Battle Studies (Modern War Studies) - Hardcover

Picq, Charles Ardant Du; Spiller, Roger J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0700623914 ISBN 13: 9780700623914

Publisher: University Press of Kansas, 2017

Synopsis

A classic of military thought that merits a place alongside the works of Clausewitz and Sun Tzu, Battle Studies was first published in Paris ten years after the death of its author, French army officer Charles Ardant du Picq (1821–1870). Updated to provide a more complete and accurate biographical and historical framework for understanding its meaning and import, this edition―deftly translated, introduced, and annotated by noted military historian Roger Spiller―offers a new generation of readers the benefit of Ardant du Picq’s unique insight into the nature of warfare.

Nothing, Ardant du Picq asserts, can be prescribed wisely in an army “without an exact understanding of its ultimate instrument, man, and his morale at the defining instant of combat.” Accordingly, Battle Studies, the first systematic exploration of human behavior in the extremities of combat, focuses squarely on the tactical realm its author knew so well. Eschewing grand military theories and strategies, Ardant du Picq draws on his real-world experience, especially during the Crimean War and the Siege of Sebastopol where he was captured, to examine what motivates a soldier to fight, what creates cohesion or disorder, what gives a commander tactical control, and what makes reason give way to instinct: in short, “the essence of the science of combat.”

About this title

About the Author

Roger J. Spiller is the George C. Marshall Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Military History and former director of the Combat Studies Institute at the US Army Command and General Staff College. He is the author of An Instinct for War: Scenes from the Battlefields of History. He has also served as an advisor to Ken Burns on documentary television series on World War II and the Vietnam War.

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0700623914
• ISBN 13: 9780700623914
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240