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From Byron to bin Laden

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What makes people fight and risk their lives for a country other than their own? Why did diverse individuals such as the poet Lord Byron, the writer George Orwell, the Argentinean revolutionary Che Guevara, and the young Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden all turn to foreign military service? From Byron to bin Laden makes a historian's examines the phenomenon of war volunteers who have travelled abroad to fight on the basis of a personal decision, without being sent by their governments and not strictly for the sake of material gain. Although fighting for very different causes, these volunteers shared a number of commonalities; they tended to superimpose their beliefs and perceptions on the wars they joined, while a personal search for meaning invariably underlined their actions. Through a comprehensive study of the history of foreign volunteering from the wars of the French Revolution to the present, the book opens up a broad range of questions that relate to individual motivations, ideology, gender, state-citizen relations, international law, military significance, radicalization and the memory of war.-- Provided by publisher.

Title From Byron to bin Laden : a history of foreign war volunteers / Nir Arielli.
Publisher Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press
Creation Date 2017
Notes Includes bibliographical references and index.
Content Only a nation in arms? "foreigners" in military service before 1815 -- Attractive conflicts: the changing ideological landscape -- A search for meaning: deciphering motivations -- Thoughts of home: a typology of volunteer-state relations -- Controlling the flow: governmental responses, legislation, and support networks -- Winning wars? assessing military significance -- The dark side: troublemakers, soldiers of misfortune, and terrorists -- Links in a chain: memory and myth.
Extent 295 pages
25 cm.
Language English
Copyright Date ©2018
National Library system number 990044065980205171

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