What can today’s leaders learn from history?

I was introduced to this book during my masters studies at Antioch university in 2001. It impressed me then because it was an easy read, even though the context was complex. No wonder Barbara Tucman won the Pulitzer price a number of times.  Picking it up again, I find it amazingly applicable to our current situation. There is a familiar old adage that teaches us about those who refuse to learn history are doomed to repeat it. THE MARCH OF FOLLY brings this message back to the forefront.

Barbara W. Tuchman eloquently discusses the bizarre propensity of governments throughout history to pursue policies contrary to their own interests. Mind you, this is not a pacifist book but rather one that begs governments to beware of the reckless pursuit of policy that might prove to be dangerous. And, yes, I admit right readily that hindsight is 20-20.

Beginning with the Trojans and their acceptance of the Trojan Horse to benighted Papal policy during the renaissance to Britain’s stupidity during the American Revolution to questionable American policy during the Vietnam war, THE MARCH OF FOLLY invites the reader to consider the fact that as things change in historic chronology apparently nothing else does.

Given our current war policies, efforts and mistakes in Iraq, Tuchman’s masterpiece is a very poignant read and we must confess, regardless of individual political leanings, that the potential for history to repeat itself yet again is considerable. Who knows, there may yet be a sequel to this one appropriately titled THE MARCH CONTINUES

Tuchman’s brief history of governmental folly begins with the Trojan’s ill-fated decision to admit the Greek wooden horse, moves across the Mediterranean in time for the Renaissance popes to provoke the Reformation, then moves to exclusively English-speaking follies, culminating in Vietnam. Folly, by her definition, is pursuit of policy contrary to self-interest, best summarized in relation to Philip of Spain, for whom no experience of failure of his policies would dissuade him of their essential excellence. Vintage Tuchman; by far the strongest passage is the wonderful tableau of British eighteenth century splendor depicted in the American Revolution section. As she portrays it, the life of a Whig parliamentarian was so sumptuous that only the insanely puritanical would trouble themselves with minor administrative hiccups like the Boston Tea Party.

Writing about the Trojan horse, Barbara Tuchman states that “the feasible alternative, that of destroying the horse – is always open. Capys the elder advised it before Laocoon’s warning, and Cassandra afterward. Notwithstanding the frequent references in the epic to the fall of Troy being ordained, it was not fate but free choice that took the horse within the walls. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 49)

To an unusual degree in the Renaissance good walked with evil in a wondrous development of the arts combined with political and moral degradation and vicious behavior. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 57)

Alongside the rascals and scandals [of the renaissance], decency and piety existed as ever. No single characteristic ever overtakes an entire society. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 60)

The abuse that precipitated the ultimate break was the commercialization of indulgences, and the place where the break came, as everyone knows, was at Wittenberg in northeastern Germany. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 113)

It would be tempting to claim that the comfort of carriage horses lost America, but distance, time, uncertain planning and incoherent generalship were the greater faults. Lord George’s nonchalant way with the dispatches was only a symptom of a larger carelessness. It would be tempting, too, to say this carelessness might be traced to the overprivileged lives of Georgian ministers, but then, what of other famous failure of communications: when American commanders were not warned of probable attack on pearl Harbor? Failure of communication appears to be endemic to the human condition. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 218)

What America lost in Vietnam was , to put it in one word, virtue.
The follies that produced this result begin with continuous overreacting; in the invention of endangered “national security,’ the invention of “vital interest,” the invention of a “commitment” which rapidly assumed a life of its own, casting a spell over the inventor. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 374)

A second folly was illusion of omnipotence, cousin to the ‘Popes’ illusion of invulnerability; a third was wooden-headedness and “cognitive dissonance”; a fourth was “working the levers” as a substitute for thinking. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 375)

“Nation-building” was the most presumptuous of the illusions. Settlers of the North American continent had build a nation from the Plymouth Rock to Valley Forge to the fulfilled frontier, yet failed to learn from their success that elsewhere, too, only the inhabitants can make the process work. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 375)

A last folly was the absence of reflective thought about the nature of what we were doing, about effectiveness in relation to the object sought, about balance of possible gain as against loss and against harm both to the ally and to the United States. Absence of intelligent thinking in rulership is another of the universals, and raises the question whether in modern states there is something about political and bureaucratic life that subdues the functioning of intellect in favor of working the levers without regard to rational expectations. This would seem to be an ongoing prospect. (Tuchman, 1984, p. 377)

As can be seen with relative ease, Barbara Tuchman is a master of history and pointing out what leaders could have learned from previous events and actions. Movies like “The Crude Awakening” show us that the lessons we could have learned are not always politically opportune and therefore left in the dust.
When it comes to our survival, people will start looking towards those individuals and leaders who can actually provide solutions for the increasing number of problems. Some of the problems are home-made and have been repeated throughout the last decades. Others are made form greed, disregard for the bigger global picture, or the believe that a great nation will always be great, have resources, or the power to command them. This theme will probably change pretty soon. As leaders we need to be prepared, try to learn for the lessons in history that Barbara Tuchman has shown in this book and many others before and after it. We will need to shape a vision of the future that is sustainable, environmentally conscious, and believable past the fanfare of politics.

Current presidential politics about Iran and the conference in Bali as well as the positioning of those who want to become the successors of eh current administration show little change. Maybe a movement form the bottom up is required, in which business leaders are putting the rights steps together for a better future for all of us. Some state governors seem to have understood the need and work consistently to offer local support. We should take advantage and hope for better times at the federal level. Though it might be lacking right now, it’s not an excuse not to take action to create a better world with success and in harmony with nature immediately.

Axel Meierhoefer, President AMC LLC