Contents: Historical survey of recent history of warfare with a consideration of recent developments and its implications for the use of force
Part 1 - Interstate Industrial Warfare: Foundation - Napoleon to Clausewitz, Development - iron, steel and mass, Culmination - the world wars
Part 2 - Cold War Confrontation: Antithesis - from guerrillas to anarchist to Mao, Confrontation and Conflict - a new purpose to the use of force, Capabilities - the search for a new way
Part 3 - War Amongst the People: Trends - our modern operations, Direction - setting the purpose for the use of force, Bosnia - using force amongst the people.
Conclusion; what is to be done. "...for force to be effective the desired outcome of its use must be understood in such detail that the context of its use is defined as well as the point of its application." p398 and "to be effective it must be applied as part of a greater scheme focussing all measures on the one goal"
Relevance: Influential on my thinking, not just about the inevitability of conflict but specifically about the test of utility applied to the exercise of political and military force.