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John Lynn, military historian and featured speaker at the Annual History Conference, discussed four eras that shaped "The Western Ways of War."

Speaker debates 'Cheney's favorite historian'

John Lynn, military historian, discusses "The Western Way of War"

By: Seth Hancock

Posted: 5/3/06

Military historian John Lynn was the featured speaker this weekend at Western Illinois University's 31st Annual History Conference. Lynn, history professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, presented the audience with a debate against the notion of "The Western Way of War," written by historian Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson is a web columnist for the National Review and "Cheney's favorite historian," according to Lynn.

"You can give (Hanson) and I IQ tests and he will beat me by 50 points," Lynn said. "But I find his point of view on the Western way of war quite flawed."

Hanson's "The Western Way of War" argues the West has been superior to the rest of the world in warfare since the time of the Greeks and Romans.

The notion Lynn found the most flawed was the idea of a 2,500-year continuity between Western civilizations and their "way of war." Hanson argues since the Greeks, Western techniques in wars have been mirrored by dominant Western civilizations all the way until the present.

"What (Hanson) seems to leave out in his continuity argument is the Crusades," Lynn said. "The Western way of war was not so dominant then. (Hanson) likes to tell how many opposition fighters died in battles, but he leaves out how many 'Western' fighters died, and of course, we lost the Crusades.

"He also likes to forget about the 600-year gap in dominance by Western armies during the medieval periods," Lynn added. "He covers up not mentioning the Crusades by using a battle the West won that nobody has ever heard of and therefore will not be questioned." That battle took place in Northern Europe.

After these points Lynn warned the audience to put full effort into their historical writings and get all the facts.

"You can't fall in love with your own ideas (and) close your eyes to other evidence," Lynn advised.

"(Hanson) is able to do this because he uses great rhetoric, but as you can see, he does not provide the whole truth."

Another aspect of Hanson's book that Lynn disputes is the idea of the citizen soldier. Hanson said all Western civilizations have had citizen soldiers.

"The first citizen soldiers were during the time of Augustus in Rome," Lynn said. "The next time we see citizen soldiers is not until the French Revolution. That is about a 1,900-year gap and would not qualify into the 2,500-year continuity notion."

After arguing against Hanson's book, Lynn provided his thoughts on the "Western way of war."

"There is not one 'Western way of war,'" Lynn said. "There are, however, 'Western Ways of War.'"

Lynn discussed four eras that shaped "The Western Ways of War." He said it started with the conquest of the sea in the Age of Exploration. Then, he credits the conquest of India by the British, followed by the Industrial Revolution and now the age of technology.

"Right now we are the dominant force in the world because of the technology," Lynn said.

The remainder of the day was filled with Western professors discussing topics ranging from the Civil Rights Movement to the Crusades through Muslims' eyes.