[lit-ideas] Re: War and Panic
- From: david ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 09:10:56 -0800
On Nov 2, 2005, at 7:00 AM, Eric Yost wrote:
EY> However if you want to refute Hanson, start naming lasting
EY> periods of peace in world history that resulted from indecisive
EY> wars. Do that and his whole thesis crumbles. I thought somebody
EY> might try to do that, or at least think of one exception. I can't
EY> think of a historical situation that runs counter to Hanson's
EY> thesis. Can you?
Off the top of my head, here is the beginning of an answer:
Consider the crusades. You take an army, invade the Holy Land,
rampage, burn, pillage, "teach them a lesson," win what would seem to
be a pretty complete victory and what happens? The believers return
for another round.
Consider early siege warfare. Standard practice was to give those in
a castle a chance to surrender. If they refused, when the castle
fell everyone was put to the sword. Complete victory. Did this
prevent their friends and relatives from planning a counter-attack
sometimes generations hence?
Third consideration--many, if not most wars in history were settled
by peace treaties. The wars resumed if the combatants saw some
reason to resume; they did not if no one could think of one. The
level of defeat I would say was nearly irrelevant to this matrix.
Fourth consideration--Napoleon. Would anyone really argue that the
Hundred Days happened because the French felt incompletely defeated
and that the defeat at Waterloo was somehow more complete? No.
Napoleon had suffered worse defeats than Waterloo. What was
different after Waterloo is that Napoleon was finally and completely
removed from power.
Fifth consideration. The nineteenth century passed in Europe with
only the Crimean and Franco-Prussian wars and continuing "trouble in
the Balkans." Was this long period of near-peace the result of
crushing the French?
David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon
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