Strategy (B. H. Liddell Hart)
Problem
Personal experience is too narrow and costly to reveal recurring strategic mistakes.
Action
Compare each proposed move with similar campaigns and their results.
Outcome
You make choices with a larger base of tested experience.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - History as Practical Experience
Problem
Equal pressure across a front leaves no point strong enough to decide the fight.
Action
Concentrate decisive strength on one weak point instead of pressing the whole front equally.
Outcome
The enemy loses balance where the result matters most.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - Greek Wars - Epaminondas, Philip, and Alexander
Problem
An expected approach gives the enemy time to organize a strong defense.
Action
Advance by a route that threatens the enemy's flank or rear.
Outcome
The enemy must change position before meeting your main force.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - Roman Wars - Hannibal, Scipio, and Caesar
Problem
A smaller army cannot survive a long exchange of equal losses.
Action
Use maneuver to make the enemy abandon strong ground before you fight.
Outcome
You gain an advantage while preserving limited forces.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - Byzantine Wars - Belisarius and Narses
Problem
Attacking fortified positions directly wastes time and people.
Action
Bypass strongholds and threaten the supplies that support them.
Outcome
Fortified positions become harder to maintain.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - Medieval Wars
Problem
Slow forces give the enemy time to prepare at every threatened point.
Action
Organize forces to march rapidly and concentrate before the enemy reacts.
Outcome
You control where and when decisive pressure appears.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - The Seventeenth Century - Gustavus, Cromwell, Turenne
Problem
Repeated direct battles can exhaust even the winning army.
Action
Threaten enemy communications until the enemy must fight at a disadvantage.
Outcome
You preserve strength while improving the chance of a decision.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - The Eighteenth Century - Marlborough and Frederick
Problem
Past success can make a commander repeat methods that no longer surprise the enemy.
Action
Change your method as soon as the enemy learns how to answer it.
Outcome
Your operations remain difficult to predict and resist.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - The French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte
Problem
Modern weapons make direct attacks against prepared fronts extremely costly.
Action
Maneuver around the defended front before concentrating for battle.
Outcome
Your force reaches a weaker point with fewer losses.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - 1854-1914
Problem
An enemy in a balanced position can efficiently resist an expected attack.
Action
Create physical or mental dislocation before seeking decisive combat.
Outcome
The enemy offers less organized resistance at the decisive moment.
Chapter: Strategy From Fifth Century B.C. To Twentieth Century A.D. - Conclusions from Twenty-Five Centuries
Problem
A rigid opening plan becomes dangerous when its assumptions fail.
Action
Build alternative branches into mobilization and deployment plans before contact.
Outcome
The force can adjust without losing cohesion.
Chapter: Strategy of the First World War - The Plans and Their Issue in the Western Theatre, 1914
Problem
Large fronts expose flanks and stretch supply lines.
Action
Shift forces quickly across the theater to strike an exposed sector.
Outcome
The enemy must retreat or weaken another part of the front.
Chapter: Strategy of the First World War - The North-Eastern Theatre
Problem
A secondary front wastes resources when it cannot affect a vital enemy interest.
Action
Concentrate enough force on a vulnerable coalition link to remove it from the war.
Outcome
Pressure on the main front falls as the enemy coalition weakens.
Chapter: Strategy of the First World War - The South-Eastern or Mediterranean Theatre
Problem
A local breakthrough has little value when it leads to no important result.
Action
Direct the offensive toward a point whose loss forces a wider enemy withdrawal.
Outcome
Tactical success produces lasting strategic change.
Chapter: Strategy of the First World War - The Strategy of 1918
Problem
Opponents become much stronger when a threat unites them.
Action
Use diplomacy to isolate one opponent before starting combat.
Outcome
Your force faces less combined resistance.
Chapter: Strategy of the Second World War - Hitler's Strategy
Problem
Defensive strength often reflects what the enemy expects you to do.
Action
Concentrate mobile force at a point the enemy judges unlikely to be attacked.
Outcome
The defense loses balance before it can redeploy.
Chapter: Strategy of the Second World War - Hitler's Run of Victory
Problem
Expanding aims divide forces beyond the reach of reliable supply.
Action
Choose one decisive objective within logistical reach.
Outcome
Your forces retain concentration and clear purpose.
Chapter: Strategy of the Second World War - Hitler's Decline
Problem
Holding every position after losing the initiative can trap an immobile force.
Action
Withdraw early enough to avoid encirclement.
Outcome
The remaining force keeps its ability to act.
Chapter: Strategy of the Second World War - Hitler's Fall
Problem
Fighting a balanced enemy turns strength against strength.
Action
Move so the enemy must fight from an unstable position.
Outcome
You can make a decision with less combat and lower cost.
Chapter: Fundamentals of Strategy and Grand Strategy - The Theory of Strategy
Problem
A fixed plan with one objective gives the enemy one clear problem to block.
Action
Choose a line of operation with several reachable objectives.
Outcome
You can change direction while keeping the initiative.
Chapter: Fundamentals of Strategy and Grand Strategy - The Concentrated Essence of Strategy and Tactics
Problem
Military victory becomes wasteful when it exceeds the political purpose.
Action
Set the military aim at the minimum required to secure the national objective.
Outcome
The cost of war stays proportional to its value.
Chapter: Fundamentals of Strategy and Grand Strategy - National Object and Military Aim
Problem
Victory in combat can fail when wartime methods poison the settlement.
Action
Judge every wartime measure by whether it supports the desired peace.
Outcome
Military success leads to a more stable settlement.
Chapter: Fundamentals of Strategy and Grand Strategy - Grand Strategy
Problem
A stronger conventional force dominates concentrated battles and fixed positions.
Action
Disperse small units to repeatedly threaten its communications.
Outcome
The stronger force spreads out and loses effective concentration.
Chapter: Fundamentals of Strategy and Grand Strategy - Guerrilla War