For Russian Conscripts, War is Hell



“War is Hell,” General William Tecumseh Sherman observed. Described as “the First Modern General” and famous for his “scorched-earth” approach to finishing off the Confederacy in the American Civil War, Sherman was facing reality. When news of South Carolina’s secession reached him, “Sherman burst out crying, and began, in his nervous way, pacing the floor and deprecating the step which he feared might bring destruction on the whole country.” In words that could be applied to Russia in 2014, he observed

You people of the South don’t know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it … Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors. You are bound to fail.