Jews and the military : a history / / Derek J. Penslar

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910809581103321
• Autore: Penslar Derek Jonathan
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Princeton, : Princeton University Press, 2013
• ISBN: 1-4008-4857-1; 0-691-16809-1
• Edizione: [Course Book]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (375 p.)
• Disciplina: 355.0089/92404
• Soggetti: Jewish soldiers - Europe - History - 19th century; Jewish soldiers - Europe - History - 20th century; Jews - Europe - History - 19th century; Jews - Europe - History - 20th century; Jews - Cultural assimilation - Europe - History - 19th century; Jews - Cultural assimilation - Europe - History - 20th century; Jews - Europe - Identity
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Jews in the Tsar's army: conscription as national tragedy? -- Fighting for rights: conscription and Jewish emancipation -- The military as a Jewish occupation -- When may we kill our brethren? Jews at war -- The Jewish soldier of World War I: from participant to victim -- The world wars as Jewish wars -- 1948 as a Jewish world war.
• Sommario/riassunto: Jews and the Military is the first comprehensive and comparative look at Jews' involvement in the military and their attitudes toward war from the 1600's until the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Derek Penslar shows that although Jews have often been described as people who shun the army, in fact they have frequently been willing, even eager, to do military service, and only a minuscule minority have been pacifists. Penslar demonstrates that Israel's military ethos did not emerge from a vacuum and that long before the state's establishment, Jews had a vested interest in military affairs. Spanning Europe, North America, and the Middle East, Penslar discusses the myths and realities of Jewish draft dodging, how Jews reacted to facing their coreligionists ; in battle, the careers of Jewish officers and their reception in the Jewish community, the effects of World War I on Jewish veterans, and Jewish participation in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Penslar culminates with a study of Israel's War of Independence as a Jewish world war, which drew on the military expertise and financial support of a mobilized, global Jewish community. He considers how military service was a central issue in debates about Jewish emancipation and a primary indicator of the position of Jews in any given society. Deconstructing old stereotypes, Jews and the Military radically transforms our understanding of Jews' historic relationship to war and military power.