ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some of the ways in which modern warfare challenges the ethical well-being of the individual combatant. The difficulty for the modern military is how to maintain a sense of perspective and, for commanders, to lead those under them to ensure an honourable and durable victory. The French in Algeria were arguably defeated not by an enemy that was ruthless, brutal and unethical, but by its own unethical actions; by politicians implicitly giving the military an unethical task which the military in their turn accepted and undertook to perform. In military education terms, ethics is an unusual subject, because it can be studied both theoretically and separate from other, more practical subjects. Ethical dilemmas can also confront those who hold the very highest military appointments. The difficulty for the modern military is how to maintain a sense of perspective and, for commanders, to lead those under them to ensure an honourable and durable victory.
