Military Strategy
A Global History
Jeremy Black
Cambridge, MA, USA: Yale University Press, 2023
Hardback 672pp RRP: $65.00
Reviewer: David Rees, October 2024
The author, Professor. Jeremy Black of Exeter University UK devotes most of his book’s introduction to clarifying exactly what strategy means. He does this in an erudite style, as he argues that there has always been some confusion about the use of the word outside of the military. This is because its usage has changed over time. It is often confused with words such as operations, tactics, policy, plans and statecraft.
In politics, for example, strategy is sometimes used to mean ‘what process do we use to cope with a dangerous situation which requires careful planning and policy decisions at a high level’. In business circles, it is often used as a ‘buzz’ word to describe ‘what are the ends, ways and means of achieving success’. Even in films like James Bond’s 1967 film Casino Royale, when Bond is asked ‘What is our strategy now Sir?’. He replies, ‘Get us out of here as soon as possible!’ Under such circumstances, the author states the definition of strategy is far from being easy and clear. The definition Black uses is:
‘Strategy is an overreaching vision of what an organisation or individual wants to achieve coupled with a set of objectives to make it possible. It is not the details of plans by which goals are implemented by military means. Instead, it is the ways by which certain States, Rulers, Elites, and others seek to shape their situation, producing appropriate domestic or international systems and pursuing outcomes that provide security and that safeguard and advance interests.’
Using this definition, the book describes the history of conflict in the world from a strategic and military strategic perspective and highlights the effectiveness of the systems that were used and how the use of power was contested. The author initially sets up case studies that go back in time to the military conflicts that occurred during the Roman and Chinese Empires. Additional case studies follow, which analyse the strategies used in some of the 17th century religious wars in Europe, the Napoleonic wars, the British Empire wars, the American wars and the global wars of the 19th and 20th centuries. The book concludes by trying to find better strategies for the future of the world while drawing on lessons from the past. Unfortunately, it’s sad to relate that there seems to be no agreeable strategy for achieving a lasting global peace.
The author currently believes that thinking strategically has become a lost art. This particularly applies to Britain in the last decade. He quotes from a House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee Report which, after British military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, stated that the UK Government had lost its capacity to think strategically, while its capability to articulate the country’s enduring interests, values and identity had atrophied. Prof Black perhaps hoped that his book would help to restore that lost art.
The scholarly analysis of military strategies is quite detailed and covers a lot of history. In the absence of maps or pictures or even an easy writing style, one’s reading of this book requires some patience and perseverance. (Unless of course, one is a military strategy scholar). However, there is much in the way of strategic history to learn from it.
The RUSI – Vic Library is most grateful to the publishers for making this work available for review.