Commanding Military Power
Organizing for Victory and Defeat on the Battlefield

This book offers a new explanation of military power, highlighting the role of uncertainty in the creation of combat capabilities.

Ryan Grauer (Author)

9781107158214, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 July 2016

280 pages
23.7 x 16 x 2.3 cm, 0.56 kg

Commanding Military Power offers a new explanation of why some armed forces are stronger than others. Ryan Grauer advances a 'command structure theory' which combines insights from organization theory, international relations, and security studies literatures to provide a unique perspective on military power. Specifically, armed forces organized to facilitate swift and accurate perception of and response to battlefield developments will cope better with war's inherent uncertainty, use resources effectively, and, quite often, win. Case studies of battles from the Russo-Japanese War, Chinese Civil War and Korean War, based on new archival research, underscore the argument, showing that even smaller and materially weaker militaries can fight effectively against and defeat larger and better endowed adversaries when they are organizationally prepared to manage uncertainty. That organization often matters more than numbers and specific tools of war has crucial implications for both contemporary and future thinking about and efforts to improve martial strength.

1. Introduction
2. Commanding military power
3. Liaoyang
4. Huai-Hai campaign
5. The 5th phase offensive
6. The 3rd phase offensive
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Military tactics [JWKT], Politics & government [JP]