Warfare 1914–2014: The Most Violent Century in Human History

Abstract

In the Spring of 1915 the French literary critic, journalist and theatre director Alphonse Séché (1876–1964) published a book on the Great War which was about six months old at the time. He called his extensive analysis Les guerres d’ enfer (Wars of Hell) and this unlikely expert displayed a remarkable insight into the fundamental shift that warfare had experienced in the previous months. War is very multifaceted today. We have great difficulty to come to terms with it in a conceptual way. So many names have come and gone to describe the framework in which violence is used: peacekeeping, counterinsurgency, responsibility to protect, peace enforcing, low intensity conflict, ethnical or religious conflict, postmodern war, hybrid war, third-generation warfare, etc. Some terms are legal, others political or historical. The great diversity shows the confusion in how to interpret the influence of modern (digital) technology and new ideas on how and when to use violence.