Quotes About Strategy

The essence of war is violence," he wrote, "and moderation in war is imbecility.

It instructed Germany's ambassador in Mexico to offer Mexican president Venustiano Carranza an alliance, to take effect if the new submarine campaign drew America into the war. "Make war together," Zimmermann proposed. "Make peace together." In return, Germany would take measures to help Mexico seize previously held lands—"lost territory"—in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

When you're in a pissin' contest with a skunk, make sure you got plenty of piss.

Within two months we will have pushed Hitler so far into a corner that he'll squeak." It was possibly the greatest miscalculation of the twentieth century.

Churchill did not and frankly could not manage the staggering pressure of directing the war by himself. He relied heavily on others, even if sometimes these others merely served as an audience on whom he could test his thoughts and plans.

Britain had more than twice as many submarines as Germany but used them mainly for coastal defense, not to stop merchant ships.)

U-boats in fact traveled underwater as little as possible, typically only in extreme weather or when attacking ships or dodging destroyers.

After noting that Germany's submarine campaign had sharply reduced traffic from America, Churchill told Runciman: "For our part, we want the traffic—the more the better; and if some of it gets into trouble, better still.

From the start, Churchill and Fisher resolved to keep the operation so secret that only they and a few other Admiralty officials would ever know it existed.

Where Room 40 promised to give Britain the clearest advantage was in the battle for control of the seas, and there Britain's strategy had undergone a change.

The only effective defense lay in offense, he said, "which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves.

following my between-books strategy of reading voraciously and promiscuously. What

I FIRST STARTED READING about the Lusitania on a whim, following my between-books strategy of reading voraciously and promiscuously.

expected, well suited to Germany's guerrilla

my between-books strategy of reading voraciously and promiscuously. What

After noting that Germany's submarine campaign had sharply reduced traffic from America, Churchill told Runciman: "For our part, we want the traffic—the more the better; and if some of it gets into trouble, better

My between-books strategy was reading voraciously and on a whim.

During World War I, Germany had only 25 of its vaunted submarines sailing at any one time.

industries' capacity to produce fighter aircraft—Hurricanes and Spitfires—at a rate high enough not just to compensate for the fast-mounting losses but also to increase the overall number of planes available for combat. Fighters alone in no way could win the war

Suddenly everyone began paying attention to the phases of the moon. Bombers could attack by day, of course, but it was thought that after dark they would be able to find their targets only by moonlight. The full moon and its waxing and waning gibbous phases became known as the "bomber's moon.

French endurance was the cornerstone of British defensive strategy. That France might fall was beyond imagining.

One cannot possibly get accurate bombing on a selected target in this way.

that it was "most important to attract neutral shipping

hit her where she least expects to be hit. There's only one way to fight, and that's to win. Never attack where the other man is expecting it, when the other man is expecting it. That's where he's prepared his strongest defense.