Ground Combat
Puncturing the Myths of Modern War
Ben Connable's Ground Combat uses a new dataset of 423 battle cases (2003-2022) to describe 21st Century land war and to challenge standing assumptions about modern warfare. For more on this book, including other purchasing options, see the sections below. To order the book click on any of the links below.
About Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War
Assumptions about the so-called character of modern war too often stand on strong opinions rather than empirical evidence. Ground Combat builds from a database of 423 modern battles - fought in places like Ukraine, Yemen, the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, etc. - to provide an evidence driven challenge to these assumptions. War may not be changing as quickly or as dramatically as some think. This finding, and all the supporting evidence behind it, have significant implications for the ways in which the United States, its allies, and its partners shape their forces for current and future wars.
What if there is no character of modern war?
We often assume we can characterize war with a universal explanation. Evidence from both historical and modern wars suggests that there is not, in fact, a universal character of war. Readers may be surprised to find out who agrees with this conclusion.
What if drones are not really "game changers?"
Drones are important and useful tools in modern warfare; indeed they have been for many decades. While drone proliferation has accelerated dramatically in the past several years, drones have not substantively changed the ways which armies fight on land around the world. We need to be careful about reading too much into wars in Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine. Ground Combat covers both the history and new, modern data on drone use in land warfare.
What if we know very little about many recent wars?
While Ground Combat organizes and introduces new data on hundreds of modern battles, research into global warfare shows that we know very little about many of the wars fought in the past two decades, including the wars in Syria, Ethiopia-Tigray, Nagorno-Karabakh, Myanmar, Yemen, and even in parts of Ukraine. This gap in knowledge affects the ways in which we collectively describe and understand war.
Endorsements
“Connable sweeps away the dominant theories of military revolutions and future war through forensic analysis of the actual conduct of modern ground combat. The implications for force design are profound. This important book sets a new standard for rigorous military analysis, and is a must read for every officer, defense planner, and student of war.” — Dr. Theo Farrell, president, La Trobe University
"A rigorous examination of what remains the same, what changes, and in what ways in the most elemental form of war – ground combat. This book is remarkable not only for the depth of quantitative research backed by shrewd qualitative analysis, but for the tough fair-mindedness of the author. A landmark study.”
—Dr. Eliot A. Cohen, Arleigh Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies
“In this extensively researched study of ground combat since WWII, Connable demonstrates that modern wars show more continuity than change. Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War certainly deflates the marked tendency in US defense planning circles to embrace each new technology as a paradigm shift or game changer. This book will be provocative to technophiles, but we cannot dictate future military success by emergent technology alone.”
—Dr. Frank G. Hoffman, National Defense University
“Ben Connable offers us a study of ground combat with commendable breadth, depth, and context. As a ‘pracademic,’ he genuinely understands both the theory and practice of war. Those who seek certainty in war will be disappointed—because, with considerable insight and wisdom, Connable reminds us that the answer to almost every war-related question is ‘it depends.’”
—Maj. Gen. Dr. Andrew R. D. Sharpe, CBE, director, Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research
“Compliments to Ben. Strategists, developers and force planners must balance the siren song of technology with the lessons of history to forecast accurately in a resource constrained world. Ben offers a way to do just that.”
—Jim Jamerson, General (Ret) US Air Force