This monograph discusses the theoretical principles of concentration of force of Carl Von Clausewitz, Baron De Jomini and Sun Tzu and their application to concentration in joint operations. The writings of these theorists are concerned with land...
This monograph is an effort to stimulate thinking and discussion on a theory of peace for the United States of America. American national security and military planners currently develop strategic, operational and tactical concepts primarily based...
The purpose of this monograph is to understand how China's culture affects the way it behaves internationally. By reviewing lessons from recent Chinese history and prevailing philosophies, we can see that China has succeeded in their goal of...
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...
While the nature of war does not change, the conduct and methods available to wage and win wars does. This appears to be the case with respect to hybrid war, an evolving type of war that the United States may soon face. The definition of hybrid war...
American military doctrine and professional literature in the past decade have stressed maneuver warfare and the operational level of war. This monograph traces the evolution of maneuver theory and its conceptual opposite, firepower theory, and...
United States Army Special Forces (SF) has played a critical role in prosecuting the Global War on Terror. Their ability to wage unconventional warfare remains their trademark. Operations in Afghanistan and northern Iraq demonstrated SF's ability...
Napoleon once said, “The moral is to the material as three is to one.” What did he have in mind when he stated this famous aphorism? Material factors are easy to calculate. This is the science of warfare. Organization, equipment, doctrine,...
This monograph is about planning strategy for the conduct of military intervention. Using popular, but often misunderstood or misquoted theory from some of the most popular strategic theorists, this monograph attempts to dispel the myth that...
The research revealed that current Army doctrine on operational reach is inadequate. One of the characteristics of sound doctrine found in TRADOC Regulation 25-36 is "Concise doctrine provides a comprehensive body of thought..." However, the...
In 1274 and 1281, the Mongol Empire attempted overseas invasions of Japan, following diplomatic efforts to make Japan submit. On both occasions, the Mongols were unsuccessful. Although the Japanese offered stiff and well-coordinated resistance, the...
An unstable global environment where the threat is ambiguous requires warfighters to recognize the difference and interrelationship between seeing and understanding the enemy. This monograph provides an alternative definition which emphasizes the...
This monograph investigates the US Army's preparedness to execute tactical exploitation during conventional symmetrical offensive operations between heavy forces. Exploitation is a critical tactical operation. Successful offensive operations impart...
This monograph discusses the advantage of using a functional approach to planning. The January 1997 Coordinating Draft of FM 100-5 Operations introduces core functions to the fundamentals of Army operations. Core functions are the fundamental...
In February 1991, the Allied Coalition forces led by the U.S. achieved a stunning victory over the Iraqi forces in the Persian Gulf War. Did the U.S. Military validate the Army's new Airland Battle doctrine with its emphasis on maneuver warfare...
The recent U.S. military reorganization has led to the preponderance of forces being stationed in the continental United States (CONUS). The 1992 National Military Strategy (NMS) followed this reorganization. Force projection formed the centerpiece...
The concept of "operational fires" has been proposed within the Army as one of several operating systems at the operational level of war in the same sense that Battlefield Operating Systems have proven their utility at the tactical level. However,...
This monograph examines the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) program in Vietnam as a potential model for the design of modern campaigns targeted against revolutionary guerrilla insurgencies. The Vietnam War ended in...
Hybrid threat actors seek to master unrestricted operational art in order to reconcile overmatch and protect or advance their interests. As interest-based rational actors, hybrid threats translate strategic intent into unrestricted distributed...
Sun Tzu asserts that success is not winning every battle fought, but subduing the enemy's will without fighting. Nevertheless, modern military thought fails to distinguish an enemy's will-to-fight from their means to do so, limiting the ways...