Utility of Force

UPDATED WITH TWO NEW CHAPTERS'One of the most provocative and startling books ever written by a British commander ... an update of the two great thinkers on war and peace, Clausewitz and Sun Tsu, for our time ... it is for anyone interested in the well-being of our world' Robert Fox, Evening StandardWhy do we try to use military force to solve our political problems? And why, when our forces win the military battles does this still fail to solve those problems? It is because the force lacks utility. From Iraq to the Balkans, and from Afghanistan to Chechneya, over the past fifteen years there has been a steady stream of military interventions that have not delivered on their promise for peace, or even political resolution. The Utility of Force explains this anomaly at the heart of our current international system.'Britain's outstanding soldier of modern times ... a book that will assure his reputation as a serious and original thinker among soldiers and strategists' Sir John Keegan, Daily Telegraph'It is hard to overstate the devastating nature of this book as an indictment of almost everything the West has done in recent years, and is doing today' Sir Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph

"One of the most important books on modern warfare in the last decade. We would be better off if the United States had a few more generals like him." --The Washington Post Book World "An impressive and absorbing work of military analysis. . . . Smith is the Clausewitz of low-intensity conflict and peacekeeping operations. . . . He brilliantly lays bare the newfound limits of Western military power." --The New York Times Book Review "It is hard to overstate the devastating nature of this book as an indictment of almost everything the West has done in recent years, and is doing today." --The Sunday Telegraph"A closely argued, searching textbook on strategy and the efficient use of military power in the post-Cold War era." --The New York Times

General Sir Rupert Smith is one of the most senior international practitioners in the use of force. In his forty year career in the British Army he commanded the UK Armoured Division in the 1990-91 Gulf War, was GOC Northern Ireland, commanded the UN forces in Bosnia in 1995, and served as Deputy Commander of NATO. All of this experience informs his book. He retired in 2002.