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This book has enormous potential and could have been brilliant. Selecting battles and working out what keys could have turned when. Yet the author does not examine the implications fully. His account of Agincourt is excellent, but in others he is on very weak ground. Can we really argue that Hitler would have won the second world war if he didn't pause for three days with his panzer divisions in France. Isn't it far more likely that he was so self destructive that eventually a coalition would have been formed to destroy him. Hitler invaded Russia when Britian was on its knees and declared war on the United States for no real reason, wasn't that a key factor. In a desperate war he spent massive resources in his insane quest to eliminate the Jewish population. He also ignored the potential of the 'Jewish science' of nuclear phyisics. Hitler could not keep Italy in check and it led to an absurd invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece which derailed the invasion of Russia. Yes, chance plays a role in history but can it change long term historical forces. A far better body of work on similar topic is the British Televison Series Great Military Blunders which covers the same terrain and makes a more sophisticated analysis. A good and fun read but it really needed more rigour and analysis than provided here.

I bought this book because a friend said I would love it. He was right. The author takes some of histories greatest battles, and makes you relive them, one wonderful moment after another. The suspense never lets up. I could not put this book down. Once he has related the events, he clues you in on the stupidity, and then the moment of the battle which hinged on success or failure. This author has given me a completely new way to look at battles which I thought I really knew. It is refreshing, alarming, and yet captivating reading. Once he gets your interest in a new battle, he never lets up, and you can't stop reading. A must for military history buffs. Well worth twice the asking price.

In this book, the author takes seventeen situations (sixteen battles and the non-violent collapse of East Germany), and shows how things other than military brilliance brought the situation to its climax. Sometimes it was stupidity, sometimes it was arrogance, and one time it was the lack of some nails!The narrative of each story is well written and presented in all of its fascination. What I liked about this book was that the author presented a number of battles that I have never bothered to read about before, and includes many details that I had never encountered about the ones I had read! I highly recommend this bookIn case it helps your decision, the chapters are on Troy (1184 BC), Hattin (1187), Agincourt (1415), Karansebes (1788), Waterloo (1815), Balaclava (1854), Antietam (1862) Koniggratz (1866), Spioen Kop (1900), Tannenberg (1914), Tanga (1914), France (1940), North Atlantic (1941), Moscow (1941), Vietnam (1968), Berlin (1989), and the Persian Gulf (1991).

I think this is what Robert Crowley was trying to achieve with 'What If?'. Every turning point of history is here, including the personalities and maps, and Durschmied's journalistic style makes it easy reading, avoiding the historian's intellectual snobery. From Troy to Vietnam, he gives plausable alternatives, and identifies the crux of each battle without pages of rambling. As a journalist, he encapsulates the moment, this is what makes this book so facinating to the layperson. One for every history buffs collection.

For my information systems brethren, consider this as "anti-patterns" in strategy: what are the mistakes that leaders commit over and over, handing success to their opponents.While Mother Nature certainly plays a role in the monumental blunders described in the text, man's arrogance, ignorance, naivete, misplaced loyalties, and more lead to his downfall. Several clear messages come out of the text:- know your opponent and know yourself- regularly update your knowledge (on a real-time basis, if possible)- don't assume that your subordinates automatically know what to do in every situation; give them easy access to you, understand and believe in their issues, guide them in resolving the issue, monitor their progress, give them regular feedback, mentor their development, integrate their findings and plans into your total strategy- don't assume that your subordinates know how to work well with one another; ignore their conflicts at your own peril- align your allies objectives with your own -- show how they can achieve their objectives by delivering yours. Otherwise, at a critical juncture, disparate objectives will unravel your strategy.Some of the stories are downright funny, others are just sad. Includes excellent descriptions of the story behind the battles we learned about in school. Excellent presentation of the circumstances, sequence of events, and recap of the specific factors that led to an unforeseen result.