: The defense debate tends to treat Afghanistan as either a revolution or a fluke: either the "Afghan Model" of special operations forces (SOF) plus precision munitions plus an indigenous ally is a widely applicable template for American defense planning, or it is a nonreplicable product of local idiosyncrasies. In fact, it is neither. The Afghan campaign of last fall and winter was actually much closer to a typical 20th century mid-intensity conflict, albeit one with unusually heavy fire support for one side. And this view has very different implications than either proponents or skeptics of the Afghan Model now claim. Afghan Model skeptics often point to Afghanistan's unusual culture of defection or the Taliban's poor skill or motivation as grounds for doubting the war's relevance to the future. Afghanistan's culture is certainly unusual, and there were many defections. The great bulk, however, occurred after the military tide had turned not before-hand. They were effects, not causes. The Afghan Taliban were surely unskilled and ill-motivated. The non-Afghan al Qaeda, however, have proven resolute and capable fighters. Their host's collapse was not attributable to any al Qaeda shortage of commitment or training. Afghan Model proponents, by contrast, credit precision weapons with annihilating enemies at a distance before they could close with our commandos or indigenous allies. Hence the model's broad utility: with SOF-directed bombs doing the real killing, even ragtag local militias will suffice as allies. All they need do is screen U.S. commandos from the occasional hostile survivor and occupy the abandoned ground thereafter. Yet the actual fighting in Afghanistan involved substantial close combat. Al Qaeda counterattackers closed, unseen, to pointblank range of friendly forces in battles at Highway 4 and Sayed Slim Kalay.

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Afghanistan and the future of warfare implications for Army and defense policy

Beginning with the Scientific Revolution and concluding with today's terrorist networks, Antoine J. Bousquet advances a novel history of scientific methodology in the context of the battlefield. For centuries, scientific conceptual frameworks have been applied to theories of war, particularly with the invention of such influential technologies as the clock, the engine, and the computer. Conversely, many scientific developments have been stimulated or conditioned by the experience of war, especially in the wake of the unprecedented technological and industrial effort of World War II.

Marked by an increasingly tight symbiosis between technology, science, and conflict, the constitution and perpetuation of this scientific way of warfare are best understood as an attempt by the state to turn violent aggression into a rational instrument of policy. In his study, Bousquet explores the relative benefits (such as a unique chain of command to safeguard the use of nuclear weapons) and decentralizing (such as the flexible networks that connect insurgents) military affairs. He then follows with specific scientific approaches to war: mechanistic, thermodynamic, cybernetic, and "chaoplexic," a network-centric theory allied with the non-linear sciences.

The Scientific Way of Warfare: Order and Chaos on the Battlefields of Modernity

Introduction: A Historical Approach to the State and Global Order The Emergence of the Territorial State The Ancient Roman State: Imperial Rule The Feudal State: Indirect Fule The Medieval State: Territorial Sovereignty Instituted The Modern Territorial State The Absolutist State: Sovereignty Unbound. The Liberal Constitutional State: Sovereignty Popularized The Antiliberal State: Sovereignty Particularized The Managerial State: Sovereignty Rationalized Globalizing the Territorial State The Colonial State: Sovereignty Expanded The Nation-State: Sovereignty Reimagined The Postcolonial State: Instituting Sovereignty Challenges to the State The Present State of States: Sovereignity Challenged Conclusion: A New Global Order?

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The Nation-State and Global Order: A Historical Introduction to Contemporary Politics

: Military historian Williamson Murray has prepared this selected bibliography as a guide to the vast body of military histories and as a reading program that could extend our understanding and comprehension of that terrible, yet intriguing, human phenomenon that is war. JAWP) is making it available to those individuals in DoD and the Services who feel that history can shed light on the problems they confront today. The bibliography is derived from the substantial literature on European and American military history The works were chosen for a variety of reasons: quality of scholarship, point of view subject matter, and readability. They are categorized by period and subject matter, and given a rating by the author. The first chapter contains an annotated list of twenty-five books that Dr. Murray considers essential to the library of a warfighter, scholar, or student of military history.

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Military History: A Selected Bibliography

: The term revolution in military affairs (RMA) is a buzzword inside the Beltway and among academics interested in defense affairs. As Dennis Schowalter noted at a recent conference, RMA has replaced TQM total quality management as the acronym of choice among members of the Armed Forces. One suspects that much of this enthusiasm, which rests upon only the slightest knowledge of the historical record, may distort as much as it helps in thinking about military change and innovation. Yet one must also admit that military events of late suggest major changes in technology and weapons with substantial implications for conducting war in the next century. This article suggests how one might think about RMAs of the past and the implications of the historical record for the future. The views reflect the influence, comments, and thoughts of colleagues in the historical profession. First, historians have done relatively little work on RMAs. Michael Roberts introduced the idea of a single military revolution in his inaugural lecture at Queens University Belfast in 1955. Thereafter until 1991, interest in the military revolution was focused on the 16th and 17th centuries; early modern historians argued among themselves about whether there was such a revolution and, if so, when it occurred and what form it took. That debate continues. Since the mid-l8th century, however, military historians have concentrated on other issues such as innovation, effectiveness, adaptation, organizational behavior, or-the bread and butter of the profession-battle histories. Modern historians quite simply have not been very interested in military revolutions.

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Thinking About Revolutions in Military Affairs

(1994) The Roots of Blitzkrieg: Hans von Seeckt and German Military Reform History: Reviews of New Books: Vol 22, No 4, pp 176-176

The Roots of Blitzkrieg: Hans von Seeckt and German Military Reform

(1996). The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe. History: Reviews of New Books: Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 79-80.

The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe

(1995). Napoleon's Last Victory and the Emergence of Modern War. History: Reviews of New Books: Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 128-129.

Napoleon's Last Victory and the Emergence of Modern War

Battle: A History of Combat and Culture: Lynn, John A.: Boulder, CO: Westview, 431 pp., Publication Date: December 2004

The King's Army: Warfare, Soldiers, and Society during the Wars of Religion in France, 1562–1576: Wood, James B.: New York: Cambridge University Press, 346 pp., Publication Date: October 1996

Gary P. Cox

Papers

The Roots of Blitzkrieg: Hans von Seeckt and German Military Reform

The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe

Napoleon's Last Victory and the Emergence of Modern War

Battle: A History of Combat and Culture: Lynn, John A.: Boulder, CO: Westview, 431 pp., Publication Date: December 2004

The King's Army: Warfare, Soldiers, and Society during the Wars of Religion in France, 1562–1576: Wood, James B.: New York: Cambridge University Press, 346 pp., Publication Date: October 1996