[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I understand your point, but disagree that the Crusades, to take your example, was a genteel affair. The chronicles of the time are replete with tales of butchered civilians, sacked and burned towns, and so on. So why does it not qualify as “Total War,” while the Civil War does?

[DanielLongo]

I concede your point on the brutality of all wars. I guess my emphasis was on the modern detachment of those who wage and orchestrate war. In the Crusades, for instance, the military commanders and political leaders (kings, lords, sultans, etc.) put themselves in harms way and were participant in all of the passions of war. The same held true with the Civil War. The exception of course were the Union generals starting with Hooker and epitomized with Grant. They did not make the charges with their men into the teeth of the enemy like Hood, Jackson, Ewell, Hood, Garnett, Armistead and other Confederate generals did-with honor. During the Crusades, Richard and Saladin may have dined and parlayed together while enjoying such things as sherbet cooled from ice from distant mountain tops. But they also strapped on their gear and put themselves in harm’s way with their men. They were not mere spectators. I do not use the word “gentile” to refer to “gentleness”. Indeed I use it as it originated- to describe in a word a more notable class of men; those who led by action and discipline. A true “gentleman” was not above or apart from action. He was defined by his personal commitment to ideals. The testament of this personal commitment, honor, was vouchsafed by both the willingness and the act of personal sacrifice. They did not send their soldiers to war and then sit in guilded halls to thump their chest with pride upon reports of valiant charges and engagements. They were with them, to praise their men and assume all moral responsibilities before God. They did not send their men to hunt enemies house to house and jail them on suspicions of evil intent while they traveled at leisure and ate with dignitaries. They fought. They did not make their men face any hardship they did not endure with them. When their own persons were in jeopardy, the tough decisions were made. Modern war is played at dice. Men are resources. When an American president is not ready to kill any number of the enemy before one of his own countrymen, he no longer deserves their trust or respect. Perhaps this made my position clearer.