• Title/Summary/Keyword: nature of war

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War as Catastrophe: Jacques Callot's "Miseries of War" as Moral Meditation

  • Levine, Michael;Taylor, William
    • The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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    • no.13
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    • pp.157-184
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    • 2012
  • This essay examines Jacques Callot's Les Grandes Mis$\grave{e}$res et Malheurs de la Guerre (1633) as a moral meditation on war as catastrophe. It also uses Callot's Miseries to reflect on the nature of catastrophe as such, particularly as "An event producing a subversion of the order or system of things." As such, catastrophe refers less to nature or the natural gone awry, than it does to the abnegation or suspension of moral aspects of human nature. More than a reflection on war as catastrophe, and catastrophe as fundamentally moral, Callot's Miseries are a timeless meditation on aspects of the human condition; or on human beings in what amounts to state of nature-as evidenced in times of disaster. Such reflection, again, does not by itself imply that all war-even when catastrophic-is unnecessary, let alone necessarily unjust. But it does suggest that artistic engagement with war understood as catastrophic, may yield insights into human nature that are as important to human self-understanding as those represented in artistic subject matter that is more quotidian.

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A Study on Cause of Regional Conflict (지역분쟁의 원인 연구)

  • Kim, Sung-Woo
    • Convergence Security Journal
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.157-162
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    • 2019
  • The nature of war includes the concept of war and the purpose of the war, as well as its nature, attributes and personality. The war that started with the history of mankind has started to achieve various purposes. There were also wars that took place to get territory or slaves and resources. There was a war to spread ideology and religion. The cause of war has diversified due to the purpose of various wars. In this study, we analyzed the causes of regional conflicts that have occurred on the earth since World War II. The regional and structural explanations reported in most papers attempting to define the causes of small regional conflicts and new forms of war in each region are not entirely credible. It is clear that the Cold War has intensified civil war. Most of the causes of these wars should be considered to be within the country.

Analysis of the Causes of the Israel-Hamas War and Strategic Implications (이스라엘-하마스 전쟁원인 분석과 전략적 함의)

  • Il Soo Bae;Hee Tae Jeong
    • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.1-5
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    • 2024
  • With the Russia-Ukraine war ongoing, the war broke out due to a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Israel and Hamas had a conflict with similar causes and aspects in 2021, which was immediately resolved with a peace agreement. It is no exaggeration to say that 'human history is the history of war.' War accounts for a significant portion of human history. According to Kenneth Waltz, the violent and selfish nature of humans, the nature of nations pursuing their own interests, and the international system act simultaneously as causes of war. The purpose of this study is to analyze the causes of the Israel-Hamas war using Kenneth Waltz's three image theories to derive implications and provide implications for Korea's military strategy.

The Vietnam War and the Reception of Ecocide Consciousness (베트남전쟁과 에코사이드 의식의 수용)

  • Kim, Ilgu
    • English & American cultural studies
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.1-31
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    • 2018
  • It is needless to say that America's indiscriminate artillery and chemical attacks have worsened the conditions of Vietnam's tropical rain forests, causing war-torn combat troops and civilians to suffer more from the participation and aftermath of the Vietnam war. Around two decades after the Vietnam War, American and Vietnamese writers dealing with the destruction of the human and nature of the Vietnam War and the following traumatic experience commonly report the horrors of inhumane warfare, but some differences among them appear in the reception of the ecocide consciousness. For American writers who had been involuntarily involved or who had stayed in the back area as interpreters and counter-intelligence force, the Vietnam War was often a kind of exotic "addicted adventure" which their American hometown could not provide. But apart from overcoming postwar post-traumatic stress by writing of healing which was shared with American war writers, Vietnamese writers have been able to overcome the scars of war as the communal memorial, which Jonathan Shay emphasized as the necessary comforting ritual by community members showing the sign of honor and care. On the other hand, American war writers were on the side of "separate peace," as Jeong stressed, and the Vietnam War to them was more racist like the case of "body count." Nevertheless, it is fortunate that the hideous experience of war could turn them all into the creativity pool, just as the 5,000 square mile of bomb creators have been used as the postwar fish ponds.

War in Leo Tolstoy's Literature and War and Peace (L. 톨스토이 문학에 나타난 전쟁 - 장편소설 『전쟁과 평화』를 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Sung IL
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.34
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    • pp.115-146
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    • 2014
  • Cyclical stories on Caucasus and Sebastopol Sketches, including War and Peace, have generally been said as masterpieces dealing with the theme of war in Leo Tolstoy's literature. Among them, it is no doubt that War and Peace is absolutely the best one describing the grand panorama of people's lives and war itself. The plot of this novel consists of the so-called Napoleonic War of 1812 and of diverse lives both from the upper class and lower class, more essentially it dramatically presents how these pictures made all literary participants experienced their destiny and lives. Throughout these texts, war, including of its cause and effects and participants, re-considers and re-evaluates all of each features. The most important themes in War and Peace is war itself as the novel's title says. Rather than a just backdrop to the novel, the war plays a significant role in providing the reader with various realistic, philosophic, moral and existentialist perspectives. Moreover, War and Peace for the writer shows contradictory two views about war; he severally criticizes the Napoleonic war of 1812 in the sense that it violets people's reason and nature. At the same time, however, Tolstoy considers that the war as liberation is justified and necessary for guarding people's nation, otechestvo in Russian. What the writer attempts to show from this novel, however, goes beyond the simple descriptions which were done above. Leo Tolstoy successfully offers and what he tries to show in the long run is that how people go through all kinds of sufferings and hardship and their spiritual resurrection, thereby leading to the vital force making history. For the writer, the essential force that makes history and people's lives is not heroic military leader like Napoleon, but those common people. And the novel serves a wonderful prelude expecting the Decembrist revolt in 1825, because all of the vital and active streams that Tolstoy emphasizes turn out true in Russian history.

An Analysis of North Korea's Nuclear and Missile Strategy through the Clausewitzian Framework (클라우제비츠의 전쟁이론으로 본 냉전 이후 북한의 핵.미사일전략에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Ji-Sun;Lee, Sang-Ho
    • Journal of National Security and Military Science
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    • s.8
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    • pp.271-309
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    • 2010
  • The main theme of this study is about North Korea's contemporary military strategy which remained a blind spot in the 21st century. Indeed, Pyongyang's contemporary military strategy is evolved from the logic of War. On the basis of this logic, this study examined North Korea's contemporary military strategy with three analytical frameworks. The first is the discovery of Clausewitz's dictums and application of the Trinitarian analysis on the Korean cases. During the course of applying Clausewitzian main dictum--War as continuation of politics, the methodological analysis on war played a important role generalizing the pattern and matrix of North Korea's strategic thinking and military strategy. In particular, Clausewitz's Trinitarian framework on war -Government (reason), Army (chance), People (passion)- was a universal framework to scrutinize the North Korean missile and nuclear strategy. The second is about the matrix of North Korea's military strategy, The study suggested the genealogical feature of Pyongyang's military strategy. In principle, the dictum of 'Military-First Politics' 1S the combination of the political philosophy, Chuch'e (self-reliance) of Kim Il Sung and Kin Jong Il reflected in the military readiness. As a result this analysis was able to equate Clausewitz's dictums to explain Pyongyang's idea of the nature of war in that North Korea's military strategy is the central instrument of delivery to achieve political objectives. The third is about the theoretical encounter of 'Clausewitz's Wonderful Trinity' and 'Remarkable Trinity on North Korea's contemporary strategy'. On the basis, three elements are connected to one of three groups in society; the people, the military, and the government. In order to apply the Clausewitz's Trinitarian analysis into Kim Jong Il's 'Military-First' strategy, two case studies (Missile and Nuclear strategy) were examined. The finding of this study is that Clausewitzian dictum in the 19th century is still valid in the 21st century as it provided plausible theoretical framework to explain the North Korean contemporary military strategy with a reminder that the nature and logic of war are fixed in the socially constructed state.

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Pathos of Color Green Expressed in Korean War Films (전쟁영화에서 초록의 색채표현과 파토스)

  • Jong-Guk Kim
    • Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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    • v.29 no.6
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    • pp.123-134
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    • 2022
  • War films are a general term for films that have battlefields as their main background. Although war films as a genre directly deal with combat situations, they also deal with characters or subjects related to war. War films promote patriotism and nationalism, but they also argue against war by highlighting the disastrous war. This study is based on the color theory that the meaning of film color is temporarily and infinitely generated according to the cultural differences, with Eisenstein's creative theory on film color and pathos. I wanted to clarify the pathos effect and the meaning of color green expressed in the Korean war films. In war films, colors are visualized in art forms such as symbols, similes and metaphors. In war films, color green symbolizes life. On the battlefield, the green of nature stands against the catastrophic situation. The green of ecology, which insists on the flow of life, evokes fear in ecological crises such as war, disaster and climate change. The dark green caused by a catastrophe like war warns of the destruction of life. The connotation of color is temporarily and infinitely expands according to the cultural differences. The dark green, which visualizes the battlefield of destruction, is a form and element of pathos that indicates changes in emotions such as sadness, pity, grief and despair. Pathos as an emotional appeal is a leap from the quality to the quality of the means of expression and refers to the departure from Dasein. The green color that dominates the visuals of war films is a symbol of life and functions as a pathos that makes emotional changes take a new leap. A qualitative leap through pathos means all changes that become new.

A Scientific Consideration of Military Thought (군사사상의 학문적 고찰)

  • Jin, Seok-Yong
    • Journal of National Security and Military Science
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    • s.7
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    • pp.1-24
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    • 2009
  • This article deals with military thought in general. First I tried to distinguish 'thought' from 'theory', 'philosophy', and 'principle'. Thought means the act of thinking about or considering something, an idea or opinion, or a set of ideas about a particular subject, e.g. military affairs in the present discussion. Theory means a formal statement of the rules on which a subject of study is based or of ideas which are suggested to explain a fact or event or, more generally, an opinion or explanation. Philosophy means the use of reason in understanding such things as the nature of reality and existence, the use and limits of knowledge. Principle means a basic idea or rule that explains or controls how something happens or works. Chapter 3 summarized the characteristics of military thoughts into five points', (i) it is closely related with concrete experiences of a nation; (ii) it includes philosophical and logical arguments; (iii) it relies heavily on the political thought of a nation; (iv) it includes necessarily value-judgments; (v) it contains visions of a nation which are not only descriptions or explanations of military affairs, but also evaluations and advocacies. Chapter 4 considers the relation of international political thoughts to military thought. Throughout the history of the modem states system there have been three competing traditions of thought: the Hobbesian or realist tradition, which views international politics as a state of war; the Kantian or universalist tradition, which sees at work in international politics a potential community of mankind; and the Grotian or internationalist tradition, which views international politics as taking place within an international society. Chapter 5 considers the law of war, which is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war (jus ad bellum) and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct (jus in bello). Among other issues, modem laws of war address declarations of war, acceptance of surrender and the treatment of prisoners of war, military necessity along with distinction and proportionality, and the prohibition of certain weapons that may cause unnecessary suffering.

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Airpower in the Transition Era (전환기의 항공력의 역할)

  • Gwon Jae-Sang
    • Journal of the military operations research society of Korea
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.1-15
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    • 1991
  • If one were to say that war is political in its nature, then war could be one of the several ways of achieving political goals. Thus, the aspect of wars will, in certainty, be altered by the changes in political environment. Wars in the past broke out mainly due to ideological differences that ran to extremes and were of high intensity. However, wars today show such restraints as controlling them beforehand or during the war in anticipation of the post-war situation. The trend of ideas to actualize such wars in the effective operation of airpower is on the rise. Airpower normally possesses speed and operative flexibility as well as capability of destruction, so it is possible to destroy the politically declared targets clearly. Previous airpower was merely employed as means of helping to vertically detouring the spatial obstacle that the ground forces encountered. Over the years, due to the speedy improvement of aviation technology and of ideas concerning wars in space, more advanced application has been developed. but they also were nothing more than an auxiliary role to facilotate the ground forces, that needed a longer effective range of firepower and did not become forces with the right of self-determination, that is, the fact of decisive war that makes its outcome. However, under transitional strategic environment like that of the present, Airpower possesses not only the capability to operate as a decisive means of war but also as theories to support it. The advancement in air technology has enabled supremacy over targets in depth, and the development of electronic technology has empowered the improvement of degree of destruction but also triumphant war by means of an overwhelming supremacy in a relatively short period. Thus, the method of systematic destruction that accomplishes the stated goals while rejecting the damage of accumulative destruction has been realized. The progress of such a concept has also proved that the counter-force strategy that has been developed in nuclear strategy is useful in conventional warfare as well. Therefore, it can be said that the under today's strategic environment airpower is an outstanding means of military strategy that can deeply affect to achieve the national objectives.

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The nature of UN support of the Korea War (유엔의 6.25전쟁 지원과 성격 -신정공세 전후 유엔의 휴전교섭 노력을 중심으로-)

  • Yang, Yong-Jo
    • Journal of National Security and Military Science
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    • s.8
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    • pp.1-48
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    • 2010
  • The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the Untied Nations' efforts for peace on Korean peninsular after CCF's participation in Korean War. The Untied Nation tried to negotiate th peace plan between two sides from the end of 1950. Once the CCF's entry into the war had been confirmed, the war situation moved to a new phase, and the UN forces, which had guided the war in an effort to destroy the NKP A forces, and to punish North Korea, had to set up new guidelines to cope with the new situation. Accordingly, in late November, 1950, the UN forces camp, mainly the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United Nations Command, discussed various options, such as an expansion of the war up to the Chinese territory, a cease fire along the 38th Parallel, or a forced and inevitable evacuation. The Korean delegation to the UN insisted that "the unification of Korea should be achieved only by victory in the war. The Chinese intervention in the war is a Challenge to the UN in the same way as the North Korean invasion. The UN participation in the war was to repulse the invasion. With the same spirit we should drive back the Chinese Communists." The Korean delegation also emphasized to the friendly nations the political objective and will of unification, and that a cease fire at a threshold of unification might return us to the status quo ante bellum, and would be contrary to the Korean nation's desire. At that time, particularly, the US strongly considered the employment of nuclear weapons as one of the new strategies to cope with the Chinese invasion. The international effects of these casual remarks were realized almost at once. The British Prime Minister who had not wanted the expansion of war in the Far East, especially from the view point of the interest of NATO's security, visited Washington. so the conference had a very important meaning for the UN forces' new strategy. On the other hand, at the UN, on the 5th of December, the very day Truman and Attlee agreed to seek a cease-fire under UN auspices, a group of thirteen Asian and Arab states proposed to ask China and North Korea not to cross the 38th Parallel, and sounded out both sides about a cease fire along the 38th Parallel. The United States and the United Kingdom gave their assent, but China and North Korea gave no direct response. The CCF, who were securing the initiative of operation, were not agreeable with the proposal of the UN forces. The Untied Nation has tried to negotiate th peace plan between two sides from the December of 1950 and January of 1951. The Untied Nations' has achieved great results to negotiate for the peace plan on Korean peninsular after CCF's participation in Korean War. It's the results considering both the operation situation and political opinions.

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