Editing Military (section)

===Tactical victory===
{{Main|Tactical victory}}
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[[Military tactics]] concerns itself with the methods for engaging and defeating the enemy in direct combat. Military tactics are usually used by units over hours or days, and are focused on the specific tasks and objectives of [[squadron (army)|squadrons]], [[Company (military unit)|companies]], [[battalion]]s, [[regiment]]s, [[brigade]]s, and [[Division (military)|divisions]], and their naval and air force equivalents.<ref name="p.67, Dupuy"/>

One of the oldest military publications is ''[[The Art of War]]'', by the [[List of Chinese philosophers|Chinese philosopher]] [[Sun Tzu]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mypivots.com/articles/booktext.aspx?bookname=The%20Art%20of%20War|title=The Art of War|website=Mypivots.com|date=11 June 2011|access-date=1 August 2011}}</ref> Written in the 6th century BCE, the 13-chapter book is intended as military instruction, and not as [[military theory]], but has had a huge influence on Asian military doctrine, and from the late 19th century, on European and United States [[military plan]]ning. It has even been used to formulate business tactics, and can even be applied in social and political areas.

[[File:Macedonian battle formation-en.svg|thumb|Battle formation and tactics of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedon]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westpoint.edu/history/SitePages/Home.aspx|title=Welcome to the Department of History|website=westpoint.edu|access-date=1 August 2011|archive-date=18 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518101505/http://www.westpoint.edu/history/SitePages/Home.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]

The Classical Greeks and the Romans wrote prolifically on [[military campaign]]ing. Among the best-known Roman works are [[Julius Caesar]]'s commentaries on the [[Gallic Wars]], and the [[Caesar's civil war|Roman Civil war]] – written about 50 BC.

Two major works on tactics come from the late Roman period: ''Taktike Theoria'' by [[Aelianus Tacticus]], and ''[[De Re Militari]]'' ('On military matters') by [[Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus|Vegetius]]. ''Taktike Theoria'' examined Greek military tactics, and was most influential in the [[Byzantine]] world and during the [[Islamic Golden Age|Golden Age of Islam]].

''De Re Militari'' formed the basis of European military tactics until the late 17th century. Perhaps its most enduring maxim is [[Si vis pacem, para bellum|''Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum'']] (let he who desires peace prepare for war).

Due to the changing nature of combat with the introduction of [[artillery]] in the European [[Middle Ages]], and infantry firearms in the [[Renaissance]], attempts were made to define and identify those strategies, [[grand tactics]], and tactics that would produce a victory more often than that achieved by the Romans in praying to the gods before the battle.

Later this became known as [[military science]], and later still, would adopt the [[scientific method]] approach to the conduct of military operations under the influence of the [[Industrial Revolution]] thinking. In his seminal book ''[[On War]]'', the [[Prussia]]n [[Major-General]] and leading [[expert]] on modern [[military strategy]], [[Carl von Clausewitz]] defined military strategy as 'the employment of battles to gain the end of war'.<ref>{{cite journal|last=MacHenry|first=Robert|title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica|journal=Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc|year=1993|page=305|bibcode=1991neb..book.....G}}</ref> According to Clausewitz: <blockquote>
strategy forms the plan of the War, and to this end it links together the series of acts which are to lead to the final decision, that is to say, it makes the plans for the separate campaigns and regulates the combats to be fought in each.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.Gutenberg.org/files/1946/1946-h/1946-h.htm#2H_4_0023|title=''On War'' by General Carl von Clausewitz|access-date=31 May 2007|via=Gutenberg.org|date=2006-02-26}}</ref>
</blockquote>
Hence, Clausewitz placed political aims above [[Strategic goal (military)|military goals]], ensuring [[civilian control of the military]]. Military strategy was one of a triumvirate of '[[Military art (Military science)|arts]]' or 'sciences' that governed the conduct of warfare, the others being: [[military tactics]], the execution of plans and [[Operational mobility|manoeuvring of forces in battle]], and maintenance of an army.
[[File:Combined Arms Training.jpg|thumb|[[Armed Forces of Ukraine]] soldiers conducting [[combined arms]] tactics training with a [[BMP-2]] [[Infantry fighting vehicle|IFV]]]]
The meaning of military tactics has changed over time; from the deployment and manoeuvring of entire land armies on the fields of ancient battles, and galley fleets; to modern use of small unit [[ambush]]es, [[encirclement]]s, [[bombardment]] attacks, [[frontal assault]]s, [[air assault]]s, [[hit-and-run tactics]] used mainly by [[guerrilla]] forces, and, in some cases, [[suicide attack]]s on land and at sea. Evolution of [[aerial warfare]] introduced its own [[Air combat manoeuvring|air combat tactics]]. Often, [[military deception]], in the form of [[military camouflage]] or misdirection using [[decoy]]s, is used to confuse the enemy as a tactic.

A major development in [[infantry tactics]] came with the increased use of [[trench warfare]] in the 19th and 20th centuries. This was mainly employed in [[World War I]] in the [[Battle of Gallipoli|Gallipoli campaign]], and the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. Trench warfare often turned to a stalemate, only broken by a large loss of life, because, in order to attack an enemy entrenchment, soldiers had to run through an exposed '[[no man's land]]' under heavy fire from their opposing entrenched enemy.