Where Have All The Soldiers Gone?: The Transformation of Modern Europe

This is an important book that only earns four stars due to the many questions left unsaid and unanswered. Sheehan chronicles the transformation of Europe from a collection of military garrison states geared for war as necessary to civilian states that do not look to war or violence of any kind to resolve problems. The historical treatise is done well if lightly with many generalizations in about 170 pages. The remainder of the 227 pages is discussion that is well worth reading. The author traces the rise of conscription armies required to meet very real threats from neighbors and how pacifism was marginalized as an alternative before World War I. The reality of WWI shocked everyone, and the states that moved toward providing social benefits to their populations rather than confronting aggression militarily between the wars were forced to rely on the Soviet Union and the US to regain their sovereign status. England fought Germany to the last Frenchman in WWI, and when that supply ran out was saved by American intervention. Having learned nothing when World War II rolled around, England again attempted to fight Germany to the last Frenchman, but the French only lasted four weeks. The Soviets became unexpected allies when attacked by Germany, but even then the US had to be brought in to save Western Europe from Germany (and communism.) I guess it's nice to be needed. Then the malaise set in. Living comfortably under an American military security blanket, Europe was free to develop its economy and social programs while military expenditures remained static. Heroism disappeared as an admirable trait, and the nations transformed themselves to boring, stable, civilian states. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989-1991, the neighboring enemy disappeared and Europe became even more complacent. The author goes into the various attempts to form an effective European Force to handle immediate crises, but as Kosovo showed, their efforts were less than successful. The Dutch contingent of soldiers sent to maintain order proved to be unable to defend those refugees in their charge, and indeed, even to defend themselves. The softness of the societies was further shown by the minimal revolutionary fervor developed after 1968 that dissipated fairly readily and without excessive violence. As a result the author argues that Europe will never become a superpower player although it possesses enormous economic power and a high standard of living. Even more than the US, Europe is a continent in decline, ripe to be conquered by a virile, outside force able to commit itself to violence as a strategy and governed by principles of honor, brotherhood and warrior prowess. There are many fine analyses of this transformation, but the author leaves the question as to why this has come about for the reader to discover on his own. One is tempted to cite the loss of France's manhood in WWI and England's loss of its colonies (and base of grandeur), but the author does not go heavily into discussing this aspect. In addition, the long term success of this trend in providing security to Europe's citizens is clearly in doubt, and the author does not belabor the likelihood of that success. One is left to wonder if the US should pull out all its troops and airforce units from Europe and let Europe go it alone. After the US, what then? I believe from reading this book the answer from Europe would be, "Who cares? We'll handle things somehow." Maybe so, but Europe's history is to call in the American fire brigade to pull its chestnuts out of the fire. Nonetheless, the author came close to convincing me that pacifism is a realistic alternative to a military option and that the US should consider emulating Europe, particularly since we have oceans between us and likely enemies. Then my natural conservative skepticism took hold and brought me back to consider the risks. Still, there is much to learn and ponder here, and the author is to be commended. Buy & read this book, regardless of your political orientation.

In this popular history, James J. Sheehan investigates the reasons for the increasingly pacifist foreign policies pursued by European states after World War II. He finds that these policies are a consequence of the nuclear stalemate between the United and the Soviet Union, which created a protected space in Europe where violent threats to national survival are nearly precluded. Democratization, rapid economic growth, and the emergence of the United States as a hegemonic military power have played contributing roles.Trends toward democratization first encouraged the militarization of European states and later encouraged the adoption of more pacific policies. In the second half of the nineteenth century, innovations in military organization and logistics made large conscript armies feasible and necessary. The need to raise large armies shifted the balance of power between elites and the popular classes, so that important decisions, including decisions to go to war, had to be endorsed by a mass citizenry. At the same time, conscripts in citizen armies were exposed to national language, national culture, and the disciplined habits needed to support modern industrial economies. Thus, mass armies enabled the emergence of strong states and strong states were closely identified with their military establishments. In the second half of the twentieth century, after two world wars had been fought on European soil, popular sentiment turned against war as people realized that invasion was unlikely and that war endangers economic progress and standards of living.Industrialization and economic growth were keys to success in modern total war, as war machines - airplanes, tanks, and artillery - were built and destroyed at previously unfathomable rates. But after World War II, industrial recovery and higher living standards created bonds between nations that traded with one another and made Europeans less willing to risk economic progress by engaging in war. Public opinion - now a powerful force in public policy - had caught up to economic arguments against war that dated from the previous century.The United States - the preponderant economic power during World War II - emerged from the war strengthened while Britain and the European powers were diminished. The newly hegemonic power assumed greater responsibility for maintenance of order in the world, while European states put more emphasis on internal material progress. " 'They had been the centers of vast empires, now they were petty states ... Dominion had gone and with it the grandeur that was one of its main reward.' But by the 1960s, grandeur was no longer an important goals for European states. What mattered ... was material well-being, social stability, economic growth. This is what European electorates demanded of their governments, and this is what governments struggled to provide."Many Americans, at least until the end of the last Presidential administration, have disdained European pacifism in favor of a more activist U.S. foreign policy model. Sheehan departs from this view, seeing civilian states in Europe, with their emphasis on interdependence and material progress, as remarkable and worth preserving. But he criticizes European leaders who have "seemed to lack the will to do more than talk, threaten, and condemn." Moreover, he notes that civilian states can exist only in a favorable security environment, implying that Europe must remain within the Atlantic alliance.The book includes 54 pages of end matter, including endnotes, a bibliography, and an index. I did not spend a lot of time with these, but I was disappointed that several quotations in the text were not adequately sourced in the endnotes or bibliography.

I am not a history student but I found this book extremely interesting and not at all dry or difficult to read. I can't comment on the scholarship but the points are extremely well made and the book flows well.It charts the rise of the military in Europe through the first and second world wars to the civilian Europe we have now.-and hope will continue

Great synopsis of the change from military states in Europe to civilian ones!