Strategy

by Luttwak, Edward N.

• ISBN13: 9780674007031
• ISBN10: 0674007034
• Edition: Large
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-31
• Publisher: Belknap Pr

Summary

If you want peace, prepare for war. A buildup of offensive weapons can be purely defensive. The worst road may be the best route to battle. Strategy is made of such seemingly self-contradictory propositions, Edward Luttwak shows--they exemplify the paradoxical logic that pervades the entire realm of conflict. In this widely acclaimed work, now revised and expanded, Luttwak unveils the peculiar logic of strategy level by level, from grand strategy down to combat tactics. Having participated in its planning, Luttwak examines the role of air power in the 1991 Gulf War, then detects the emergence of "post-heroic" war in Kosovo in 1999--an American war in which not a single American soldier was killed. In the tradition of Carl von Clausewitz, Strategy goes beyond paradox to expose the dynamics of reversal at work in the crucible of conflict. As victory is turned into defeat by over-extension, as war brings peace by exhaustion, ordinary linear logic is overthrown. Citing examples from ancient Rome to our own days, from Barbarossa and Pearl Harbor down to minor combat affrays, from the strategy of peace to the latest operational methods of war, this book by one of the world's foremost authorities reveals the ultimate logic of military failure and success, of war and peace.

Author Biography

Edward Luttwak, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., has served as a consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Air Force. A regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books, and other journals, he is the author of many books

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
PART I THE LOGIC OF STRATEGY	1	(86)
The Conscious Use of Paradox in War	3	(13)
The Logic in Action	16	(16)
Efficiency and the Culminating Point of Success	32	(18)
The Coming Together of Opposites	50	(37)
PART II THE LEVELS OF STRATEGY	87	(120)
The Technical Level	93	(10)
The Tactical Level	103	(9)
The Operational Level	112	(26)
Theater Strategy I: Military Options and Political Choices	138	(9)
Theater Strategy II: Offense and Defense	147	(11)
Theater Strategy III: Interdiction and the Surprise Attack	158	(10)
Nonstrategies: Naval, Air, Nuclear	168	(17)
The Renaissance of Strategic Air Power	185	(22)
PART III OUTCOMES: GRAND STRATEGY	207	(60)
The Scope of Grand Strategy	209	(9)
Armed Suasion	218	(16)
Harmony and Disharmony in War	234	(24)
Can Strategy Be Useful?	258	(9)
Appendix A: Definitions of Strategy	267	(4)
Appendix B: The Gulf War Air Campaign	271	(8)
Appendix C: Instant Thunder	279	(2)
Notes	281	(18)
Works Cited	299	(5)
Index	304