Winning Wars

While ‘winning’ might be considered a fundamental part of the human objective, what constitutes winning and how one might achieve it remain somewhat abstract, in war as in any other human endeavor. ‘Winning’ militarily at the tactical level – in a firefight or a battle – has always been more quantifiable than at the strategic level. At the strategic level, success might be measured by means of three big ideas: ownership; intervention for effect; and fighting for ideas. The divergence between success at the tactical level and the political context of the war creates a challenge at the operational level when it relates to political and strategic matters.The result of a research project carried out by the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research for the British Army, this book analyses the philosophical constituents of what may comprise ‘victory’ or ‘winning’ and then travels, chronologically, through a wide set of historical case studies, exploring those more philosophical components and weaving them into the factual discussion. Thus the factual relation and analysis is the vehicle for a deeper exploration of the concept of success or ‘winning’, rather than a narrative end in itself. Table of ContentsIntroduction – Sir Hew Strachan1 ‘Winning’ in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Conception of Victory – Ali Parchami2 The European Concept of ‘Winning’ in the Middle Ages – John France3 The Early Modern Period in Europe, 1500–1715 – David Parrott4 From the Age of Reason to the European Nation State, 1750–1850 – Jonathan Riley5 ‘Winning’ in World War I, 1914–1919 – Lothar H�belt6 ‘Winning’ in the World Wars. The British Conceptions of the War-Time Leaders Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, 1914–1945 – Rob Johnson7 ‘Winning’ in the Cold War and the Nuclear Age, 1945–1990 – Jonathan Riley8 Western Strategic Goals and ‘Winning’ in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 – Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian9 A Hollow Victory? Assad’s Regime and ‘Winning’ the Conflict in Syria since 2001 – Richard Kuno10 The Impact of History, Politics and Religion: Three Contrasting Conceptions of ‘Winning’ in Iran since 1979 – Ali Parchami11 The Chinese Concept of ‘Winning’ – Kerry Brown12 A Decisive British Victory? The Confrontation with Indonesia, 1963–1966 – Christopher Tuck13 The Ambiguity of Victory: The Spectrum of ‘Winning’ in African History – Richard Reid14 The Provisional IRA and the Elusive Concept of ‘Winning’ since 1969 – Aaron Edwards15 Russian Views of ‘Winning’: ‘Velikaya Pobeda’ ‘pobedonosnaya voina’ – Andrew Monaghan16 ‘Winning the Peace’: The Peacebuilding Paradigm and its Implications for Peacekeepers in the 21st Century – Nicholas ReesConclusion: So, What is ‘Winning’? Andrew Sharpe