Military history is a fascinating study: where do we go from here?
As long as man's history is the history of strife and conflict among people. From the beginnings of nations, we have recorded military history which chronicles the strategies military entities have employed to defeat their enemies. When you examine military history, it's a fascinating study of conflicts in which figures such as Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great and Napoleon commanded forces of men to a common purpose.
The success or failure of military campaigns has always hinged on strategy. Today, the lines of strategy are blurred by the technological advances of modern warfare. The strategy may be good, but the cost in human life is too great. A study of military history reveals that as weaponry and strategies become more sophisticated and devastating, there's still always the victor and the defeated. Why do we not learn from history? Military history is key to that answer.
In ancient times, men engaged in hand to hand combat, at a location known as the battle field. Civilians were never involved in such conflicts. Although it might sound strange, acts of war were far more civilized in ancient times than today. In tribal wars in Africa, the victor was decided when the first man fell. One man's life was enough to settle the conflict.
As time went on, military history records the development of strategies that involved the positioning of men to win the day. Even during the Middle Ages, when strife was rampant in the European countries, war was still a much more civilized affair than we experience today. There was a battle ground from which the warriors did not deviate. Civilian casualties were virtually unknown, with a few notorious exceptions.
With the Industrial age, came a new and horrific turn in military history. The military general now had to modify his strategies to take into account air campaigns, bombs dropped from the skies, gas weaponry and rockets which could deliver a weapon many miles away, in a rather indiscriminate manner.
Look at the damage caused all over Europe, Pearl Harbor and the Asian and South Pacific regions. Never before in military history had so many civilians been killed in the prosecution of a conflict. World War II was supposed to be the war that ended all war. There was simply too much carnage.
Today, wars continue. Such carnage is commonly referred to as 'collateral damage', meaning that these innocent people were simply in the way of a bomb. The history of war makes it abundantly clear that, while there may be a victor, everyone ultimately loses.
In terms of the lessons of military history, the question becomes, why don't we learn?
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