How to Win on the Battlefield The 25 Key Tactics of All Time

by Rob Johnson, Michael Whitby, John France

This groundbreaking book examines battle tactics that have achieved victory through the ages. Drawing on examples of battles on land, at sea, and in the air, the authors reveal the enduring value of each tactic in clear and compelling descriptions and analysis.



How can you draw your enemy off-balance? When is the best moment to deliver a counterattack? What is the effect of shock action or defense in depth? This book shows how certain tactical concepts have stood the test of time. It illustrates how General Robert E. Lee, although heavily outnumbered, achieved a remarkable victory through an audacious flanking maneuver at Chancellorsville in 1863, and how the same bold move had been used effectively in Europe more than 600 years before by the king of France at Bouvines. It examines how Allied armies seized and retained the initiative through the airborne landings in Normandy in 1944, and how Soviet General Zhukov pierced enemy lines using Blitzkrieg tactics in Mongolia in 1939. The book features evocative photographs, illustrations, and paintings, and 28 specially commissioned battle plans.

Genres: Military Fiction, Military History, History, Nonfiction, War

237 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Rob Johnson is Director of The Changing Character of War Centre at the University of Oxford.

Reviews

[Aleksandr Voinov]

Not nearly as useful as I'd hoped - it's really pretty basic. Off to the charuity shop with you.

(DNF at ~40% after multiple attempts to finish.)

[Marcus Tay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will have appreciated better graphic map to illustrate the course of the battles.


Could not really teach you much but did serve as a good introduction to the famous battles

[Johan Dahlbäck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lite ytlig även om det märks att författarna lagt ner mycket jobb på boken. Jag tyckte det var roligt att fylla ut luckor i bildningen med beskrivning av slag som inte får så stort utrymme i annan historieskrivning.

Det som inte håller så bra är att antalet principer som tas upp är så många att de går in i varandra och i princip blir dubbletter flera gånger. Exemplen visar sig också ofta vara en bättre föresvisning av någon annan princip.

Vissa principer är inte principer eller taktiker i sig och mer specialfall av något annat.

Tyvärr är kartorna inte så stora och tydliga, och saknar ibland viktiga detaljer.

Översättaren till svenska är tyvärr okunnig i svenska militär termer och gör en del pinsamma missar.

Det var roligt första halvan, men mer träligt mot slutet. På samma tema är Om stridens grunder en mycket bättre bok.

[Lachlan Phipps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a particularly useful read. Some of the 'key tactics' are quite vaguely defined, case studies are sometimes poorly related to the key ideas, and analysis of what makes the tactic work is usually quite thin. More interesting questions like 'What situations require this tactic? When is it most effective? How can it fail or be poorly implemented?' are all basically unanswered.

The book is at its best when it is summarising Clausewitz or Sun Tzu, so if this topic is of interest to you, I'd go straight to them and skip this book. The book may have merit if you're a complete beginner to military history or strategy.

[Richard Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a military hisry fan since childhood begining with the centennial of the American Civil War and reading Bruce Catton's Civil War volumes. This is an interesting presentation of the basic tenets of tactics applied on the battlefied. The author uses battles through time that illustrate each of the 25 tactics and how the winning commanders were able to apply each to their situation. Not very indepth but a good basic introduction to the topic.

[Imran Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, concise summaries of key tactics used by commanders over the centuries.

[tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring

[Daniel Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, breaking down warfare into distinct sections.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, very informative with the book broken down into chapters for each tactic. Each chapter was manageable within small periods of time.

Only with some of the tactics discussed used more recent war time examples. Lacked on Falklands, Gulf wars Northern Ireland.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread it and it's got a lot more insight than I appreciated the first time around. I would find it easier to understand the battleground deployments with more detailed maps...I think it's a dyslexia thing. I read if the second time around with an atlas and Google Maps.

[Pinar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baştan hep İngiltere'nin kazandığı savaşlardan mı gidiyor derken, sonunda baya keyif aldığım bir kitap oldu.

Dünya savaş tarihiyle ilgili fazla bir kitap okuduğum söylenemez. The Art of War ı ve bir kaç kitabı daha okudum evet, ama birebir savaşlar üzerine fazla okumamıştım. (Heralde Kurtuluş Savaşı ve Gelibolu). Belki konuyla yakından ilgilenenler, veya askeri eğitim alanlar için fazla yüzeysel, veya bildik bir kitap olabilir. Ama benim için oldukça ilginçti. Çok keyif alarak dinledim.

Yazar dünya tarihindeki çok çeşitli savaşlardan örneklerle gidiyor. Büyük İskender'den Perslere, Napolyon'dan I.Dünya Savaşına, Selahattin Eyyubi'den Golan tepelerine baya geniş bir yelpazeden örneklere değinmiş.

Kitapla ilgili değerlendirmem iki nedenden dolayı çok objektif olmayabilir. Bu tarihi daha çok politik taraflar ve devamındaki sonuçlar olarak biliyorum. Daha önce hiç cephe savaşıları üzerine okumadım. Yazarın ne kadar taraflı veya konuları doğru mu, yanlış mı analiz ettiğinden tam emin değilim. Diğer konu kitabı orijinalinden İngilizce olarak dinledim, askeri terimlere çok fazla hakim değilim.

Konu üzerine biraz daha okumak ilginç olabilir diye düşündürdü bana. Tavsiye ederim.

[Todds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good examples of battlefield principles.

[Trever · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was hoping it would be better, examples are known battles nothing new.

[René Venegas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice introductory lesson to the principles of war and excellent place to start if you wish to know more about military history.