The Evolution of Strategy: Thinking War from Antiquity to the Present

by Beatrice Heuser

Overview

Is there a ‘Western way of war' which pursues battles of annihilation and single-minded military victory? Is warfare on a path to ever greater destructive force? This magisterial new account answers these questions by tracing the history of Western thinking about strategy – the employment of military force as a political instrument – from antiquity to the present day. Assessing sources from Vegetius to contemporary America, and with a particular focus on strategy since the Napoleonic Wars, Beatrice Heuser explores the evolution of strategic thought, the social institutions, norms and patterns of behaviour within which it operates, the policies that guide it and the cultures that influence it. Ranging across technology and warfare, total warfare and small wars as well as land, sea, air and nuclear warfare, she demonstrates that warfare and strategic thinking have fluctuated wildly in their aims, intensity, limitations and excesses over the past two millennia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521155243
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/14/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	594
Sales rank:	294,773
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Beatrice Heuser is Chair of International History at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Reading. Her widely-translated publications include Reading Clausewitz (2002) and The Bomb: Nuclear Weapons in their Historical, Strategic and Ethical Context (1999).

Table of Contents

Part I. Introduction: 1. What is strategy?; Part II. Long-Term Constants: 2. Warfare and mindsets from antiquity to the middle ages; 3. Warfare and mindsets in early modern Europe; 4. Themes in early thinking about strategy; Part III. The Napoleonic Paradigm and Total War: 5. The age and mindset of the Napoleonic paradigm; 6. The Napoleonic paradigm transformed: from total mobilisation to total war; 7. Challenges to the Napoleonic paradigm vs. the culmination of total war; Part IV. Naval and Maritime Strategy: 8. Long-term trends and early maritime strategy; 9. The age of steam to the First World War; 10. The World Wars and their lessons for maritime strategists; 11. Maritime strategy in the nuclear age; Part V. Air Power and Nuclear Strategy: 12. War in the third dimension; 13. Four schools of air power; 14. Nuclear strategy; Part VI. Asymmetric or 'Small' Wars: 15. From partisan war to people's war; 16. Counterinsurgency; Part VII. The Quest for New Paradigms after the World Wars: 17. Wars without victories, victories without peace; 18. No end of history: the dialectic continues; 19. Epilogue: strategy making vs. bureaucratic politics; 20. Summaries and conclusions.

Editorial Reviews

Heuser’s history of strategic theory and practice demonstrates extraordinary range, erudition, intelligence, and insight. She appears to have read everything, in many languages, about attempts to apply armed force effectively. The Evolution of Strategy will be the first port of call for those wanting to check up on the development of land strategy in the eighteenth century, maritime strategy in the nineteenth century, nuclear strategy in the twentieth century, or counterinsurgency strategy in the twenty-first century.”
Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs

“This is a real masterpiece. As a history of strategic thinking, ancient and modern, it is comprehensive, learned and authoritative. Its discussion of contemporary issues is shrewd and illuminating. It is lucid, wise, often witty, and above all, deeply humane. It should be essential reading for all students and practitioners of strategy: indeed I doubt whether they will need any other for a long time to come.”
– Sir Michael Howard, former Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford

“Beatrice Heuser has produced a book of immense and unique scholarship. The study provides the most detailed and comprehensive survey yet written on strategic thinking across the ages from Roman times to the contemporary debates about the future of warfare in the twenty-first century. It is essential reading for any serious university or military student of strategic studies or international security.”
– John Baylis, Emeritus Professor and formerly Pro Vice Chancellor, Swansea University

“With this work Beatrice Heuser has made a major contribution. This is much more than just a survey of strategy through the ages, but a deep, intellectual examination of the complex relationships between strategy and war through the course of history.”
– Williamson Murray, Professor Emeritus of History, Ohio State University

"Beatrice Heuser… has written one of the most important books on strategy and war to appear in recent years." -Survival, H.R. MacMaster

"There can be no dispute that this is a major work by a recognised authority. Heuser set out to provide a survey of the literature discussing this subject over much of European history and there can be little doubt that she has achieved her aim." -Australian Defence Force Journal

“Heuser’s The Evolution of Strategy is a towering achievement…Any future treatment of the subject must build on this book’s foundational work. This makes it not only a book that provokes the reader to think but one that is indispensable for those seeking to gain context and perspective on the role of war in world politics.” –Patrick Porter, The Journal of Modern History

“Beatrice Heuser has crafted a book that should stand as the first place of reference for serious scholars of strategic studies, international politics, and political/intellectual history for many years to come. Students across these disciplines should be very grateful to the author for producing such thoughtful analysis (not to mention such an impressive bibliography) that is guaranteed to enrich their future studies.” Gwyn Davies, Florida International University, Journal of World History

From the Publisher