Our list of some of the best Military Strategy books & series in recent years. Get inspired by one or more of the following books.
1. Strategy: A History (2015)
Selected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2013In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world’s leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman’s narrative is extraordinary, moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in primate groups, to the opposing strategies of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad, the strategic advice of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, the great military innovations of Baron Henri de Jomini and Carl von…
2. The 33 Strategies of War (Joost Elffers Books) (2007)
Robert Greene’s groundbreaking guides, The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and Mastery, espouse profound, timeless lessons from the events of history to help readers vanquish an enemy, ensnare an unsuspecting victim, or become the greatest in your field. In The 33 Strategies of War, Greene has crafted an important addition to this ruthless and unique series. Spanning world civilizations, synthesizing dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts and thousands of years of violent conflict, The 33 Strategies of…
3. Military Strategy: A General Theory of Power Control (Classics of Sea Power) (2014)
Because of his long experience with the formulation of military strategy in the United States, Admiral Wylie’s analyses and opinions are well worth the attention of military professionals, government leaders, newspaper editors, commentators and scholars. Because he has a freewheeling mind and is unhampered by orthodox military terms and the prevailing dogmas, his book will be of keen interest to laymen concerned about our nation’s welfare and future. #789,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1933 in Naval Military History #1850 in Military Strategy History (Books) #26527 in Engineering (Books) Would you…
4. Military Strategy in the 21st Century: People, Connectivity, and Competition (Rapid Communications in Conflict & Security) (2018)
*This book is in the Rapid Communications in Conflict and Security (RCCS) Series (General Editor: Geoffrey R.H. Burn).The character of not only war but also strategic competition appears to be changing. Failing to adapt will result in further losses of blood and treasure as well as prestige and influence. Power withers when it proves frail. This book by Charles Cleveland, Benjamin Jensen, Susan Bryant, and Arnel David calls for the rethinking of how the U.S. national security community approaches population-centric warfare and strategic competition in the 21st century. Strategic advantage…
5. Modern Military Strategy (2016)
This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to post-Cold War military theory for students of strategic studies. This second edition has been fully revised and updated, including a new chapter on peacekeeping, and examines contemporary strategic thought on the conduct of war in the sea, land, air, nuclear, space and cyber domains, as well as irregular warfare. Each chapter identifies contemporary strategic thinkers in a particular area, examines strategic thought through the lens of identifiable themes, and discusses the ideas of classical strategists to provide…
6. Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (2017)
Distilling the ideas of the greatest military theoreticians of history, including Sun Tzu, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Carl von Clausewitz, Antulio J. Echevarria II presents a fascinating account of the “art of the general.” Drawing on historical examples, from Hannibal’s war against Rome to Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz, from the Allies’ campaign to overwhelm Hitler’s fortress to the terror attacks of September 11, Echevarria vividly describes the major types of military strategy and their advantages and disadvantages.Clear and engaging, this…
7. Strategy: Second Revised Edition (Meridian) (1991)
This is the classic book on war as we know it. During his long life, Basil H. Liddell Hart was considered one of the world’s foremost military thinkers. In his writing, he stressed movement, flexibility, and surprise. He saw that in most military campaigns, it was vital to take an indirect approach. Rather than attacking the enemy head-on, one must dislocate their psychological and physical balance. With key examples from World War I and World War II (think trench warfare vs Blitzkreig), Liddell Hart defines the practical principles of waging war—“Adjust your end to your means,” “Take a line of operation…
8. The 48 Laws of Power (2000)
In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum. Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many…
9. Mission Command: The Who, What, Where, When and Why An Anthology (2017)
In the chaos and uncertainty of modern war, our troops must be empowered to make decisions, take the initiative, and lead boldly. This is Mission Command: a command culture, leadership style, and operating concept that has been embraced by armed forces the world over. While the U.S. Military and many of our allies have formally adopted Mission Command, much work remains to truly understand and implement this style of leadership. In this anthology, 12 authors from 3 nations (United States, United Kingdom, and Norway) offer diverse perspectives on the topic of Mission Command as it relates to…
10. Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age (1986)
The essays in this volume analyze war, its strategic characterisitics and its political and social functions, over the past five centuries. The diversity of its themes and the broad perspectives applied to them make the book a work of general history as much as a history of the theory and practice of war from the Renaissance to the present. Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age takes the first part of its title from an earlier collection of essays, published by Princeton University Press in 1943, which became a classic of historical scholarship. Three…
Best Military Strategy Books Worth Your Attention
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Genesis and download some military strategy books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Military Strategy: A Global History
Author(s): Jeremy Black
Publisher: Yale University Press, Year: 2020, Size: 2 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2519797
Sparta's Second Attic War: The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta, 446-418 B.C. (Yale Library of Military History)
Author(s): Paul A. Rahe
Publisher: Yale University Press, Year: 2020, Size: 8 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2579314
Net Assessment and Military Strategy: Retrospective and Prospective Essays
Author(s): Thomas G. Mahnken
Publisher: Cambria Press, Year: 2020, Size: 2 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2813991
Active Defense: China’s Military Strategy since 1949
Author(s): M. Taylor Fravel
Publisher: Princeton University Press, Year: 2019, Size: 12 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2367342
Sparta's first Attic war: the grand strategy of classical Sparta, 478-446 B.C
Author(s): Rahe, Paul Anthony
Publisher: Yale University Press, Year: 2019, Size: 7 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2752463
Military Strategy, Joint Operations, and Airpower: An Introduction
Author(s): Ryan Burke; Michael Fowler; Kevin McCaskey
Publisher: Georgetown University Press, Year: 2018, Size: 4 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2314355
Military Strategy of Small States: Responding to External Shocks of the 21st Century
Author(s): Håkan Edström, Dennis Gyllensporre, Jacob Westberg
Publisher: Routledge, Year: 2018, Size: 3 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2357003
Military strategy: a very short introduction
Author(s): Antulio J. Echevarria II
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Year: 2017;2016, Size: 1 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2572087
The Future of US Warfare
Author(s): Scott N. Romaniuk, Francis Grice (eds.)
Publisher: Routledge, Year: 2017, Size: 2 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2150231
Limited War in South Asia: From Decolonization to Recent Times
Author(s): Scott Gates, Kaushik Roy
Publisher: Routledge, Year: 2017, Size: 3 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2160804
Please note that this booklist is not absolute. Some books are really record-breakers according to Washington Post, others are composed by unknown authors. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.