The Changing Face of War: Combat from the Marne to Iraq

The Changing Face of War: Combat from the Marne to Iraq

One of the most influential experts on military history and strategy has now written his magnum opus, an original and provocative account of the past hundred years of global conflict. The Changing Face of War is the book that reveals the path that led to the impasse in Iraq, why powerful standing armies are now helpless against ill-equipped insurgents, and how the security of sovereign nations may be maintained in the future.

While paying close attention to the unpredictable human element, Martin van Creveld takes us on a journey from the last centuryâ€™s clashes of massive armies to todayâ€™s short, high-tech, lopsided skirmishes and frustrating quagmires. Here is the world as it was in 1900, controlled by a handful of â€œgreat powers,â€ mostly European, with the memories of eighteenth-century wars still fresh. Armies were still led by officers riding on horses, messages conveyed by hand, drum, and bugle. As the telegraph, telephone, and radio revolutionized communications, big-gun battleships like the British Dreadnought, the tank, and the airplane altered warfare.

Van Creveld paints a powerful portrait of World War I, in which armies would be counted in the millions, casualtiesâ€“such as those in the cataclysmic battle of the Marneâ€“would become staggering, and deadly new weapons, such as poison gas, would be introduced. Ultimately, Germanyâ€™s plans to outmaneuver her enemies to victory came to naught as the battle lines ossified and the winners proved to be those who could produce the most weapons and provide the most soldiers.

The Changing Face of War then propels us to the even greater global carnage of World War II. Innovations in armored warfare and airpower, along with technological breakthroughs from radar to the atom bomb, transformed war from simple slaughter to a complex event requiring new expertiseâ€“all in the service of savagery, from Pearl Harbor to Dachau to Hiroshima. The further development of nuclear weapons during the Cold War shifts nations from fighting wars to deterring them: The number of active troops shrinks and the influence of the military declines as civilian think tanks set policy and volunteer forces â€œdecoupleâ€ the idea of defense from the world of everyday people.

War today, van Crevald tells us, is a mix of the ancient and the advanced, as state-of-the-art armies fail to defeat small groups of crudely outfitted guerrilla and terrorists, a pattern that began with Britainâ€™s exit from India and culminating in American misadventures in Vietnam and Iraq, examples of what the author calls a â€œlong, almost unbroken record of failure.â€

How to learn from the recent past to reshape the military for this new challengeâ€“how to still save, in a sense, the free worldâ€“is the ultimate lesson of this big, bold, and cautionary work. The Changing Face of War is sure to become the standard source on this essential subject.

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Brand BALLANTINE GROUP
Manufacturer Random House Publishing Group
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9780891419020
Color Black
ReleaseDate 2008-01-29
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780891419020

Country	USA
Brand	BALLANTINE GROUP
Manufacturer	Random House Publishing Group
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	9780891419020
Color	Black
ReleaseDate	2008-01-29
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780891419020

The Changing Face of War: Combat from the Marne to Iraq

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