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The allure of battle : a history of how wars have been won and lost / Cathal J. Nolan.

by Nolan, Cathal J.

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Oxford University Press, 2017.

Military history.

9780195383782 (hc.)

viii, 709 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 583-652) and index.

Battle in history -- Battle retarded -- Battle remembered -- Battle reformed -- Battle with reason -- Battle restored -- Battle decisive -- Battle defeated -- Battle exalted -- Battle of annihilation -- Annihilation of battle -- Annihilation of strategy -- Annihilation of nations -- Annihilation of mercy -- Annihilation at sea -- Annihilation of illusions -- Conclusions.

"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." Cannae, Konigsberg, Austerlitz, Midway, Agincourt - all resonate in the literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But these legendary battles may or may not have determined the final outcome of the wars in which they were fought. Nor has the "genius" of the so-called Great Captains - from Alexander the Great to Frederick the Great and Napoleon - played a major role. Wars are decided in other ways. Cathal J. Nolan systematically and engrossingly examines the great battles, tracing what he calls "short-war thinking," the hope that victory might be swift and wars brief. As he proves persuasively, however, such has almost never been the case. Even the major engagements have mainly contributed to victory or defeat by accelerating the erosion of the other side's defences. Massive conflicts, the so-called "people's wars," beginning with Napoleon and continuing until 1945, have consisted of and been determined by prolonged stalemate and attrition, industrial wars in which the determining factor has been not military but matériel. The author places battles squarely and mercilessly within the context of the wider conflict in which they took place, helping to correct a distorted view of battle's role in war, replacing popular images of the "battles of annihilation" with somber appreciation of the commitments and human sacrifices made throughout centuries of war particularly among the Great Powers. Cathal J. Nolan teaches history at Boston University"--Provided by publisher.

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