Военная история / The Origins Of Western Warfare (History and Warfare)

Название: The Origins Of Western Warfare
Автор(ы): Doyne Dawson
Издательство: Westview Press
Серия: History and Warfare
Год: 1998
Страниц: 214
Язык: English
Формат: True PDF
Размер: 18 MB

What is the source of the uniquely Western way of war, the persistent militarism that has made Europe the site of bloodshed throughout history and secured the dominance of the West over the rest of the world? The answer, Doyne Dawson persuasively argues in this groundbreaking new book, is to be found in the very bedrock of Western civilization: ancient Greece and Rome.The Origins of Western Warfare begins with an overview of primitive warfare, showing how the main motivations of prehistoric combat—revenge and honor—set the tone for Greek thinking about questions of war and morality. These ideas, especially as later developed by the Romans, ensured the emergence of a distinctive Western tradition of warfare: dynamic, aggressive, and devastatingly successful when turned against non-Western cultures.Dawson identifies key factors that led Western culture down this particular path. First, the Greeks argued that war could be justified as an instrument of human and divine justice, securing the social and cosmic order. Second, war was seen as a rational instrument of foreign policy.