Ultimately, the case studies in the book show that civilians, while always victims of war, were nevertheless often able to become empowered agents in defending their own lives, and impacting the outcomes of wars. The volume provides new insight into why civilian death and suffering has been so common, despite widespread beliefs embedded in legal and military codes across time and place that killing civilians is wrong. The book argues that engagement with the blurred boundaries between combatant and non-combatant both advance the key analytical questions that underpin the historical literature on civilians and underline the centrality of civilians to a full understanding of warfare. Building on philosophical and legal scholarship, it explores the blurred boundary between combatant and civilian in different historical contexts and examines how the absence of clear demarcations shapes civilian strategic positioning and impacts civilian vulnerability to military targeting and massacre. This volume explores the contributions civilians have made to warfare in case studies that range from ancient Europe to contemporary Africa and Latin America. The Cambridge History Of War Volume 2 War And The Medieval Worldĭescription: This book explores the role played by civilians in shaping the outcomes of military combat across time and place. Overall, this book provides compelling evidence that pragmatic needs may have more influence than deep cultural imperatives in determining a society’s "way of war." It argues that these similarities cannot be explained by diffusion or shared cultural influences, which were limited, but instead by the need to deal with common problems and confront common enemies, in particular the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes. It shows that, contrary to the conventional wisdom positing a straightforward Western way of war and an "Oriental" approach characterized by evasion and trickery, the specifics of Byzantine military practice in the seventh century differed very little from what was known in Tang China. Whilst not neglecting the many differences between the Chinese and Byzantines, this book highlights the striking similarities in their organizational structures, tactical deployments and above all their extremely cautious approach to warfare. It covers all aspects of the military art from weapons and battlefield tactics to logistics, campaign organization, military institutions, and the grand strategy of empire. Additionally, they strongly echo his conviction that the study of armed conflict is indispensable for an accurate and comprehensive understanding of medieval European history.ĭescription: This book is a comparative study of military practice in Sui-Tang China and the Byzantine Empire between approximately 600 and 700 CE. Collectively, these seventeen studies embrace the interdisciplinarity and topical diversity intrinsic to Bachrach’s research. These themes include the formation and implementation of military grand strategies the fiscal, material, and administrative resources that underpinned the conduct of war in medieval Europe and religious, legal, and artistic responses to military violence. AD 300-1500), and with a broad geographical scope stretching from the British Isles to the Middle East, these diverse studies address an array of critical themes and debates relevant to the conduct of war in medieval Europe. ![]() ![]() Ranging chronologically from Late Antiquity through the Later Middle Ages (ca. Bachrach pays tribute to its honoree by gathering in a single volume seventeen original studies from an international roster of leading experts in the military history of medieval Europe. The Medieval Way of War: Studies in Medieval Military History in Honor of Bernard S. In so doing, as much as any scholar of his generation, he has helped to define the status quaestionis for the field of medieval military history. In his many publications Bachrach has established unequivocally the relevance of military institutions and activity for an understanding of medieval European societies, polities, and mentalities. Bachrach for the study of warfare as not only worthy of scholarly attention, but demanding of it. Description: Few historians have argued so forcefully or persuasively as Bernard S.
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