Thus, they have pursued their own personal glory instead of the larger needs of not only their soldiers but their societies as a whole.Īll great generals, no matter how noble their cause and their persona, must in the end possess a certain ruthlessness. a continuation of political activity by other means” in pursuit of their own dreams. In effect, that search has led them to ignore Clausewitz’s dictum "that war is. Unfortunately, those few who have possessed its attributes too often have found themselves driven by a restive impulse to employ their talents in search of conquest and personal glory. That said, it is perhaps a good thing that military genius has been so rare in history. Similarly, had the Civil War happened ten years earlier or later, it is hard to imagine Grant emerging as a major figure. Had Napoléon been born fifty years earlier, he would have retired as a captain of artillery in an army dominated by the great nobles of France. The context and circumstances of the political, military, and social milieu must be right for military genius to emerge in full flower. Sometimes these wars are fought by men of talent, but not often, as military genius is a rare commodity. Yet men have pursued its tarnished glory throughout the ages, beginning in our written history with Achilles choosing a young and glorious death in battle against the Trojans over the possibility of a long and comfortable life. As the Duke of Wellington aptly commented, “Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.” War is the great destroyer, leaving in its wake a path of wanton destruction, rapine, and death, with the bodies and minds of those who survive broken by its savagery. Even when fought for the noblest of reasons, war and the battles that result from its conduct represent the darkest of human impulses. And in a time when technology has made the potential costs of war even greater, it is a masterful look at how military strategy has evolved and what it will take for leaders to guide their nations to peace in the future.Īt the end of On War, Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz makes a supremely ironic comment: “No one starts a war-or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so-without being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.” And that is precisely the point rarely if ever do statesmen, their advisers, or their military leaders think through the consequences of what will transpire after they have launched their military forces into war. Gods of War is the first single-volume, in-depth examination of the most celebrated military rivalries of all time, and of the rare, world-changing battles in which these great commanders in history matched themselves against true equals.įrom Caesar and Pompey deciding the fate of the Roman Republic, to Grant and Lee battling for a year during the American Civil War, to Rommel and Montgomery and Patton meeting in battle after battle as Hitler strove for European domination, these match-ups and their corresponding strategies are among the most memorable in history.Ī thrilling look into both the generals’ lives and their hardest-fought battles, Gods of War is also a thought-provoking analysis of the qualities that make a strong commander and a deep exploration of the historical context in which the contestants were required to wage war, all told with rousing narrative flair. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of FreedomĪny meeting of genius may create sparks, but when military geniuses meet, their confrontations play out upon a vast panorama of states or civilizations at war, wielding the full destructive power of a mighty nation’s armies. “A compelling study of military leadership.”-James M. The greatest battles, commanders, and rivalries of all time come to life in this engrossing guide to the geniuses of military history.
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