Introduction

Summary

War’s Logic provides a fresh perspective into twentieth-century American strategic thought. More to the point, it offers unique insights into how several of America’s prominent strategic theorists conceived of armed conflict. The title stands for a general way of thinking about war. It refers to the reasoning that underlies a theorist’s critical concepts, core principles, and basic assumptions regarding the nature and character of war. As Carl von Clausewitz observed, war’s logic is invariably political in nature. Similarly, readers of this book will note the American way of thinking about war was frequently political in nature. While War’s Logic covers ground similar to that of Russell Weigley’s classic, The American Way of War, it differs from his work in three important respects.