Disruptive Strategies

Overview

What happens when a rising power disrupts a dominant state\u2019s supremacy? Historians examine a range of past military conflicts—as well as a hypothetical future clash between the United States and China—to discover how hegemons and their challengers have failed or succeeded in their ambitions to come out on top.

Reviews

"Disruptive Strategies captures the essence of military campaigns while remaining sensitive to the uniqueness of each and the complex causality of events. The reader will deepen his or her appreciation both for the interactive nature of war and the importance of identifying and exploiting shifts in the character of warfare. This book will help readers mature their own theory of war, gain a deeper appreciation for essential elements of success in war, and, perhaps most important, think clearly about how to deter war by anticipating evolutions in the means by which adversaries may intend to wage it. The editors and contributors are to be congratulated for producing compelling history relevant to contemporary issues of national security." —H. R. McMaster, author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World

"David Berkey has edited a wonderful study by a number of eminent strategic and military historians on the response by major powers to the threats posed by emergent powers. It represents a nuanced, intelligent discussion of what the past suggests about how American strategists need to think about the rise of the People's Republic of China with its military and economic power." —Williamson Murray, professor emeritus, Ohio State University, and Marshall Professor, Marin Corps University

"The routine way to describe the contributors to this splendid book would be as 'distinguished scholars,' but each is far more than that: an interesting thinker able to communicate provocative insights with unfashionable clarity. Engaging with topics that range from ancient wars in the Mediterranean through early modern strategic upheaval in northern Europe and on into a projected East Asian future, the authors make history immediate and its lessons sharply relevant. It is rare, nowadays, to encounter a volume so compact yet so rich in thought." —Ralph Peters, author of Cain at Gettysburg and Lines of Fire

Author Biography

David L. Berkey is a research fellow in classics and military history at the Hoover Institution, and an executive board member of its Working Group on the Role of Military History in Contemporary Conflict. He was previously a professor of history at California State University, Fresno.