The Lessons Of Modern War Volume I: The Arab-israeli Conflicts, 1973-1989

The Lessons of Modern War #1

by Anthony H. Cordesman, Abraham Wagner

The fog of war is inevitably followed by the "fog of analysis." This has certainly been true of the most important military conflict of the post-Cold War era, the Gulf War between Iraq and the allied coalition led by the United States. A variety of studies of this conflict have appeared, many within just months of the end of hostilities and many with the obvious weaknesses resulting from the rush to publish. Now in this fourth volume of the acclaimed Lessons of Modern War series, military analyst Anthony H. Cordesman, with defense consultant Abraham R. Wagner, has produced what must be considered the definitive study of the Gulf War.Anthony Cordesman draws careful conclusions based on extensive research from a wide variety of sources, including newly declassified documents; official military reports; informal review and commentary by U.S. military services and British, French, Egyptian, and Saudi officers; interviews; and field research in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and southern Iraq as well as Cordesman's own firsthand observations of the unfolding battle for Kuwait in his capacity as military analyst for ABC News and a year of research on the war as fellow at the Wilson Center. Abraham Wagner contributes his unique experience in intelligence and command-and-control issues.The book examines in unprecedented detail the efforts of all the members of the coalition, not just the United States. The authors are careful to distinguish between the general lessons about warfare that can be drawn from the Gulf War and those that are unique to this conflict. Throughout the book, the authors offer enough data to enable the reader to consider alternatives to Cordesman and Wagner's own highlyauthoritative conclusions.The many lessons presented in this book cover the whole range of political, strategic, tactical, technical, and human elements of this conflict. The authors' analysis is based on the dynamic interaction of all of these factors, not just static bean-counting. The central lesson is that this highly complex web of human and technological developments has resulted in a new "military revolution" of profound significance for the history of modern war. "Lessons of Modern War, Volume The Gulf War" explodes many myths, offers sometimes controversial conclusions, and is essential reading for anyone concerned about the "revolution in military affairs''; peacekeeping; Gulf and energy security issues; and the new, but still dangerous, world in which we live.

Genres: History

394 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1990

Reviews

[Michael Barsoum · Rating 4 out of 5]

بعد الانتهاء من الكتاب
لا انكر ان المادة العلمية و تحليل المؤلف من اعلى ما يكون
و لكن ايضا لا انكر الانحياز لاسرائيل فى كافة التحليلات و التقييمات و تسفيه كل المحاولات العربية لمواجهة العدوان الاسرائيل على الاراضى العربية
حتى مع رفض تزويد الدول العربية بالاسلحة الغربية و ممارسة الاتحاد السوفيتى لسياسة (الاستغباء ) و البخل فى نوعية و كمية الاسلحة الموردة لحلفاءه
و بالرغم من كل هذا , تمكنت مصر من تغيير ميزان القوة و كسر الحلقة المفرغة من الانتصارات الاسرائيلية فى حرب اكتوبر 1973 بمعدات اقل ما يقال اعنها انها حفريات من الحرب العالمية الثانية
الكتاب بشكل عام جيد جدا و لكن يجب التركيز اثناء قراءة التحليلات و عدم الاعتماد عليه كمصدر وحيد

[A. Notch · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are 39 pages dedicated to actually talking about the history of the conflicts covered in this book, the rest is essentially dedicated to the author repeatedly naming equipment types and numbers of said equipment types at you for over 300 pages. I very much enjoyed volume 2 in this series but this might actually be the biggest waste of time out of any book I've ever read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this back in the early 90s as research for the X-Wing series of space combat simulators.