
Contents
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Introduction Introduction
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Strategy: Early Definitions Strategy: Early Definitions
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The Nineteenth Century: Still No Grand Strategy The Nineteenth Century: Still No Grand Strategy
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Grand Strategy Makes an Appearance Grand Strategy Makes an Appearance
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The Concept Broadens The Concept Broadens
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Grand Strategy as History Grand Strategy as History
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Grand Strategy as Policy Grand Strategy as Policy
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Conclusion Conclusion
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References References
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2 Grand Strategy: The History of a Concept
Get accessLawrence Freedman was Professor of War Studies at King’s College London from 1982 to 2014, and Vice-Principal from 2003 to 2013.
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Published:08 September 2021
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Abstract
A concept of “grand strategy” only emerged during the first decades of the twentieth century. Through the nineteenth century, strategy had a very narrow meaning, largely concerned with getting troops into the best position for battle. Tactics was concerned with the conduct of battle. For a number of reasons, including the importance of peacetime preparation for war, the separation between military strategy and the wider political and economic context came to be recognized as untenable. The contemporary strategy of grand strategy was developed in the UK first by the naval theorist Corbett and then by Fuller and Liddell Hart after the First World War. It referred to the nonmilitary aspects of prosecuting a war. After the Second World War, grand strategy tended to be used to refer to the higher conduct of war where the political, social, and economic came together with the military. Most use was made by historians who found it helpful as a way of discussing past politico-military conduct, even going back to the Romans. It came back into prescriptive use as the Cold War drew to a close. This encouraged the contemporary concept, which refers to the bringing together of all elements of a state power in pursuit of long-term objectives, which has been criticized for being too ambitious.
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