The Direction of War; A Study of Strategy

xii, 317, [1] pages. Endpages and some pages have discoloration. Cover is worn and soiled. Corners and edges rubbed. Somewhat cocked. Stamp reading 'Supplied for the Public Service" on verso. List of Books Consulted. Maps(several folding). Index. This is one of the Cambridge Naval and Military Series that was edited by Sir Julian Corbett. Major-General Sir Wilkinson Dent Bird, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO, ADC (4 May 1869 - 6 January 1943) was an officer of the British Army during the late-19th century and the First World War. After studying at Wellington and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he took a commission as a second lieutenant in the Queen's Royal Regiment on 22 August 1888. In 1897, he served with the Niger Expedition, where he was mentioned in dispatches and received a brevet promotion to major on 6 June 1897. He served with his regiment in the Second Boer War, where he was present at the Relief of Mafeking and was again mentioned in dispatches, but was severely wounded and returned home in 1900. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). In 1913 he was transferred to command the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, and promoted to Colonel. He was in command of the battalion at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, when it was sent to France with 7th Brigade, 3rd Division. He was severely wounded at the First Battle of the Aisne, on 15 September; his leg had to be amputated. In 1918, he took up the post of lieutenant-governor of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, and retired in 1923. It is generally admitted that the law of the struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest forms the foundation of the relationship between all human beings. In the past the collective struggle for existence in its sternest forms seems at first to have taken the form of an intermittent contest carried on principally between tribes, or village and urban communities, in other words, war. Modern wars have been made either for what was believed to be national advantage, or in furtherance or defense of national interests. It follows that, until a League of Nations has been set up whose judgments and decisions will be obeyed throughout the word, nationals, possessing territory of value, and rights or interests worthy of protection, can assure neither unless prepared to use force. Every nation which aspires to independent existence must be prepared to defend in arms, either alone, or in co-operation with others who are also affected, its existence and the vital interests necessary for existence. Political independence and civil liberty are both largely dependent on the possession of sufficiency or armed force.…