Comments on: A better state of peace

By: Mssr. Jouet

Mssr. Jouet — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:52:22 +0000

I’ve long been a fan of that book; mine is highlighted, underlined, dog-eared and broken in the spine. I agree you have to slog through to the end to get to the juicy bits, but then I was a rank beginner then (now I am still a beginner, and even more odorous). It illuminates, on its own horns, the older Sun Tzu and the soon-to-emerge John Boyd. It’s a worthwhile stop on the trail between the two; all other stops are without value, imho. The axioms you chose are the wrong ones. And the next and final step is Ueshiba’s “The Art of Peace”, a lifelong discipline.

By: Michael Turton

Michael Turton — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:45:39 +0000

I don’t know if I agree. I enjoy the review and re-interpretation of history, and recapitulating a thought process is useful in understanding it. Because of the long opening, I understand the ending much better. I’ve always liked that book very much, because he lavishes so much work clarifying and garnering support for his ideas.

Also, we have the capability of 20-20 hindsight. In Liddell-Hart’s day Clausewitz and even Jomini held sway over the old fogies educated 50 years before his time. We’ve been hearing this stuff ever since we first read the term blitzkrieg in our callow youth.

Michael

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:45:02 +0000

Don’t leave us hanging, Younghusband. We only have a few weeks to get those “many more informative, better written and truly original books on strategy” on our wish lists. We need names.

(By the way, ju-jitsu is one of many “correct” spellings of jÅ«jutsu from before we settled on our current transliteration scheme. Jiu-jitsu has made a strong comeback with the success of the Brazilian variant in mixed-martial arts competition.)

By: Warren Ellis » Links for 2009-11-21

Warren Ellis » Links for 2009-11-21 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:58:29 +0000

[...] Coming Anarchy: A Better State Of Peace"Epaminondas?s strategy successfully dislocated the power base of Sparta after just a few months campaigning, and no victories in the field. After all, the object of war is not to destroy your opponent?s military force, but to ?obtain a better state of peace ? even if only from your own point of view.?"(tags:war pol ) [...]

By: T. Greer

T. Greer — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:24:50 +0000

P.S. For those interested in learning about Epaminondas’ attack on Sparta, Victor Davis Hanson’s Soul of Battle contains an entertaining and informative narrative.

By: T. Greer

T. Greer — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:18:39 +0000

Thanks for this. I just picked up Hart’s book from the library yesterday. I shall be sure to read chapters 19-22 inclusive.

By: Peter Hodge

Peter Hodge — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:31:20 +0000

Yeah, I’d agree with your analysis, YH. “Strategy” has some interesting ideas, here and there, but that’s about it. BLH’s big ego is also on show in his biography of T E Lawrence.

On the other hand, Alex Danchev’s biography of BLH, “Alchemist of War: The Life of Basil Liddell Hart”, is very interesting.