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Why Some Wars Never End: The Stories of the Longest Conflicts in History
The Bloody Hostilities, Feuds, and Quarrels that Refuse to Release their Grip.
Sometimes the causes of war are so intractable, the opponents so unyielding, and the rivalries so deep-rooted that the combat continues for years, decades, even centuries. And often when it does abate, the resentments still smolder, so that the slightest spark might reignite the conflagration.
An at once captivating and unsettling volume, Why Some Wars Never End shines a spotlight on fourteen of history’s longest-running conflicts. They range from the almost century-long Punic Wars, which saw ancient Rome achieve dominance over the Mediterranean and lay the foundations of its world-changing empire, to the seventy years of uprisings and bloody encounters that triggered the Jewish Diaspora in the second century CE, to the nineteenth-century Seminole Wars, which virtually wiped out the Seminole Indians, to the violent British suppression of Afghan self-rule that set the stage for that nation’s distressing contemporary plight.
Each of these wars had consequences and influences far beyond its source and the reach of its battles, not only redrawing political boundaries, but also coloring the worldview of generations of participants and bystanders, and thereby refashioning entire cultures. And all demonstrate, in harrowing fashion, why violence still stains our modern world, and why warfare shows no sign of ending any time soon.
Sometimes the causes of war are so intractable, the opponents so unyielding, and the rivalries so deep-rooted that the combat continues for years, decades, even centuries. And often when it does abate, the resentments still smolder, so that the slightest spark might reignite the conflagration.
An at once captivating and unsettling volume, Why Some Wars Never End shines a spotlight on fourteen of history’s longest-running conflicts. They range from the almost century-long Punic Wars, which saw ancient Rome achieve dominance over the Mediterranean and lay the foundations of its world-changing empire, to the seventy years of uprisings and bloody encounters that triggered the Jewish Diaspora in the second century CE, to the nineteenth-century Seminole Wars, which virtually wiped out the Seminole Indians, to the violent British suppression of Afghan self-rule that set the stage for that nation’s distressing contemporary plight.
Each of these wars had consequences and influences far beyond its source and the reach of its battles, not only redrawing political boundaries, but also coloring the worldview of generations of participants and bystanders, and thereby refashioning entire cultures. And all demonstrate, in harrowing fashion, why violence still stains our modern world, and why warfare shows no sign of ending any time soon.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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About the author
Joseph Cummins
56 books32 followersJoseph Cummins is the author of numerous books, including Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots and October Surprises in U.S. Presidential Elections; A Bloody History of the World, which won the 2010 Our History Project Gold Medal Award; and the forthcoming Ten Tea Parties: Patriotic Protests That History Forgot. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 29, 2016
Cummins' other book, History's Greatest Wars is much better. I left this book feeling disappointed. The author's choice of long wars is a joke. The Ottoman Wars, fought between 30 factions is considered a single war. While the Dutch rebellion is not included. The author tries to make great and over generalizations in why wars are long. The author can achieve better, I highly recommend his other books.
February 15, 2016
Some of the chapters were interesting and covered conflicts that do not often see the light of day. My biggest critique is that it didn't feel like there was that much insight. It's hard to put a finger on it, but there are times where it just seemed to assume a world view, like the reader would already be there, that's hard to reconcile with the generalist nature of the enterprise.
April 22, 2017
There were some interesting things here but the presentation lacked and certainly did not invite the reader to keep reading
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews