ABSTRACT
Throughout this book, the author has demonstrated that the intelligent study of military history is of practical value for today and the future. This does not mean taking things out of their historical context, or making sweeping and absurd parallels between events and conditions in widely differing eras.1 For that reason, accuracy and technical detail are important: how and why commanders reacted as they did, given the enemy they faced, the technics and the information they had, at that time. The author has chosen some examples which may be unfamiliar, but which demonstrate key principles and ideas as well as, or better than, more familiar ones, especially with regard to the likely location of, and participants in, future conflict. Where others have made sensitive and intelligent use of historical experience - for example, MacArthur’s analysis of Genghis Khan, Kishmishev’s analysis of Nadir Shah’s campaigns, or Mao’s of the Taiping Rebellion - that is of interest and value in itself.
