Martin van Creveld

Uses unpublished sources to examine the problems of transportation and administration and movement and supply, analyzing operations from a variety of wars and including a discussion of the role of logistics in high-tech warfare.

Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton

Supplying War

The Transformation of War

Прозревая будущее. Краткая история предсказаний

From Gladiators to Gigabytes

Wargames

A Short History of Prediction

Seeing into the Future

Martin Levi Van Creveld

This unique volume traces the history of the state from its beginnings to the present day.

The Rise and Decline of the State

German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945

Fighting Power

"War is the most important thing in the world', writes Martin van Creveld, one of the world's best-known experts on military history and strategy.The survival of every country, government, and individual is ultimately dependent on war - or the ability to wage it in self-defence. That is why, though it may come but once in a hundred years, it must be prepared for every day. When it is too late - when the bodies lie stiff and people weep overthem - those in charge have failed in their duty. Nevertheless, in spite of the centrality of war to human history and culture, there has for long been no modern attempt to provide a replacement for the classics on war and strategy, Sun Tzu's The Art of War, dating from the 5th or 6th century BC, and Carl von Clausewitz's On War, written in theaftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. What is needed is a modern, comprehensive, easy to read and understand theory of war for the 21st century that could serve as a replacement for these classic texts. The purpose of the present book is to provide just such a theory.

More on War

Many consider conscience to be one of the most important—if not the fundamental—quality that makes us human, distinguishing us from animals, on one hand, and machines on the other. But what is conscience, exactly? Is it a product of our biological roots, as Darwin thought, or is it a purely social invention? If the latter, how did it come into the world? In this biography of that most elusive human element, Martin van Creveld explores conscience throughout history, ranging across numerous subjects, from human rights to health to the environment. Along the way he considers the evolution of conscience in its myriad, occasionally strange, and ever-surprising permutations. He examines the Old Testament, which—erroneously, it turns out—is normally seen as the fountainhead from which the Western idea of conscience has sprung. Next, he takes us to meet Antigone, the first person on record to explicitly speak of conscience. We then visit with the philosophers Zeno, Cicero and Seneca; with Christian thinkers such as Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, and, above all, Martin Luther; as well as modern intellectual giants such as Machiavelli, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Freud. Individual chapters are devoted to Japan, China, and even the Nazis, as well as the most recent discoveries in robotics and neuroscience and how they have contributed to the ways we think about our own morality. Ultimately, van Creveld shows that conscience remains as elusive as ever, a continuously mysterious voice that guides how we think about right and wrong.

A Biography

Conscience

The definitive one-volume history of Israel by its most distinguished historian From its Zionist beginnings at the end of the nineteenth century through the past sixty, tumultuous years, the state of Israel has been, as van Creveld argues, “the greatest success story in the entire twentieth century.” In this crisp volume, he skillfully relates the improbable story of a nationless people who, given a hot and arid patch of land and coping with every imaginable obstacle, founded a country that is now the envy of surrounding states. While most studies on Israel focus on the political, this encompassing history weaves together the nation’s economic, social, cultural and religious narratives while also offering diplomatic solutions to help Israel achieve peace. Without question, this is the best one-volume history of Israel and its people.

The Rise of Modern Israel

The Land of Blood and Honey

Martin van Creveld's Moshe Dayan tells the story of one man and of one people, to whom he was a figurehead - a symbol of their patriotism and their determination to survive. Born in a kibbutz in 1915, Dayan joined the Hagana when he was just fourteen, thus starting early a military career that saw him serve in every war fought in the Middle East from the War of Israeli Independence in 1948 to the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Twice he led his country's forces into smashing victories. Having planned and executed the one and directed the other, with his one eye he towers over them like Nelson over the Battle of Trafalgar. Skilled in battle, skilled in diplomacy, like many powerful public figures, Moshe Dayan's private life was far from mundane. The book quotes from little-known sources, including an account written by one of his mistresses, that reveal much about his character and his life away from the battlefield. This is an honest portrayal of both the private and the public figure, which seeks to understand a man whose contribution to the state of Israel in its developing years was immeasurable.

Moshe Dayan

The ability to predict the future is essential to modern life. Planning for population growth or changes in weather patterns or forecasting demand for products and managing inventories would be impossible without it. But how have people through the ages gone about making predictions? What were their underlying assumptions, and what methods did they use? Have increased computer power and the newest algorithms improved our success in anticipating the future, or are we still only as good (or as bad) as our ancestors bent over their auguries? From the ancients watching the flight of birds to the murky activities of Google and Facebook today, Seeing into the Future provides vital insight into the past, present, and—of course—future of prediction.

De man die de aanslagen op het WTC voorspelde Humo Zijn geregelde overheidslegers blijvend gedoemd te verliezen van vaak kleine groepen sjofele, slecht georganiseerde terroristen? De evolutie van de oorlog biedt een controversiële nieuwe kijk op de ontwikkeling van de oorlogvoering in de afgelopen honderd jaar en de betekenis daarvan voor de toekomst van de wereld. De oorlogen van nu worden gekenmerkt door het falen van de modernste legereenheden, voorzien van de laatste technische snufjes en de meest geavanceerde wapensystemen om slecht uitgeruste terroristische groeperingen te verslaan. Een ontwikkeling die zich het eerst voordeed in Palestina, waar de Britten zich vlak na de Tweede Wereldoorlog lieten verjagen, en zich herhaalde in de mislukte missies van Israël in Libanon en die van de Verenigde Staten in Vietnam en nu in Irak. Om deze trend te doorbreken zal ons denken over oorlogvoering en de organisatie van onze legers ingrijpend moeten worden veranderd. Martin van Creveld vertelt hoe. Martin van Creveld (1946) werd geboren in Rotterdam, maar emigreerde op zijn vierde met zijn ouders naar Israël. Daar groeide hij uit tot een van de meest gerespecteerde krijgshistorici ter wereld. Zijn boeken zijn verplichte literatuur aan vele officiersopleidingen. Het in 1991 verschenen Transformation of war, waarin hij de aanslagen op het WTC voorspelde, wordt alom beschouwd als een van de meest invloedrijke boeken van de afgelopen twintig jaar. De media over Transformation of war: Standaardwerk. Elsevier Baanbrekend. Bart Tromp in Vrij Nederland Een scherp, prikkelend en beangstigend boek. Publishers Weekly Een meesterwerk in zijn genre. Defensiekrant

van de Marne tot Irak

De evolutie van de oorlog

The definitive one-volume history of Israel by its most distinguished historian From its Zionist beginnings at the end of the nineteenth century through the past sixty, tumultuous years, the state of Israel has been, as van Creveld argues, "the greatest success story in the entire twentieth century." In this crisp volume, he skillfully relates the improbable story of a nationless people who, given a hot and arid patch of land and coping with every imaginable obstacle, founded a country that is now the envy of surrounding states. While most studies on Israel focus on the political, this encompassing history weaves together the nation's economic, social, cultural and religious narratives while also offering diplomatic solutions to help Israel achieve peace. Without question, this is the best one-volume history of Israel and its people.

Why did Napoleon succeed in 1805 but fail in 1812? Were the railways vital to Prussia's victory over France in 1870? Was the famous Schlieffen Plan militarily sound? Could the European half of World War II have been ended in 1944? These are only a few of the questions that form the subject-matter of this meticulously researched, lively book. Drawing on a very wide range of unpublished and previously unexploited sources, Martin van Creveld examines the 'nuts and bolts' of war: namely, those formidable problems of movement and supply, transportation and administration, so often mentioned - but rarely explored - by the vast majority of books on military history. In doing so he casts his net far and wide, from Gustavus Adolphus to Rommel, from Marlborough to Patton, subjecting the operations of each to a thorough analysis from a fresh and unusual point of view. The result is a fascinating book that has something new to say about virtually every one of the most important campaigns waged in Europe during the last two centuries.

Martin van Creveld

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