From Byron to bin Laden: A History of Foreign War Volunteers

What makes people fight and risk their lives for countries other than their own? Why did diverse individuals such as Lord Byron, George Orwell, Che Guevara, and Osama bin Laden all volunteer for ostensibly foreign causes? Nir Arielli helps us understand this perplexing phenomenon with a wide-ranging history of foreign-war volunteers, from the wars of the French Revolution to the civil war in Syria. Challenging narrow contemporary interpretations of foreign fighters as a security problem, Arielli opens up a broad range of questions about individuals' motivations and their political and social context, exploring such matters as ideology, gender, international law, military significance, and the memory of war. He shows that even though volunteers have fought for very different causes, they share a number of characteristics. Often driven by a personal search for meaning, they tend to superimpose their own beliefs and perceptions on the wars they join. They also serve to internationalize conflicts not just by being present at the front but by making wars abroad matter back at home. Arielli suggests an innovative way of distinguishing among different types of foreign volunteers, examines the mixed reputation they acquire, and provides the first in-depth comparative analysis of the military roles that foreigners have played in several conflicts. Merging social, cultural, military, and diplomatic history, From Byron to bin Laden is the most comprehensive account yet of a vital, enduring, but rarely explored feature of warfare past and present.

About the Author :
Nir Arielli is Associate Professor of International History at the University of Leeds.

Review :
A highly topical book as we contemplate the return of Islamist fighters following Islamic State’s defeat in Syria. It is also meticulously researched. Nir Arielli has drawn on a wealth of source material to look at the phenomenon of ‘foreign fighters’ from every conceivable angle… Superb. This is a fascinating book, at times a very literary survey of the history of foreigners in military service, and their motivation. A greatly insightful work that deserves its place on any war studies reading list. And those who worry about radicalized youths would do well to seek an understanding of their motivations from the many colorful examples that Arielli has harvested from the vast literature he has drawn upon for this brilliant study. An immensely ambitious project…Its achievement lies not in providing the last word on foreign war volunteering, but in suggesting a convincing range of frameworks in which comparisons can usefully be made across contexts. This is an indispensable resource for scholars of contemporary and historical foreign war volunteering alike, and will shape new research directions for some time to come. The book is well researched, and the author’s detailed exploration of diverse fighting groups led by both revered and reviled historical figures…proves conclusively that there remains no single motivation for foreign volunteers to take up arms during wartime…Succeeds spectacularly in providing a detailed and insightful account of foreign war volunteering from the sixteenth century to the present. Well-crafted, timely, comprehensive, and spiced with individual case studies that lend color to the arguments made, Arielli’s From Byron to bin Laden is a work of strong contemporary resonance. It distills complex debates about ideological commitment, ethnic attachment, and war volunteering as a political act into a text both specialist scholars and general readers will enjoy. From Byron to bin Laden offers an innovative and much needed historian's contribution to contemporary debates, covering the long history of foreign war volunteers with panache and intelligence. Arielli's pen is like an impressionist's brush, evocative and suggestive; yet his research is rigorous and his methodology sound. The book will be a refreshing read for specialists and non-specialists alike. Nir Arielli offers a powerfully argued, deeply researched, and elegantly crafted account of the history of foreign war volunteers. Masterfully interweaving military and global history, he provides a fascinating panorama spanning five centuries, from the movement of foreign fighters on the battlefields of the early modern world to today’s international streams of Islamist militants. This book will be invaluable not only to students and scholars of modern history, but for everyone interested in the changing nature of war in the contemporary world.