"War is the most important thing in the world," writes Martin van Creveld, military historian and author of the monumental work,
The Rise and Decline of the State
. The survival of every country, government, and individual is ultimately dependent on war - or the ability to wage it in self-defense. That is why, though it may come but once in a hundred years, every country must be prepared every day.
In spite of the centrality of war to human history and culture, there has long been no modern attempt to provide a replacement for the classics on war and strategy: Sun Tzu's
The Art of War
, dating from the 5th or 6th century BC, and Carl von Clausewitz's
On War
, written in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
What is needed is a modern, comprehensive, easy to read and understand theory of war for the 21st century that could serve as a replacement for these classic texts. The purpose of the present book is to provide such a theory.