A superb and thought-provoking read.
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Rupert Smith uses both his past experience as a commander of multinational troops and his interest in military history to illustrate why military forces with numerical and technological advantages fail to achieve the desired outcome - their force has no utility. He then lists how politicians and the military alike can learn from such lessons to give their force utility.
Highly stimulating and an easy read, The Utility of Force is written to such an extent that both novices interested in military affairs and those in the senior echelons of command can benefit from it. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
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A MUST FOR STUDENTS OF HISTORY
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This book is a "must" for anyone who has an understanding or thirst for all things military. It is very well written, if a little bit too academic in places and the author makes very well constructed arguments that are simple yet seemed to be not understood by those in power i.e. Government! One of the "great" British Generals of modern times!
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Simple, obvious, brilliant.
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What the man says is not rocket science, but that's why this book is even more necessary.
It's about understanding the nature of what the conflict now is and what you want to get out of it. Once that's understood, make sure your organisation, tactics, strategy and resources fit.
And yet it's so obvious that this simple formula is routinely ignored by governments, not least of all our own one, and indeed armed forces.
It also reminds me as a journalist how many of my own profession don't understand what they're talking about when reporting on conflict - a modern journalistic blindspot as big as the lack of understanding of economics. This book ought to be mandatory reading for every foreign desk.
The best bits include the author's disection of various historic paradigm changes in conflict. The only criticisms that spring to mind are that he doesn't seem to give much of a rundown of things like the equipment changes that modern warfare demand, and that he can come across as a touch overbearing and arrogant, although this is no more than an impression and spoils nothing.
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Essential reading
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While not sharing Rupert Smith's opinion that warfare is somehow hard-wired into human beings - the incidence of war varies greatly in different countries and at different times (e.g. Sweden, once very warlike, hasn't been involved in armed combat for nearly 200 years) - this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand modern warfare. It explains very clearly, for example, why the invasion of Iraq was doomed from the outset and why the current strategy will certainly fail. From a former top soldier this is devastating stuff.
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This one is
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Rupert Smith brings together his long and relevant experience of command in some of the more prickly theatres of conflict in our time in lucid writing to put through the message that the nature of "war" has changed irrevocably. And the armed forces too have to be reformed and thus prepared for the new conflicts
This book is one of its kind. Prospective buyers may like to get the book's flavour from the mp3 audio of Rupert Smith's recent lecture (of the same title) at the RSA, and the questions and answers that followed (website~ http://www.thersa.org/audio/lecture181006.mp3).
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