Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Spiller’s ‘Six Propositions’: Some mighty tasty observations here

On the metro into DC I read Roger Spiller’s essay on how wars end, in the Col. Matthew Moten volume about how wars end that I mentioned a few weeks ago. Spiller is a mighty quotable writer, so here are some of the things I underlined: –"military doctrine is above all a modern army’s way ...

ReneS/Flickr
ReneS/Flickr
ReneS/Flickr

On the metro into DC I read Roger Spiller's essay on how wars end, in the Col. Matthew Moten volume about how wars end that I mentioned a few weeks ago. Spiller is a mighty quotable writer, so here are some of the things I underlined:

On the metro into DC I read Roger Spiller’s essay on how wars end, in the Col. Matthew Moten volume about how wars end that I mentioned a few weeks ago. Spiller is a mighty quotable writer, so here are some of the things I underlined:

–"military doctrine is above all a modern army’s way of thinking out loud about what it must do next." (p. 20)

–"wars are defined not by their extremes but their limitations" (p. 25)

–"The Civil War was to all intents and purposes a West Pointer’s war: Academy graduates commanded on both sides in fifty-five of the sixty largest battles, and on one side in the rest." (p. 28)   

–"From Tet onward the United States was on the strategic defensive." (p. 39)

–"the course by which a war ends, if embarked on without care, can be as dangerous to a nation’s vital interests as the war itself, regardless of the war’s military results." (p. 41)

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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