The Gulf War Did Not Take Place [Paperback]

Jean Baudrillard (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 22, 1995

In a provocative analysis written during the unfolding drama of 1992, Baudrillard draws on his concepts of simulation and the hyperreal to argue that the Gulf War did not take place but was a carefully scripted media event—a "virtual" war.

Patton’s introduction argues that Baudrillard, more than any other critic of the Gulf War, correctly identified the stakes involved in the gestation of the New World Order.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

JEAN BAUDRILLARD is the author of many books, including The Transparency of Evil, America, Evil Demon of Images, and For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (October 22, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253210038
• ISBN-13: 978-0253210036
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > History > Military > United States > Operation Desert Storm

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The war happened, but didn't take place... March 9, 2008

By N. P. Stathoulopoulos

Format:Paperback

Provacativively titled book either impresses or deeply angers people, I read this years ago and retained only a few points of interest.

Yes, the war happened, as in bombs were dropped, people died, buildings were destroyed, many suffered, etc. But it differed markedly from previous wars in that it was mainly an event to be manipulated by different sides in the media. Therefore, it did not take place the way previous wars had, in that the suffering and even a uniform understanding did not penetrate the population at home who watched the events on CNN.

Unfortunately, all of this business about the 'realness' of the war, and the simulacra, and the hyper-reality we're now mired in, is written in a frustrating and unnecessarily bloated style that makes even this slim work a slight chore at times. Can certainly be expressed in a simpler way, therefore appearing less profound, but then it wouldn't be the work of French postmodern philosopher. Interesting 'take' on a modern war, with points that would only resonate more in the years since, it's hit-or-miss for most readers of current events (more for the philosophy crowd).

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Short and Sweet February 14, 2007

By Michael A. Anderson

Format:Paperback

This book basically describes how the first Iraq war differed from traditional wars of the past. It is not for everyone, Baudrillard has the unfortunate position of being too loose with ideas to be taken very seriously by 'real' academics while at the same time writing in a style that is not easily accessible to a popular audience. His thesis is that the 'war' was primarily a media event that was useful in different ways to both sides of the conflict. He does not dispute that violence and suffering took place, but suggests that the event was not a war as was defined in the past by Clausewitz. Any review that states he is trying to 'hide' the essential suffering of those at the ground of the event is just wrong. There is nothing in the book that questions or calls into doubt the experiences of soldiers or civilians; at the same time it does not dwell upon them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It Depends On Your POV September 29, 2012

By Martin Asiner

Format:Paperback

When the forces of Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, the result was very nearly bloodless. The real blood began to be spilled only during the Occupation. When an international coalition retaliated by striking back, the result may not have been quite as swift or as bloodless, but it was pretty close. While hostilities from both wars were going on, Jean Baudrillard was paying attention in a way that few others must have been doing. To him, both wars were not wars at all, at least not in the traditional Clausewitzean sense. Most societies envisioned war as brutal and bloody, causing much harm to a great many combatants and non-combatants. In the case of the Gulf War, Baudrillard insists that the calculus of war had changed in a fundamental way. The difference lay in the interaction between the media and the opposing armies. Before hostilities had even begun, both sides had run innumerable computer simulations of pertinent variables. By changing one variable, one outcome emerged. By changing another, a newer outcome resulted. These outcomes looked real and sounded real to those writing the programming. A variable reality was created that could not be distinguished from the eventual real thing. It is this relentless focus on the creation of simulacra that had been the obsession of Baudrillard for nearly twenty years.

The Gulf War Did Not Take Place is a slim volume of three essays that were published over a three month period as separate pieces for a French newspaper Libération and a British newspaper The Guardian. The original title of each is telling. The first was "The Gulf War Will not Take Place." The second: "The Gulf War is not Really Taking Place." The third: "The Gulf War did not Take Place." All three collectively insist that this war was a phony war, but not to be confused with the German Sitzkrieg in France in 1940. In that war real soldiers simply sat around for months waiting for orders to shoot. In this war, there was real shooting all right. Real people were killed and many buildings were blown up. So how dare Baudrillard defame and dishonor the dead on both sides by calling the "war" no more than a Playstation computer run? His response: there was a "real" war but real in a new sense. From start to finish, from the first shot to the last, the Gulf War was pre-planned right down to a paper clip. Things ran so smoothly that even the Joint Chiefs were amazed. War rarely co-operates by being predictable. But in this case it was. The images of the fighting were sent in real time to America's television sets by CNN. The reality of the fighting precisely coalesced into what Baudrillard termed the simulacra of war. It looked much more savage than it was. From this delving into a war once removed from reality, Baudrillard called it a non-event. Many critics objected, thinking that by "non-event" he meant a hoax. But Baudrillard had a motivation that transcended semantic distinctions. For him, he wished to publicize the Dawn of a New Day, one that had long been in existence but only now paradoxically were the images of a false reality emerging from the shadows of an all too real entrenched apathy. In his earlier books, Baudrillard had described how signs had slowly begun disconnecting from their moorings. The image of a thing now was thought to exist in its own right. The "copy" was now indistinguishable from the "original." The next step would have to be hyper-reality, a mad universe where the inhabitants do not question their existence or their surroundings, nor should they since they are pursuing their lives just as if the hyper-real were truly real. It is this fear that humanity has already come perilously close to this insane world that motivated Baudrillard to write The Gulf War Did Not Take Place.