![]() Listen ad-free on Stitcher Premium get a free month when you use code “manliness” at checkout. Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice. Listen to the episode on a separate page. Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!) Continuing the Mission of Service and Brotherhood.Essential Lessons From Great Wartime Leaders.The History and Future of America’s Special Forces.The Audacious Command of Alexander the Great.Resources/People/Articles Mentioned in Podcast What’s the larger takeaway from this discussion?.How modern warfare is actually a bit of a throwback.What were WWII’s amphibious assaults like?.The transition from ancient to modern war.What was ancient warfare really like? What was the cause of most casualties?.How do cultural forces impact how people die in war?.What makes writing and talking about this topic a challenge.If reading this in an email, click the title of the post to listen to the show. This is a surprisingly enlightening and humane look at an oft glossed over aspect of the human experience. Along the way we discuss how gunpowder changed the nature of warfare, the effect that distance has on how heroic a confrontation seems, why artillery is particularly terrifying, what motivates soldiers to fight, and much more. We then trace the history of death in war, beginning with its primitive beginnings and working our way to the modern day. At the beginning of our conversation Michael discusses why he wanted to write this book, and the balance he had to walk in trying to describe the reality of death on the battlefield, without conveying those details in a sensationalistic or titillating manner. Today Michael and I discuss the forces that led soldiers to their fate over the centuries, from advancements in weaponry to the expectations of social class. My guest today, Michael Stephenson, is a military historian who explores these evolutions in his book The Last Full Measure: How Soldiers Die in Battle. The way these deaths have played out over thousands of years of warfare has changed not simply based on the way martial technology has changed, but also on the way that the psychological and cultural pressures that have led societies and individual men to fight have changed. Each side in a conflict tries to kill as many of the enemy as possible, while avoiding being killed themselves. War is about many things: glory, violence, courage, destruction.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |