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Liddell hart and the Napoleonic fallacy

1997; Routledge; Volume: 142; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03071849708446132

1744-0378

David Lord,

Military History and Strategy

Basil Liddell Hart was one of the most influential military historians and theorists of the century. Shaped by his experiences of the First World War, his writings have been criticised on different levels, both operationally and morally, not least for his support for appeasement of the Third Reich in the 1930s. But the emphasis on these later aspects of Liddell Hart's career, argues Commander Lord, have served to obscure his early theoretical work on the abstract nature war. By concentrating on Liddell Hart's writing on the operational and strategic nature of war produced in the decade from 1924 to 1934, Commander Lord assesses Liddell Hart's continuing relevance as a military theorist, concluding that his ability to identify those elements of the past, in theory and in practice, which were essential for the future, makes him still a crucial figure and his work of reverating importance despite his preoccupations and short‐ comings.