Review: There’s no template for modern warfare, but Mick Ryan combines both his professional experience and his extensive historical knowledge to present us with a vision of human unity over technology and argues the case for rapid agility and adaptation in wartime.
Digitalised defence systems and new technology are important, but they do not eliminate the age old realities of warfare.
The Russian army has had its fair share of military disasters with its most recent in Ukraine being a clear product of a system that refuses to accept the truth and only deals in exercising unlimited power.
Having witnessed first-hand the mechanised onslaught of the Great War, Captain Basil Liddell Hart sought a philosophy of warfare based in the prudent use of technology, psychology and deception – and the avoidance of the ‘total war’ catastrophes of preceding decades.
Even with all its data and technology, contemporary conflict fits uneasily with our definitions of modernity.
In the First World War, many soldiers did not fight in a spirit of patriotism, but the war did prove a crucible for nationhood and nationalism.
The Lawrence legend continues to win new devotees while his pragmatic contribution to warfare is neglected.
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