War Made New: An Interview with Max Boot

12 Historically Speaking January/February 2007 War Made New: An Interview with Max Boot Conducted by Donald. A. Yerxa MAX BOOT IS SENIOR FELLOW FOR NATIONAL SECURITY studies at the Councilon Foreign Refations. He writes reguMyforthe Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, andmany other publications. Beforejoining the Councilin 2002, he workedforthe Wall StreetJournal and the Christian Science Monitor as a writer and editor. In 2004 he was namedone of "the 500 most influentialpeople in the UnitedStates in thefieldofforeignpolicy " by the WorldAffairs Councils of America. He is author of the awardwinningThe Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power (BasicBooks, 2002). His latest book War Made New: Technology, Warfare , and the Course of History, 1 500 to Today (Gotham Books, 2006) examines how technological revolutions have transformed warfare and theglobal balance ofpower. In the midstof a busy book tourBootspoke to Historically Speaking editor DonaldA. Yerxa on December 7, 2006. Donald Yerxa: What is your basic argument in War Made New? crochips, most inventions are not invented for military purposes at all. That's often the last thing on between the Revolutions in Military Affairs will become shorter. Max Boot: What I do in War Made New is to look at what military thinkers call Revolutions in Military Affairs—major upheavals that occur when you have new technology combining with new doctrine, training, and organization to transform the face of battle as well as the international system. I argue that there have been four such major transformations— although you can certainly dispute the categorization —over the course of the last 500 years: the Gunpowder Revolution beginning around 1 500; the First Industrial Revolution, whose impact on warfare began to be felt about 1 850 or so; the Second Industrial Revolution centered on the technologies of the internal combustion engine, the airplane, and radio, whose full impact was felt in World War II; and the Information Revolution driven by advances in microchip technology since the 1960s. I argue that in order to understand the world as it came to be, you have to understand these Revolutions in Military Affairs. Obviously, there have been many historians who have written about each of these individual revolutions and the upheavals that resulted from them. But what I try to do is to put diis history together in a sweeping and comprehensive way. I also bring the story up to the present day and to the near future in looking at the impact of the Information Revolution as it is playing out now and other potential revolutions on the horizon that are likely to make their effects felt in years to come. Yerxa: Do these Revolutions in Military Affairs have a common genesis? Boot: Generally, most of these revolutions are sparked by advances in a cluster of technologies diat occur over a fairly concentrated period of time, although it is getting more concentrated now tiian it was hundreds of years ago. Very often these inventions will come out of left field. Whether it is gunpowder , three-masted sailing ships, steam engines, telegraphs, airplanes, radio, automobiles, miGeorge Catlin, the celebrated traveler and artist, firing his Colt's repeating rifle before a tribe of Carib Indians in South America, ca. 1850. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. the inventor's mind. But, nevertheless, they are sooner or later harnessed—often sooner—for military purposes and begin to transform not only society but also what happens on the battlefield. The key test of success or failure in these Revolutions in Military Affairs is who can best harness these inventions and change organizational structures, military doctrine, leadership, etc., in order to take advantage of what diese new technologies allow. Yerxa: Clearly, then, Revolutions in Military Affairs involve much more than technology by itself . Boot: Absolutely. I stress that in the book. Although Revolutions in Military Affairs are centered on technology, this is not just a story about machines per se. It's really a story of how people adapted or failed to adapt to technology. Yerxa: And given the pace of technological innovation , we should expect that the intervals Boot: That has been the experience over the last 500 years. It...