War: The New EditionRandom House Canada, 2004 - 484 стор. A new and revised edition of Dyer's classic book, widely regarded as one of the most compelling analyses of the history of armed conflict. ""War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of the innovations that occurred between nine and eleven thousand years ago when the first civilized societies were coming into being. What has been invented can be changed; war is not in our genes."" With this provocative statement, Gwynne Dyer launches his brilliant discussion of the history and nature of war. He traces the growth of organized warfare through history, showing conclusively that the basic tenet has remained unchanged -- war is an act of mass violence applied against an enemy so that he will do what you want him to do. The only real change has been technological, permitting us to make war on a mass scale. At the height of the Cold War, just such a global conflagration seemed almost inevitable. But the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the ensuing political changes have forced a re-examination of the accepted fundamentals of history. Will open access to the channels of mass communication create enough shared values that we can move beyond mass warfare? Is the threat of terrorism a red herring designed to preserve the military status quo? Are our traditional military and administrative hierarchical structures still relevant? Now, more than ever in our post-September 11 world, we need Gwynne Dyer's expertise to understand the greatest and most human drama -- the act of war. Excerpt from "War" "The Siamese twins, army and state, have never been separated since they were born some eight or nine thousand years ago --and most of the time the state is the stronger of the twins. Armies exist to serve the interests of the state that owns them and their legitimacy comes solely from the fact that they belong to states; similar groups of armed men, if self-employed, are generally known as rebels or bandits. This is the context in which warfare, as opposed to casual and illegitimate violence, must be seen: it is something states do, and have always done, because they believe it serves their interest." |
Зміст
Rousseau Darwin and Hobbes | 63 |
Total War | 241 |
A Short History of Nuclear War 194590 | 287 |
Авторські права | |
1 інших розділів не відображаються
Інші видання - Показати все
Загальні терміни та фрази
actually American animals armour army attack bands battle battlefield behaviour bombers bombs British casualties Çatal Hüyük cavalry century chariots chimpanzees cities civilian civilization combat commander conventional countries cultural death decisions defence destroyed deterrence early empire enemy enemy's Europe European Fertile Crescent fighting fire fought French front German groups guerrilla guerrilla warfare guns horses human hundred hunter-gatherer infantry Iraq Islamists killed large numbers least less lives major male Marine mass McNamara military million missiles modern muskets never nomads nuclear war nuclear weapons numbers officers Parris Island pastoralists peace percent phalanx political population probably raids recruits Roman Russian side social societies soldiers Soviet Union strategy survive tactics tanks targets terrorism thing Thirty Years War tion troops U.S. Air Force U.S. Army U.S. nuclear United Nations victory Vietnam warfare warrior wars Western World War II Yanomamo