Military Theory Past and Present

Aside from Clausewitz and Sun Tzu, who never seem to go out of style (with good reason), a lot of current strategic discourse is grounded in military theories that have been developed over the last twenty years. While innovation is good, the downside is that sometimes this involves a substantial amount of reinventing the wheel.

What military theorists from the last 200 years (besides Clausewitz) can offer much guidance for defense policymakers and theorists examining current security challenges? Is there any useful synthesis can be created from both older and newer concepts?

Comments

[Younghusband]

Sorry for the late reply. This post has been sitting in the Starred section of Google Reader for weeks.

Anywho, the strategist began a similar conversation a few months ago. See the links below for some info related to your questions:

http://kotare.typepad.com/thestrategist/2008/01/new-post.html
http://cominganarchy.com/2008/01/23/on-military-thought/

[Joseph Fouche]

Two obscure strategic thinkers:

A. A. Svechin
J. C. Wylie

They have a much richer understanding of Clausewitz's dictum that war is the continuation of politics than is usually evidenced by contemporary thinkers in and out of uniform. Wylie's recognition that the achievement of "some selected degree of control" is the central aim of war is worth the price of admission all by itself.

[A.E.]

Your mention of Wylie has always interested me but I've never been able to find a copy of his work. Any tips?

[YT]

A.E.: There's one on eBay. But it costs a whoopin' USD$102.

[A.E.]

As out of print books go, that's pretty cheap. I usually use Alibris for this sort of thing, but that's the lowest Wylie price I've seen!

I wonder if the Naval Institute Press sells any back copies.

[Joseph Fouche]

Sometimes it's luck of the draw. I managed to get Wylie off eBay for about $10.

I suppose I could OCR it for those who were dying to read it.

[A.E.]

Nevermind I found a cheap version of it.