Full Description
"War," wrote Gen. William T. Sherman, "is cruelty, and you cannot refine it." Throughout history, noncombatants have always been among the victims of war's violence. In this book, nine distinguished historians examine twenty-five hundred years of human conflicts and their varied impacts on civilian society. Each case study examines not only what military forces did to noncombatants in the area of their operations, but why they did it and how they justified their actions. The focus, however, remains firmly on the practical realities of war, not on normative theories or the prescriptions of the "laws of war." The patterns that emerge from the nine case studies are not simple ones. Some of the same factors and pressures appear again and again, though the balance among them and the ultimate outcome vary greatly. We see how often devastation has served as a tool of coercive diplomacy, but also how logistic considerations have greatly affected the calculus of pillage versus restraint. The importance of precedent, of culture, of ideology or morality, and of morale become clear.
This book addresses crucial issues in an era in which historians have come to appreciate that a full understanding of war must address its victims as well as its victors, and when policymakers are perhaps more concerned than ever with minimizing the impact of war on civilian society.
Contents
List of Maps; Acknowledgements Introduction - Mark Grimsley and Clifford J. Rogers; 1. Justice and Necessity: The Conduct of the Spartans and the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War - Paul A. Rahe; 2. By Fire and Sword: Bellum Hostile and "Civilians" in the Hundred Years' War - Clifford J. Rogers; 3. A Brutal Necessity? The Devastation of the Palatinate, 1688-1689 - John A. Lynn; 4. Liberation or Occupation? Theory and Practice in the French Revolutionaries' Treatment of Civilians outside France - T. C. W. Blanning; 5. "Rebels" and "Redskins": U.S. Military Conduct toward White Southerners and Native Americans in Comparative Perspective - Mark Grimsley; 6. The Immorality of Expediency: The German Military from Ludendorff to Hitler - Holger H. Herwig; 7. Yeline: A Case Study in the Partisan War, 1942 - Truman O. Anderson; 8. "Contrary to Our National Ideals": American Strategic Bombing of Civilians in World War II - Conrad C. Crane; 9. Not Enough Collateral Damage: Moral Ambiguities in the Gulf War - Williamson Murray List of Contributors; Index
