Rethinking Military History
Jun 2005, Vol. 150, No. 3
By Jeremy Black
Military historians are not apt to be introspective. They are doers: writers, broadcasters and tour-leaders. Those who focus on thought concentrate on thinking about war, specifically, but not only, military doctrine. This leaves out an instructive subject, the history of military history, and the light it throws on the practice and theorizing of war. This article takes further a point made in Jeremy Black's book, Rethinking Military History, by suggesting that the call for displacing (what Dennis Showalter has termed) the ‘last stronghold’ of the Whig interpretation – a call correctly directed against the deterministic, linear and teleological character of much of the subject – poses problems not only for how best to tackle military history but also for the consideration of war in the modern world. For example, a perception, if not futuristic ideology, of modern warfare in terms of a Revolution in Military Affairs, based on weaponry and control systems that few powers can afford or, even more, use effectively, lends itself to a teleological and deterministic approach to military history focused on developments in technological capability.
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By Jeremy Black
Military historians are not apt to be introspective. They are doers: writers, broadcasters and tour-leaders. Those who focus on thought concentrate on thinking about war, specifically, but not only, military doctrine. This leaves out an instructive subject, the history of military history, and the light it throws on the practice and theorizing of war. This article takes further a point made in Jeremy Black's book, Rethinking Military History, by suggesting that the call for displacing (what Dennis Showalter has termed) the ‘last stronghold’ of the Whig interpretation – a call correctly directed against the deterministic, linear and teleological character of much of the subject – poses problems not only for how best to tackle military history but also for the consideration of war in the modern world. For example, a perception, if not futuristic ideology, of modern warfare in terms of a Revolution in Military Affairs, based on weaponry and control systems that few powers can afford or, even more, use effectively, lends itself to a teleological and deterministic approach to military history focused on developments in technological capability.
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