DLVC Enterprises, 2016. — 349 p.
Pussycats: Why the Rest Keeps Beating the Rest and What Can Be Done About It by Martin van Creveld is an inspiring book about the military failures of Western countries. In the kingdom(s) of the West, something is rotten. Collectively, the countries of NATO are responsible for almost two thirds of global military spending. In terms of military technology, particularly electronics, communications and logistics, they have left the rest so far behind that it is no contest. Yet ever since the Korean War ended in 1953, almost every time they went abroad and fought non-Westerners they were defeated and had to withdraw. As happened, to cite but two recent cases, in Iraq and Afghanistan; and as may yet happen if and when Islamic terrorism spreads into Europe, as it is quite likely to do. What went wrong? How did the ferocious soldiers who, between 1492 and 1914, brought practically the entire world under their sway, become pussycats? The present study, unique of its kind, seeks to answer these questions. Chapter I, “Subduing the Young,” focuses on the way Western people raise their scanty offspring. Infantilizing them, depriving them of any kind of independence, and, in the words of a recent best-seller, turning them into “excellent sheep.” Chapter II, “Defanging the Troops,” shows how the same is happening in the military. Chapter III, “The War on Men,” examines the way in which the forces are being feminized affects, indeed infects, their fighting power. Chapter IV, “Constructing PTSD,” looks at the way returning soldiers are almost obliged to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Finally, chapter V outlines the emergence of modern societies which, exalting rights and forgetting about duty, have come very close to delegitimizing war itself.The book is about 73,000 words long. It is written in jargon-less language laymen can understand. It is also thoroughly documented. Readership should include anybody with an interest in national security, and then some.
List of Contents
Preface xi
Introduction: The Record of Failure
Chapter I. Subduing the Young
1. A Tale of Two Childhoods
2. “They Can’t Handle It”
3. Prohibit and Censor
4. Becoming Infantilized
5. “From Austria Came a Man”
Chapter II. Defanging the Troops
1. “To Horse, to Horse!”
2. The War on Men
3. A Government of Lawyers
4. The de-Militarized Military
5. Soldiers into Mercenaries
Chapter III. Feminizing the Forces
1. In Pursuit of Equality
2. Amazones Antianeirai
3. Retaining Privilege
4. In the Land of Doublethink
5. The End of Masculinity
Chapter IV. Constructing PTSD
1. “Seek, and You Shall Find”
2. Achilles in Vietnam
3. From Soldiers’ Heart to Combat Fatigue
4. The Great Epidemic
5. Damaged Goods?
Chapter V. Delegitimizing War
1. Of Might and Right
2. The Rise of Rights
3. The Demise of Duty
4. Learning to Say No
5. The Absolute Evil
Conclusion: Hannibal intra Portas
Thanks
Endnotes
Index
About the Author
Martin van Creveld is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading experts on military history and strategy. He is the author of 27 books, which between them have been published in 20 languages. The best known one is The Transformation of War, which back in 1991 predicted the ongoing shift from large-scale conventional warfare to insurgency and terrorism. In addition to military affairs, van Creveld has written extensively about political history (The Rise and Decline of the State), Israel history, American history, and women’s history. He lives near Jerusalem with his wife, Dvora Lewy.