Mao Tse-Tung on War : Strategy, Guerrilla Warfare and Doctrine

Contents: Preface. 1. Strategy in China's Revolutionary War: i. Understanding war. ii. Aspects of war. iii. "Encirclement and Suppression" and counter-campaigns. iv. The strategic defensive. 2. Strategy in Guerrilla War against Japan: i. The question of strategy in Guerrilla War. ii. Principle of war: Preserve oneself and destroy the enemy. iii. The political problems of Guerrilla warfare. iv. The strategy of Guerrilla resistance against Japan. v. Initiative, flexibility and planning in conducting offensive within the defensive, battles of quick decision within protracted war, and exterior-line operations within interior-line operations. vi. Co-ordination with regular warfare. vii. The establishment of base areas. viii. The strategic defensive and the strategic offensive in Guerrilla War. ix. Development of Guerrilla War into Mobile War. x. The relationship of command. 3. On protracted war: i. Defining the problem. 4. On war and strategy: i. The strategic role of Guerrilla warfare. ii. The study of military matters. 5. Turning point in World War II. 6. The People's War. 7. On production by the Army for its own Support. 8. Concentrate a superior force to destroy the enemy forces one by one. 9. Strategy for the second year of the war. 10. The three main rules of discipline and the eight points for attention--instruction of the general headquarters of the Red Army. 11. The momentous change in China's Military Situation. Appendices

"A collection of selected military writings by Mao Tse-Tung, this book contains his four most important discourses on warfare. The first section, on strategy in China's Revolutionary War, considers the rational and classical stratagems underlying the conduct of a successful war. The second section, on strategy in Guerrilla War against Japan, discusses the conduct of Guerrilla actions relative to, and within, conventional warfare. The third, On Protracted War, deals with a wide range of topics including mobile warfare, Guerrilla Warfare, positional warfare war of attrition and war of Annihilation. The section on War and Strategy summarizes the lessons of the previous discourses and reiterates the famous dictum: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".

Anyone who has an interest in political power has a valid reason to read these important essays by 20 century's most successful revolutionary. Mao Tse-Tung understood and used the keys to power as effectively as they have ever been used. This book is a prime example of Mao at work--exhorting, cajoling and instructing--at a time when he was closely in touch with the hearts and minds of his people.

Those who tend to dismiss Mao Tse-Tung as a demagogue miss the point that he had an agenda that was separate and apart from his ideology: to rule and reform China. He first sold his revolution to the people on the basis of their discontent and rationalised his political views to obtain his objectives. He was a master of contorted logic, rationalisation, salesmanship effective propaganda. This book shows him, in his own words, at his most subtle and persuasive." (jacket)