Strategy sets the objective. Logistics makes it possible.
Throughout military history, great strategies have succeeded or failed not simply because of the decisions of commanders, but because armies could—or could not—sustain the operations those strategies demanded.
On Logistics explores the often-overlooked relationship between strategy and logistics, drawing on campaigns from Sun Tzu to the Second Gulf War to demonstrate how logistics can enable strategy, constrain it, or determine its ultimate success or failure.
Bringing together historical examples and strategic and logistical theory, this book challenges the traditional separation of the two disciplines. Strategists need to understand logistics; logisticians need to understand strategy. They cannot be developed in isolation.
On Logistics provides a practical framework for understanding why strategy and logistics must be planned concurrently—not in separate planning cells—and why logistics can be one of the most powerful determinants of operational success.
"Amateurs talk tactics; professionals talk logistics—yet few books bridge the two disciplines that decide every campaign. On Logistics does. Drawing on a career spanning sustainment and strategy, Joe Walden traces an unbroken line from Sun Tzu and Jomini through Normandy, Vietnam, and Desert Storm to today's contested supply chains, showing how strategy divorced from logistics invites defeat on the battlefield and collapse in the boardroom. Equal parts primer, history, and warning, this is essential reading for strategists who take logistics for granted, logisticians who never see the plan, and every leader charged with turning intent into outcomes."
Col. Steve Leonard, US Army retired, University of Kansas School of Business
Publication 1st February 2027
9781912440924 paperback
9781922440931 hardback
9781912440948 EPUB
*the cover of this book is not final*
