Читать книгу The Warrior's Manifesto. Ideals for Those Who Protect and Defend онлайн

10 страница из 17

Does fighting in a war, then, make the warrior?

From the massive armies of ancient Persia and China to the trimmer forces of France and England centuries later, history finds militaries composed largely of conscripts and slaves compelled to fight at the point of a spear or the muzzle of a gun in an endless procession of predation to extend the imperium of tyrants. Many of those so compelled were brave and skilled fighters, but, had they a choice, they would have elected a different path for themselves. Some embraced their fate. Some volunteered to test their mettle or defend what they believed. They may have been warriors. But those forced to fight in the schemes of tyrants are not warriors. They do not fight by choice for a cause embraced as just.

The long history of warfare, moreover, often stumbles into malignancy unconnected to battle proper. Perhaps the crudeness of conscription feeds the malignancy. In any event, defeating an enemy often meant (and, sadly, means still) raping, pillaging, and plundering. Brutalizing a defeated village is thuggery. Those who do it may be fighters in a war. But fighters, brawlers, and brutes are not warriors. Fighting in a war does not make a warrior.