Military Adaptation in War

Williamson Murray

Hardcover

Regular price$52.00With free membership trial$49.405% off(max discount $25)

This title does not qualify for the full 50% off new member discount

+ Free shipping

In Stock– Ships within one business day

Do you recommend this book?

Yes!

Military Adaptation in War addresses one of the most persistent, yet rarely examined, problems that military organizations confront: namely, the problem of how to adapt under the trying, terrifying conditions of war. This work builds on the volume that Professor Williamson Murray edited with Allan Millett on military innovation (a quite different problem, though similar in some respects). In Clausewitzian terms, war is a contest, an interactive duel, which is of indeterminate length and presents a series of intractable problems at every level, from policy and strategy down to the tactical. Moreover, the fact that the enemy is adapting at the same time presents military organizations with an ever-changing set of conundrums that offer up no easy solutions. As the British general, James Wolfe, suggested before Quebec: "War is an option of difficulties." Dr. Murray provides an in-depth analysis of the problems that military forces confront in adapting to these difficulties.

Book Details

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publish Date: Oct 10th, 2011
Pages: 352
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 9.10in - 6.30in - 1.10in - 1.35lb
EAN: 9781107006591
Categories: • Military Science• Military - Strategy

About the Author

Murray, Williamson: - Williamson Murray is Professor Emeritus of History at The Ohio State University. At present he is a defense consultant and commentator on historical and military subjects in Washington, D.C. He is co-editor of The Making of Peace (with Jim Lacey); The Past as Prologue (with Richard Hart Sinnreich); The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050 (with MacGregor Knox); Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (with Allan R. Millett); and The Making of Strategy (with Alvin Bernstein and MacGregor Knox).

Praise for this book

"Murray's analysis of the leadership of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding during the Battle of Britain is alone worth the price of the book."
David T. Zabecki, Military History

"Williamson Murray has crafted a compelling argument that adaptation in war is a difficult, problematic process."
Captain Stanley D. M. Carpenter, Proceedings

"This is a rich field to be explored, not only by academics and military historians, but, most importantly, the armed forces themselves - but Murray could not be expected to cover everything. He has produced not only an excellent historical account of adaptation in twentieth-century warfare, but a forensic dissection of the common factors and approaches that can be applied to improve the chances of a military organisation successfully adapting to future challenges. It is the best single volume study of the subject yet written, and deserves a place on the bookshelf with Smith's The Utility of Force and Cohen and Gooch's Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War - and alongside Sun Tzu and Clausewitz."
Ben Barry, Survival

"... an important work for those interested in the events it covers, as well as for anyone concerned with how armed forces tick."
A. A. Nofi, www.strategypage.com