War and Warfare in the Twentieth Century - by Jim Storr (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

What can we learn from war, and warfare, in the twentieth century? What observations and deductions can we make, and what lessons can we draw? 'War and Warfare in the Twentieth Century' examines both a clearly delineated period in the past, and the century which offers us the most (and the most relevant) material to examine. Deliberately looking through the prism of strategy, operations and tactics, this book offers a surprisingly novel perspective on some apparently familiar ground. Jim Storr will make you think long and hard about what you thought you knew about war and warfare.

Review Quotes

Jim Storr is a specialist - an expert - in military fact. He has a reputation for prescience and empiricism. In his world no truth should be left buried and as a result his insights can be hard-hitting and valuable. Here we have a book that contains a smorgasbord - a rolling barrage - of information and selected observations. Many of the themes Jim identified in Battlegroup and Something Rotten sit below the surface, but this time it is largely the reader who is invited to extract lessons of value. So, if you are after simple answers set out on a plate this book is not for you. Bottom line? War and Warfare in the 20th Century not only requires you to think, but it invites deeper study and debate.

General Sir James Everard KCB CBE, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe 2017-2020

...should be read by all engaged in the current defence review, force generation or design. Jim Storr's searching analysis of the organisation, equipment and use of armed forces in the past, shows what should be prioritised for development in method, organisation and technology. It is an excellent antidote to self serving institutional group think.

General Sir Rupert Smith KCB DSO OBE QGM, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1998-2001

Penetrating analysis, full of insights and forcefully argued...unsparing in its criticisms, unequivocal in its conclusions.

Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszely KCB MC DL, Director, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom 2005-2008

Another provocative and stimulating work from the iconoclastic stable of Jim Storr. It merits imitation as practitioners of war strive to extract robust and useful lessons from our past. His book is an invaluable jolt to those starting at staff colleges...

Lieutenant General Robert Baxter CBE, Commandant Royal Military College of Science and Director General Development and Doctrine 2002-2006

From the passage into the 20th Century, to the trenches of World War I, the complex geopolitics of the Cold War, and transition into irregular warfare, combined with the technological innovations that transformed how wars are fought, the book provides a highly informative and thought-provoking narrative...

Major General Rob Weighill OBE, Deputy Chief of Staff Plans, Joint Forces Command Naples, 2012-2015

It exposes and challenges conventional thinking about the forms of war and warfare in the last Century...a useful source of where we ought to be focusing our efforts in terms of education, training and development of those core military skills of command, planning and preparing our members for the fight in the future. It's also a salutary reminder that collectively we need to do better.

Captain Jim Hutton OBE, Royal Australian Navy and former Colonel, Royal Marines