Alexander Suvorov Quotes
Fight the enemy with the weapons he lacks.
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, 1729–1800, Russian General & Field Marshall, Quoted in Ossipov, "Suvorov," 1945
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The “adversary” was Pakistan, which was frequently sending military and terrorist attacks into Kashmire much if which has been disputed by Pakistan ever since the Partition of India in 1949. India had a very disciplined and well led military and like most sophisticated military powers did not immediately retaliate for military incursions despite the public pressure to do so. Instead they gave themselves time to plan and organize the logistics for a series of surgical strikes at the terrorist and/or military concentrations Pakistan had deployed close to the border which they launched several days later.
He was a strong believer in surprise attack and preemption.
This practice credited to the Americans in WWII while the German’s waited for instructions, was not an American invention. It appears to have originated with one of the greatest of the Russian military leaders.
His hubris soon backfired as the Indians learned how to tactically cope with firearms. For example they soon learned that they would see the flash of the musket before the ball would discharge, so would lie down and the bullets would pass overhead. The muskets were effective as defensive weapons from behind barricades though not very accurate. Swords and pikes turned out to be more effective in most cases.
Although this may seem obvious to most, there has been, in recent years, an attempt by some to introduce the concept of proportionality into the war equation and definition of war crime. Defense after attack many argue should be proportional to the attack. So if Nation A shoots down a plane of Nation B, according to this logic Nation B is not supposed to invade nation A. Brecher points out the absurdity of the concept from a war point of view. It is however used by many to criticize the defenses against terrorism where modern weapons are used against terrorists and those that harbor them.
So far as the Iraq government was concerned the important enemy were the minority Sunni Muslims who had dominated the Shiites before the American Invasion. For America the enemy was Al Qaeda and the terrorists as well as the Sunnis. We ended up fighting Sunnis and even Shiites as the definition of the enemy changed with time.
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov was a Russian general in service of the Russian Empire. He was Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Prince of Italy, and the last Generalissimo of the Russian Empire. Suvorov is considered one of the greatest military commanders in Russian history and one of the great generals of the early modern period. He was awarded numerous medals, titles, and honors by Russia, as well as by other countries. Suvorov secured Russia's expanded borders and renewed military prestige and left a legacy of theories on warfare. He was the author of several military manuals, the most famous being The Science of Victory, and was noted for several of his sayings. Several military academies, monuments, villages, museums, and orders in Russia are dedicated to him. He never lost a single major battle he had commanded.
