Fighting talk : forty maxims on war, peace, and strategy / Colin S. Gray.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [179]-185) and index.

Introduction : getting the big things right enough -- 1. The contexts of war are all important -- 2. War is about peace, and peace can be about war -- 3. It is more difficult to make peace than it is to make war -- 4. War works! - but always has unintended and unanticipated consequences -- 5. Peace and order are not self-enforcing, they have to be organized and kept by somebody -- 6. Not only polities, but societies and their cultures make war and peace -- 7. Reason reigns over war, but passion and chance threaten to rule -- 8. There is more to war than warfare -- 9. Policy is king, but often is ignorant of the nature and character of war -- 10. War is always a gamble -- 11. Knowledge of strategy is vital : the flame of strategic understanding has to be kept lit -- 12. Strategy is more difficult than policy or tactics -- 13. Bad strategy kills, but so also do bad policy and tactics -- 14. If Thucydides, Sun-tzu, and Clausewitz did not say it, it probably is not worth saying -- 15. The strategic "Concept du Jour" will be tomorrow's stale left-over, until it is rediscovered, recycled, and revealed as a new truth -- 16. The enemy too has a vote -- 17. Time is the least forgiving dimension of strategy -- 18. Friction is unavoidable, but need not be fatal -- 19. All strategy is geostrategy : geography is fundamental -- 20. Strategy is not wholly military -- 21. The impossible is impossible; it is a condition, not a problem for which a solution has yet to be found -- 22. People matter most -- 23. Military power is trumps in politics -- 24. Military excellence can only be verified by performance in war -- 25. Military excellence cannot guarantee strategic success -- 26. Victory in battle does not ensure strategic or political success, but defeat all but guarantees failure -- 27. There is more to war than firepower : the enemy is not just a target set -- 28. Logistics is the arbiter of strategic opportunity -- 29. Bad times return -- 30. There are always thugs, villains, rogues, and fools out there, as well some in here, who mean us harm -- 31. Superthreats do appear -- 32. Prudence is the supreme virtue in statecraft and strategy -- 33. Strategic history punishes good intentions -- 34. Defense costs are certain, but security benefits are uncertain and arguable -- 35. Arms can be controlled, but not by arms control -- 36. Nothing of real importance changes : modern history is not modern -- 37. History can be misused to "prove" anything, but it is all that we have as a guide to the future -- 38. The future is not foreseeable : nothing dates so rapidly as today's tomorrow -- 39. Surprise is unavoidable, but its effect is not -- 40. Tragedy happens -- Afterword : cannon lore.