John Keegan
John Keegan
Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan OBE FRSLwas a British military historian, lecturer, writer and journalist. He was the author of many published works on the nature of combat between the 14th and 21st centuries concerning land, air, maritime, and intelligence warfare, as well as the psychology of battle...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth15 May 1934
quality diplomats compromise
It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.
war ocean heart
The Second World War is the largest single event in human history, fought across six of the world's seven continents and all it oceans. It killed 50 million human beings, left hundreds of millions of others wounded in mind or body and materially devastated much of the heartland of civilization.
thinking black world
I think that black Africa is extremely terrifying. Black Africa can become a maelstrom of warring tribes without the outside world needing to feel the need to do anything about it.
war struggle independence
The written history of the world is largely a history of warfare, because the states within which we live came into existence largely through conquest, civil strife, or struggles for independence.
people islam middle-east
The Islam of the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th century was a poor thing. Nobody bothered about it. Islam was that funny sort of pure system of beliefs that depressed people in the Middle East held as their religion.
letting-go loyalty soldier
Soldiers, when committed to a task, can't compromise. It's unrelenting devotion to the standards of duty and courage, absolute loyalty to others, not letting the task go until it's been done.
city commitment community great people says
I think it says a lot about the people in the city of Peoria and their commitment to making this a great community well into the future,
compared difference people saw
I think the people saw the difference between someone who said he would do things, compared to someone who comes in with new ideas.
mean men liberty
Slavery in the modern world implies the absolute deprivation of the individual's liberty, while possession of weapons and mastery of their use are means to the individual's liberation. We do not perceive how a man may be armed and at the same time bereft of his freedom.
men killing-others long
Men killing other men really is an extraordinary phenomenon. Why does it happen? And how long has it gone on? And have the motives changed?
thinking mountain valleys
I think to be shot in a mountain valley somewhere or other is altogether less glorious than crashing an airliner into a skyscraper.
thinking political bosnia
I don't think that what's going on in Bosnia is political activity. It's partly political, but it's partly atavistic as well.
men combat civilised
A civilised man is someone who has discovered something more satisfying than combat.
both bothers states taking
I know that both states are working on it, ... but what bothers me is that it's taking so long.