<div>The Crimea, the Boer War, the Somme, Tobruk, Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs: these are just some of the milestones in a century and a half of military incompetence, of costly mishaps and tragic blunders. Are these simple accidentsas the bloody fool” theory has itor are they inevitable?<br><br>The psychologist Norman Dixon argues that there is a pattern to inept generalship, a pattern he locates within the very act of creating armies in the first place, which in his view produces a levelling down of human capability that encourages the mediocre and limits the gifted. A classic study of military leadership, <i>On the Psychology of Military Incompetence</i> is both an original exploration of infamous modern battles and an essential guide for the next generation of military leaders.<br><br></div>