Gabriel Herman: Morality Isn't Everything
[Gabriel Herman is a professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.]
...Victorious military leaders have left behind piles of dirt that make Galant's land affair appear insignificant. During a drunken party Alexander the Great drove his spear through a close friend (who was also his lover ) only because the man criticized him. When Julius Caesar wasn't waging war, he committed adultery with his enemies' wives and sometimes also with his friends' wives. (When he was waging war, he preferred asceticism of body and soul for the sake of victory. ) Napoleon Bonaparte incriminated the Duc D'Enghien, and his execution was tantamount to murder. Before the landing at Normandy, Gen. George Patton fired up his soldiers by telling them they didn't need to die for the sake of their country; they needed to make sure "the bastards" on the other side died for the sake of their country.
Neither by the moral standards of our times nor by those of their own times have history's victorious military leaders been symbols of morality and purity.
To win in battle, a leader needs a rare combination of characteristics. A military leader has to hack his way to the top; he has to make thousands of soldiers follow him through fire and water and put their lives on the line for the sake of victory. He has to consider a large amount of data (the enemy's weak points, the terrain, the weaponry and the systems at his disposal ), he has to make snap decisions, and above all he has to surprise the foe by trickery....
Read entire article at Haaretz
...Victorious military leaders have left behind piles of dirt that make Galant's land affair appear insignificant. During a drunken party Alexander the Great drove his spear through a close friend (who was also his lover ) only because the man criticized him. When Julius Caesar wasn't waging war, he committed adultery with his enemies' wives and sometimes also with his friends' wives. (When he was waging war, he preferred asceticism of body and soul for the sake of victory. ) Napoleon Bonaparte incriminated the Duc D'Enghien, and his execution was tantamount to murder. Before the landing at Normandy, Gen. George Patton fired up his soldiers by telling them they didn't need to die for the sake of their country; they needed to make sure "the bastards" on the other side died for the sake of their country.
Neither by the moral standards of our times nor by those of their own times have history's victorious military leaders been symbols of morality and purity.
To win in battle, a leader needs a rare combination of characteristics. A military leader has to hack his way to the top; he has to make thousands of soldiers follow him through fire and water and put their lives on the line for the sake of victory. He has to consider a large amount of data (the enemy's weak points, the terrain, the weaponry and the systems at his disposal ), he has to make snap decisions, and above all he has to surprise the foe by trickery....