Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace, Revised and Enlarged Edition 2nd Edition

by Edward N. Luttwak (Author)

14 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0674007031

ISBN-10: 9780674007031

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“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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Edward N. Luttwak serves or has served as a contractor for the Office of Net Assessment of the U.S. Department of Defense and for the U.S. armed forces, and as a consultant to the U.S. National Security Council, the White House Chief of Staff, and several allied governments.

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press; 2 edition (January 31, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780674007031
ISBN-13: 978-0674007031
ASIN: 0674007034
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 14 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #451,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2198 in Military Historical Fiction
- #5176 in War Fiction (Books)
- #987 in Military History (Books)

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14 customer reviews

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Brian Williams

Kindle please

January 9, 2020

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Absolutely essential wisdom, the only thing I don’t like is it isn’t available on kindle, lugging paper around is unnecessary “friction”

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Tuxaua Linhares

Extraordinary book! An absolutely "must read"!

September 17, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is essential for everyone interested in understanding (or at least trying to understand) modern warfare or conflicts. It's concepts apply not only to warfare, but to any situation where there are interests at conflicts. Reading it is paramount to effectively managing such situation in a cost effective manner. Military planners should read this book before they even think of buying new, and expensive, "wunder weapons" with a billion dollar price tag. The situation in Iraq can be better understood after reading this book. It show clearly that throwing money at a problem is not the solution.

2 people found this helpful

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M. Zsoldos

Nonetheless I recommend this book to anyone remotely intersted in strategy

August 10, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Very thought inducing and very interesting views. Well worth the read, it ives you unique insights. Negative is that it's bit arrogant and the languge is often bit pretentious and maybe purposefully overcomplicated to make the book seem wiser than it is. Nonetheless I recommend this book to anyone remotely intersted in strategy, military, military history or even politics in general.

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William Yerazunis

It's not fiction: it's a history of strategic conflict.

October 14, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

It's not a work of fiction- it's a history of strategic conflict.

Yes, I learned a lot from it.

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loner

Luttwak doesn't mention Tukachevskii, Isserson, Triandifillov these are ...

November 20, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Luttwak doesn't mention Tukachevskii, Isserson, Triandifillov these are the masters of Deep Operation theory. He worships Clauswitz a mouse compared to the Russia originators of the war science used today by the west.

3 people found this helpful

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Raymund Eich

August 14, 2012

Format: Paperback

Although it especially helped me write my military science fiction novel, Take the Shilling, any fiction writer, whether focused on science fiction or not, would benefit from considering Luttwak's main thesis. In any strategic contest, (a situation where two directing minds pursue incompatible goals), a straightforward course of "best" action followed by one side will bring out responses from an opponent, thus negating the advantage of the "best" action, if not outright reversing it to the opponent's favor. Since essentially every story worth reading is about a strategic contest, the applicability to fiction writers should be apparent. Further, Luttwak's discussion of relational maneuver--the application of one side's strengths against the opponent's weakness--has relevance to writers trying to craft fresh, unexpected plots, while leaving out the parts readers skip. (Hint: in military parlance, those parts are "attrition.")

Turning to sf writers, Luttwak raises two points they should especially consider. First, many an sf story involves an ultimate technology, a technology to end history, which gives its first wielder an insurmountable and eternal advantage. (H.G. Wells' "The Land Ironclads" is one of the first, but nowhere near the last). Luttwak's discussion of the levels of strategy, working up from the technical to the tactical, operational, theater, and grand-strategic levels, with all the ways a technically "best" action can be negated by an opponent, demolishes the "technology that ends history" subgenre of sf.

Second, wise strategic thinking takes into account the workings of the opponent's mind, and because we have incomplete intelligence and understanding of our opponents, wars break out more often than they would in a world of perfect knowledge. When writing about strategic contests involving non-human minds, whether aliens, robots, or something else, the greater difficulty to understanding such minds suggests armed suasion would be less predictable, war more likely to break out, and peace even more of a worthy achievement.

3 people found this helpful

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Ami Isseroff

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

May 29, 2003

Format: Paperback

This is a sprawling, but very important and perceptive analysis. Luttwak's often revised book has several messages. The most topically interesting one was apparently missed by the reviewers, who concentrated on the paradoxical nature of strategic relations.
Luttwak notes that modern industrial societies will not tolerate casualties in war, and that therefore battlefield strategies must focus on winning wars without direct contact with the enemy and without risk of lives. He claims that while the strategic bombing of WW II was a failure, strategic bombing as practised in Iraq in 1991 and in Kossovo was a success. According to Luttwak, the difference is more accurate intelligence and more accurate bombing - not necessarily cruise-missiles.
He points out that with a smaller expenditure of bombs in 1 month in 1991 than the allies had expended in Germany in 1945, the coalition succeeding in totally disrupting Iraq communications and industry.
The outlines of how the next war ought to be fought, and in fact was fought, were clear from Luttwak's presentation. One almost gets the feeling that the war was fought to prove his theory, and it is very likely that changes in US defense policy are being based on lessons drawn from the success of the war, in the light of Luttwak's recommendations.
Luttwak does not take into account that not all enemies are equal. The strategy that worked so well for Iraq might not work for a more organized and determined foe such as North Korea.

24 people found this helpful

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Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace, Revised and Enlarged Edition 2nd Edition