Emile Simpson’s ‘War From the Ground Up’: A book that should be better known

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Over the Christmas
break I read several books, but the one that will stay with me most, I think,
is Emile Simpson's War
From the Ground Up. His core theme is an examination
of "the use of armed force that directly seeks political, as opposed to specifically
military, outcomes," (p. 1). Kind of like Clausewitz's most famous dictum
turned upside down. In Afghanistan, he writes, "the ‘war' is better understood
as a direct extension of political activity."

First point: This guy
knows how to write. Although the book is a rather dense academic study (the
section on the British in Borneo mainly bored me to tears), occasionally he
just lets loose an observation or aphorism that is striking. It is not always
enjoyable reading, but just when you are about to MEGO, he hits you with a great line.

Second point: I was
amazed this was written by a former lieutenant. It is an effort to put the war
in Afghanistan into a Clauswitzian context. He succeeds. "The possibility that
one can ‘win militarily' but lose a war is indeed perverse logic; it totally
unhinges strategic theory, as it disconnects the use of force from political
purpose," (p. 138).

Third point: I
suspect we'll be hearing from this guy again. So you might as well get in on
the ground floor and read it.

I plan in the coming
days to delve deeper into the book in a series of posts. It is almost several
books in one, so I will break out sections.

Oddly, this is the
second book I have read recently with the title War From the Ground Up. The other one, last winter, was about the U.S. Army's 90th
Division in
World War II.