THE ROLE OF LUCK

About the Book

In attempting to analyze the role of luck in war, a rather narrow definition of luck is necessary. The conventional dictionary definitions of luck are "a force that brings good fortune or adversity" and "the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual." Those definitions are so broad that they would appear to cover many, perhaps most, events in war. There is in literature an old expression, deus ex machina, a translation into Latin of the original Greek thēos ek mechanēs. While it literally translates as "a god from a machine", its meaning is a person or thing that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty. In the book a similar but probably unique concept, felix ex machina, will be used to denote certain extreme instances of luck which was relatively sudden, completely unexpected with dramatic consequences, good or bad, in war.

About the Author

Gordon B. Greer was born in Butler, Pennsylvania, and educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He practiced law for 43 years and served in the United States Air Force from which he retired as a Major. Mr. Greer lives in Belmont, Massachusetts.