How Wars Are Won: The 13 Rules of War from Ancient Greece to the War on Terror

by Bevin Alexander

Even as we head into twenty-first-century warfare, thirteen time-tested rules for waging war remain relevant.

Both timely and timeless, How Wars Are Won illuminates the thirteen essential rules for success on the battlefield that have evolved from ancient times until the present day. Acclaimed military historian Bevin Alexander’s incisive and vivid analyses of famous battles throughout the ages show how the greatest commanders—from Alexander the Great to Douglas MacArthur—have applied these rules. For

• Feign Pretend defeat, fake a retreat, then ambush the enemy while being pursued. Used to devastating effect by the North Vietnamese against U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.
• Strike at enemy Avoid the enemy’s strength entirely by refusing to fight pitched battles, a method that has run alongside conventional war from the earliest days of human conflict. Brilliantly applied by Mao Zedong to defeat the Chinese Nationalists.
• Defend, then Gain possession of a superior weapon or tactical system, induce the enemy to launch a fruitless attack, then go on the offensive. Employed repeatedly against the Goths by the Eastern Roman general Belisarius to reclaim vast stretches of the Roman Empire.

The lessons of history revealed in these pages can be used to shape the strategies needed to win the conflicts of today.

Genres: History, Military History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Bevin Alexander is an American military historian and author. He served as an officer during the Korean War as part of the 5th Historical Detachment. His book Korea: The First War We Lost was largely influenced by his experiences during the war.

Bevin has served as a consultant and adviser to several groups due to his military expertise, including work for the Rand Corporation, work as a consultant for military simulations instituted by the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, and as director of information at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. .

He was formerly on the president’s staff as director of information at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., and is a retired adjunct professor of history at Longwood University, in Farmville, Virginia.

Reviews

[Steven Ledbetter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author of this book is still enamored with the idea of "total war" and his lack of experience in "war amongst the people" is very evident. All of the rules he creates pretty much only apply to state-state war on large, open ground. This book could have been titled: 3 Rules of War. While the author cites 13 rules, he often repeats tactics just with different emphasis. The three rules are:
1. Attack an enemies weakness while deluding him into thinking you will attack his strength.
2. Pin him down.
3. Be aggressive and do not allow him to retreat.

And based on the redundancy of the author's examples, this book could also have been called "Why Napoleon, Stonewall Jackson, Alexander the Great, and Rommel were Awesome."

[Chris White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn’t even gotten to chapter two before I decided that I must read everything Bevin Alexander has written. This book is a crazy good synthesis of everything I love about military history, and don’t think I wasn’t taking notes, intending to employ certain situations in the next fictional sweeping battle scene I write. This book rocks.

From the distant past, covering the Mongols on the steppes of Asia, to a mind-bogglingly complete account of the battles that changed the course of history on the European continent, Alexander makes a case for the thirteen rules of war and how they are most effectively applied by smart commanders like Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as how they are immutable against such dunderheads as Adolf Hitler—who, as it turns out, was mostly a politician rather than a military genius.

Even some of the best and most legendary commanders of all history get lucky sometimes. Robert E. Lee, for instance, had the great good fortune of one “Stonewall” Jackson in his employ; a major reason why the South had any kind of fighting chance against Lincoln’s Union army. There’s Alexander the Great, Scipio Africanus, Erwin Rommel, Douglas MacArthur, and even a legend of which you’ve probably never heard—Subedei Bahadur—who was Genghis Khan’s principle orlok (marshall). Subedei made ol’ Genghis look like a freakin’ sissy; he was ruthless.

Bevin Alexander weaves together amazing tales of adventure and conquest that cover the gamut of human civilization. He illustrates in skillful narrative the hubris of certain orthodoxies and the crushing defeats brought on when these traditions collide with military genius. This book is an inspiration to a burgeoning writer such as myself, and will provide all kinds of historical material for plot ideas, conflicts, and just plain head-scratching real-life twists that never cease to amaze. I highly recommend it.

[Darrell E. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would be better titled "How Wars Have Been Won: 13 Tactics and Strategies that Worked at Times and Not at Others in History". The author clearly hurried this book to press in the months after 9/11 attempting to describe future war by laying out tactics and stratagems that have worked in the past. However, he opens his book describing future war as a war of guerrilla operations and then spends nearly the entire book describe large scale, pitched battles and campaigns and then trying to relate the ancient battle (I don't remember any case-studies post 1950) to this new, future war. He often makes sloppy comparisons and even contradicts himself by showing how his proposed rules didn't work. He even admits this at times but in nearly all of his examples leadership could be the real factor not the tactics or stratagems.

I kept reading this book for one reason and that was because it made me think a great deal about warfare. Written 13 years ago, nearly all of the predictions the author makes are invalidated by experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, I think this makes it a more thought provoking book than others. Unless you are a voracious reader, I'd stay away from this book. The most interested part is a Rand study he cites which you can find independently on the internet: "Swarming and the Future of Combat". No need to read this for the summary.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK look at the principles of war. Alexander mainly rehashes Sun-tzu's The Art of War and von Clausewitz's On War. And does neither one the justice it deserves.

The battles Alexander profiles do represent examples of his 13 principles, but for the most part they are shallowly and narrowly analyzed, failing to account for the larger issues that influenced commanders decisions in the field.

I also found his constant veneration of 'Stonewall' Jackson, and penchant for touting highly mobile, lightly armed forces as the ultimate fighting force (loosely translated into guerrilla forces being superior to conventional forces) to be overbearing.

[Marvinwww]

This is an EXCELLENT book. Its first section ("Introduction") is perhaps a bit too brief and manages to give the impression that the author is jumping at conclusions. However, the remainder of the book is written in a very even-handed manner and provides clear insights into the author's reasons for his analysis.

The author (Bevin Alexander) is so serious and scholarly that he is able (in the end notes) to cite the work of Hans Delbruck without making any wisecracks.

[Hj Reichen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book written rapidly after 9/11. The principles and the examples used to describe them are solid, however many of Bevin’s implications for the future have been invalidated over the past twenty years. I appreciated the lecture due to the quality of the writing and the book making me think again about principles of war.

[Sam-Omar Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting and detailed descriptions of many famous, epic, and important battles of the past. Unfortunately the author does not do enough to connect these lessons to the present.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting. A slightly deeper understanding of battle strategy would probably make it more enjoyable, but it provided a decent base for the beginning level.

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

First off let me dispel the title of this book. You will not be getting 13 lessons from significant battles or campaigns throughout history. The author even goes out of his way to say historians of certain battles are completely wrong. There is no historic value that can be gained from this book but what value there is can easily be found in higher quantity and quality in other books.

On the subject matter of the book written in 2002 has completely been proven wrong. The author’s opinion on what wins wars is nothing more than superior weaponry that he considers infallible and guerilla tactics which in his claim will be the future of warfare. What history has shown us since the writing of this waste of ink through the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars is that superior firepower, along with million dollar precision equipment (another thing the writer considers undefeatable) is completely useless against an enemy that gets its equipment from local stores.

The future of guerilla fighting in the Army is also a complete joke. Any real look at history (something the author has clearly failed to do) will show that the United States has used Guerilla tactics for Decades against its enemies with special forces squads in many parts of the world. These tactics has so far not won wars and turned a significant part of foreign populations against the United States.

The author also places great emphasis on drones and its technology (mentioning the Hummingbird units the CIA was denying they had at the time). Another example of history showing the technology useless for winning over all wars and only good for creating more enemies than killing them. Let Pakistan be a lesson against drone Technology as a key component in war. Hell, Iran tricking a drone to land on its soil by hacking its guidance software shows the technology is practically useless and extremely dangerous if hijacked. Of course that has also been demonstrated at the University of Texas.
None of this would be a problem if it all came from a chapter on Modern Warfare leaving 12 other historic lessons to enjoy reading. Like I said though this is not the case, the book spends most of its time reaffirming its false assumptions throughout its chapters instead of covering what the title claims. Yes specific historic examples are used but ether taken out of context or just used in a way to suit the author’s needs regardless of their accuracy.

How Wars Are Won: The 13 Rules of War From Ancient Greece to The War on Terror is nothing but a lie with a heap load of useless inaccurate information thrown in for good measure. If you follow anything in this book that is not backed up in better tomes, you will be as versed in how to win wars as the United States Army was for Afghanistan and Iraq. In short don’t get this book unless you want to look like an idiot.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bevin Alexander proposes 13 enduring rules of war that must be understood to effectively wage it.

Alexander is an intelligent veteran of the Korean War and former employee of the Rand Corporation. He has some well thought out arguments. His chapter on Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and the Minié ball rifle is especially interesting.

However, some of his policies concerning terrorism are seemingly contradictory. Specifically he proposes that we attack terrorists overseas while simultaneously stating that terrorists cannot successfully wage war outside of their home territory. Why take the fight to where they can fight effectively then?

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author culls the essence of successful warfighting from centuries of history into 13 lessons. Each lesson is explained and exemplified in its own chapter. Lessons include identifying and striking the heart of the enemy, defending then attacking, employing a superior weapon, and fighting from the central position. This book helped me better understand how good commanders see the battlefield and use what resources they have to fight the enemy and win. Good book for fans of military history.

[Chris Comis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting breakdown of various approaches to warfare. I appreciated that he took an historical approach to military tactics, instead of trying to boil everything down to theoretical abstractions. Some of the rules did seem a bit redundant, but that may just be because of my own lack of knowledge of tactical warfare.

There is some great advice in hear that is applicable to the Church's mission as well.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is quite good. The author not only explains the tactic but gives great battle examples of when things worked, when it was used but not exploited, and ends with how it is applicable for today's style of warfare.

I would definitely recommend the book.

[Aeli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Bevin Alexander's writing. He gives you a good glimpse into tactical thinking and strategic thinking for lay people (i.e. those not heavily versed in military thinking). This book is a good example.

A good read because it is still pertinent to the two wars we are currently engaged in.

[Sheilah · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK. I've read better books on the same topic. The author's assertion of, "oh, they think they can win, but that's ridiculous!" is preposterous. Entire civilizations have fallen based on the premise that forces thought that other forces couldn't pull off what they thought that they could.

[Adam Balshan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars [Military Science]
Writing: 2.5 stars. Started out well, but soon Alexander became highly repetitive, and several times went on far longer than the scope of the principle allowed.
Use: 3 stars.
Truth: 2.75 stars.

[Steven]

Good read. Kind of basic info, but good historical background to validate the points.

[Maxo Marc]

A great read because he layed out the tactics to win.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rules of warhave not changed since the time of spears and shields. Really cool to see the modern examples. More and better maps would hve been nice.

[Neil Hay-roe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great analysis of historical military strategy. Want to re-read this one.

[Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good ideas if you are interested in hurting someone. It is not as clear how one would defend oneself.

[Mitchell]

Bevin Alexander helps to clearly show how many of the world's smartest and dumbest commander's have made the biggest and fatal errors in their careers.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but had the privilege of learning directly from Alexander Bevin himself while an undergraduate student at Longwood University.

[Yanick Punter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not going to war... but I think these rules might be universal in the sense that they also apply to nature