Assessing war : the challenge of measuring success and failure / Leo J. Blanken, Hy Rothstein, Jason J. Lepore, editors ; foreword by Gen. George W. Casey Jr.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Casey, George W., writer of foreword.

Blanken, Leo J. (Leo James), editor.

Rothstein, Hy S., editor.

Lepore, Jason J., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military planning--United States.

Military planning.

War--Decision making.

War.

Strategy.

United States--History, Military.

United States.

United States--Military policy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Washington, District of Columbia : Georgetown University Press, [2015]

Summary:

Are we winning? Combatants often find themselves asking this question, especially during today's protracted asymmetrical conflicts where victory and defeat are not clear or easy to measure. Also, too often politics or wishful thinking take the place of objective assessment. Assessing War explores how the trajectory of war has been analyzed in conflicts throughout American history. The book brings together military historians, political scientists, and military officers to examine wartime assessment in theory, in practice through historical and contemporary cases, and through alternative dimensions of assessment such as justice and proportionality, the war of ideas, and economics. The cases start with the Seven Year's War and cover all major US conflicts through the war in Afghanistan. There are also unique examinations of how Al Qaeda has assessed its war on the United States and how assessment might be conducted in cyber war. Wartime assessment is critical because forming an accurate picture is essential to developing the right strategy. This book concludes with advice for practitioners about best approaches, though it also offers sobering conclusions about the difficulty of assessing war objectively and without politicization or self delusion.

Contents:

Foreword / by Gen. George W. Casey, Jr.

Introduction

The challenge of wartime assessment / Leo J. Blanken and Jason J. Lepore

Theory

Principals, agents, and assessment / Leo J. Blanken and Jason J. Lepore

U.S. civil-military relations and operational assessments / Hy Rothstein

Wartime strategic assessment : concepts and challenges / Scott Sigmund Gartner

Historical cases

Assessing proxy forces : a case study of the early years of the Seven Years' War (1754-1763) in North America / John Grenier

Assessing war : the revolutionary war / Edward G. Lengel

Assessing enemy civilian will : the United States goes to war, 1861 / Brooks D. Simpson

"Keep 'em moving" : the role of assessment in US cavalry operations against the Plains Indians / Colonel Michael Richardson

Assessing the Philippine War / Brian Mcallister Linn

Putting the fuse to the powder : strategic assessment in the First World War / Scott Stephenson

Assessment in World War II / Gerhard l. Weinberg

Measuring gains on the battle field and at the peace table : shifting assessments during the Korean War / Conrad C. Crane

Choosing progress : evaluating the salesmanship of the Vietnam War in 1967 / Gregory Daddis

Current cases

Assessing counterinsurgency : the Iraq War, 2004-05 / Major General Bill C. Hix and Kalev I. Sepp

Circular logic and constant progress : IW assessments in Afghanistan / Alejandro S. Hernandez, Julian Ouellet, and Christopher J. Nannini

Monitoring from afar : how Al Qaeda assesses its progress / Mark Stout

Alternative dimensions of assessment

Assessment, proportionality, and justice in war

Bradley J. Strawser and Russell Muirhead

Assessing cyber war / Dorothy E. Denning

Assessing the war of ideas during war / Robert Reilly

Assessment of economic outcomes in nation-building operations / Aric P. Shafran

Conclusion

Can we learn from the assessment of war? / Anthony H. Cordesman and Hy Rothstein.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-62616-247-6

OCLC:

936692990