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

by Martin van Creveld

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0891419020
• ISBN13: 9780891419020
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Updating the strategic thinking

An excellent book with the most actual explanations about what does war really mean. Specially recomended for scholars interested on military history from de strategical point of view. Hope Van Creveld will continue producing works like this one, war does not stop evolving and understanding actual war is an urgent issue for everybody.

The Changing Face of War, Lessons of Combat from Marne to Iraq

Presents a concise summary of tactics, strategies, weapons, and personnel employed by various countries and groups to fight conflicts around the world over the past 300 years or so. Well written, easily understandable, and comes across as very objective, although not diplomatic in judging past or current effectiveness of various militaries and governments. This should be must reading for every American citizen in assessing the cost effectiveness of the vast expenditures of our government on the military and to guide improvements in the way we allocate resources and hold our military-industrial complex and politicians accountable.

Best military / strategy book this year

A "must-read" for any military history / strategy aficionado...

The must-read book about war for 2007

This book helps us clear our minds of misconceptions and baseless optimism so can we begin the long process of adapting to a world in which a new form of war has obsoleted our current armed forces and ended the military dominance of the western developed nations. A new face of war, indeed. The author shows how the current state of warfare as the result of long-term trends. He is well qualified to do so, as the author of seventeen books which cover the range of the military arts -- including logistics, command, technology, gender, and history. Only after putting current events in a larger context does he move to analysis of how we and our foes fight, and why. An analysis of 20th century wars comprises the largest part of the book. It ends on an optimistic note, showing how events in Iraq suggest that our current fighting doctrines need drastic revision. He also provides a few tips. Not solutions, but pointers in the direction from which remedies might be found. In only 270 pages The Changing Face of War provides a concise summary of van Creveld's vast body of work on military theory and practice - and the best description to date of a serious danger we face. It is an easy read due to the clarity of his vision and the grace of his writing. This book is a must-read for two kinds of people: 1. Professionals in the military arts or military history, or those with an amateur interest in these. 2. Anyone interested in the survival of our civilization, as military inferiority is seldom associated with longevity of societies.

Excellent short book on modern warfare

In this excellent (and much anticipated) book on modern combat Creveld neatly summarizes the bulk of his previous work. Chapters 1-4 deal with how war was waged the first half of the 20th century; chapters 5 & 6 after the introduction of nuclear weapons. Creveld then wraps up with suggestions on how to win in modern combat (terrorism/insurgencies). The only `new' thought I noticed in this book was Creveld's suggestions for defeating insurgencies based off the experience of the British with the IRA and the Syrians with the Muslim brotherhood. The bulk of the book is spent explaining why war has changed the way it has, which Creveld has discussed in essentially every other book he's written. This book seemed (to me at least) a follow up (or, rather, a `see I told you so') to his earlier groundbreaking work "The Transformation of War." My only two gripes: I wish he'd have written more on how war has changed in conjunction with the decline of the nation-state (because his "Rise and Decline of the State" was excellent), and I wish he would have given his thoughts on Israel's recent war with Lebanon. But if he did it likely would have hurt the flow of the book, so I'm glad he didn't. He's like Jacques Barzun--you want his opinion on everything. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand why there haven't been (and probably won't be) any more WWII's and some intelligent examples and ideas of how to defeat terrorists or insurgents. If you want further scholarly reading on this subject his "Transformation of War" and "Rise and Decline of the State" are superb.