Selected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2013In Strategy: A History; Sir Lawrence Freedman; one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics; captures the vast history of strategic thinking; in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman's narrative is extraordinary; moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in primate groups; to the opposing strategies of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad; the strategic advice of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli; the great military innovations of Baron Henri de Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz; the grounding of revolutionary strategy in class struggles by Marx; the insights into corporate strategy found in Peter Drucker and Alfred Sloan; and the contributions of the leading social scientists working on strategy today. The core issue at the heart of strategy; the author notes; is whether it is possible to manipulate and shape our environment rather than simply become the victim of forces beyond one's control. Time and again; Freedman demonstrates that the inherent unpredictability of this environment-subject to chance events; the efforts of opponents; the missteps of friends-provides strategy with its challenge and its drama. Armies or corporations or nations rarely move from one predictable state of affairs to another; but instead feel their way through a series of states; each one not quite what was anticipated; requiring a reappraisal of the original strategy; including its ultimate objective. Thus the picture of strategy that emerges in this book is one that is fluid and flexible; governed by the starting point; not the end point. A brilliant overview of the most prominent strategic theories in history; from David's use of deception against Goliath; to the modern use of game theory in economics; this masterful volume sums up a lifetime of reflection on strategy.
#4772254 in Books 1997-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .48 x 5.97 x 9.24l; #File Name: 190062401X176 pages
Review
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Survey of the Peninsular War...By HMS WarspiteAuthor Michael Glover was a British Army veteran of the Second World War who turned to writing military history later in life. "Wellington's Peninsular Victories" is a 1996 reprint of a superb short history first published in 1963. Glover provides a concise yet remarkably insightful narrative of Wellington's campaigns in Portugal; Spain; and France during the period 1809 to 1814; with special emphasis on the key battles of Busaco; Salamanca; Victoria; and the Nivelle.Glover wrote several studies of the British Army in the Peninsular War; and if his work in this book is derivative of older scholars such as Oman and Napier; he has also gone to some effort to find first hand accounts that flesh out the drier details of Wellington's campaign style such as logistics and siegecraft. The key leaders get short biographical vignettes; but Glover finds space in a very tightly written 148 pages of text to work in details about the individual British soldier. The book includes a small selection of maps and photographs."Wellington's Peninsular Victories" is very highly recommended as a concise but well-written survey of the British Army in the Peninsular War; for the general reader and for the student of Napoleonic warfare.
