Pussycats: Why The Rest Keeps Beating The West, And What Can Be Done About It

by Martin van Creveld

In the kingdom(s) of the West, something is rotten. Collectively, the countries of NATO are responsible for almost two thirds of global military spending. In terms of military technology, particularly electronics, communications and logistics, they have left the rest so far behind that it is no contest. Yet ever since the Korean War ended in 1953, almost every time they went abroad and fought non-Westerners they were defeated and had to withdraw. As happened, to cite but two recent cases, in Iraq and Afghanistan; and as may yet happen if and when Islamic terrorism spreads into Europe, as it is quite likely to do. What went wrong? How did the ferocious soldiers who, between 1492 and 1914, brought practically the entire world under their sway, become pussycats? The present study, unique of its kind, seeks to answer these questions. Chapter I, “Subduing the Young,” focuses on the way Western people raise their scanty offspring. Infantilizing them, depriving them of any kind of independence, and, in the words of a recent best-seller, turning them into “excellent sheep.” Chapter II, “Defanging the Troops,” shows how the same is happening in the military. Chapter III, “The War on Men,” examines the way in which the forces are being feminized affects, indeed infects, their fighting power. Chapter IV, “Constructing PTSD,” looks at the way returning soldiers are almost obliged to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Finally, chapter V outlines the emergence of modern societies which, exalting rights and forgetting about duty, have come very close to delegitimizing war itself. The book is about 73,000 words long. It is written in jargon-less language laymen can understand. It is also thoroughly documented. Readership should include anybody with an interest in national security, and then some.

Genres: War, History, Nonfiction, Cultural

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2016

About the author

Martin Levi van Creveld is an Israeli military historian and theorist.

Van Creveld was born in the Netherlands in the city of Rotterdam, and has lived in Israel since shortly after his birth. He holds degrees from the London School of Economics and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has been on the faculty since 1971. He is the author of seventeen books on military history and strategy, of which Command in War (1985), Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton (1977, 2nd edition 2004), The Transformation of War (1991), The Sword and the Olive (1998) and The Rise and Decline of the State (1999) are among the best known. Van Creveld has lectured or taught at many strategic institutes in the Western world, including the U.S. Naval War College.

- wikipedia.org

Reviews

[Andrew Tollemache · Rating 2 out of 5]

Martin van Creveld is a historian and theorist, whose books like "The Sword and the Olive" (history of the Israeli Defense Force) and "Transformation of War" were highly informative and illumiunating. ToW, written over 25 years was remarkably prescient about what conflict in the post-Cold War era would look like.
His new book, "Pussycats" is not one of his finest. By its synopsis and pedigree, I was expecting a very penetrating insight into why Western powers, chiefly the US, have struggled to achieve their stated goals in the last 50 years of military conflict. Why have Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and the GWOT proven so frustrating. I was hoping Creveld would bring a mix of unique insight and deft analysis to the book, instead I should have paid attention to the title.
His main thesis is that the West is a bunch of pussycats...prolly wanted to use something harsher but publisher shot him down. MvC thinks we have gone soft and let our militaries get too feminized. It all seems a bit too facile. Throw in some really amateurish factual errors: (1) Jessica Lynch was wounded and captured in Iraq in 2003, not 1991. (2) Petraeus was booted from CIA, not so much for his affair, as the fact he shared classified intel with his biographer/lover Paula Broadwell and then tried to hide the evidence in his attic....and you have a really shoddy book.
I get his points that something is lost in Western society as rights replace concepts like honor and duty, that our drive to gender integrate our military is maybe a folly born upon the luxury of not having to fight a serious Great Power, "win or die" war in over 70 years, BUT I do not think these things come close to explaining why our wars the last 50 years have been a mix of quagmires and bloody stalemates.
MvC seems to be suffering from what I call "Victor Davis Hanson's disease" in which the author believes citing a lot of ancient Greek, Roman and Persian history will make up for not having much data or well thought out arguments. A shame really

[Stingray · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Pussycats” is Martin van Creveld’s attempt at revealing the reasons for the apparent demise of Western military forces and Western power in general, in which he identifies current developments and lashes out against negative impacts but sadly often fails to make solid arguments.
The starting point for van Creveld’s arguments is the observation of Western military forces to be less effective and Western power to be more constrained today than during the Cold War. This development to Creveld is rooted in several developments within society, the political sphere and the military. He decries how children today are given too little chances to grow but too many save spaces and easy ways to stay childish and immature. The force of the Western military to him has been diminished by de-mobilization of units and abilities, overregulation, softening and feminization of training and general duty. The incorporation of civilian standards and especially the introduction of women into the military had softened forces and made them less effective. The author goes on to decry PTSD to basically be an artificially constructed illness and the increasing containment of warfare to have led to an impractical illegalization of war as a political means, Western countries would inhibit themselves with.
Although van Creveld does raise some interesting points, which do have negative consequences, most of his arguments are also taken over the top. He usually does not bother to analyze why the measures he decries had been taken, but cites their effects and contrasts them to the good old times. So for example he is right with his observation of modern forces having a seriously different balance between enlisted personnel and general officers than 80 years ago, but van Creveld does not even bother to inquire why this might be necessary. Also the author might be right in his assertion enlisted personnel in garrison to often have been inclined to drinking, brawling and all sorts of misdemeanor, but concluding the militaries stricter enforcement of discipline today to result in a less capable fighting force is simply over the top.
While the book is structured along the different factors previously mentioned, the author does wander from one particular behavior to another within the chapters, not going into much depth on individual measures, but contrasting them with historical precedents and ending in rhetorical questions, why this was necessary. This meandering between different anecdotes is seemingly supported by many citations of sources, but when checking out the sources, one often comes to a different understanding of the subject than Creveld describes in his book.
It is the presentation of his arguments, the meandering thoughts and clearly opinion-based research without objective analysis, which make the arguments sometimes comically unconvincing. A good publisher would likely have convinced the author to present his findings in another way, but sadly the book did not attract one. The book is published by DLVC Enterprises of Israel and Amazon lists the publisher CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. This shows in a bad text layout, frequent misspellings, wrong page numbers and no apparent content review. Thus the arguments of an accomplished author of warfare and history appear like the convoluted rant of an old man.
In summary a better publisher might have resulted in a more focused and better researched argument, because van Creveld does point out alarming tendencies deserving of in-depth analysis, but the author simply cannot convince the reader of his arguments, as he does not even try to analyze his observations or present anything but his personal opinion.

[Jefferson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pussycats has a great thesis, and van Creveld backs it up. Unfortunately and especially in comparison to many of his other works, he seems to "phone in" this book. This disappointed me. A reader not sympathetic to the thesis would probably find Pussycats ultimately unconvincing. That is sad, for he has approached this topic in better form elsewhere, such as "Culture of War".

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant analysis of the reasons for the West's decline militarily since World War II. The increasing feminization of society and demeaning of masculinity has set this culture up for defeat at the hands of lesser cultures.

[Илья Дескулин · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, edgy and engaging. That being said, "Pussycats" is pretty superficial, and a lot of Creveld's assertions are questionable. Probably, he hadn't done enough research on all of the topics he discussed in the book. Also, his own libertarianism sometimes conflicts with his veneration of some traditional practices. A bestseller type of book, I guess...

[Ariel Fabius · Rating 5 out of 5]

The truth blunt and clearly said

This book is, as few others are a wake up call for the democracies of the world. It illustrates why western armies are losing sight of the real reasons for their existence. Becoming instead bureaucratic nightmares of political correctness

[mike rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

MvC has faced up to the basic problem, if somewhat superficially.
Western democracy has lost sigh of their armed forces reason for existance, to win wars. CvM then clearly writes the solutions down in the last chapter, but gives no pathway to actually accomplish this

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth a Read

Discuses less desirable effects of the feminization of society. There is need for masculinity for society to progress and survive.

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книгата е като шамар — удря те, събужда те и изведнъж започваш да размишляваш върху неща, които иначе подминаваш. Хареса ми точно това.

[Rock · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stack 2 Book 3

Awful.
Blames women for every war ever lost and for any future wars lost.
Just awful.