The folly of the rulers

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The folly of the rulers is a non-fiction book that the American reporter and historian Barbara Tuchman published in 1984 under the English original title "The March of Folly" .

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Before her own text, Barbara Tuchman places a quote from the American mythologist Joseph Campbell :

"And I can see no reason why one should assume that the same, often heard motives will not continue ... used by sensible people for sensible purposes or by madmen to mischief and ruin."

- Joseph Campbell

Political action against your own interests

Barbara Tuchman already suggests in the opening sentence what she thinks of the rulers:

"The whole of history, regardless of time and place, runs through the phenomenon that governments and rulers pursue a policy that runs counter to their own interests."

She also points out that the achievements of the art of government lag far behind what humanity has achieved in other areas. She mentions the moon landing and advances in medicine, and she has to agree with former US President John Adams , who stated:

“While all other sciences have advanced, the art of government treads on the spot; it is hardly practiced better today than it was three or four thousand years ago. "

Following this depressing statement, Barbara Tuchman defines four types of misregulation, which often occur in combination with one another:

  1. Tyranny or tyranny
  2. Self-conceit
  3. Incapacity or decadence
  4. Folly or stubbornness

Then Tuchman goes on to describe the term folly in more detail. For her in this book, folly is given when it meets three criteria:

  1. It must have been recognized as counterproductive in its time.
  2. There must have been a workable alternative.
  3. It does not have to be carried out by an individual, but by a group. (Failure of individual sovereigns occurs too often.)

The preface lists a number of historical examples of the folly of the rulers, from the dispersal of the ten tribes of Israel to Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

Tuchman does not see folly as tied to a particular era or place. However, their form is determined by the habits and views of a certain time and place. Folly is not limited to certain forms of government. Neither monarchy nor democracy are immune from this.

The model: The Trojans pull the wooden horse into the city

Barbara Tuchman begins her collection of historical follies with the story of the Trojan horse , which - despite warning - was brought into her city by the Trojans and caused its downfall.

The Renaissance popes provoke the Protestants' apostasy: 1470–1530

In the third chapter, the author gives examples of the misconduct of the popes that caused the division of Christianity.

Six decades of papal follies (corruption, amorality and hunger for power, failure to heed all protests and complaints) led to Protestantism and the wars of religion.

The British are losing America

In the fourth chapter, Tuchman explains how the arrogance of the British colonial rulers brought about the detachment of the American colonies.

George III and his government destroyed relations with the settlers in the American colonies and turned subjects into rebels, thus sealing the loss of the North American continent.

America reveals itself: Vietnam

In the fifth and final chapter, Tuchman shows how the USA got unnecessarily entangled in the Vietnam War .

It analyzes America's involvement in Vietnam - from Franklin D. Roosevelt's reluctant support for French colonialism in Indochina to the nonsensical domino theory to Lyndon B. Johnson's foolish insistence on a military victory that led to a barely veiled US defeat.

Epilogue "A lantern at the stern"

The epilogue is entitled "A Lantern at the Stern" and refers to a quote by the English poet Samuel Coleridge :

"But passion and partisanship blind our eyes, and the light that the experience gives is a lantern at the stern that only illuminates the waves behind us."

- Samuel Coleridge

Tuchman sees the most important characteristic of folly in the rejection of reason. Perhaps it is not so important to educate politicians and officials - perhaps it is more important to educate voters to recognize integrity and character. If John Adams was right in his quotation above, and the art of government "is hardly better practiced today than it was three or four thousand years ago," then, according to Tuchman, no great improvements can be expected. But that would also mean muddling along as in the past three or four thousand years.

literature

  • Barbara Tuchman: The folly of those in power. From Troy to Vietnam. Frankfurt / Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2001. ISBN 3596153948