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In reality, it si more fruitful to wound than to kill. While the dead man lies still, counting only one man less, the wounded man is a progressive drain upon his side.

B. H. Liddell Hart

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B. H. Liddell Hart
Age: 74 †
Born: 1895
Born: October 31
Died: 1970
Died: January 29
Historian
Journalist
Military Historian
Writer
Paris
France
Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart
Basil Henry Liddell Hart
Dead
Drains
Still
Side
Counting
Men
Sides
Wound
Lying
Wounded
Upon
Progressive
Wounds
Less
Kill
Drain
Reality
Lies
Fruitful
Stills

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A commander should have a profound understanding of human nature, the knack of smoothing out troubles, the power of winning affection while communicating energy, and the capacity for ruthless determination where require by circumstances. He needs to generate an electrifying current, and to keep a cool head in applying it.
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The urge to gain release from tension by action is a precipitating cause of war.
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The hydrogen bomb is not the answer to the Western peoples' dream of full and final insurance of their security ... While it has increased their striking power it has sharpened their anxiety and deepened their sense of insecurity.
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It is folly to imagine that the aggressive types, whether individuals or nations, can be bought off ... since the payment of danegeld stimulates a demand for more danegeld. But they can be curbed. Their very belief in force makes them more susceptible to the deterrent effect of a formidable opposing force.
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No man can exactly calculate the capacity of human genius and stupidity, nor the incapacity of will.
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The predominance of moral factors in all military decisions. On them constantly turns the issue of war and battle. In the history of war they form the more constant factors, changing only in degree, whereas the physical factors are different in almost every war and every military situation.
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The effect to be sought is the dislocation of the opponent's mind and dispositions - such an effect is the true gauge of an indirect approach.
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Avoid self-righteousness like the devil- nothing is so self-blinding.
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A complacent satisfaction with present knowledge is the chief bar to the pursuit of knowledge.
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The most effective indirect approach is one that lures or startles the opponent into a false move - so that, as in ju-jitsu, his own effort is turned into the lever of his overthrow.
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Direct pressure always tends to harden and consolidate the resistance of an opponent.
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With growing experience, all skillful commanders sought to profit by the power of the defensive, even when on the offensive.
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War is always a matter of doing evil in the hope that good may come of it.
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The unexpected cannot guarantee success, but it guarantees the best chance of success.
B. H. Liddell Hart
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The theory of the indirect approach operates on the line of least expectation.
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The search for the truth for truth's sake is the mark of the historian.
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The more usual reason for adopting a strategy of limited aim is that of awaiting a change in the balance of force ... The essential condition of such a strategy is that the drain on him should be disproportionately greater than on oneself.
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While hitting one must guard ... In order to hit with effect, the enemy must be taken off his guard.
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The nearer the cutting off point lies to the main force of the enemy, the more immediate the effect whereas the closer to the strategic base it takes place, the greater the effect.
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Air forces offered the possibility of striking a the enemy's economic and moral centres without having first to achieve 'the destruction of the enemy's main forces on the battlefield'. Air-power might attain a direct end by indirect means - hopping over opposition instead of overthrowing it.
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