James Conor’s Reviews > On Grand Strategy > Status Update

from lincoln to salisbury to mackinder to crowe to wilson to marx, lenin, stalin, hitler, fdr & two mexican men in a car somewhere in colorado, and finally back to berlin. Gaddis’ work on grand strategy aptly analyzes conflict from the american civil war, bolshevik revolution first and second world wars and delves into the strategic minds behind them. honestly im in love with this book.

Gaddis’ introduction to the first world war through the minds of mackinder, crowe, and salisbury is incredibly interesting, with just 3 men he effectively paints an image of each & their nation. as eclectic as the speculative causes of the first world war go, american anxieties of eastern threats, german colonial desires, and England ever changing policies seeking to maintain balance across 3 continents; is apt.

from Elizabeth to washington to Adam’s to napoleon, Gaddis’ analysis of asymmetries acting as limiting factors in regard to strategy is intriguing to me; i personally would argue the opposite, in combat imbalances & asymmetries are the core to chance tactics. what is a counter attack to a retreat if not a demanding response to an imbalance?

connections from elizabeth to machiavelli to john quincy adams oh my! i very much can agree with washington being an “Augustus” like figure to american history, if only hatreds like those between the likes of john quincy & hamilton still existed in american politics today.

from octavius augustus to st. augustine, the concept of destruction of ideas (and more so destruction of governmental structure historically) to promote the growth of new of ideas is intriguing. from the ashes..

comparisons between tolstoy, machiavelli, lincoln and uncle ben, oh my!

very thought provoking writing style, i cant help but think of experiences with various styles of leadership as he describes the relationship between leadership, scale and common sense as a tenant of what makes a leader.