Ripples of Battle

Ripples of Battle by Victor Davis Hanson recounts how various battles throughout the history of civilization have had an affect on not just how we wage war, but also what we prioritize in our lives, what we value, and even how we order ourselves.

Hanson begins his book with the battle for Okinawa, an island that would be the staging area for an invasion of Japan. He has a personal tie to the campaign as his namesake Victor Hanson perished there, the only son of a California farm family. Victor Hanson was a Marine killed in action May 18th of 1945.

Echoes of current events are found in the author's depiction of the invasion of Okinawa. The strength, assets and tenacity of the defenders were sorely underestimated, partially from a lack of good intelligence, partially from American hubris. Hanson (the Author, not the dead Marine) convincingly reasons that from this campaign arose such modern horrors as suicide bombings. The reader is given enough perspective to embrace the monumental tragedy of Okinawa, and how the loss of life was predicated by a critically ill social frame of mind. One is left with the impression that had the U.S. not dropped the atom bomb, far more otherwise innocent citizens and American G.I.s would have been slaughtered.

Hanson also explores Shiloh, revealing how circumstance and fate conspired to bring a lowly leader Sherman up high and a well-regarded general, Lew Wallace, low. From this one battle the author argues entire psychologies would spring. Surprised by the Confederates, the Union battle lines were on the verge of collapse. The South believed that victory was one final charge away, save for the untimely death of Albert Sidney Johnston. Though Nathan Bedford Forrest was ready to move forward with the plan, ranking generals demurred, and the legend of the lost opportunity was born. From that point forward, the people of the South never really felt defeated, but rather robbed, and successive generations would groan and strain as a better people deprived by fate.

The author reaches back to antiquity to a battle called Delium, where Greek states clashed and civilization was forever altered. One participant, Socrates, would go on to be the single most influential philosopher on the West with the exception of Jesus Christ. How this ancient battle must have changed the course of history is interesting to consider.

Victor Davis Hanson is strongest in writing about Okinawa and Shiloh, both of these narratives are gripping page-turners. Though interesting ,the tour of the aftermath of Delium is difficult to follow, although I doubt the fault is that of the writer. I am shamefully lacking in knowledge of the classical figures, and I suspect this section would be more interesting to someone less ignorant.

All in all, Ripples of Battle is an excellent book that does more than retell the tales of battles. Hanson affords a thoughtful, fascinating analysis not only of characters and tactics, but the far-reaching impact on our culture these events wrought.

Tim McNabb