This book addresses one of the basic questions in military studies: How can armies cope effectively with technological and doctrinal surprises--ones that leave them vulnerable to new weapons systems and/or combat doctrines? Author Meir Finkel contends that the current paradigm--with its over-dependence on intelligence and an all-out effort to predict the nature of the future battlefield and the enemy's capabilities--generally doesn't work. Based on historical case analysis of successful "under-fire" recovery and failure to recover, he identifies the variables that have determined these...

This book addresses one of the basic questions in military studies: How can armies cope effectively with technological and doctrinal surprises--ones that leave them vulnerable to new weapons systems and/or combat doctrines? Author Meir Finkel contends that the current paradigm--with its over-dependence on intelligence and an all-out effort to predict the nature of the future battlefield and the enemy's capabilities--generally doesn't work. Based on historical case analysis of successful "under-fire" recovery and failure to recover, he identifies the variables that have determined these...