Chapter 6
Chapter six of this book addresses technology and reason in war. This chapter basically illustrates a theme of reason being more important in war than technology. Looking at this theme from all perspectives, there is some truth in it. The chapter draws its contents from battle of Mexico who took place in the 16th century.
As the battle continued, the outnumbered Spaniards fought with all available resources ranging from swords to cannons which dropped their opponents from 100 yards or more. This technology made them superior in the war though they were fighting a losing battle.
The Spaniards were forced to retreat outside the city where waited for a reinforcement. This made the whole force feel stronger since n the past, the Mexicans had not stopped such a force. After this, they felt strong enough to reenter the city and announced it without reasoning. This made the Spaniard army to be surrounded by an army of Mexicans about 100 times their army. This meant annihilation. This led to the Aztec war which saw thousands of people massacred. The consiquidators had their minds set on revenge and greed for the looted gold. This reduced their strategic planning ability which resulted in their defeat by the Castilians. This success of Castilians was also attributed to cultural confusion, disease and local rivalry.
The Spanish rationale was inclined towards technology. This made them look down upon the opponents and think that they can have support from local enemies of the Mexicans. Led by greed, this rationale saw the Spaniards defeated in this war.
Chapter 7
This chapter deals with how capitalism influences and funds war instead of communism. The story starts with the Turkish people fearing for their lives when some big ships came and opened fire. The ships believed to be from Europe fired continuously and in about thirty minutes, about 1000 of Turkish men had been drowned in the sea. Some ships were able to reach armada even if the fight in the sea was fierce. The Turkish priests though fully armed only blessed people since they saw no hope in escaping alive.
The war appeared to have been fueled by a rumor that Muslim soldiers had raided some Christian shores that the Europeans had come seeking for revenge. They were ready to engage in a decisive battle with the Muslims who were in the Turkish ships. The Christian ships especially the Spanish ones were much bigger than their counterpart’s ships. This gave them an advantage of firing at the enemy ships from above and receiving very few blows in return. In this central wing, the Christians were able to crash the Muslim soldiers but on their left wing, the Muslims were pushing the Christians back. Though the Turkish soldiers were stronger, the European soldiers managed to push them ashore and in due time forced them out of their ships annihilating them. None of the Muslim soldiers was able to escape from the wrath of Europeans who didn’t spare any opponent, surrendered or injured.
The chapter comes to an end with a brief summary of earlier covered battle (in the previous chapters) from the great Persian battle to the defeat of Turkish Muslims in a battle perceived to preserve religion. The chapter also touches on the combat battle of the West against the Japanese in which a fierce battle took place ending with the west emerging as the winners.
The chapter also analyzes the connection between war and capitalism. Drawing examples from Athens and the United States, a great deal of relationship between capitalism and war is depicted. Capitalism economies appear to plan more on war related issues while paying very little attention to other areas of the society. Islamists, being against capitalism oppose this idea and existence of markets. This is further illustrated by their adherence to communism.
Chapter 8
This chapter mainly narrates of how discipline and law rules soldiers or fighters. It deals exclusively with military discipline in which a soldier is entitled to stand and fight on even if he/she is definitely bound to lose. A soldier should always stand up against the opponents regardless of their number or weapons.
This chapter draws its illustration from the Zulus, which is an African tribe well known for its warriors and battle. Looking at a Zulu warrior, the main weapons were a spear, and a short hand axe. According to battle laws, a soldier was supposed to stand and fight with an opponent even if the Zulu soldier had only a short axe as the weapon. A soldier was not supposed to panic. This is well illustrated and elaborated on the subtopic ‘the killing fields’. The subtopic also explains of how a soldier was supposed to kill only in the battle field and not any other place. This was an act of discipline among the soldiers which was strictly adhered to.
The battle referred to is the great battle between the British and the Zulus. Though the Britons had superior weapons, they underestimated the Zulus and soon they were in for it. They ran out of bullets and ammunition and were speared by the Zulus to death.
After this defeat, the British soldiers had to re-organize themselves and be ready to charge at the Zulus using a tactical plan. The key issue to consider was discipline. The soldiers had to carefully follow a protocol and ensure they remained intact at the time of attack. This paid since in a later battle, they were able to defeat Zulu warriors about fifty times their number. Though the British won the battle, they had to seek assistance from the Boers who had enough tactics of fighting with the Zulu warriors. In spite of this, the Zulus were able to win the fight though Zulu narrators claimed of high discipline of the British soldiers even though they were overwhelmed by their opponents. They followed order and fired at command and not in any pattern out of panic. The chapter comes to an end with the British re-organizing themselves in a pattern that enabled them win the battle.
Chapter 9
This chapter comes in to explain the role of individualism in winning battles. It mainly focuses on the imperial way of fighting opponents and draws its illustration from the battle of the British against the Zulus. The main concern is whether this is an imperial battle or not. This chapter analyses both the advantages and disadvantages of imperial approach to fight or war, how it should be done and annihilation of opponents.
The chapter also draws materials from both the western Japan and non-western Japan on war. Western Japan is used to depict western battle characteristics of Japan not the simple division of the country to east and west. The battle between the Americans and Japanese famously known as the mid way battle depicts this phenomenon in a much clearer manner.
The win of the Americans in the midway battle was one of the major achievements of the western bloc in the Second World War. The defeat and destruction of Japanese fighters was a great blow to the non-western bloc.
Critically analyzing the chapter, the author drives his point home on the individualism of the soldiers. Most of them were poor and not free to act by their own wish or consciences thus were under imperial slavery. This idea still relates to some contemporary armies in which the soldiers act on command even if it is against their own will.
Chapter ten
This chapter deals with the most recent western win in battle. This chapter mainly draws its content from the war in Saigon, Vietnam. Considering this as a city, any warfare would mean a lot to the people considering that the Vietnamese had well trained soldiers who were used to battle. The chapter fully covers this battle from the source to the end where the Americans emerge victorious. This is acts as another example of the widespread ability of the western powers to win any battle under whichever circumstance. In this war, the Americans set the northern and southern parts of Vietnam at war and then seized that opportunity to attack. The main battle was against the South since they were communists and the western powers were advocating for capitalism. The war ends with no visible winner since the Americans who were the actual winners were fined a great deal for killing over 50,000 civilians during the war era which lasted for five years.
The chapter comes to any end with a short aftermath analysis of Vietnam and the view of Vietnam on the western art of war. The very last part of the chapter is a critique in which the author criticizes the chapter and the actual evidence presented to prove the western art of war as part of culture and not use of technology.
Critique of the chapters
Closely examining these chapters, the author has well expressed the western win as something in their blood as predicted. The evidence produced is sufficient enough to give a firm ground for his argument though it still has some loop holes. These loop holes are mostly in chapters 8 and 10 where the author fails to explain explicitly of the superficial win yet a real loss in battle on the western side.
The author does not create a bad image of the losers though he dwells more on the strengths of the western bloc without exposing their weaknesses. This makes the whole book appear more inclined towards creating the best image to the western bloc instead of giving a fair statement.
