Military Man? I.

This is coolbert:

One person that has had a marked influence on military thought in the latter half of the Twentieth Century was David Ben Gurion.

NOT a man that is thought of as being a military man.

Rather the opposite.

Was a physically unassuming man. Small in stature and lacking what most folks would refer to as military bearing.

Did serve in the British Army during World War One, but as an enlisted man, of no special talents or abilities.

Was from his earliest years an ardent Zionist. A lawyer by training, emigrated to Palestine in the early part of the 20th Century, doing manual labor of the most menial type. Was an intellectual and ascetic.

Active in the Zionist movement along with other like minded persons. Came to some definite conclusions regarding the course of Zionism. Like others, realized that for the Jews to establish a nation/state in what was a part of the Ottoman Empire, war and military conquest on the part of the Jews would be required.

THE JEWS WOULD EVENTUALLY HAVE TO FORM AN ARMY, FIGHT FOR WHAT THEY SAW WAS THEIR HOMELAND, AND BY FORCE OF ARMS, AND FORCE OF ARMS ONLY, EMERGE VICTORIOUS.

NOT ONLY WIN, BUT MAINTAIN THE STATUS THROUGH MILITARY FORCE FOR SOME TIME INTO THE FUTURE.

[Ben Gurion at some time prior to WW1, predicted "a one hundred year war between the Arab and the Jew."]

This did present a dilemma for the Jews worldwide. They had not had for almost 2000 years, any military tradition or experience as a group at war.

Ben Gurion and other Zionists came to the conclusion that the Jewish mind-set had been warped. The "ghetto Jew" was a poor example of a man. Always existing at the mercy of his tormentors, always taking it on the chin, not capable of self-defense. Weak people.

This all had to be changed for the Jews to gain a nation/state.

[Ben Gurion and the Zionists wanted to "make" a fighting Jew. Succeeded all too well in the persona of Ariel Sharon.]

WW1 offered world-Jewry a chance to gain military experience.

Ben Gurion and other Zionists lobbied the British government to form a "Jewish Legion". A military unit comprised of Jews, fighting on the side of the British. Fighting in the Middle East against the Turk. A "Legion" that would allow the Jews to gain military experience. Learn how to fight, how to command, how to organize, etc.

This lobbying was successful. A "Jewish Legion" was formed and performed it's duties with distinction. Fought at Gallipoli and in the Middle Eastern campaigns of Allenby. Was more a transport mule corps than anything else. But did see action. Allowed the participants to gain military experience.

Ben Gurion was thirty years old when he enlisted as a private. Served with honor. Admirable. A man who would put his body where his mouth was.

Indeed, many of the foremost Zionists of the time did enlist in the Jewish Legion. Also persons willing to put their bodies where their mouths were.

[indeed, those Zionists, colloquially, were NOT a bunch of "pussies"!!]

In the years after the war, Ben Gurion continued to immerse himself in the study of war. As an intellectual would. Even is reputed to have learned Spanish solely for the purpose of reading Cervantes. Many of the works of Cervantes [I am not sure what ones, Cervantes was such a prolific writer], dealt with war and statecraft. Reading Cervantes, Ben Gurion felt, would enrich his mind regarding all things military.

In the years just prior to World War Two, Ben Gurion, now among the leadership of the Zionists, was involved in the organization of such Jewish fighting groups as the Haganah, Palmach, Special Night Squads. Was gratified to see that concepts such as the Special Night Squads were approved of by serving British officers such as Orde Wingate.

[Wingate was held, as I have said many times before, in high esteem by the Zionists. Ben Gurion in his memoirs stated that if Wingate had survived WW2, Ben Gurion would have offered the COMMAND OF THE ISRAELI ARMY TO WINGATE!!!]

[others are less kindly toward Wingate. Montgomery of El Alamein is reputed to have said of Wingate, "been mentally unbalanced and that the best thing he ever did was to get killed in a plane crash in 1944"]

In the aftermath of the formation of the Jewish state in 1948, Ben Gurion was a long time Prime Minister AND Defense Minister both. Established a tradition on one man holding both positions, such was the importance of the military to Israel.

Appointed vigorous men to high positions that he approved of. Officers such as Moshe Dayan. While being a socialist, Ben Gurion disapproved of some elements of Israeli society who wanted a "red" type of military. A military drawing on "leftist" virtues. Ben Gurion wanted and got a military developed along British lines.

Ben Gurion, by his creation of retaliatory units such as Unit 101, established the tenor of the Israeli military for decades to come, even to present time. An aggressive, offensive minded military using spirited action [elan'], technology, and a cogent strategy for dealing with the Arab armies.

I think it is safe to say that you cannot overestimate the world-wide role the Israeli military has played in the second half of the twentieth century!! At least in the minds of military thinkers in the western world. Israeli military thinkers have had an influence all out of proportion to the size of their nation or population.

An influence due in great measure to the efforts of Ben Gurion. He started what others have continued.

coolbert.