Law 12: Grand Strategy

Question 1

What is the core tenet of grand strategy?

Answer 1

It’s ok to lose battles, but you win the war.

Question 2

What are the mistakes you can make in victory during a war?

Answer 2

• You get drunk on power, you don’t stop, overreach and lose everything
• Victory increases the danger you’re exposed to and you get caught in an overwhelming death spiral of attack and counter attack

Question 3

What are the 5 things you should consider before making a single move?

Answer 3

• The enemy
• Reactions of allies
• Reactions of neighbouring states
• Imagine the peace after the war
• The capabilities of your army over time

Question 4

What are the 4 core aspects of grand strategy?

Answer 4

1. Focus on your greater goal, your destiny
2. Widen your perspective
3. Sever the roots
4. Take the indirect route to your goal

Question 5

What is the difference between a wish and a goal?

Answer 5

A wish is a hazy desire, large and abstract.

A goal is specific, detailed and focused.

Question 6

In what ways can you find focus on your greater goal?

Answer 6

• How will it feel to reach your goal?
• What will reaching your goal look like?
• Visualise your end point in intense detail
• Visualise the aftermath of the campaign

Question 7

How do you visualise the aftermath of the campaign?

Answer 7

• The signing of the treaty
• The look of defeat on the opponent’s face
• Exactly how this victory would position me for my next campaign

Question 8

What are the objectives of grand strategy?

Answer 8

• Build a strong foundation for future expansion
• Make you more secure
• Increase your power

Question 9

What is the key goal of widening your perspective?

Answer 9

To be able to see further in time and space than the enemy

Question 10

What restricts your perspective?

Answer 10

• We live in the present, reacting constantly to immediate circumstances
• Our subjective experiences and desires
• How we wish things to be

Question 11

How can you force yourself to widen your perspective?

Answer 11

• For every event, dig deep into the causal chain of relationships that made it happen
• Try to look at the world through other people’s eyes (esp your enemy)
• Think about anyone - “how are they NOT like me?”

Question 12

What is politics?

Answer 12

The art of promoting and protecting your own interests

Question 13

How does politics play a role in your perspective in a situation?

Answer 13

If you have a narrow perspective, you’re acting in self-interest without thinking about the needs of others around you.

If you broaden your perspective, you can see how any situation can affect the interests of others around you.

Question 14

Define “political consequences”

Answer 14

Your behaviour and actions in the world always have political consequences. People analyse it in terms of whether it helps or harms them.

Question 15

When considering the politics of any move you’re about to make, what should lead to you AVOIDING that move?

Answer 15

If it leads to alienating potential allies, or creating intractable enemies, you should avoid it.

Question 16

When considering the politics of a move you’re about to make, what should lead to you going ahead with the move?

Answer 16

If you gain support from people and are able to create and strengthen your base, you should go ahead with the move.

Question 17

Before beginning a campaign, what is an absolute deal-breaker?

Answer 17

If you can see that by the end of the campaign you have fewer allies and more enemies, that’s an absolute deal-breaker.

Question 18

What is the ideal end to a campaign?

Answer 18

The end should see you with a larger support base.

Question 19

How can you ensure that you end a campaign with a larger support base?

Answer 19

You serve people’s self-interests during your campaign.

Question 20

What does the author mean by “sever the roots”?

Answer 20

An enemy is like an onion. You have to peel the layers to understand the real source of their power and motivation. If you can find and eliminate that source, you can win.

Question 21

What questions can you ask to understand the roots that give an enemy strength?

Answer 21

• What motivates them?
• What is the source of their power?

Question 22

What is the goal of “severing the roots?”

Answer 22

To find and eliminate the source of the enemy’s power

Question 23

What is a very powerful way to sever enemies’ roots?

Answer 23

You see dangers as they start to sprout, and cut them down before they become too big to handle

Question 24

What is the greatest danger in strategy?

Answer 24

Losing the initiative. You find yourself constantly reacting to what the other side does.

Question 25

What can you do to make sure that you don’t lose the initiative in strategy?

Answer 25

You always make the first move.

Question 26

What kind of first move can you make to get the advantage in strategy?

Answer 26

A setup or a distraction.

A setup renders the enemy defenceless, while a distraction blinds the enemy to your next move.

Question 27

What is the absolutely wrong kind of first move to make in strategic warfare?

Answer 27

A direct hit.

Question 28

Why is a direct hit the wrong move to make in strategic warfare?

Answer 28

It makes the enemy take up a defensive pose and it initiates a counter-attack cycle.

Question 29

What are the key tenets of Step 1 in any strategic war? Why is it so important?

Answer 29

• It sets the tempo
• It determines the enemy’s mindset
• It launches you in a definite direction

Question 30

When you fail in war, what are the exact wrong things to do?

Answer 30

• Blame someone else
• Self-pity
• Anger
• Blame yourself
• Feel guilty

Question 31

When you fail in war, what are the right things to do?

Answer 31

• Understand that the goal was misguided
• Expand your vision
• Go deeper into the enemy’s psyche
• Better evaluate the political landscape
• Better evaluate your SWOT
• Better evaluate the sentiment fallout
• Create a new strategy

Question 32

How can you course-correct from a misguided goal that led to failure in war?

Answer 32

Employ the following in setting the new goal

• More prudence
• Wiser policies
• Greater vision

Question 33

What are the dangers of victory in strategic war?

Answer 33

A rash new campaign drunk on overconfidence

Question 34

What should you do when you win at strategic war?

Answer 34

After victory, retrench. Strain 2x to avoid complacency.

Question 35

Forgetting our objectives. During the journey we commonly forget its _____. Almost every profession is chosen and commenced as a _________ but continued as an __________. __________ is the most frequent of all acts of stupidity.

Answer 35

Forgetting our objectives. During the journey we commonly forget its goal. Almost every profession is chosen and commenced as a means to an end but continued as an end in itself. Forgetting our objectives is the most frequent of all acts of stupidity.

• Nietzsche