In Pursuit of Military Excellence: The Evolution of Operational Theory - Brossura

Naveh, Shimon

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0714642770 ISBN 13: 9780714642772

Casa editrice: Routledge, 1997

Riassunto

This work offers an interpretation of the intermediate field of military knowledge situated between strategy and tactics and traces the evolution of operational awareness and its culmination in a full-fledged theory.

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Contenuti:

certainly the most important work of military theory in recent years. foriegn Affairs Mar/Apr 1998

RUSI Journal - October 1998 - Reviewed By Lieutenant General Scott Grant

"it is perhaps not surprising that Shimon Navez, in his book In Pursuit of Military Excellence, considers the evolution of the operational theory of warfare with such a rare combination of intellectual rigour and military expertise."

"..he has, in my opinion, written an important book.."

"..quality of his analysis nor the deepth of his research.."

"Suffice to say that this is a very good book indeed: it should be required reading for every serious soldier."

Cambridge Review of International Affairs - Reviewed by Andrew Coller

"Shimon Naveh"s book is both readable and a valuable exposition of the Russian experience and thought which, even now, remains difficult for Western readers to access easily. It also provides clear insight into the mistakes of the past through a critique of commanders who have held blindly to a philosophy of war that was grounded in a mistaken assumption about how to achieve a strategic aim - the battle of destruction. His book is neither too technical nor too simplistic and provides the reader with an interesting view on how today"s modern Western military doctrine has evolved and has been implemented."

SLAVIC REVIEW

"It is therefore in his explicit and thorough application of systems theory to military theory that the work derives msuch of its novelty."

Journal of Military History- mixed review- see file " It is potentially important, carefully researched, and frequently insightful; but it is also distinctly biased, unsoundly argued, and maddeningly composed

Product Description:

How did the obsession with offensive develop prior to the First World War? How did manoeuvre thinking become dominated by linear patterns? Why, while possessing ample mechanized assets, did the European armies fail to develop operational patterns of manoeuvre in the course of the First World War? Why, in spite of the Wehrmacht's unique tactical excellence, was the Blitzkrieg method defeated? What were the operational factors that generated the succession of Soviet victories after the summer of 1943? This work offers an interpretation of the intermediate field of military knowledge situated between strategy and tactics - better known as 'operational art' - and traces the evolution of operational awareness and its culmination in a full-fledged theory. Shimon Naveh identifies four key landmarks in the evolution of operational theory: Nineteenth-century military thought and the roots of operational ignorance The emergence of the Blitzkrieg concept The evolution of the Soviet Deep Operation theory during the 1920s and 1930s The crystallization of the American Airland Battle theory fifty years later The profound conceptual developments associated with the Soviet Deep Operation and Strike Manoeuvre theories are used as a yardstick for critically assessing German military theory, from Clausewitz's 'battle of destruction' to the Blitzkrieg. Naveh concludes that the Blitzkrieg lacked any solid conceptual basis and constituted a manipulation of tactical patterns, and hence the German defeat by the Russian Army in the Second World War amounted to the victory of a superior culture of military thinking over an inferior one. Furthermore, it was the Soviet conceptual breakthrough, which, in fact, permitted the crystallization of the American Airland Battle theory - a doctrine successfully implemented in the Gulf War.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Routledge
• Data di pubblicazione: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0714642770
• ISBN 13: 9780714642772
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 424