“An idea is a very powerful thing, and political ideas or religious ideas or economic ideas have always affected and often controlled the courses of man’s destinies. That we understand and accept.” — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“The direct application to today’s problem might well be in determination of the most efficient method of combining cumulative maritime and air strategies with… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“The ultimate determinant in war is the man on the scene with the gun. This man is the final power in war. He is… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“The ultimate objective of all military operations is the destruction of the enemy’s armed forces and his will to fight.”* This sums up the… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“we cannot predict with certainty the pattern of the war for which we prepare ourselves.” — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“As a hypothetical illustration, let us assume a conflict involving us in Afghanistan.” — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“AT THIS STAGE of the argument we find ourselves with four ideas relating to war and war strategy—that there will be war, that the… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“With respect to strategy as a subject of study, its intellectual framework is not clearly outlined, and its vocabulary is almost nonexistent. These two… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“we cannot predict with certainty the pattern of the war for which we prepare ourselves. We cannot, with reasonable certainty, forecast the time, the… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“the definition of strategy that I prefer: A plan of action designed in order to achieve some end; a purpose together with a system… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
“The classical soldier’s beliefs and behavior patterns are all summarized in the central theme of Clausewitz, who tells us that his study of war leads to these convictions: 1. The destruction of the enemy’s military force is the leading principle of war, and for all positive action the main way to the object. 2. This destruction of the enemy’s force… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share
“If we examine the four major limited theories of strategy—the continental, the maritime, the air and the Mao theories—and add to them the broader Liddell Hart theory of indirect approach, we find that they will all fit within the postulated general theory to the extent that the assumptions of the limited theories mesh with the realities of whatever may be… — J.C. Wylie Copy Share
“a general theory of strategy must, I believe, be a theory of power in all its forms, not just a theory of military power.” — J.C. Wylie Copy Share Image
