The Barbarization of Warfare

The Barbarization of Warfare PDF Author: George Kassimeris
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814747973
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
The images from Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad have been a grim reminder of warfare's undiminished capacity for brutality and indiscriminate excess. What happened in Abu Ghraib has happened before: the World War II, and more recent wars and insurgencies in Algeria, Congo, Angola, Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, and many others, all bear witness to the ever-present human capacity to commit barbaric acts if circumstances allow. What drives people to mistreat, humiliate, and torment others? In an age when real time war, violence, and torture are becoming addictive forms of entertainment, it is now more critical than ever to deepen our understanding of the extraordinary distortions of the human psyche and spirit that occur in wartime. Eight distinguished scholars explore, in this first collective effort, the effects of the barbarization of warfare on our cultures and societies. Contributors: Joanna Bourke, Niall Ferguson, Jay Winter, Richard Overy, David Anderson, Hew Strachan, Paul Rogers, Kathleen Taylor, Marilyn Young, Paul Rogers, Anthony Dworkin, Amir Weiner, Mary Habeck, and David Simpson.

The Barbarization of Warfare

The Barbarization of Warfare PDF Author: George Kassimeris
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814747973
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Get Book Here

Book Description
The images from Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad have been a grim reminder of warfare's undiminished capacity for brutality and indiscriminate excess. What happened in Abu Ghraib has happened before: the World War II, and more recent wars and insurgencies in Algeria, Congo, Angola, Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, and many others, all bear witness to the ever-present human capacity to commit barbaric acts if circumstances allow. What drives people to mistreat, humiliate, and torment others? In an age when real time war, violence, and torture are becoming addictive forms of entertainment, it is now more critical than ever to deepen our understanding of the extraordinary distortions of the human psyche and spirit that occur in wartime. Eight distinguished scholars explore, in this first collective effort, the effects of the barbarization of warfare on our cultures and societies. Contributors: Joanna Bourke, Niall Ferguson, Jay Winter, Richard Overy, David Anderson, Hew Strachan, Paul Rogers, Kathleen Taylor, Marilyn Young, Paul Rogers, Anthony Dworkin, Amir Weiner, Mary Habeck, and David Simpson.

War in the Wild East

War in the Wild East PDF Author: Ben Shepherd
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674043553
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
In Nazi eyes, the Soviet Union was the "wild east," a savage region ripe for exploitation, its subhuman inhabitants destined for extermination or helotry. An especially brutal dimension of the German army's eastern war was its anti-partisan campaign. This conflict brought death and destruction to thousands of Soviet civilians, and has been held as a prime example of ordinary German soldiers participating in the Nazi regime's annihilation policies. Ben Shepherd enters the heated debate over the wartime behavior of the Wehrmacht in a detailed study of the motivation and conduct of its anti-partisan campaign in the Soviet Union. He investigates how anti-partisan warfare was conducted, not by the generals, but by the far more numerous, average Germans serving as officers in the field. What shaped their behavior was more complex than Nazi ideology alone. The influence of German society, as well as of party and army, together with officers' grueling yet diverse experience of their environment and enemy, made them perceive the anti-partisan war in varied ways. Reactions ranged from extreme brutality to relative restraint; some sought less to terrorize the native population than to try to win it over. The emerging picture does not dilute the suffering the Wehrmacht's eastern war inflicted. It shows, however, that properly judging ordinary Germans' role in that war is more complicated than is indicated by either wholesale condemnation or wholesale exoneration. This valuable study offers a nuanced discussion of the diversity of behaviors within the German army, as well as providing a compelling exploration of the war and counterinsurgency operations on the eastern front.

War of Annihilation

War of Annihilation PDF Author: Geoffrey P. Megargee
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1461646839
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
On June 22, 1941, Hitler began what would be the most important campaign of the European theater. The war against the Soviet Union would leave tens of millions of Soviet citizens dead and large parts of the country in ruins. The death and destruction would result not just from military operations but also from the systematic killing and abuse that the German army, police, and SS directed against Jews, Communists, and ordinary citizens. In War of Annihilation, noted military historian Geoffrey P. Megargee provides a clear, concise history of the Germans' opening campaign of conquest and genocide in 1941. By drawing on the best of military and Holocaust scholarship, Megargee dispels the myths that have distorted the role of Germany's military leadership in both the military operations themselves and the unthinkable crimes that were part of them.

The Wars of Yesterday

The Wars of Yesterday PDF Author: Katrin Boeckh
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1785337750
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
Though persistently overshadowed by the Great War in historical memory, the two Balkan conflicts of 1912–1913 were among the most consequential of the early twentieth century. By pitting the states of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro against a diminished Ottoman Empire—and subsequently against one another—they anticipated many of the horrors of twentieth-century warfare even as they produced the tense regional politics that helped spark World War I. Bringing together an international group of scholars, this volume applies the social and cultural insights of the “new military history” to revisit this critical episode with a central focus on the experiences of both combatants and civilians during wartime.

Ancient Warfare

Ancient Warfare PDF Author: Harry Sidebottom
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192804707
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Greek and Roman warfare differed from other cultures and was unlike any other forms of warfare before and after. All aspects of ancient warfare are thoroughly examined from philosophy to the technical skills needed to fight. He looks at war in a wider context and explores the ways in which ancient society thought about conflict: Can a war be just? Why was siege warfare particularly bloody? What role did divine intervention play in the outcome of a battle?

Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350-425

Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350-425 PDF Author: Hugh Elton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
This book discusses the practice of warfare in late fourth and early fifth century Europe, from both Roman and barbarian perspectives. It analyses the military capabilities of the Romans and their northern enemies, at policy, strategic, operational and tactical levels.

The Cultural Parameters of the Graeco-Roman War Discourse

The Cultural Parameters of the Graeco-Roman War Discourse PDF Author: Theo Vijgen
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
ISBN: 9782503586472
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 724

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Book Description
What were the ideas that the ancient Greeks and Romans held about warfare? What do contemporary sources tell us about this? Is it possible to trace a development in the way of thinking about war in antiquity? These are the questions that are discussed (and answered) in this study. It combines a close reading of all he sources that we have - mostly written, like literary and historiographjcal, but also non-written, like art, monuments and coinage. The analysis of the discourse is accompanied by and contrasted with arguments raised by today's specialists in the field of warfare and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. The study treats recurrent cultural themes like courage, fatherland, or victory within a chronological framework, for discourse features cannot be isolated from the context of their time. For each specific period - Greek, Hellenistic and the six parts of the long and diverse Roman time - conclusions are drawn. The remarkable developments in time that can be observed, especially in Rome, are brought together in the final chapter.

Choices Under Fire

Choices Under Fire PDF Author: Michael Bess
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307494454
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
World War II was the quintessential “good war.” It was not, however, a conflict free of moral ambiguity, painful dilemmas, and unavoidable compromises. Was the bombing of civilian populations in Germany and Japan justified? Were the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crimes trials legally scrupulous? What is the legacy bequeathed to the world by Hiroshima? With wisdom and clarity, Michael Bess brings a fresh eye to these difficult questions and others, arguing eloquently against the binaries of honor and dishonor, pride and shame, and points instead toward a nuanced reckoning with one of the most pivotal conflicts in human history.

Warfare in the Ancient World

Warfare in the Ancient World PDF Author: Brian Todd Carey
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1781592632
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Warfare in the Ancient World explores how civilizations and cultures made war on the battlefields of the Near East and Europe between the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia in the late fourth millenium BC and the fall of Rome. Through a exploration of twenty-six selected battles, military historian Brian Todd Carey surveys the changing tactical relationships between the four weapon systems - heavy and light infantry and hevay and light cavalry - focusing on how shock and missile combat evolved from tentative beginnings in the Bronze Age to the highly developed military organization created by the Romans. The art of warfare reached a very sophisticated level of development during this three millenia span. Commanders fully realized the tactical capabilities of shock and missile combat in large battlefield situations. Modern principles of war, like the primacy of the offensive, mass, and economy of force, were understood by pre-modern generals and applied on battlefields throughout the period. Through the use of dozens of multiphase tactical maps, this fascinating introduction to the art of war during western civilizationÕs ancient and classical periods pulls together the primary and secondary sources and creates a powerful historical narrative. The result is a synthetic work that will be essential reading for students and armchair historians alike.

Catholic Realism Abolition of War

Catholic Realism Abolition of War PDF Author: David Carroll Cochran
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1626980748
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Argues that the abolition of war--like that of slavery and other forms of social violence--is possible using the principles and history of the Just War tradition in Catholic theology and philosophy.