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Military strategy is a collective name for planning the conduct of warfare. War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units Military history is a Humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity Prehistoric warfare is War conducted in the era before Writing, and before the establishments of large social entities like States Historical warfare sets Ancient warfare is War as conducted from the beginnings of recorded History to the end of the ancient period Medieval Warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages. In Europe technological cultural and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character Early Modern warfare is associated with the start of the widespread use of Gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive Industrial warfare is a period in the History of warfare ranging roughly from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the beginning of the Information Age Modern warfare, although present in every Historical period of Military history, is generally used to refer to the concepts, methods and Battlespace is a unified strategy to integrate and combine Armed forces for the Military theatre of operations, including air, information Air power redirects here for electrical and mechanical energy supplied by air movement see Wind power Information warfare is the use and management of information in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent Land warfare, sometimes also called ground combat is the term used to describe military operations eventuating in Combat that take place predominantly on the land surface of Naval warfare is Combat in and on Seas Oceans or any other major bodies of water such as large Lakes and wide Rivers History Space warfare is combat that takes place in Outer space, ie outside the Atmosphere. A weapon is a Tool used either in Hunting, or attack or defence in Combat for the purpose of subduing enemy personnel or to destroy enemy weapons Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of Armoured fighting vehicles in Modern warfare. Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine Biological warfare (BW — known as a germ warfare, biological weapons and bioweaponry — is the use of any Pathogen ( Bacterium The Cavalry (from French cavalerie) is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as Soldiers or Warriors who fought mounted on Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of Chemical substances to kill injure or incapacitate an enemy. Electronic warfare ( EW) is the use of the Electromagnetic spectrum to effectively deny the use of this medium by an adversary while optimizing its use by friendly The Infantry is the oldest and most numerous of the Combat Arms in the Armed forces, and consists A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. The US Department of Defense defines psychological warfare ( PSYWAR) as" The planned use of Propaganda and other Psychological actions Military tactics ( Greek: Taktikē, the art of organizing an army are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating This article is about the military strategy For the Israeli-Egyptian conflict see War of Attrition, for the game theoretical model see War of attrition (game Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc Maneuver warfare, also spelled manoeuvre warfare, is the term used by military theorists for a concept of Warfare that advocates attempting to Total war is a conflict of unlimited scope in which a Belligerent engages in a total mobilization of all available resources at his disposal Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static Economic warfare is the term for economic policies followed as a part of Military operations during Wartime The purpose of economic warfare is to capture Grand strategy is military Strategy at the level of movement and use of an entire Nation state or Empire 's resources A military organization is a way of structuring the armed forces of a State as a need to offer Military capability required by the National defence policy A military organization is a way of structuring the armed forces of a State as a need to offer Military capability required by the National defence policy Military rank is a system of hierarchical relationships in Armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines A military organization is a way of structuring the armed forces of a State as a need to offer Military capability required by the National defence policy Military Logistics is the art and science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of military forces This article lists military technology items devices and methods Materiel (from the French "matériel" for equipment or hardware related to the word Material) is a term used in English to refer to the Military supply chain management is a cross-functional approach to procuring, producing and delivering products and services The broad This is an index to articles listing Battles. List of battles (alphabetical gives a global list See also Military History Antiquity Albania Agron ( 250 BC - 230 BC) The first king to unite the Illyrian This is a list of missions operations and projects Missions in support of other missions are not listed independently A Siege is a prolonged Military Assault and Blockade on a City or Fortress with the intent of conquering by force or Attrition See also List of military writers. Friedrich von Bernhardi Ivan Bloch John Boyd, inventor of the OODA Loop This is a listing of lists of Wars, sorted by country date region and type of conflict This article lists and summarizes War crimes committed since the Hague Convention of 1907. There is a bewildering array of Weapons far more than would be useful in list form This is a list of military writers, alphabetical by last name Warfare refers to the conduct of conflict between opponents and usually involves escalation of aggression from the proverbial "war of words" between politicians Derived from the Greek strategos, strategy was seen as the "art of the general". Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly For the board game see Stratego. "Strategus" redirects here Military strategy deals with the planning and conduct of campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, and the deception of the enemy. The term enemy combatant has historically referred to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war The father of modern strategic study, Carl von Clausewitz, defined military strategy as "the employment of battles to gain the end of war. Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (ˈklaʊzəvɪts ( July 1, 1780 – November 16, 1831) was a Prussian soldier military historian " Liddell Hart's definition put less emphasis on battles, defining strategy as "the art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill the ends of policy" Hence, both gave the preeminence to political aims over military goals, ensuring civilian control of the military. Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart ( 31 October 1895 &ndash 29 January 1970) usually known before his knighthood as Civilian control of the military is a doctrine in military and Political science that places ultimate responsibility for a country's Military strategy was one of a trivium of "arts" or "sciences" that govern the conduct of warfare; the others being tactics, the execution of plans and manœuvering of forces in battle, and logistics, the maintenance of an army. Military tactics ( Greek: Taktikē, the art of organizing an army are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating Logistics is the management of the flow of Goods, Information and other resources including Energy and people between the point of origin and the point The border line between strategy and tactics is blurred and sometimes categorisation of a decision is a matter of almost personal opinion.

Contents 1 Fundamentals of military strategy 2 Principles of military strategy 3 Development of military strategy 3.1 Early military strategy 3.2 Genghis Khan and the Mongols 3.3 Napoleonic strategy 3.4 Strategy in the industrial age 3.5 Strategy in World War I 3.6 Strategy development between World Wars 3.7 Strategy in World War II 3.7.1 German strategy 3.7.2 Anglo-American strategy 3.7.3 Soviet strategy 3.7.4 Japanese strategy 3.7.5 American Pacific strategy 3.7.6 Australian strategy 3.8 Cold War strategy 3.9 Post Cold War strategy 4 Military strategists 5 See also 6 References 7 Sources 8 Further reading

Fundamentals of military strategy

"Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances. " – Sun Tzu

"You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war. Sun Tzu ( ("Master Sun" also called Sun Wu ( is traditionally considered to be the author of The Art of War (also simply called the " – Napoleon Bonaparte

Strategy and tactics are closely related. Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. Military tactics ( Greek: Taktikē, the art of organizing an army are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating Both deal with distance, time and force but strategy is large scale while tactics are small scale. Originally strategy was understood to govern the prelude to a battle while tactics controlled its execution. However, in the world wars of the 20th century, the distinction between maneuver and battle, strategy and tactics, became blurred. A world war is a War affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Tactics that were once the province of a company of cavalry would be applied to a panzer army. A company is a Military unit, typically consisting of 75-200 Soldiers Most companies are formed of three to five Platoons although the exact number may vary The Cavalry (from French cavalerie) is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as Soldiers or Warriors who fought mounted on A panzer, pronunced, is a German Tank, especially in the context of World War II. An army (from Latin Armata "act of arming" via Old French armée) in the broadest sense is the land-based Armed forces It is often said that the art of strategies defines the goals to achieve in a military campaign, while tactics defines the methods to achieve these goals. Strategic goals could be "We want to conquer area X", or "We want to stop country Y's expansion in world trade in commodity Z"; while tactical decisions range from "We're going to do this by a naval invasion of the North of country X", "We're going to blockade the ports of country Y", all the way down to "C Platoon will attack while D platoon provides fire cover".

In its purest form, strategy dealt solely with military issues. In earlier societies, a king or political leader was often the same person as the military leader. If he was not, the distance of communication between the political and the military leader was small. But as the need of a professional army grew, the bounds between the politicians and the military came to be recognized. In many cases, it was decided that there was a need for a separation. As French statesman Georges Clemenceau said, "war is too important a business to be left to soldiers. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Georges Benjamin Clemenceau ( Mouilleron-en-Pareds ( Vendée) 28 September 1841 24 November 1929 was a French statesman physician and Journalist " This gave rise to the concept of the grand strategy which encompasses the management of the resources of an entire nation in the conduct of warfare. Grand strategy is military Strategy at the level of movement and use of an entire Nation state or Empire 's resources In the environment of the grand strategy, the military component is largely reduced to operational strategy -- the planning and control of large military units such as corps and divisions. This article is about a military unit For alternative meanings see Corps (disambiguation. A division is a large Military unit or formation usually consisting of around ten to thirty thousand soldiers As the size and number of the armies grew and the technology to communicate and control improved, the difference between "military strategy" and "grand strategy" shrank.

Fundamental to grand strategy is the diplomacy through which a nation might forge alliances or pressure another nation into compliance, thereby achieving victory without resorting to combat. Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting Negotiations between representatives of groups or states Another element of grand strategy is the management of the post-war peace. As Clausewitz stated, a successful military strategy may be a means to an end, but it is not an end in itself. There are numerous examples in history where victory on the battlefield has not translated into long term peace, security or tranquility.

Principles of military strategy

Many military strategists have attempted to encapsulate a successful strategy in a set of principles. Sun Tzu defined 13 principles in his The Art of War while Napoleon listed 115 maxims. Sun Tzu ( ("Master Sun" also called Sun Wu ( is traditionally considered to be the author of The Art of War (also simply called the The Art of War ( is a Chinese military Treatise that was written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. American Civil War General Nathan Bedford Forrest required only one: "to git thar furst with the most men". Nathan Bedford Forrest ( July 13, 1821 &ndash October 29, 1877) was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during ^[1] The fundamental concepts common to most lists of principles are:

1. The Objective
2. Offense
3. Cooperation
4. Concentration (Mass)
5. Economy
6. Manoeuvre
7. Surprise
8. Security
9. Simplicity

Which are reflected in the United States Army's United States Army Field Manual (FM-3) of Military Operations (sections 4-32 to 4-39) as:

1. Objective (Direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective)
2. Offensive (Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative)
3. Mass (Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time)
4. Economy of Force (Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts)
5. Maneuver (Place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of combat power)
6. Unity of Command (For every objective, ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander)
7. Security (Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage)
8. Surprise (Strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which he is unprepared)
9. Simplicity (Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding)

Some strategists assert that adhering to the fundamental principles guarantees victory while others claim war is unpredictable and the general must be flexible in formulating a strategy. US Army Field Manuals are published by the United States Army 's Army Publishing Directorate Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke expressed strategy as a system of "ad hoc expedients" by which a general must take action while under pressure. Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf After the Franco-Prussian War Moltke superintended the preparation of its history which was published between 1874 and 1881 by the great general staff These underlying principles of strategy have survived relatively unscathed as the technology of warfare has developed.

Strategy (and tactics) must constantly evolve in response to technological advances. A successful strategy from one era tends to remain in favor long after new developments in military weaponry and matériel have rendered it obsolete. World War I, and to a great extent the American Civil War, saw Napoleonic tactics of "offense at all costs" pitted against the defensive power of the trench, machine gun and barbed wire. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. Barbed wire, also known as barb wire (and frequently in dialect form spelled bob or bobbed) is a type of fencing Wire constructed As a reaction to her WWI experience, France entered World War II with a purely defensive doctrine, epitomized by the "impregnable" Maginot Line, but only to be completely circumvented by the German blitzkrieg. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Maginot Line (IPA, Ligne Maginot named after French Minister of Defense André Maginot, was a line of concrete Fortifications tank obstacles artillery Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial

Development of military strategy

Early military strategy

The principles of military strategy can be found as far back as 500 BC in the works of Sun Tzu and Chanakya. Sun Tzu ( ("Master Sun" also called Sun Wu ( is traditionally considered to be the author of The Art of War (also simply called the Chanakya Sanskrit: चाणक्य Cāṇakya) (c 350-283 BC was an adviser and a Prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor The campaigns of Alexander the Great, Chandragupta Maurya, Hannibal, Qin Shi Huang, Julius Cæsar, Zhuge Liang, and Khalid ibn al-Walid demonstrate strategic planning and movement. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Chandragupta Maurya (चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य sometimes known simply as Chandragupta (born c Hannibal (Pronounced in Phoenician: Hanniba'al means " Ba'al is my grace " or " Ba'al has given me grace " 247 BC &ndash Qin Shi Huang ( (259 BC – September 10 210 BC personal name Yíng Zhèng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BCE to 221 BCE (during the Zhuge Liang (181–234 was Chancellor of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China Khālid ibn al-Walīd (592-642 ( خالد بن الوليد) also known by Sunnis as Sayf-'ullah al-Maslul (the Drawn Sword of God, God's Withdrawn Mahan describes in the preface to The Influence of Sea Power upon History how the Romans used their sea power to effectively block the sea lines of communication of Hannibal with Carthage; and so via a maritime strategy achieved Hannibal's removal from Italy, despite never beating him there with their legions. Alfred Thayer Mahan (September 27 1840–December 1 1914 was a United States Navy Flag officer, geostrategist, and educator The Influence of Sea Power Upon History (ISBN 0-486-25509-3 is an influential Treatise on Naval warfare written in 1890 by Alfred Thayer Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Naval warfare is Combat in and on Seas Oceans or any other major bodies of water such as large Lakes and wide Rivers History Sea lines of communication (abbreviated as SLOC) is a term describing the primary maritime routes between Ports used for Trade, Logistics Hannibal (Pronounced in Phoenician: Hanniba'al means " Ba'al is my grace " or " Ba'al has given me grace " 247 BC &ndash Carthage (Καρχηδών Karkhēdōn, Carthago from the Phoenician קרת חדשת phn-Latn Qart-ḥadašt meaning new town) refers Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest

In 1520 Niccolò Machiavelli's Dell'arte della guerra (Art of War) dealt with the relationship between civil and military matters and the formation of the grand strategy. In the Thirty Years' War, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden demonstrated advanced operational strategy that led to victories in Holy Roman Empire area. For the Mauritanian Thirty Years' War see Char Bouba war. For the band see The 30 Years War. For the other Swedish kings known as Gustavus Adolphus see Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden or Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in

It was not until the 18th century that military strategy was subjected to serious study. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system In the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), Frederick the Great improvised a "strategy of exhaustion" (see Attrition warfare) to hold off his opponents and conserve his Prussian forces. The Seven Years' War (1756&ndash1763 involved all of the major European powers of the period causing 900000 to 1400000 deaths Year 1756 ( MDCCLVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Year 1763 ( MDCCLXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the This article is about the military strategy For the Israeli-Egyptian conflict see War of Attrition, for the game theoretical model see War of attrition (game Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state Assailed from all sides by France, Austria, Russia and Sweden, Frederick exploited his central position which enabled him to move his army along interior lines and concentrate against one opponent at a time. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Interior lines is a strategy of Warfare that is based on the concept that lines of movement within an area are shorter than those on the outside Unable to achieve victory, he was able to stave off defeat until a diplomatic solution was reached. Frederick's "victory" led to great significance being placed on "geometric strategy" which emphasized lines of manoeuvre, awareness of terrain and possession of critical strongpoints.

Genghis Khan and the Mongols

As a counterpoint to European developments in the strategic art, the Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan provides a useful example. The Mongol Empire ( Mongolyn Ezent Güren or mn Их Mонгол улс Ikh Mongol Uls; 1206–1368 was the largest contiguous Empire Genghis Khan ( or;, Chinggis Khaan, ʧiŋgɪs χaːŋ Činggis Qaɣan; 1162–1227 born (meaning "ironworker" was the Mongol founder Genghis' successes, and those of his successors, were based upon manoeuvre and terror. The point of Genghis' strategic assault was nothing less than the psychology of the opposing population. By a steady and meticulous implementation of this strategy, Genghis and his descendants were able to conquer most of Eurasia. For the superstate in George Orwell 's novel see Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The building blocks of Genghis' army and his strategy were his tribal levies of mounted archers and (just as important) the vast horse-herds of Mongolia. Each archer had at least one extra horse; (it was an average five horses per man) thus the entire army could move with incredible rapidity. Moreover since horse milk and horse blood were the staples of the Mongolian diet, Genghis' horse-herds functioned not just as his means of movement but also as his logistical tail. All other necessities could be foraged and plundered. It was not until well into the 20th century that any army was able to match the rapidity of deployment of Genghis' armies.

Compared to the armies of Genghis, all other armies were heavy and comparatively immobile. Through maneuver and continuous assault, Chinese, Persian, Arab and Eastern European armies could be stressed until they broke, and then annihilated in pursuit.

When confronted with a fortified city, the Mongol imperatives of maneuver and speed required that it be quickly subdued. Here the fear engendered by the awful reputation of the Mongolians helped. So too did primitive biological warfare. A trebuchet or other type of ballista weapon would be used to launch dead animals and corpses into a barricaded city, spreading disease and death among the inhabitants. A trebuchet or trebucket is a Siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages either to smash Masonry Walls or to throw If a particular town or city displeased the Mongolian Khan, everyone in the city would be killed to set an example for all other cities. This could be called a form of psychological warfare. The US Department of Defense defines psychological warfare ( PSYWAR) as" The planned use of Propaganda and other Psychological actions

Note that of the above list of strategic terms, even this elementary summary indicates that the Mongols strategy was directed towards an objective (that schwerpunkt (main focus) being nothing less than the psychology of the opposing population) achieved through the offensive; the offensive was characterized by concentration of forces, manoeuvre, surprise and simplicity. Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial

Napoleonic strategy

The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars that followed revolutionized military strategy. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions The impact of this period was still to be felt in the American Civil War and the early phases of World War I. With the advent of cheap small arms and the rise of the drafted citizen soldier, armies grew rapidly in size to become massed formations. This necessitated dividing the army first into divisions and later into corps. A division is a large Military unit or formation usually consisting of around ten to thirty thousand soldiers This article is about a military unit For alternative meanings see Corps (disambiguation. Along with divisions came divisional artillery; light-weight, mobile and with great range and firepower. Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine The rigid formations of pikemen and musketeers firing massed volleys gave way to light infantry fighting in skirmish lines. A pike is a Pole weapon, a very long thrusting Spear used two-handed and used extensively by Infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as A musketeer (mousquetaire was an early modern type of Infantry Soldier equipped with a Musket. Traditionally light infantry (or skirmishers) were soldiers whose job was to provide a Skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of Infantry, harassing

Napoleon I of France took advantage of these developments to pursue a brutally effective "strategy of annihilation" that cared little for the mathematical perfection of the geometric strategy. Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. Napoleon invariably sought to achieve decision in battle, with the sole aim of utterly destroying his opponent, usually achieving success through superior manoeuvre. As ruler and general he dealt with the grand strategy as well as the operational strategy, making use of political and economic measures.

While not the originator of the methods he used, Napoleon very effectively combined the maneuver and battle stages into one event. Before this, General Officer had considered the approach to battle a separate event. However, Napoleon used the maneuver to battle to dictate how and where the battle would progress. The Battle of Austerlitz was a perfect example of this maneuver. The Battle of Austerlitz (Bitva u Slavkova also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories effectively destroying the Napoleon withdrew from a strong position to draw his opponent forward and tempt him into a flank attack, weakening his center. This allowed the French army to split the allied army and gain victory.

Napoleon used two primary strategies for the approach to battle. His "Maneuver De Derrière" was intended to place the French Army across the enemy's lines of communications. This forced the opponent to either march to battle with Napoleon or attempt to find an escape route around the army. By placing his army into the rear, his opponent's supplies and communications would be cut. This had a negative effect on enemy morale. Once joined, the battle would be one in which his opponent could not afford defeat. This also allowed Napoleon to select multiple march routes into a battle site. Initially, the lack of force concentration helped with foraging for food and sought to confuse the enemy as to his real location and intentions. This strategy, along with the use of forced marches created a morale bonus that played heavily in his favor.

The "indirect" approach into battle also allowed Napoleon to disrupt the linear formations used by the allied armies. As the battle progressed enemy committed their reserves to stabilize the situation, Napoleon would suddenly release the flanking formation to attack the enemy. In Military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force His opponents, being suddenly confronted with a new threat and with little reserves, had no choice but to weaken the area closest to the flanking formation and draw up a battle line at a right angle in an attempt to stop this new threat. Once this had occurred, Napoleon would mass his reserves at the hinge of that right angle and launch a heavy attack to break the lines. The rupture in the enemy lines allowed Napoleon's cavalry to flank both lines and roll them up leaving his opponent no choice but to surrender or flee.

The second strategy used by Napoleon I of France when confronted with two or more enemy armies was the use of the central position. Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. This allowed Napoleon to drive a wedge to separate the enemy armies. He would then use part of his force to mask one army while the larger portion overwhelmed and defeated the second army quickly. He would then march on the second army leaving a portion to pursue the first army and repeat the operations. This was designed to achieve the highest concentration of men into the primary battle while limiting the enemy's ability to reinforce the critical battle. The central position had a weakness in that the full power of the pursuit of the enemy could not be achieved because the second army needed attention. So overall the preferred method of attack was the flank march to cross the enemy's logistics. Napoleon used the central position strategy during the Battle of Waterloo Hundred Days. Napoleon masked Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and massed against the Prussian army, and then after the Ligny battle was won, Napoleon attempted to do the same to the Allied/English army located just to the south of Waterloo. Wellington (ˈwælɪŋtən is the Capital of New Zealand, the country's second largest urban area, the His subordinate was unable to mask the defeated Prussian army, who reinforced the Waterloo battle in time to defeat Napoleon and end his domination of Europe. It can be said that the Prussian Army under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher used the "maneuver de derrière" against Napoleon who was suddenly placed in a position of reacting to a new enemy threat. The Prussian Army (Preußische Armee was the Army of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Napoleon's practical strategic triumphs, repeatedly leading smaller forces to defeat larger ones, inspired a whole new field of study into military strategy. In particular, his opponents were keen to develop a body of knowledge in this area to allow them to counteract a masterful individual with a highly competent group of officers, a General Staff. The two most significant students of his work were Carl von Clausewitz, a Prussian with a background in philosophy, and Antoine-Henri Jomini, who had been one of Napoleon's staff officers. Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (ˈklaʊzəvɪts ( July 1, 1780 – November 16, 1831) was a Prussian soldier military historian Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Antoine-Henri baron Jomini ( March 6, 1779 &ndash March 24, 1869) General in the French and afterwards in the Russian Clausewitz's On War has become the bible of strategy, dealing with political, as well as military, leadership. Vom Kriege (fɔm ˈkʁiːgə is a book on War and Military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, written mostly Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin His most famous assertion being:

"War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of policy carried out by other means. "

Clausewitz dismissed "geometry" as an insignificant factor in strategy, believing instead in the Napoleonic concept of victory through battle and destruction of the opposing force, at any cost. However, he also recognized that limited warfare could influence policy by wearing down the opposition through a "strategy of attrition". This article is about the military strategy For the Israeli-Egyptian conflict see War of Attrition, for the game theoretical model see War of attrition (game

In contrast to Clausewitz, Antoine-Henri Jomini dealt mainly with operational strategy, planning & intelligence, the conduct of the campaign, and "generalship" rather than "statesmanship". Military intelligence (abbreviated MI int Commonwealth, or intel He proposed that victory could be achieved by occupying the enemy's territory rather than destroying his army. As such, geometric considerations were prominent in his theory of strategy. Jomini's two basic principles of strategy were to concentrate against fractions of the enemy force at a time and to strike at the most decisive objective.

One notable exception to Napoleon's strategy of annihilation and a precursor to trench warfare were the Lines of Torres Vedras during the Peninsular campaign. Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static The Lines of Torres Vedras were lines of forts built in secrecy to defend Lisbon during the Peninsular War. The Peninsular War or Spanish War of Independence pitted an alliance of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal against France French Armies lived off the land and when they were confronted by a line of fortifications which they could not out flank, they were unable to continue the advance and were forced to retreat once they had consumed all the provisions of the region in front of the lines.

The Peninsular campaign was notable for the development of another method of warfare which went largely unnoticed at the time, but would become far more common in the 20th century. That was the aid and encouragement the British gave to the Spanish to harass the French behind their lines which led them to squander most of the assets of their Iberian army in protecting the army's line of communications. This was a very cost effective move for the British, because it cost far less to aid Spanish insurgents than it did to equip and pay regular British army units to engage the same number of French troops. As the British army could be correspondingly smaller it was able to supply its troops by sea and land without having to live off the land as was the norm at the time. Further, because they did not have to forage they did not antagonise the locals and so did not have to garrison their lines of communications to the same extent as the French did. So the strategy of aiding their Spanish civilian allies in their guerrilla or 'small war' benefited the British in many ways, not all of which were immediately obvious.

Strategy in the industrial age

The evolution of military strategy continued in the American Civil War (1861-65). Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South Year 1861 ( MDCCCLXI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1865 ( MDCCCLXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The practice of strategy was advanced by generals such as Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, all of whom had been influenced by the feats of Napoleon (Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was said to have carried a book of Napoleon's maxims with him. Robert Edward Lee (January 19 1807 &ndash October 12 1870 was a career United States Army officer, an Engineer, and among the most celebrated Ulysses S Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27 1822 &ndash July 23 1885 was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21 1824 &ndash May 10 1863 was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and probably the ) However, the adherence to the Napoleonic principles in the face of technological advances such as the long-range infantry rifle generally led to disastrous consequences. A rifle is a Firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves ("rifling" cut into the barrel walls The time and space in which war was waged changed as well. Railroads enabled swift movement of large forces but the manoeuvring was constrained to narrow, vulnerable corridors. Steam power and ironclads changed transport and combat at sea. A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid. An ironclad was a steam-propelled Warship of the later 19th century protected by Iron or Steel armor plates

There was still room for triumphs of strategy of manoeuvre such as Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864, but these depended upon an enemy's unwillingness to entrench. Sherman's March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the Savannah Campaign conducted in late 1864 by Maj Year 1864 ( MDCCCLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Towards the end of the war, especially in defense of static targets as in the battles of Cold Harbor and Vicksburg, trenches between both sides grew to a World War I scale. The Battle of Cold Harbor, the final battle of Union Lt Gen Ulysses S Background See also [[Vicksburg Campaign]] After crossing the Mississippi south of Vicksburg at Bruinsburg and driving northeast Grant had won battles at World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Many of the lessons of the American Civil War were forgotten when in wars like the Austro-Prussian War or the Franco-Prussian War manoeuvre won the day. The Austro-Prussian The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871

In the period preceding World War I, two of the most influential strategists were the Prussian generals, Helmuth von Moltke and Alfred von Schlieffen. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf After the Franco-Prussian War Moltke superintended the preparation of its history which was published between 1874 and 1881 by the great general staff Under Moltke the Prussian army achieved victory in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the latter campaign being widely regarded as a classic example of the conception and execution of military strategy. Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1870 ( MDCCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common In addition to exploiting railroads and highways for manoeuvre, Moltke harnessed the telegraph for control of large armies. He recognised the increasing need to delegate control to subordinate commanders and to issue directives rather than specific orders.

Moltke is most remembered as a strategist for his belief in the need for flexibility and that no plan, however well prepared, can be guaranteed to survive beyond the first encounter with the enemy.

Field Marshal Schlieffen succeeded Moltke and directed German planning in the lead up to World War I. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All He advocated the "strategy of annihilation" but was faced by a war on two fronts against numerically superior opposition. The strategy he formulated was the Schlieffen Plan, defending in the east while concentrating for a decisive victory in the west, after which the Germans would go on to the offensive in the east. For the French counter-plan see Plan XVII The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff 's early 20th century overall strategic Influenced by Hannibal's success at the Battle of Cannae, Schlieffen planned for a single great battle of encirclement, thereby annihilating his enemy. For the 11th century battle in the Byzantine conquest of the Mezzogiorno, see Battle of Cannae (1018.

Another German strategist of the period was Hans Delbrück who expanded on Clausewitz's concept of "limited warfare" to produce a theory on the "strategy of exhaustion". Hans Delbrück ( November 11, 1848 - July 14, 1929) was a German Historian. His theory defied popular military thinking of the time, which was strongly in favour of victory in battle, yet World War I would soon demonstrate the flaws of a mindless "strategy of annihilation".

At a time when industrialisation was reaping major advances in naval technology, one American strategist, Alfred Thayer Mahan, almost single-handedly brought the field of naval strategy up to date. Alfred Thayer Mahan (September 27 1840–December 1 1914 was a United States Navy Flag officer, geostrategist, and educator Naval strategy is the planning and conduct of War at sea the naval equivalent of Military strategy on land Influenced by Jomini's principles of strategy, he saw that in the coming wars, where economic strategy could be as important as military strategy, control of the sea granted the power to control the trade and resources needed to wage war. Mahan pushed the concept of the "big navy" and an expansionist view where defence was achieved by controlling the sea approaches rather than fortifying the coast. His theories contributed to the naval arms race between 1898 and 1914. The term arms race, in its original usage describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year

Strategy in World War I

At the start of World War I strategy was dominated by the offensive thinking that had been in vogue since 1870, despite the more recent experiences of the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), where the machine gun demonstrated its defensive capabilities. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All See also First Boer War,, South African Wars (1879-1915 The Second Boer War ( Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Year 1899 ( MDCCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The Russo-Japanese War (日露戦争 Romaji: Nichi-Ro Sensō Русско-японская война Russko-Yaponskaya Voyna;, 10 February 1904 – 5 September Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on Year 1905 ( MCMV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting By the end of 1914, the Western Front was a stalemate and all ability to maneuver strategically was lost. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year See Western Front (disambiguation for other meanings Western Front was a term used during the First and Second World Stalemate is a situation in Chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves The combatants resorted to a "strategy of attrition". This article is about the military strategy For the Israeli-Egyptian conflict see War of Attrition, for the game theoretical model see War of attrition (game The German battle at Verdun, the British on the Somme and at Passchendaele were among the first wide-scale battles intended to wear down the enemy. The Battle of Verdun was one of the most critical battles in World War I on the Western Front, fought between the German and French The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, fought from July to November 1916 was among the largest battles of the First World War "Passchendaele" redirects here For the 2008 film by that name see Passchendaele (film The 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, also known as Attrition was time-consuming so the duration of World War I battles often stretched to weeks and months. The problem with attrition was that the use of fortified defenses in depth generally required a ratio of ten attackers to one defender, or a level of artillery support which was simply not feasible until late 1917, for any reasonable chance of victory. Defence in depth is a Military strategy sometimes referred to as elastic defence or deep defence. The ability of the defender to move troops using interior lines prevented the possibility of fully exploiting any breakthrough with the level of technology then attainable.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of strategy in World War I was the difference among the British between the "Western" viewpoint (held by Field Marshal Haig) and the "Eastern"; the former being that all effort should be directed against the German Army, the latter that more useful work could be done by attacking Germany's allies. The term "Knocking away the props" was used, perhaps as an unfortunate consequence of the fact that all of Germany's allies lay south of (i. e. 'beneath') her on the map. Apologists and defenders of the Western viewpoint make the valid point that Germany's allies were more than once rescued from disaster or rendered capable of holding their own or making substantial gains by the provision of German troops, arms or military advisers, whereas those allies did not at any time provide a similar function for Germany. That is, it was Germany which was the prop, and her allies (particularly Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary) did not suffer significant reverses until Germany's ability to come to their aid was grossly impaired.

On other fronts, there was still room for the use of strategy of maneuver. The Germans executed a perfect battle of annihilation against the Russians at the Battle of Tannenberg (1914). Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The Battle of Tannenberg was a decisive engagement between the Russian Empire and the German Empire in the first days of World War I, fought by the In 1915 Britain and France launched the well-intentioned but poorly conceived and ultimately fruitless Dardanelles Campaign, combining naval power and an amphibious landing, in an effort to aid their Russian ally and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish The Palestine campaign was dominated by cavalry, which flourished in the local terrain, and the British achieved two breakthrough victories at Gaza (1917) and Megiddo (1918). Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The Cavalry (from French cavalerie) is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as Soldiers or Warriors who fought mounted on The Third Battle of Gaza was fought in 1917 in southern Palestine during World War I. Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Colonel T.E. Lawrence and other British officers led Arab irregulars on a guerrilla campaign against the Ottomans, using strategy and tactics developed during the Boer Wars. The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc

World War I saw armies on a scale never before experienced. The British, who had always relied on a strong navy and a small regular army, were forced to undertake a rapid expansion of the army. This outpaced the rate of training of generals and staff officers able to handle such a mammoth force, and overwhelmed the ability of British industry to equip it with the necessary weapons and adequate high-quality munitions until late in the war. Technological advances also had a huge influence on strategy: aerial reconnaissance, artillery techniques, poison gas, the automobile and tank (though the latter was, even at the end of the war, still in its infancy), telephone and radio telegraphy. Reconnaissance (also scouting) is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of Chemical substances to kill injure or incapacitate an enemy. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical Basic principle A traditional landline telephone system also known as "plain old telephone service" (POTS, commonly handles both signaling and audio information The term Wireless Telegraphy is a historic term used today as applied to early Radio Telegraph communications techniques and practices

More so than in previous wars, military strategy in World War I was directed by the grand strategy of a coalition of nations; the Entente on one side and the Central Powers on the other. The Triple Entente (" entente " — French for "agreement" was the name given to the loose alignment of the United Kingdom, the The Central Powers ( German: "Mittelmächte" Hungarian: "Központi hatalmak" Turkish: "İttifak Society and economy were mobilized for total war. Total war is a conflict of unlimited scope in which a Belligerent engages in a total mobilization of all available resources at his disposal Attacks on the enemy's economy included Britain's use of a naval blockade and Germany employing submarine warfare against merchant shipping. Naval warfare is divided into three operational areas Surface warfare, Air warfare and underwater warfare.

Unity of command became a question when the various nation states began coordinating assaults and defenses. Under the pressure of horrendously destructive German attacks beginning on March 21, 1918, the Entente eventually settled under Field Marshal Foch. Events 630 - Byzantine emperor Heraclius restores the True Cross to Jerusalem. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Germans generally led the Central Powers, though German authority diminished and lines of command became confused at the end of the war.

WWI strategy was dominated by the "Spirit of the Offensive" where generals resorted almost to mysticism in terms of a soldier's personal "attitude" in order to break the stalemate, this led to nothing but bloody slaughter as troops in close ranks charged machineguns. Each side developed an alternate thesis. The British under Churchill developed tank warfare with which they eventually won the war. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 The Germans developed a "doctrine of autonomy" the forerunner of both blitzkrieg and modern infantry tactics using groups of Stormtroopers who would advance in small mutually covering groups from cover to cover with "autonomy" to exploit any weakness they discovered in enemy defenses. Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial Infantry tactics are the combination of Military concepts and methods used by the Soldiers fighting predominantly on Foot to achieve Tactical The Stormtroopers (in German Stoßtruppen, shock troops) were specialist military troops which were formed in the last years of World War I as the German Almost all the blitzkrieg commanders of WWII, particularly Rommel were stormtroopers in World War 1. Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Germany launched and almost succeeded in a final offensive, however the new tactics of autonomy revealed a weakness in terms of overall coordination and direction. Not to be confused with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (February 9 1918, a similar treaty involving Ukraine and the Central Powers. The March offensive, intended to drive a wedge between the French and British armies, turn on the latter and destroy it, lost direction and became driven by its territorial gains, its original purpose neglected.

World War I ended when the ability of the German army to fight became so diminished that Germany asked for peace conditions. The German military, exhausted by the efforts of the March offensives and dispirited by their failure, was first seriously defeated during the battle of Amiens (8-11 August 1918) and the German homefront entered general revolt over a lack of food and destruction of the economy. Events 2492 BC - Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Victory for the Entente was almost assured by that point, and the fact of Germany's military impotence was driven home in the following hundred days. In this time, the Entente reversed the gains the Germans had made in the first part of the year, and the British Army (spearheaded by the Canadians and Australians) finally broke the Hindenburg defensive system.

Though his methods are questioned, Britain's Field Marshal Haig was ultimately proved correct in his grand strategic vision: "We cannot hope to win until we have defeated the German Army. " By the end of the war, the best German troops were dead and the remainder were under continuous pressure on all parts of the Western Front, a consequence in part of an almost endless supply of fresh American reinforcements (which the Germans were unable to match) and in part of industry at last supplying the weakened Entente armies with the firepower to replace the men they lacked (whilst Germany wanted for all sorts of materials thanks to the naval blockade). Interior lines thus became meaningless as Germany had nothing more to offer its allies. The props eventually fell, but only because they were themselves no longer supported.

The role of the tank in World War One strategy is often poorly understood. Its supporters saw it as the weapon of victory, and many observers since have accused the high commands (especially the British) of shortsightedness in this matter, particularly in view of what tanks have achieved since. Nevertheless, the World War I tank's limitations, imposed by the limits of contemporary engineering technology, have to be borne in mind. They were slow (men could run, and frequently walk, faster); vulnerable (to artillery) due to their size, clumsiness and inability to carry armour against anything but rifle and machine gun ammunition; extremely uncomfortable (conditions inside them often incapacitating crews with engine fumes and heat, and driving some mad with noise); and often despicably unreliable (frequently failing to make it to their targets due to engine or track failures). This was the factor behind the seemingly mindless retention of large bodies of cavalry, which even in 1918, with armies incompletely mechanised, were still the only armed force capable of moving significantly faster than an infantryman on foot. It was not until the relevant technology (in engineering and communications) matured between the wars that the tank and the airplane could be forged into the co-ordinated force needed to truly restore manoeuvre to warfare.

Strategy development between World Wars

In the years following World War I, two of the technologies that had been introduced during that conflict, the aircraft and the tank, became the subject of strategic study. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical

The leading theorist of air power was Italian general Giulio Douhet who believed that future wars would be won or lost in the air. Air power redirects here for electrical and mechanical energy supplied by air movement see Wind power Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest General Giulio Douhet ( 30 May 1869 - 15 February 1930) was an Italian Air power theorist The air force would carry the offensive and the role of the ground forces would be defensive only. Douhet's doctrine of strategic bombing meant striking at the enemy's heartland -- his cities, industry and communications. Strategic bombing is a Military strategy used in a Total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability to wage war rather Air power would thereby reduce his willingness and capacity to fight. At this time the idea of the aircraft carrier and its capabilities also started to change thinking in those countries with large fleets, but no-where as much as in Japan. The UK and USA seem to have seen the carrier as a defensive weapon and their designs mirrored this, the Japanese Imperial navy seem to have developed a new offensive strategy based around the power projection these made possible.

British general J. F. C. Fuller, architect of the first great tank battle at Cambrai, and his contemporary, B. H. Liddell Hart, were amongst the most prominent advocates of mechanization and motorization of the army in Britain. Major-General John Frederick Charles Fuller, CB, CBE, DSO, commonly J The Battle of Cambrai ( 20 November - 3 December 1917) was a British campaign of World War I. Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart ( 31 October 1895 &ndash 29 January 1970) usually known before his knighthood as In Germany, study groups were set up by Von Seekt, commander of the Reichwehr Truppenamt, for 57 areas of strategy and tactics to learn from WWI and to adapt strategy to avoid the stalemate and then defeat they had suffered. Hans von Seeckt ( 22 April 1866 - 27 December 1936) was a German military officer noted for his organization of the German Army All seem to have seen the strategic shock value of mobility and the new possibilities made possible by motorised forces. Both saw that the armoured fighting vehicle demonstrated firepower, mobility and protection. An armoured fighting vehicle ( AFV) is a military Vehicle, protected by armour and armed with Weapons Most AFVs are equipped for driving in rugged The Germans seem to have seen more clearly the need to make all branches of the Army as mobile as possible to maximise the results of this strategy. It would negate the static defences of the trench and machine gun and restore the strategic principles of manoeuvre and offense. Nevertheless, it was the British Army which was the only one truly mechanised at the beginning of the Second World War, the Germans still relying on horse traction for a portion of their artillery.

The innovative German Major (later General) Heinz Guderian developed the motorised part of this strategy as the head of one of the Truppenamt groups and may have incorporated Fuller's and Liddell Hart's ideas to amplify the groundbreaking Blitzkrieg effect that was seen used by Germany against Poland in 1939 and later against France in 1940. Heinz Wilhelm Guderian ( 17 June, 1888 – 14 May, 1954) was a military theorist and innovative General of the German The Truppenamt or 'Troop Office' was the cover organisation for the German General Staff from 1919 through until 1933 when the General Staff was re-created Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. France, still committed to stationary World War I strategies, was completely surprised and summarily overwhelmed by Germany's mobile combined arms doctrine and Guderian's Panzer Corps. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All A panzer, pronunced, is a German Tank, especially in the context of World War II.

Technological change had an enormous effect on strategy, but little effect on leadership. The word leadership can refer to Those entities that perform one or more acts of leading The use of telegraph and later radio, along with improved transport, enabled the rapid movement of large numbers of men. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one place to another One of Germany's key enablers in mobile warfare was the use of radios, where these were put into every tank. However, the number of men that one officer could effectively control had, if anything, declined. The increases in the size of the armies led to an increase in the number of officers. Although the officer ranks in the US Army did swell, in the German army the ratio of officers to total men remained steady. See Van Creveld's "Fighting Power" for more on this topic.

Strategy in World War II

German strategy

The German strategies of World War II were almost exclusively designed or condoned by Adolf Hitler himself. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Though he was an amateur strategist at best, the initial successes of his unconventional and aggressive strategies, both military and political (e. g. Czechoslovakia, Poland, France), combined with the mythical attributes ascribed to him ("Führerprinzip"), led to wide support for his leadership, both among the German population and the traditional military. Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler 's next target for annexation was Czechoslovakia The Invasion of Poland (1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small German-allied In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries The, German for "leader principle" prescribes a system with a hierarchy of leaders that resembles a military structure

The main point of Hitler's strategy was the accumulation of "Lebensraum" ("Living space") for the German race. ( German for " habitat " or literally "living space" served as a major motivation for Nazi Germany 's territorial aggression He felt that the German borders were too contained to secure their appropriate position in the geo-political world relations, and that he needed territories similar to the (British and French) colonies to secure enough economic resources to secure Germany's position as a major power. A great power is a Nation or State that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale Furthermore, the current population of these territories needed to be enslaved, migrated, or exterminated, and re-populated by Germanic settlers. He felt that these areas could best be secured in the East (Poland, Ukraine, Russia) because he thought the races populating these territories were inferior. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending

The intended strategy to achieve these goals was a series of relatively short wars, employing "blitzkrieg" tactics, to defeat one opponent at a time, and thus securing more land step by step. Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial These wars were to be intertwined with periods of peace, or stalemate, when the German army could re-supply and accumulate force for the next war. The initial success of this strategy (the re-militarization of the Saarland, the Austrian Anschluss, and the occupation in two stages of Czechoslovakia) stifled critique and gave Hitler great prestige. The Remilitarization of the Rhineland by the German Army took place on 7 March 1936 when German forces entered the Rhineland. The ( German: "link-up" also known as the, was the 1938 Annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler 's next target for annexation was Czechoslovakia Hitler didn't realize that the turning point had come with the invasion of Poland. The Invasion of Poland (1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small German-allied Both France and Britain had frowned upon his expansion, and declared war on Germany on that occasion. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Hitler believed that Britain could be appeased by the defeat of France, but he had underestimated the British determination. Even though Britain couldn't do much against Germany at first, a war of attrition had begun - something that the "blitzkrieg" concept was never designed for. This article is about the military strategy For the Israeli-Egyptian conflict see War of Attrition, for the game theoretical model see War of attrition (game

In the later years of the war, Hitler's strategy became more and more based on intuition, flawed logic, and unrealistic assumptions. However, the strength of his hold on domestic policy remained so strong, that his "brilliance" was not questioned, or was quickly suppressed. In the final stages of the war, his actions and orders had turned into the rambling of a madman rather than any attempt to conduct a coherent strategy.

Anglo-American strategy

Confronted with the rise of Hitler's power on the continent, and realizing the brutality of his regime, the British gradually turned to a fierce opposition and finally a war declaration over the invasion of Poland. The Invasion of Poland (1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small German-allied Britain wasn't prepared for war, especially on land, and the initial years were a series of defeats, as they got thrown off the European continent everywhere (France, Norway, Greece). In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries The Norwegian Campaign, lasting from 9 April to 10 June 1940, led to the first direct land confrontation between the military forces of the Allies The Battle of Greece (also known as Operation Marita, Unternehmen Marita was a World War II battle that occurred on the Greek mainland and in southern Albania However, the sea ensured their survival, since Germany had no navy to speak of compared to the British. After air superiority over the Channel was secured in the battle of Britain, and the anti-submarine weapons were perfected to win the battle of the Atlantic, Britain itself was not threatened anymore. The Battle of Britain (German ''Luftschlacht um England'' is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the German Luftwaffe during the summer and The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous Military campaign of World War II, (though some say it was a series of naval Military campaigns Strategic plans could turn to the offensive, especially with the USA leaning more and more to a war with Germany.

After the USA entered the war, Europe (as opposed to the Pacific) was chosen as the prime theater of operations by the formulation of the "Germany first" principle at the Arcadia Conference. Europe first (sometimes known as Germany first) was the key element of the Grand strategy employed by the United States and the United Kingdom The First Washington Conference also known as the Arcadia Conference ( ARCADIA was the Code name used for the conference However, their land armies wouldn't be capable of invading the mainland of Europe for years, even as Stalin pleaded for this to alleviate pressure on the Russian front. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Instead, the Allies decided to take an indirect approach by invading Europe from the South. After cleansing North Africa of Axis forces (the invasion of French North-Africa and El Alamein), Sicily and southern Italy were invaded, effectively knocking Italy out of the war. Operation Torch (initially called Operation Gymnast) was the British - American invasion of French North Africa in World War II The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis The process Allied invasion of Italy, was the Allied landing on mainland Italy in September 1943 by General Harold Alexander 's 15th Army Group Given that the terrain circumstances in this area were unviable to turn this route into the main thrust on Germany itself, the main purpose of these operations weren't mainly territorial, but focused on tying up as many German forces in southern Europe as possible, thereby alleviating pressure from the Soviets as well as thinning the garrison forces in France, where the main Allied force was still planned to invade. Garrison (various spellings (from the French garnison, itself from the verb garnir, "to equip" is the collective term for a body of Troops

In the air war, superiority was gained fairly early. After that, the Allies launched a strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Strategic bombing is a Military strategy used in a Total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability to wage war rather After initial emphasis on economic targets (factories, infrastructure, etc), the Allies turned more and more towards terror bombing of German cities. Terror bombing is a strategy of deliberately bombing and/or Strafing civilian targets in order to break the Morale of the enemy make its civilian population panic

Soviet strategy

Early Soviet strategy intended to postpone entry into the war for as long as possible. While the purging of the Red Army officer corps had been conducted to strengthen the party's hold of the army and thus the state, the consequences led to severe disappointments when the army was shown as unfit to conduct any kind of serious war in Poland, the Finnish winter war and the establishment of Soviet rule in the Baltic republics. Great Purge (Большая чистка transliterated Bolshaya chistka) was a series of campaigns of Political repression and Persecution The Winter War (Talvisota Советско-финляндская война - official Зимняя война - unofficial Vinterkriget began when the With the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Joseph Stalin believed he had accomplished a position of superiority over the warring sides. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party

The Barbarossa campaign of 1941 came as a complete surprise to the Soviets. Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the Codename for Nazi Germany 's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II Nevertheless, they reacted swiftly, particularly in the civilian aspect. As the army was being defeated and gave ground at an amazing speed, a gigantic operation was staged to move the economic capacity from the Western areas that were about to be overrun, to Eastern regions that were out of reach for the Germans, like the Ural. Entire factories, including their labour force, were simply moved out of reach from the Germans, and what couldn't be taken was destroyed ("Scorched earth"). A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method (possibly more often referred to as a tactic but this is not entirely correct as there is a difference between Thus, even though huge territories were captured by the Germans, the production potential of the Soviet economy was not correspondingly harmed, and the factories shifted to mass production of military equipment quickly, soon outproducing the German economy.

After achieving numerical superiority, the Soviets were still qualitatively inferior. To compensate for this, they emphasized gaining an even larger quantitative edge. The later offensive Soviet campaigns all saw a massive employment of manpower, often resulting in extremely bloody battles. It wasn't unusual that Soviet "victories" inflicted far larger casualties on themselves than on the Germans. However, the total national manpower pool was so much larger than the German one, that this still led to success.

Japanese strategy

Japanese World War II strategy was driven by two factors: the desire to expand their territories on the mainland of Asia (China and Manchuria), and the need to secure the supply of raw resources that they didn't have themselves, particularly oil. Since their quest after the former (conquest of Chinese provinces) endangered the latter (an oil boycott by the USA and its Allies), the Japanese government saw no other option than to conquer the oil sources in South-East Asia. The Second Sino-Japanese War ( July 7, 1937 to September 9, 1945) was a major war fought between the Republic of China and the The Pacific War was the part of World War II —and preceding conflicts—that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands and in East Asia, between Since these were controlled by American allies, war with the USA was also inevitable; and given that fact, they decided it would be best to deal a big blow to them first. This was executed in the Pearl Harbor strike, crippling the American battle fleet. The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise Military strike conducted by

Japan hoped that it would take America so long to rebuild, that by the time they were back in force in the Pacific, they would consider the new balance of power a "fait accompli", and barter for peace. They had underestimated the psychological effect of the Pearl Harbor strike; the USA wouldn't negotiate with an enemy that had struck them in this way. The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise Military strike conducted by Even though South-East Asia was quickly conquered (Philippines, Indochina, Malaya, Dutch East Indies), the early sea battles in the Pacific were tied. After the vital aircraft carrier force was destroyed in the Battle of Midway, the Japanese had to revert to a stiff defense that they kept up for three years after that. The Battle of Midway was a major Naval battle, widely regarded as the most important one of the Pacific Campaign of World War II.

American Pacific strategy

Since the American economic force was much larger than the Japanese, even considering their effort in the European theatre, the numerical inferior US forces remaining in the area after Pearl Harbor weren't afraid to battle the Japanese; they knew they could replace battle losses faster than the Japanese. In several aircraft carrier battles, the initiative was taken from the Japanese, and after the Battle of Midway, the Japanese navy was rendered helpless, effectively giving the Americans the possibility to sail wherever they wanted. The Battle of Midway was a major Naval battle, widely regarded as the most important one of the Pacific Campaign of World War II.

As the Japanese offensive died down in the second half of 1942, the Americans saw themselves confronted with an endless amount of fortified garrisons on small islands in the ocean. They decided on a strategy of "leap-frogging", leaving the strongest garrisons alone, just cutting their supply, and securing bases of operation on the lightly defended isles instead. Island hopping is a term that has several different definitions as it is applied in various fields They kept up this strategy until they were in the Japanese waters themselves, allowing the aerial bombing of the Japanese mainland.

Australian strategy

Australia's historical ties with Britain meant that with the commencement of World War II her armies were sent overseas to contribute to battles in Europe. Fear from the north was so understated that at the outbreak of open warfare with Japan, Australia itself was extremely vulnerable to invasion (possible invasion plans were considered by the Japanese high command). Australia's policy became based entirely on domestic defense following the attacks on Pearl Harbor and British assets in the South Pacific. Defying strong British opposition, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin recalled most troops from the European conflict for the defense of the nation. John Joseph Curtin (8 January 1885 &ndash 5 July 1945 Australian politician and 14th Prime Minister of Australia, led Australia when the Australian mainland came under direct

Australia's defensive doctrine saw a fierce campaign being fought along the Kokoda track in New Guinea, which was the first land defeat upon the Japanese in the Pacific Theatre. The Kokoda Track or Trail is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs overland &mdash in a straight line &mdash through the Owen Stanley Range in New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known This policy sought to further stretch Japanese supply lines, preventing the invasion of the Australian mainland until the arrival of fresh American troops and the return of seasoned Australian soldiers from Europe. This can be seen as a variant of the war of attrition strategy, where the defender - out of necessity - had to hold the aggressor at a semi-static defensive line, rather than falling back in the face of superior numbers. This method is in stark contrast to the Russian scorched earth policy against Napoleon in 1812, where the defenders yielded home territory in favour of avoiding open battle. In both cases the lack of supplies was successful in blunting the assaults, following exhaustive defensive efforts.

Cold War strategy

The Cold War was the last time period dominated by the threat of total world annihilation through the use of nuclear weapons, a policy known as mutually assured destruction. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Mutual assured destruction ( MAD; sometimes written as mutually assured destruction) is a Doctrine of military Strategy in which a full-scale As a consequence it was also a war in which attacks were not exchanged between the two main rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Instead, the war was fought through proxies. A proxy war is the war that results when two powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly Instead of mainly being confined to Europe or the Pacific, the entire world was the battlefield, with countries rather than armies acting as main players. The only constant rule was that troops of the Soviet Union and the United States could not overtly fight with each other.

The difference between tactics, strategy and grand strategy began to melt during the Cold War as command and communication technologies improved to a greater extent, in first world armed forces. The third world armed forces controlled by the two superpowers found that grand strategy, strategy and tactics, if anything, moved further apart as the command of the armies fell under the control of super power leaders. Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale

American cold warriors like Dean Acheson and George C. Marshall quickly recognized that the key to victory was the economic defeat of the Soviet Union. Cold warrior is a phrase used to describe the men and women involved in the shaping and executing of American and Soviet policy during the Cold War. Dean Gooderham Acheson ( April 11, 1893 — October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer as United States George Catlett Marshall Jr (December 31 1880 &ndash October 16 1959 was an American military leader Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of The Soviet Union had adopted an aggressive posture of Communist expansionism following the end of World War II, with the United States and its strong navy quickly finding that it had to aggressively defend much of the world from the Soviet Union and the spread of communism. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based

Strategies during the Cold War also dealt with nuclear attack and retaliation. Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of Nuclear weapons As a sub-branch of Military The United States maintained a policy of limited first strike throughout the Cold War. The limited first strike policy is a Military doctrine referring to the use of Nuclear weapons in modern Military strategy. In the event of a Soviet attack on the Western Front, resulting in a breakthrough, the United States would use tactical nuclear weapons to stop the attack. See Western Front (disambiguation for other meanings Western Front was a term used during the First and Second World A tactical nuclear weapon (or TNW) refers to a Nuclear weapon which is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations
The view from Moscow was to adapt to the prevailing changes in the NATO strategic policies that are divided by periods as:
^[2]

• Strategy of massive retaliation (1950s) (Russian: стратегия массированного возмездия)
• Strategy of flexible reaction (1960s) (Russian: стратегия гибкого реагирования)
• Strategies of realistic threat and containment (1970s) (Russian: стратегия реалистического устрашения или сдерживания)
• Strategy of direct confrontation (1980s) (Russian: стратегия прямого противоборства) one of the elements of which became the new highly effective high-precision targeting weapons. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
• Strategic Defense Initiative (also known as "Star Wars") during its 1980s development (Russian: стратегическая оборонная инициатива – СОИ) which became a core part of the strategic doctrine based on Defense containment. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages

Soviet Union responded by adopting a policy of no first use, involving massive retaliation resulting in mutual assured destruction. No first use refers to a pledge not to use Nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons Massive retaliation, also known as a massive response or massive deterrence, is a Military doctrine and Nuclear strategy in which a state commits Mutual assured destruction ( MAD; sometimes written as mutually assured destruction) is a Doctrine of military Strategy in which a full-scale So, if the Warsaw Pact attacked using conventional weapons, NATO would use tactical nukes. The Warsaw Pact (see Nomenclature) was an organization of Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. The North Atlantic Treaty The Soviet Union would respond with an all out nuclear attack, resulting in a similar attack from the United States, with all the consequences the exchange would entail. This did not happen. The United States continues to maintain a policy of limited first strike to the present (October 2006).

Post Cold War strategy

See also: Asymmetric warfare

Strategy in the post Cold War has come to be defined by the hyperpower status of the United States. Asymmetric warfare originally referred to War between two or more belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly A hyperpower or omnipower is a state that is militarily economically and technologically dominant on the world stage

It is increasingly relying on advanced technology to minimize casualties and improve efficiency. The technological quantum leaps brought by the Digital Revolution are essential for this strategy. This article presents a Timeline of events in the history of Computing from 1990 to the present See: Network-centric warfare. Network-centric warfare (NCW, now commonly called network-centric operations (NCO, is a new Military doctrine or theory of war pioneered by the United States

The gap in strategy today (from a western viewpoint) is in what the Americans call "asymmetric warfare": the battle against guerrilla forces by conventional national armed forces. Asymmetric warfare originally referred to War between two or more belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly The classical strategic triumvirate of politics/military/populace is very weak against protracted warfare of paramilitary forces such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, Hezbollah, ETA, and Al-Qaeda. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Óglaigh na hÉireann ( IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Hezbollah (حزب الله, literally " party of God " is a Shi'a Islamic political and Paramilitary organisation eu '''Euskadi Ta Askatasuna''' or ETA ( Basque for "Basque Homeland and Freedom" ˈɛːta is an illegal armed Basque nationalist Separatist Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The The ability of conventional forces to deliver utility (effect) from their hugely powerful forces is largely nullified by the difficulties of distinguishing and separating combatants from the civilian populace in whose company they hide. The use of the military by the politicians to police areas seen as bases for these guerrillas leads to them becoming targets themselves which eventually undermines the support of the populace from whom they come and whose values they represent.

The primary effect of insurgent elements upon conventional force strategy is realized in the two-fold exploitation of the inherent violence of military operations. Conventional armies face political attrition for each action they take. Insurgent forces can cause harm and create chaos, whereby the conventional army suffers a loss of confidence and esteem; or they can drive the conventional elements into an attack which further exacerbates the civilian condition.

The militaries of today are largely set up to fight the 'last war' and hence have huge armoured and conventionally configured infantry formations backed up by air-forces and navies designed to support or prepare for these forces. ^[3] Many are today deployed against guerrilla-style opponents where their strengths cannot be used to effect. The mass formations of Industrial War are often seen as much less effective than the unconventional forces that these organisations also possess. The new opponents operate at a local level whereas Industrial armed forces work at a much higher 'theatre' level. The nervous system of these new opponents is largely political rather than military hierarchical and adapted to the local supporting populace who hide them. The centre provides the political idea and driving logic perhaps with overall direction and some funding. Local groups decide their own plans, raise much of their own funds and may be more or less aligned to the centre's aims. Defeat of forces when revealed does not disable this type of organisation, many modern attack strategies will tend to increase the power of the group they are intended to weaken. A new more political strategy is perhaps more appropriate here with military backing. Such a strategy has been illustrated in the war between the IRA an adoption and codification is unclear.

Military strategists

Main article: List of military writers

See also

General

• Military tactics
  • List of military tactics
• Military doctrine
• List of military strategies
• List of famous military writers
  • List of military strategy books

Examples of military strategies

• Schlieffen Plan
• Mutual assured destruction
• Blitzkrieg
• Shock and Awe
• Fabian Strategy

Related topics

• Strategic bombing
• Strategic depth
• Asymmetric warfare
• Grand strategy
• Force multiplier

References

Sources

• The US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute publishes several dozen papers and books yearly focusing on current and future military strategy and policy, national security, and global and regional strategic issues. Most publications are relevant to the International strategic community, both academically and militarily. All are freely available to the public in PDF format. The organization was founded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower after World War II. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general

Further reading

• G. C. D'Aguilar, Napoleon's Military Maxims, free ebook, Napoleon's Military Maxims
• Thaddeus Holt, The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War, Simon and Schuster, June, 2004, hardcover, 1184 pages, ISBN 0-7432-5042-7
• Robert R. Tomes, US Defense Strategy from Vietnam to Operation Iraqi Freedom: Military Innovation and the New American Way of War, 1973-2003, Routledge Press, 2007
• Пупков К. А. , Гончаренко П. Г. , Гриценко В. В. , Гудков С. А. , Егупов Н. Д. , Змитрович А. А. , Коновалов А. И. , Курилов В. И. , Лохматов В. С. , Панюхин В. К. , Севрюков В. Г. , Тарасов А. В. , Тутецкий И. М. , Шальнов И. С. , Шмыгин А. И. , ОРУЖИЕ ПРОТИВОРАКЕТНОЙ ОБОРОНЫ РОССИИ: ГЕРОИЧЕСКАЯ ЭПОПЕЯ СОЗДАНИЯ ОБОРОННОЙ ТРИАДЫ И ПЕРВОПРОХОДЦЫ – СОЗДАТЕЛИ И ИСПЫТАТЕЛИ, (Weapons of anti-missile defence of Russia), Moscow, 2006, [1]

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