
Victory, Defeat, or Draw
Battlefield Decision in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948-1982
David Rodman(Author)
Liverpool University Press
Published on 9. December 2020
Book
Hardback
172 pages
978-1-78976-095-8 (ISBN)
Description
Three outcomes are possible on the battlefield: victory, defeat, or draw. An adversary may defeat or be defeated by its adversary, or neither of the two may emerge victorious or vanquished. Observers of military history have long tried to identify the variables that determine victory, defeat, or draw. While most would certainly acknowledge that decisions on the battlefield are dictated by a combination of variables rather than by a lone circumstance, many observers nevertheless tend to stress a single variable -- for example, the number of fighting men and fighting machines deployed by the adversaries, or the operational doctrines employed by the opposing forces -- as far more significant to the explanations of these decisions than other variables. This book, in contrast, takes a multicausal approach to the question of victory, defeat, or draw, proposing that a combination of six organizational, materiel, and environmental variables are pivotal to the explanation of decision on the battlefield. Using the extensive history of the Israel Defense Forces, the book examines a sample of eight battles across the ArabIsraeli conflict from 1948 to 1982 in order to determine the collective impact of the six variables on the outcomes of these battles, concluding that this basket of variables captures much of the explanation behind victory, defeat, or draw on the battlefield, at least insofar as concerns the record of the IDF. While the research in this book is aimed primarily at military historians and military practitioners, it is fully accessible to any layperson interested in Israeli military history in particular or international military history in general.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Liverpool
United Kingdom
Illustrations
illus
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
362 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78976-095-8 (9781789760958)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
David Rodman is the author of a number of books about Israeli diplomatic and military history. He has also published articles in peer-reviewed journals, including War in History, Intelligence and National Security, The Journal of Military History, The Journal of Strategic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Israel Affairs, Defence Studies, and The Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs.