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Breaking the Phalanx: A New Design for Landpower in the 21st Century (Bibliographies and Indexes in American) Third Printing Edition

by Douglas A. Macgregor (Author)

4.1 34 ratings

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This work proposes the reorganization of America's ground forces on the strategic, operational and tactical levels. Central to the proposal is the simple thesis that the U.S. Army must take control of its future by exploiting the emerging revolution in military affairs. The analysis argues that a new Army warfighting organization will not only be more deployable and effective in Joint operations; reorganized information age ground forces will be significantly less expensive to operate, maintain, and modernize than the Army's current Cold War division-based organizations. And while ground forces must be equipped with the newest Institute weapons, new technology will not fulfill its promise of shaping the battlefield to American advantage if new devices are merely grafted on to old organizations that are not specifically designed to exploit them. It is not enough to rely on the infusion of new, expensive technology into the American defense establishment to preserve America's strategic dominance in the next century. The work makes it clear that planes, ships, and missiles cannot do the job of defending America's global security issues alone. The United States must opt for reform and reorganization of the nation's ground forces and avoid repeating Britain's historic mistake of always fielding an effective army just in time to avoid defeat, but too late to deter an aggressor.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By any standard, this is a landmark contribution to the debate on the future of our military forces."-Dr. Raymond M. Macedonia scientist and co-author of Getting it Right

"Thank God someone is thinking about the dangerous future we are lurching toward, and how the United States military must change and adapt to deal with the untidy realities of the new century. The old ways and the old force, what's left of it, just won't cut it. Macgregor, in Breaking the Phalanx, offers us cutting-edge analysis of what's wrong, suggestions of how to fix it, and a great place to begin the debate."-Joseph L. Galloway, Senior Writer, U.S. News and World Report co-author of Triumph Without Victory

"Very provocative. This is exactly the kind of thing that should be preoccupying us all."-Brent Scowcroft, LTG, USAF (ret) former National Security Advisor under President Bush

"Douglas A. Macgregor has hit the nail directly on the head in Breaking the Phalanx....This analysis is at times brilliant and most definitely needed by America's armed forces....[A] goundbreaking work that defines the direction that the American military must take in the near future if it is to prevail against the world's "lean and mean" professional warriors of the 21st Century."-Military and Naval History Journal

"This is an important but odd book, somewhat schizophrenic but eminently worthwhile. It has become widely acclaimed, extensively reviewed in publications as diverse as U.S. News & World Report (a full page), Army Times (three pages), and Joint Forces Quarterly (two pages)....But senior military leaders are reading it as well. Army Times got four four-star generals to comment knowledgeably on the book....[B]reaking the Phalanx is a stimulating prod for a creative, bold reassessment of force designs being debated within all the military services."-Strategic Review

"With Breaking the Phalanx, Colonel Douglas Macgregor has accomplished what all military authors aspire to but few achieve....[M]acgregor has captured the attention of his service's leadership and inspired a genuine debate....An accomplished scholar and writer, as well as a distinguished combat soldier in his own right, Macgregor begins' with a strong defense of the continuing relevance and utility of landpower....Breaking the Phalanx is an important book that may well endure....Highly readable, always interesting, his thrusting logic grapple resolutely with the possibilities....His book deserves careful reflection by all professionals concerned with the common defense."-U.S. Army

?Breaking the Phalanx by Douglas A. Macgregor is essential reading for any serious student of the surrent military modernization debate embodied in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), National Defense Panel and Joint Vision 2010 processes....Senior leaders would do well to consider its recommendations and analysis.?-Military Reviews

?Breaking the Phalanx is an interesting read, and many of its chapters stand on their own....Breaking the Phalanx is a thought-provoking book. Macgregor's ideas for modernizing the Army are truly revolutionary. The author may not fully appreciate the strategic effects of airpower, but his book is worth reading by military officers.?-Net Assessment

?Douglas A. Macgregor has hit the nail directly on the head in Breaking the Phalanx....This analysis is at times brilliant and most definitely needed by America's armed forces....[A] goundbreaking work that defines the direction that the American military must take in the near future if it is to prevail against the world's "lean and mean" professional warriors of the 21st Century.?-Military and Naval History Journal

?Future historians of American military doctrine may well identify this book as the fulcrum point for American military thought and force structure at the turn of the 21st century.?-ARMOR

?If you want a glimpse of the Army's likely shape in a few year's time, there's a book you should be reading...?-Army Times

?This is an important but odd book, somewhat schizophrenic but eminently worthwhile. It has become widely acclaimed, extensively reviewed in publications as diverse as U.S. News & World Report (a full page), Army Times (three pages), and Joint Forces Quarterly (two pages)....But senior military leaders are reading it as well. Army Times got four four-star generals to comment knowledgeably on the book....[B]reaking the Phalanx is a stimulating prod for a creative, bold reassessment of force designs being debated within all the military services.?-Strategic Review

?With Breaking the Phalanx, Colonel Douglas Macgregor has accomplished what all military authors aspire to but few achieve....[M]acgregor has captured the attention of his service's leadership and inspired a genuine debate....An accomplished scholar and writer, as well as a distinguished combat soldier in his own right, Macgregor begins' with a strong defense of the continuing relevance and utility of landpower....Breaking the Phalanx is an important book that may well endure....Highly readable, always interesting, his thrusting logic grapple resolutely with the possibilities....His book deserves careful reflection by all professionals concerned with the common defense.?-U.S. Army

"Breaking the Phalanx by Douglas A. Macgregor is essential reading for any serious student of the surrent military modernization debate embodied in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), National Defense Panel and Joint Vision 2010 processes....Senior leaders would do well to consider its recommendations and analysis."-Military Reviews

"Breaking the Phalanx is an interesting read, and many of its chapters stand on their own....Breaking the Phalanx is a thought-provoking book. Macgregor's ideas for modernizing the Army are truly revolutionary. The author may not fully appreciate the strategic effects of airpower, but his book is worth reading by military officers."-Net Assessment

"Future historians of American military doctrine may well identify this book as the fulcrum point for American military thought and force structure at the turn of the 21st century."-ARMOR

"If you want a glimpse of the Army's likely shape in a few year's time, there's a book you should be reading..."-Army Times

About the Author

DOUGLAS A. MACGREGOR is a Colonel with the Center for Technology and National Security, National Defense University, Washington, DC. After completing airborne and ranger training, Macgregor served in a variety of command and staff assignments including command of a Division Cavalry Squadron. During Desert Storm, Colonel Macgregor was awarded the bronze star with V device for valor, leading attacking combat troops in the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. His other works include a book, The Soviet-East German Military Alliance, published in 1989. He wrote Breaking the Phalanx while serving as the U.S. Army Fellow at CSIS in Washington, D.C. Colonel Macgregor is currently assigned to the U.S. Army combined Army Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Praeger; Third Printing edition (January 14, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 302 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0275957942
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0275957940
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.68 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #935,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #826 in Conventional Weapons & Warfare History (Books)
- #2,032 in Military Strategy History (Books)
- #16,811 in Engineering (Books)

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4.1 34 ratings

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Retired Reader
Real Transformation
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2010
Verified Purchase
In 1997, Colonel Douglas Macgregor provided a well thought out blueprint for affecting a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) within the U.S. Army, and to a lesser extent the entire U.S. Armed Forces. The blueprint, as detailed in this book, apparently served as an inspiration for the restructuring of the U.S. Army from an organization based on stand alone divisions to its current brigade structure. Yet apparently neither the Defense Department (DOD) nor the Army fully accepted Macgregor's remarkably prescient thinking. His goal in this book was to demonstrate the Army's strategic relevance in the 21st Century as force to counter the bewildering multiplication of threats to U.S. National Security that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Macgregor noted that "military strategy" really refers to the use of military power to achieve strategic goals, but how effective that military power would be is a function of force structure, tactical and operational doctrine, and training. He also persuavely argues that RMA is not a matter of mere technological innovation, but rather concerns the willingness of the armed forces to "devise new ways to incorporate new technology by changing their organization, their tactics, and sometimes their whole concept of war."

Rather interestingly Macgregor adopted two of the then prevalent concepts of `Network Centric Warfare" (although he never uses this term) as the basis for his proposal to restructure the army. He argued that the newly conceived command system known as C4I [SR] (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence [Surveillance, Reconnaissance] ) offered the means to build a new ground force structure based on smaller more flexible units which he calls "Combat Groups." He also argued that the Army should adopt a `networked type' of organizational structure based on a C4I system that would have a much flatter command structure than the traditional army hierarchical structure. His argument was centered on historical examples that demonstrated that when command authority was dispersed to smaller units, warfare by maneuver and adaptable tactics leading to battlefield success became possible. This latter was probably one reason why the Army only adopted his force structure concept and not his C4I proposal.

Macgregor also argued that the perennially out of control DOD budget could be brought under control by the sensible method of tying force structure and weapons procurement to actual strategic needs based on a rational analysis of real and potential threats to national security. Although DOD would claim that it always does just this, the evidence suggests otherwise as demonstrated most recently F35 strike fighter.

A remarkable book that is as relevant today as when it was written and is for the shelf of anyone seriously interested in military reform.

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Richard Jacobi
Oldish book but well explained
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2015
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Promotes brigade sized elements for deployment before modular movement by US Army - bought it to fill out my library

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"timdavin"
A new Mold, an Old Mold
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2001
Future historians of American military doctrine may well identify this book as the fulcrum point of American military thought and force structure at the turn of the 21st Century. This is not a collection of war stories or a diatribe against what is wrong with the "system" today. This book looks at the future, and offers a plan. It is easy to be a naysayer, but Colonel MacGregor, to his great credit, did not take the easy way. Readers should be warned that there is some effort required to read and digest this important work. I would guess that the price would come first. However, if the value of a book is measured by the time required to read and understand it, then I would suggest that this is well worth the price.
In a very few pages, MacGregor advocates a total redesign of American land-based forces. His vision is an Army without divisions, one with tailored "groups" such as an air assault group and a heavy combat group. These "groups" consist of several (5-7) battalions of the required type, and could deploy more rapidly than current U.S. divisions. MacGregor's vision of the future suggests as many as 18 of these groups, mostly based inside the United States. Based primarily upon this he has been labeled as a "Regimentalist," a term that he explicitly denies as applicable to his ideas. (Note: For those unfamiliar with the U.S. Army, there is a long raging debate regarding force structure. A U.S. "Regiment"would be 2-3 battalions, akin to the "traditional" American regimental structure. Not to be confused with the current British system and nomenclature. In opposition are those that favor the current U.S. Division/Brigade structure. Careers have been lost in the course of this fight.)
Beyond the redesign of the force, MacGregor does what nobody else has seriously attempted since the 1980s. He takes on the training structures and doctrine of the Army. Specifically, he addresses that most sacred of cows -- synchronization. In practice, the contemporary U.S. Army still treats warfare as an activity that can be carefully scripted. Because of the concerns with synchronization in operational and logistical planning, not enough attention is devoted in training to the missed or seized opportunities for battlefield success which may result from subordinate initiative and new fighting techniques and tactics. MacGregor takes this issue on. One should also remember that this book appeared before the current draft of FM 100-5 (the U.S. Army base doctrine, now called FM 3). It now forms a portion of the discourse upon the concepts embodied in the new doctrine.
This is a well written book that those interested in the topic will need to use and consult as they consider the uncertain future. It gives insight like few other books do on the current trends of theory and military force structure as they appear in the United States. If there are any shortcomings at all, I would say that it comes in the area of information and its applications in the future. In this area, MacGregor is both a little too positive and vague about how anything beyond tactical communications affects U.S. forces. He uses a hypothetical scenario to describe how a conflict might unfold once the Army adopts his force structure. Although he mentions CNN early in his scenario, that is the last significant point at which he notes the interaction and role of non-military communications/information upon the military. For a scenario involving western military forces this is inexcusable. Admittedly, this is a book about the U.S. Army and landpower, and so perhaps information is a little beyond the scope. But given the quality of treatment for the other topics he addressed, I personally would have liked to see more on this subject from him. In Macgregor's book, satellites are never shot down, CNN doesn't show up on the battlefield, the BBC doesn't broadcast from your assembly area.

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Amazon Customer
Really Interesting Book
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2013
Verified Purchase
Brief disclaimer, I am not current nor have I ever served in the armed forces, I mostly read this book because I have a recreational interest in military strategy. Having read it, however, I can say that it is very thought provoking. The one bad thing I can say about it was that there are a lot of acronyms, if there were not the book would be an extra thirty pages long, and with this in mind the author has put a listing of acronyms in the back, unfortunately there were several times when I was unable to find a specific acronym, often because it was a derivative of another related, but separate abbreviation.

Beyond that however, the author lays out a compelling case for what US global strategy should look like going forward, and points out the vulnerabilities in carrier battle groups and fixed wing aircraft. On the whole he gives a balanced view of the situation, and lays out just how economically viable forward deployed ground forces can be in deterring aggression.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in military thought and strategy as well as anyone trying to sort out the impacts of information age warfare.

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5 people found this helpful

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Luis Cordeiro
as described
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2024
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as described

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John Melville
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2017
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Should be read in conjunction with "Why We Lost" by Danial Bolger.

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Bücher-Zebra
gut, aber nicht sooo gut
Reviewed in Germany on February 14, 2012
Verified Purchase
Interessantes Werk für den an dem exotischen Thema interessierten Leser. Gut: Er bricht erfolgreich die Lanze für Heereskräfte als Kern jeder Konfliktlösung. Aus der Luft kommen strafende Bomben, auf dem Wasser wird Handel sanktioniert, aber am Ende entscheiden boots-on-the-ground den Konflikt ... wenn er denn unvermeidbar ist. Schlecht: Er macht sich zu wenig Mühe seine Gliederungsvorschläge zu begründen und herzuleiten und hebt zu sehr auf konkretes US-Gerät ab. So wirkt es oft weniger wie ein Grundsatzpapier, sondern eher wie eine schnöde Argumentationshilfe beim inneramerikansichem Ringen um Haushaltsmittel. Trotzdem: Not bad.

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