Truth and War
“Truth is the first casualty of war” is often attributed to Rudyard Kipling, the 19th century chronicler of the British Empire. I can certainly believe he said it, given the cognitive dissonance between what was written in the contemporary press and proclaimed by politicians, and the stories he heard from those actually fighting the wars.
However, Paul Glastris, posting at Political Animal, quotes the long version from more than two millennia ago found in the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides.
While Herodotos [circa 484-425 BCE] is called the Father of History for his work on the Persian Wars, and for transforming the meaning of the word historia from simply “research”, to its modern meaning; Thucydides [circa 460-400 BCE] is often credited with bringing more objectivity and less mythology to the field.
My private view is that Herodotos provided us with some justification for the claim that “history is written by the victors”, while Thucydides gave us the “elegy” on truth in time of war. These are my private views and there is certainly no lack of PhDs based on disagreeing with one, or both points of view.
For more on this absurdity I can recommend Jingo by Terry Pratchett, published in 1998.
July 31, 2005 Comments Off on Truth and War
