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| Words by F loBuono. Photo by Cynthia Imperatore |
Recently, on Facebook, shocked by the terrible carnage currently being perpetrated in Gaza, I posted a series of comments and writings by the American Civil War General, William Tecumseh Sherman. He is credited with being one of the first commanders in the modern era of warfare to employ the concept of Total War. He imposed this most brutal way of fighting during his legendary March to the Sea when he destroyed most of the State of Georgia. His plan was to eliminate not only enemy combatants, but anyone, or anything, that might aid them or the South's war efforts. If it meant starving out the local population, then so be it. It was savage. And it was effective. There is no doubt that it helped hasten the end of the Civil War.
Now, based on that alone, it might be reasonable for one to assume that he was a war-loving monster. But, in fact, he was not. If you read key elements of those comments and writings, he may have been quite the opposite. Unlike the WWII American General George S. Patton, who is regularly portrayed as having "loved" war, Sherman, apparently hated it. He is often given credit for coining the phrase War Is Hell. However, that is not exactly what he said or how he ultimately (I believe) wished it to be interpreted today. Some of the most important elements of what he actually did say and write are as follows:
"You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it."
"It is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated . . . that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation.
War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.
Here was a man who had first-hand experience with the violent death of tens of thousands. He was not immune. No person could be. But he did the job he swore to do. Once the threshold of war was crossed he did not hesitate. He could not hesitate. He knew full well that in war, ultimately, there is only the living and the dead. Limited war, so-called "police engagements" and their ilk are like masturbation; it may provide some level of pleasure but does not completely satisfy our needs. If you commit to war, there can be no turning back. There are no half measures. That is why it must be AVOIDED at all costs.
There is a scene in the Academy Award winning movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) that frames this argument beautifully. During WWII, captured British prisoners are forced by their Japanese tormentors into building an important bridge over a river in Burma. The conditions are particularly brutal and are exacerbated by the excessively harsh treatment by their Japanese guards. In an attempt to alleviate some of the suffering of his men, the commander of the British prisoners approaches the Japanese prison camp commander with a copy of the Geneva Convention (rules "governing" war and the handling of prisoners) to complain about their treatment. The British commander presents the book to the Japanese commander and explains that the Geneva Conventions prohibits the Japanese from using his men as slaves. Flashing a copy of the book, he proclaims: "What you are asking my men to do is expressly forbidden by the rules of war." The Japanese commander looks at him with bewilderment, grabs the book from his hand, slaps him across the face with it and screams, "Don't speak to me of rules. THIS IS WAR!"
Ultimately, I wish to make one point and one point only; my posting of General Sherman's statements were not a testament to the need or justification FOR war but, rather, as a declaration against it. When we remove the glory form war (there is none) and see it for the abomination that it really is, we will stop making it. Because, in the end, there are no innocents. There are only the living and the dead.
Now, based on that alone, it might be reasonable for one to assume that he was a war-loving monster. But, in fact, he was not. If you read key elements of those comments and writings, he may have been quite the opposite. Unlike the WWII American General George S. Patton, who is regularly portrayed as having "loved" war, Sherman, apparently hated it. He is often given credit for coining the phrase War Is Hell. However, that is not exactly what he said or how he ultimately (I believe) wished it to be interpreted today. Some of the most important elements of what he actually did say and write are as follows:
"You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it."
"It is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated . . . that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation.
War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.
Here was a man who had first-hand experience with the violent death of tens of thousands. He was not immune. No person could be. But he did the job he swore to do. Once the threshold of war was crossed he did not hesitate. He could not hesitate. He knew full well that in war, ultimately, there is only the living and the dead. Limited war, so-called "police engagements" and their ilk are like masturbation; it may provide some level of pleasure but does not completely satisfy our needs. If you commit to war, there can be no turning back. There are no half measures. That is why it must be AVOIDED at all costs.
There is a scene in the Academy Award winning movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) that frames this argument beautifully. During WWII, captured British prisoners are forced by their Japanese tormentors into building an important bridge over a river in Burma. The conditions are particularly brutal and are exacerbated by the excessively harsh treatment by their Japanese guards. In an attempt to alleviate some of the suffering of his men, the commander of the British prisoners approaches the Japanese prison camp commander with a copy of the Geneva Convention (rules "governing" war and the handling of prisoners) to complain about their treatment. The British commander presents the book to the Japanese commander and explains that the Geneva Conventions prohibits the Japanese from using his men as slaves. Flashing a copy of the book, he proclaims: "What you are asking my men to do is expressly forbidden by the rules of war." The Japanese commander looks at him with bewilderment, grabs the book from his hand, slaps him across the face with it and screams, "Don't speak to me of rules. THIS IS WAR!"
Ultimately, I wish to make one point and one point only; my posting of General Sherman's statements were not a testament to the need or justification FOR war but, rather, as a declaration against it. When we remove the glory form war (there is none) and see it for the abomination that it really is, we will stop making it. Because, in the end, there are no innocents. There are only the living and the dead.
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