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Strategy and History

Essays on Theory and Practice

By Colin S. Gray

Published April 13th 2006 by Routledge – 248 pages

Series: Strategy and History

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Description

Strategy and History comprises a selection of Professor Gray's key contributions to strategic debate over the past thirty years.

These essays have been selected both because they had significant messages for contemporary controversies, and because they have some continuing relevance for today and the future. Each essay in this book is really about strategy in the modern world, and reflects the many dimensions of this complex subject.

This book covers a wide range of subjects and historical events, but there are key issues covered throughout:

  • being strategic
  • the consequences of actions
  • a respect for Clausewitz’s theory of war
  • historical dependency
  • the importance of geography
  • being critical of enthusiasm for technology over human factors
  • the primacy of politics.

This important publication provides an invaluable insight into the development of strategic studies over the past 30 years from one of the world's leading theorists and practitioners of the subject. The book will be of great interest to all students and analysts of strategy and international studies.

Contents

Introduction: Holding the Strategy Bridge Part 1: Strategy, Strategic Studies, and History 1. Across the Nuclear Divide – Strategic Studies, Past and Present (1977) 2. New Directions for Strategic Studies? How Can Theory Help Practice? (1992) 3. History for Strategists: British Seapower as a Relevant Past (1994) 4. Why Strategy is Difficult (1999) 5. From Principles of Warfare to Principles of War (2005) Part 2: Strategic Issues 6. Nuclear Strategy: The Case for a Theory of Victory (1979) 7. The Revolution in Military Affairs (1998) 8. Arms Control Does Not Control Arms (1993) Part 3: Geography, Culture, Ethics 9. Geography and Grand Strategy (1991) 10. Strategic Culture as Context: The First Generation of Theory Strikes Back (1999) 11. Force, Order, and Justice: The Ethics of Realism in Statecraft (1993) Part 4: War and the Future 12. What is War? A View from Strategic Studies (2005)