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. Fourteen of history's longest-running military conflicts, from the Greco-Persian Wars to the Sudanese Civil War. 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. Praise for Joseph Cummins "This book is worthy of a place in the libraries of historians and politicians alike. Its stories of the past warn us about the future. Recommended." — Armchair General on The World's Bloodiest History "Gripping stories and lively writing." — Library Journal on History's Greatest Untold Stories

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.

Section 1. "Carthage must be destroyed!": wars of empire -- The Greco-Persian Wars, 500-449 BCE: "Remember the Athenians"--The Punic Wars, 264-146 BCE: the end of Carthage -- The Hundred Years' War, 1337-1453: a perfect storm of warfare -- The Ottoman wars, 1354-1529: "The great drum of conquest" -- section 2. As God is my witness: religious wars -- The Jewish-Roman wars, 66-135 CE: "Not so much as one soul" -- The troubles, 1966-1998: by ballot and bullet -- The Arab-Israeli wars, 1948-ongoing: when war is a fact of life -- section 3. "As a fish swims in the sea": guerilla wars -- The Seminole Wars, 1817-1858: "A tribe which has long violated our rights" -- The Anglo-Afghan wars, 1839-1919: "The great game" -- The Vietnamese wars, 1945-1975: "The light at the end of the tunnel" -- section 4. "On the borders": nationalist struggles -- The Russo-Polish wars, 1558-1667: the battle for the Baltic and supremacy in Eastern Europe -- The Balkan wars, 1912-2001: the field of the blackbirds -- section 5. "Cry havoc": wars of chaos -- Guatemala civil wars, 1944-1996: the bitter fruit of oppression -- The Sudanese Civil War, 1955-2005: evil horsemen, snake venom, proxy war, and genocide The Swiss historian Jean Jacques Babel estimated that in approximately 5,500 years of documented history, the world has known a meager 292 years of peace. This text examines those conflicts, concentrating both on their origin and principal episode or episodes