The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern (30 page)

Truman, Harry S., 7, 22, 29, 77, 174, 176, 177, 232

Tsushima, battle of (1905), 130

Tuchman, Barbara W., 29

Turks/Turkey, 94
–
101, 195, 207, 242

unintended consequences, 181

United Kingdom.
See
Great Britain

United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 119

United Nations (UN), 56, 147
–
48, 182, 205, 222, 223
–
24, 230
–
31, 232

United States: accomplishments of, 234; and American exceptionalism, 78
–
79, 140; culture and character in, 137, 139
–
40, 141, 145, 147
–
48, 149, 150; debt of, 210
–
11; enemies’ views about, 42
–
43; envy of, 231; expectations about modern war in, 145
–
49; frontier experience of, 141, 145; future wars of, 149
–
54, 186
–
87, 205
–
6; guilt in, 225; idealism in, 29; image of, 38; and immunity from need for military innovation, 136; intellectual dynamism of, 135; isolationism in, 152
–
53; military power of, 238; redefinition of war by, 235; self-image of, 161
–
62; spending in, 144, 151; as stabilizing influence, 238; technological successes of, 135; way of war in, 137
–
57; wealth of, 225, 226.
See also specific person or topic

universities; study of military history in, 3
–
14, 24
–
26, 161, 162

Ushijima, Mitsuru, 77

U.S.S.
Cole,
115, 209

utopian pacifism, 220, 221
–
23, 225

utopianism, 22, 33, 186, 190.
See also
utopian pacifism

van Gogh, Theo, 218

Venier, Sebastiano, 97, 98

Verdun, battle of, 17, 44, 111, 116, 120, 121, 241

victory, 20
–
21, 183, 184, 186
–
87, 214, 228, 230, 241

Vietnam War: and asymmetrical wars, 230; casualties in, 175, 230; and classical lessons about modern wars, 86; and contradictions and paradoxes about war, 244; decisive battles in, 108; as “different,” 162; as first modern American defeat, 185; and lack of interest in military history, 6, 9, 83; legacy of, 184
–
85; and military errors, 165, 172, 175, 184
–
85, 187; and military liberalism, 192, 193; and roots of war, 36, 37; and technology, 124; and way of war in America, 147, 148; and what military history teaches, 3; where to start studying about the, 28, 29

volunteer army, 127
–
28

Walker, Edwin, 189

Wallace, Lew, 166

war: alternatives to punitive, 212
–
15; anomalies of, 21
–
22; anti
–
classical views of, 43
–
45; asymmetrical, 213, 215, 227
–
32, 238; brutality of, 72
–
82; as choice, 15
–
16; classical lessons about modern, 31
–
49; as evil, 33, 34, 44, 45; future, 151
–
52, 244
–
45; good and bad, 33, 34, 35, 48
–
49; as “human thing,” 91, 133, 154
–
57; inevitability of, 88
–
89, 90; insanity of, 82; irrationality of, 91; just, 34, 41, 43; laws of, 133; losing of, 29, 35; as necessity, 235; as omnipresent, 48; paradoxes of, 155
–
56, 164, 243
–
46; present as reflective of origins of, 239
–
43; as primitive nasty business, 235; reasons/causes of, 7
–
8, 18
–
19, 35
–
43, 56, 89, 91
–
92, 120; redeeming factors of, 81; redefinition of, 235; rules of, 33, 155; as senseless, 72
–
82, 89
–
90; as tragedy, 32, 33, 43; triggers for, 165; unfair, 34; as unnatural, 44, 119; varieties of, 25
–
26; where to start the study of, 26
–
30; winning of, 20
–
24; without battles, 108
–
11.
See also specific war

War of 1812, 113

war on terror, 42
–
43, 85, 127

Warren, Rick, 45

Warsaw Pact, 112, 144

Waterloo, Battle at, 27, 110

weaponry: and asymmetrical wars, 228, 229; and contradictions and paradoxes of war, 244; costs of, 151; and future of American warfare, 151
–
52; and future of battles, 116; and military errors, 172
–
73; and paradoxes of the present, 239; and present wars as reflective of origins of war, 242; and technology, 125
–
26, 129, 130; and war as “human thing,” 155; and way of war in America, 151
–
52

Weigley, Russell F., 27, 110

Weinberg, Gerhard, 28

Wellington, Duke of, 28, 29, 43, 69

West: advantages of, 233
–
35; and asymmetrical wars, 229
–
30, 232; blame on, 229; and decisive battles, 112
–
13; definition of, 216; divisions within the, 230; future wars in, 208, 244
–
45; guilt in, 220, 225, 226; and homeland as battlefield, 234
–
35; as immune from foreign attack, 226; as monolithic, 241; nations included in, 112
–
13; and paradoxes of the present, 238; self-censorship in, 220; “sort of,” 240; war as reflection of culture in, 138
–
39; wealth of, 225
–
26; and West-West fighting, 113, 241
–
42.
See also specific nation or topic

Western exceptionalism, 45
–
49, 221

Westmoreland, William, 175

Whitby, Michael, 68

Wilder, Geert, 218

Wilson, Woodrow, 217, 232

Winchell, Walter, 176

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
(Sledge), 26, 71
–
82, 83

World War I: anomalies in, 22; and anti-classical view of war, 44; casualties in, 15, 44, 171; and classical lessons about modern wars, 87; decisive battles in, 107, 108, 111; and democracy, 198; and military errors, 165, 169, 171, 172, 180; and security versus freedom, 216, 217; as turning point in history, 87; and utility of military history, 14, 15; and Versailles Treaty, 22; and way of war in America, 141
–
42, 146, 148; where to start studying about, 27, 29; winning of, 22.
See also specific battle

World War II: anomalies in, 22; and anti-classical view of war, 44; casualties in, 13, 44, 75, 76, 166, 167, 168
–
69, 170, 171, 175, 179; decisive battles in, 108; and democracy, 196, 198, 202; Iraq War compared with, 13; and military culture, 190
–
91; and military errors, 162, 163, 165, 166
–
70, 171, 172
–
73, 175, 177, 178, 179, 180
–
81, 183; and military liberalism, 192; and neglect of study of military history, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13; and roots of war, 37, 41; and security versus freedom, 216, 217; Sledge’s views about, 26, 71
–
82; and technology, 124, 129, 130
–
31; and way of war in America, 140, 142
–
44, 146, 148, 151
–
52; where to start studying about, 26, 27, 28, 29.
See also specific battle

Wright, Jeremiah, 219

Xenophon:
Anabasis
of, 27, 65
–
70; and classical foundation for studying past wars, 31; and classical lessons about modern wars, 33; as inspiration for modern authors, 69
–
70; and lack of knowledge about classical world, 5;
The Long March
essays about, 67
–
69; memoir of, 27, 65
–
70; and Peloponnesian War, 63
–
64, 85, 92; and Persian Wars, 65
–
67, 69, 70; and reasons for neglect of military history, 6; and security versus freedom, 216; and Ten Thousand, 27, 63
–
70, 139; Thucydides compared with, 63, 70

Xerxes, 16, 34, 36, 41, 46, 47, 52, 54, 87, 88, 90, 139

Yahara, Hiromichi, 77

Yom Kippur War (1973), 109, 117

Zarqawi, Abu Musab al-, 135

Zawahiri, Ayman al-, 47
–
48, 232, 244

Zulu War (1879), 27, 135

A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the codirector of the Group in Contemporary Conflict and Military History, a professor of classics emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is also the Wayne and Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History, Hillsdale College, where he teaches each fall semester courses in history and classics.

Copyright © 2010 by Victor Davis Hanson

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written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles

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Published by Bloomsbury Press, New York

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Hanson, Victor Davis.

The father of us all : war and history, ancient and modern / by Victor Davis Hanson.—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-60819-165-9 (hardback : alk. paper)

1. War—History. 2. Military history. I. Title.

U27.H378 2010

355.0209—dc22

2009041714

First published by Bloomsbury Press in 2010
This e-book edition published in 2010

E-book ISBN: 978-1-60819-294-6

www.bloomsburypress.com