War and Peace in the Western Political Imagination : From Classical Antiquity to the Age of Reason

"The study of war in all periods of prehistory and recorded history has always commanded the attention of historians, dramatists, poets and artists. The study of peace has, however, not yet gained a comparable readership, and the subject is attracting an increasing amount of scholarly research. This volume presents the first work of academic research to tackle this imbalance head on. It looks at war and peace through the ages, from the Classical world through to the eighteenth century. It considers the nature and advocacy of war and peace both from an historical perspective but also a philosophical one, particularly looking at how universal peace, which began as a personal philosophy, became over the centuries a political philosophy that underpins much of modern society's attitudes towards warfare and militarism. Roger Manning begins his journey through history by looking at the Greek martial ethos and philosophical concepts of peace and war in the ancient world; moving through the Roman empire's military advances, he explores the concepts of war and peace in the medieval world and the Renaissance, with the writing of Machiavelli and Erasmus; finally, his account of the search for a science of peace in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries brings the book to its conclusion."--Bloomsbury Publishing Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Preface 11 Introduction 12 1. The Legacy of Classical Antiquity 29 The Greek martial ethos 30 Alexander the Great and empire-building 41 Stoicism and Greek concepts of peace 46 The Roman military machine 52 Roman concepts of peace 59 Early Christian pacifism 66 Stoicism and constraints on war 68 2. War and Peace in the Medieval World 73 The Augustinian earthly city 74 Barbarians, war, and violence 82 Christianity and Germanic society 85 The Carolingian Empire and feudalism 91 Chivalry and warfare 95 Medieval just-war theories 102 The Peace and Truce of God 108 The papacy and the crusades 110 War and diplomacy in the Byzantine Empire 116 The Hundred Years War and papal diplomacy 122 Emergence of a peace ethic 125 3. Holy Wars, Crusades, and Religious Wars 133 Holy war in the Bible 134 The concepts of holy war 137 Islamic holy war 141 Crusades against the Saracens 147 The Turkish holy war against Christendom 154 Crusades against Christians 161 Wars of the Reformation 170 French religious wars 183 Thirty Years War 194 British and Irish civil wars 198 4. Humanism and Neo-Stoicism 209 The Renaissance and the study of war and peace 210 The Machiavellians and the martial ethos 211 Erasmianism and irenic culture 217 The Salamancan School and just-war theory 222 Utopianism 225 Neo-Stoicism 227 Secular explanations of war and peace 237 5. The Search for a Science of Peace 243 Gentili and Grotius: Natural law and constraints on war 244 Classical republicans and martialism 253 Hobbes’s fear of civil strife 262 The science of politics 265 Political psychology: The science of peace and absolutism 271 Inventing peace 276 6. Conclusion 299 Appendix: Changing Meanings of the “Sinews of War” 313 Glossary 317 Notes 321 Bibliography 375 Index 387 This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched.The study of war in all periods of prehistory and recorded history has always commanded the attention of historians, dramatists, poets and artists. The study of peace has, however, not yet gained a comparable readership, and the subject is attracting an increasing amount of scholarly research.This volume presents the first work of academic research to tackle this imbalance head on. It looks at war and peace through the ages, from the Classical world through to the 18th century. It considers the nature and advocacy of war and peace both from an historical perspective but also a philosophical one, particularly looking at how universal peace, which began as a personal philosophy, became over the centuries a political philosophy that underpins much of modern society's attitudes towards warfare and militarism.Roger Manning begins his journey through history by looking at the Greek martial ethos and philosophical concepts of peace and war in the ancient world; moving through the Roman empire's military advances, he explores the concepts of war and peace in the medieval world and the Renaissance, with the writing of Machiavelli and Erasmus; finally, his account of the search for a science of peace in the 17th and 18th centuries brings the book to its conclusion. The study of war in all periods of prehistory and recorded history has always commanded the attention of historians, dramatists, poets and artists. The study of peace has, however, not yet gained a comparable readership, and the subject is attracting an increasing amount of scholarly research. This volume presents the first work of academic research to tackle this imbalance head on. It looks at war and peace through the ages, from the Classical world through to the 18th century. It considers the nature and advocacy of war and peace both from an historical perspective but also a philosophical one, particularly looking at how universal peace, which began as a personal philosophy, became over the centuries a political philosophy that underpins much of modern society's attitudes towards warfare and militarism. Roger Manning begins his journey through history by looking at the Greek martial ethos and philosophical concepts of peace and war in the ancient world; moving through the Roman empire's military advances, he explores the concepts of war and peace in the medieval world and the Renaissance, with the writing of Machiavelli and Erasmus; finally, his account of the search for a science of peace in the 17th and 18th centuries brings the book to its conclusion. -- From publisher's website The study of war in all periods of prehistory and recorded history has always commanded the attention of historians, dramatists, poets and artists. The study of peace has, however, not yet gained a comparable readership, and the subject is attracting an increasing amount of scholarly research. This volume presents the first work of academic research to tackle this imbalance head on. It looks at war and peace through the ages, from the Classical world through to the 18th century. It considers the nature and advocacy of war and peace both from an historical perspective but also a philosophical one, particularly looking at how universal peace, which began as a personal philosophy, became over the centuries a political philosophy that underpins much of modern society's attitudes towards warfare and militarism. Roger Manning begins his journey through history by looking at the Greek martial ethos and philosophical concepts of peace and war in the ancient world; moving through the Roman empire's military advances, he explores the concepts of war and peace in the medieval world and the Renaissance, with the writing of Machiavelli and Erasmus; finally, his account of the search for a science of peace in the 17th and 18th centuries brings the book to its conclusion.-- Provided by Publisher The study of war in all periods of prehistory and recorded history has always commanded the attention of historians, dramatists, poets and artists. The study of peace has, however, not yet gained a comparable readership, and the subject is attracting an increasing amount of scholarly research.

This volume presents the first work of academic research to tackle this imbalance head on. It looks at war and peace through the ages, from the Classical world through to the 18th century. It considers the nature and advocacy of war and peace both from an historical perspective but also a philosophical one, particularly looking at how universal peace, which began as a personal philosophy, became over the centuries a political philosophy that underpins much of modern society's attitudes towards warfare and militarism.

Roger Manning begins his journey through history by looking at the Greek martial ethos and philosophical concepts of peace and war in the ancient world; moving through the Roman empire's military advances, he explores the concepts of war and peace in the medieval world and the Renaissance, with the writing of Machiavelli and Erasmus; finally, his account of the search for a science of peace in the 17th and 18th centuries brings the book to its conclusion.