- Knowing means from ends - Knowing tactics from strategy -
Understanding why the first must always be subordinate to the
second These, as I argued in the previous post, are the greatest
and most enduring lessons of Carl von Clausewitz, and the reason
why I include him in my pantheon of great minds. Where I have
most fun in my forthcoming book is in fleshing out his ideas in
contexts other than war, to show that strategy applies to all
areas of life. But today I want to make his ideas a bit more
concrete in the obvious context: war. So allow me to introduce
the two archetypes: - Douglas MacArthur and - Harry Truman Here
is their story (from one of the best biographies ever written):
Nuke to win, nuke to lose In June of 1950, Communist forces from
North Korea poured south across the 38th parallel in an all-out
attack on South Korea. Harry Truman, having come to power late
in life, was the American commander-in-chief and had already
made history by dropping the first and only two atomic bombs on
Asian cities ju