HOW TO FIGHT A WAR
AN EXAMINATION OF HOW TO ORCHESTRATE MILITARY FORCES, FROM INFANTRY AND INFORMATION TO STRATEGY AND TACTICS, IN THE ART OF USING VIOLENCE TO ACHIEVE A GOAL
Author: Mike Martin Publisher: Hurst Price: £22 On sale: Out now
Military historian Mike Martin analyses the hard logic behind fighting a conclusive interstate war that resolves geopolitical problems and reduces the risk of future conflict. His narrative outlines how to orchestrate military forces and tools, from infantry and information to strategy and tactics, and his book focuses on the notion that winning wars is essentially understanding and following basic principles.
Martin contends that wars are almost always lost due to the same simple ideas being misapplied or ignored. The first key lesson, the author points out, is that war is political, or politics by other means. This includes key issues like the art of strategy, logistics, morale and training. Coordinating these and other matters underscores the use of lethal violence to achieve political aims.
It is important to understand the strategic goals for engaging in battlefield violence. “Are you seeking to punish an enemy government… and convince the wider world of the just nature of your cause?” the author asks. The belligerent nation may also be seeking to liberate a people from tyranny or defend home territory from invasion.
“The precise type of war you are fighting will to some degree set boundaries on how ruthless you are in the application of lethal violence,” he says.
Martin also assesses the future impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on warfare. The methods to be employed differ from human decision-making, which largely involves tactics like deception and bluff. AI systems, for the first time in human civilisation, will change the fundamental nature of war. AI will be making the strategic decisions. Advanced militaries are today designing and testing autonomous weapons systems that are much faster at ‘thinking’ than humans and Martin contends that military leaders need to pay close attention to these experiments.