Armies of Sand

Armies of Sand addresses why Arab armed forces fared so poorly in battle since the Second World War. It explores four different explanations that scholars, soldiers, and military experts have suggested: Soviet doctrine, politicization, underdevelopment, and culture. To do so, it looks at the performance of over two-dozen Arab militaries from 1948 to 2017, and compares them to a half-dozen non-Arab militaries, to conclude that politics, economics, and culture all contribute to the past weakness of Arab armies. It concludes by addressing circumstances in which Arab military fortunes may shift as both warfare and their societies change.