On War and Leadership: The Words of Combat Commanders from Frederick the Great to Norman Schwarzkopf (review)

Books of quotations are the literary equivalent of the Christmas fruitcake. Do not pass along Owen Connelly's new collection, however, until you have thoroughly enjoyed it. This collection of excerpts, mostly paragraph-length or longer, presents "the thoughts on leadership of combat commanders" (p. 1). All of these men belong to what Connelly calls "the 'muddy boots' school of leadership" (p. 1). They were all men who understood, in their own ways, what Archibald Wavell wrote in 1941: "The man is the first weapon of battle" (p. 97).

After mining Frederick the Great's Principes and Napoleon's Correspondance, "the core of military doctrine for the past 200 years," Connelly explores the thoughts of William T. Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, and John Singleton Mosby (p. 19). He then moves on to T. E. Lawrence and Archibald Wavell. The former fascinates because of his mastery of guerrilla warfare and his observations on his Arab troops. Connelly includes the latter because of his interwar reputation as a theorist and historian. This made Wavell a mentor of sorts to Erwin Rommel, who carried a translation of his Generals and Generalship in North Africa.

World War II commanders whose thought Connelly explores include Rommel, George Patton, Charles de Gaulle, Erich von Manstein, Bernard Montgomery, William Slim, and "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell. Some may think these last two curious choices. They are certainly not as well known as the other men in this collection. The fact that they served in a secondary theater, however, does not diminish their importance or their qualities as commanders. Lord Louis Mountbatten called Slim "the finest general the Second World War produced" (p. 158). Stilwell, "a true democrat," possessed attitudes "more like those of Andrew Jackson and Davy Crockett than his contemporaries" (p. 171). These men are followed by Matthew Ridgway, Moshe Dayan, Vo Nguyen Giap, Harold Moore, Nicholas Vaux (Commander of Royal Marine 42 Commando in the Falklands), and Norman Schwarzkopf.

Connelly prefaces the core of his work with an eight-page introduction, a whirlwind history of the last two hundred years of war. More than a few readers may find some comments in this section curious. Civil War historians may take issue with the statement that the Civil War was fought "mostly with smoothbore muskets" while World War II armor specialists might suggest that the T-34/85 or the Panther were better tanks than the Tiger (p. 3). The First Cavalry Division did not operate as an airmobile division during the first Gulf War.

Despite these minor flaws, this is an excellent book. Its chronological format, and the fact that, after Frederick and Napoleon, each commander has his own chapter with a short biography and concluding comments, give this book a unity that most collections of this sort do not have. This is a book that is a pleasure to read, not simply dip into. It is an excellent choice for anyone interested in command and leadership of troops. It also would be a useful addition to any military history course covering the past two centuries.