Book Review, The Western Way of War
The Western Way of War
By Peter Roberts. Howgate Publishing Limited, 2024. ISBN 978-1-912440-50 4. Bibliography. Pp. 1, 180. $29.95.
Scholars and theorists have long debated the idea of a nation, region, or grouping of states possessing a specific way of war. Broadly defined as the manner in which a state or state-group typically prepares for, executes, and terminates large-scale armed conflicts, the concept has proven contentious and debatable as intellectuals have argued for and against the utility of the framework over past decades. Dr. Peter Roberts, a professor at the University of Exeter and fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in the United Kingdom, has now added to this ongoing discussion with his succinctly titled book, The Western Way of War, where he argues for a discernable method of war-making across Europe and its former colonial possessions that include the United States, Canada and Australia.
The resulting study, which is structured as a compilation of interviews with leading military thinkers, offers wide-ranging and expert analysis concerning the many facets that inform modern war theory.
Western Way of War represents, in its substance, a detailed and long-form conversation between Roberts and a series of leading intellectuals. Divided into ten topical chapters that feature specific interviews from Roberts’ former podcast with RUSI that had the same title as the book, the compilation delves into a diversity of military topics that range from questioning the lure of decisive victory, to examining the role of media in modern warfare, to the reality and assumptions of nuclear deterrence. Roberts bookends these discussions by leading with an introduction that provides context surrounding the idea of a way of war theory that is unique to the west, and then completes the book with a conclusion that asserts that the West did indeed cohere around “an American concept of fighting” that emerged following the Second World War. Throughout his narrative the author takes great pains to detail the numerous events, trends, and factors that have challenged the West’s approach to war-making in the 21st century in order to weave in a more a cautionary tone.
In addition to receiving Roberts’ nuanced appreciation of the debates over the ideas of way of war theory–including a granular interrogation of the idea of a purely Western version and how to define it–perhaps the most important value of the book is the opportunity to gain access to a disparate grouping of military intellectuals who have thought deeply and written extensively on the selected topics. While professors and fellows with doctoral degrees and extensive publication records provide the majority of the content, the first conversation is taken from an interview with a retired US Marine Corps flag officer, General Jim Mattis, in order to gain a stark appreciation for “reality” as a “terrible adversary.”
Nonetheless, this balance towards academic vocations creates a more intellectual tone for the compilation that ensures a scholarly framing of the various challenges and problems that Roberts poses to his guests.
Western Way of War is thus an important source for both academics and practitioners seeking to better understand how Europe and its former colonies have approached warfare and may be struggling to evolve against new threats and changing environments. Standing on his premise that “how a state fights is perhaps the greatest indicator of whether it will achieve success on the battlefield,” Roberts provides a thorough investigation of way of war theory with particular focus on the British and broader Western experience. From this perspective, the aim of the book is to enable the West–and its loose constellation of member states–to apply critical thinking and self-assessment in order to become more effective in achieving policy aims. Because of this practical focus, and due to the variety of informed perspectives that structure the body of the work, Roberts’ book will make a valuable addition to the existing, and ongoing, discussion concerning the way of war genre and its applicability for contemporary warfare.
