"Military Adaptation in War" addresses one of the most persistent, yet rarely examined, problems that military organizations confront: namely, the problem of how to adapt under the trying, terrifying conditions of war. This work builds on the volume that Professor Williamson Murray edited with Allan Millett on military innovation (a quite different problem, though similar in some respects). In Clausewitzian terms, war is a contest, an interactive duel, which is of indeterminate length and presents a series of intractable problems at every level, from policy and strategy down to the tactical. Moreover, the fact that the enemy is adapting at the same time presents military organizations with an ever-changing set of conundrums that offer up no easy solutions. As the British general, James Wolfe, suggested before Quebec: "War is an option of difficulties." Dr. Murray provides an in-depth analysis of the problems that military forces confront in adapting to these difficulties.

Preface -- Introduction: the background to military adaptation -- The historical framework of adaptation -- Complex adaptation: the Western front, 1914-1918 -- Flawed adaptation: German adaptation, the opening battles of World War II -- The battle for the British Isles: June 1940-May 1941 -- Adaptation in the air war: RAF bomber command and Luftwaffe's air defenses (15 May 1940-7 May 1945) -- The 1973 Yom Kippur War -- Conclusion: adaptation and the future.