Winning Wars

Matthias Strohn, MSt (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon), FRHistS, is head of historical analysis at the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research and the British Army’s strategic think tank, visiting professor of military studies at the University of Buckingham, and a member of the academic faculty at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Matthias was educated at the universities of Münster (Germany) and Oxford. He holds a commission in the German Army and is a member of the military attaché reserve. He deployed to Iraq (with the British Army) and Afghanistan (with both the British Army and the German Bundeswehr). Matthias was awarded the highest German military decoration, the ‘Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in Gold,’ and has published widely on 20th-century German and European military history; he has authored and edited over 20 books and numerous articles.

Although much of the book’s focus is about winning in conventional wars, the insights about the components in measuring effectiveness in such warfare also apply to assessing effectiveness in counterterrorism.

• Introduction – Sir Hew Strachan1 ‘Winning’ in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Conception of Victory – Ali Parchami2 The European Concept of ‘Winning’ in the Middle Ages – John France3 The Early Modern Period in Europe, 1500–1715 – David Parrott4 From the Age of Reason to the European Nation State, 1750–1850 – Jonathan Riley5 ‘Winning’ in World War I, 1914–1919 – Lothar Höbelt6 ‘Winning’ in the World Wars. The British Conceptions of the War-Time Leaders Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, 1914–1945 – Rob Johnson7 ‘Winning’ in the Cold War and the Nuclear Age, 1945–1990 – Jonathan Riley8 Western Strategic Goals and ‘Winning’ in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 – Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian9 A Hollow Victory? Assad’s Regime and ‘Winning’ the Conflict in Syria since 2001 – Richard Kuno10 The Impact of History, Politics and Religion: Three Contrasting Conceptions of ‘Winning’ in Iran since 1979 – Ali Parchami11 The Chinese Concept of ‘Winning’ – Kerry Brown12 A Decisive British Victory? The Confrontation with Indonesia, 1963–1966 – Christopher Tuck13 The Ambiguity of Victory: The Spectrum of ‘Winning’ in African History – Richard Reid14 The Provisional IRA and the Elusive Concept of ‘Winning’ since 1969 – Aaron Edwards15 Russian Views of ‘Winning’: ‘Velikaya Pobeda’ ‘pobedonosnaya voina’ – Andrew Monaghan16 ‘Winning the Peace’: The Peacebuilding Paradigm and its Implications for Peacekeepers in the 21st Century – Nicholas ReesConclusion: So, What is ‘Winning’? Andrew Sharpe