Richard A. Gabriel > Quotes

“Nations customarily measure the "costs of war" in dollars, lost production, or the number of soldiers killed or wounded. Rarely do military establishments attempt to measure the costs of war in terms of individual human suffering. Psychiatric breakdown remains one of the most costly items of war when expressed in human terms”
― Richard A. Gabriel, No More Heroes: Madness and Psychiatry In War

“An army of donkeys led by a lion is more effective than an army of lions led by a donkey!
■ The primacy of politics in military affairs is absolute, and often works against military effectiveness.”
― Richard A. Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan's Greatest General

“Subotai, the commander of the invasion of Europe, the Mongols had a commander far superior to any European commander who had taken the field in the preceding two centuries.”
― Richard A. Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan's Greatest General

“The ability to conceptualize war plans and implement them on a grand scale is one of the most difficult skills for any officer to acquire. Most never acquire this ability, something that may explain why warfare has, over the long centuries of its practice, produced only a few truly great generals. Subotai became one of those generals.”
― Richard A. Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan's Greatest General

“Subotai began planning the first Mongol military campaign against the West in the late summer of 1220. Subotai's army comprised 25,000 to 30,000”
― Richard A. Gabriel, Genghis Khan’s Greatest General: Subotai the Valiant

“Many times Subotai fought against armies larger than his own, but he always maneuvered to insure that when the final blow was struck, he unfailingly achieved numerical superiority at the decisive point.”
― Richard A. Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan's Greatest General

“Temujin, once the outlaw, became Genghis Khan.”
― Richard A. Gabriel, Genghis Khan’s Greatest General: Subotai the Valiant