Lesson 1

The Character of War

Lesson Objectives

• Begin to understand the nature of war and the factors used to define and characterize it.

•  Understand the three levels of war and the unique issues encountered at each level.

•  Become familiar with elements of national power and their potential impact on strategy and the conduct of war.

Definitions

The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right names.

Confucius

Establishing a common context

What is war?

How has war been defined?

What are its characteristics?

What are its causes?

What is war?

War is part of the intercourse of the human race.

War is the province of danger, and therefore courage above all things is the first quality of the warrior.

War is the province of physical exertion and suffering .

War is the province of uncertainty. War is the province of friction.

War demands resolution, firmness, and staunchness.

Chapter titles to Ernest Hemingway's Men at War, quoting Clausewitz

What is war?

War is nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means.

Karl von Clausewitz

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. Mao Tse-Tung

War is the point at which politics turns into murderMichel Serres, (Le Contrat naturel, 1990)

Definitions of War

• the waging of armed conflict against an enemy

• a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply

• condition of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties

• a state of open and declared armed hostile conflict between political units such as states or nations; may be limited or general in nature.

Definitions of War

war, n., – 1. a contest between nations or states (international war) or between parties in the same state (civil war), carried on by force of arms for various purposes, as to settle disputes about territorial possessions, to maintain rights that have been interfered with, to resist oppression, to avenge injuries, to conquer territory, to extend dominion, etc.;

a conflict of arms between hostile parties or nations;

open hostility declared and engaged in.

-- Webster's Monarch Dictionary , unabridged (Chicago, 1916)

Definitions of War

war, n., – 1. a contest between nations or states (international war) or between parties in the same state (civil war), carried on by force of arms for various purposes, as to settle disputes about territorial possessions, to maintain rights that have been interfered with, to resist oppression, to avenge injuries, to conquer territory, to extend dominion, etc.;

a conflict of arms between hostile parties or nations;

open hostility declared and engaged in.

-- Webster's Monarch Dictionary , unabridged (Chicago, 1916)

Definitions of War

war, n., – 1. a contest between nations or states (international war) or between parties in the same state (civil war), carried on by force of arms for various purposes, as to settle disputes about territorial possessions, to maintain rights that have been interfered with, to resist oppression, to avenge injuries, to conquer territory, to extend dominion, etc.;

a conflict of arms between hostile parties or nations;

open hostility declared and engaged in.

-- Webster's Monarch Dictionary , unabridged (Chicago, 1916)

Definitions of War

war \ n., a (1): a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between political units (as states or nations) <cannot exist between two countries unless each of them has its own government>.

-- Webster's Third New International Dictionary , unabridged (Springfield, Massachusetts, 1981)

Definitions of War

war \ n., a (1): a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between political units (as states or nations) <cannot exist between two countries unless each of them has its own government>.

-- Webster's Third New International Dictionary , unabridged (Springfield, Massachusetts, 1981)

Definitions of War

war, n ., – organized, socially sanctioned armed violence employed by opposing groups against one another, normally for political, social or economic purposes.

John F. GuilmartinOhio State University

This will be our working definition

Definitions

Strategy

"the art of the general"

(from the Greek strategia: generalship)

Definitions

Strategy

“The practical adaptation of the means placed at a general's disposal to the attainment of the object in view. "

General Helmut von Moltke (1800 – 1891)

Chief of the German General Staff, 1857-1888

Quoted in Basil H. Liddell Hart’s Strategy

Definitions

Strategy

“The practical adaptation of the means placed at a general's disposal to the attainment of the object in view. "

General Helmut von Moltke (1800 – 1891)

Chief of the German General Staff, 1857-1888

Quoted in Basil H. Liddell Hart’s Strategy

Definitions

Strategy

“The practical adaptation of the means placed at a general's disposal to the attainment of the object

Definitions

Strategy

“The practical adaptation of the means placed at a general's disposal to the attainment of the object

means objectobjectiveto

Definitions

Strategy

means objectivetoA plan to match resources to objectives

Definitions

Strategy

“Matching ends to means”

A plan to match resources to objectives

[basic definition]

Definitions

Strategy

A plan to match resources to objectives

NOTE: Don’t confuse

Strategy (n) with Strategic (adj)

Definitions

Tactics

The art of fighting on or near the battlefield

The Oxford Companion to Military History

Definitions

Tactics

• The military science that deals with securing objectives set by strategy, especially the technique of deploying and directing troops, ships, and aircraft in effective maneuvers against an enemy

American Heritage Dictionary

Definitions

Tactics

• The military science that deals with securing objectives set by strategy, especially the technique of deploying and directing troops, ships, and aircraft in effective maneuvers against an enemy

American Heritage Dictionary

• Maneuvers used against an enemy

Definitions

Tactics

In warfare, the art and science of fighting battles. It is concerned with the approach to combat, placement of troops, use made of weapons, vehicles, ships, or aircraft, and execution of movements for attack or defense. In general, tactics deal with the problems encountered in actual fighting.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Definitions

Tactics

In warfare, the art and science of fighting battles. It is concerned with the approach to combat, placement of troops, use made of weapons, vehicles, ships, or aircraft, and execution of movements for attack or defense. In general, tactics deal with the problems encountered in actual fighting.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Definitions

Tactics

The art and science of fighting battles

NOTE: Don’t confuse

Tactics (n) with Tactical (adj)

Strategy v. Tactics

"Tactics teaches the use of armed forces in the engagement; strategy, the use of engagements for the object of the war."

Clausewitz

Strategy v. Tactics

"I call strategy the hostile movement of two armies beyond the view of each other; or -- if it be preferred -- beyond the effect of cannon. Tactics I call the science of movements which are made in the presence of the enemy, that is, within his view and within the reach of his artillery."

Gen. Winfield ScottInfantry Tactics

1835

Definitions

Strategy

A plan to match resources to objectives

NOTE: Don’t confuse

Strategy (n) with Strategic (adj)

Review

Definitions

Tactics

The art and science of fighting battles

NOTE: Don’t confuse

Tactics (n) with Tactical (adj)

Review

Strategy

Strategy

The art and science of developing and using political, economic, psychological, and military forces as necessary during peace and war, to afford the maximum support to policies, in order to increase the probabilities and favorable consequences of victory and to lessen the chances of defeat. [JP 1-02] (DoD)

AppliedMilitary

More traditionally

consequences of victory and to lessen the chances of defeat

political, economic, psychological, and military forces as necessary during peace and war, to

Grand Strategy

A more timely concept

High Strategy: at the highest level of the state

Deals with achieving national objectives even beyond war

“Grand Strategy is simply the level at which knowledge and persuasion, or in modern terms intelligence and diplomacy, interact with military strength to determine outcomes in a world of other states with their own “grand strategies.”

Edward Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantin e Empire

Instruments of National Power

All the means that are available for employment in the pursuit of national objectives.

DoD

Instruments of National Power

Examples:

• Military

• Diplomacy

• Economic

• Information

• Resolve (will)

Traditional

Instruments of National Power

Examples:

• Resolve (will)

• Information

• Military

• Economic

• Diplomatic

Instruments of National Power

Examples:

• Diplomatic

• Information

• Military

• Economic

• Resolve (will)

Levels of War

Strategic

Operational

Tactical

(classic)

Levels of War

FM 3-0

Strategic Level of War

Concerned with the overall conduct of the war The domain of the highest level civilian and military leaders

Determines theaters (regions) of operation, resources allocation to each, general plans of action

Where to fight

With what

Operational Level of War

Concerned with moving to the fight The domain of generals and admirals

Where campaigns (a series of maneuvers and battles over an extended period) are planned and conducted

Generally how to fight

Tactical Level of War

Concerned with actually fighting the battles Domain of privates to colonels, sailors to captains

The detailed employment of forces and weapons directly against an enemy

Fighting individual skirmishes and battles

Levels of War

Strategic: grand plan for fighting war

Operational: getting the forces to the point of battle

Tactical: actually fighting the battle

Levels of War

FM 3-0

For our purposes, consider a “campaign” as part of the Operational level of war

Levels of War

Strategic

Operational

Tactical

Geopolitics

A study of the relationship between

geography and politics

Geopolitics

How grand strategy is defined by place

Why did Germany need a quick, decisive victory in 1914?

Why was it important for Britain to have a powerful navy?

Why did Japan go to war with the United States in 1941?

How is China’s grand strategy defined by its geopolitical circumstances?

Things You Need to Remember

Characteristics of “war”

Instruments of national power

Levels of war

Strategy and Grand Strategy

Lesson 2

Begin With The End in Mind:Operation Desert Storm

Next:

Gulf War Preview

©

"The Circle of Modern War" and logo© Thomas D. Pilsch 2007-2013

Inside the Kill Box (YouTube: 0:00-0:57

Lesson Objectives

•  Understand and be able to discuss the causes, conduct, and consequences (C³) of the Gulf War.

•  Develop a methodology for systematically studying the changes in war over time.

•  Begin to appreciate the impact of technology and logistics on modern war.

•  Establish recognizable end points for the major threads of modern war (weapons, logistics, communications, strategy,

and operational art).

Begin with the end in mind

End

Grand Strategy

U.S. Grand Strategy

U.S. Military PostureImplementing Grand Strategy

Why Do We Study War?

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

Attributed to Samuel Clements, 1835-1910

"It is not worth while to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible."

Mark Twain, Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events, published 1940

Geopolitics

End

Military Strategy

Strategy

The art and science of developing and using political, economic, psychological, and military forces as necessary during peace and war, to afford the maximum support to policies, in order to increase the probabilities and favorable consequences of victory and to lessen the chances of defeat. [JP 1-02] (DoD)

Military Strategy

Strategy

“the employment of the instruments (elements) of power (political/diplomatic, economic, military, and informational) to achieve the political objectives of the state in cooperation or in competition with other actors pursuing their own objectives. “

US Army War College

Quoted by H. Richard Yarger “Toward a Theory of Strategy”

Military Strategy

Strategy

“the employment of the instruments (elements) of power (political/diplomatic, economic, military, and informational) to achieve the political objectives of the state in cooperation or in competition with other actors pursuing their own objectives. “

US Army War College

Quoted by H. Richard Yarger “Toward a Theory of Strategy”