Michael Walsh. Last Stands: Why Men Fight When All Is Lost. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2020. 368 pp. $28.99, cloth, ISBN 978-1-250-21708-0.

Reviewed by Jonathan Abel (Command and General Staf College, Ft. Leavenworth)

Published on H-War (January, 2021)

Commissioned by Margaret Sankey (Air University)

“It Doesn’t Matter ... Whether the Stories Really Happened: What Matters Is That They Are True”

Michael Walsh’s Last Stands: Why Men Fight Drift/Khartoum. As a result, it cannot be said to be When All Is Lost is a new entry into the popular a consistent theme of the work, despite Walsh’s history market, aimed at securing an audience in‐ stated intention and the book’s cover quote from terested in military history and military affairs. It Victor Davis Hanson. relates the stories of fifteen battles, ranging from Instead, Walsh’s primary theme is a variety of classical Greece to World War II, from the author’s neo-Huntingtonianism (or, given the author’s age, perspective. These serve as case studies of the au‐ perhaps simple Huntingtonianism). He posits a thor’s thesis, which purports to be to reawaken the clash of civilizations between a civilized, Christian, masculinity of the West, and of America specific‐ individualist West and an uncivilized, Muslim, col‐ ally. The result is a problematic text that does little lectivist East determined to destroy it. In his intro‐ more than epitomize the pop culture history of duction, Walsh admits that he has curated his case America after 1950 and impregnate it with the au‐ studies to include only those that support this thes‐ thor’s troublesome views. is. When his examples allow, this theme is literal, Walsh’s stated theme is to use his case studies as in the case of the largely Christian Habsburg de‐ to illustrate examples of masculinity: “this book is fenders of Szigetvár against the Muslim Ottomans a testament ... to the concept of manliness itself” in 1566 or the Christian British forces killed at (p. 2). However, this waxes and wanes throughout Khartoum by the Mahdi’s forces in 1885. In cases the text. Some chapters, like the ones on Thermo‐ where the analogy cannot be direct, Walsh finds pylae and Roncevaux Pass, make frequent re‐ recourse to myth to make it so; thus the 778 Battle course to masculinity, while it is largely absent in of Roncevaux Pass becomes a Christian-versus- others, like those on Masada/Warsaw and Rorke’s Muslim fight via the later Song of , and the H-Net Reviews chapter on nineteenth-century conflicts in Mexico and scholarly, but fails to reference the seminal posits a second Reconquista of the former lands of work on the topic by S. L. A. Marshall, among oth‐ New by current Mexico, echoing the Christi‐ ers. Walsh uses the aforementioned work by Whit‐ an Reconquista of Umayyad Iberia. When the neo- man to illustrate the immutable nature of war Huntington thesis cannot be forced, Walsh rather than referencing Carl von Clausewitz, the provides surrogates like the “savage” tribes of preeminent scholar of the unchanging nature of Little Bighorn; the voracious Protestants of the war, even to popular historians. In the same 1527 Sack of Rome; or the implacable, faceless, pa‐ chapter, Walsh refers to the “afterlife” of a battle, gan empires of Achaemenid Persia, Rome, and citing theater critic Jonathan Miller’s Subsequent Nazi Germany. The result of this bifurcation is a Performances (1986) and seemingly unaware of narrative that is succinct and pointed in some pas‐ the vast, cross-disciplinary field of memory stud‐ sages and meandering in others. ies. Occasionally, this presents a missed opportun‐ Last Stands is not a work of academic history ity; for example, Walsh contends that “no one or historiography nor does it make any pretense of should ‘take care’ of a man once he hits puberty being so. Therefore, it lacks the scholarly apparat‐ and grows into what we call manhood,” an argu‐ us found in such works. It does not have a biblio‐ ment that might benefit from an understanding of graphy, and most of the footnotes are elaborations the related views on child-rearing of Jean-Jacques of Walsh’s points rather than citations of sourcing. Rousseau (p. 15). Finally, many of Walsh’s refer‐ As a result, Walsh’s sourcing must be gleaned from ences and footnotes are only tangentially connec‐ the text. He makes use of primary source docu‐ ted to the arguments in which they are embedded, ments, usually a single main source for each particularly the references to fiction. The result is a chapter/case study. Portions of these are printed in sporadically sourced book with little connection to an appendix to the book, which begins with a non- any work beyond those of Creasy, Johnson, and, ul‐ sequitur citation from the Christian Bible. timately, Samuel Huntington. Few secondary sources appear in the work or Thus, the text of Last Stands illustrates that its notes. According to the text, Walsh relies most Walsh made little effort to locate his study or argu‐ on Edward Creasy’s Fifteen Decisive Battles of the ments within historical literature, particularly his‐ World (1851) as his model, and indeed Last Stands toriography. Instead, beyond the few aforemen‐ could be said to be an entry into the “great battles” tioned secondary sources, he prefers to make use canon of popular military history. Walsh draws his of works of fiction, both in print and film, to sup‐ cultural and social analysis from the works of Brit‐ port his arguments. These range from authors like ish writer Paul Johnson, whom he references regu‐ Virgil and Thomas Mann to John Ford westerns larly. Most of the remaining referenced secondary and Zach Snyder’s Thermopylae film 300 (2006). He works are either non-scholarly works or ones that thus appears to have wholeheartedly adopted the are old, like Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall title of this review, drawn from the text, as his of the Roman Empire, published in the late 1700s, or modus operandi: “it doesn’t matter ... whether the J. E. A. Whitman’s How Wars are Fought, from stories really happened. What matters is that they 1941. are true” (p. 105). Indeed, Walsh’s case studies ap‐ pear to have been selected primarily because they Walsh’s choices of sourcing lead to puzzling almost all have such cultural productions related passages and conclusions throughout, as illus‐ to them. The Siege of Szigetvár is an excellent ex‐ trated by three examples from his introductory ample of this; Walsh appears to have selected it in chapter. He presents the theme of soldiers’ motiva‐ place of a similar case study like the 1453 Fall of tions, a common one in military history, popular Constantinople because it allows him to draw a

2 H-Net Reviews direct analogy between Szigetvár and the Syrian most chapters. Walsh states that Switzerland “won refugee crisis in late 2010s Europe. Worse still for independence from the Holy Roman Empire in an ostensible work of history, in several chapters, 1499”; while Switzerland did win a degree of most notably on Thermopylae and Roncevaux, he autonomy from imperial taxation and law in that uses these fictional narratives in place of history. year, it remained a part of the empire until 1648 (p. Thus, Thermopylae, like 300, becomes a heroic 142). He finds a “Cathedral of Saint Sophia” in Con‐ stand of individuals against mechanistic, slave- stantinople; while occasional reference may be owning Persians despite the fact that classical made to a “Saint Sophia,” the Hagia Sophia was Greece was literally built by slaves, and Ron‐ dedicated not to a person but rather to “Holy cevaux Pass, like , becomes a Sophia,” the anthropomorphization of Wisdom in heroic fight of Christian against raving Muslim the Christian tradition (p. 164). He makes Abu Bakr hordes despite the historical battle’s being between Abdullah ibn Uthman to be “a friend of Franks and Basques. As a result, Last Stands is Muhammad” without mentioning that he was also more a history of the popular memory of the Muhammad’s father-in-law (p. 269). He argues that battles presented, as filtered through Walsh’s own China “has been defeated many times by its neigh‐ views, rather than a history of them per se. bors”; while China has suffered from two notable As is unfortunately the case in many works invasions, those of the Mongols in the thirteenth aimed at a popular audience, Walsh’s text suffers century and the Japanese in the 1930s, China has from numerous infelicities of historical analysis instead been in the opposite position, exerting he‐ and fact throughout. Examples from its second gemony over its neighbors, for the vast majority of chapter illuminate the issue. Page 49 finds that the its history (p. 16n4). He contends that “Western sol‐ “Roman civil war was fought largely in Greece” diers do not have to be prodded into battle by despite the various civil wars that plagued Rome political commissars. They do not have to be con‐ throughout the first century BCE taking place scripted on a vast and permanent scale. They need across the Mediterranean, including, but certainly not be propagandized to come to the defense of not predominantly, in Greece. The following page the homeland,” seemingly unaware that all of states that Muslims destroyed the Great Library at those occurred in French revolutionary armies, to Alexandria, the “great seat of classical and early cite just one example to the contrary (p. 19). In an‐ Christian learning,” despite that institution’s other chapter, Walsh makes Vercingetorix a Ger‐ largely having been destroyed by the Romans in man rather than a Gaul of the Arverni tribe. Fi‐ successive conflicts beginning with Julius Caesar, nally, “the defeat of the Spanish Armada by British and one of its successors, the Serapeum, notori‐ forces” occurred in 1588, according to Walsh, des‐ ously having been destroyed by Christians. Finally, pite Great Britain’s not coming into existence for page 55 argues that “never had Republican Rome another 120 years, via the 1707 Act of Union (p. fielded an army of such size [as at Cannae], nor 184). would it; neither would Imperial Rome”; Walsh is Some of Walsh’s mistakes are simply infelicit‐ apparently unaware of the 105 BCE Battle of ies or unclear prose, as some of the above ex‐ Arausio, in which Republican Rome lost an army amples might be. Others are outright errors, wheth‐ of probably over 120,000, far more than the 50,000 er of ignorance or deliberate. As is also unfortu‐ to 80,000 traditionally ascribed to the defeat at nately the case with similar works, they might be Cannae. excused, or at least contextualized, if the work While the above serves to illustrate the density were sourced from the proper historiography or of errors in a particular passage, they are found in contained a scholarly apparatus beyond footnotes

3 H-Net Reviews elaborating the author’s in-text points, which it all instances and expressions of traditional, com‐ does not. bative masculinity are positive and that any factor The result of these issues is that Last Stands that disrupts or denies that is negative. In this vein, lacks a coherent narrative or thematic flow. In ad‐ he relies on tired tropes of gender expression, dition, Walsh introduces a curious and uneven roles, and propriety. For example, he decries the theme of sexuality and its relationship to mascu‐ “sumptuously feminized West,” “capon-voiced line warfare, a theme not discussed in depth in the NPR commentator[s],” and “the transformation of introduction or conclusion. He bookends the text men into women and women into men, at will,” with stories of his father, a marine veteran of the which he finds to be “as audacious as it is insane” Korean War, that, while interesting, are only very (pp. 8, 15, 17). He identifies gender solely with bio‐ loosely tied to the book’s arguments. At times, logy, making no effort to differentiate it from sex. Walsh wanders from coherent narration altogeth‐ He argues that heroism “is, at root, about mas‐ er, particularly when referencing a film, television culinity,” contending that “women can be physic‐ show, or work of literature, ostensibly in support ally heroic ... but most are not, by nature, martial” of his arguments. This is most apparent when he (pp. 12, 33). Instead, he would leave war to men: “to uses a passage to present his own views on a topic, be a male ... is to be born if not raised, Spartan-like, whether related to the case study or not. To cite with an understanding that the world is not your one example, the chapter on the Sack of Rome in‐ friend but your adversary or your enemy” (p. 15). cludes a note that opines that a “schism [in the This argument extends to the point of anti-history, Catholic Church] may well result ... between obser‐ as Walsh refuses to acknowledge that women have vant Catholics who reject the ‘reforms’ of Vatican at times played significant roles in combat, wheth‐ II and the current curia. Sedevacantism looms,” a er the women of Dahomey or the female soldiers passage that bears no relation to the case study of the Red Army in World War II, for example. and seems to exist only to signal Walsh’s approval Equally problematic are Walsh’s views on Is‐ for the former faction in modern Catholic politics lam. Throughout Last Stands, Walsh evinces a pro‐ (p. 144n4). In other places, Walsh peppers the text found Islamophobia, which manifests itself in the with opinions, particularly in the conclusion, on is‐ pernicious (neo-)Huntingtonianism noted above. sues ranging from the removal of problematic In his introduction, he refers to Islam as “a sev‐ statues in America to “the now-obsolete United Na‐ enth-century Arabian Peninsula faith that com‐ tions” and “Hegelian Marxis[m]” (pp. 16-17, 305). bines the pertinent elements of both Judaism and Ultimately, Last Stands reads less like a coherent Christianity,” seemingly denying the legitimacy of narrative or argument and more like a recitation the religion (p. 20). He refers to Islam as both of Walsh’s beliefs on issues both macro and micro. “metastasizing” and, frequently, as “recrudescent,” Despite the above, the most significant issues the latter an obscure word that appears to have in Last Stands relate to the author’s views on been chosen for the homophonous nature of its gender, religion, and race. In this regard, the book second syllable. He argues that Islam rendered contains numerous elements and arguments that “the [Ottoman] Turkish word ... nearly worthless” are problematic at best and objectionable at (p. 168). While the work is dedicated to celebrating worst. Collectively, they present a significant neg‐ the individualism of various Western heroes, it ative challenge to the reader. Problems abound in presents Islam as a massive, faceless movement Walsh’s application of gender dynamics through‐ whose adherents share the same radical beliefs out the work. He examines his stated theme of and remorselessly evangelize it across the world. masculinity uncritically, seemingly assuming that On the rare occasion that he does characterize a Muslim, as in the case of Suleiman the Magnifi‐

4 H-Net Reviews cent, Walsh finds the Ottoman sultan dying “un- 73, 226). Walsh’s view of non-white people, like mourned at first and unburied as well, just another many of his sources and his views on gender and oriental satrap,” drawing a thinly veiled connec‐ Islam, is drawn from a bygone and un-mourned tion to the Achaemenid kings Darius and Xerxes era; the cited source for the above quote is not a (pp. 179-80). history of the period, nor is it even a primary This stilted view of Islam leads Walsh to con‐ source account, but rather the 1956 film The clusions that are suspect at best throughout the Searchers. work. For example, he notes the presence of “Is‐ Even leaving significant objectionable ele‐ lamic slave traders” in East African history ments aside, Walsh’s arguments might be interest‐ without mentioning any other reason for explora‐ ing if they were novel. Aside from the Siege of Szi‐ tion or travel, implying that Muslims went to East getvár, none of the book’s case studies will be new Africa only to trade in slaves. Elsewhere, he falls to readers even passingly familiar with military prey to the oft-repeated trope that “ ... is be‐ history and the canon of “great battles” that pep‐ coming palpably less Christian and French, and in‐ pers bookstore and library shelves, Hollywood, creasingly Muslim,” despite the facts that France’s and YouTube’s many history channels. Indeed, 2020 population is only around 6 percent Muslim, Walsh’s reliance on story and myth, as embodied a number that has grown only slowly over dec‐ in his frequent citation of them instead of history, ades, and that many of France’s Muslims adhere to indicates the ubiquity of the examples presented in the principles of laïcité (p. 119). the book. Additionally, his analysis of each rarely Most troubling are Walsh’s views on race. delves deeper than the surface; the Wikipedia art‐ Throughout Last Stands, he puts the word racism in icles on each of Walsh’s case studies provide more quotes, implying that it does not exist or has been background, detail, and context for readers, not to invented. In the same vein, he uses words that are mention one of the many academic histories avail‐ dated at best and offensive at worst like “Mo‐ able on each. His larger arguments, about mas‐ hammedan” and “Hottentot.” Walsh levels vitriol culinity, Islam, race, culture, and the West, have at the residents of Mexico, accusing them of wish‐ been repeated ad infinitum for decades, dating ing to enact a Reconquista of Mexico’s former ter‐ back at least to the 1960s. Essentially, Walsh has ritory with “armies of illegal immigrants wielding simply grafted the format of Creasy’s work onto sick children as weapons” and saying that “if there the meta-histories of Huntington and Johnson to is any ‘racism’ in the Americas, look to south of the create a tired narrative that has already passed [US-Mexico] border for its origins” (pp. 185, 191). the lips and pens of countless pundits, YouTubers, Elsewhere, he refers to the tribes at Little Big Horn Redditors, and authors before him. as “savages,” a view reinforced by a later passage Who is Last Stands for? It is manifestly not in‐ worth quoting in full: “the sheer unpredictability of tended to be an academic history or contribution the natives, especially after they had been drink‐ to historiography. Readers of popular history will ing. It was customary among the tribes, once the find little new in its pages and arguments, particu‐ drinking had commenced, to finish every last larly if they are even passingly familiar with simil‐ drop. The results could be horrific. Children were ar books and YouTube channels. Readers of all played with, then brained. Women went unmoles‐ backgrounds and interests will find great fault ted, or were suddenly taken to wife and made a with Walsh’s approach and beliefs, particularly member of the tribe. Men were generally killed with regard to gender, race, and religion. Those after prolonged torture and scalping.... Amerindi‐ who do not are likely already familiar with Walsh’s an savagery was almost wholly inexplicable” (pp. arguments, which date, like many of his refer‐

5 H-Net Reviews ences, from the middle of the twentieth century, if not earlier. St. Martin’s Press deserves criticism for how such a work could pass through the editing process, much less achieve publication. Walsh’s Last Stands is a work of middling narrative, little novelty, and repugnant views that belongs on shelves only as a cautionary tale.

The views of the author do not reflect any offi‐ cial position of the US Army, the Command and General Staff College, the Department of Defense, or any other government official or agency.

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-war

Citation: Jonathan Abel. Review of Walsh, Michael. Last Stands: Why Men Fight When All Is Lost. H-War, H-Net Reviews. January, 2021.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56033

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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