| |
History of the Art of War Vol .II, trans,
Walter Renfroe, Jr. Univ. of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1980, 505 pgs, index,
notes, illustrations, paperback
|
|
| |
Reviewer Comment:
|Dr. Delbruck conducted research for this and his other volumes in the late
19th century. Since then, practically a revolution in the volume of research
has occurred; the primary sources, the use of archeology, the application of
new methods of interpretation based on economics, psychology, sociology, and
statistics have all expanded. Some modern critics fault Delbruck for his
selection of battles and some details. But his entire purpose is not a history
of battles, but of the political origin of warfare and the organization of the
available resources as means for achieving political- social ends. His subject
is not even warfare itself, but rather cultural history and the interrelation
of culture and warfare, how each developes the other. At the beginning Roman
culture created a militarily superior fighting machine and by the end the
culture supporting Roman military institutions and especially Roman individual
warior ethic had declined while the German war culture was still retained.
The subject titles of the chapters, themselves, indicate the author's's
purpose.
The translation of his terms - 'exhaustion' to 'attrition' and of 'destruction'
to 'annihilation' may be somewhat confusing. But the existence of these two
fundamentally different strategies, being confused or ignored, in both analysis
of warfare and especially in their confusion by the developers of theories that
then affect actual military planning is dangerous. In this volume Dr. Delbruck
includes examples of each strategic method from their usage by specific
commanders. The frame is not stated but from comparing his choise of examples
it appears to be from about 100 - 50 BC to around 600-650 AD.
|
|
| |
Preface to Third Edition:
Dr. Delbruck comments on one of the most important topics in his 4 volumes.:
"Now that an Austrian critic has stated that the two most basic points
established in the work are the reduction of the huge army strengths and the
clarification of the differences between the strategies of
annihilaton and attrition, one might conclude from that statement that
the first and fourth volumes are the two most important ones. My own feeling is
that, rather, the second one is the most important. This volume affects most
deeply of all four our inherited concepts of world history, through its
elimination of the legendary ideas on the fall of the ancient world and on the
migrations of the peoples (Volkanderung) as well as its positive
contributions, especially those concerning the substantiation of the alliance
between Constantine and the Christian Church as postulate of the changing
military system and institutions and the clarification of the system of feudal
institutions and of knighthood.
|
|
| |
Book I: The Conflict Between the Romans and the Germans
|
|
| |
I. The Early Germanic Nation
|
|
| |
II. Germanic Warriorhood
|
|
| |
III. The Subjugation of Germany by the Romans
|
|
| |
IV. The Battle of the Teutourger Forest
|
|
| |
V. Germanicus and Arminius
|
|
| |
VI. Climax and End of the War: Special Study on the Location of Aliso
|
|
| |
VII. Romans and Germans in Stalemate
|
|
| |
VIII. Internal Organization and Life in the Imperial Roman Army
|
|
| |
IX. Theory:
In this chapter Delbruck dismisses most of the standard Greek and Roman
theoreticians on warfare such as Polybius and Vegetius.
|
|
| |
X. Decline and Dissolution of the Roman Military System
|
|
| |
Book II. The Volkerwanderung
|
|
| |
I. The Roman Empire with German Soldiers
|
|
| |
II. The Battle of Strasbourg
|
|
| |
III. The Battle of Adrianople
|
|
| |
IV. Army Strengths
|
|
| |
V. The Peoples' Armies in the Migrations
|
|
| |
VI. The Settling of the Germans Among the Romans
|
|
| |
Book III: Emperor Justinian and the Goths
|
|
| |
I. Justinian's Military Organization
|
|
| |
II. The Battle of Taginae
|
|
| |
III. The Battle of Mount Vesuvius
|
|
| |
IV. The Battle on the Casilinus
|
|
| |
V. Strategy:
Dr. Delbruck devotes the analysis of the actual practices of famous commanders
- they are either the method of attrition or of annihilation.
|
|
| |
Book IV: The Transition to the Middle Ages
|
|
| |
I. The Military Organization in the Romantic-German Nations
|
|
| |
II. Changes in Tactics
|
|
| |
III. The Decline of the Original Germanic-Romantic Military System
|
|
| |
IV. The Origin of the Feudal System
|
|
| |
Appendix I Latin Text: Battle of Adrianople
|
|
| |
Appendix 2 Latin Text: Beatus Avitus
|
|
| |
Appendix 3. Latin Text: Lex Visigothorum
|
|
| |
Appendix 4. Latin Text: Laws of Wamba and Erwig
|
|
| |
References
|
|
| |
Susan Reynolds, Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted,
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1994
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
