 184, 185; and military liberalism, 192, 193, 202; and nation-building, 200, 201, 202, 209, 210; and new-isms, 223

24; and paradoxes of the present, 237, 238; and present wars as reflective of origins of war, 243; public sentiment about, 23

24, 230, 243; and redefinition of war, 235; and roots of war, 36, 42, 43; and security versus freedom, 218; and study of military history, 9, 12, 13; and Syria, 17; and technology, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128

29; terrorists in, 124;
300
as allegory for, 51; and utility of military history, 14, 15; and varieties of war, 25; victory in, 20, 22; and way of war in America, 143, 149; and Western advantages, 234; and WMD, 164, 182; World War II compared with, 13.
See also
Hussein, Saddam

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