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A history of warfare by John Keegan
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A history of warfare (original 1993; edition 1993)

by John Keegan

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2,464216,052 (3.94)17
Examines the place of warfare in human culture and the human impulse toward violence.
Member:timspalding
Title:A history of warfare
Authors:John Keegan
Info:New York : Distributed by Random House, Inc., 1993.
Collections:Your library, Currently reading
Rating:****
Tags:itunes audiobook, audiobook, war, military history, easter island

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A History of Warfare by John Keegan (1993)

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By no means a ”History of Warfare” (and that title is cheating the buyer), the book is also not even a book in itself, but just an overgrown academic pompous 400 pages essay with no structure or clear idea of what it wants and where it goes. It s just an obsessive ramble about how Clausewitz is wrong, but not exactly about what could be put instead of his ideas. And how could one call himself a military historian and write things like ”From whatever reasons - the subject is extremely complex - the Revolutionary armies proved almost impossible to beat”? ”From whatever reason” and thats it, we just go on because it would take a few paragraphs to actually explain? And the reasons are in fact well-known and not mysterious at all.
Shameful.
And by the way, Clausewitz was NOT wrong. Just read some history, damn it... ( )
  milosdumbraci | May 5, 2023 |
Egyszerűen nincs pofám nem öt csillagot adni, pedig néhol leegyszerűsítőnek éreztem Keegan megállapításait – de végtére is egy ilyen nagy szándékú összefoglaló munka törvényszerűen egyszerűsít, hogy jobban csússzon a szöveg. És hát ez a könyv annyira alap, ha a hadtudományról van szó, és annyira mázli, hogy egy ilyen kiváló pedagógus írta meg, hogy fokozottan hálás vagyok érte. Keegan áttekinti a hadászat fejlődését onnantól kezdve, hogy mamuttrágyával hajigáltuk egymást a bizsergető tavaszi alkonyatban – egészen a hidrogénbombáig. (Most merje valaki mondani, hogy nincs fejlődés…) Szemet gyönyörködtető az ív, amit belevisz a történetbe – nem puszta kronológiai felsorolásról van itt szó, hanem logikusan felépített ok-okozati viszonyokról. Bravúrosan kezeli azt, hogy 1.) sokrétű problémakörről van itt szó, amelynek szálait szinte lehetetlennek tűnik egyetlen ívben áttekinteni – ennek okáért külön „közjátékokban” foglalkozik a hadtudomány olyan járulékos, de nem megkerülhető elemeivel, mint az erődépítés vagy a hadtápvonalak 2.) a könyvben tárgyalt események térben és időben elképesztően szórtan helyezkednek el, és előfordulhat, hogy amíg a bolygó egyik felén a hadtudomány forradalmian új alkalmazása (a lőpor, teszem azt) már leváltotta elődjét, addig a bolygó másik felén ugyanezen előd éppen most készül elérni zenitjét. Hogy ebbe ne gabalyodjunk bele, Keegan nagyon okosan függeszti fel a szoros értelemben vett időrendet.

Amúgy meg ez a munka vállaltan Clausewitz kritikája – cáfolata annak, hogy a „háború a politika folytatása más eszközökkel”. Keegan szerint ugyanis a háború sokkal inkább a politika kudarca, hiszen a politika célja nem lehet a tágabb értelemben vett politika intézményeinek felszámolása* – viszont amikor a clausewitz-i doktrínát követve a „valóságos háborút” az „abszolút háború” felé közelítjük (ami egy eufemizmus arra, hogy a földre hozzuk a poklot), akkor a modern fegyverrendszereknek hála tulajdonképpen mindennek az elpusztítására törekszünk, beleértve a politikai intézményeket is. Meg aztán Clausewitz fejtegetései során annyira nyugat-központú, hogy észre sem veszi, saját elmélete nem univerzálható – a nem-európai népek ugyanis sajátos kulturális tényezőiknek hála teljesen más stratégiákat építettek ki maguknak.

* A „tágabb értelemben vett” kitétel azért fontos, mert a saját szemünkkel is láthatjuk, hogy a politika ugyanakkor sajna minden további nélkül törekedhet arra, hogy a szűkebb értelemben vett politikát (vö.: demokratikus intézmények) felszámolja. ( )
  Kuszma | Jul 2, 2022 |
I found this book very fascinating. I found the ideas intriguing, but found I needed to read closely to grasp them fully. ( )
  bloodravenlib | Aug 17, 2020 |
(Original Review, 2002-06-10)

There is easy rubbish and difficult trash. Of course, a lot of books with high literary merit will be more demanding for/ of the reader than, say, neckbiters, which are all fashioned by formula. But equalling the ease of a read with literary worthlessness would fail to acknowledge e.g., all those wonderful, amazing children's classics, which are as loved by readers as they are praised by critics. I feel there are two separate sets of judgements (and sometimes the twain will meet, and other times not): The objective-subjective critical judgement of literary merit by a learned and experienced critic, and the subjective judgement of any reader....

The perceived difficulty of a book has much to do with the abilities of the reader as a reader, and with their attitude to difficulty. Nobody likes to be told that he might be an inadequate, impatient or lazy reader, but 'difficult' books tend to flush out these types. The Booker in particular will always have problems with this issue, because it aims at a large readership. Many of those potential readers will expect to be entertained or distracted in an uncomplicated way by a 'good' book, and may feel when confronted by unexpected difficulty that some implied bargain between author and reader has been broken.

I am reading the book (being hugely fascinated by military history and military ethics) 'A History of Warfare; by John Keegan, (Cambridge, Sandhurst Proff) and it falls into the article's scope. The beginning wearing as he Clausewitzes his way along, crediting Claus wile also explaining his fallacy in using 'True War, and Real War' wile not understanding war outside of the European scope..... and it all gets fuzzy, dropping in a quick Kant theory and many examples of Zulus and Cossacks till a couple hours reading I get some vague feeling of where he is going, but it was a lot of work - and I know a couple paragraphs written in pub-talk level explanation would have made it all clear in a quarter of the words....

But the guy is a scholar, and every word has to mean neither more or less than it must, so on and on it goes when brevity and homily would work so much better for us hobbiest readers.

Now we need a parallel essay on the dangers of understanding too easily. Reader overconfidence is unexplored terrain. ( )
  antao | Nov 19, 2018 |
Keegan, "A History of Warfare" (1994). A military historian with an anthropological bent, labels his sections "Stone", "Flesh", "Iron", and "Fire".

From the first section, he asks "Why do Men Fight", and then examines various schools of explanation -- materialist, naturalist, religious, optimist, and even the 1986 Seville Statement which condemns the view that man is naturally violent.

He summarizes studies of the limbic system, finally resting upon the "enormously popular book", The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins. He then turns to anthropology and theories of aggression drawn from case studies. Starting with Freud (noting that "Totem and Taboo"--the death drive and guilt-ignited aggression--"was a work of imagination", he advances to Robert Ardrey's elaboration of Lorenz' cooperative hunting societies and leadership studies. [81] Finally he falls upon the anthropologists with their kinship studies and reliance upon cooperation as the key, marginalizing the Social Darwinians who saw struggle as the means of change. [86] In a struggle to explain how a state could develop from family relationships, the nurture school demanded evidence that relations could be established by rational choices and fixed by legal forms. By the end of the 19th centuries, anthropologists were debating diffusionism and the search for origins, which is self-defeating, where all cultures have evolved and been altered. Franz Boas, a German immigrant to the United States, of course, ended that "originalist" debate by denying that it produces answers. Cultures perpetuate themselves; it's what they do. It is rarely rational. The academic doctrine of Cultural Determinism quickly became popular through the work of Ruth Benedict, a protégé of Boas. "Patterns of Culture" became the most influential work of anthropology ever written. Keenan then describes particular tribes -- Yanomamo, Aztec. All of this circling around the rocks, the hewed stone.

Then "Flesh". To be continued.
  keylawk | Aug 14, 2016 |
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» Add other authors (6 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
John Keeganprimary authorall editionscalculated
Andolf, Göransecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Preis, ThomasTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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In memory of Winter Bridgman
Lieutenant in the Régiment de Clare
killed at the battle of Lauffeld
July 2, 1747
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War is not the continuation of policy by other means. The world would be a simpler place to understand it this dictum of Chausewitz's were true.
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Examines the place of warfare in human culture and the human impulse toward violence.

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