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The sources of military doctrine : France, Britain, and Germany between the world wars / Barry R. Posen

Author
Posen, Barry
Published
Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1984.
Physical Description
1 online resource (283 pages) : maps
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Contents
The importance of military doctrine -- Explaining military doctrine -- The battles of 1940 -- France -- Britain -- Germany -- Conclusions.
Summary
Barry R. Posen explores how military doctrine takes shape and the role it plays in grand strategy - that collection of military, economic, and political means and ends with which a state attempts to achieve security. Posen isolates three crucial elements of a given strategic doctrine: its offensive, defensive, or deterrent characteristics, its integration of military resources with political aims, and the degree of military or operational innovation it contains. He then examines these components of doctrine from the perspectives of organization theory and balance of power theory, taking into account the influence of technology and geography. Looking at interwar France, Britain, and Germany, Posen challenges each theory to explain the German Blitzkrieg, the British air defense system, and the French Army's defensive doctrine often associated with the Maginot Line. This rigorous comparative study, in which the balance of power theory emerges as the more useful, not only allows us to discover important implications for the study of national strategy today, but also serves to sharpen our understanding of the origins of World War II.
Subject(s)
Genre(s)
ISBN
9780801468582 (electronic bk.)
0801468582 (electronic bk.)
0801416337
9780801416330
0801494273
9780801494277
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-276) and index.
Awards
American Political Science Association Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award, 1985.
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