The More Usual Reason For Adopting A

If You Find Your Opponent In A Strong Position Costly To Force, You Should Leave Him A Line Of Retreat As The Quickest Way Of Loosening His Resistance. It Should, Equally, Be A Principle Of Policy, Especially In War, To Provide Your Opponent With A Ladder By Which He Can Climb Down.

This High Proportion Of History's Decisive Campaigns, The Significance Of Which Is Enhanced By The Comparative Rarity Of The Direct Approach, Enforces The Conclusion That The Indirect Is By Far The Most Hopeful And Economic Form Of Strategy.

It Is Folly To Imagine That The Aggressive Types, Whether Individuals Or Nations, Can Be Bought Off ... Since The Payment Of Danegeld Stimulates A Demand For More Danegeld. But They Can Be Curbed. Their Very Belief In Force Makes Them More Susceptible To The Deterrent Effect Of A Formidable Opposing Force.

The Most Consistently Successful Commanders, When Faced By An Enemy In A Position That Was Strong Naturally Or Materially, Have Hardly Ever Tackled It In A Direct Way. And When, Under Pressure Of Circumstances, They Have Risked A Direct Attack, The Result Has Commonly Been To Blot Their Record With A Failure.

The Urge To Gain Release From Tension By Action Is A Precipitating Cause Of War.