Today, St. Martin's Press will publish the paperback edition of my 2020 military history, Last Stands: Why Men Fight When All Is Lost. The book, my first venture into this particular field, sold out the first week of its publication (December), forcing the publisher to go back to the printer for tens of thousands more copies. I am therefore grateful to you, my readers, for making this book such a success. The early reviews were as good as an author could ask for:
Unsurprisingly, the most controversial aspect of my tour of the historical battlefield was found in my Introduction, "To Die For," an examination of the specifically masculine virtues involved in war, including my argument that women have no place in combat, that an army that finds itself fielding women is one that has already lost. This outraged some fantasy-land feminists, but as I complete the sequel, A Rage to Live, A Time to Die for publication next year, and having surveyed in detail commanders such as Achilles, Alexander, Caesar, Constantine, Aetius, Bohemond, Napoleon, Pershing, Nimitz, and Patton -- and putting them all into a Clausewitzian context via a close reading in German of Book One of On War-- I am even more certain of my thesis than before.
Fundamental to my understanding is the demonstrable fact that among human beings, war is the norm and peace the aberration, and in order to survive, society in all important aspects must be organized around that basic principle and fact of life. This is how the book opens:
“The state of peace among men living side by side is not the natural state; the natural state is one of war,” wrote Immanuel Kant in Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1795). “This does not always mean open hostilities, but at least an unceasing threat of war.” Indeed, war is the natural state of man, and the history of the world is written in blood... To observe that war is crucial to civilizational advancement is also to observe the following: that human beings have a larger purpose than simply living out their threescore and ten. That men are born to father children and defend them and their women against other men who would kill them or otherwise take advantage of them.
That the measure of a real man is not how much money he makes (although that is one metric, to use current jargon) but what he has done in his life: how far he has sailed, how well he has loved, how he has raised his children, and how much, or little, they love him. What he has contributed to the historical record, what he has left in the way of posterity, and for posterity; his mark, whether it be empire or a simple X. Every age, it seems, yearns for peace but—heeding the old Roman maxim, Si vis pacem, para bellum—prepares for war.
This issue of "toxic masculinity" has loomed even larger over the past few years, as certain segments of our society have now gone full speed ahead in their attempted destruction of the biological boundaries between male and female, claiming that sex differences (they use the odious squid-ink word "gender") are arbitrary, artificial constructs. But there is nothing artificial about the thrust of a bayonet through the chest, or the primeval evolutionary necessity to sacrifice oneself for your comrades during battle, or the physical strength, endurance, and just simple rage than marks the male animal in an existential fight. Let us hope that our civilization doesn't have to relearn this lesson the hard way, although it probably will. Women should no more be expected to die in combat than men should be expected to die in childbirth.
Last Stands examines the following battles: Thermopylae, Cannae, the Teutoburg Forest, Masada and Warsaw, the Roncevaux Pass (la Chanson de Roland), Hastings, the Swiss Guard during the Sack of Rome in 1527, Szigetvar, the Alamo and Camarón, Shiloh, the Little Bighorn, Rorke's Drift and Khartoum, Stalingrad, and the Marines at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir (which my father, now 97, experienced first-hand as a young first lieutenant). As I wrote:
There is no sanitizing it. War is, in fact, to use the voguish term, “toxic,” in the sense that killing and inflicting of severe physical pain is precisely its point. No one in his right mind would willingly engage in it were it not for a host of other factors, some of them genetic and sexual, some spiritual, some psychological; some vain, and some base, and some entirely unknown, even to the warriors themselves.
And yet, from the dawn of recorded history, men have felt the need, the obligation, and the duty to take up arms against an enemy and fight for what they believe in, whether the defense of territory or in conquest, rapine, and plunder. Noble or base, it does not seem to matter. At the same time, it is essentially masculine; there are no reliable accounts of nations of women warring against other women with spear, pike, hatchet, sword, bayonet, carbine, machine gun, or nuclear weapon.
When war breaks out, as it inevitably does, fastidiousness goes out the window, and—in particular, when the fight is defensive and dire—men, not women, are called to arms. That they go, fearful but generally unflinching, is a continual wonder, but it is also a “celebration” of masculinity—which, in its essence, is simply another word for duty, honor, and country.
Please help me celebrate these luckily "toxic" virtues. Both men and women will miss them once they're gone.
Article tags: Last stands, Michael Walsh, military history, St. Martin's Press
Inspiring article. Will now order the book. In a recent Australian blog I made the point that the equality of women in Western society was mission accomplished, but that it's preservation, as was its achievment, is fundamentally down to men, who if not Christian are imbued with Christian culture. Ultimately, those same men will be called to fight to preserve Christian-cum-Western civilisation. Against who? China, Islam, someone. There will always be someone. Among other things, the equality of women will be at stake. In the circumstances, it might be best not to rid the armed forces of all toxic masculinity.
Glad to gift and recommend this fine opus. Greatly enjoy your columns, like to fancy we may have crossed paths, a Chelsea to Melrose lad of same era as you. As a "oldman" still in a game that takes men young, i work hard to give every advantage possible to the next gens - this book is one of them.
I enjoy reading your columns Mr. Walsh and pre-ordered your "Last Stands" book when it first became available. I keep it close at hand to re-read and tell others to get a copy. Being a man today is becoming more challenging, especially if you have thin skin and fear all the "Karens" out there.
Another book I keep close is Tim Eldredge's "Wild at Heart" (2001) . Even in the church, men are told to sit down and be quiet. None of this macho stuff. Tell that to St. Paul!
Being a former Marine, no better friend and no worst enemy, I cannot but help but speak out. The problem is I cannot be as eloquent as you sir or Victor Davis Hanson. Fight versus flight is my instinct. Just as a Corps taught me to turn into and attack when ambushed.
A man protects the innocent, seeks righteous and justice, honors women and puts others before themselves. We are not doormats. Like Jesus, power under control.
Keep up the good fight!
Well said and hoo-rah.