Waubonsee Community College

Soldiers and civilization, how the profession of arms thought and fought the modern world into existence, Reed Robert Bonadonna

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Soldiers and civilization

bibliography

958483970

Reed Robert Bonadonna

how the profession of arms thought and fought the modern world into existence

When Kipling says in "The Young British Soldier," "I'll sing you a soldier as fair as I may," he reminds us that a soldier is made of the words of poetry, history, and the laws and language of his calling. The complete solider is not only a contributor to the civilization that he or she serves. Drawing from military history, sociology, and other disciplines, Solidiers and Civilization covers the history of the military profession in the Western world from the ancient Greeks to the present day and shows how both soldiers and their civilizations have helped mold each other over time. Reed Bonadonna goes beyond traditional insights to locate the military profession in the context of both literary and cultural history, maintaining that soldiers have made an unacknowledged contribution to the theory and practice of civilization, and that they will again be called upon to do so in important ways. Throughout history soldiers have sought instruction and inspiration from the past to gain insight into modern conflicts. Military professionals of today must know, heed, and apply the examples and narrative of the most successful and exemplary of their predecessors to help advance a civilization into its future. However, this process can succeed only when it includes critical self-examination and a discourse with the larger society it serves. Soldiers and Civilization argues that the military profession, in its broadest consideration, might be viewed as an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities, a repository of important practical and abstract knowledge on armed conflict, ethics, community, and human nature. By representing and upholding the values on which civilization is founded, true military professionals provide the stability for it to thrive and create new ideas, thereby ensuring an existential symbiosis that serves and preserves both. -- from dust jacket

Introduction: history and military professionalism -- Greeks and Macedonians: poetry, philosophy, and the phalanx -- Romans: legis et legio -- Late antiquity: pagan warriors and barbaric Christians -- The Middle Ages: chivalry and Christianity -- The early modern period: the army and the state -- The eighteenth century: soldiers of the Enlightenment -- Napoleon and the nineteenth century: revolution, reaction, and expansion -- The twentieth century: a world of conflict -- Conclusion: the twenty-first century: a century of the soldier?

How the profession of arms thought and fought the modern world into existence