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"The most important six inches

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Strategy: A History

By PMEComplete on April 20, 2017

Sir Lawrence Freedman’s book, Strategy: A History, suggests that strategy is often discussed in terms of planning. What this means is that people have strategies for losing weight, getting in shape or managing their personal finances. Businesses have strategies for increasing their bottom line and selling more products. Politicians devise strategies for their campaigns and time in office. In warfare, military strategy has been subjected to the same type of “linear” planning. The error in “strategic” planning is that it is fundamentally incompatible with the nature of war and human social interaction. Indeed, the Marine Corps has defined war as a “social process.” This is an enlightening way of understanding war. Marines are famous for saying, “The enemy gets a vote” and a “plan breaks down on first contact.” Indeed, the book begins with one of my favorite quotes from a famous boxer.

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

– Mike Tyson

So what is strategy according to Lawrence Freedman? He says early in the book, “Strategy is the art of creating power.” Planning is part of creating power. But, a plan is not a strategy. A strategy recognizes human dynamics and strategists know how to deal with the human dynamics that are part of conflict. As I continue reading through this book, it has been helpful to reflect on this thesis: “Strategy is the art of creating power.”

Most of my reading has been focused on the second part of the book entitled “Strategies of Force.” In this part, Freedman chronicles some of the most notable military strategists in history to include:

  • Thucydides
  • Sun Tzu
  • Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Carl Von Clausewitz
  • Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke
  • Sir Basil Liddell Hart
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Mao Tse-Tung
  • Colonel John Boyd

Throughout the “Strategies of Force”, Sir Lawrence Freedman covers an impressive amount of changes in the character of warfare. Military strategy as a dynamic conflict between opposing human wills remains unchanged. However, the methods and means by which state and non-state actors seek to consolidate power has changed and continually manifests itself in new ways especially as technology develops. Thus, the science of military technology and tactics will continue to evolve. But, we seek to study and understand history and human nature in order to discern the art of how to apply science in an effort to pursue good strategy.

With increased U.S. military presence in Syria, a Navy aircraft carrier group moving toward North Korea, and possible re-negotiation of the Iranian nuclear deal, this book seemed like an important one to read and study. Additionally, I bought this book after reading an article from the Lawfare blog called, “Why Strategies Disappoint- and How to Fix Them.” I highly recommend checking out that article and look at the below video where Sir Lawrence Freedman talks about his book: Strategy: A History

 

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Lawrence Wright, Understanding the Rise of the Islamic State

By PMEComplete on January 23, 2017

Lawrence Wright is a prolific author and journalist. His book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 won a Pulitzer Prize. Although it is a difficult book to read for obvious reasons, it is a fascinating look at the historical forces that brought about Al-Qaeda. It is also an amazing history of the people trying to hunt down Bin Laden. I am posting this video because I am excited to check out Lawrence Wright’s newest book on the rise of the Islamic State. With his extensive background and on the ground experience in the Middle East, I can imagine that this book will be extremely informative and worth reading.

I think a lot of times when America wanders into regions that it so poorly understands, we don’t know what we are facing. -Lawrence Wright

 


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Samuel P Huntington- Clash of Civilizations

By PMEComplete on December 31, 2016

I am reading Samuel Huntington’s article entitled “The Clash of Civilizations?”, which was published in 1993 in Foreign Affairs.

The article turned into a much longer book that was published in 1996 by Simon and Schuster.

Samuel Huntington was a professor of political science at Harvard University. His work, “Clah of Civilizations”, explains how conflicts have evolved throughout history into what we are witnessing as the conflicts of the modern era. He wrote this essay after the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. He described the Cold War as a primarily ideological conflict between East and West that is Communism vs. Capitalism. However, this came after conflicts between nation states, which evolved in the 19th Century and was born in the Napoleonic Era.

His thesis is essentially that nations are becoming increasingly divided along cultural and religious identities, which sow the seeds for future conflicts. This idea seems highly prescient especially considering the Global War on Terror. I was reading a Joby Warrick article in the Washington Post published after the Berlin truck attack on December 19, 2016, and felt inspired to dig into Huntington’s work. Below is a quote from Huntington’s paper and links to Joby Warrick’s article, Huntington’s article, and link to his book.

 

Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

(Huntington, Clash of Civilizations)

Links:

The Clash of Civilizations article

Book: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

Joby Warrick, “Truck Attack May Be Part of ISIS Strategy to Sharpen Divide Between Muslims and Others”

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