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Title: Strategy by Basil Henry Liddell Hart, B. H. Liddell Hart, Basil H. Liddell-Hart ISBN: 0-452-01071-3 Publisher: Meridian Books Pub. Date: April, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.22 (36 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Ambitious work, but falls short
Comment: Liddell Hart, in Strategy, attempts to sell his readers what he believes to be the panacea to war fighting, the Indirect Approach. Hart also goes to great pains to dismiss the relevance of Clausewitz's On War. Like many British historians of his time, Hart reveals his seemingly reflexive distaste for anything Prussian or German. Although Hart provides a rich history of warfare from the time of the Peloponnesian War to World War II, he only supplies examples that support his thesis. Upon reading, I felt like Hart had a preconceived thesis, and then set out to prove it. However, true scholarship requires one to acknowledge contrary points of view, and deal with them. His criticism of Clausewitz is so unfounded as to make me question how deeply Hart actually read On War. Many of Hart's ideas are perfectly consistent with Clausewitz. Their main point of difference would be that Hart claims to have found the secret strategy that will always prove victorious, while Clausewitz painstakingly avoided writing a prescriptive work, emphasizing that each war is a unique situation, and the approach will then be unique. Hart is a good read, but ultimately falls short of his goal.
Rating: 5
Summary: As relevant today as in acient times
Comment: B. H. Lidell Hart has written a masterpiece in "Strategy". His survey of history and it's successful generals all point to one, irrepressible conclusion; that to win, you must do the unexpected. Hart's main contention is that from acient to modern times, the generals who win, and win consistently, do so not by beating their heads against impregnable positions or trying to bring the enemy's main body to battle by direct action. Instead, he argues that in war, the object is to achieve victory at the least cost--in other words, use economy of force. The "indirect method" which he speaks of has been tested over time, and has proven itself repeatedly. Of the truly decisive campaigns from all of history, 90% of them were won, not by direct assault, but by maneuver, cunning, and by forcing an enemy army to prepare for multiple contingencies. In short, this book is not a handguide to winning a war, and does not present itself as such. What Hart does is show what history's successful captains have done, and leaves the reader to draw his own conclusions, and apply the facts that Hart presents. Overall, a well-written survery of military history that tests many of our preconcieved notions military success.
Rating: 4
Summary: A masterpiece of theory from from a master strategist
Comment: An early tank warfare theorist, Liddell Hart championed the cause of mobility in the field and rapid deployment. Largely ignored by the British, his theories were put into practice by the German High Command, which was influenced by Liddell Hart in their plans for Blitzkrieg in WWII. It wasn't until the North African Campaign, when O'Connor rolled backed Graziani's "grey tide" of Italians by rapid movement, capturing thousands of previously victorious Axis troops, that the British took Liddell Hart seriously enough to put his theories to use on the offensive. When the Americans arrived, the Allies were ready to face Rommel, who had also steeped himself in Liddell Hart's theories. The drama of the campaign in central North Africa is, in part, the drama of two sides using different versions of the author's theories. In "Strategy," we have the thoughts of the mature man, one who has seen that the atomic bomb can stop a rapid deployment in its tracks, and who realizes that the West's military superiority over the rest of the world will end with the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
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Title: On War by Karl Von Clausewitz, Carl Von Clausewitz, Carl Von Clausewitz, Anatol Rapoport ISBN: 0140444270 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: November, 1982 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Art of Maneuver : Maneuver Warfare Theory and Airland Battle by Robert Leonhard ISBN: 0891415327 Publisher: Presidio Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: One Hundred Unorthodox Strategies by Ralph D. Sawyer, Mai-Chun Sawyer, Chi Pai Chan Chi Lueh Liu, Mei-Chun Sawyer, Mai-Ch Sawyer ISBN: 0813328616 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon by B. H. Liddell Hart, Michael Grant ISBN: 0306805839 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title: The Art of War by Sun Tzu ISBN: 0486425576 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 13 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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