Semi-random thought

[unixronin]

There's nothing wrong with a nation being ashamed of its soldiers' behavior when their behavior falls short of reasonable expectations.  But a nation that is ashamed of its soldiers simply because they are soldiers is doomed.

Comments

[cipherpunk.livejournal.com]

If you haven't yet read Victor Davis Hanson's (no relation to me: I'm a Hansen) book Carnage and Culture, do so now. Seriously. It's a magnificent tome which takes the same argument you're making and develops it into the realm of an actual theory of history.

According to VDH, the Western virtues of patriotism, political liberty, individualism, free association, economic liberty and self-criticism are not in themselves things we have cultivated. But war is the ultimate Darwinian environment for cultures and civilizations, and cultural values that make nations martially ineffective tend to lead to military ruin.

For instance, Napoleon lost 99% of his troops in his attack on Russia... why? Because France wasn't willing to shake its fist at Napoleon and say "you moron, you're fucking up our conquest, now learn from your mistakes and stop killing off your entire Goddamned army!" Had Napoleon lived in fear of his populace, he likely would have conquered a lot more of Europe.

Anyway, VDH looks at Salamis, Lepanto, Charles Martel's repulsion of the Moors, the Spanish discovery and conquest of Mexico, Cannae, Rorke's Drift, Midway and Vietnam, using each as a lens by which to discover what cultural traits on the winning side most influenced the victory, and showing that the overwhelmingly peaceful Western way of life is really the result of the perfection of war.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a very interesting book. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy.