The Study On Liddell Hart's Thoughts Of The Strategy Of Indirect Approach

Liddell Hart‘s relevant thoughts on strategy is the indispensable part of strategic history and philosophy of strategy.His life has gone through World War I,World War II and the former period of Cold War,which could entitled him to be called the war's experiencer,witness,thinker,and writer.The book-Strategy,along with Liddell Hart's academic career-is one of his most representative writings,which has many editions before and after.In the book,Liddell Hart proposes two fundamental articulations of his strategic thoughts: “the strategy of indirect approach” and “grand strategy”,within a very close relationship.Based on the specific text of Strategy,this dissertation examines the construction of strategic thought by Liddell Hart,which is the study of “what the thought is”,at the same time,this dissertation rethinks from the perspective of several amateur theories,which is also some kind of an philosophical analysis--it is about the study of "why the thought is".The first chapter investigates the background of Liddell Hart‘s strategic thoughts.The formation and development of Liddell Hart's thoughts has certain material and academic factors.The reflections of World War I &II,the improvement of social productivity,the emergence of nuclear weapons and the expansion of strategy subject are the background of his thoughts' era and the material basis for the generation and development of the strategy of indirect approach and grand strategy.When the border between tactics and strategy is gradually fixed,the boundary between strategy and politics needs to be established.By scrutinizing several mistakes of Clausewitz's theories,Liddell Hart thinks that strategic thought should be divided into three planes--“tactics,strategy and grand strategy”.Liddell Hart's thought of grand strategy has a distinctive intention feature: grand strategy includes the principle of moral,which means it should be consistent with human moral pursuit.Grand strategy is to pursue the improvement of peace and the livelihood of the people,so it means that the civilized nations should cherish the hard-won peace.The diversity of society is the real source of social vitality,and grand strategy should maintain this source.Considering this theoretical background,the strategy of indirect approach is proposed.The second chapter analyzes the thought source of the strategy of indirect approach.Liddell Hart thinks that marine strength is of vital importance,through which can be carried out for economic blockade so as to make the enemy collapsed.On history afterwards,Britain has deviated from this tradition,and doesn't treat it as main strategy to manage the ocean while pursues the triumph that obtains decisive wars in the land.It runs against to the methodological principle of indirect approach.From this perspective,the strategy of indirect approach has been the inspiration of Britain's tradition of ocean strategy.For the relationship between Sun Tzu and indirect approach,we can think that Liddell Hart might not in depth understand the ideological system and the intension of Sun Tzu under Chinese linguistic context.But Griffith's translation of the book does give him very big inspiration.Notions such as "Ji and Zheng ",”Yu and Zhi” in Sun Tzu are very similar to his strategy of indirect approach.The implicated meaning between them,at least in the cognition of Liddell Hart,is very approaching.The third chapter analyzes Liddell Hart's construction method of the strategy of indirect approach from three angles.Firstly,from the mode of thinking,Liddell Hart's thoughts have the characterization of dialectics.He constructs his dialectical military view in the following aspects: military and politics,rationality and irrationality,material and spiritual factors,uncertainty and artistry,dual nature of practice and principles,direct and indirect experiences.This is the conceptual basement of his strategic thoughts,which means that “direct and indirect” “grand and small” are also a set of dialectical concepts.Secondly,from theoretical characteristics,the strategy of indirect approach has generality--it is a philosophical truth,which can be applied in various aspects of life.The strategy of indirect approach has acceptability--it is not a radical new theory since it is the principle and practical experience established for a long time.It has passed into silence now and regains a new modern statement.The strategy of indirect approach has a strong utility--it has a high adopting ratio and low risk in war,and is able to destroy the stability of the enemy effectively.The strategy of indirect approach also has certain restrictive condition--building the situation of triumph at first is very critical.Thirdly,from theoretical frame,the strategy of indirect approach has its goals-to reduce the probability of enemy's resistence through movement & surprise,principles-to concentrate advantages against disadvantages,format-defensive & offensive and means-to destroy enmemy's stability & cut cummunications & dispersed advance.The fourth chapter carries out a preliminary evaluation of the strategy of indirect approach.On the whole,the strategy of indirect approach has been praised and demoted.Scholars with criticism have certain level reasonableness,but their comments are not comprehensive with their own subjective colors,and through these objections,it will further promote our understanding of the strategy of indirect approach.We can affirm the strategy of indirect approach from three perspectives--verifiability,originality and inspiration.The strategy of indirect approach can be applicable to practical cases in the military history of China and the West.The Pacific campaign under the command of Macarthur in World War II,Zhou Yafu's military strategy to suppress the rebellion of seven countries,and Li Mi's military strategy to suppress the rebellion of An Shi are the models for the use of the related principles of indirect approach.It is Liddell Hart who puts forward the strategy of indirect approach and he gains his originality with the methodology of deduction,in which we can see valuable extentions reflected in the discussion of deductive method.His analytical framework is enlightening--metaphorical characteristic is of special importance for understanding the nature of strategic method.Strategy is to deal with uncertain situations,direct methods are single,while indirect metaphors are diverse.Diversity brings choice,and choice brings innovation and innovation associates with art.The fifth chapter makes a deep excavation of the significance of the strategy of indirect approach from two perspectives.Firstly,from a methodological point of view,the strategy of indirect approach as one of strategic theory,has special significance in space dimension,time dimension and practice dimension.We can believe that the methodological characters of the strategy of indirect approach can be summarized from long-term dimension of time,global dimension of space and coordinated dimension of practice.Secondly,from a theoretical point of view,the strategy of indirect approach has an impact on the theory of military tactics and the theory of commercial competition.The maturity of military theories such as "alternate circuitous","psychological warfare" and "goal selection",is the further development of the strategy of indirect approach in the field of military research.The advent of marketing positioning and enterprise development strategy,directly drawing inspirations from the military field and forming the positioning school of strategic management,is the expansion of the strategy of indirect approach in the field of business competition.The strategy of indirect approach is of great significance to the depiction of the structural level of grand strategy.The strategy of indirect approach will rise to the level of grand strategy with the expansion of six planes: “Geographical meaning,time meaning,psychological meaning,intelligent meaning,paradigmatic meaning,national meaning",which can be regarded as the cornerstone of grand strategy.The thought of grand strategy of Liddell Hart is the development and enrichment of his theory of indirect approach.The strategy of indirect approach also plays an important role in the value orientation of grand strategy.Grand strategy is the "body" of the value rationality,and the strategy of indirect approach is the "use" of the instrumental rationality.Its rationality can be supplemented with articulations from the perspective of “body-use” relation.