Frontline: Combat and Cohesion in the Twenty-First Century

by Anthony King (editor)

Since 2001, Western forces have been involved in a series of major military campaigns, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan but also in Africa. For all the sophistication of the contemporary Western way of war with its digital technologies and precision weapons, infantry soldier have been frequently involved in close combat of an intensity which is comparable to the wars of the twentieth century. At the small unit level, combat has been as brutal as ever. Yet, in manycases, they have prevailed even when they were surprised or disadvantaged. How and why have professional Western soldiers been willing and able to fight effectively together during these campaigns?Through a series of rich historical and ethnographic case-studies, this collection seeks to analyse the experience of combat soldiers on operations in the last decade. The book explores the motivation, training, and culture of the professional Western soldier, highlighting differences and commonalities between the troops of different nations.This book is a project of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford.

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Anthony King was reader in sociology at the University of Exeter. He is now a Professor of War Studies at Warwick University.

In addition to his work on social theory, he has carried out extensive research on English and European football. He is currently researching European defence policy and capability. His work is currently specialising in the study of war and the armed forces and is particularly interested in the question of small unit cohesion.

Reviews

[Simon Akam]

Continuing my policy of alternating my reading between books for my own book research and alternatives - a return here to militaria. This volume of essays primarily deals with changes to the psychological theories of why soldiers fight in battle. Suggests that the ideas first put forward by Edward Shils and Morris Janowitz in their celebrated 1948 article 'Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II' - essentially that primary group bonds, often outlined as 'the guy next to you,' are the central motivation for troops to stay and fight - no longer apply in an age of professionalised, rather than citizen armies. Interesting further discussion of the move away from the use of formal disciplinary structures (court martial etc) to penalise those who refuse combat, and towards a system where an internal code of shame and honour achieves the same objective. Two chapters examine the French Foreign Legion and the Italian Alpini, both relative outliers compared to other Western armies.