Why read War by Numbers?

Book cover of War by Numbers: Understanding Conventional Combat

Book description

War by Numbers assesses the nature of conventional warfare through the analysis of historical combat. Christopher A. Lawrence establishes what we know about conventional combat and why we know it. By demonstrating the impact a variety of factors have on combat he moves such analysis beyond the work of Carl…

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Topics

Philosophy

Genres

American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked War by Numbers as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Julian Schofield

Author

It is not enough, and sometimes self-deceiving, to study war by simply reading historical accounts.

During the Cold War, Trevor Dupuy and his colleagues produced groundbreaking studies on all aspects of conflict. Chris Lawrence, director of the Dupuy Institute, revives this intensive examination of war in his War By Numbers. By applying sophisticated but well-explained statistical methods to the extensive datasets of combat developed by the institute over the last four decades, Lawrence challenges a great many conventional-held beliefs about the outcomes of battle and campaigns.

For example, Lawrence demonstrates that urban combat is far less costly in casualties…

From Julian's 3 favorite reads in 2023.