Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace
“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...
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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.
PrefacePt. IThe Logic of Strategy11The Conscious Use of Paradox in War32The Logic in Action163Efficiency and the Culminating Point of Success324The Coming Together of Opposites50Pt. IIThe Levels of Strategy875The Technical Level936The Tactical Level1037The Operational Level1128Theater Strategy I: Military Options and Political Choices1389Theater Strategy II: Offense and Defense14710Theater Strategy III: Interdiction and the Surprise Attack15811Nonstrategies: Naval, Air, Nuclear16812The Renaissance of Strategic Air Power185Pt. IIIOutcomes: Grand Strategy20713The Scope of Grand Strategy20914Armed Suasion21815Harmony and Disharmony in War23416Can Strategy Be Useful?258App. ADefinitions of Strategy267App. BThe Gulf War Air Campaign271App. CInstant Thunder279Notes281Works Cited299Index304
