On War and Creativity

A highly original investigation of the consequential impact of creativity on military innovation and warfare, from the Enlightenment to the present.

War is generally associated with death and destruction—not creativity, nor the power to invent and build. But Dan Öberg argues in On War and Creativity, the two have more in common than meets the eye. Informed and shaped by ideas of creativity, this book characterizes war as part of an age-old martial dream of destroying while giving birth to the new and unimaginable. The author reveals, traces, and contextualizes this dream as a historical undercurrent spanning centuries.

To understand the role creativity plays not only in war but also in society, we must take those who wage war seriously. Accordingly, this book focuses on military thinking and practice, tracing war from the Enlightenment battlefields to our present era obsessed with creative destruction and disruptive innovation. In this analysis, military creativity emerges as an undercurrent that enables and empowers those who embody and enact it. The book presents a new perspective on the history of war, showing how creativity, and associated notions such as genius and innovation, play pivotal roles in the waging and understanding of war. Speaking directly to the current debate about the decline in the liberal rules-based order, Öberg reveals how the relationship between war and creativity is shaping an emerging order based on disruptive political ideas.