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Intelligence in War: The value--and limitations--of what the military can learn about the enemy
by
John Keegan
John Keegan, whose many books, including classic histories of the two world wars, have confirmed him as the premier miltary historian of our time, here presents a masterly look at the value and limitations of intelligence in the conduct of war.
Intelligence gathering is an immensely complicated and vulnerable endeavor. And it often fails. Until the invention of the telegrap...more
Intelligence gathering is an immensely complicated and vulnerable endeavor. And it often fails. Until the invention of the telegrap...more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
October 12th 2004
by Vintage
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Of all of the clichés of the information age, “knowledge is power” might be one of the biggest and most prevalent. Living in a world where we have daily access to more information than we can possibly process or comprehend, we’ve become conditioned to think that knowing more is in of itself a means of being able to do more. This particular cliché extends to most people’s vision of military operations, where it is assumed that “intelligence”, which is the collection of information about enemy pla...more
Nathan
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who want to read about Intelligence without getting upset.
John Keegan is probably one of the best military historians to ever put pen to paper, but Intelligence in War is not his best book. It's not as fluidly written or as rational as Keegan's other work. On the basis of intelligence alone, the book is strong but not nearly as informative as other books on the topic. Keegan focuses on intelligence during wartime, and while this study is solid, it is frankly not as fascinating as the operations of various national intelligence services during times of ...more
Scott Neal Reilly
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those intertested in the history of warfare
This is a history of the use of intelligence of a variety of types in war. The main thesis is that human intelligence (spying, espionage, etc.) is usually associated with intelligence but that the most important forms of intelligence are actually based on electronic surveillance and code decryption. This is a fine and interesting point. The presentation, however, tends to focus less on intelligence and more on warfare and the narratives of particular battles where intelligence played some rol...more
This work meanders. It is more an exciting complex of war stories about innovative leaders who used intelligence amongst their other assets to obtain victory. Entertaining but primarily as a missive on historical battles.
In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of im...more
In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of im...more
Keegan tends to clot his sentences with diagrammatic detail. Books on wars suffer from the same malady; describing the action of millions of people under arms is often best left to movies or videos. It's much like trying to build a house by taking a self-help book without pictures down to the job. Whatever, his knowledge is so vast that you always learn something even if you just read the top and the bottom of each page. I learned a lot about the V-1 and the V-2, the wunder- waffens of Nazi Ge...more
A good, but not great, examination of war and intelligence from John Keegan (like you couldn't tell that from the title). He primarily focuses on intelligence during wars or leading up to battles. His big conclusion is that while accurate and timely intelligence is good, it's definitely not everything.
The chapters focusing on World War II are strongest (four of eight deal specifically with WWII), while the others are weaker. The conclusion, where discussing governments helping a...more
The chapters focusing on World War II are strongest (four of eight deal specifically with WWII), while the others are weaker. The conclusion, where discussing governments helping a...more
Pretty interesting book. It's a series of case studies meant to reveal how intelligence has been used in wartime. The case studies show how intelligence, when combined with superior force or military strategy, is beneficial. When there is no superior military force or strategy, intelligence does not put its possessor at any military advantage.
Since the author is only speaking of the value of intelligence in wartime, his thesis is naturally limited to those scenarios. I'm not sure th...more
Since the author is only speaking of the value of intelligence in wartime, his thesis is naturally limited to those scenarios. I'm not sure th...more
Good, not great. Keegan has earned his reputation, and is fair in this case- he actually puts in examples where intelligence swung the result, where it didn't seem to have an impact... and where it didn't matter at all (it turns out people still have to fight the battles). Not a necessary read, but an interesting one.
Probably my least favorite Keegan book. It never really had a cohesive thread, it was just a collection of histories of famous examples of intelligence being used effectively in war. The best was the Falklands War chapter, which I knew very little about.
Really good analysis of military intelligence throughout time using a lot of historical examples. Good, but not quite as exciting as his others, when I think about it I can hardly remember any specifics.
Great 360 degree look into the use of intelligence in wartime throughout history. A great read through the many different eras of intelligence's successes and failures.
A great book that firmly demonstrates the advantages and limitations of good intelligence in war. I recommend this to anyone.
Keegan can be tedious in detail at times but never fails to make creative and masterful conclusions.
Very interesting book. I've enjoyed everything from John Keegan thusfar, and I think one of my favorite aspects of military science is military intelligence. He who knows more, has so much the advantage over his enemy. Keegan does an excellent job of explaining how simply holding knowledge of the enemy is not enough unless it is included in the strategic, operational, and tactical planning procedures and measures are taken to make use of said knowledge. I would like to work in Military Intellige...more
I like John Keegan's style-- he manages to pack a lot of information in while still making it interesting. In this book, he basically makes the argument that intelligence gathering for military purposes makes very little difference in armed conflict. Instead, tactics, firepower, and luck are more dominating factors. I was skeptical of his argument at first, but I think he makes a pretty good case. Even so, I'm not fully convinced. Nobody likes going into battle blind, and knowing something ...more
I've always respected John Keegan as a historian, even though I find him to be an arrogant S.O.B. While reading this book I got the impression that he was mailing in his effort. He starts the book by down-playing the importance of intelligence in war throughout history. His conclusion at the end of the book is that intelligence can only help a commander make decisions in battle; the rest is up to fate, weather, troop ability/morale. Not exactly a riveting conclusion for a well-respected histori...more
Audible (Unabridged)
I love John Keegan. He is fantastic, and what usually makes him fantastic is not completely evident in this book. Usually he has a way of making war really exciting, while not getting carried away in the glorification of it, but this fails. Although moments are fascinating for the most part this is not worth a trip to the library.
I would have rather reread The Mask Of Command or The Face of Battle
I would have rather reread The Mask Of Command or The Face of Battle
I am a huge Keegan fan and, in this book, he catalogs all types of intelligence and gives us case studies to illustrate his basic premise (which is that intelligence helps, but seldom ever the decisive element in any clash). He probably could have accomplished this in about half the number of pages he devotes to the topic. The story of the battle of Crete is so tragic I'll probably end up reading more on this topic.
This book had so much potential but fell on its face for me. It was hard to stay captivated about a topic I find myself very interested in. I did pick up quite a bit, especially about the true nature of intelligence in WWII. Unfortuantely, it was difficult to really focus on all the details.
For all those who hold that all we need is better intelligence. This is a real paradigm shift. Keegan's historical expertise shows eloquently why it's just not that simple. A must read for anyone in the intelligence fields, military or decision making politic.
I gave up on this book in the middle of the chapter about the Shenandoah valley campaign. Just didn't give a rotund rodent's rump about the back and forths involved in it-- the minutiae of a military campaign held no interest for me.
Anything by John Keegan is great history. He's the best military historian around in my opinion.
really fun if you like military history. keegan is dry but nobody understands this stuff better.
I found it interesting. It offers very broad coverage of what should be called Counter-Intelligence.
How small but crucial information has swung the tides of history.
Excellent account of some of the most notable examples in history of the trade. Conclusions about the field made at the very end were in my opinion off target, but overall a great book if you want to learn about the history and importance of intelligence in war.
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Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan OBE is a British military historian, lecturer and journalist. He has published many works on the nature of combat between the 14th and 21st centuries concerning land, air, maritime and intelligence warfare as well as the psychology of battle.
-Wikipedia
More about John Keegan...
-Wikipedia
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