Hesitance, Initiative and Winning a Fight

I'm reposting in substance, an article from the "LESSONS ON THE ENGLISH LONGSWORD" Blog. If you'd like to read the complete text (Click Here).

"To control the fight, one must "create the fight. To bend an opponent to one's will, one must force the opponent to react; to guide, recognize and preempt the opponent's actions and reactions. This is an integral, shining facet of that jewel of the art that we treasure.

"As the ancient maxim of many a culture says, to defend is to prolong defeat. The other side of the coin being that action beats reaction. The best defense is a strong offense. These sayings are innumerable within the martial arts, and one could scribe volumes on them. Yet one will never find anything advocating the opposite...anyone who has studied these arts, and many who haven't, will tell you that within the tradition continued by Leichtenauer, the seizing of the initiative to end the fight quickly and efficiently and to control the opponent is highly regarded. It is also apparent in that it is by far the favored means of doing so in the contemporary English tradition."

Today everyone stresses defensive martial arts - aikido being one of the most often learned.  For some reason I don't presently understand there is some twisted virtue in giving an enemy the gift of the first move. If you give it to a skilled enemy, you forfeit the engagement.  In nature one lion doesn't give another lion the first bite for control of the pride. 

A combatant must always seize and retain the initiative in order to remain in control of a series of attacks. I use the word "momentum". It's true in life, it's true in business and it's true in politics. Surrendering momentum means losing the contest.