Strategy -- Rulers, States and War It Book Review

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Strategy -- Rulers, States and War

It is very difficult to look at the history of humanity and define a number of common, yet intangible philosophies of action that seem to be part of the overall human condition. One of these intangibles is the human capacity to produce both incredible beauty and horrific evil -- both of which occur during war. In fact, we may ask -- what is war? Every historical period from Ancient Mesopotamia to the present has added a new meaning to the word, but the very essence remains the same. War is a conflict between groups, a way to solve a political or social disagreement through force. Because war has been part of the human condition for millennia, however, we can look at it from both a theoretical and practical aspect of a way to use violence as a solution to problems. One of the most succinct definitions of war comes from an 1832 treatise by Prussian General Carl Von Clausewitz who defined it as "an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will" (Clausewitz, 1984, p. 75). It is interesting, as well, to note that throughout history it has been the generals who, as they reflect late in life on their past, that seem to find the reasons for questioning the futility of war and find ways of looking at war as something that might be inevitable given the human condition but correct at the time (Keegan, 1994).

Regardless of the motivation, the time period and the combatants, war is almost always associated with terror, unhappiness and cruelty. However, human nature being what it is, there are times when it seems necessary to use whatever means necessary to limit evil, to stop unwarranted aggression, and to fight for the preservation of humanity and dignity. Such a theory was developed centuries ago in Ancient Greece and Rome, and then formalized with early Christian theorists August and Aquanis. This theory, called "just war," or Bellum iustum that holds the violent conflict is sometimes necessary but must meet philosophical, religious or political criteria (Orend, 2005).

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Looking at this issue using 17 case studies, The Making of Strategy: Rulers, States and War asks the reader to step back from the typical historical process and look at the way war, diplomacy and foreign policy -- in other words the socio-political and economic development of society -- were more of a process than a series of great rulers, military leaders, or even battle plans. Instead, the individual authors focus more on a multidimensional approach to geographic, economic, technical, political and cultural forces that continue to evolve and transform states (Murray, W., et al., eds. 1996).

Since the book has 17 plus authors there is no single style, other than thematic treatments of various eras from experts in the field. The guiding paradigm, though, for all authors is the way that strategy and human nature evolved from the Peloponnesian War to the Cold War and nuclear deterrence. Arguably, while the topics vary, the geography varies, and even the emphasis on politics, economics and culture varies; we find a tremendous amount of commonality between the authors and their focus on strategic design. One rather obvious commonality regarding warfare is the justification of the conflict. There has always been a great deal of political rhetoric surrounding war, and indeed some believe war is merely an expression of economic desires. Points-of-view, of course, different but societies tend to find a publicallyustifiable reason for warfare. In fact, one of the earliest theories about warfare surrounds the decline of the Mesopotamian city-states due to a series of internal wars over resources. The city-state structure left Mesopotamia vulnerable to outside conquest (much as Greece would later become) because as they were absorbed in internal conflict and rivalries rather than banding together to face off external enemies they used their resources to fight one another and allow outsiders to conquer city after city until the state itself was subsumed (Annanberg Foundation, 2013)......

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