In warfare, a theater or theatre is defined as a specific geographic area of conduct of armed conflict, bordered by areas where no combat is taking place. 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 Military strategy is a National defence policy implemented by Military organisations to pursue desired strategic goals Derived from the Greek 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 War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units In many ways the term is derived from the Colosseum of Rome. The Colosseum or Roman Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre ( Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio A theatre is defined by the need for separate planning to be occurring at the highest command echelon of the participating armed forces, including where separate Services are concerned. The delineation occurs along regional boundaries or maritime areas that require distinctly separate approach to planning from other regions bordering it. A single conflict may be waged in multiple theaters, and a single nation or an alliance may be participating in multiple theaters. Alternatively a nation may be participating in multiple but unrelated conflicts waged in separate theatres of war.

The most recent multi-theatre conflict was the Second World War. 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 This war was waged in two continental war zones, the European Theater and the Pacific Theater, and multiple inter- and intra-connected theaters, often dominated by naval, and sometimes air forces. The European Theatre of Operations ( ETO) was an area of heavy fighting across Europe during World War II, from Nazi Germany's Invasion of Poland The Pacific Ocean theater was one of four major naval theatres of war of the Second World War that pitted forces of the Japan against those of the United

Theater of war

The term seems to have been coined by Carl von Clausewitz in his book "On War". Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (ˈklaʊzəvɪts ( July 1, 1780 – November 16, 1831) was a Prussian soldier military historian Vom Kriege (fɔm ˈkʁiːgə is a book on War and Military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, written mostly Specifically in his book Clausewitz defines the term as one that, "denotes properly such a portion of the space over which war prevails as has its boundaries protected, and thus possesses a kind of independence. This protection may consist in fortresses, or important natural obstacles presented by the country, or even in its being separated by a considerable distance from the rest of the space embraced in the war. Such a portion is not a mere piece of the whole, but a small whole complete in itself; and consequently it is more or less in such a condition that changes which take place at other points in the seat of war have only an indirect and no direct influence upon it. To give an adequate idea of this, we may suppose that on this portion an advance is made, whilst in another quarter a retreat is taking place, or that upon the one an army is acting defensively, whilst an offensive is being carried on upon the other. Such a clearly defined idea as this is not capable of universal application; it is here used merely to indicate the line of distinction. "^[1]

Theater of operations

Chart 12. - Typical organization of a theater of operations as envisaged by War Department Doctrine, 1940

An American theater of operations was an administrative term for a theater which had both an operational and an administrative command. For example, in the European Theater of Operations, U. The European Theater of Operations (ETO is the term used in the United States to refer to US operations north of Italy and S. forces were under the joint allied operation command of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and the administrative command of the "European Theater of Operations, United States Army" (ETOUSA); but in the China Burma India Theater, American forces only had an administrative command as the operational command of ground troops was (theoretically) through the British 11th Army Group which reported to the joint allied command Southeast Asia Command (SEAC). Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (abbreviated as SHAEF, pronounced "shāf" was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces China Burma India Theater (CBI (later IBT or India-Burma theater was the name used by the United States Army for its forces operating in conjuction with Allied air South East Asia Command (SEAC was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during World War II.

The term "theater of operations" was defined in the [American] field manuals as the land and sea areas to be invaded or defended, including areas necessary for administrative activities incident to the military operations (chart 12). In accordance with the experience of World War I, it was usually conceived of as a large land mass over which continuous operations would take place and was divided into two chief areas-the combat zone, or the area of active fighting, and the communications zone, or area required for administration of the theater. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All As the armies advanced, both these zones and the areas into which they were divided would shift forward to new geographic areas of control^[2].

Usage and significance

The concept of theater warfare has been used in several wars, and often serves as a linchpin of strategy for one or more sides.

Wars of the empires throughout history often involved conflicts waged in widely-separated regions, as the imperialist powers acquired colonial territories. Imperialism has two meanings one describing an action and the other describing an attitude See Colony and Colonization for examples of colonialism which do not refer to Western colonialism These imperial expansions could also be considered multi-theater wars.

The first multi-theatre war of the modern era was the series of Napoleonic wars, referred by the contemporaries as the World War, and fought in Western, Eastern and Northern Europe, the Mediterranean coastal regions, including north Africa and the Levant, as well as the Atlantic ocean, the South African region, and the Indian sub-continent. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions A world war is a War affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations See also Names of the Levant The Levant (lə'vænt is a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia, roughly bounded on the north by the

In another example, during the American Civil War, one key strategy of the North was to attack the South in both the Western and Eastern theaters, in order to use the North's greater resources to force the South to over-extend its forces. 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 Thus, Ulysses Grant's capture of Vicksburg, which split the South in half by capturing the Mississippi River, had a major effect on General Robert E. Lee's eastern operations, by reducing the supplies Lee received. 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 The Mississippi River is the second longest River in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to Robert Edward Lee (January 19 1807 &ndash October 12 1870 was a career United States Army officer, an Engineer, and among the most celebrated

When Grant became commander of the entire Union Army, he ordered generals in widespread theaters to coordinate their operations in order to impede the South from transferring troops to various places. The Union Army was the army that fought for the Union during the American Civil War.

During the First World War, several British leaders including Winston Churchill suggested that Great Britain and the Allied Powers expand their operations in the Middle Eastern theater, to place increased pressure on the Ottoman Empire and other Central Powers. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands In general allies are people groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was fought between the Allied Powers, primarily the British and the Russians on the one hand and the The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish The Central Powers ( German: "Mittelmächte" Hungarian: "Központi hatalmak" Turkish: "İttifak

See also

• Theatre of Military Operations
• Battlespace
• Strategic Direction

Further reading

• Theatre of Operations in Information Operations

References

1. ^ Carl Von Clausewitz, On War
2. ^ Chapter VII: Prewar Army Doctrine for Theater