Category Strategy & Doctrine
As the period of détente during the 1970’s continued, the rapprochement between the Soviet Union and the United States seemed to intensify and promised to lessen tensions between the rival countries. The invasion of Afghanistan and the imposition of… Continue Reading →
The tactical and strategic situation at the beginning of 1917 was little changed from that at the beginning of 1916. All that the offensives on the Western Front had managed to accomplish the previous year were minor changes in… Continue Reading →
Both Sun-Tzu and Clausewitz have something to offer for the serious student of warfare. The biggest distinction between the two seems to be their different approaches to the art of war. Sun-Tzu advocates a more subtle and indirect… Continue Reading →
As I was getting ready for work this morning I started thinking about military uniforms and what their purpose is. I have heard all the typical reasons such as discipline, Esprit de Corps, identification, distinctiveness, economy, and of course, uniformity…. Continue Reading →
This little tome by the Roman scholar Flavius Vegetius Renatus was written sometime in the 5th Century A.D. and is known by several titles, the original Latin title is De re Militari but is variously known as the Epitome of… Continue Reading →
The American Way of War was introduced as a concept by Russell Weigley in his book of the same name during the early 1970’s. Essentially the theory runs that America attempts to totally dominate her enemies in war thus… Continue Reading →
I have been pondering this one for a while now. Â What exactly, is the west trying to accomplish in Libya? Â I have posted on this before here and here, and I am still puzzled as to what we are trying… Continue Reading →
I hope that most people have heard of the stuxnet (Wikipedia, but the best description I have found)worm that supposedly infected and crippled Iran’s illicit nuclear program last year. It is supposedly the new wave of warfare, with faceless hackers… Continue Reading →
After Turkey’s entry into the war towards the end of 1914, the Dardanelles was closed to allied shipping and thus the only warm water route to Russian ports was closed. The allied solution to this dilemma was to use… Continue Reading →
The opening months of World War I on the Eastern Front did not proceed at as the German General Staff thought they would. When General Alfred von Schlieffen (1833-1912) was drawing up the German war plan that would subsequently… Continue Reading →
I got a chance to visit the Geichberg Castle yesterday and decided to post a picture esay of the castle and a brief description of the fortifications and discuss the strong and weak points of the fortifications. The Geichberg is… Continue Reading →
The work of neither Sun Tzu nor Clausewitz is adequate to describe naval warfare except in the most general terms. While it is true that until recent times warfare on both land and sea was largely two dimensional, there are… Continue Reading →
This will be a series of posts laying out the general history of the major Fronts in World War I. The First World War was unnecessary in that if the diplomats of Europe had truly wanted to stop the war… Continue Reading →
All classical military theorists point out that military strategy and national policy are intermingled. Clausewitz devotes a lengthy portion of his treatise to the ways in which military action should serve the needs of the state; indeed, his most… Continue Reading →
The Fall of Qaddafi and the future of the “Arab Spring”
I wrote about the war/action/conflict/kinetic what have you in Libya when it kicked off in March, April, and again in June. With the rebels now storming Tripoli itself and being on the verge of success under the cover of NATO,… Continue Reading →