History and evolution of military tactics

W82DIE

New Member
I would not use either since Wikipedia is unreliable and easily vandalized and mbsci was blocked by my antivirus... Just saying careful...


Admin. You've been banned for one day because you're posting so fast (aka post whoring) that its not possible to interrupt you in time.
Please read the forum rules before and if you come back in 24 hrs. Post whoring is not acceptable (ie rapid one line posting across a raft of threads just to get your count up)

Introduce yourself first in new members, and pace yourself. You don't need to shotgun your presence on here with multiple responses in such a short time.
 
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5th_Req

New Member
Learning abuot the evolution of tactics is not something you can pick up easily from a series of articleso on the internet. You need to read some good books.

First of all, I recommend you look into some of the books in Bill Lind's Canon.

Next, I recommend you look into Dr. Gudmundsson's several books on the subject of Infantry, Armor and Artillery.

Those are just about recent developments. You'll want to do some more research to find books that drag the evolution of tactics back even further. The reality is that with Lind's Canon and Gudmundsson's books you'll get a good grasp of how things have changed and developed over the past two centuries.

If you've never read an Osprey book, I recommend you go to Osprey publishing and select books in your particular interest area.

-Joseph
Writer at Marine Corps Gazette Blog
 

The Scholar

New Member
Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, by Peter Paret is a very informative introduction to the evolution of strategy.
 

Dodger67

Member
Start with the classics: Sun Tzu - The art of war, Machiavelli - The Prince and von Clausewitz - On War. I'm sure some others here can advise which translations and editions are most suitable for 'beginners', as some editions contain commentary and analysis by other authors, which naturally are quite variable in quality.
 
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The Scholar

New Member
Aforementioned are fine suggestions concerning strategic studies, however to examine strategic evolution in correlation with a progressing historic context, one is forced to refer to analysis.

Easy access compendiums are Paret's Makers of Modern Strategy, which can be found at your local bookstore, War by Gwynne Dyer offers a historical overview of the evolution of warfare, which examines it through an anthropological lens, rather than a strategic one.

I would begin with Gwynne Dyer's work as it offers a basic historical timeline, and then ingest Paret's collection one piece at a time, reading complimentary material as it comes up in his work. i.e. Clausewitz's On War

The study of Strategic evolution is so vast that its hard to suggest the collection of works needed to attain a grasp on the subject, but reading through professional analyses regarding the subject should provide an adequate starting point.

Beware of bias.

Happy Reading!
 

AdmiralRaeder

New Member
Start with the classics: Sun Tzu - The art of war, Machiavelli - The Prince and von Clausewitz - On War. I'm sure some others here can advise which translations and editions are most suitable for 'beginners', as some editions contain commentary and analysis by other authors, which naturally are quite variable in quality.
These books are all excellent. I would also recommend Infantry Attacks, Panzer Leader, Lost Victories, Military Maxims of Napoleon, Instructions to his General by Frederick the Great, Science of Victory by Alexander Suvorov and Marshal of the Soviet Union G Zhukov, volume 1 and 2
 
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