The Shaping of Grand Strategy: Policy, Diplomacy, and War

295 Pages·2011·1.24 MB·English

by  Williamson Murray

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Theshapingofgrandstrategy
Withinavarietyofhistoricalcontexts,TheShapingofGrandStrategy addressesthe
mostimportanttasksthatstateshaveconfronted–namely,howtoprotecttheircitizens
againsttheshort-rangeaswellasthelong-rangedangerstheirpolitiesconfrontinthe
presentandmayconfrontinthefuture.Tobesuccessful,grandstrategydemandsthat
governments and leaders chart a course that involves more than simply reacting to
immediateevents.Aboveall,itdemandsthattheyadapttosuddenandmajorchanges
in the international environment, which more often than not involve the outbreak
of great conflicts but at times demand recognition of major economic, political, or
diplomatic changes. This collection of essays explores the successes and failures of
great states attempting to create grand strategies that work and aims to achieve an
understandingof some of the extraordinary difficulties involved in casting, evolving,
andadaptinggrandstrategytotherealitiesoftheworld.
WilliamsonMurrayisProfessorEmeritusofHistoryatTheOhioStateUniversity.He
hasbeentheCentennialVisitingProfessorattheLondonSchoolofEconomics,Secre-
taryoftheNavyFellowattheNavyWarCollege,HornerProfessorofMilitaryTheory
at the Marine Corps University, and Harold Johnson Professor of Military History
attheArmyWarCollege.Atpresentheisadefenseconsultantandcommentatoron
historicalandmilitarysubjectsinWashington,D.C.MurrayiscoeditorofTheMaking
of Peace (2009, with James Lacey); The Past as Prologue (2006, with Richard Hart
Sinnreich);TheDynamicsofMilitaryRevolution,1300–2050(2001,withMacGregor
Knox);MilitaryInnovationintheInterwarPeriod(1998,withAllanR.Millett);and
TheMakingofStrategy(1996,withAlvinBernsteinandMacGregorKnox).
RichardHartSinnreichretiredfromtheU.S.Armyin1990.Hisactiveserviceincluded
field artillery commands from battery through division artillery; combat in Vietnam;
teaching at West Point and Fort Leavenworth; and assignments on the Army, Joint,
and National Security Council staffs as assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander
Europe and as the first Army Fellow of the Center for Strategic and International
Studies.HehelpedestablishandsubsequentlydirectedtheArmy’sSchoolofAdvanced
MilitaryStudiesandhaspublishedwidelyonmilitaryandforeignaffairs.Sinceretiring
fromtheArmy,hehasworkedasanindependentdefenseconsultantforbothprivate
industryandgovernmentagenciesandastheregulardefensecolumnistfortheSunday
ConstitutioninLawton,Oklahoma.
James Lacey has served for more than twelve years as an infantry officer on active
dutyandisrecentlyretiredfromtheArmyreserves.Heisawidelypublishedanalyst
andProfessorofStrategyattheMarineCorpsWarCollegeinQuantico,Virginia.He
haswrittenseveralworksonthewarinIraqandtheglobalwaronterrorism.Healso
teachesgraduate-levelcoursesinmilitaryhistoryandglobalissuesatJohnsHopkins
University. Lacey was an embedded journalist with Time magazine during the Iraq
invasion, traveling with the 101st Airborne Division. He has written extensively for
manymagazines,andhisopinioncolumnshavebeenpublishedintheNationalReview,
TheWeeklyStandard,TheNewYorkPost,theNewYorkSun,ForeignAffairs,and
manyotherpublications.HeistheauthorofTakedown:The3rdInfantryDivision’s
21-DayAssaultonBaghdad(2007),whichhasbeenhailedas“amajorandsuccessful
effort to fill in one of the major blank spots in our knowledge of Operation Iraqi
Freedom”;Pershing(2008);andKeepfromAllThoughtfulMen(forthcoming).Heis
coeditorofTheMakingofPeace(2009).

The shaping of grand strategy
Policy, diplomacy, and war
Editedby
WILLIAMSON MURRAY
OhioStateUniversity,Emeritus
RICHARD HART SINNREICH
IndependentScholar
JAMES LACEY
MarineCorpsWarCollege
cambridgeuniversitypress
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CambridgeUniversityPress
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521156332
(cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2011
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Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Theshapingofgrandstrategy:policy,diplomacy,andwar/editedbyWilliamsonMurray,
RichardHartSinnreich,JamesLacey.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-76126-0(Hardback)
1.Worldpolitics–18thcentury. 2.Worldpolitics–19thcentury. 3.Worldpolitics–
20thcentury. 4.Strategy–History–18thcentury. 5.Strategy–History–19thcentury.
6.Strategy–History–20thcentury. 7.Strategicculture–Casestudies. I.Murray,
Williamson. II.Sinnreich,RichardHart. III.Lacey,Jim,1958–
d217.s44 2011
327.1–dc22 2010037125
isbn978-0-521-76126-0Hardback
isbn978-0-521-15633-2Paperback
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externalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnot
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Contents
Contributors pageix
1 Thoughtsongrandstrategy 1
WilliamsonMurray
2 Thegrandstrategyofthegrandsie`cle:Learningfromthewars
ofLouisXIV 34
JohnA.LynnII
3 StrategiccultureandtheSevenYears’War 63
JeremyBlack
4 Strategyascharacter:BismarckandthePrusso-German
question,1862–1878 79
MarcusJones
5 Aboutturn:BritishstrategictransformationfromSalisbury
toGrey 111
RichardHartSinnreich
6 Britishgrandstrategy,1933–1942 147
WilliamsonMurray
7 Towardastrategy:CreatinganAmericanstrategyforglobal
war,1940–1943 182
JamesLacey
8 HarryS.TrumanandtheformingofAmericangrandstrategy
intheColdWar,1945–1953 210
ColinS.Gray
vii
viii Contents
9 Patternsofgrandstrategy 254
RichardHartSinnreich
Index 271