Author: David Whetham
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004171533
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 275
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Book Description
While recognising the sophistication of the practice of medieval warfare, many people still have problems reconciling the widespread use of surprise and deception with the code of chivalric warfare. Was chivalry really just a meaningless veneer? If true, perhaps more perplexing are the many cases where surprise or deception were not employed and advantages were therefore sacrificed. This work argues that understanding these apparent inconsistencies requires an appreciation of the moral and legal context of medieval strategic thought. Through taking this approach, chivalric warfare can be seen for what it was - a very real framework or system of rules that allowed a result or decision to be reached which could be accepted by both sides.
Author: Andrew R. Hom
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198801823
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 258
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Book Description
Moral Victories is the first book-length treatment of the ethical dimensions of victory in war.
Author: Cian O'Driscoll
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192569309
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 263
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Book Description
Committing one's country to war is a grave decision. Governments often have to make tough calls, but none are quite so painful as those that involve sending soldiers into harm's way, to kill and be killed. The idea of 'just war' informs how we approach and reflect on these decisions. It signifies the belief that while war is always a wretched enterprise it may in certain circumstances, and subject to certain restrictions, be justified. Boasting a long history that is usually traced back to the sunset of the Roman Empire, it has coalesced over time into a series of principles and moral categories--e.g., just cause, last resort, proportionality, etc.--that will be familiar to anyone who has ever entered a discussion about the rights and wrongs of war. Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Just War focuses both on how this particular tradition of thought has evolved over time and how it has informed the practice of states and the legal architecture of international society. This book examines the vexed position that the concept of victory occupies within this framework.
Author: Rory Cox
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691171890
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536
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Book Description
"As two of the fundamental social forces that shape human life - war posing the greatest existential threat to communities, and justice being the principle that makes complex communal life possible in the first place - the relationship between war and justice is crucial to understanding the development of Western civilization. The central argument of this book is that theories of justified violence were not created ex nihilo as exercises in abstract ethical reasoning, but rather emerged as a result of communities responding to the reality of war. Communities developed concepts of normative warfare from a desire to legitimate and to control armed conflicts in which they consistently engaged. Scholars have repeatedly overlooked the very simple fact that war predates just war doctrine, and that early archaeological and textual evidence indicates that ancient societies were more inclined to glorify warfare than to condemn it. It is the contention of this study, therefore, that the presumption of war is the essential characteristic and common denominator of the just war tradition. Underscored by this compelling thesis, the book will demonstrate that, over the course of three millennia, Western societies displayed a remarkable degree of affinity in their attitudes to the relationship between war and justice"--
Author: Valerie Morkevičius
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110841589X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
Appealing to just war thinkers, international relations scholars, policymakers, and the public, this book claims that the historical Christian, Islamic, and Hindu just war traditions reflect political concerns with domestic and international order. This underlying realism serves to counterbalance the overly optimistic approach of contemporary liberal just war approaches.
Author: Carl von Clausewitz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military art and science
Languages : en
Pages : 388
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Book Description
Author: Lewis Sorley
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547417454
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 547
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Book Description
“A comprehensive and long-overdue examination of the immediate post–Tet offensive years [from a] first-rate historian.” —The New York Times Book Review Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years of conflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not only about how the war was fought, but about what was achieved. Drawing from thousands of hours of previously unavailable (and still classified) tape-recorded meetings between the highest levels of the American military command in Vietnam, A Better War is an insightful, factual, and superbly documented history of these final years. Through his exclusive access to authoritative materials, award-winning historian Lewis Sorley highlights the dramatic differences in conception, conduct, and—at least for a time—results between the early and later years of the war. Among his most important findings is that while the war was being lost at the peace table and in the U.S. Congress, the soldiers were winning on the ground. Meticulously researched and movingly told, A Better War sheds new light on the Vietnam War.
Author: Daniel R. Brunstetter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317307119
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 478
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Book Description
This volume offers a set of concise and accessible introductions to the seminal figures in the historical development of the just war tradition. In what, if any, circumstances are political communities justified in going to war? And what limits should apply to the conduct of any such war? The just war tradition is a body of thought that helps us think through these very questions. Its core ideas have been subject to fierce debate for over 2,000 years. Yet they continue to play a prominent role in how political and military leaders address the challenges posed by the use of force in international society. Until now there has been no text that offers concise and accessible introductions to the key figures associated with the tradition. Stepping into this breach, Just War Thinkers provides a set of clear but detailed essays by leading experts on nineteen seminal thinkers, from Cicero to Jeff McMahan. This volume challenges the reader to think about how traditions are constituted—who is included and excluded, and how that is determined—and how they serve to enable, constrain, and indeed channel subsequent thought, debate, and exchange. This book will be of much interest to students of just war tradition and theory, ethics and war, philosophy, security studies and IR.
Author: Bevin Alexander
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780781810364
Category : Command of troops
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
While studies of the American Civil War generally credit Robert E Lee with military expertise, this account argues that Stonewall Jackson was superior strategist who could have won the war for the South: Had Lee accepted Jackson's plan for an invasion of the North, the South might have surprised and dismayed the Union forces into defeat. Using primary sources, the author reconstructs the battles that demonstrate Jackson's brilliance as a commander.
Author: Andreas Kluth
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101554193
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 392
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Book Description
A dynamic and exciting way to understand success and failure, through the life of Hannibal, one of history's greatest generals. The life of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps with his army in 218 B.C.E., is the stuff of legend. And the epic choices he and his opponents made-on the battlefield and elsewhere in life-offer lessons about responding to our victories and our defeats that are as relevant today as they were more than 2,000 years ago. A big new idea book inspired by ancient history, Hannibal and Me explores the truths behind triumph and disaster in our lives by examining the decisions made by Hannibal and others, including Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Steve Jobs, Ernest Shackleton, and Paul Cézanne-men and women who learned from their mistakes. By showing why some people overcome failure and others succumb to it, and why some fall victim to success while others thrive on it, Hannibal and Me demonstrates how to recognize the seeds of success within our own failures and the threats of failure hidden in our successes. The result is a page-turning adventure tale, a compelling human drama, and an insightful guide to understanding behavior. This is essential reading for anyone who seeks to transform misfortune into success at work, at home, and in life.
