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Edward Luttwak

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Edward N. Luttwak
Born(1942-11-04)4 November 1942(age 81)
Arad,Romania
Alma materLondon School of Economics and Political Science
Johns Hopkins University
Known forCoup d'État: A Practical Handbook(1968)
Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace(1987)
The Rise of China vs. the Logic of Strategy (2012)

Edward Nicolae Luttwak(born 4 November 1942) is an American author known for his works ongrand strategy,military strategy,geoeconomics,military history,andinternational relations.He is best known for being the author ofCoup d'État: A Practical Handbook.His bookStrategy: The Logic of War and Peace,also published in Chinese, Russian and ten other languages, is widely used at war colleges around the world. His books are currently published in 29 languages besides English.[1]

Early life[edit]

Luttwak was born into aJewish[2]family inArad,Romania that fled Soviet occupation after World War II. He was thereafter raised in Italy and England.[1]

Career[edit]

After attending a boarding school in Berkshire, where he joined the British Army cadet corps, Luttwak moved to London at the age of 16 and went to agrammar school.He then studied analytical economics at theLondon School of Economics.[3]In 1968, when he was 26 and working in London as a consultant for theoil industry,he published the bookCoup d'État: A Practical Handbook,apasticheof a military manual. The book explains in detail how to overthrow thegovernmentof astate,looking in particular at coups d'état on the African continent and in the Middle East. Thespy fictionauthorJohn le Carrépraised the book and compared Luttwak toMachiavelli.Luttwak graduated from the London School of Economics in 1969.[1]

Luttwak was a war volunteer inIsraelin 1967 and later worked for theIsrael Defense Forces.In 1972 he moved to theUnited Statesfor graduate studies atJohns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).He graduated with a PhD in International Relations in 1975. The title of his dissertation wasForce and Diplomacy in Roman Strategies of Imperial Security.[4][5]Earlier, during a two-month visit to Washington, D.C. in 1969, Luttwak andRichard Perle,his former roommate in London, joined athinktank,theCommittee to Maintain a Prudent Defence Policy,assembled byDean AchesonandPaul Nitzeto lobby Congress foranti-ballistic missilesystems.[1][6]

In late 1974 and into 1975 a series of articles was published byneoconservativeintellectuals discussing whether theUS militaryshould seize theoilfields in Saudi Arabia.In March 1975,Harper's Magazinepublished an article that Luttwak had written under thepseudonym"Miles Ignotus" with the title "Seizing Arab Oil". Luttwak had previously published the gist of his argument on how to break Arab power under the title "Obsolescent Elites", using his real name, inThe Times Literary Supplement.He suggested thatU.S. Marines,assisted by the82nd Airborne Division,should storm the eastern beaches of Saudi Arabia. The article and the author attracted considerable attention, but there is no evidence that theFord administrationever considered such an intervention.James Akins,then U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, publicly denounced the "invasion scenario" as a product of "sick minds". In 2004 Luttwak told theWall Street Journalthat he had written the article "after discussion with several like-minded consultants and officials in the Pentagon".[7]

In 1976 Luttwak publishedThe Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century AD to the Third,which generated controversy among professional historians who saw Luttwak as an outsider and a non-specialist in the field. However, the book is recognized as seminal because it raised basic questions about theRoman Armyandits defense of the Roman frontier.Later he started researching the Byzantine empire, beginning with its earliest surviving texts.[1]According toHarry Sidebottom,the majority of scholars were hostile to Luttwak's enthusiasm for fighting wars onclient stateterritory and the book made uncomfortable reading in some circles inwestern Europebecause in the 1980s Luttwak became a security consultant to U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan.[8]

In 1987 Luttwak publishedStrategy: The Logic of War and Peace.[1]According to Luttwak's publisher,Harvard University Press,the book has been widely acclaimed.[9]Luttwak became known for his innovative ideas. He suggested, for example, that attempts by major powers to quell regional wars actually make conflicts more protracted.[10]

Luttwak went on to provide consulting services tomultinational corporationsand government agencies, including various branches of the U.S. government and the U.S. military.[11]

Luttwak has served on the editorial boards ofGéopolitique(France), theJournal of Strategic Studies,The European Journal of International Affairs,and theWashington Quarterly.He speaks English, French,Hebrew,Italian,and Spanish, in addition to his native Romanian.[12]In 1997, with three partners, he purchased 19,000 hectares of land in the Bolivian Amazon, where he set up acattle ranch.[1]

Luttwak was a lecturer in economics at theUniversity of Bathfrom 1964 to 1966.[13]In 2004 Luttwak was awarded anhonorary doctorate degree(LLD) from theUniversity of Bath.He has also received honorary degrees from a university inArad, Romaniaand another from Timisoara's University as well as theUniversity of Bucharest.[14]His bookThe Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empirewas published in late 2009.[1]

Leon Wieseltier,who got to know Luttwak during the Reagan years, wrote: "Edward was this figure out of a Werner Herzog film. He was not some person who had read a bit of Tacitus and now worked at the Pentagon. He knew all the languages, the geographies, the cultures, the histories. He is the most bizarre humanist I have ever met."[1]Luttwak has said that he has usedAkira Kurosawa's filmSeven Samuraito train men to fight in war, including villagers in El Salvador.[2]

Edward Luttwak holds an issue of Lotta Comunista, Italian Left Communist monthly
Edward Luttwak holds an issue ofLotta Comunista,Italian Left Communist monthly

Predictions[edit]

Before the firstPersian Gulf WarLuttwak incorrectly predicted that Iraqi PresidentSaddam Husseinwould evacuate Kuwait "after a week or two of bombing [the bombing continued for six weeks without inducing him to do so] and warned that the use of ground forces without heavy preliminary bombing 'could makeDesert Storma bloody, grinding combat with thousands of (US) casualties.' "Writing a month into the bombing, Luttwak still opposed a ground campaign. He forecast that it would lead inevitably to a military occupation of Iraq from which the United States would be unable to disengage without disastrous foreign policy consequences.[15]

In the 1999 bookTurbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global EconomyLuttwak predicted that dynamic economic growth would increase ugly social phenomena such as highercrime ratesandjob insecurity,as anticipated in hisLondon Review of Booksarticle "Why Fascism is the Wave of the Future".[16]

In 2009,Richard Posneranalyzed intellectuals with apublic profilein the U.S. Posner claimed that Luttwak sees many affinities between the United States and the decliningRoman Empire,leading Luttwak to predict a dark age in which the U.S. population will experience decline intothird worldstatus. According to Posner, Luttwak retained his economic pessimism when theeconomy of the United Statesstood at the turn of the century.[17]

In 2015, Luttwak predicted that the Middle East will be embroiled ininternecine warfor the next thousand years, thanks to the "brilliant stroke" of strategic genius, far exceeding evenBismarck's abilities, exemplified byGeorge W. Bushwhen he ignited areligious warbetweenSunnisandShiites.[18]

Luttwak predicted in a 2016 op-ed inThe Wall Street Journalthat theTrump administrationwould pursue a foreign policy "unlikely to deviate from standard conservative norms", withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, avoiding involvement in Syria and Libya, eschewing trade wars, and modestly reducing spending — in short, "changes at the margin".[19]In office, Trump ordered dropping the "mother of all bombs"but did not withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, kindled trade wars with the EU by imposing punitive tariffs, and, rather than reducing military spending, Trump increased the military budget with deficit spending.[20]

On grand strategy[edit]

Edward Luttwak in 2011

Luttwak has long insisted on the necessity of agrand strategy,but he moved beyond preoccupation with military intervention,[21]and started to theorizediplomacyandmilitary alliances.HisGrand Strategy of the Soviet Union(1983) was the first English-language text that recognized the different nationalities that were re-emerging in the USSR and were ignored by both "Kremlinologists" and U.S. intelligence. Luttwak concluded that the Soviet Union relied entirely on military instruments for its grand strategy.[22]

Luttwak argued thatCarl von Clausewitz's warning against aggressive wars was no longer relevant in the post-World War II era. He reasoned that when confronted withweapons of mass destruction,statecraftneeded a grand strategy, that is, "the firm subordination of tactical priorities, material ideals, and warlike instincts to political goals". For Luttwak, grand strategy was no longer amilitary doctrine,but a political issue, and diplomacy was needed to achieve the security of thestate.[23]

Writing in 2007 for theNational Review,formerGeorge W. Bush's speechwriterDavid Frumsaid of Luttwak: "His book on the grand strategy of theRoman Empirewas terrific, and hisCoup d'Étatis that astounding thing: a great work of political science that is also a hilarious satire.[24]

Personal life[edit]

Luttwak describes himself as a "fanatical snorkeler" and exercises every day.[2]He lives with his wife in Maryland.[2]He has a son and daughter, as well as three grandchildren.[25]Luttwak does not own a smartphone.[2]

Works[edit]

Scholiahas anauthorprofile forEdward Luttwak.

Several of his books as listed below have also been published in other English-language editions in the UK, US, and India, and in foreign languages: Arabic, Bahasa, Chinese simplified, Chinese traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Bahasa Indonesia, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (and Brazilian Portuguese), Romanian, Russian, Spanish (in Spain, Argentina and Venezuela), Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. He has also published other books in Italian and in Japanese only.

Books[edit]

In Japanese only:

  • "China 4.0" (Tokyo, 2016)ISBN978-4166610631
  • "Japan 4.0" (Tokyo, 2018)ISBN978-4166611829
  • "Japan 4.0" in Mongolian only (Cyrillic) (Ulaan Baatar, 2019)ISBN978-9919-9504-0-8
  • ルトワックの nhật bổn cải tạo luận /エドワード・ルトワック／ trứ áo sơn chân tư ／訳...[Rejuvenating Japan: A National Strategy] (Tokyo: Asuka Shinsha, 2019)ISBN978-4-86410-728-0[co-authored with Dr. Okuyama Masashi].

In Italian only:

  • Che cos'è davvero la democrazia(What really is democracy) with Susanna Creperio Verratti (Milan, Arnoldo Mondadori, 1995)ISBN978-8804408697
  • Il fantasma della povertà: una nuova politica per difendere il benessere dei cittadini(The ghost of poverty: a new policy to defend the wellbeing of citizens) withCarlo PelandaandGiulio Tremonti(Milan, Arnoldo Mondadori, 1995)ISBN978-8804400660
  • Dove va l'Italia? Intervista a Edward Luttwak(Where is Italy going? Interview with Edward Luttwak) with Gianni Perrelli (Newton Compton, 1997)ISBN978-8881837267
  • Il libro delle libertà. Il cittadino e lo stato: regole, diritti e doveri in una democrazia(The book of liberties. The citizen and the state: rules, rights and duties in a democracy) with Susanna Creperio Verratti (Arnoldo Mondadori, 2000)ISBN978-8804408703
  • I nuovi condottieri. Vincere nel XXI secolo(The new leaders. Winning in the 21st century) withArduino Paniccia(Padua, Marsilio, 2000)ISBN978-8831775106

As contributor:

  • Vietnam: Four American Perspectivesedited byPatrick J. HeardenwithThe Impact of Vietnam on Strategic Thinking in the United States(Purdue University Press, 1990)[26]ISBN978-1557530028
  • The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, 1991edited by Grethe B. Peterson withStrategy: A New Era?[27](University of Utah, 1991)ISBN978-0874803501
  • Feeding Mars: Logistics in Western Warfare from the Middle Ages to the Presentedited byJohn A. LynnwithLogistics and the Aristocratic Idea of War(Boulder, Westview Press, 1994)
  • Voluntary Simplicity: Responding to Consumer Cultureedited by Daniel Doherty andAmitai EtzioniwithConsuming For Love(Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003)ISBN978-0742520660

Preface, foreword:

  • The Parameters Of War: Military History from the Journal of the U.S. Army War Collegeedited by Lloyd J. Matthews and Dale E. Brown (Washington, Pergamon-Brassey's, 1987)ISBN978-0080355474
  • Strategic Air Power in Desert Stormby John Andreas Olsen (London, Routledge, 2003)ISBN978-0714651934
  • Free Trade Doesn't Workby Ian Fletcher (U.S. Business & Industry Council, 2010; revised edition in 2011)ISBN978-0578079677
  • La Repubblica dei mandarini. Viaggio nell'Italia della burocrazia, delle tasse e delle leggi inutili(The Republic of mandarins. Travel in the Italy of bureaucracy, taxes and unnecessary laws) by Paolo Bracalini (Padua, Marsilio, 2014)ISBN978-8831716758

Selected book reviews[edit]

Luttwak has written book reviews for publications such asThe American Spectator,Commentary Magazine,London Review of Books,The New Republic,andThe New York Times.

Selected articles[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefghiMeaney, Thomas (September 9, 2015)."The Machiavelli of Maryland".The Guardian.RetrievedDecember 10,2015.
  2. ^abcde"Interview with Edward Luttwak".Interviews with Max Raskin.Archivedfrom the original on September 10, 2021.RetrievedSeptember 10,2021.
  3. ^The Johns Hopkins University (1975)."The Johns Hopkins University 1975 Commencement Program".Johns Hopkins University.
  4. ^Rozen, Laura (June 5, 2008)."The Operator: The Double Life of a Military Strategist".The Forward.RetrievedFebruary 28,2019.
  5. ^The Johns Hopkins University (1975)."The Johns Hopkins University 1975 Commencement Program".Johns Hopkins University.
  6. ^Mann, James.Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet.New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2004, pp. 31-32.ISBN9780143034896
  7. ^Yaqub, Salim (2016).Imperfect Strangers: Americans, Arabs, and U.S.–Middle East Relations in the 1970s.Cornell University Press. pp. 192–193, 392.ISBN9781501706882.
  8. ^Sidebottom, Harry (2004).Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction.OUP Oxford. p. 72.ISBN9780191577970.
  9. ^"Strategy — Edward N. Luttwak".Harvard University Press.RetrievedOctober 23,2018.
  10. ^Luttwak, Edward (July–August 1999). "Give War a Chance".Foreign Affairs.78(4): 36–44.doi:10.2307/20049362.JSTOR20049362.S2CID150572796.
  11. ^Professional Profile: Edward LuttwakArchivedDecember 24, 2012, at theWayback Machine.Idcitalia.com. Accessed March 11, 2012.
  12. ^"Edward N. Luttwak".igs.berkeley.edu.Institute of Governmental Studies - UC Berkeley. August 26, 2013.RetrievedOctober 23,2018.
  13. ^Luttwak, Edward (November–December 1973). "The Political Application of Naval Force: A Precis".Naval War College Review.26(3): 38–40.JSTOR44641436.
  14. ^"The names of our honorary graduates and which degrees were conferred upon them".www.bath.ac.uk.RetrievedOctober 29,2019.
  15. ^Posner, Richard A. (2009).Public Intellectuals.Harvard University Press. p. 143.ISBN9780674042278.
  16. ^Posner, Richard A. (2009).Public Intellectuals.Harvard University Press. p. 142.ISBN9780674042278.
  17. ^Posner, Richard A. (2009).Public Intellectuals.Harvard University Press. p. 294.ISBN9780674042278.
  18. ^Thomas Meaney,'The Machiavelli of Maryland,'The Guardian,9 December 2015
  19. ^Luttwak, Edward N. (March 9, 2016)."Suffering From Trumphobia? Get Over It".Wall Street Journal.RetrievedApril 11,2023.
  20. ^"Trump's Fiscal Legacy: A Comprehensive Overview of Spending, Taxes, and Deficits".May 11, 2022.
  21. ^Milevski, Lukas (2016).The Evolution of Modern Grand Strategic Thought.Oxford University Press. p. 111.ISBN9780198779773.
  22. ^Milevski, Lukas (2016).The Evolution of Modern Grand Strategic Thought.Oxford University Press. p. 115.ISBN9780198779773.
  23. ^Milevski, Lukas (2016).The Evolution of Modern Grand Strategic Thought.Oxford University Press. p. 116.ISBN9780198779773.
  24. ^Frum, David (May 3, 2007)."Luttwak's Cakewalk".National Review.Archived fromthe originalon September 21, 2013.RetrievedNovember 27,2020.
  25. ^Luttwak, Edward (2001).Strategy: the logic of war and peace(Rev. and enl. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-00703-1.
  26. ^McGovern, George; Westmoreland, William; Luttwak, Edward; McCormick, Thomas; Hearden, Patrick (November 15, 1990)."Vietnam, Four American Perspectives: Lectures".Purdue University Press Books:112.
  27. ^"Lecture Library - The Tanner Lectures on Human Values - The University of Utah".tannerlectures.utah.edu.RetrievedFebruary 25,2019.

Further reading[edit]

Library resources
By Edward Luttwak

External links[edit]

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