Calculations

by Allan Reed Millett (Editor), Williamson Murray (Editor)

Eight scholars - Alan R. Millett, Paul Kennedy, Earl F. Ziemke, Alvin D. Coox, Williamson Murray, Brian Sullivan, Steven Ross and Calvin L. Christman - examine the methods used by the major powers of World War II to evaluate their own and their enemies' military capacity.

Genres: History

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 22, 1992

About the author

A specialist in the history of American military policy and twentieth century wars and military institutions, Allan R. Millett is professor emeritus at The Ohio State University, where he taught from 1969 until his retirement in 2005.

Reviews

[Casey]

A good book, composed of a series of essays providing an overview of the net assessment conducted by the major powers prior to the start of WWII. The editors, Williamson Murray and Allan Millett, collected essays which don’t shy away from detailed historical analysis. Written in the early 1990s, the essays dove deep into primary sources to provide great descriptions of the intelligence sources, assessment organizations, and decision making processes of Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, and the U.S. As each essay has a separate author, each approaches the analysis from slight different angles. Though this makes specific comparisons between the nations difficult, it does provide a broader view of the concept of net assessment. I finished the book with both a better appreciation of what net assessment is and the many barriers to its success. I especially liked the essay on the Russians and French. The relationship between warfighting doctrine and strategic assessment are clearly demonstrated in both essays. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to better understand the processes of net assessment.