 |
| Source: Amazon.com |
From the book's cover:
In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of important conflicts to develop a powerful argument about military intelligence.
In his characteristically wry and perceptive prose, Keegan offers us nothing short of a new history of war through the prism of intelligence. He brings to life the split-second decisions that went into waging war before the benefit of aerial surveillance and electronic communications. The English admiral Horatio Nelson was hot on the heels of Napoleon’s fleet in the Mediterranean and never knew it, while Stonewall Jackson was able to compensate for the Confederacy’s disadvantage in firearms and manpower with detailed maps of the Appalachians. In the past century, espionage and decryption have changed the face of battle: the Japanese surprise attack at the Battle of the Midway was thwarted by an early warning. Timely information, however, is only the beginning of the surprising and disturbing aspects of decisions that are made in war, where brute force is often more critical.
The Review:
This will be a very abbreviated review, as I am only using my recollections on the book to work with. Got busy and didn't make timely notes.
 |
| The author, John Keegan / Source: pietistschoolman.files.wordpress.com |
Intelligence in War was informative in some instances, but in the overall, it was pretty dull. The stuff on the cruiser battles of World War I was especially interesting to me. And the material on the German V1 and V2 program was good too, though some of it I already knew. But the part of the title that mentions Al-Qaeda is mis-leading, as the book covers little of military intelligence in modern times.
 |
| A bit of humor at the expense of military intelligence. / Source: MilitaryHumor.net |
The book does make note of the growing reliance on so-called "real-time" intel (like being able to see the bad guys right at that moment, via a drone's camera as it flies overhead) and the need for "humint" (military slang for Human Intelligence, or the practice of using people as intelligence gathering assets, rather than relying on just wire-tapping and spy satellites and listening devices and other nifty gadgets - basically we're talking real live spies here), of course. But in this case, it is more of a historical perspective than an analysis of military intelligence.
Overall, I found Intelligence in War worth my time, but certainly not a page-turner. Recommended for those who are interested in a historical persepctive on the field of intelligence, and don't mind it being a sometimes dull read.
Learn more about Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda on Amazon.com
The parting comment:
 |
| Source: LOLSnaps.com |
Proof positive that intelligence is meaningless unless you can apply it. Heck, that fish just solved the national debt and got Sammy Hagar and Van Halen to reconcile at the same time!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments welcome, but moderated. Thanks