When Soldiers Quit: Studies in Military Disintegration

By Bruce Allen Watson

After an introduction showing three examples of military disintegration, the author examines six historical occurrences in depth: The India Mutiny of 1857; the 1917 French Army mutinies; the depredations following the British siege of San Sebastian, 1813; the surrender of the U.S. 106th Infantry Division in 1944; the Sand Creek Indian Massacre, 1864; and the My Lai massacre in 1968. The final chapter begins with a recapitulation of the four processes shown to be the foundations of disintegration--leadership failure, collapse of the units' internal primary groups, alienation, and desperation among the troops--and continues with an analysis of the crowd behaviors to which these processes give rise. The book ends with a brief discussion of the moral dilemma that disintegration imposes on military institutions.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0275952231
• ISBN13: 9780275952235
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 9.6"