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Review
| The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo, by Russell F. Weigley. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1991. 608 pages. $24.95, paper.
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| Well-respected military historian Russell Weigley offers an overview of major military confrontations from 1631 to 1815 in this work. Operating on the thesis that "If 'its power of decision' was the 'one virtue' that war had ever had, then war never had any virtue," Weigley sets forth the case that war has been a poor choice as a means of settling international disputes. Providing a broad range of examples, each set within a political/ military context, this study provides ample evidence to support the author's basic argument. Just as in some of today's media-touted, armchair strategists' views of military operations, leaders in the timeframe set forth by Weigley looked for single, decisive engagements that would quickly and efficiently settle armed conflicts. While the phrase "we'll have the boys home by Christmas" was not in vogue from the mid-seventeenth to early nineteenth centuries, the kernel of that idea was at the core of promises made repeatedly by leaders as part of the justification for the "next" operation, for the "next" plan, for the "new" strategy, or simply as a rationale for beginning a war in the first place. |
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Following from this idea, Weigley points out that, again and again, military confrontations have spun out of the control of the people who initiated them, confounding any and all efforts to achieve the single, all-deciding battle, and thereby virtually eliminating the ability of the conflict itself to resolve the issues for which it was begun. Military operations since 1815 have escalated in degrees of complexity such that the single-day battle that is totally decisive is something of which planners no longer dream. It might be argued, however, that even today in the mind of the general populations and some political leaders, such dreams have not died, leading to unrealistic expectations for quick military victories. Weigley convincingly argues that all-deciding battles were seldom if ever achieved even in an era when the size of battles and wars was such that the hope for a quick victory might have been possible. |
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Offering sketches of both major battles and the political and military milieus within which they were fought, this book works well as a quick reference. Given the fact that each of the battles and wars discussed have been the subject of numerous in-depth studies, Weigley uses his broad knowledge of military history to distill out of the vastness of these sources a survey that adequately proves his thesis. An annotated set of bibliographic notes, an extensive index, and ample maps complement the text. |
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| Freeport High School, Freeport, Illinois |
Edward F. Finch |
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