States of War: Lapham's Quarterly Highlights

Curating histories greatest minds as it relates to war

This essay will be the highlights and commentary of my favorite excerpts from Lapham's Quarterly: States of War. 

Lapham’s Quarterly is a periodical that contains essays and quotes throughout history about a specific topic. This issue, on war, includes excerpts from George W. Bush to Elizabeth I to Thucydides.

Let’s dive in.

The Trumpet of Rightful Destruction

2003 - We go to liberate, not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them. 

Tim Collins, Commanding Officer of the British Army, speaking to his troops on the eve of the invasion of Iraq. A copy of this speech is allegedly hanging in the White House.

The reason I decided to include this excerpt is because of how it encapsulates the justification of modern warfare. If you showed this quote to any general before the 1900s, they would think it's blasphemous. War for most of history was almost exclusively about territorial acquisition and control, invading a country to “free a people” would not have been a justification that mattered.

A cynic might say “The real reason for invasion was still about control - specifically of oil. This rhetoric is just to sell the idea to the people and the soldiers” While the cynic might be right, it doesn’t really matter for the point. The fact that this framing is even being used to convince the citizenry and the soldiers says a lot about modern warfare. Democracies need to ensure that there is substantial public support of a war (particularly at the beginning of it), and ensuring that we are the “good guys” is an essential part of this.

Addressing the Troops

1944 - There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now, when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you won't have to cough, shift him to the other knee, and say, "Well, your granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana." No sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, "Son, your granddaddy rode with the great Third Army and a son of a goddamned bitch named Georgie Patton!" 

George Patton, General of the US Army, rallying his troops before the invasion of Normandy. Notice the rhetorical difference between this and what Collins said in Iraq.

Not much to add here, but if motivating your troops is one of the qualities of a good general, then it’s no wonder that Patton is considered one of the best.

War Comes Dressed in the Spirit of Friendship

1914 - 

Tsar to Kaiser, July 29, 1:00 A.M.

Am glad you are back. In this serious moment, I appeal to you to help me. An ignoble war has been declared to a weak country. The indignation in Russia shared fully by me is enormous. I foresee that very soon I shall be overwhelmed by the pressure forced upon me and be forced to take extreme measures which will lead to war. To try and avoid such a calamity as a European war, I beg you in the name of our old friendship to do what you can to stop your allies from going too far.

Nicky 

Tsar Nicholas Romanov II, exchange of telegrams between the Russian Tsar and his cousin, Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm II of Germany, on the eve of World War I. Colloquially called the “Willy-Nicky Telegrams”. The Russian army mobilized on July 29, the Germany army on July 31. The first shots were fired on August 20. 

While it's not uncommon for leaders to have correspondence before a war, this one stands out as a little more interesting. First, the Tsar and Kaiser are cousins, and their familiarity is obvious given the telegrams are signed “Nicky” and “Willie.” Second, this exchange fully encapsulates why World War I began: a web of alliances and leaders “overwhelmed by the pressure forced on them”. 

One question we can ask is if Nicholas was genuine in his message. Was he actually asking Wilhelm to stop Austria-Hungary? Or was he just trying to clear his name and ensure the blame for beginning the war resided with Wilhelm? While it may have been a little of both, historians largely agree that Nicholas was hesitant to go to war with Germany, his hand being forced by the powers that be.

Thinking Big

1972 - 

Nixon: See, the attack in the North that we have in mind... power plants, whatever's left - petroleum, the docks.... And I still think we ought to take the dikes out now. Will that drown people?

Kissinger: About two hundred thousand people.

Nixon: No, no, no... I'd rather use the nuclear bomb. Have you got that, Henry?

Kissinger: That, I think, would just be too much.

Nixon: The nuclear bomb, does that bother you? I just want you to think big, Henry, for chrissakes. The only place where you and I disagree is with regard to the bombing. You're so goddamned concerned about civilians, and I don't give a damn. I don't care.

Kissinger: I'm concerned about the civilians because I don't want the world to be mobilized against you as a butcher.

Richard Nixon, President of the United States, and Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor, discuss their options in Vietnam.

This exchange is wild. Dick Nixon was a hardcore dude, there aren’t many people in modern history who can make Kissinger look like a pacifist.

Disarmament Treaty

1063 - Dearest brothers in the Lord, these are the conditions which you must observe during the time of the peace which is commonly called the Truce of God, and which begins with sunset on Wednesday and lasts until sunrise on Monday.

1. During those four days and five nights, no man or woman shall assault, wound, or slay another, or attack, seize, or destroy a castle, burg, or villa, by craft or by violence.

2. If anyone violates this peace and disobeys these commands of ours, he shall be exiled for thirty years as a penance, and, before he leaves the bishopric, he shall make compensation for the injury which he committed. Otherwise, he shall be excommunicated by the Lord God and excluded from all Christian fellowship.

The Truce of God was a measure by the medieval Roman Catholic Church to suspend warfare during certain days of the week and for certain church festivals and Lent.

Enforcing laws without an army or a police force is effectively impossible…unless of course your citizens are God-fearing . This fact about religions, how they can enforce rules without violence, has always interested me. Using the threat of excommunication was more than enough to pacify the pious peasants that made up High Middle Age Europe. 

It's not a coincidence that religious fervor rose dramatically after the fall of the Roman Empire. Without any army to enforce laws throughout Europe, we shifted to an alternative: God.

Reflecting on Spain

1937 - My first thought, conventionally enough, was for my wife. My second was a violent resentment at having to leave this world which, when all is said and done, suits me so well. I had time to feel this very vividly. The stupid mischance infuriated me. The meaninglessness of it! To be bumped off, not even in battle, but in this stale corner of the trenches, thanks to a moment's carelessness! I thought, too, of the man who had shot me wondering what he was like, whether he was a Spaniard or a foreigner, whether he knew he had got me, and so forth. I could not feel any resentment against him. I reflected that as he was a Fascist, I would have killed him if I could, but that if he had been taken prisoner and brought before me at this moment I would merely have congratulated him on his good shooting.

George Orwell, from his memoir Homage to Catalonia about fighting in the Spanish Civil war. Orwell went to Spain in 1936 to fight on the side of the Republicans against the Fascists, but he was shot by a sniper in 1937. The war attracted international attention and drew volunteers from many different countries, who saw it as a crucial battle in the global fight against fascism.

This excerpt is so Orwell, it's great. I cannot recommend Homage to Catalonia highly enough. 

Between the Devil and the Deep-Blue Sea

U.S. servicemen's chances of death in battle:

The Civil War is no surprise, but if you had asked me the second most deadly U.S. war from a percentage standpoint - there is NO way I would have guessed the Mexican-American War. 

Why War?

1931 - 

Dear Mr. Freud,

…Is there any way of delivering mankind from the menace of war? It is common knowledge that, with the advance of modern science, this issue has come to mean a matter of life and death for civilization as we know it, nevertheless, for all the zeal displayed, every attempt at its solution has ended in a lamentable breakdown…

…I know that in your writings we may find answers, explicit or implied, to all the issues of this urgent and absorbing problem. But it would be of the greatest service to us all were you to present the problem of world peace in the light of your most recent discoveries, for such a presentation well might blaze the trail for new and fruitful modes of action.

Yours very sincerely,

A. Einstein

Albert Einstein writing to Sigmund Freud about the possibility of using Freud’s research to end war. Einstein was famous for his pacifism, especially in the aftermath of World War I.

The fact that Einstein unironically calls up his buddy to solve the problem of warfare looks incredibly naive to modern eyes: “Hey Freud, do you mind solving world peace for us? Thanks!” However, Einstein’s optimism for solving the world’s largest problems is the result of the age that he lived. The 50 years from 1870 to 1920 represent the greatest period of change in human history. During Einstein’s lifetime, he saw us go from candlelight to lightbulbs, horses to cars and airplanes. Not to mention his own discoveries. It’s not surprising, then, that he felt warfare was just another problem to be solved.

Freud’s answer, which I didn’t include, is largely pessimistic. He argued that war is a fundamental part of human nature and civilization, and while it might theoretically be possible to prevent war through the establishment of international law, he did not believe that this was likely to happen.

Quotes

You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. - Leon Trotsky

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. - John Stuart Mill, 1862

The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools. - Thucydides, fifth century BC

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. - Albert Einstein