Midterm: Analysis Of Liddell Hart's Foundation Of Strategic Thinking

Foundation of Strategic Thinking Midterm: Analysis of Liddell Hart’s Excerpt During World War II, British General Liddell Hart emerged as a strategist and he was famous for his innovative thoughts. Though Hart’s ideas were not favored by Britain in his time, he is highly regarded, by later generations, as one of the most respected strategists and historians in the field of strategic studies. This excerpt is taken from chapter XIX of Hart’s book titled Strategy. In this excerpt, Hart emphasizes his strategic ideas within the realm of psychological warfare and indirect approach of strategy. In particular, the excerpt conveys the main ideas of Hart’s understanding of strategy by further explaining what this specific strategy aims to do and how
As a strategist, Hart aimed to develop a more contemporary approach to strategy, which he called “indirect approach” as an alternative to Clausewitz’s direct approach. Hart considers his indirect approach within the context of psychological warfare to explain why this aspect of strategy has been long overlooked by many scholars. Hart states, “despite many centuries’ experience of war, we have hardly begun to explore the field of psychological warfare.” (Hart, 1967, p. 325). Hart emphasizes the use of different methods such as dislocation and disinformation to weaken the enemy’s force without physical fighting. For instance, before the 1944 Battle of Normandy, the Allied forces carried out a disinformation campaign to mislead Hitler’s force about the location in which the Allied landed their troops. Germany lost the battle after being ambushed by the Allied troops. The Battle of Normandy demonstrated the effectiveness and importance of psychological warfare thus reinforcing Hart’s claim that “dislocation is the aim of strategy” (p. 325). Though Normandy was considered a military victory that involved physical fighting, it was achieved with careful calculation taken by the Allies to surprise the