Imagining Future War: The West's Technological Revolution and Visions of Wars to Come, 1880-1914 (War, Technology, and History) 1st Edition

by Antulio J. Echevarria II (Author)

2 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0275987251

ISBN-10: 0275987256

Why is ISBN important?

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers

from

Other Sellers

See all 5 versions

Usually ships within 6 to 10 days.

Ships from and sold by Book Depository US.

List Price: $64.00 Details

Save: $4.05 (6%)

FREE delivery July 22 - August 2. Details

Select delivery location

Rapid and momentous technological changes at the turn of the 20th century forced military professionals and educated civilians to envision the future of war and warfare, especially during an age where nations found themselves aggressively competing for dominance on the world stage. Antulio J. Echevarria II offers a comparative study of these predictions to assess who got it right and why. He concludes that professionals were particularly adept at predicting the warfare of the immediate future by framing their discussions in terms of solving tactical problems, but they were much less successful at thinking of the long-term. Unburdened by the necessity of strategic problem-solving, educated amateurs were allowed more flexibility to imagine the long-term future of warfare, and, at times, proved to be remarkably accurate.

Echevarria organizes his study by comparing visions of future wars on land, at sea, undersea, and in air. In each instance professionals and amateurs had their own distinctive imaginings. Among the notable speculators included in this book are science fiction author H.G. Wells and military theorist Ivan Bloch. This approach to the study of warfare is one of those rare examples of a book that can appeal to and inform a wide cross-section of readers.

Review

"Antulio Echevarria's Imagining Future War offers a rare, exceptional and penetrating case study in analyzing predictions about the changing face of conflict. It is a book military professionals ought to read--a cautionary tale of the pitfalls and potential of writing, thinking and preparing for the war of the future….Imagining Future War delves into all of the salient factors that shaped 19th century imagination, with chapters that describe in a jargon-free, straight-forward manner the times and dominant intellectual movements of the age….Even those not steeped in the history of the period or deeply familiar with military affairs will profit from reading Imagining Future War."

―

ARMY Magazine

"Provides an excellent historial overview of the visions of possible technological change which challenged both military and educated civilians to envision the potentials of future war."

―

Midwest Book Review

"Examining the writings of professional military thinkers such as Ivan Bloch together with works by relative military amateurs such as H.G. Wells, Echevarria compares how pre-World War I thinkers imagined the future of warfare. After painting portraits of general speculative thinking at the time and the actual status of warfare in broad strokes, he compares writings about land, sea, and air warfare, finding that the amateurs generally were better at predicting long-term trends in warfare but were not as good as the professional military thinkers in predicting short-term tactical developments."

―

Reference & Research Book News

About the Author

Antulio J. Echevarria II is Director of Research at the Army War College and the former Director of National Security Affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute. From 1998 to 2000 he was the speechwriter for the Army Chief of Staff. He is the author of numerous articles in Military History Quarterly, Joint Forces Quarterly, Army History, Parameters, Air & Space Power Journal, Marine Corps Gazette, Naval War College Review, Naval Institute Proceedings, Journal of Strategic Studies, Military Review, and others.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Praeger; 1st Edition (April 30, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 152 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0275987256
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0275987251
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.46 x 0.75 x 9.47 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,124,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,851 in Military History (Books)
- #6,439 in Conventional Weapons & Warfare History (Books)
- #8,455 in Military Strategy History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
2 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Antulio J. Echevarria II

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Professor Antulio J. Echevarria II, a former US Army officer, is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the US Army War College Press and Parameters. He is a graduate of the US Military Academy, the US Army Command and General Staff College, and the US Army War College. He holds a doctorate in modern history from Princeton University, and is the author of six books, including After Clausewitz (Kansas 2001), Imagining Future War (2007), Clausewitz and Contemporary War (Oxford 2007), Reconsidering the American Way of War (Georgetown 2014), Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2017), and War’s Logic: Strategic Thought and the American Way of War (Cambridge 2021) as well as more than one hundred articles and monographs on strategic thinking, military theory, and military history. He completed a NATO Fulbright Fellowship in 2000-01, and a Visiting Research Fellowship at Oxford University in 2011-12; he is a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and an Adjunct Fellow at the Modern War Institute. He is the winner of five book awards and twelve article awards, and formerly held the US Army War College Elihu Root Chair of Military Studies.

Customer reviews

5 star		100%
4 star 0% (0%)		0%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top review from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Jonathan Baum

Early 20th century futurism

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014

Verified Purchase

The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries was a period of vast technological and social change. This prompted speculation about how things would change in the future, not least of which was how war-fighting would be different in years to come. Echevarria looks at some of those forecasts in both popular and professional military literature, and compares them to the real-world results in the First World War. A comprehensive and entertaining look at turn-of-the-last-century military futurism. And there are some helpful illustrations from the original publications.

Helpful