[PW] "Generals are always fighting the last war" (Quotation Query #645)

[Fred Shapiro]

Someone has asked me for the origin of the saying "Generals are always fighting 
the last war."  I have something similar to this in The Yale Book of Quotations 
from Barbara Tuchman (1962), but I imagine it predates her. Any ideas or 
evidence as to early usages or origin?

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press
Yale Law School                             ISBN 0300107986
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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