Customer Reviews

The Making of Strategy: Rulers, States, and War

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The purpose of "The Making of Strategy" is to give the reader an insight into how strategy has been made in the past. This is done through various historical case studies which range from Ancient Greece to American Cold War nuclear policy. Each essay tries to show events from the perspectives of those who were involved and attempts to get inside the mindset of the people who had to forumlate and then implement the various strategies.

As has been stated, the essays span a considerable time period, though there is perhaps (definitely in fact) a weighting towards 20th century strategy. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is probably dependant upon the reader's personal taste but I didn't have a problem with it.

The quality of the essays is invariably of a very high quality and the contributors are leaders in the field of Strategic Studies (Colin Gray, Donald Kagan, Eliot Cohen, the late Michael Handel, Williamson Murray, Macgregor Knox etc). Standout chapters include Holger Herwig's withering analysis of Imperial German strategy in the post-Bismarck period and (by virtue both of quality and of the fact that it tackles a relatively obscure and much neglected power's policy) Brian Sullivan's chapter on Italian grand strategy in the build-up to the First World War.

The chapters (excluding the excellent and extensive introduction and conclusion) cover the following periods;

- Athenian Strategy in The Peloponnesian Wars
- Roman Strategy against Carthage
- Chinese Strategy from the 14th to the 17th centuries
- Spanish Strategy under Philip II
- English Strategy, 1558-1713
- French Strategy under Louis XIV
- The United States, 1783-1865
- Prussia-Germany 1871-1918
- British Strategy, 1890-1918
- Italian Strategy, 1882-1922
- Germany, 1918-1945
- British Strategy, 1918-1945
- U.S. Strategy, 1920-1945
- French Strategy in the inter-war period
- Soviet Strategy, 1917-1945
- Israeli Strategy
- U.S. Nuclear Strategy

Aside from the fact that the quality of the chapters is of a very high standard, the great virtue of this book is the way in which it looks into the way nations have made strategy, rather than dealing with specific strategic theories or trying to provide a guide on how strategy should be made (lessons drawn from history aside). It illustrates clearly the frustrations, the balancing of interests, the difficulty in seeing the big picture, the weighing up of ends and means and the FRICTION that plagues policymakers when they put the books away and actually have to make the magic happen.

This book should be read by anybody with a serious interest in Strategic/War Studies. It's a little gem. At over 600 pages, you get your money's worth too.

"The Making of Strategy" examines the strategy-making processes through the cultural, social, political, organisational and historical ( not just the military ) lenses, starting from the Peloponnesian Wars to the Nuclear Age. The book is also excellent in inrtoducing the concept of Weltanschauung; how a nation's strategic choices are often products of its strategic culture. This helps the reader to understand that despite advances in military technologies; why most wars are fought the way they are fought. Very easy reading and excellent book on the little known process of how strategy is often made.

I read this as part of an effort to read the entire U.S. Army Chief of Staff recommended reading list. It is on sublist 4, Brigade and higher. It is really a collection of essays organized in chronological order. As a collection, the quality of each essay depends on the individual authors. Some of the areas I just found uninteresting. For example the essay on the strategy development in the Weimer Republic did not seem to have much relevance or anything particulary illuminating. A couple of essays were interesting in that they covered areas you don't read much about like Chinese strategy in the empire periods or Spain's strategy under Philip II. For the most part, though, I had to force myself to finish this book.

The book brings back historically those features that are essential in any strategy for most activities, altgough is focused in war. Basic reading for bussines.