Review of "The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians," by Caleb Carr

 Review of

The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians, by Caleb Carr ISBN 9780375760747

Five out of five stars

Lessons have not been learned

 As any serious student of history knows and is well documented in this book, waging war on civilians is almost always counterproductive. In the modern world since the advent of aerial carpet bombing of population centers, the mass killing of non-combatants has never led to a capitulation. The first such instance was the Allied bombing of Europe in World War II, which did almost nothing to end the will of the Germans to keep fighting. It took a successful land invasion to force the surrender.

 In the American war in Vietnam, the United States dropped approximately 8 million tons of bombs on Indochina compared to approximately 4 million on Europe in World War II. Again, to no measurable effect. In the Vietnam War, the hawks constantly screamed, “Bomb them back to the stone age!” The North Vietnamese won.

 It is not well known, but in the Korean War, the United States carpet bombed all the population centers in North Korea, again to no effect. Other than to provide a reminder to the people what ruthlessness the U. S. is capable of. North Korea survived the war and is still a nation.

 There is a more recent example, and that is the Second Gulf War. Before the land invasion, the U. S. political and military leaders proudly proclaimed their policy of “shock and awe” against Iraq. They constantly boasted that their initial attack would be so overwhelming that all opposition would quickly cease. While the coalition forces easily moved over land to occupy Iraq, there was no pacification of the country, with a long-standing brutal war that was a combination of a guerilla and civil war. U. S. forces finally withdrew, leaving the situation worse than when they entered. Coalition forces also dropped a massive amount of munitions on Afghanistan, again to no effect on the willingness of the opposition to keep fighting. The ousted Taliban are once again in power.

 As Carr states so very clearly and accurately, killing the civilians never works, yet modern militaries have never learned this lesson. The historical record back to the Roman Legions is used as evidence to demonstrate the truth of this thesis. In this matter, the leaders are so enamored of their expensive weapons that they refuse to learn the obvious lesson of history, indiscriminate killing does not work.

 As a postscript of modern times, the Russian military is systematically reducing the cities of Ukraine to rubble, yet there has not been the slightest wavering of the Ukrainian people in continuing the fight. In fact, it has increased their determination to win the war. Demonstrating that the disease is not restricted to the American military and political leaders.