Civil Wars

Starred review from November 14, 2016
Armitage (The Declaration of Independence: A Global History), a professor of history at Harvard, succeeds in his quest to distinguish civil wars from revolutionary wars, and different kinds of civil wars from one another, in a learned book that cuts a trail through “an impoverished area of inquiry.” Starting with the Greeks and Romans and arriving in the 21st century, Armitage leads readers down long, murky paths that writers, historians, and philosophers have previously trod without making the type of lasting, satisfying distinctions he seeks. As Armitage shows, this is a surprisingly complex subject filled with much heavy speculation. But where others, including many whose thinking Armitage analyzes and quotes, employ laborious prose, his book is a model of its kind: concise, winningly written, clearly laid out, trenchantly argued. Armitage contends that failure to understand civil wars—which are normal and perhaps unavoidable—has burdened the understanding of history and policy in unfortunate ways. His conclusion is sobering: human societies may never be without this kind of conflict, and we’re better off trying to understand it than ignoring its problematic nature. It’s hard to imagine a more timely work for today. Historians, political scientists and theorists, and policy makers will find it indispensable. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency.

December 1, 2016
A probing examination of the history of civil war and why it matters to define it precisely.In this slender but dense work of academic history, distinguished historian Armitage (Intellectual and International History/Harvard Univ.; Foundations of Modern International Thought, 2013, etc.) tracks the emergence of "civil war" from Roman times to the present Syrian conflagration, exploring how it has become "the most widespread, the most destructive, and the most characteristic form of organized human violence." Defined by the ancient Greeks as a conflict between members of the same civitas, it features deadly strife among fellow citizens and family; it is the most profoundly destructive, shameful struggle; and it is without triumph, in the Roman sense of victory over foreign enemies. Indeed, the Romans had the dubious distinction of "inventing" or recognizing this new form of warfare as a kind of recurring plague of civilization, a violation of the "zone of cooperation and peace" epitomized by the city, replaced by "threats of irrationality, savagery, and animality." Armitage regards Consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla's march on Rome in 88 B.C.E. to "free the fatherland from tyrants" as the first civil war; it was construed as defensive and only in the face of injustice. From here until the modern era, historians have weighed in on what constitutes a civil war: is it rebellion or revolution, such as the American or French revolutions, which were regarded as "fertile" conflicts that ultimately brought their citizens innovation and improvement? Armitage emphasizes that the Enlightenment thinkers had hoped to do away with what was regarded as the atavistic, destructive "weed" of civil war, yet the conflicts have proliferated to the point where global civil war is now the norm. Ultimately, the classification of "civil war" often determines the level of world response, politically, militarily, legally, and ethically--and whether it justifies intervention, humanitarian or otherwise. An erudite work by a top-shelf scholar.

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Starred review from December 1, 2016
Beyond the blue-and-gray carnage of Gettysburg, Armitage discerns an interpretive challenge in Lincoln's reference to that clash as part of a great civil war. For the phrase civil war carries a thorny political history stretching back over two millennia to when Roman writers first applied it to the perilous novelty of armed violence between fellow citizens. This Roman perspective on civil war guided early modern European leaders entangled in realm-splitting conflicts such as England's Wars of the Roses and France's Wars of Religion. But Armitage highlights the new ambiguity created when progressive theorists of the eighteenth century began to champion insurrections as emancipatory revolutions, not outbreaks of civil war. This ambiguity looms large in a twenty-first-century world where wars between nations have largely given way to wars within nationsespecially in Africa and Asiapitting religious, ethnic, regional, and political factions against each other. And because the United Nations applies international law differently in conflicts officially recognized as civil wars, keen debates surround such designation. Though the text suggests that such debates are likely to continue, Armitage suggests that historically grounded understanding of civil wars can help prevent their future occurrence, so ushering in a Kantian era of perpetual peace. A profound contribution to political philosophy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2016

The Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard University, Armitage considers civil war not as an aggregation of battles but as an idea dating back to republican Rome. That idea really matters, for whether a conflict is seen as civil war affects how outsiders regard it--are they justified in intervening? And whether it's seen as civil war often depends on who wins, ruler or rebel, which in turn shapes the place it will take in history. In a world that has been exploding in bloodshed from the Balkans to Rwanda to Syria, this book is lamentably relevant.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017

In his latest work, British historian Armitage (Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History, Harvard Univ.; The Declaration of Independence: A Global History) explores the complexities around the term civil war. He begins by looking at the origin of recognizing conflicts as such, which he traces back to Rome. The following chapters highlight historically major civil wars in Europe and the United States, and the characteristics of each. In examining these battles, Armitage explains that "without the challenges it posed," our ideas of democracy and community wouldn't be as rich. But, labeling conflicts civil wars can also have negative effects. According to Armitage, the term has "moral as well as political consequences." For example, countries outside the struggle might deny responsibility to offer assistance to one side or the other. Armitage's book does a wonderful job of showing the multifaceted nature of his subject. While civil war might be easy to define, he shows that its application is intricate. VERDICT Readers with an interest in history and philosophy will find this work both engaging and thought provoking. [See Prepub Alert, 8/26/16.]--Scott Duimstra, Capital Area Dist. Lib., Lansing, MI

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.