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What it argues
Strategy: The Indirect Approach, first published in 1929 and substantially revised and expanded through a definitive 1954 edition, is Basil Liddell Hart's argument that the most effective military strategies throughout history have been indirect — working around an opponent's strength rather than against it — and that direct confrontation, however courageous, tends to be costly and inconclusive. Liddell Hart draws this conclusion from a survey of military campaigns stretching from the Greek and Persian wars through both World Wars, analyzing in each case what produced decisive results and why.
The central principle is simple: an enemy cannot be defeated by attacking them at their strongest point because defenders have an inherent advantage, and even successful frontal attacks leave the victor exhausted and the loser merely retreated rather than disrupted. The indirect approach seeks instead to attack where the opponent is weakest or least prepared, to dislocate their system before destroying their forces, and to create conditions of psychological and physical disequilibrium that make organized resistance impossible. Liddell Hart traces this logic in the campaigns of Alexander, Scipio, Caesar, Marlborough, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon, among others, and argues that the most famous victories in military history were achieved by generals who understood it intuitively.
What it gets right
- 1.
The indirect approach seeks to attack an opponent's weakest point or to create conditions of dislocation before engaging directly. It avoids strength and exploits vulnerability.
- 2.
The direct approach — frontal assault on an opponent's main force at their strongest point — produces high casualties, exhausts the attacker, and rarely achieves the decisive result it promises.
- 3.
Dislocation precedes destruction. The most effective campaigns first disrupted the opponent's system — communications, supply, command coherence — and then delivered the decisive blow to an already disintegrating force.
What it covers
Who wrote it
B. H. Liddell Hart (1895–1970) was a British military historian, strategist, and journalist whose influence on twentieth-century military thought was substantial. A veteran of the First World War, he spent the interwar years as a military correspondent and critic, arguing vigorously for mechanized warfare and against the attrition doctrine that had characterized the Western Front. His books include The Real War 1914–1918, Scipio Africanus, and Rommel: The Desert Fox. Strategy: The Indirect Approach, his most widely read work, appeared in multiple editions from 1929 to 1967.
