Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
How aggressive military strategies win wars, from ancient times to today
The goal of war is to defeat the enemy's will to fight. But how this can be accomplished is a thorny issue. Nothing Less than Victory provocatively shows that aggressive, strategic military offenses can win wars and establish lasting peace, while defensive maneuvers have often led to prolonged carnage, indecision, and stalemate. Taking an ambitious and sweeping look at six major wars, from antiquity to World War II, John David Lewis shows how victorious military commanders have achieved long-term peace by identifying the core of the enemy's ideological, political, and social support for a war, fiercely striking at this objective, and demanding that the enemy acknowledges its defeat.
Lewis examines the Greco-Persian and Theban wars, the Second Punic War, Aurelian's wars to reunify Rome, the American Civil War, and the Second World War. He considers successful examples of overwhelming force, such as the Greek mutilation of Xerxes' army and navy, the Theban-led invasion of the Spartan homeland, and Hannibal's attack against Italy—as well as failed tactics of defense, including Fabius's policy of delay, McClellan's retreat from Richmond, and Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. Lewis shows that a war's endurance rests in each side's reasoning, moral purpose, and commitment to fight, and why an effectively aimed, well-planned, and quickly executed offense can end a conflict and create the conditions needed for long-term peace.
Recognizing the human motivations behind military conflicts, Nothing Less than Victory makes a powerful case for offensive actions in pursuit of peace.
John David Lewis
John David Lewis is visiting associate professor of philosophy, politics, and economics at Duke University, and senior research scholar in history and classics at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University. He is the author of Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens and Early Greek Lawgivers.
Related to Nothing Less than Victory
Related ebooks
Positive Chaos: Transform Crisis into Clarity and Advantage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArsene Lupin The Collection: The Master of Deception Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTales of the Emperor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Analects (Translated by James Legge with an Introduction by Lionel Giles) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe prince Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Trade Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Dao of the Military: Liu An's Art of War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hidden Habits of Genius: Beyond Talent, IQ, and Grit—Unlocking the Secrets of Greatness Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Leviathan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPosterior Analytics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Australia's Pivot to India Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdventures in Human Space: Across Time and Beyond, Vol. 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Best Strategy Collection: The Art of War, The Prince, The Book of Five Rings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiscourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete H.P. Lovecraft Collection (WSBLD Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaw in a New Key: Essays on Law and Society Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld In Transition : The 2023-2024 Political Landscape Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKnowing the Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence, and Assessment of Intentions in International Relations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFriends with Benefits: The India-US Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Travel Or, Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brave New World (Book 2 of War's End) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHannibal: Makers of History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Factors of Organic Evolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoots of Strategy: Book 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/521St Century Proverbs of William Craig: 1St Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBushido, the Soul of Japan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Assassins: How Putin Poisons Elections Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Bertram Gross's Friendly Fascism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Washington: The Indispensable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Nothing Less than Victory
3 ratings0 reviews