Nothing Less than Victory

Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History

John David Lewis (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

370 Seiten

2013
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-16202-7 (ISBN)

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The goal of war is to defeat the enemy's will to fight. But how this can be accomplished is a thorny issue. Nothing Less than Victory provocatively shows that aggressive, strategic military offenses can win wars and establish lasting peace, while defensive maneuvers have often led to prolonged carnage, indecision, and stalemate. Taking an ambitious and sweeping look at six major wars, from antiquity to World War II, John David Lewis shows how victorious military commanders have achieved long-term peace by identifying the core of the enemy's ideological, political, and social support for a war, fiercely striking at this objective, and demanding that the enemy acknowledges its defeat. Lewis examines the Greco-Persian and Theban wars, the Second Punic War, Aurelian's wars to reunify Rome, the American Civil War, and the Second World War. He considers successful examples of overwhelming force, such as the Greek mutilation of Xerxes' army and navy, the Theban-led invasion of the Spartan homeland, and Hannibal's attack against Italy--as well as failed tactics of defense, including Fabius's policy of delay, McClellan's retreat from Richmond, and Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler.
Lewis shows that a war's endurance rests in each side's reasoning, moral purpose, and commitment to fight, and why an effectively aimed, well-planned, and quickly executed offense can end a conflict and create the conditions needed for long-term peace. Recognizing the human motivations behind military conflicts, Nothing Less than Victory makes a powerful case for offensive actions in pursuit of peace.

John David Lewis is visiting associate professor of philosophy, politics, and economics at Duke University, and senior research scholar in history and classics at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University. He is the author of Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens and Early Greek Lawgivers.

List of Maps and Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Victory and the Moral Will to Fight 1 Chapter 1: "To Look without Flinching": The Greco-Persian Wars, 547-446 BC 11 Chapter 2: "Only One Omen Is Best": The Theban Wars, 382-362 BC 36 Chapter 3: "I Will Have My Opponent": The Second Punic War, 218-201 BC 68 Chapter 4: "A Prince Necessary Rather Than Good": The Campaigns of Aurelian, AD 270-275 109 Chapter 5: "The Hard Hand of War": Sherman's March through the American South, AD 1864-1865 141 Chapter 6: "The Balm for a Guilty Conscience": British Appeasement and the Prelude to World War II, AD 1919-1939 184 Chapter 7: "Gifts from Heaven": The American Victory over Japan, AD 1945 237 Conclusion: The Lessons of the Victories 286 Notes 295 Bibliography 323 Index 345

Zusatzinfo	5 halftones.
Verlagsort	New Jersey
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 235 mm
Gewicht	567 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	0-691-16202-6 / 0691162026
ISBN-13	978-0-691-16202-7 / 9780691162027
Zustand	Neuware