The Transformation of War: The Most Radical Reinterpretation of Armed Conflict Since Clausewitz |...

The Transformation of War: The Most Radical Reinterpretation of Armed Conflict Since Clausewitz | Martin Van Creveld | Recommended Reading

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The Transformation...

	The Transformation of War: The Most Radical Reinterpretation of Armed Conflict Since Clausewitz Martin Van Creveld Free Press, 1991 - 254 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Since Clausewitz, was has been considered a rational extension of politics by nations seeking to advance their interests. Now, in this sweeping reassessment of the ends and means of war, Martin van Creveld advances a new understanding of what was is today, and for what that it's fought.

Amazing!!!

When I finished reading this book I could hardly believe that a writer could prophesize the future war events in such a clear way. Van Creveld's thesis is that war as we know it in the last 3,5 centuries (waged between states and organized armies) has reached its end and is now in a process of radical tramsformation. Analyzing many examples from the military history he suggests that we are entering into an era where states lose the monopoly of waging war and confront non-state actors who do not embrace the same philosophical values. Van Creveld overturns Clauzewitz's traditional views one by one, using very convincing arguments, and unfortunately he is confirmed by international events today. While reading the book there were many cases when I was dumbfounded by the fact that a writer completing his work near the end of the Cold War could see our era with such a clarity, and I was really amazed by the fact that the book was written in 1991. It is more modern than anything else I have read on the subject of modern war and surpasses even contemporary analysis. Van Creveld does not avoid to touch even hot topics, like the sheer joy of fighting (paraphrasing Clausewitz he states that war is more the continuation of sports by other means than politics) the taboo of introducing women in the armies, the role of religion in the motivation of war and the very important argument that war does not begin when someone is willing to kill but when he is willing to die for a cause. The accuracy of his predictions is often so amazing that it becomes terrifying, especially when he states that in the future the war leaders will not be legitimate government officials but something like "The Old Man in the Mountains", meaninig the kind of warfare waged by assassins in the Middle Ages. He is also very critical against the current military-industrial complex and its super-expensive creations of high tech weapons, saying that all this paraphernalia of old war are like dinosaurs about to face extinction. This is a highly recommended book and it is sure that it will change many of your establised views on war.

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Recommended Reading

I highly recommend this book be on the US Army's Chief of Staff reading list for officers (if it has not already been done). This is one of those rare books whose message is not only important, but presented in a format that is easily understood. Creveld's message does help put wars like Iraq into proper context.
I would compare this book (of the same topic) with others like James Dunnigan (of How to Make War fame) or books by Peter Drucker (who write books about management, but can also be applied to war). Again, I highly recommend this book not only for its important message, but also for its clarity.

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A very advanced book

This is one of the best books that I have read on war. The book covers history, government, religion, economics, law (both domestic and international). All of these areas are apart of warmaking. The author writes the book with the assuption that the reader as an indepth understanding of all these areas. If you do not have a good understanding of each of these areas, then reasoning of this book will be lost on you.

The age of this book having been written in the early 90's is what caught my eye. That made this author not one of the current glut of the new trend of writting on counterinsurgency, Islam, and the current trends of warfare now. The author speaks of many of the same techniques as the new Army/Marine's counterinsurgency manual. Again this was written 16 years ago.

I only gave this four stars because with the obvious knowledge that the author has, the conclution that the modern state and its military is going to come crumbling down is completely wrong. Even given the date of this book I find the conclusion too large of a stretch, making it an emotional arguement and one not based on sound scholary work. Which completely surprizes me with it being set in the middle of such an amazing work.

Over all this an excellent work and is a must read for those who want to learn about war and how it is wage. It is also superior to most of all the new books that have been published in the last five years.

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Not that great

read this book with very high expectations based on the reviews. There is a lot in it. Some of it is right, some is not (e.g. the workings of the Roman Army are oversimplified). My major gripe is that it equates the modern state to a war making organization: when classic armies disappear, the state disappears too. The modern state probably was born as the most effective warmaking organization of his time but others could argue that it was born as the most efficient task collecting organization of his time. In any case today it does a lot more than putting armies in the field and collecting taxes. Plus it has infinite resources compared to a small group of, say, terrorists. A state that is well led and aware of the dangers of low-intensity conflicts can survive by
adopting the same techniques and exporting the conflict as much as possible. Unfortunately, on one thing van Creveld may be right, that this will force the state to adopt terrorists' techniques.

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Oversimplification by Omission

I'm giving this book three stars because it at least will challenge the reader intellectually. The book makes a number of predictions based on what was appearing to be a start of a trend back in 1990. Most of these predictions have already turned out to be quite overblown. The book is reminiscent of the doomsday flicks of the late 60s and early 70s, particularly Soylent Green. If you watch that movie with Heston, you'll not need to read this book.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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