How to Lose a War: More Foolish Plans and Great Military Blunders (How to Lose Series) - Softcover

Fawcett, Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061358444 ISBN 13: 9780061358449

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2009

Synopsis

From the Crusades to the modern age of chemical warfare and smart bombs, history is littered with truly disastrous military campaigns. How to Lose a War chronicles some of the most remarkable strategic catastrophes and doomed military adventures of overreaching invaders and clueless defenders—whether the failure was a result of poor planning, miscalculations, monumental ego, or failed intelligence . . . or just a really stupid idea to begin with.

• Alexander invades India—and ends up in deep vindaloo.
• Sacre bleu! The French are humiliated by Prussia in 1870.
• spain's "invincible navy" breaks up off the coast of britain while attempting an invasion.
• the mau mau rebellion against the british in kenya shows us how not to run an insurgency.
• Chiang Kai-Shek's pathetic army fails to keep Mao's Communists from grabbing China.

About this title

About the Author:

Bill Fawcett is the author and editor of more than a dozen books, including You Did What?, It Seemed Like a Good Idea . . . , How to Lose a Battle, and You Said What? He lives in Illinois.

From Publishers Weekly:

Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan have sensitized Americans to the nuances of defeat in war. In this anthology, Fawcett, who rivals Jim Dunnigan as a general-audience military analyst, brings together 11 first-rate writers on military history to offer two dozen case studies of wars that should have been won—but were not. The conflicts range from the Peloponnesian Wars to the first Gulf war. The contributors range from established authors like Roland Green and Bill Forstchen to first-rate newcomers like Paul Thomsen. Their essays incorporate a combination of perceptive analysis and a light touch that earns the book a classification as history/humor without lapsing into the unsubtle mockery frequently informing writing on defeat. They understand that nobody sets out to lose—but the same impulses generating war can prefigure defeat. This can involve the arrogance of Napoleon in 1812 or the thirst for glory that dominated Pyrrhus of Epirus in the third century B.C. The common threads are underestimating the enemy and being so taken with yourself and your army that you fail to learn from the mistakes others have made before you. A chapter on Iraq will be correspondingly welcome in a second edition. (Aug.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0061358444
• ISBN 13: 9780061358449
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368