A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War 1st Edition

As a survey of military thought from the Enlightenment up to the Cold War, I found Professor Gat's book to be comprehensive, thought-provoking, well researched, and well written. In particular the effect of established opinions on the nature of war and how it should be waged, and the reaction of succeeding generations to these established opinions is very interesting. Specifically, the military theories developed during the Enlightenment and the reaction of military theorists to the victories of Napoleon (such as Clausewitz) were of special interest. As Professor Gat himself remarks, there is a tendency to treat the period before Clausewitz as a kind of intellectual void, during which there was no discussion of the theory and practice of war at all. In fact there was a great deal of controversy on military matters taking place in both France and Germany. Admittedly this is a specialist book, not for everyone. But for anyone interested in this topic, I highly recommend this book.

Elegí esta obra por recomendación de un compañero y no me ha decepcionado.Es una obra extraordinaria que puede ayudar mucho a comprender la evolución del pensamiento estratégico militar de occidente.Se la recomendaría a todos los interesados en estrategia y en comprender "la guerra".

Dr. Gat's book isn't quite as interesting as his class. But its a great historic publication nonetheless

The book is a comprehensive military text For a lover of the military history, this book is useful to learn again the backbone of the military histology including review of the works of Rider Hart, Clausewitz and other famous military researchers. One problem is const performance. Cheaper books also cover contents of this book, resulting in unwillingness to purchase this book at the present cost.

本書は、手に取ったらその厚さにびっくりします。外見だけでなく、その内容も、マキャベリからポスト冷戦時代までの著名な軍事理論を取り上げ解説した研究書です。同じような本は何冊も出ていますが、本書のユニークな点は、軍事理論が生まれるには、その時代の影響を受けているに違いないという観点で書かれていることです。その時代の影響は、軍事理論によりさまざまです。文化的な背景もありますし、その時代に流行していた思想、哲学の場合もあります。このような観点から著名な軍事理論を再評価しているため、今まで、皆さんが抱いていた、なぜ、この時代にこのような軍事理論が生まれたのか、という疑問に1つの答えを提示してくれるかもしれません。そのような素晴らしい内容なのに、なぜ、星4つかといいますと、軍事知識だけでなく、手元に哲学辞典や文学辞典があったほうが、より理解しやすいからです。しかし、その手間をかける価値のある本です。