Overview

"History has tended to measure war's winners and losers in terms of its major engagements, battles in which the result was so clear-cut that they could be considered ""decisive."" Marathon, Cannae, Tours, Agincourt, Austerlitz, Sedan, Stalingrad--all resonate in the literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But were they? As Cathal J. Nolan demonstrates in this magisterial and sweeping work, victory in major wars usually has been determined in other ways. Even the most legendarily lopsided of battles did not necessarily decide their outcomes. Nolan also challenges the hoary concept of the military ""genius,"" even of the Great Captains--from Alexander to Frederick and Napoleon--mapping instead the descent into total war.The Allure of Battle systematically recreates and analyzes the major campaigns among the Great Powers, from the Middle Ages through the 20th century, from the fall of Byzantium to the defeat of the Axis powers, tracing the illusion of ""short-war thinking,"" the hope that victory might be swift and conflict brief. Such has almost never been the case. Even one-sided battles have mainly contributed to victory or defeat by accelerating erosion of the other side's defenses, resources, and will.Massive conflicts, the so-called ""people's wars,"" beginning with Napoleon and continuing until the end of World War II, have been more fundamentally determined by prolonged stalemate and attrition, wars in which the determining factor was not tactical but industrial.Nolan's masterful book places battles squarely and mercilessly within the context of the wider conflict in which they took place. In the process it help corrects a distorted view of their role in war, replacing popular images of ""decisive battles"" with somber appreciation of the sacrifice and endurance necessary to victory. Accessible, provocative, exhaustive, and illuminating, The Allure of Battle will spark fresh debate about the history and conduct of warfare."

Full Product Details

9780195383782

Table of Contents

Reviews

In a sweeping narrative that ranges from the Middle Ages through World War II, Cathal Nolan dismantles an illusion that has persistently distorted our understanding of armed conflict - that of the decisive battle engineered by the genius general. But the importance of this brilliantly provocative book is not merely historical. Its conclusions apply directly to war and military policy in the present day. -- Andrew J. Bacevich, author of <em>America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History</em>

Nolan suggests that his book is not written for military historians but for the wider public, in part to alert the general reader to the distorted image of the decisiveness in battle. He is too modest: Everyone can benefit from what is a particularly fine history of war. Ian F.W. Beckett, The Wall Street Journal brilliant National

In a sweeping narrative that ranges from the Middle Ages through World War II, Cathal Nolan dismantles an illusion that has persistently distorted our understanding of armed conflict-that of the decisive battle engineered by the genius general. But the importance of this brilliantly provocative book is not merely historical. Its conclusions apply directly to war and military policy in the present day. --Andrew J. Bacevich, author of America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History

Author Information

Cathal J. Nolan is Associate Professor of History and Executive Director of the International History Institute at Boston University. In addition to editing six books on international history, Nolan is the author of Principled Diplomacy: Security and Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy and Wars of the Age of Louis XIV. He is also the sole author of several multi-volume encyclopedias on military and international history.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available