The Pete Quiñones Show Martin van Creveld's 'War and Migration' w/ John Fieldhouse
Mar 22, 2026
John Fieldhouse, military history commentator who analyzes Martin van Creveld, returns to read and discuss 'War and Migration.' He outlines van Creveld's claim that mass migration functions like war. They trace migrations from the Exodus and barbarian invasions to 20th‑century expulsions. They also debate assimilation, technology transfer, mobility advantages, and how migration can escalate into conflict.
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Van Creveld's Unconventional Military Scholarship
- John Fieldhouse summarizes van Creveld as Israel's preeminent scholar of insurgency and non-state warfare.
- Fieldhouse notes van Creveld's background: born Netherlands 1946, moved to Israel in 1950, LSE PhD on Wehrmacht in Balkans.
Migration Is Often Warfare
- Martin van Creveld argues migration and war are often the same phenomenon, especially when masses move and conquer settled populations.
- He traces this link from the Exodus, Dorian and Germanic migrations to the Mongol and Arab expansions as historical pattern.
Technology Can Be Neutralized In Mobile Warfare
- Technological superiority of settled societies often mattered little in mobile warfare because combat relied on human and animal muscle power.
- Migrants assimilated technologies and specialists from conquered peoples, turning initial disadvantage into advantage.
