''War from the Ground Up: Twenty-First Century Combat as Politics'' is a 2012 book on

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

and

military strategy Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Derived from the Greek word '' strategos'', the term strategy, when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow s ...

written by Emile Simpson, a former

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer. The book analyzes the

War in Afghanistan (2001–present) War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

in terms of

Carl von Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz (; 1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral", in modern terms meaning psychological, and political aspects of waging war. His mos ...

's theory of war, arguing that modern counter-insurgencies have more in common with domestic political struggles than the traditional state-on-state conflicts described by Clausewitz. The book was favorably reviewed by

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

, a prominent military historian, among others.

Background

Much of ''War from the Ground Up'' is an analysis of the 2001–present War in Afghanistan, based on the author's personal experience. Simpson studied history at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship St ...

under

Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Ferguson FRSE (; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

before attending the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

and receiving his commission as an officer in the

Royal Gurkha Rifles The Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR) is a rifle regiment of the British Army, forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas. Unlike other regiments in the British Army, RGR soldiers are recruited from Nepal, which is neither a dependent territory of the Unite ...

. Simpson deployed to Afghanistan three times, retiring from the Army in 2012.

Content

''War from the Ground Up'' covers a wide range of topics, including

grand strategy Grand strategy or high strategy is a state's strategy of how means can be used to advance and achieve national interests. Issues of grand strategy typically include the choice of primary versus secondary theaters in war, distribution of resource ...

, civil-military relations, and

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

. Simpson's primary thesis is that the traditional model of war as a bi-polar conflict between two discrete political units is not helpful on the modern battlefield. Whereas in the past wars were fought to achieve a specifically military end state, soldiers today "directly seek political, as opposed to military, outcomes." At the same time, military leaders must consider the impact of their actions not only on the enemy but on a diverse set of "audiences". Much of the material consists of historical analysis, including a chapter devoted to the

Borneo Confrontation Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east ...

of 1962-1966. Elsewhere, Simpson critiques

Samuel P. Huntington Samuel Phillips Huntington (April 18, 1927December 24, 2008) was an American political scientist, adviser, and academic. He spent more than half a century at Harvard University, where he was director of Harvard's Center for International Affairs ...

's 1957 book '' The Soldier and the State''. Whereas Huntington had advocated strict

civilian control of the military Civilian control of the military is a doctrine in military and political science that places ultimate responsibility for a country's strategic decision-making in the hands of the civilian political leadership, rather than professional militar ...

, Simpson argues for reciprocal dialogue between civilian leaders and the military. Simpson also draws on

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

's ''

Rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

'' to emphasize the importance of "strategic narrative," which he defines as "a story" used "to explain one's actions."

Reception

''War from the Ground Up'' received generally positive reviews. Military historian Michael Howard compared the work to ''

The Face of Battle ''The Face of Battle'' is a 1976 non-fiction book on military history by the English military historian John Keegan. It deals first with the structure of historical writing about battles, the strengths and weaknesses of the "battle piece," and th ...

'' by

John Keegan Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan (15 May 1934 – 2 August 2012) was an English military historian, lecturer, author and journalist. He wrote many published works on the nature of combat between prehistory and the 21st century, covering land, ...

and even ''

On War ''Vom Kriege'' () is a book on war and military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), written mostly after the Napoleonic wars, between 1816 and 1830, and published posthumously by his wife Marie von Brühl in 1832. I ...

'' by Carl von Clausewitz, saying that it "should be compulsory reading at every level in the military." Journalist Thomas Ricks reviewed the book as well, praising its writing style and its exploration of strategic narrative.

Paul Raymond Newton Lieutenant General Sir Paul Raymond Newton is a former British Army officer and Director of Exeter University's Strategy and Security Institute. Prior to leaving the army he was Commander Force Development and Training. Military career Educat ...

, writing for the ''

RUSI Journal The ''RUSI Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering international security and defence strategy. It was established in 1857 as the ''Royal United Services Institution Journal'', obtaining its current title in 1972. The journal is pu ...

'', described the book as "impressive" but noted that it incorporated some

strawman A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false o ...

arguments, while in ''

Parameters A parameter (), generally, is any characteristic that can help in defining or classifying a particular system (meaning an event, project, object, situation, etc.). That is, a parameter is an element of a system that is useful, or critical, when ...

'' Richard Swain found the work to contain a "great wealth of thought" but also some structural deficiencies. Writing on the book in ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

'',

Lawrence Freedman Sir Lawrence David Freedman, (born 7 December 1948) is a British academic, historian and author with specialising in foreign policy, international relations and strategy. He has been described as the "dean of British strategic studies" and wa ...

called it "an erudite and intelligent contribution to the literature on counterinsurgency."

References

{{reflist 2012 non-fiction books Counterinsurgency Military strategy books War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) books Oxford University Press books