Great Powers and Little Wars: The Limits of Power (review)

176 SAISReview SUMMER-FALL 1994 Great Powers and Little Wars: The Limits of Power. A Hamish Ion and E. J. Errington, editors. Westport; CT: Praeger, 1993. 243 pp. $49.95/Clorh. Reviewed by Jeremy Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro received hL· BS from Harvard University and his MA from SAIS. "Cold Wars might come and go, but small wars stay." With this timeless piece ofwisdom, the editors ofthis volume introduce us to the world of small, imperial wars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Concurrendy, rhey assert that these wars are relevant in today's international climate. The editors feel that the passing ofthe superpower conflict has returned the world to conditions which might engender small conflicts, pitting Great Powers against Lesser Powers, reminiscenr of those which characterized the pre-1914 days of imperial expansion. Given rhis return of historical circumstances, the possibility of Great Powers fighting small wars, wirh particular attention to the "common thread" of the limits of imperial power that these earlier conflicts demonstrated, merits reexamination . Toward rhis end, a variety ofauthors (anrhropologists, economists and historians) review rhe history and impact ofseven conflicts satisfying the given criteria of Great Power small wars. These conflicts range in time from 1839 to 1941, in location from South Africa to the Sea of Japan, in size from incessant guerrilla skirmishing to major fleet action, and in duration from one to forty years. The characteristic which defines them as Great Power small wars, according to the introductory essay, is not their size or rhe relative power capabilities ofrhe combatant nations, despite the somewhatdeceiving nomenclature, but rather thatthe fighting pits regular European-style armies against irregular, often partisan, forces. The book divides conceptually into two parts. The framework of rhe book consists of two introductory chapters and a concluding essay which attempt to formulate both unifying themes for die volume and to establish the importance of those ¿hemes for rhe contemporary world. The chapters in rhe body of the work consist ofhistorical case studies which investigatevarious "Great Power" conflicts from each author's own particular viewpoint. The record ofthe historical chapters is mixed. Some ofthe chapters are excellent pieces of history, meticulously documented from an impressive array of primary sources, and could easily stand alone as articles. Many provide important insight into litde understood or examined episodes in rhe history of the Western powers. In particular, Brian Sullivan's chapter on the Italian-Ethiopian War of 1935-1941 provides an excellent account of a pivotal episode in recent history. Sullivan fits the war cautiously yet firmly into its global context as an important catalyst for the Second World War, and traces both its historical development and subsequent impact on the current tragedy ofthe Horn ofAfrica. Other chapters which merit high praise include Janer Hunter's portrayal ofthe often neglected role offoreign capital in financingJapan during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, as well as in subsequent Japanese BOOK REVIEWS 177 expansion. John M. Gates' examination of the controversy over American atrocities during die U. S. pacification of die Philippines from 1899-1913 is also very illuminating. Other chapters, however, fall considerably short of the standard set by those mentioned above. The chapter by Thomas Pakenham on rhe BoerWar (1899-1902), in particular, does not measure up. Itcontains such memorable passages as: "Was the Boer War a small war? Perhaps it was a big, small war. Or you could say it was a small, big war. Certainly, itwas a major war, but not a great one - and certainly not ... 'a good war.' I am not even sure who won." Having addressed diis semantic dilemma, the author moves on to focus on the power struggles within the British Army and the historiography of the command controversy, without sufficiendy demonstrating the importance of this issue to the outcome ofthe war or subsequent perception of rhe war. The chapter would have benefitted by focusing on the more intetesting questions ofthe effect oftechnological innovations on this conflict, and die place of die war wirhin the historical context of the time. In particular, its effect on German and British tactical thinking and public perception ofwar and empire might have been addressed. Hans Bakker's chapter on the...