Mao Tse-Tung noted that the Japanese committed five major operational level mistakes during their intervention into China in 1937. He claimed that these mistakes were so severe that they would ultimately cause Japan to fail to achieve its aims. The...
This monograph examines the nature of operational art during the third and final phase of the Chinese Civil War, 1945-1949. During this period Mao Tse-Tung and the Red Army fought Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Army for the military and...
The Global War on Terror is an ideological war being fought in the environment indicative of fourth generation warfare. Propaganda bypasses traditional defenses and strikes right at the center of gravity - popular support. In a modern war of...
This monograph examines the insurgency conducted by the Southern States during the last part of the American Civil War and the early period of Reconstruction, specifically from the time period of Sherman's march to March 1867. The paper proposes...
China's growing military capabilities serve its ambition to become the greatest power in Asia. Correspondingly, the PLA continues to modernize its forces. Established American economic and military relationships in Asia dictate national strategies...
In 1949, following the conclusion of its revolutionary war against the Chinese Nationalist forces, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) peacefully occupied China's western most province of Xinjiang. For nearly sixty years, the PLA has conducted a...
Given ongoing conflicts and the likelihood of executing counterinsurgency in the future, it is vital to conduct effective campaign planning for counterinsurgency. Additionally, effective campaign planning is essential for rapid and effective...
Improvements in technology worldwide have amplified the impact strategic lieutenants and strategic corporals have on strategic matters. These Strategic Soldiers and their respective leaders must not only be aware of their potential influence in a...
The purpose of this monograph is to show that US counterinsurgency doctrine would benefit from greater emphasis on social, cultural, and political aspects of the operating environment, using the case of the Maoist insurgency in Nepal as an example....
As the face of modern warfare changes, the threat of the appearance of guerrilla forces on the battlefield increases. Whether in the form of insurgent forces or partisan forces employing guerrilla tactics in support of conventional forces, their...
Current predictions indicate that the most likely military peer opponent to the United States in the next century will be the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the People's Republic of China (PRC). These predictions stem from areas of mutual...
This monograph examines the ambiguities of Chinese strategic and military thought and introduces a new concept of Chinese Strategic Art to help analysts understand how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) thinks about and practices strategy. This...
Nearly twenty years ago, as a new student in the Army's Command and General Staff Officer's College, Infantry Branch officers introduced to me the relatively newly codified doctrinal term "center of gravity." Throughout the "best year of our lives"...
This study analyzes the Chinese Red Army from 1927 to 1936 to determine how the Red Army survived attacks from external military forces and also successfully overcame the threats to its existence posed by changing Chinese Communist Party (CCP)...
"The greater our knowledge and understanding of the Communist theory of insurgency -as they themselves see it -the greater the probability of our ultimate victory." This document discusses the following topics: modern insurgency- the new tactic of...
Disrupting an insurgent's access to sanctuary and safe-haven is a critical aspect of operational planning for counterinsurgent forces. By denying an insurgent's access to safe-havens early in the conflict, the counterinsurgent will gain a marked...
In the summer of 2003, the United States Army was ill prepared to wage an effective counter-insurgency campaign in Iraq. The lack of institutional readiness can be seen in many areas, but one of the most glaring was its utter lack of doctrine...
The terrorist groups in Colombia have applied Mao’s theory of protracted people’s war, seeking to use all available means of struggle to achieve their revolutionary goals by counteracting government policy. One way that Fuerzas Armadas...
This extensive and detailed study of the Huai Hai Campaign addresses a doctrinal concept that is of growing importance to the US Army operational art. It does so by looking at a campaign that occurred over a half century ago on a relatively...