Strategy and History: Essays on Theory and Practice

Strategy and History comprises a selection of Professor Gray's key contributions to strategic debate over the past thirty years.

These essays have been selected both because they had significant messages for contemporary controversies, and because they have some continuing relevance for today and the future. Each essay in this book is really about strategy in the modern world, and reflects the many dimensions of this complex subject.

This book covers a wide range of subjects and historical events, but there are key issues covered throughout:

• being strategic
• the consequences of actions
• a respect for Clausewitz’s theory of war
• historical dependency
• the importance of geography
• being critical of enthusiasm for technology over human factors
• the primacy of politics.

This important publication provides an invaluable insight into the development of strategic studies over the past 30 years from one of the world's leading theorists and practitioners of the subject. The book will be of great interest to all students and analysts of strategy and international studies.

Colin Gray is Professor of International Politics and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading, UK. He is the author of 19 books, more than 300 articles, and several dozen reports for government. His work is often cited in the fields of arms control, maritime strategy, nuclear strategy, and strategic culture. Recent works include Strategy for Chaos: RMA Theory and the Evidence of History (2002); The Sheriff: America's Defense of the New World Order (2004). He is General Series Co-Editor of the Strategy and History Series for Routledge.