Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 127 mm x 203 mm
Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 127 mm x 203 mm
ISBN: 978-1-68247-705-2
Verlag: Naval Institute Press
James R. Holmes reaches back to the classics of philosophy--especially to the works of Aristotle, the founder of the Lyceum--to posit that strategy is a habit. Rather, he writes, it involves cultivating a family of habits. To excel at strategy, one should learn what excellent strategists do and practice that ritual each day. Repetition helps the strategist find virtue, which Aristotle defined as the "golden mean" between the extremes of some trait, while shunning vice, the excess or deficiency of that trait. Over time, it becomes second nature to take the long view of national political and strategic ends; marshal diplomatic, economic, and military resources; and devise ways to put those resources to work for strategic gain.
The classics of strategy feature prominently in this work. The canon sets forth concepts worth mastering. For instance, Carl von Clausewitz exhorts strategists to amass superior forces at the decisive place and time while abjuring secondary commitments that scatter resources about the map and risk leaving each force too weak to accomplish its goal. In a similar vein Alfred Thayer Mahan devises a formula for sizing fleets to overpower foes in important waters or coastal zones. Sun Tzu espouses the "indirect approach" to strategy, and B. H. Liddell Hart and J. C. Wylie join the classical Chinese general in his advocacy. In the ideal case strategists not just learn but internalize these concepts. Harnessing them in the real world becomes effortless.