
Ask HN: good books about military strategy? - Tichy
The only books in that vein I know are "The Art Of War" by Sun Tzu and Clausewitz' "Vom Kriege". I suspect german book shops don't tend to stock as many books on war as some other countries (I remember seeing the "military" section of a bookstore for the first time in London).<p>Anyway, I would be interested in more detailed stuff, like how to use tanks, planes and so on. Maybe analysis of historical battles would be good, too.<p>I guess it won't help with a startup, but for some reason I have wondered about this (maybe for strategy game development...).
======
pskomoroch
I used to have a lot more time for non CS reading and actually made an Amazon
list on this topic back in 2005:

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/2INJSM38...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/2INJSM38IDMDZ/ref=cm_sw_r_de_lm)

1\. On War (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) by Carl Von Clausewitz

2\. Leadership: The Warrior's Art by Barry R. McCaffrey

3\. Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach by Dandridge M. Malone

4\. The Defense of Hill 781: An Allegory of Modern Mechanized Combat by James
R. McDonough

5\. The Art of Maneuver: Maneuver-Warfare Theory and AirLand Battle by Robert
Leonhard

6\. Strategy: Second Revised Edition (Meridian) by B. H. Liddell Hart

7\. The Art of War by Niccolò Machiavelli

8\. Hagakure: The Book of the Samauri by Tsunetomo Yamamoto

9\. The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of The Meditations by Marcus
Aurelius

10\. The Art of War (Shambhala classics) by Sun Tzu

11\. The Prince (Bantam Classics) by Niccolo Machiavelli

12\. Evolutionary Game Theory by Jörgen W. Weibull

13\. On Guerrilla Warfare by Mao Tse-tung

14\. The History of the Peloponnesian War: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics)
by Thucydides

15\. The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus

16\. The Persian Expedition (Penguin Classics) by Xenophon

17\. Plutarch: Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans (Modern Library Series, Vol.
1) by Plutarch

18\. Plutarch's Lives, Volume 2 (Modern Library Classics) by Plutarch

19\. Livy: The Early History of Rome, Books I-V (Penguin Classics) (Bks. 1-5)
by Titus Livy

20\. The History of Rome from Its Foundation, Books XXI-XXX: The War with
Hannibal (Penguin Classics) (Bks. 21-30) by Titus Livius Livy

~~~
newt0311
To those, I would add this:

MODERN WARFARE

A French View of Counterinsurgency by Roger Trinquier

~~~
uuilly
Along these lines get "The Battle of Algiers" on netflix. When Iraq started
going badly they actually had a huge screening in the pentagon.

~~~
newt0311
Too bad that the tactics that served the French so well in Algiers can not be
applied in Iraq.

~~~
davidhelgason
They "served" the French for a while, as they might serve the US in Iraq...
for a while that is. But remember that just when the French thought they'd
suppressed Algerian resistance, it erupted violently and the result was a long
and extremely bloody civil war.

------
lionhearted
A quick read is Wikipedia's summary of Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of Five Rings"
- it's about Japanese swordsmanship in the early 1600's in a variety of
situations: Full-on combat, a duel, outnumbered, with high/low ground, etc.
It's strategic more than tactical, and if you like Sun Tzu you might dig it.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Five_Rings>

The story of his life, "Musashi," is one of my favorite books of all time and
has good strategic and philosophical discussion mixed in with some really
riveting action and social commentary. Musashi had a lot of potential at a
young age, but was extremely undisciplined and constantly had it out with the
law, society, and people whose motivations he couldn't understand. The book
chronicles him becoming the greatest swordsman in Japanese history. An
incredible read, especially for anyone who was bright at young age but
questioned a hell of a lot of society's rules.

Amazon (no affiliate B.S., just a great book): <http://www.amazon.com/Musashi-
Eiji-Yoshikawa/dp/4770019572>

~~~
prakash
The book of 5 rings is a nice book. Here's another: Arthashastra by Chāṇakya
has some chapters on war - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthashastra>

------
Agathos
Martin van Creveld writes some serious analysis. Consider...

Supplying War -- on logistics (as in "professionals study...")

Command in War -- on communication, information, and the importance of local
autonomy leading to quick action

The Transformation of War -- has strategy's biggest buzzword right there in
the title, but this was written back in 1991. On the growing role of low-
intensity and asymmetric conflicts.

His books tend to be short, but very dense.

~~~
rudyfink
The first book I checked to make sure was included in this tread was
"Supplying War". There are many standard texts on conflict, but that one
somehow misses many lists. I think the examination of conflicts from the point
of view of logistics serves two very good purposes: it's an essential
education in making sure a force is supplied and it's a good perspective of
looking at a conflict as a long term temporal and spacial endeavor.

"Command in War" is also quite good, and I have not yet read "Transformation
in War".

------
bjelkeman-again
My absolute favourite in this class of books is:

Infantry attacks, Erwin Rommel:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry_Attacks>

Don't let the word "Infantry" in the title fool you. It is an engrossing
account on how to use armed forces to your advantage. He supposedly was
working on "The Tank in Attack", but never made it that far. A good substitute
is The Rommel Papers, which was published posthumously by his family.

The Rommel Papers <http://books.google.com/books?id=JE8VFsdxNGgC>

~~~
chwolfe
Patton - "Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!"

------
pg
Along with the _Anabasis_ and Caesar's _Gallic Wars_ , I particularly
recommend Johnnie Johnson's _Wing Leader_ , Hanson's _Western Way of War_ ,
and Oman's _Art of War in the Middle Ages_.

------
icey
"Warfighting", hands down:

[http://www.amazon.com/Warfighting-U-Marine-Corps-
Staff/dp/96...](http://www.amazon.com/Warfighting-U-Marine-Corps-
Staff/dp/965006043X)

It won't teach you how to drive tanks and lob grenades, but it is one of the
best military strategy books I've read.

If you just want the PDF, it's freely available here:

<http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/service_pubs/mcdp1.pdf>

------
fiaz
My favorite (copied from Wikipedia):

The Unfettered Mind (Japanese: 不動智神妙録 Fudōchi Shinmyōroku) is a three-part
treatise on Buddhist philosophy and martial arts written by Takuan Soho, a
Japanese monk of the Rinzai sect. The title translates roughly to "The
Mysterious Records of Immovable Wisdom". The treatise was written as
correspondence to Yagyū Munenori, inheritor to the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū school
of swordsmanship. Written for the laity, the book makes little use of Buddhist
terminology, but instead focuses on describing situations followed by an
interpretation. Its contents make an effort to apply Zen Buddhism to martial
arts.

Available in PDF form here:

<http://www.daikonforge.com/downloads/TheUnfetteredMind.pdf>

~~~
iron_ball
Takuan Soho is also the one who brought enlightenment to Musashi, according to
the stories (much about Musashi is fictionalized).

He also has a pickled daikon named after him.

------
parzival52
The best I have read is by B.H. Liddell Hart:

[http://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Meridian-B-Liddell-
Hart/dp/04...](http://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Meridian-B-Liddell-
Hart/dp/0452010713/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233240383&sr=1-3)

He also wrote respected volumes on the world wars and biographies of Rommel
and Scipio Africanus, among others.

~~~
fdschoeneman
Liddell Hart is good, though sometimes he reads like he's giving his subject a
reach around when writing about him.

------
vaksel
You can try downloading some of the army manuals that you can find on the net.
I know there are some for the soldier level, so there is probably some for the
general level too.

Then you can go back and try finding books written by generals or about them.
i.e. I figure something written about Patton would have tank tactics there
too.

------
notaddicted
Have you read Clausewitz On War? That was one of my favorite books last year.

This is more general than you are looking for and it stops a bit short of air
war but it helped me to put historical events into a global context.

The outline of history; being a plain history of life and mankind. Rev. and
brought up to date by Raymond Postgate and G.P. Wells. With maps and plans by
J.F. Horrabin.

Wells, H. G. 1866-1946. (Herbert George), Garden City, N.Y. Doubleday 1971,
Book. 1103p., D21 .W4 1971

I'd say definitely search for books written about Iraq and Afghanistan, that
should give you some information about current strategies.

~~~
niels_olson
If you want to understand the context behind all other books on military
strategy written since Clausewitz (any book written in the last hundred
years), you must read Clausewitz. If you want to understand why the US Army
was so dead set on failing to anticipate the next war and continued to train
for symmetric war until very recently, you must read Clausewitz. If you want
to understand why the new Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual
written by General Petraeus, Lt General Amos, and Lt Colonel Nagl is so
celebrated, you must read Clausewitz.

You should also read Petraeus et al's Counterinsurgency Field Manual. The
difference in tone and scope is staggering. If you want to understand military
strategy going forward, you must understand Petraeus's book. I assure you, it
is on the nightstand of the President and every military officer (and not
because it says that on the cover, but because I'm one of them).

If you are running a startup, read the Petraeus book as though _you_ are the
insurgent. If you are at MSFT or Google, read it as though you are in the US
Army.

~~~
jmatt
FM 3-24 MCWP 3-33.5

COUNTERINSURGENCY

DAVID H. PETRAEUS

<http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24.pdf>

~~~
niels_olson
I think you will find the Chicago Press version a bit more readable:

[http://www.amazon.com/Marine-Corps-Counterinsurgency-
Field-M...](http://www.amazon.com/Marine-Corps-Counterinsurgency-Field-
Manual/dp/0226841510)

------
byrneseyeview
[http://www.amazon.com/War-Nerd-Soft-Skull-
Press/dp/097966368...](http://www.amazon.com/War-Nerd-Soft-Skull-
Press/dp/0979663687)

Certainly not dry. I can't vouch for his accuracy, but he knows a lot and
could point you to some interesting battles/periods to study.

------
smanek
I like the Defense News periodical, and have heard good things about Jane's
Defence Weekly.

There are a lot of Field manuals available (e.g., see
[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/f...](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/)),
but those are (in my experience) more about tactics than strategy.

------
fdschoeneman
I highly recommend John Boyd. His presentations are a bit dense, but you might
try reading the biography of him written by Robert Coram first.

~~~
celoyd
"Dense" is generous; you could go as far as "unrigorously terse". Sometimes
they just don't make sense. But he got results.

A good collection of his presentations is at <http://www.d-n-i.net/dni/john-r-
boyd/> and there's low-quality video of his "Conceptual Spiral" on YouTube.

------
benzim
I can't think of any books, but you can find good descriptions of strategy
used in famous battles on wikipedia. Some interesting battles.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ilipa>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alesia>

~~~
bdr
This one kept me up one night: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae>
\-- and I almost never read history/military books.

~~~
rodrigo
Theres a downloadable Stanford lecture on Hannibal, wich is great; the
archeologist guy who gives the talk was involved in a student expedition
across the Alps, with a real elephant!

------
geirfreysson
Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "Black Swan" had some pretty good insights into the
"unknown unknowns" of military combat.

<http://www.wajapi.com/books/80>

------
hedgehog
"The Art Of War" is great, I read this version when I was 13 but I would still
recommend it as a good place to start before getting another translation or
other books:

"Sunzi Speaks: The Art of War"

Tsai Chih Chung

<http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385472587>

Some online reading that you might find interesting:

<http://www.ingber.com/combat97_cmi.ps.gz>

[http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Symposia/joint2008/papers/Hoffman%20...](http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Symposia/joint2008/papers/Hoffman%20Paper_Panel%203.pdf)

[http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Symposia/joint2008/papers/Warden%20P...](http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Symposia/joint2008/papers/Warden%20Paper_Panel%203.pdf)

<http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Smith_Complexity.pdf>

------
sam242
Hmmm, guess no-one here is in the military? The (American) military branches
all publish their own reading lists, updated annually, that'd be a great
starting point. <http://www.af.mil/library/csafreading/>
<http://www.history.army.mil/reference/csalist/csalist.htm> and the National
Defense University has a big compilation:
<http://www.ndu.edu/library/readinglist/PMReadingList.html>

------
RobGR
A lot of the suggestions here seem to follow the philosophical advice from
generals meme, like the people who read Sun Tzu to learn how to better manage
their sales team and etc.

The best book I know of in the "detailed stuff, like how to use tanks, planes
and so on" area is James F. Dunigan's "How to Make War". It's a little cold-
war oriented but still pretty applicable, and the first chapter is helpfully
titled "How to Become an Effective Armchair General". Given that wars are
usually massive economic and logistical operations, it has a lot of charts and
tables to that effect, showing the number of shots per soldier killed over the
centuries, tonnage of explosives per plane, etc.

Just by glancing over the charts you can see the basic history of military
activity -- the Civil War being the first "modern" war in terms of slaughter,
economic mobolization, and etc; then a period of regression to small wars,
before WWI and so on.

As far as "how to use tanks" and so on, that is often considered tactics not
strategy. There are books written on that stuff, however; how many people
should be in a small platoon and how they should move, leapfrogging each other
so one moves while the other keeps the enemy ducking; how two tanks can use
their light machine guns to clear each other's close-in areas that they can't
see or shoot at themselves; the strategy of having a tank attached to a
platoon of infantry so they work together; etc.

But I don't know of one single book that collects all that. If I had to find
them I would probably look at the some of the publications of the Army War
College, and I would go to a gun show and find that guy who is always there
with a lot of field manual publications, and ask him.

------
rodrigo
You can google the field manuals (FM) of the US Army and Marine, they range
from operation of guns and marksmanship to strategy, to leadership. All great
reads.

~~~
raphar
I found all these US Army manuals in the emule network. They still must be
there. One very good manual to have is the Seal fitness training one (if you
are into this).

------
jaspertheghost
I would recommend: 1) The Art of War by Niccolò Machiavelli (read by Napoleon)
2) Certain to Win by Chet Richards (talks about OODA loop by John Boyd)

~~~
nivi
I second "Certain to Win".

Game theorists might define a strategy as an approach to optimal decision-
making while you are surrounded by other actors whose actions interact with
yours. Chess strategies are a good example.

The author of Certain to Win, Chet Richards, takes a different approach. He
defines strategy as "a scheme for creating and managing plans." It is a means
to generate, act upon, and discard plans. Strategy is how you "plan to plan."
OODA loops are a good example of this approach.

------
uuilly
I've been waiting years for someone to ask this question :)

Wishlited this last night on amazon: Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in
the Rise to Western Power by Victor Davis Hanson

Have read these and enjoyed these:

General Warfare theory: History of Warfare by Keegan

Intel: Intelligence and War by Keegan

Counterinsurgency: "Ghost Wars" by Steve Coll. For a really enjoyable
experience read "The Great Game" by Hopkirk first.

The Civil War deserves it's own category. Watch the PBS dvds, actually buy
them. If you're hungry for more dig into "The Civil War" by Shelby Foote is
hefty but it's satisfying.

1776 is a classic.

"Blind mans bluff" is a great book about submarine warfare.

For more current stuff Robert Kagan is probably the most informed pundit on
war and military strategy.

WW-II "The Last Lion" books 1 and 2 are about Churchill and they involve lots
of military strategy. You should also check out "The gathering storm + the
other six books Churchill wrote on WWII.

Man I could go on forever. I have "Panzer General" and "Caesar's Conquest of
Gaul" on my nightstand...

Enjoy...

PS: Once you're well versed you'll hear people referring to Clauswitz a lot.
When you're sick of hearing his name and you want more than the wikipedia
entry go read "On War." Art of War goes w/o saying as well...

------
pingswept
War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today by
Max Boot. Just published in 2006.

[http://www.amazon.com/War-Made-New-Technology-
Warfare/dp/159...](http://www.amazon.com/War-Made-New-Technology-
Warfare/dp/1592402224)

I don't agree with the guy's politics, but his view on the melding of
technology and military history is pretty interesting.

"My major conclusion? Simply that it's not enough to acquire first-class
technology. You also need the right organizational structure, training, and
leadership to take advantage of that technology. Today, the U.S. is the
undisputed leader in high-tech hardware, but our government bureaucracy is
still designed to fight mirror-image adversaries from the Industrial Age--not
nimble, decentralized foes like Al Qaeda." -- Max Boot

See also: <http://www.cfr.org/publication/10313/war_made_new.html>

------
jedi_stannis
I'm reading The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene now and am enjoying it,
I have also previously read the 48 Laws of Power by him which is written in a
similar fashion. Very extensive and uses a lot of historical examples from
both military and other fields such as politics and business.

------
utnick
Check out Tom Clancy's non fiction books.

Very well written and I believe exactly what you are looking for.

------
mechanical_fish
You sound like you're looking for something like Jones' _The Art of War in the
Western World_ :

<http://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Western-World/dp/0252069668>

Or just go there and follow Amazon "related" links.

Jones is of the "very broad" school of military history. It can be a little
bit dry, but it certainly tries to be comprehensive: It's like _Civilization_
in that it starts with phalanx and then moves slowly forward through the
history of strategy and tactics.

You might like the works of John Keegan, another famous military historian who
takes a general approach. He's got a _History of Warfare_ that's like a
lighter-weight version of Jones -- I might recommend starting with that,
actually. His one-volume histories of WWI and WWII are probably decent.

Keegan is British, so it wouldn't surprise me if his histories were heavy on
the Western front. If you want the _actual_ history of WWII you need a history
that's more about the Eastern Front, which is pretty much where the war in
Europe was actually decided. Unfortunately, the history on that subject lags
decades behind, because the surviving Germans didn't exactly want to dwell on
it and the Soviets weren't exactly forthcoming. (Many of the key Soviet
figures either got disappeared by Stalin or lived under the constant fear of
being disappeared by Stalin.) I'm not sure what the best current general
history of the Eastern Front is, but I do know that the big Western expert on
the subject is David Glantz, who has spent the last twenty years digging
through formerly-sealed Soviet records of enormous battles that were covered
up for years. I'd probably start with:

[http://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Handbook-Eastern-
David-...](http://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Handbook-Eastern-David-
Glantz/dp/097176509X)

because I don't know any better and it comes up first on Amazon.

If you want something written by a gamer try the works of James Dunnigan,
founder of SPI and author of a whole pile of famous simulation board games. I
read most of his _Dirty Little Secrets of World War II_ and it was
interesting. A much breezier style than the heavy-duty military historians.
And he's got books that cover contemporary military stuff as well as history.

Nobody should read about war at the 10,000 foot level without also reading
about what it's actually like on the ground. Obviously, the great modern
literary works on the subject are _Slaughterhouse Five_ and, even more so,
_Catch-22_. In the realm of nonfiction, Fussell's _Wartime_ was interesting,
but it led me to Eugene Sledge's _With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa_
, which is even better: a very good book by a guy from the front lines in the
Pacific who is not shy about telling you _exactly_ what went on. Comes with an
endorsement by PG! (from the last time I mentioned it on HN.)Don't read it
over lunch if you're squeamish.

(I haven't actually read some of these, but my dad is a military boardgamer
and military history buff. He's got several bookshelves _packed_ with books
like these.)

------
kicker
<http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/battles/index.htm> has very good accounts
of naval battles against the Japanese.

Highlights: <http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/battles/vella_gulf.htm>
<http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/battles/savo_island.htm>
<http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/battles/leyte_gulf.htm>

------
mgk
The best I've read wasn't a strategy book per se. 1776 -
<http://www.amazon.com/1776-David-McCullough/dp/0743226712> by David
McCullough was full of useful insights on General George Washington and how he
used his smarts to defeat the enemy. He wasn't a great strategist, but very
pragmatic (like counting the number of shoes on the feet of his “army’ to
asses their battle readiness) and willing to take risks. It book was also
entertaining as Hell.

------
andr
Military strategy? I'd like to hear your startup pitch :)

------
rchiniquy
<i>analysis of historical battles</i>

I'd love to see a book of this nature concentrated on the Civil War.

------
iamwil
There was a post recently on a class that examined Starcraft strategy. That
might help.

~~~
Tichy
I read that, and if it was nearby, I would definitely pay them a visit. Hope
they'll make some materials available online.

------
jamesbritt
Che Guevara's book, Guerrilla Warfare, is quite good.

------
popschedule
The 33 Strategies of War (Robert Greene)

------
rokhayakebe
What are you up to?

------
kingkongrevenge
> for some reason I have wondered about this (maybe for strategy game
> development...).

It's OK, you can be honest here. Your Kraut blood is imbuing you with an
inexplicable and overwhelming drive to invade Poland. Reclaim your heritage!

~~~
wheels
Uhm, honestly, I consider that comment really inappropriate. Someone asks
about books and you tell him that he must be a Nazi. Note for future reference
in dealing with Germans: jokes where you call them a Nazi == not funny.

~~~
jonas_b
Most Germans I've met have been quite relaxed about that and even joked about
it themselves. I guess one should be careful on internet forums though.

------
kingkongrevenge
"War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning" is the best book on the psychological
dimensions of war that I'm aware of.

