Editing Military strategy

{{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Short description|Use of force or threat of war focused for political purposes}}
{{History of war}}
'''Military strategy''' is a set of ideas implemented by [[military organization]]s to pursue desired [[Strategic goal (military)|strategic goals]].<ref>Gartner (1999), p. 163</ref> Derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''[[strategos]]'', the term strategy, when first used during the 18th century,<ref>Carpenter (2005), p. 25</ref> was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the [[general]]",<ref>Matloff (1996), p. 11</ref> or "the art of arrangement" of troops.<ref>Wilden (1987), p. 235</ref> and deals with the planning and conduct of campaigns.

The father of Western modern [[strategic studies]], [[Carl von Clausewitz]] (1780–1831), defined military strategy as "the employment of battles to gain the end of war."<ref>{{Cite web|last=von Clausewitz|first=Carl|date=|title=On War. Book 3, Chapter 1|url=http://www.clausewitz.com/readings/OnWar1873/BK3ch01.html|access-date=2021-01-15|website=www.clausewitz.com}}</ref> [[B. H. Liddell Hart]]'s definition put less emphasis on battles, defining strategy as "the art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill the ends of policy".<ref>[[B. H. Liddell Hart|Liddell Hart, B. H.]] ''Strategy'' London:Faber, 1967 (2nd rev ed.) p. 321</ref> Hence, both gave the preeminence to political aims over military goals.

[[Sun Tzu]] (544–496 BC) is often considered as the father of Eastern military strategy and greatly influenced Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese historical and modern war tactics.<ref name="Matti Nojonen 2009">Matti Nojonen, ''Jymäyttämisen taito. Strategiaoppeja muinaisesta Kiinasta''. [Transl.: The Art of Deception. Strategy lessons from Ancient China.] Gaudeamus, Finland. Helsinki 2009. {{ISBN|978-952-495-089-3}}.</ref> ''[[The Art of War]]'' by Sun Tzu grew in popularity and saw practical use in [[Western world|Western society]] as well. It continues to influence many competitive endeavors in Asia, Europe, and America including culture, politics,<ref name=wp>{{citation|last=Scott|first=Wilson|title=Obama meets privately with Jewish leaders|date=7 March 2013|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-meets-privately-with-jewish-leaders/2013/03/07/dd95b4ca-8733-11e2-999e-5f8e0410cb9d_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|location=Washington, DC|access-date=22 May 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724060741/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-03-07/politics/37535039_1_nuclear-weapons-jewish-leaders-president-obama|archive-date=24 July 2013}}</ref><ref name=UPI>{{citation|title=Obama to challenge Israelis on peace|work=United Press International|date=8 March 2013|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/03/08/Obama-to-challenge-Israelis-on-peace/UPI-70151362729600/|access-date=22 May 2013}}</ref> and business,<ref name=Business>{{citation|last=Garner|first=Rochelle|title=Oracle's Ellison Uses 'Art of War' in Software Battle With SAP|work=Bloomberg|date=16 October 2006|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aFA0SRsqGq04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411082416/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aFA0SRsqGq04|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 April 2012|access-date=18 May 2013}}</ref> as well as modern warfare. The Eastern military strategy differs from the Western by focusing more on [[asymmetric warfare]] and deception.<ref name="Matti Nojonen 2009" /> [[Chanakya]]'s ''[[Arthashastra]]'' has been an important strategic and political compendium in Indian and Asian history as well.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Albinski|first=Henry S.|date=1958|title=The Place of the Emperor Asoka in Ancient Indian Political Thought|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2109166|journal=Midwest Journal of Political Science|volume=2|issue=1|pages=62–75|doi=10.2307/2109166|jstor=2109166|issn=0026-3397}}</ref>

==Fundamentals==
{{Strategy}}
Military strategy is the planning and execution of the contest between groups of armed adversaries. It is a subdiscipline of [[warfare]] and of [[foreign policy]], and a principal tool to secure [[national interest]]s. Its perspective is larger than [[military tactics]], which involve the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield,<ref>{{cite book |author=Headquarters, Department of the Army |author-link=United States Department of the Army#Headquarters, Department of the Army |title=FM&nbsp;3–0, Operations |date=27 February 2008 |place=Washington, DC |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office|GPO]] |isbn=9781437901290 |oclc=780900309 |url=http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/repository/materials/FM3-0(FEB%202008).pdf |access-date=31 August 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121202210635/http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/Repository/Materials/FM3-0(FEB%202008).pdf |archive-date=2 December 2012 |url-status= dead}}</ref> but less broad than [[grand strategy]] (or "national strategy"), which is the overarching strategy of the largest of organizations such as the [[nation state]], [[confederation]], or international [[Military alliance|alliance]] and involves using diplomatic, informational, military and economic resources. Military strategy involves using military resources such as people, equipment, and information against the opponent's resources to gain supremacy or reduce the opponent's will to fight, developed through the precepts of [[military science]].<ref>School of Advanced Air and Space Studies.{{full citation needed|date=August 2022}}</ref>

[[NATO]]'s definition of strategy is "presenting the manner in which military power should be developed and applied to achieve national objectives or those of a group of nations."<ref>AAP-6(V) NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions</ref> Field Marshal [[Viscount Alanbrooke]], Chief of the Imperial General Staff and co-chairman of the Anglo-US Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee for most of the Second World War, described the art of military strategy as: "to derive from the [policy] aim a series of military objectives to be achieved: to assess these objectives as to the military requirements they create, and the preconditions which the achievement of each is likely to necessitate: to measure available and potential resources against the requirements and to chart from this process a coherent pattern of priorities and a rational course of action."<ref>''British Defence Doctrine'', Edition 3, 2008</ref> [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Field-Marshal Montgomery]] summed it up thus "Strategy is the art of distributing and applying military means, such as armed forces and supplies, to fulfill the ends of policy. Tactics means the dispositions for, and control of, military forces and techniques in actual fighting. Put more shortly: strategy is the art of the conduct of war, tactics the art of fighting."<ref>Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, ''A History of Warfare'', Collins. London, 1968</ref>

===Background===
Military strategy in the 19th century was still viewed as one of a [[trivium]] of "arts" or "sciences" that govern the conduct of warfare; the others being [[military tactics|tactics]], the execution of plans and maneuvering of forces in battle, and [[logistics]], the maintenance of an army. The view had prevailed since the Roman times, and the borderline between strategy and tactics at this time was blurred, and sometimes categorization of a decision is a matter of almost personal opinion. [[Lazare Carnot|Carnot]], during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] thought it simply involved [[Force concentration|concentration of troops]].<ref>Chaliand (1994), p. 638.</ref>

As French statesman [[Georges Clemenceau]] said, "War is too important a business to be left to soldiers." This gave rise to the concept of the ''[[grand strategy]]''<ref>[[B. H. Liddell Hart|Liddell Hart, B. H.]] ''Strategy'' London: Faber & Faber, 1967. 2nd rev. ed. p.322</ref> which encompasses the management of the resources of an entire nation in the conduct of warfare. On this issue Clausewitz stated that a successful military strategy may be a means to an end, but it is not an end in itself.<ref>{{cite book|last=Strachan|first=Hew|title=Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-923202-4|page=319|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5NLFM6NmdvIC&q=clausewitz+%22means+to+an+end%22&pg=PA22|access-date=2012-07-31}}</ref>

==Principles==
[[File:Cimbrians and Teutons invasions.svg|thumb|right|300px|Military stratagem in the Maneuver against the Romans by [[Cimbri]] and Teutons circa 100 B.C.]]

Many military strategists have attempted to encapsulate a successful strategy in a set of principles. [[Sun Tzu]] defined 13 principles in his ''[[The Art of War]]'' while Napoleon listed 115 maxims. [[American Civil War]] General [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] had only one: to "[get] there first with the most men".<ref>{{cite book|author=Catton Bruce|year=1971|title=The Civil War|publisher=American Heritage Press, New York|id=Library of Congress Number: 77-119671}}</ref> The concepts given as essential in the [[United States Army Field Manuals|United States Army Field Manual]] of Military Operations ([[List of United States Army Field Manuals#FM 3-0|FM&nbsp;3–0]]) are:<ref name=2008fm30hqda >{{cite book |author=Headquarters, Department of the Army |author-link=United States Department of the Army#Headquarters, Department of the Army |title=FM&nbsp;3–0, Operations |date=27 February 2008 |place=Washington, DC |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office|GPO]] |isbn=9781437901290 |oclc=780900309 |url=http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/repository/materials/FM3-0(FEB%202008).pdf |pages=A–1 – A–3 |access-date=12 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202210635/http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/Repository/Materials/FM3-0(FEB%202008).pdf |archive-date=2 December 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

* Objective type (direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective)
* Offensive type (seize, retain, and exploit the initiative)
* Mass Type ([[Force concentration|concentrate combat power]] at the decisive place and time)
* Economy of force type (allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts)
* Maneuver type (place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of combat power)
* Unity of command type (for every objective, ensure [[unity of effort]] under one responsible commander)
* Security type (never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage)
* Surprise type (strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which they are unprepared)
* Simplicity type (prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding)

According to Greene and Armstrong, some planners assert adhering to the fundamental principles guarantees victory, while others claim war is unpredictable and the strategist must be flexible. Others argue predictability could be increased if the protagonists were to view the situation from the other sides in a conflict.<ref>"the advice is to think about how other protagonists will view the situation in order to predict their decisions"—{{cite journal |url=http://kestencgreen.com/group_shoes-2009.pdf |title=Role thinking: Standing in other people's shoes to forecast decisions in conflicts |author=Kesten C. Greene and J. Scott Armstrong |journal=International Journal of Forecasting |volume=27 |year=2011 |pages=69–80 |doi=10.1016/j.ijforecast.2010.05.001 |access-date=2011-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417124956/http://kestencgreen.com/group_shoes-2009.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-17 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Development==

===Antiquity===
The principles of military strategy emerged at least as far back as 500 BC in the works of [[Sun Tzu]] and [[Chanakya]]. The campaigns of [[Alexander the Great]], [[Chandragupta Maurya]], [[Hannibal]], [[Qin Shi Huang]], [[Julius Caesar]], [[Zhuge Liang]], [[Khalid ibn al-Walid]] and, in particular, [[Cyrus the Great]] demonstrate strategic planning and movement. 

Early strategies included the strategy of annihilation, exhaustion, [[attrition warfare]], [[scorched earth]] action, [[blockade]], [[guerrilla]] campaign, [[deception]] and [[feint]]. Ingenuity and adeptness were limited only by imagination, accord, and technology. Strategists continually exploited ever-advancing technology. The word "strategy" itself derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] "στρατηγία" (''strategia''), "office of general, command, generalship",<ref>
[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dstrathgi%2Fa στρατηγία],
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> in turn from "στρατηγός" (''strategos''), "leader or commander of an army, general",<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dstrathgo%2Fs στρατηγός], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> a [[compound (linguistics)|compound]] of "στρατός" (''stratos''), "army, host" + "ἀγός" (''agos''), "leader, chief",<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da%29go%2Fs1 ἀγός], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> in turn from "ἄγω" (''ago''), "to lead".<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da%29%2Fgw ἄγω], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref>

===Middle Ages===

Through maneuver and continuous assault, Chinese, [[Persia]]n, [[Arab]] and [[Eastern European]] armies were stressed by the [[Mongols]] until they collapsed, and were then annihilated in pursuit and encirclement.<ref>May (2007), pp. 115ff.</ref>

===Early Modern era===
In 1520 [[Niccolò Machiavelli]]'s ''Dell'arte della guerra'' (Art of War) dealt with the relationship between civil and military matters and the formation of grand strategy. In the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618-1648), [[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden]] demonstrated advanced operational strategy that led to his victories on the soil of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. It was not until the 18th century that military strategy was subjected to serious study in Europe. The word was first used in German as "''Strategie''" in a translation of Leo VI's [[Tactica of Emperor Leo VI the Wise|''Tactica'']] in 1777 by Johann von Bourscheid. From then onwards, the use of the word spread throughout the West.<ref name="Heuser">Heuser (2010), p. 4-5</ref>

===Napoleonic===
{{See also|Napoleonic wars}}
====Waterloo====
[[File:Waterloo Campaign map-alt3.svg|thumb|280px|Map of the Waterloo campaign]]
[[File:Wellington at Waterloo Hillingford.jpg|thumb|right|275px|19th century musketeers from Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford, 18 June 1815]]
{{See also|Waterloo Campaign}}

===Clausewitz and Jomini===
[[File:Clausewitz.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Carl von Clausewitz]]]]
[[Carl von Clausewitz | Clausewitz]]'s ''[[On War]]'' has become a famous reference<ref>{{cite journal | url =https://www.jstor.org/stable/26746704 | jstor =26746704 | title =Clausewitz, War, and Strategy in the Twenty-first Century | last1 =Hughes | first1 =R. Gerald | journal =War in History | date =2019 | volume =26 | issue =2 | pages =287–296 | doi =10.1177/0968344518804624 | hdl =2160/dfc61137-9005-4346-9a91-353be2927e0f | hdl-access =free  | quote = [...] ''Vom Kriege'' remains the most important book on war ever written.}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Brooks
 |first1               = M. Evan
 |date                 = 30 May 2002
 |chapter              = Military Theorists
 |title                = Military History's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Improbable Victories, Unlikely Heroes, and Other Martial Oddities
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=aTmI3RmgBwAC
 |publication-place    = Washington, D.C.
 |publisher            = Potomac Books, Inc.
 |page                 = 164
 |isbn                 = 9781597974608
 |access-date          = 7 April 2024
 |quote                = [...Clausewitz] wrote ''On War'' (1819), an attempt to synthesize strategy and the conduct of war within the state [...] it has become the standard reference for military theory.
}} 
</ref>
for strategy, dealing with political, as well as military, [[leadership]],<ref>{{cite journal | url =https://www.jstor.org/stable/26746704 | jstor =26746704 | title =Clausewitz, War, and Strategy in the Twenty-first Century | last1 =Hughes | first1 =R. Gerald | journal =War in History | date =2019 | volume =26 | issue =2 | pages =287–296 | doi =10.1177/0968344518804624 | hdl =2160/dfc61137-9005-4346-9a91-353be2927e0f | hdl-access =free }}</ref> his most famous assertion being:

:"War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of policy by other means."

Clausewitz saw war first and foremost as a political act, and thus maintained that the purpose of all strategy was to achieve the political goal that the state was seeking to accomplish. As such, Clausewitz famously argued that war was the "continuation of politics by other means".<ref>
{{langx|de| Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln.}} - ''Vom Kriege'', 1. Buch, 1. Kapitel, Unterkapitel 24 (Überschrift). The German word {{lang | de | Politik}} can express either "politics" or "policy" - see [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Politik Wiktionary].
</ref> Clausewitz and Jomini are widely read by US military personnel.<ref>See U.S. [[United States Army War College|Army War College]] http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214054203/http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ |date=December 14, 2008 }} and [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]], U.K. {{failed verification|date=April 2024}}</ref>

===World War I===
{{main|World War I}}

===Interwar===
Technological change had an enormous effect on strategy, but little effect on [[leadership]]. The use of [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] and later radio, along with improved [[transport]], enabled the rapid movement of large numbers of men. One of Germany's key enablers in mobile warfare was the use of radios, where these were put into every tank. However, the number of men that one officer could effectively control had, if anything, declined. The increases in the size of the armies led to an increase in the number of officers. Although the officer ranks in the US Army did swell, in the German army the ratio of officers to total men remained steady.<ref>See Martin Van Creveld's ''Fighting Power'' for more on this topic.</ref>

===World War II===

Interwar Germany had as its main strategic goals the reestablishment of Germany as a European great power<ref>{{cite book |title=Die Errichtung der Hegemonie auf dem europäischen Kontinent |trans-title=Constructing hegemony on the European continent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOhmAAAAMAAJ |series=Beiträge zur Militär- und Kriegsgeschichte: Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg |language=de |volume=2 |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |publication-date=1979 |isbn=9783421019356 |access-date=2017-01-31 |year=1979}}</ref> and the complete annulment of the [[Versailles treaty]] of 1919. After [[Adolf Hitler]] and the Nazi party  [[Machtergreifung|took power in 1933]], Germany's political goals also included the accumulation of ''[[Lebensraum]]'' ("Living space") for the Germanic "race" and the elimination of [[communism]] as a political rival to  [[National Socialism|Nazism]].  The destruction of European Jewry, while not strictly a strategic objective, was a political goal of the Nazi regime linked to the vision of a German-dominated Europe, and especially to the [[Generalplan Ost]] for a depopulated east<ref>{{cite book|last=Snyder|first=Timothy |title=Bloodlands&nbsp;— Europe between Hitler and Stalin |year=2010|publisher=Vintage Books|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQ1HKmG9xZ8C |isbn=978-0-09-955179-9|pages=preface page ix–x|access-date=2017-01-31|quote=Hitler wanted not only to eradicate the Jews; he wanted also to destroy Poland and the Soviet Union as states, eliminate their ruling classes, and kill tens of millions of Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles). If the German war against the USSR had gone as planned, thirty million civilians would have been starved in the first winter, and tens of millions more expelled, killed, assimilated or enslaved thereafter.}}</ref> which Germany could colonize.

===Cold War===

Soviet strategy in the Cold War was dominated by the desire to prevent, at all costs, the recurrence of an invasion of Russian soil. The Soviet Union nominally adopted a policy of [[no first use]], which in fact was a posture of launch on warning.<ref name=autogenerated1>Beatrice Heuser, "Warsaw Pact Military Doctrines in the 70s and 80s: Findings in the East German Archives", ''Comparative Strategy'' Vol. 12 No. 4 (Oct.–Dec. 1993), pp. 437–457.</ref> Other than that, the USSR adapted to some degree to the prevailing changes in the NATO strategic policies that are divided by periods as:<br /><ref>Pupkov, et al. Weapons of anti-missile defense of Russia</ref>
* Strategy of massive retaliation (1950s) ({{langx|ru|стратегия массированного возмездия}})
* Strategy of flexible reaction (1960s) ({{langx|ru|стратегия гибкого реагирования}})
* Strategies of realistic threat and containment (1970s) ({{langx|ru|стратегия реалистического устрашения или сдерживания}})
* Strategy of direct confrontation (1980s) ({{langx|ru|стратегия прямого противоборства}}) one of the elements of which became the new highly effective high-precision targeting weapons.
* Strategic Defense Initiative (also known as "Star Wars") during its 1980s development ({{langx|ru|стратегическая оборонная инициатива&nbsp;– СОИ}}) which became a core part of the strategic doctrine based on Defense containment.

All-out nuclear World War III between NATO and the Warsaw Pact did not take place. The United States recently (April 2010) acknowledged a new approach to its nuclear policy which describes the weapons' purpose as "primarily" or "fundamentally" to deter or respond to a nuclear attack.<ref>{{cite web |title=2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) Fact Sheet |url=http://www.defense.gov/npr/docs/NPR%20FACT%20SHEET%20April%202010.pdf |access-date=April 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527200503/http://www.defense.gov/npr/docs/NPR%20FACT%20SHEET%20April%202010.pdf |archive-date=May 27, 2010 |publisher=U.S. Department of Defense Office of Public Affairs}}</ref>

===Post–Cold War===
{{See also|Asymmetric warfare|Network-centric warfare}}

Strategy in the post Cold War is shaped by the global geopolitical situation: a number of potent powers in a [[Polarity in international relations#Multipolarity|multipolar]] array which has arguably come to be dominated by the hyperpower status of the United States.<ref>The term was coined by French politician Hubert Vérdine. See: ''International Herald Tribune'', "To Paris, U.S. Looks Like a 'Hyperpower'," February 5, 1999.</ref> 

Parties to conflict which see themselves as vastly or temporarily inferior may adopt a strategy of [[hunkering down (strategy)|"hunkering down"]] – witness [[Gulf War|Iraq]] in 1991<ref>
{{cite book |last1=Loges |first1=Marsha J. |title=The Persian Gulf War: Military Doctrine and Strategy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sYmAQAAMAAJ |series=Executive research project |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University |date=1996 |page=16 |access-date=2020-04-02 |quote=U.S. officials described Saddam Hussein's military strategy in Desert Storm as 'hunkering down.'}}</ref> or [[Kosovo War|Yugoslavia]] in 1999.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daalder |first1=Ivo H. |author-link1=Ivo H. Daalder |last2=O'Hanlon |first2=Michael E. |author-link2=Michael E. O'Hanlon |year=2000 |chapter=Losing the War |title=Winning Ugly: NATO's War to Save Kosovo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeQLUvtZnMcC |series=G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |publication-date=2004 |page=106 |isbn=9780815798422 |access-date=2020-04-02 |quote=[... Milosevic] had a fairly promising strategy: hunker down, tolerate the bombing, and wait for Russian pressure or NATO internal dissension to weaken the alliance's resolve. [...] Had Milosevic not thoroughly 'cleansed' Kosovo [...] a hunker-down strategy might well have succeeded, as a number of NATO officials with whom we spoke acknowledged.}}</ref>

The major militaries of today are usually built to fight the "last war" (previous war) and hence have huge armored and conventionally configured infantry formations backed up by air forces and navies designed to support or prepare for these forces.<ref>''The Utility of Force'', General Sir Rupert Smith, Allen Lane, London, 2005, {{ISBN|0-7139-9836-9}}</ref>

===Netwar===
A main point in asymmetric warfare is the nature of paramilitary organizations such as [[Al-Qaeda]] which are involved in guerrilla military actions but which are not traditional organizations with a central authority defining their military and political strategies. Organizations such as Al-Qaeda may exist as a sparse network of groups lacking central coordination, making them more difficult to confront following standard strategic approaches. This new field of strategic thinking is tackled by what is now defined as [[netwar]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arquilla |first=John |title=The advent of netwar |last2=Ronfeldt |first2=David F. |date=1996 |publisher=Rand |isbn=978-0-8330-2414-5 |location=Santa Monica, Calif}}</ref>

==See also==

{{div col |colwidth=22em}}
;General
* [[Strategy]]
* [[Grand strategy]]
* [[Naval strategy]]
* [[Operational mobility]]
* [[Military doctrine]]
* [[Principles of war]]
* [[Military tactics]]
** [[List of military tactics]]
* [[List of military strategies and concepts]]
* [[List of military writers]]
** [[:Category:Military strategy books|List of military strategy books]]
* [[Roerich Pact]]

;Examples of military strategies
* [[Schlieffen Plan]]
* [[Mutual assured destruction]]
* [[Blitzkrieg]]
* [[Shock and awe]]
* [[Fabian strategy]]
* [[Progressive war]]

;Related topics
* [[Asymmetric warfare]]
* [[Basic Strategic Art Program]]
* ''[[Battleplan]]'' (documentary TV series)
* [[Force multiplication]]
* [[Strategic bombing]]
* [[Strategic depth]]
* [[U.S. Army Strategist]]
* [[War termination]]

{{div col end}}

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist|33em}}

===Bibliography===
* Brands, Hal, ed. ''The New Makers of Modern Strategy: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age'' (2023) [https://www.amazon.com/New-Makers-Modern-Strategy-Ancient/dp/0691204381/ excerpt], 46 essays by experts on ideas of famous strategists; 1200 pp
* Carpenter, Stanley D. M., ''Military Leadership in the British Civil Wars, 1642–1651: The Genius of This Age'', Routledge, 2005.
* Chaliand, Gérard, ''The Art of War in World History: From Antiquity to the Nuclear Age'', University of California Press, 1994.
* Gartner, Scott Sigmund, ''Strategic Assessment in War'', Yale University Press, 1999.
* Heuser, Beatrice, ''The Evolution of Strategy: Thinking War from Antiquity to the Present'' (Cambridge University Press, 2010), {{ISBN|978-0-521-19968-1}}.
* Matloff, Maurice, (ed.), ''American Military History: 1775–1902, volume 1'', Combined Books, 1996.
* May, Timothy. ''The Mongol Art of War: Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Military System.'' Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1844154760}}.
* [[Anthony Wilden|Wilden, Anthony]], ''Man and Woman, War and Peace: The Strategist's Companion'', Routledge, 1987.

==Further reading==
* The [http://ssi.armywarcollege.edu US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute] publishes several dozen papers and books yearly focusing on current and future military strategy and policy, national security, and global and regional strategic issues. Most publications are relevant to the International strategic community, both academically and militarily. All are freely available to the public in PDF format. The organization was founded by General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] after World War II.
* Black, Jeremy, ''Introduction to Global Military History: 1775 to the Present Day'', Routledge Press, 2005.
* D'Aguilar, G.C., ''Napoleon's Military Maxims'', free ebook, [http://www.napoleonic-literature.com/Book_8/Book8.html Napoleon's Military Maxims].
* Freedman, Lawrence. ''Strategy: A History'' (2013) [https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-A-History-Lawrence-Freedman/dp/0199325154/ excerpt]
* Holt, Thaddeus, ''The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War'', Simon and Schuster, June, 2004, hardcover, 1184 pages, {{ISBN|0-7432-5042-7}}.
* Tomes, Robert R., ''US Defense Strategy from Vietnam to Operation Iraqi Freedom: Military Innovation and the New American Way of War, 1973–2003'', Routledge Press, 2007.

{{Military strategy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Military strategy| ]]
[[Category:Security studies]]