The Past as Prologue: The Importance of History to the Military Profession

by Edited by Williamson Murray , Richard Hart Sinnreich

• ISBN13: 9780521853774
• ISBN10: 052185377X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-05-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In today's military of rapid technological and strategic change, obtaining a complete understanding of the present, let alone the past, is a formidable challenge. Yet the very high rate of change today makes study of the past more important than ever before. The Past as Prologue explores the usefulness of the study of history for contemporary military strategists. It illustrates the great importance of military history while simultaneously revealing the challenges of applying the past to the present. Essays from authors of diverse backgrounds - British and American, civilian and military - come together to present an overwhelming argument for the necessity of the study of the past by today's military leaders in spite of these challenges. The essays of Part I examine the relationship between history and the military profession. Those in Part II explore specific historical cases that show the repetitiveness of certain military problems.

Table of Contents

Contributors	ix
1 Introduction
Williamson Murray and Richard Hart Sinnreich
2 Military history and the history of war	12	(11)
Michael Howard
Part I: The influence of history on the military profession
3 The relevance of history to the military profession: a British view	23	(11)
John P. Kiszely
4 The relevance of history to the military profession: an American Marine's view	34	(21)
Paul K. Van Riper
5 Awkward partners: military history and American military education	55	(23)
Richard Hart Sinnreich
6 Thoughts on military history and the profession of arms	78	(17)
Williamson Murray
Part II: The past as illuminator of the future
7 Thucydides as educator	95	(16)
Paul A. Rahe
8 Clausewitz, history, and the future strategic world	111	(22)
Colin S. Gray
9 History and the nature of strategy	133	(17)
John Gooch
10 Military transformation in long periods of peace: the Victorian Royal Navy	150	(20)
Andrew Gordon
11 Military history and the pathology of lessons learned: the Russo-Japanese War, a case study	170	(25)
Jonathan B.A. Bailey
12 Obstacles to innovation and readiness: the British Army's experience, 1918-1939	195	(22)
J. Paul Harris
13 What history suggests about terrorism and its future	217	(30)
Christopher C. Harmon
14 History and future of civil–military relations: bridging the gaps	247	(20)
Francis G. Hoffman
Index	267