Posted on 05/21/2011 8:13:10 PM PDT by neverdem
There is more profit to be had in studying Sun Szu rather than Clauswitz.
I agree.
A great thought Clausewitz had:
Woe to the government, which, relying on half-hearted politics and a shackled military policy, meets a foe who, like the untamed elements, knows no law other than his own power!
Woe to the government, which, relying on half-hearted politics and a shackled military policy, meets a foe who, like the untamed elements, knows no law other than his own power!
I think George Patton understood this. That’s why he got in trouble. Bradley and Ike used him as a warrior and then basically Ike threw him away.
Oh, my. This brings back memories.
I was thirteen years old when I joined the Military Book club. It has been a very long time since I read On War, and it’s sitting on the bookshelves right now, between The Two-Ocean War and the Influence of Sea Power Upon History. Probably should crack On War open, again, for a refresher.
Another of the books I bought long ago was, Lincoln and His Generals. Very enlightening from an historical and political point; Lincoln was quite frustrated, his letters indicate. He had difficulties in getting his generals to do things, like fight battles (McClellan comes to mind!).
Another good read was B.H.Liddel Hart’s book, The German Generals Talk. It was derived from post WWII interviews with German field generals.
I spent a summer outlining that book for an English class - extra credit! The teacher was a naturalized citizen originally from Austria. He found my work interesting and told me about being forced into the Hitler Youth. His youth group was left in Vienna by the retreating Germans and they moved before the advancing Russian Army, destroying bridges and other infrastructure! He said he was 12-years old; some of his friends were as young as 9 and 10 years old. (And they were using explosives?!) The Russians, when they caught and of them would kill them. Still, they were brave young chaps to my thinking.
BTT
For later
Thanks for the link....got my own copy somewhere here with my highlights and marginalia from years gone by :-)
Sherman reiterated this sentiment somewhat more succinctly when he said, "Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster".
I keep a copy in the book case over my desk. I aught to buy an epub copy for my electronic readers.
None the less, I always reccomend studying both.
As we look back at those forward thinkers ignored to the loss of their nations, one must wonder about thinking men here, in China, or in Russia etc.
The inventor of Blitzkrieg was Chingghis Quan. The chap who introduced it to the modern world was William Tecumseh Sherman. The guy who wrote about was B. H Liddel Hart.
Cornel)West: Obama 'a black mascot' and 'black puppet'
When a Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words - At last, bin Laden meets his end.
Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
Others would include Antoine-Henri Jomini who's work is also titled The Art of War when translated into English. His philosophies on logistics are particularly important.
Command of the Air by Giulio Douhet despite some flawed initial thoughts on the use of air power, outlines some of the original strategies on air superiority that we still accept as a standard today for air operations.
I could go on and on going into theorists and strategists for different time frames and arenas of warfare but I wont. The last suggestion for strategy that's worth reading and is definitely current would be Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice by David Galula. It's well worth the read.
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