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

What makes people fight for countries other than their own? Nir Arielli offers a wide-ranging history of foreign-war volunteers, from the French Revolution to Syria. Challenging notions of foreign fighters as a security problem, Arielli explores motivations, ideology, gender, international law, military significance, and the memory of war.

Table of Contents:
Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction 1. Only a Nation in Arms? “Foreigners” in Military Service before 1815 2. Attractive Conflicts: The Changing Ideological Landscape 3. A Search for Meaning: Deciphering Motivations 4. Thoughts of Home: A Typology of Volunteer–State Relations 5. Controlling the Flow: Governmental Responses, Legislation, and Support Networks 6. Winning Wars? Assessing Military Significance 7. The Dark Side: Troublemakers, Soldiers of Misfortune, and Terrorists 8. Links in a Chain: Memory and Myth Epilogue Notes Acknowledgments Index

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. -- Tim Willasey-Wilsey International Affairs This is a fascinating book, at times a very literary survey of the history of foreigners in military service, and their motivation. -- Allan Mallison The Spectator 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. -- Beatrice Heuser American Historical Review 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. -- Fraser Raeburn Journal of Contemporary History 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. -- Reagan Fancher H-Net Reviews 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. -- Martin Thomas, University of Exeter 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. -- Davide Rodogno, The Graduate Institute, Geneva 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. -- David Motadel, London School of Economics and Political Science