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Title: On Strategy : A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War by Harry G. Summers ISBN: 0-89141-563-7 Publisher: Presidio Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Five Stars for Colonel Summers
Comment: One of the enduring ironies of military history--and the history of military thought--is that the most profound analysis, clearest insights, and most enduring illumination of the principles and practice of warfare has been accomplished by military professionals of relatively modest rank.
To the distinguished list of Colonel Clausewitz, Captain Mahan, and Captain Hart, add Colonel Harry Summers.
ON STRATEGY is certainly the most important book on military theory to appear since WWII and is perhaps the most important work of this century. Potential purchasers need have no fear that this book will be out-of-print for the foreseeable future; the presses will keep running because ON STRATEGY will be required reading in every military academy in the world for many decades.
ON STRATEGY is "about" the Vietnam War in much the same way that Clausewitz is "about" the Napoloenic Wars or that Mahan is "about" 18th-century naval struggles between France and England. That is, Summers uses the Vietnam War as a vehicle for analysis and illustration of principles of war that apply universally.
Aside from the clarity of his thought, Summers' most remarkable achievement is his writing style: For all of its subtlety, this book is accessible and valuable for readers who may have little background in military affairs.
At the end of WW II, the United States created special five-star ranks to honor it most senior commanders for their contributions to victory.
A book review is a poor substitute for a richly-deserved star to reward extraordinary service to the nation. But for his brilliant analysis and articulate writing, pin Five Stars on Harry Summars' collar.
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The reviewer is a former military intelligence analyst.
Rating: 5
Summary: the Vietnam War book to read first
Comment: This is the best and primary work on what went wrong with the
U.S. military effort in Vietnam. Its biggest shortcoming is
that it does not indicate clearly its origin and importance.
This was the U.S. Army War College's commissioned study of
what lessons should be learned from the Vietnam conflict. It
became the standard text, and the basis for the course, on the
subject, not only at the War College but also at its Navy and
Air Force counterparts. These are the institutions where those selected as prospective generals and admirals are trained in the principles of flag-level command. (The book's
history and importance are described at some length in Summers'
sequel, _On Strategy II: A Critical Analysis of the Gulf War_.)
Following Clausewitz' classic overview, Summers meticulously shows how the U.S. failed to follow established principles of warfare and how these failures led to the bad result.
The book's history as a War College study also explains some
biases and omissions. U.S. doctrine emphasized the defeat
of the enemy's military, as Clausewitz did; Summers had no
choice but to follow Clausewitz and dismiss or ignore such
writers as Sun Tzu and B. H. Liddell Hart, who argued for winning by attacking the enemy's will to fight. Yet his opening quote from the NVA colonel, and his selective use of
Clausewitz (he quotes Clausewitz extensively on matching
goals to available means, but not on defeating the main body
of the enemy), put the real message there plainly enough,
if between the lines: the U.S. paid too little attention
to the aspects of war that take place off the battlefield.
This book will repay careful study. It certainly did for
the U.S. military, as the Gulf War attests.
Rating: 5
Summary: What Really Went Wrong?
Comment: Col Summers wrote the seminal book on what really happened to America in its involvement in the Viet Nam War. He clearly explains why we could not win it as we fought it and why we were constrained from fighting it to win. He ties these insights to the great philosophers of war (Sun Tzu, Clausewitz). This book was written in the late 1970s and served to greatly becalm the internal turmoil in the US military structure. Instead of "What happened" or "Who betrayed us;" talk turned to agreeing or disagreeing with the different parts of his theory. Most found it to be on the mark.
If you want to know why we went in, read "The Pentagon Papers." If you want to know why we were doomed to fail when we did, read this. Well written, not dry or tedious, but complete.
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Title: The Army and Vietnam by Andrew F. Krepinevich ISBN: 0801836573 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: March, 1988 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: On War by Karl Von Clausewitz, Carl Von Clausewitz, Carl Von Clausewitz, Anatol Rapoport ISBN: 0140444270 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: November, 1982 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Revolutionary Change by Chalmers A. Johnson, Bernard Crick ISBN: 0804711453 Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr Pub. Date: January, 1983 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Conflict of Myths by Larry E. Cable ISBN: 0814714099 Publisher: New York University Press Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: The Vogue of Revolution in Poor Countries by Forrest D. Colburn ISBN: 0691036764 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 08 August, 1994 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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