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Customer Reviews
Eric M Walters on June 2, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
An engaging and compelling tour de
force, Douglas Macgregor's MARGIN OF VICTORY: FIVE BATTLES THAT CHANGED THE
FACE OF MODERN WAR knits together narratives of lesser- known 20th Century
battles to generate observations relevant to America's 21st Century strategic
defense challenges. Macgregor puts his main emphasis on the national military
analyses, decisions, and preparations of the eventual victor, made well before
these battles were fought. His accounts of combat actions effectively
illustrate how critical these were to create conditions leading to success in
the field. Whether the margins of victory were narrow (such as the British
Expeditionary Force—despite retreating from Mons and Le Cateau--throwing grit in
the Schlieffen Plan’s gears in France, 1914), or wide (illustrated by the
Soviets crushing an entire German army group in a matter of weeks in 1944),
institutional foresight and preparation was key.
There are other books that examine this but typically examine failure to learn
the right lessons after a war. Still other works focus narrowly on technical
innovations in weaponry, organization, and/or tactical concepts resulting from
lessons learned.
What is different about MARGIN OF VICTORY is its focus on how some institutions
did not extrapolate contemporary trends to characterize future national
security environments, but came up with new kinds of forecasts breaking with
conventional wisdom. Indeed, these militaries were able to envision far more
accurately what types of conflicts they would be fighting in the future, rather
than merely mirror the kinds of wars they had fought in the recent past.
Macgregor’s case studies are intended as exceptions to the well-worn notion
that nations always prepare for the next war or campaign as if they were
fighting the last one.
While military history buffs will appreciate the author's perspective as an
accomplished combat leader in describing these battles in the first five
chapters, this book is meant to inform senior defense policymakers, military
officers, and defense reform advocates who are seriously concerned about
American national military strategy. Macgregor enjoys a well-established track
record for creative thinking, conditioned by a soldier’s sense; he does not
disappoint in his concluding chapter, spelling out what needs to be done to
prepare the United States for the next war.
This is a timely book as the U.S. Defense Department grapples with the dilemma
of configuring the military to fight wars of choice against much less capable
adversaries (Iraq and Afghanistan), or prioritizing development to win against
near-peer competitors if (or when) war is forced upon the United States.
Macgregor has fired a heavy salvo in the ongoing debate on the future size, shape,
organization, and characteristics of the U.S. military. Those with an interest
in how history should or should not influence national strategy formulation or
who are simply curious about alternative views on defense reform will find
MARGIN OF VICTORY a provocative and satisfying read.
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