In 1940, as Hitler plotted to conquer Europe, only one nation posed a serious threat to the Third Reich's domination: France. The German command was wary of taking on the most powerful armed force on the continent. But three low-ranking generals-Eric von Manstein, Heinz Guderian, and Erwin Rommel-were about to change the face of modern warfare.

By grouping tanks into juggernauts to slam through enemy lines, the blitzkrieg was born. With this aggressive, single-minded plan, the Nazis bypassed the supposedly impenetrable Maginot Line, charged into the heart of France, and alerted the world that the deadly might of Germany could no longer be ignored.

Destroying conventional historical wisdom, acclaimed military historian Bevin Alexander reveals how the South most definitely could have defeated the North-and how close a Confederate victory came to happening. Alexander shows:
-How the Confederacy had its greatest chance to win the war just three months into the fighting-but blew it
- How the Confederacy's three most important leaders- President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson- clashed over how to fight the war
- How the Confederate army devised-but never fully exploited-a way to negate the Union's huge advantages in manpower and weaponry
- How Abraham Lincoln and other Northern leaders understood the Union's vulnerability better than the Confederacy's leaders did
"How the South Could Have Won the Civil War" provides a startling account of how a relatively small number of tactical and strategic mistakes cost the South the war and changed the course of history.

"With the planet no longer cleanly divided into 'us' and 'them, ' leaders are distracted by a thousand conflicting claims and ambitions. We inhabit a much more disorderly world. Disputes within and between nations are frequently violent, divisive, and dangerous..." --from The Future of Warfare

"An astute military historian's appraisal of what separates the sheep from the wolves in the great game of war."—Kirkus Reviews

If a key to military victory is to "get there first with the most," the true test of the great general is to decide where "there" is—the enemy's Achilles heel. Here is a narrative account of decisive engagements that succeeded by brilliant strategy more than by direct force. The reader accompanies those who fought, from Roman legionaries and Mongol horsemen to Napoleonic soldiery, American Civil War Rebels and Yankees, World War I Tommies, Lawrence of Arabia's bedouins, Chinese revolutionaries, British Desert Rats, Rommel's Afrika Korps, and Douglas MacArthur's Inchon invaders.

However varied their weapons, the soldiers of all these eras followed a commander who faced the same obstacles and demonstrated the strategic and tactical genius essential for victory. "All warfare is based on deception," wrote Sun Tzu in The Art of War in 400 BCE. Bevin Alexander shows how great generals have interpreted this advice, and why it still holds true today. Maps, illustrations.

Imagine if Robert E. Lee had withdrawn to higher ground at Gettysburg instead of sending Pickett uphill against the entrenched Union line. Or if Napoleon, at Waterloo, had avoided mistakes he d never made before. The advice that would have changed these crucial battles was written down centuries before Christ was born but unfortunately for Lee, Napoleon, and Hitler, Sun Tzu s The Art of War only became widely available in the West in the mid-twentieth century. As Bevin Alexander shows, Sun Tzu s maxims often boil down to common sense, in a particularly pure and clear form. When Alexander frames these modern battles against 2,400-year-old precepts, the degree of overlap is stunning. "

Even as we head into twenty-first-century warfare, thirteen time-tested rules for waging war remain relevant.

Both timely and timeless, How Wars Are Won illuminates the thirteen essential rules for success on the battlefield that have evolved from ancient times until the present day. Acclaimed military historian Bevin Alexander’s incisive and vivid analyses of famous battles throughout the ages show how the greatest commanders—from Alexander the Great to Douglas MacArthur—have applied these rules. For example:

• Feign retreat: Pretend defeat, fake a retreat, then ambush the enemy while being pursued. Used to devastating effect by the North Vietnamese against U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.
• Strike at enemy weakness: Avoid the enemy’s strength entirely by refusing to fight pitched battles, a method that has run alongside conventional war from the earliest days of human conflict. Brilliantly applied by Mao Zedong to defeat the Chinese Nationalists.
• Defend, then attack: Gain possession of a superior weapon or tactical system, induce the enemy to launch a fruitless attack, then go on the offensive. Employed repeatedly against the Goths by the Eastern Roman general Belisarius to reclaim vast stretches of the Roman Empire.

The lessons of history revealed in these pages can be used to shape the strategies needed to win the conflicts of today.