The books in the “Future of War” genre that were the biggest influence on me were the “Third World War - August 1985” series by General Sir John Hackett.
Of note (and if memory serves) many of the “future systems” used in Hackett’s fictional war between NATO and the USSR are now being employed in Ukraine.
My copies were destroyed in a house fire 30 years ago, but you’ve inspired me to buy replacements and read them again.
Thank you for your work and dedication. Lots to think about here!
Respectfully, I would ask if there is a typo in the list of lines of inquiry. Should #3 be learning from the present? Current text below.
My continued exploration of the future of war is necessarily broad. To that end, I will utilise a framework that contains four key lines of inquiry. These are:
1. The Phenomenon of War and Learning from the Past.
Mick, I really like your lines of inquiry framework as it brings together the four lines of thinking into a comprehensive study of modern warfare.
While I read John Hackett’s ‘The Third World War: The Untold Story’ when it was first published in the early 1980s, it was Tom Clancy’s ‘Red Storm Rising’ that gave me a great appreciation of the strategic and operational levels of war. Red Storm Rising was compulsory pre-reading before attending the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College in 1990-91. It was a great primer for Operation DESERT STORM.
This week I will start on your ‘White Sun War’ - can’t wait to get into it!
Yeah, so, I've been massively into this intellectual space for a while now - including incorporating military futurism into fiction. Structured the meta-plot of Bringing Ragnarok specifically to incorporate the bones of a unified systems theory of war by splitting characters across three centuries.
Consider my interest supremely piqued! Hazard of working in an almost monastic bubble for four years is that I'm only now encountering work that has been going on in parallel with my own private studies.
I really get the sense that systems thinking has penetrated much deeper in Australian scholarship than American.
The books in the “Future of War” genre that were the biggest influence on me were the “Third World War - August 1985” series by General Sir John Hackett.
Of note (and if memory serves) many of the “future systems” used in Hackett’s fictional war between NATO and the USSR are now being employed in Ukraine.
My copies were destroyed in a house fire 30 years ago, but you’ve inspired me to buy replacements and read them again.
Thank you for your work and dedication. Lots to think about here!
Respectfully, I would ask if there is a typo in the list of lines of inquiry. Should #3 be learning from the present? Current text below.
My continued exploration of the future of war is necessarily broad. To that end, I will utilise a framework that contains four key lines of inquiry. These are:
1. The Phenomenon of War and Learning from the Past.
2. Trends in Military Affairs.
3. Learning from the Past.
4. Learning from Narratives
Yes. Thanks. Changed
Excellent, looking forward to posts on this topic!
Mick, I really like your lines of inquiry framework as it brings together the four lines of thinking into a comprehensive study of modern warfare.
While I read John Hackett’s ‘The Third World War: The Untold Story’ when it was first published in the early 1980s, it was Tom Clancy’s ‘Red Storm Rising’ that gave me a great appreciation of the strategic and operational levels of war. Red Storm Rising was compulsory pre-reading before attending the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College in 1990-91. It was a great primer for Operation DESERT STORM.
This week I will start on your ‘White Sun War’ - can’t wait to get into it!
Yeah, so, I've been massively into this intellectual space for a while now - including incorporating military futurism into fiction. Structured the meta-plot of Bringing Ragnarok specifically to incorporate the bones of a unified systems theory of war by splitting characters across three centuries.
Consider my interest supremely piqued! Hazard of working in an almost monastic bubble for four years is that I'm only now encountering work that has been going on in parallel with my own private studies.
I really get the sense that systems thinking has penetrated much deeper in Australian scholarship than American.