Ken Booth

1:Early Strategists
2:Strategy in the Age of Nationalism and
Industrialization
3:The armed Peace 1871-1914
4:Generation of Total War, 1914 – 45
5:The Nuclear Strategists
6: From Golden Age to Crossroad
Strategy is used in this chapter/reading in the
sense of “MILITARY strategy.”
Thinking is the focus of chapter, but it is
necessary for understanding and appraisal to
set this within the wider context of such
phenomena as changing technology, the
history of war, and war plans, and the
developing foreign policies of different
countries.
Evolution does not simply qualitative
environment , in the sense of better strategic
thinking.
Since 1945 Nuclear Weapons have saved
international society from disaster(War,
bloodthirsty, catastrophic, devastation), but
this might not always be the case.
As strategist we may not be worse than our
forefather, but it is far too soon to proclaim
that we have become markedly better.
Early Strategists
Very early contributors to thinking about war
and strategy. Several names are outstanding.
Sun Tzu, Thucydides and Machiavelli.
Sun Tzu, “
To subdue the enemy without fighting is
the acme of skill”
Strategy in the Age of Nationalism and
Industrialization
The period of Napoleonic warfare time (1803-
15) is often considered an appropriate starting
point for students of modern strategy.
Age of Reason
Now war was nourished by nationalism and
ideological conviction.
Herni Jomini (1779-1869) Swiss military
theorist.
Karl Von Clausewitz (1780-1831)
His Chief work Vom Kriege (On War) It is an
ambitious book, covering most aspect of war,
from the philosophical to the minutely
practical.
It deals with the nature of war, the theory of
War, the interplay of theory and practice, the
relationship between war and politics, the object
of strategy, the relationship between civilian and
military leaderships, the psychological aspects of
war and the role of battles.
Clausewitz “Political Philosophy of war”, the view
that war is rational, national and instrumental-
Which has proved the prevailing philosophy of
war in the last 150 years.
“Neo-Clausewitzian”, Those who have sought
to make war and the threat of war rational,
national, and instrumental in the nuclear age.
Intense technological changes, the chief
developments were the growth of firepower
and increasing speed and efficiency to
transport and communications.
The Armed Peace 1871-1914
Britain`s chief contribution to the
development of strategy during this period
was at sea rather than on land.
As the predominant naval power, and with
responsibilities in a worldwide empire.
Pax Britannica.
Alfred Mahan (1840-1914). His work
emphasized the critical interrelationships
Between sea power, commerce, and colonies.
In the “Armed Peace” statesmen understood
the importance of how other assessed their
country`s power in military sense.
The Generation of Total War, 1914-45
The great war is generally seen to have been a
war with unparalleled destructiveness and an
appalling wastage of life in a futile search of
“victory”
“Great war” is a major lesson for student of
strategy.
The outcome, theories of mechanized warfare
and air power, were the most interesting in
the evolution of strategic doctrine in the
interwar years.
Liddell Hart`s twin interest in military history
and mechanized warfare converged in the late
1920s produce
strategy: The indirect approach
Indirect approach involves an attempt to
weaken resistance before attempting to
overcome it; this is to be achieved by
exploiting movement and surprise away from
the line of natural expectation.
Ideological element, Nazis, Marxist etc.
Soviet, traditional as well as ideological factor.
Geographical insecurity.
WW II truly global war.
It had massive impact in the realms of
politics, science, economic, social change, and
culture, as well as on the battle field.
Henry Kissinger: strategy is the mode of
survival of a society.
Bernard Brodie has put it: “There is no other
science where judgments are tested in blood
and answered in the servitude of the defeated”
The Nuclear Strategist
MAD
From Golden Age to Crossroad
Q & A?