Do you like surprises? Many people do. Surprise parties are popular for birthdays, anniversaries, and retirements. But then there are other types of surprises – a serious diagnosis following a routine visit to the family doctor for a checkup, your spouse asking seemingly out of the blue for separation or divorce, the sudden death of a parent, good friend, or old classmate. So, you might respond, I wouldn’t say I like ALL surprises; it depends on the context. That’s a valid point. Speaking for myself, however, I prefer to avoid surprises, even good ones. They get the heart racing. Too much.
John Sholto Douglas (1844-1900), the ninth Marquess of Queensberry, sponsored and gave his name to a set of boxing rules written by the British sportsman and journalist John Graham Chambers (1843-1883). The rules are commonly called the Queensberry Rules. As a side note, Douglas was the father of Lord Alfred Douglas, the young nobleman linked to Oscar Wilde’s downfall.
I want to draw attention to the tenth of Queensberry’s twelve rules: A man on one knee is considered down and if struck is entitled to the stakes. [Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Marquess of Queensberry rules.” Encyclopedia Britannica, May 24, 2023. The severity of the punishment reflects the severity of the violation.
In professional boxing, a sucker punch refers to a punch thrown without warning or when the recipient is unprepared. Typically, the opponent is caught off guard. Minimally, the punch is considered unsportsmanlike and can, as in Queensberry’s tenth rule, result in severe punishment. The key element in a sucker punch is its surprise, that it’s not expected.
Here, I want to focus on military surprise attacks. I will review a few historical examples, one from the Bible and another from modern history. I will close with some thoughts on surprise attacks by an acknowledged expert, the Prussian general and writer on military strategy, Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831).
In Judges 7:16-22, we read the following description of a surprise attack against the Midianites led by Gideon, one of the great judges of Israel. He is using a small force of three hundred men.
He divided the three hundred men into three columns and equipped every man with a ram’s horn and an empty jar, with a torch in each jar. “Watch me,” he said, “and do the same. When I get to the outposts of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all those with me blow our horns, you too, all around the camp, will blow your horns and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!'” Gideon and the hundred men with him arrived at the outposts of the camp, at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the sentries were posted. They sounded the horns and smashed the jars that they had with them, and the three columns blew their horns and broke their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns for blowing in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” They remained standing where they were, surrounding the camp; but the entire camp ran about yelling, and took to flight. For when the three hundred horns were sounded, the LORD turned every man’s sword against his fellow, throughout the camp, and the entire host fled as far as Bethshittah and on to Zererah—as far as the outskirts of Abel-meholah near Tabbath. And now the men of Israel from Naphtali and Asher and from all of Manasseh rallied for the pursuit of the Midianites. Gideon also sent messengers all through the hill country of Ephraim with this order: “Go down ahead of the Midianites and seize their access to the water all along the Jordan down to Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim rallied and seized the waterside down to Beth-barah by the Jordan. They pursued the Midianites and captured Midian’s two generals, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb and they killed Zeeb at the Winepress of Zeeb; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb from the other side of the Jordan to Gideon.
Jewish Publication Society of America. Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures–The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Jewish Publication Society. Kindle Edition.
Gideon’s odd tactics and the element of surprise resulted in a decisive battle victory for the Israelites. The battle didn’t end the war, however. It was necessary to pursue the fleeing Midianites. The weakened Midianites sustained heavy losses, leading to their eventual defeat and ending the war in Israel’s favor.
On December 7, 1941, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884-1943) led the Japanese surprise attack against the US Naval fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto supported the Pearl Harbor attack. He believed that a surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor would give Japan a strategic advantage and cripple American naval power in the Pacific. Despite initial success, the attack ultimately had significant consequences for Japan, including the United States’ entry into World War II. The Japanese won the battle of Pearl Harbor, but they lost the war. The war ended in the horrible destruction of two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945.
The lesson from these two examples seems clear. Unless you are certain that your surprise attack will cripple your enemy in such a way that they will be unable to recover, all bets are off on who will win the war. Oh, there’s one other thing. The Prussian General I mentioned earlier writes in his book titled On War:
Now there still remains an observation which concerns the essence of the thing. A surprise can only be effected by that party which gives the law to the other; and he who is in the right gives the law. If we surprise the adversary by a wrong measure, then instead of reaping good results, we may have to bear a sound blow in return; in any case the adversary need not trouble himself much about our surprise, he has in our mistake the means of turning off the evil.
von Clausewitz, Carl. On War (Classics of World Literature) (p. 172). Wordsworth Editions Ltd. Kindle Edition.
Executing a surprise attack with flawed planning or incorrect strategy could backfire, resulting in unforeseen consequences or even retaliation from the enemy. Surprise alone is insufficient; it must be coupled with sound planning and strategic thinking to achieve positive outcomes.
May we all see peaceful times where the only surprises are the good kind!
All the best,
Gershon
Gershon Ben-Avraham 