History has tended to measure war's winners and losers in terms of
its major engagements, battles in which the result was so clear-cut
that they could be considered "decisive." Marathon, Cannae, Tours,
Agincourt, Austerlitz, Sedan, Stalingrad-all resonate in the
literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But were
they? As Cathal J. Nolan demonstrates in this magisterial and
sweeping work, victory in major wars usually has been determined in
other ways. Even the most legendarily lopsided of battles did not
necessarily decide their outcomes. Nolan also challenges the hoary
concept of the military "genius," even of the Great Captains-from
Alexander to Frederick and Napoleon-mapping instead the decent into
total war. The Allure of Battle systematically recreates and
analyzes the major campaigns among the Great Powers, from the
Middle Ages through the 20th century, from the fall of Byzantium to
the defeat of the Axis powers, tracing the illusion of "short-war
thinking," the hope that victory might be swift and conflict brief.
Such as almost never been the case. Even one-sided battles have
mainly contributed to victory or defeat by accelerating erosion of
the other side's defenses, resources, and will. Massive conflicts,
the so-called "people's wars," beginning with Napoleon and
continuing until the end of World War II, have been more
fundamentally determined by prolonged stalemate and attrition, wars
in which the determining factor was not tactical but industrial.
Nolan's masterful book places battles squarely and mercilessly
within the context of the wider conflict in which they took place.
In the process it help corrects a distorted view of their role in
war, replacing popular images of "decisive battles" with somber
appreciation of the sacrifice and endurance necessary to victory.
Accessible, provocative, exhaustive, and illuminating, The Allure
of Battle will spark fresh debate about the history and conduct of
warfare.
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