University Press of Kansas Logo

Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm

The Evolution of Operational Warfare

Robert M. Citino

March 2004
424 pages, 34 photographs, 6 maps, 6 x 9
Modern War Studies
Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1300-7, $39.95

WINNER OF THE BIRDSALL PRIZE, SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

WINNER OF THE DISTINGUISHED BOOK AWARD, SOCIETY FOR MILITARY HISTORY

book cover imageWhen Germany launched its blitzkrieg invasion of France in 1940, it forever changed the way the world waged war. Although the Wehrmacht ultimately succumbed to superior Allied firepower in a two-front war, its stunning operational achievement left a lasting impression on military commanders throughout the world, even if their own operations were rarely executed as effectively.

Robert Citino analyzes military campaigns from the second half of the twentieth century to further demonstrate the difficulty of achieving decisive results at the operational level. Offering detailed operational analyses of actual campaigns, Citino describes how UN forces in Korea enjoyed technological and air superiority but found the enemy unbeatable; provides analyses of Israeli operational victories in successive wars until the Arab states finally grasped the realities of operational-level warfare in 1973; and tells how the Vietnam debacle continued to shape U.S. doctrine in surprising ways. Looking beyond major-power conflicts, he also reveals the lessons of India’s blitzkrieg-like drive into Pakistan in 1971 and of the senseless bloodletting of the Iran-Iraq War.

Citino especially considers the evolution of U.S. doctrine and assesses the success of Desert Storm in dismantling an entrenched defending force with virtually no friendly casualties. He also provides one of the first scholarly analyses of Operation Iraqi Freedom, showing that its plan was curiously divorced from the realities of military history, grounded instead on nebulous theories about expected enemy behavior. Throughout Citino points to the importance of mobility—especially mobilized armor—in modern operational warfare and assesses the respective roles of firepower, training, doctrine, and command and control mechanisms.

Brimming with new insights, Citino’s study shows why technical superiority is no guarantee of victory and why a thorough grounding in the history of past campaigns is essential to anyone who wishes to understand modern warfare. Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm provides that grounding as it addresses the future of operational-level warfare in the post–9/11 era.

“Vivid, incisive, laced with trenchant observations, Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm is a remarkable—even brilliant—study of war at the operational level, emphasizing the importance of intangibles and the elusiveness of decisive victory.”--Andrew J. Bacevich, author of American Empire

“An important addition to the current debate over what direction U.S. military doctrine should take, this book brings back into focus the central role of operational-level warfare in military thought.”--James S. Corum, author of The Roots of Blitzkrieg

“A superb survey by a sophisticated military historian.”--Jonathan M. House, author of Combined Arms Warfare in the Twentieth Century

“Interesting, informative and insightful.”--Andrew F. Krepinevich, author of The Army and Vietnam

ROBERT M. CITINO is professor of history at Eastern Michigan University. His other books include Quest for Decisive Victory: From Stalemate to Blitzkrieg in Europe, 1899–1940; The Path of Blitzkrieg: Doctrine and Training in the German Army, 1920–1939; and Armored Forces: A History and Sourcebook.