A History of Military Thought

Review from other book by this author 'brilliant synthesis of moden military and naval analysis...highly recommended.'The Historian

Azar Gat has certainly done much to rescue Liddell Hart from the clutches of his recent critics. His book, like its predecessors, is a formidable achievement./ Brian Holden Reid, TLS, 21/05/99.

`Gat presents a great deal of historical and theoretical material in a relatively brief compass.'
Foreign Affairs

`but it is not on the military side of its university that Dr Gat operates, it is in the departments of history and political science ... And it is this which gives his work its depth and value ... he is above all a historian of ideas ... he has written a very good book ... The historiographical passages and bibliographical footnotes are rich and useful, the general-historical foundations of the work are admirably solid, and the exposition flows from cover to cover in a powerful and compelling stream.'
Times Literary Supplement

'The present volume ... extends and amplifies the basic argument that Gat developed in his earlier book on The Origins of Miltary Thought from the Enlightenment to Clausewitz, by far the most frequently cited work in the notes to this one. His approach has the merit of simplicity, and those who found the first volume convincing will find little to complain about here.'
Daniel Moran, United States Naval War College, The Journal of Military History

'In this most welcome sequel he extends his study to cover the whole of the period from the Napoleonic era to the First World War. A brief review can do scant justice to the quality of this book. Its erudition is matched by the clarity of its presentation and above all the originality of its concepts.'
Michael Howard, War in History 1994

`Gat's book must be lauded for the attempt it makes to remedy one of the great omisssions in the historiography of strategic theory. An especially worthwhile result of Gat's approach is the fundamental criticisms it allows Gat to make of the popular interpretation of pre-First World War French miltary thought, ... the second important contribution of Gat's book is to show that the 19th-century European military had a coherent, convincing, and applicable view of war.'
Security Studies

Harold R. Winton, The Journal of Military History, Vol.64, No.3. a thouroughly researched, felicitously composed ... work that ... makes a very important point and deserves close attention from students of military thought.

Part One: The Military School of the Enlightenment; 1: Montecuccoli: The Impact of Proto-Science on Military Theory; 2: The Military Thinkers of the French Enlightenment: The Quest for a General Theory of War; 3: The Military Thinkers of the German 'Aufklarung'; 4: Through the Napoleonic Age; Part Two: The German Movement, Clausewitz, and the Origins of the German Military School; 5: The Reaction Against the Enlightenment: New Perspectives on Military Theory; 6: Clausewitz: Demolishing and Rebuilding the Theoretical Ideal; 7: Clausewitz: The Nature of War; 8: Conclusion; 9: Clausewitz's Final Notes Revisited; Part Three: The Development of Military Thought; 10: Positivism, Romanticism, and Military Theory 1815-1870; 11: The German Military School: Its World-View and Conception of War 1815-1914; 12: The Cult of the Offensive: The Sources of French Military Doctrine 1871-1914; 13: From Sail to Steam: Naval Theory and the Military Parallel 1882-1914; 14: Marxism, Clausewitz, and Military Theory 1848 to the Nuclear Age; Part Four: Fascist Modernism and Visionaries of Machine Warfare 15: Introduction: The 'Janus Face' of Fascism; 16: J. F. C. Fuller: Positivism, Evolution, Fascism, and Future Warfare; 17: Futurism, Proto-Fascist Italian Culture, and the Sources of Douhetism; 18: German Right-Wing Radicalism, Strategic Adventurism, and Mechanized Warfare; 19: Comparisons and Contrasts (I): American Populism, Progressivism, and Mid-West Technological Modernism; 20: Comparisons and Contrasts (II): Marxism, Modernism, and the Doctrine of 'Deep Battle'; Part Five: Lideel Hart, Modern, and Post-Modern Strategy21: Introduction; 22: Background: The First World War in Western Consciousness; 23: Theory: The Lmited War, Moderate Peace, and the Strategy of Indirect Approach; 24: Policy: Defence of the West (I): Containment in the 1930s; 25: Policy: Defence of the West II: Hot War-Cold War; 26: Conclusion: 'The Western Way in Warfare', Past and Future.