“Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World Since 1776”, by Walter A. McDougall

 

286 pages, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN-13: 978-0395830857

 

Since America won the Cold War, there has been great confusion over what principles should guide our Foreign Policy. The options range from the isolationism of Pat Buchanan to the interventionist nation-building of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Anyone wishing to understand the ongoing arguments should read this terrific book. McDougall's compelling thesis is that there is a fundamental dichotomy in US Foreign Policy, with two competing doctrines each influenced by four different themes. There is the Old Testament – or Promised Land – impulse, which is based on four key traditions: Exceptionalism (focus on liberty at home while avoiding entangling alliances); Unilateralism (as opposed to isolationism); The American System (The Monroe Doctrine); Expansionism (Manifest Destiny).

 

This was the prevailing approach to foreign policy – designed to protect America's liberty and independence from the outside world – until 1898 and the Spanish American War, at which point a New Testament – or Crusader State – gained ascendancy, likewise guided by four traditions: Progressive Imperialism (American Progressives abroad); Liberal Internationalism (Wilsonianism); Containment (war by other means); Global Meliorism (reforming other nations internal problems.

 

The adoption of the New Testament policy marked the triumph of the “do-gooder impulse” and represented America's desire to influence the rest of the world and try to make it a "better" place. Given this context, we can see that Buchanan and Bush are representatives of two great historic trends in American thought; what remains is for us to decide between the two.

 

After presenting the historic development of each of the eight traditions, McDougall concludes with a chapter on whether each would serve us well now. The only New Testament tradition that he sees any value in is Containment. In fact, he treats Containment well throughout the book. It seems as if he's a little overawed by George Kennan (the father of Containment). In particular, he gives the policy credit for defeating the Soviet Union. While he does criticize the price paid (huge debt, internal dissent, etc.), I believe that he overestimates the policy. First of all, if containment did work, it took 36 years to do so and that is simply too long. Second, it would seem that you have to consider the Reagan Era policy to be quite different than what had come before, especially the active support of counterrevolutionary movements in Soviet Bloc countries (Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola). Generally, the discussion of how US policy won the Cold War is somewhat weak.

 

But his final conclusions, that we should return to the Old Testament – taking care of our own internal problems; being prepared to act unilaterally, if at all; remaining strong enough to deter challenges; and thereby, continuing to fulfill our unique destiny – is cogent and extremely powerful. This is a pivotal text for understanding our role in the world, past, present and future.





“The Trojan War: A New History”, by Barry Strauss

288 pages, Simon & Schuster, ISBN-13: 978-0743264426

The Trojan War (c.1200 BC) is a conflict shrouded in mists of myth, fragmented historical evidence and often-inconclusive archaeological clues. Most of our views on the war are shaped by Homer's heroic epics, not recorded history. In his book, The Trojan War: A New History, Cornell University Professor Barry Strauss attempts to depict this conflict as a coherent historical narrative, accepting much of Homer as a starting point, but embellishing the tale with other neglected literary sources and all currently available archeological evidence. This is not a stuffy academic tome on Homer but rather, an attempt to depict Helen, Achilles, Hector, Agamemnon, Paris, etc. as real historical characters and the author succeeds in this effort. On the one hand, this is a pleasing effort that brings life to our otherwise hagiographical image of these characters. On the other hand, the reader is constantly brought to wonder what the author has surmised and what he has simply invented whole cloth. Since we are not even sure of the existence of many of these characters – did Homer invent some of them? – it is disconcerting to see the author describing their appearance, thoughts and actions. Although this book provides wonderful insight into the Trojan War, I found myself torn whether I should consider it history or historical fiction; there is a huge gray area at the heart of this book.

The author's narrative is clean and strait forward, laid out in 11 chapters that begins with Helen's flight from Sparta with Paris to the fall of Troy. As a starting premise, the author accepts much of Homer's The Iliad as based upon real events, but he notes exaggerations and omissions that make certain sections suspect. Although the author can only guess at the dates – they fall within a 30-year period – readers will sense that the Professor Strauss has attempted to impose the historical structure of Thucydides upon the literary form of Homer. As the author notes, greed not jealousy was the cause of the war: “Helen was not the cause but merely the occasion of the war” and “Agamemnon rallied the Greeks to attack a gold mine.” Readers will also note that the author attempts to be more balanced to the Trojan point of view than Homer permitted, although ultimately the author criticizes the Trojans for surrendering the strategic initiative to the Greeks.

One of the author's main hypotheses is that Troy was indeed sacked by the Greeks but there was no formal siege. Instead, the author maintains that the Greeks, frustrated by the seemingly impregnable walls of Troy, turned to small-scale attacks on the villages around Troy and her weaker allies. The author is hindered in testing this hypothesis by his limited understanding of military theory, referring to the period after the initial Greek attack on Troy failed as “low intensity conflict.” This was in fact a switch in Greek tactics from counterforce (i.e., destroy the Trojan Army) to counter value (i.e., destroy the Trojan economy and alliance network), but the commitment of thousands of troops on these raids indicated that they were far from low-intensity. Nor does it help when the author fumbles military references from other eras, such as a comparison to “Ernst Rommel” (that is, Erwin Rommel). The author also strongly criticizes the Trojans for not attempting to launch counteroffensives to take advantage of Greek mistakes, but the evidence for or against this is far too weak. Given our limited knowledge of the war and the Greek-centric nature of what sources are available, I don't believe that we have enough information to condemn the Trojan strategy as faulty. The author also tends to blame the Trojans when they did counterattack, accusing Hector of being vainglorious and reckless in seeking combat. This seems to be contradictory.

Nevertheless, the author's descriptions of Greek assaults upon the walls and furious fights upon the plains of Troy are thrilling to read. I just wish we had a better idea if they are based upon fact or this author's imagination. It is never really clear. When the author suspects that Homer exaggerates, he simply deletes or ignores those passages. This kind of `pick and choose approach' makes sense, but it also risks including some ideas that were false but sound reasonable while excluding true improbables. Would readers 3,000 years from now believe that the American Revolution was decided by an almost-unheard of French naval victory over the Royal Navy? The author does provide some nice maps and photographs of the terrain, as well as notes on sources. Overall, this book is a very good read and the author achieves at least partial success in laying out his hypotheses, although there are too many lingering doubts to call this a definitive work. 

“Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire”, by Caroline Finkel

704 pages, Basic Books, ISBN-13: 978-0465023967

Though more people today associate the word "ottoman" with fancy cushioned footstools than with a mighty regime, the Ottoman Empire dominated much of southeastern Europe and the Middle East from the fifteenth century to the end of the First World War. In many respects it was the last of the great Muslim empires which challenged Christian Europe, while its’ lengthy decline concerned generations of Western statesman and its successor states still demand the world's attention. In Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire, Caroline Finkel offers us a single-volume history of the Ottoman Empire, ranging from its obscure origins to its demise in the 1920s. Though similar overviews have been written before, her goal is to dispel the traditional “rise and fall” approach and to free the empire from its’ stereotyping as, in her words, “a theatre of the absurd”. Tapping into the enormous wealth of recent scholarly work on the Ottomans, she offers a far more complex and nuanced portrayal of the empire than in most popular accounts – pointing out, for example, that the ranks of the soldiers of the early empire included as many Christians as it did Muslims, and that it was not until well into the empire's decline in the 18^th Century that the Ottoman sultans began to embrace the previously disused title of Caliph.

Yet the book suffers from a relatively narrow focus. Most of the text is dominated by a narrative of high politics, one concentrating on the machinations and maneuvering of the sultans; other elements, such as the complex social and economic structures of the empire, are addressed only in passing. Moreover, Finkel rarely explains the empire in any depth. Key institutions such as the janissaries are mentioned and their political role is covered, but the reasons for their existence and maintenance are rarely analyzed in detail. The result is that while readers are informed of the who, what, and when of Ottoman history, the how and the why often are left unaddressed. Furthermore, while this book provides a rather quick paced narrative for a large span of history, its divergence from established historical fact regarding the Armenian Genocide is so blatant as to border on propaganda. While the author spends a short amount of time on the issue, admitting that “some” atrocity took place (!), her views completely run counter to a vast amount if well-established research.

Nonetheless, Finkel has provided an accessible overview of the Ottoman Empire, one largely free from the Eurocentric stereotyping all too typical of many earlier histories of the subject. While the text is often dense with details, the narrative itself is straightforward and a useful set of maps are provided to help readers master the intricacies of the human geography of the period. This book is likely to serve as the standard work on the empire for many years to come, though one that should be supplemented by more explanatory texts.

 

“Sovereigns of the Sea: The Quest to Build the Perfect Renaissance Battleship”, by Angus Konstam

352 pages, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN-13: 978-0470116678

Angus Konstam's book, Sovereigns of the Sea: The Quest to Build the Perfect Renaissance Battleship proves to be a great book on the evolution of warship building in northern Europe. Much of the book centered around the arms race between England, Netherlands and Spain during the 16^th Century with France thrown in here and there. It is interesting to note how Europeans’ quest for larger, superior warships during the 16th century will remind some readers of the same mentality of the European powers prior to World War I. In today's world battleships consist of such gigantic craft as 30,000 ton aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers, frigates, and patrol boats with diesel and gas turbine propulsion in CODOG, CODAG and COGAG configurations; with sprint speeds of over 40 knots. Warships with hulls made of welded steel and fiberglass, with sophisticated computer-operated weapons systems and helipads. What an extraordinary change from those wooden hulls, tallmasted, ornate seafaring battleships of the 14^th through the 17^th Centuries. And yet, Mr. Konstam writes, “they created and ruined empires, changed the map of the world, and led Europe out of the Renaissance into the modern age.”

When we think of the Renaissance, we tend to think of the intellectual and artistic rebirth – of Donatello, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Copernicus and Galileo In fact it was also a period of almost constant wars, plundering and blood-letting; piracy, legal and illegal. The concept that control of the seas is crucial to the survival of nations was formed during Renaissance. It directly led to a race to build the biggest, most powerful, most maneuverable battleships. However, one of the more interesting chapters turned out to be Scotland's King James IV's bid for naval supremacy when they built the Michael, the most powerful warship of her times when built. This impressive ship ate up over half of Scotland's budget when it was built and it barely saw combat. And she was surpassed quickly by ships from England and other nations. However, it was interesting to read that for a brief moment in the sun, Scotland was a naval power to be reckoned with even if it was just for show.

The book also traced how the flush built designs from the Mediterranean influence the ship building in northern Europe. How usage of gun powder and cannons made these ships a true instrument of war instead of just armed transports of the medieval period. Sovereigns of the Sea also goes into some details of famous ships like the Mary Rose and the Swedish Vasa, both ships that is currently on display in their respective nations today. The book ends when England built their Sovereign of the Sea, Europe's first true modern ship of the line during the reign of Charles I, a ship according to the author that was good enough to sail in the line of battle with Nelson at Trafalgar.