LEADER 04159nam 2200781 a 450 001 9910462155203321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-674-07187-5 010 $a0-674-06811-4 024 7 $a10.4159/harvard.9780674068117 035 $a(CKB)2670000000273689 035 $a(StDuBDS)AH24437928 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000757226 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11434993 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000757226 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10754678 035 $a(PQKB)10049409 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3301142 035 $a(DE-B1597)177976 035 $a(OCoLC)1002222689 035 $a(OCoLC)815276601 035 $a(OCoLC)979969669 035 $a(OCoLC)984592530 035 $a(OCoLC)987921814 035 $a(OCoLC)992489364 035 $a(OCoLC)999354296 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674068117 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3301142 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10612165 035 $a(OCoLC)923118875 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000273689 100 $a20120618d2012 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe verdict of battle$b[electronic resource] $ethe law of victory and the making of modern war /$fJames Q. Whitman 210 $aCambridge, Mass. $cHarvard University Press$d2012 215 $a1 online resource (323 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-674-06714-2 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aWhy battles matter -- Accepting the wager of battle -- Laying just claim to the profits of war -- The monarchical monopolization of military violence -- Were there really rules? -- The death of pitched battle. 330 $aToday, war is considered a last resort for resolving disagreements. But a day of staged slaughter on the battlefield was once seen as a legitimate means of settling political disputes. James Whitman argues that pitched battle was essentially a trial with a lawful verdict. And when this contained form of battle ceased to exist, the law of victory gave way to the rule of unbridled force. The Verdict of Battle explains why the ritualized violence of the past was more effective than modern warfare in bringing carnage to an end, and why humanitarian laws that cling to a notion of war as evil have led to longer, more barbaric conflicts. Belief that sovereigns could, by rights, wage war for profit made the eighteenth century battle's golden age. A pitched battle was understood as a kind of legal proceeding in which both sides agreed to be bound by the result. To the victor went the spoils, including the fate of kingdoms. But with the nineteenth-century decline of monarchical legitimacy and the rise of republican sentiment, the public no longer accepted the verdict of pitched battles. Ideology rather than politics became war's just cause. And because modern humanitarian law provided no means for declaring a victor or dispensing spoils at the end of battle, the violence of war dragged on. The most dangerous wars, Whitman asserts in this iconoclastic tour de force, are the lawless wars we wage today to remake the world in the name of higher moral imperatives. 606 $aWar$xMoral and ethical aspects 606 $aCombat$xMoral and ethical aspects 606 $aBattles$zEurope$xHistory$y18th century 606 $aMilitary art and science$zEurope$xHistory$y18th century 606 $aWar (International law) 606 $aMilitary ethics$xHistory$y18th century 607 $aEurope$xHistory, Military$y18th century 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aWar$xMoral and ethical aspects. 615 0$aCombat$xMoral and ethical aspects. 615 0$aBattles$xHistory 615 0$aMilitary art and science$xHistory 615 0$aWar (International law) 615 0$aMilitary ethics$xHistory 676 $a172/.42 700 $aWhitman$b James Q.$f1957-$0241301 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910462155203321 996 $aThe verdict of battle$92473037 997 $aUNINA