Conclusion: ‘The Western Way in Warfare’, Past and Future

Abstract

Abstract This conclusion concludes that Liddell Hart's contribution to strategic theory exceeds and is much serious than his popular doctrines of ‘indirect approach’ and the ‘British way in warfare’. It is concluded that his substantial contribution and claim for originality should be examined and understood in their historical context. As fundamental changes and paradigmatic shifts occur, new and significant intellectual constructions usually emerge when the prevailing ways of interpreting and coping with reality no longer suffice. In the West's most liberal and the increasing democratic societies such as the Britain and the United States, the growing negative reaction against the First World War is seen as a paradigmatic break. In these societies, leading sectors of public opinion and political elite see the major war which resulted to major loss of life and wealth as an increasingly unacceptable means. Instead, they called for a different set of strategic ideas wherein the force is applied in terms of economic sanctions, blockade and limited ‘surgical’ operations by highly mobile and technologically superior striking forces.