# Why Study War?



## AMRUSMCR (Sep 17, 2007)

This is a long, but good read. I'm only going to post the intro and final paragraphs. If you go to the website for the full text, at the end there are some excellent reading recommendations for those that enjoy Military History.

Full Body of the Article

Article Intro:



> August 21, 2007
> Why Study War?
> Military history teaches us about honor, sacrifice, and the inevitability of conflict.
> by Victor Davis Hanson
> ...


 
Article End:




> Finally, military history has the moral purpose of educating us about past sacrifices that have secured our present freedom and security. If we know nothing of Shiloh, Belleau Wood, Tarawa, and Chosun, the crosses in our military cemeteries are just pleasant white stones on lush green lawns. They no longer serve as reminders that thousands endured pain and hardship for our right to listen to what we wish on our iPods and to shop at Wal-Mart in safety — or that they expected future generations, links in this great chain of obligation, to do the same for those not yet born. The United States was born through war, reunited by war, and saved from destruction by war. No future generation, however comfortable and affluent, should escape that terrible knowledge.
> 
> What, then, can we do to restore the study of war to its proper place in the life of the American mind? The challenge isn’t just to reform the graduate schools or the professoriate, though that would help. On a deeper level, we need to reexamine the larger forces that have devalued the very idea of military history — of war itself. We must abandon the naive faith that with enough money, education, or good intentions we can change the nature of mankind so that conflict, as if by fiat, becomes a thing of the past. In the end, the study of war reminds us that we will never be gods. We will always just be men, it tells us. Some men will always prefer war to peace; and other men, we who have learned from the past, have a moral obligation to stop them.


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## Gypsy (Sep 17, 2007)

Thanks A, think I'll pour another cup of java while I read this...looks very interesting.  I like much of what the author has written over time.


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## AMRUSMCR (Sep 17, 2007)

Thanks Gypsy. It's the first time I've been introduced to his essays so I will hit up his archives on his site to see the rest.


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## AWP (Sep 17, 2007)

VDH is dry and I don't agree with some of his conclusions. I think he should stick to classic history and less modern stuff. :2c:


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