International Bibliography of 32 (2012) 165–169 brill.com/ibmh

New and Significant Books on Technology and

Joseph P. Harahan Vice-president, ICMH, United States Email: [email protected]

At the recent International Congress on Military History, held in Sofia, Bulgaria, historians evaluated the historiography of “New and Significant Books on Technology and War”. The topic of war has a certain essence that has remained constant over centuries, even millennia. Throughout history have involved killing, maiming, injury, raping and robbing of civilians, brutalizing and killing of prisoners, revenge and retaliation. In defining war, British historian Michael Howard often cited ’s defini- tion from (1989 edition), it was “an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.”1 Violence, according to Clausewitz, was the essence that turned inter-state conflicts into wars. Between states, trade disputes, land quarrels, or arguments over territorial rights may have developed sharp conflicting interests, but they did not constitute war. Clausewitz asserted that wars have always involved organized, sanctioned, and purposeful acts of violence. Howard acknowledged that over past centuries the concept of war changed, as conflicts evolved from wars fought between and in agricul- tural tribes and societies to those modern total wars waged between indus- trial states and nations. Scholars in recent years have criticized Howard’s reliance on Clausewitz. John Keegan, another British historian, challenged Clauswitz’s concept that war was an extension of politics between states. In A History of Warfare (1993) Keegan wrote that “war antedates the state, diplomacy and strategy by many millennia.”2 It was as old as mankind, itself. In some instances, war

1 Carl von Clausewitz, On War, eds. Michael Howard and (Princeton N.J., 1989). 2 John Keegan, A History of Warfare (New York, 1993).

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI 10.1163/22115757-03202002 166 J.P. Harahan / International Bibliography of Military History 32 (2012) 165–169 was not rational, but instinctive. Keegan concluded that “War embraces more than politics … it is always an expression of culture, often a determi- nant of cultural forms, in some societies the culture itself.” In the United States, John A. Lynn examined combat, and wars in different regions, societies and cultures in different centuries in history. In the book, , A History of Combat and Culture (2003), Lynn developed a method for com- paring a society’s discussion/discourse/strategy on war with its practice of conducting wars.3 This method showed the relationship of culture through a society’s discourse concerning the reality of actual warfare. In turn, after the end of the war, Lynn asserted that the discourse began anew, with the process of reshaping of government-, an act which incor- porated culture again. In recent years other scholars, Wayne Lee, Brian M. Lynn, Ronald Spector, Fred Anderson, Allan R. Millett, and others have published books and articles on war, which examined the culture of military forces during wars and peacetime, and the extensive discourse between the government, military, and society. As a consequence, recent historiography suggests that the origins, con- duct, and conclusion of war is intertwined within a society’s culture, gover- nance, and military institutions. Where does “technology” fit into this discussion of war? At the ICMH Congress in Sofia, German historian, Reiner Pommerin pointed out that the German word “Technologie” stemmed from the Greek “technologia”.4 It meant the study of an art, skill, or craft. Today, the word has a different meaning, one that focuses on the techno- logical item, itself. Focusing on this aspect, a recent definition of “military technology” emphasized that it was the “collection of equipment, vehicles, structures” that have been designed and used in warfare. An American his- torian, John F. Guilmartin believes that the introduction of military tech- nology into warfare occurred in the fourth millennium, BC, with the stone-headed mace.5 Over the following centuries other military technolo- gies were incorporated into military campaigns, battles and wars: swords, clubs, spears, and axes; followed by rockets, , rifles, and numerous types of ammunition. Warships were a new type of military technology as were fortifications, turrets, and communications signaling systems. In the

3 John A. Lynn, Battle, A History of Combat and Culture (Boulder, CO, 2003). 4 Reiner Pommerin, “From Stone Axe to Nukes – Technology and Warfare”, Keynote Speech, 38th International Congress of Military History, Sofia, Bulgaria, 25-30 August 2012. 5 John F. Guilmartin, “Technology and Strategy: What are the Limits?” presented at Strategy Conference, US Army’s Strategic Studies Institute, July 20, 1994.