The Verdict of Battle

The Verdict of Battle
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 329
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780674071872
ISBN-13 : 0674071875
Rating : 4/5 (875 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Verdict of Battle by : James Q. Whitman

Download or read book The Verdict of Battle written by James Q. Whitman and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-10-31 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, war is considered a last resort for resolving disagreements. But a day of staged slaughter on the battlefield was once seen as a legitimate means of settling political disputes. James Whitman argues that pitched battle was essentially a trial with a lawful verdict. And when this contained form of battle ceased to exist, the law of victory gave way to the rule of unbridled force. The Verdict of Battle explains why the ritualized violence of the past was more effective than modern warfare in bringing carnage to an end, and why humanitarian laws that cling to a notion of war as evil have led to longer, more barbaric conflicts. Belief that sovereigns could, by rights, wage war for profit made the eighteenth century battle’s golden age. A pitched battle was understood as a kind of legal proceeding in which both sides agreed to be bound by the result. To the victor went the spoils, including the fate of kingdoms. But with the nineteenth-century decline of monarchical legitimacy and the rise of republican sentiment, the public no longer accepted the verdict of pitched battles. Ideology rather than politics became war’s just cause. And because modern humanitarian law provided no means for declaring a victor or dispensing spoils at the end of battle, the violence of war dragged on. The most dangerous wars, Whitman asserts in this iconoclastic tour de force, are the lawless wars we wage today to remake the world in the name of higher moral imperatives.


The Verdict of Battle Related Books

The Verdict of Battle
Language: en
Pages: 329
Authors: James Q. Whitman
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-10-31 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Today, war is considered a last resort for resolving disagreements. But a day of staged slaughter on the battlefield was once seen as a legitimate means of sett
The Verdict of Battle
Language: en
Pages: 334
Authors: James Q. Whitman
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-10-22 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Slaughter in battle was once seen as a legitimate way to settle disputes. When pitched battles ceased to exist, the law of victory gave way to the rule of unbri
Tug of War
Language: en
Pages: 304
Authors: Harvey Brownstone
Categories: Family & Relationships
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-03 - Publisher: ECW Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Explaining complex family law concepts and procedures in a jargon-free style, this resource includes detailed information on how family court works, offers easi
On War
Language: en
Pages: 388
Authors: Carl von Clausewitz
Categories: Military art and science
Type: BOOK - Published: 1908 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

General Grant and the Verdict of History
Language: en
Pages: 303
Authors: Frank P Varney
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-03-10 - Publisher: Savas Beatie

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

General Ulysses S. Grant is best remembered today as a war-winning general, and he certainly deserves credit for his efforts on behalf of the Union. But has he