ABSTRACT
Captain Liddell Hart brings to the study of military affairs two qualities, neither unusual in itself, but in combination virtually unique. The first is a grasp of grand strategy, based on a wide study of history which has led him to develop a philosophy of war comparable to that of Clausewitz in its insistence upon the necessary primacy of political considerations in all military operations. The second is an expertise in the minutiae of tactics, weapons and organization for land warfare which is kept meticulously abreast of the unfolding technology of war. The airman will complain, possibly with more justification, that the author ignores those subtle and unending speculations over massive deterrence, finite deterrence, minimal deterrence, and first and second strike forces, of which military theory is coming increasingly to consist.
