Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals . Derived from the Greek word strategos , the term strategy, when first used during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general ", or "the art of arrangement" of troops. and deals with the planning and conduct of campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, and the deception of the enemy.
159-470: Maneuver warfare , or manoeuvre warfare , is a military strategy which emphasizes movement, initiative and surprise to achieve a position of advantage. Maneuver seeks to inflict losses indirectly by envelopment, encirclement and disruption, while minimizing the need to engage in frontal combat. In contrast to attrition warfare where strength tends to be applied against strength, maneuver warfare attempts to apply strength against weakness in order to accomplish
318-646: A "strategy of exhaustion" (see attrition warfare ) to hold off his opponents and conserve his Prussian forces. Assailed from all sides by France, Austria, Russia and Sweden, Frederick exploited his central position, which enabled him to move his army along interior lines and concentrate against one opponent at a time. Unable to achieve victory, he was able to stave off defeat until a diplomatic solution emerged. Frederick's "victory" led to great significance being placed on " geometric strategy " which emphasized lines of manoeuvre, awareness of terrain and possession of critical strong-points. The French Revolutionary Wars and
477-459: A Copper Age corral was discovered at Krasnyi Yar in 2006 and mats of horse-dung at two other Botai sites. Current findings continue to support the Botai as having domesticated horses. A study in 2018 revealed that the Botai horses did not contribute significantly to the genetics of modern domesticated horses, and that therefore a subsequent and separate domestication event must have been responsible for
636-400: A battle site. Initially, the lack of force concentration helped with foraging for food and sought to confuse the enemy as to his real location and intentions. The "indirect" approach into battle also allowed Napoleon to disrupt the linear formations used by the allied armies. As the battle progressed, the enemy committed their reserves to stabilize the situation, Napoleon would suddenly release
795-563: A besieged city, spreading disease and death, such as the Black Plague. If a particular town or city displeased the Mongolian Khan, everyone in the city would be killed to set an example for all other cities. This was early psychological warfare . To refer to the nine strategic principles outlined above, the Mongol strategy was directed toward an objective (that schwerpunkt (main focus) being
954-519: A change in skeletal measurements detected among horse bones recovered from middens dated about 2500 BCE in eastern Hungary in Bell-Beaker sites, and in later Bronze Age sites in the Russian steppes, Spain , and Eastern Europe . Horse bones from these contexts exhibited an increase in variability, thought to reflect the survival under human care of both larger and smaller individuals than appeared in
1113-488: A classic example of the conception and execution of military strategy. In addition to exploiting railroads and highways for manoeuvre, Moltke also exploited the telegraph for control of large armies. He recognised the need to delegate control to subordinate commanders and to issue directives rather than specific orders. Moltke is most remembered as a strategist for his belief in the need for flexibility and that no plan, however well prepared, can be guaranteed to survive beyond
1272-406: A counter-insurgency strategy at the operational level in contemporary operations." In the early stages of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , Russia's advances were stalled by Ukraine's widespread deployment of man-portable anti-tank missiles. The scholar Seth Jones argued that Russia was forced to abandon maneuver warfare after an inept failure to apply combined arms, forcing a transition to
1431-641: A distinct cluster. Genetic evidence suggests that modern Przewalski's horses are descended from a distinct regional gene pool in the eastern part of the Eurasian steppes, not from the same genetic group that gave rise to modern domesticated horses. Nevertheless, evidence such as the cave paintings of Lascaux suggests that the ancient wild horses that some researchers now label the "Tarpan subtype" probably resembled Przewalski horses in their general appearance: big heads, dun coloration , thick necks, stiff upright manes , and relatively short, stout legs. The horses of
1590-448: A general statement—e.g., "We're going to do this by a naval invasion of the North of country X", "We're going to blockade the ports of country Y", to a more specific "C Platoon will attack while D platoon provides fire cover". In its purest form, strategy dealt solely with military issues. In earlier societies, a king or political leader was often the same person as the military leader. If not,
1749-542: A great extent the American Civil War , saw Napoleonic tactics of "offense at all costs" pitted against the defensive power of the trench , machine gun and barbed wire . As a reaction to its World War I experience, France attempted to use its Maginot Line to apply the principles of mass and economy of force, in that troops could be concentrated in the north for an offensive there while the Line acted as force multiplier in
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#17330927555731908-633: A large-scale offense. Fuller had proposed Plan 1919 to use tanks to break through the lines and then to wreak havoc on the German lines of supply and communication. During the interwar period, the British developed ideas for fully-mechanized all-arms warfare with the Experimental Mechanized Force . The Germans reviewed their doctrine and revised their approach by expanding on infiltration tactics and amplifying them with motor transport. Heinz Guderian
2067-495: A means to an end, but it is not an end in itself. There are numerous examples in history where victory on the battlefield has not translated into goals such as long term peace, security or tranquillity. 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
2226-478: A military system of maneuver warfare that focused on rapid, decisive maneuver, utilizing the skill and endurance of his Mongol horsemen. He used operational maneuver, command and control, deception, and precise battlefield tactics which were vastly superior to those of his opponents in China, Russia, Persia, and Eastern Europe and defeated virtually every enemy army that he faced. An example of his usage of maneuver warfare
2385-648: A military victory over an opponent's conventional forces does not automatically translate into a political victory. Some military theorists such as William Lind and Colonel Thomas X. Hammes propose to overcome the shortcomings of maneuver warfare with the concept of what they call fourth generation warfare . For example, Lieutenant-Colonel S.P. Myers writes that "maneuver is more a philosophical approach to campaign design and execution than an arrangement of tactical engagements". Myers goes on to write that maneuver warfare can evolve and that "maneuverist approach in campaign design and execution remains relevant and effective as
2544-731: A plan that required speed by surrounding the French strongpoints and destroying or bypassing them; it was called the Kesselschlacht , or 'cauldron battle'. The remainder of the army could advance unopposed to take important objectives. If war was declared, Prussia could quickly mobilize and invade, destroy French field forces, and win before the French army could fully react. That tactic was used to devastating effect in 1870 since Prussian forces surrounded and defeated French forces, captured Napoleon III and besieged Paris . The Germans' battle plans for World War I were similar. Germany attempted to repeat
2703-549: 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", and as such, suggested that the amount of force used by a warring state would and should be proportional to whatever political aim that the state sought to achieve via war. Clausewitz further dismissed "geometry" as an insignificant factor in strategy, believing instead that ideally all wars should follow
2862-509: A precursor to trench warfare were the Lines of Torres Vedras during the Peninsular War . French Armies lived off the land and when they were confronted by a line of fortifications which they could not out flank, they were unable to continue the advance and were forced to retreat once they had consumed all the provisions of the region in front of the lines. The Peninsular campaign was notable for
3021-406: A spectrum with attrition warfare and maneuver warfare on opposite ends. In attrition warfare, the enemy is seen as a collection of targets to be found and destroyed. It exploits maneuver to bring to bear firepower to destroy enemy forces. Maneuver warfare, on the other hand, exploits firepower and attrition on key elements of opposing forces. Maneuver warfare suggest that strategic movement can bring
3180-530: A town. There was still room for triumphs for the strategy of manoeuvre such as Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864, but these depended upon an enemy's unwillingness to entrench. Towards the end of the war, especially in defense of static targets as in the battles of Cold Harbor and Vicksburg , trench networks foreshadowed World War I. Many of the lessons of the American Civil War were forgotten, when in wars like
3339-544: A victory for the Greeks against Persia, which exemplified that military strategy was extremely beneficial to defeating a numerous enemy. 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
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#17330927555733498-508: A war of attrition. In comparison, Ukrainian forces used maneuver warfare more effectively during the 2024 Kursk Oblast incursion while Russian forces struggled to repel the attack. According to Michael Kofman "Russian forces do far better when they’re operating with prepared defense, fixed lines, more on positional warfare." Military strategy The father of Western modern strategic studies , Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), defined military strategy as "the employment of battles to gain
3657-508: A whole new field of study into military strategy. In particular, his opponents were keen to develop a body of knowledge in this area to allow them to counteract a masterful individual with a highly competent group of officers, a General Staff. The two most significant students of his work were Carl von Clausewitz , a Prussian with a background in philosophy , and Antoine-Henri Jomini , who had been one of Napoleon's staff officers. One notable exception to Napoleon's strategy of annihilation and
3816-428: Is also called "recon-pull" tactics or directive control . The war theorist Martin van Creveld identifies six main elements of maneuver warfare: For most of history, armies were slower than a marching soldier, making it possible for opposing armies to march around each other as long as they wished. Supply conditions often decided where and when the battle would finally start. Prehistorically, that began to change with
3975-540: Is an example of such shortcomings being exposed. Despite overwhelming firepower and complete air superiority, Israeli forces were unable to deliver a decisive blow to the command structure of Hezbollah or to degrade its effective capacity to operate. Although inflicting heavy damage, Israel was unable to locate and destroy Hezbollah's diluted force dispositions or to neutralize key command centers. Therefore, it did not meet its war aims. The insurgency in Iraq also demonstrates that
4134-403: Is an important quality in supporting the effectiveness of maneuver warfare and was used again by Carl von Clausewitz . Napoleon's principal strategy was to move fast to engage before the enemy had time to organize, to engage lightly while moving to turn the flank that defended the main resupply route, to envelop and deploy blocking forces to prevent reinforcement, and to defeat those contained in
4293-554: Is as old as war itself. However, advanced technology, such as the development of cavalry and mechanized vehicles, has led to an increased interest in the concepts of maneuver warfare and in its role on modern battlefields. Although most battles between established armies have historically been fought based on attrition warfare strategies, many military doctrines and cultures are based on replete historical examples of maneuver warfare. The view on attrition warfare involves moving masses of men and materiel against enemy strongpoints, with
4452-412: Is evidence that horses were kept as a source of meat and milk before they were trained as working animals . Attempts to date domestication by genetic study or analysis of physical remains rest on the assumption that there was a separation of the genotypes of domesticated and wild populations. Such a separation appears to have taken place, but dates based on such methods can only produce an estimate of
4611-527: Is from these horses which all domestic horses appear to have descended. These horses showed little phylogeographic structure, probably reflecting their high degree of mobility and adaptability. Therefore, the domestic horse today is classified as Equus ferus caballus . No genetic originals of native wild horses currently exist. The Przewalski diverged from the modern horse before domestication. It has 66 chromosomes , as opposed to 64 among modern domesticated horses, and their Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) forms
4770-414: Is not conclusive evidence against domestication because horses can be ridden and controlled without bits by using a noseband or a hackamore , but such materials do not produce significant physiological changes nor are they apt to be preserved for millennia. The regular use of a bit to control a horse can create wear facets or bevels on the anterior corners of the lower second premolars . The corners of
4929-403: Is the art of organizing forces on or near the battlefield to secure objectives as part of the broader military 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 interests . Its perspective is larger than military tactics , which involve
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5088-508: Is up-to-date accurate intelligence on the disposition of key enemy command, support, and combat units. In operations whose intelligence is either inaccurate, unavailable, or unreliable, the successful implementation of strategies based on maneuver warfare can become problematic. When faced with a maneuverable opponent capable of redeploying key forces quickly and discreetly or when tempered, the capacity of maneuver warfare strategies to deliver victory becomes more challenging. The 2006 Lebanon War
5247-509: Is used to determine so-called haplogroups . A haplogroup is a group of closely related haplotypes that share the same common ancestor. In horses, eighteen main haplogroups are recognized (A-R). Several haplogroups are unequally distributed around the world, indicating the addition of local wild mares to the domesticated stock. In 2018, genomic comparison of 42 ancient-horse genomes, 20 of which were from Botai, with 46 published ancient and modern-horse genomes yielded surprising results. It
5406-698: The Austro-Prussian War or the Franco-Prussian War , manoeuvre won the day. In the period preceding World War I, two of the most influential strategists were the Prussian generals, Helmuth von Moltke and Alfred von Schlieffen . Under Moltke the Prussian army achieved victory in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), the latter campaign being widely regarded as
5565-567: The Greek "στρατηγία" ( strategia ), "office of general, command, generalship", in turn from "στρατηγός" ( strategos ), "leader or commander of an army, general", a compound of "στρατός" ( stratos ), "army, host" + "ἀγός" ( agos ), "leader, chief", in turn from "ἄγω" ( ago ), "to lead". No evidence exists of it being used in a modern sense in Ancient Greek, but we find it in Byzantine documents from
5724-735: The Ice Age were hunted for meat in Europe and across the Eurasian steppes and in North America by early modern humans. Numerous kill sites exist and many cave paintings in Europe indicate what they looked like. Many of these Ice Age subspecies died out during the rapid climate changes associated with the end of the last Ice Age particularly in North America , where the horse became completely extinct . Classification based on body types and conformation, before
5883-549: The Maikop culture settlements and burials of c. 3300 BC contain both horse bones and images of horses. A frieze of nineteen horses painted in black and red colors is found in one of the Maikop graves. The widespread appearance of horse bones and images in Maikop sites suggest to some observers that horseback riding began in the Maikop period. Later, images of horses, identified by their short ears, flowing manes, and tails that bushed out at
6042-881: The Napoleonic Wars that followed revolutionized military strategy. The impact of this period was still to be felt in the American Civil War and the early phases of World War I . With the advent of cheap small arms and the rise of the drafted citizen soldier, armies grew rapidly in size to become massed formations. This necessitated dividing the army first into divisions and later into corps . Along with divisions came divisional artillery ; light-weight, mobile cannon with great range and firepower. The rigid formations of pikemen and musketeers firing massed volleys gave way to light infantry fighting in skirmish lines. Napoleon I of France took advantage of these developments to pursue an effective "battle of annihilation". Napoleon invariably sought to achieve decision in battle, with
6201-477: The Pontic–Caspian steppe region of eastern Europe , around 2200 BC. From there, use of horses spread across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work , and warfare . Scientists have linked the successful spread of domesticated horses to observed genetic changes. They speculate that stronger backs (GSDMC gene) and increased docility (ZFPM1 gene) may have made horses more suitable for riding. The date of
6360-668: The Przewalski's horse , as well as what is now the modern domestic horse, belonged to a single Holarctic species. The true horse migrated from the Americas to Eurasia via Beringia , becoming broadly distributed from North America to central Europe, north and south of Pleistocene ice sheets. It became extinct in Beringia around 14,200 years ago, and in the rest of the Americas around 10,000 years ago. This clade survived in Eurasia, however, and it
6519-669: The Syrian Desert —is another example of taking enemy defenses by surprise. While the Byzantine army held the Muslim forces in southern Syria and had expected reinforcement from the conventional Syria-Arabia road in the south, Khalid, who was in Iraq, marched through the Syrian desert and entered northern Syria, completely taking the Byzantines by surprise and cutting off their communications with northern Syria. The Mongol emperor Genghis Khan used
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6678-596: The Upper Paleolithic period in places such as the caves of Lascaux , France, suggesting that wild horses lived in regions outside of the Eurasian steppes before domestication and may have even been hunted by early humans, concentration of remains suggests animals being deliberately captured and contained, an indicator of domestication, at least for food, if not necessarily use as a working animal. Around 3500–3000 BCE, horse bones began to appear more frequently in archaeological sites beyond their center of distribution in
6837-472: The domestication of the horse , the invention of chariots , and increasing military use of cavalry . It had two major uses: to attack and use its momentum to break infantry formations and to use the advantage of speed to cut communications and isolate formations for later defeat in detail . The retreat of the center of the Athenian and Platean citizen-soldiers ( Hoplites ) at the battle of Marathon against
6996-408: The flanking formation to attack the enemy. His opponents, being suddenly confronted with a new threat and with little reserves, had no choice but to weaken the area closest to the flanking formation and draw up a battle line at a right angle in an attempt to stop this new threat. Once this had occurred, Napoleon would mass his reserves at the hinge of that right angle and launch a heavy attack to break
7155-567: The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of a worldwide range of equids , from 53,000-year-old fossils to contemporary horses. Their analysis placed all equids into a single clade , or group with a single common ancestor , consisting of three genetically divergent species: the South American Hippidion , the North American New World stilt-legged horse , and Equus , the true horse. The true horse included prehistoric horses and
7314-496: The "knock-out blow" against the French armies in the Schlieffen Plan . However, technology evolved significantly in the preceding four decades; both the machine gun and more powerful artillery shifted the balance of power toward the defense. All combatants were desperate to get the front moving again, but that proved to be difficult. Germany introduced new tactics with infiltration and stormtrooper " shock troops " toward
7473-794: The 6th century onwards, and most notably in the work attributed to Emperor Leo VI the Wise of Byzantium . As a counterpoint to European developments in the strategic art, the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan provides a useful example. Genghis' successes, and those of his successors, were based on manoeuvre and terror. The main focus of Genghis' strategic assault was the psychology of the opposing population. By steady and meticulous implementation of this strategy, Genghis and his descendants were able to conquer most of Eurasia . The building blocks of Genghis' army and his strategy were his tribal levies of mounted archers , scorched earth -style methods, and, equally essential,
7632-564: The Balkans and the lower Danube valley, some of which had been occupied for 2000 years, were abandoned. Copper mining ceased in the Balkan copper mines, and the cultural traditions associated with the agricultural towns were terminated in the Balkans and the lower Danube valley. This collapse of "Old Europe" has been attributed to the immigration of mounted Indo-European warriors . The collapse could have been caused by intensified warfare, for which there
7791-521: The Botai culture, Botai and Kozhai 1, dated about 3500–3000 BCE. The Botai culture premolars are the earliest reported multiple examples of this dental pathology in any archaeological site, and preceded any skeletal change indicators by 1,000 years. While wear facets more than 3 mm deep were discovered on the lower second premolars of a single stallion from Dereivka in Ukraine , an Eneolithic settlement dated about 4000 BCE, dental material from one of
7950-710: The British army failed to embrace and understand fully. There are similarities between blitzkrieg and the Soviet concept of " deep battle ," which the Soviets used to great effect in 1944 and continued to use as a doctrine during the Cold War . In the Soviet Union during the 1920s and the 1930s, the concept of "deep battle" was developed and integrated into the Red Army field regulations doctrine by Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky . That led to
8109-401: The British, because it cost far less to aid Spanish insurgents than it did to equip and pay regular British army units to engage the same number of French troops. As the British army could be correspondingly smaller it was able to supply its troops by sea and land without having to live off the land as was the norm at the time. Further, because they did not have to forage they did not antagonise
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#17330927555738268-534: The Eurasian steppes and were seen in central Europe , the middle and lower Danube valley, and the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia . Evidence of horses in these areas had been rare before, and as numbers increased, larger animals also began to appear in horse remains. This expansion in range was contemporary with the Botai culture, where there are indications that horses were corralled and ridden. This does not necessarily mean that horses were first domesticated in
8427-523: The GSDMC gene and the ZFPM1 gene. The GSDMC gene is linked to back problems in people, and scientists speculate that changes may have made horses' backs stronger. The ZFPM1 gene is related to mood regulation, and scientists speculate that this may have made horses more docile and easier to tame and manage. Strength and docility would have made horses more suitable for riding and other uses. Archaeological evidence for
8586-525: The Germans would go on to the offensive in the east. Influenced by Hannibal's success at the Battle of Cannae , Schlieffen planned for a single great battle of encirclement, thereby annihilating his enemy. Another German strategist of the period was Hans Delbrück who expanded on Clausewitz's concept of "limited warfare" to produce a theory on the "strategy of exhaustion". His theory defied popular military thinking of
8745-454: The Greek forces were outnumbered stood as a good military strategy. The Greek allied forces ultimately lost the battle, but the training, use of armor, and location allowed them to defeat many Persian troops before losing. In the end, the Greek alliance lost the battle but not the war as a result of that strategy which continued on to the battle of Plataea. The Battle of Plataea in 479 BC resulted in
8904-536: The Napoleonic concept of victory through a decisive battle of annihilation and destruction of the opposing force, at any cost. However, he also recognized that his ideal of how war should be fought was not always practical in reality and that limited warfare could influence policy by wearing down the opposition through a " strategy of attrition ". In contrast to Clausewitz, Antoine-Henri Jomini (1779-1869) dealt mainly with operational strategy, planning and intelligence ,
9063-544: The Suvorovo graves. These agricultural cultures had not previously used polished-stone maces, and horse bones were rare or absent in their settlement sites. Probably their horse-head maces came from the Suvorovo immigrants. The Suvorovo people in turn acquired many copper ornaments from the Trypillia and Gumelnitsa towns. After this episode of contact and trade, but still during the period 4200–4000 BCE, about 600 agricultural towns in
9222-556: The Western by focusing more on asymmetric warfare and deception. Chanakya 's Arthashastra has been an important strategic and political compendium in Indian and Asian history as well. Strategy differs from operations and tactics , in that strategy refers to the employment of a nation's entire military capabilities through high-level and long-term planning, development, and procurement to guarantee security or victory. Operations and tactics
9381-410: The ages and sexes of the horses killed by humans; the appearance of horse corrals ; equipment such as bits or other types of horse tack ; horses interred with equipment intended for use by horses, such as chariots ; and depictions of horses used for riding , driving , draught work , or symbols of human power. Few of these categories, taken alone, provide irrefutable evidence of domestication, but
9540-679: The animal bones. Within this three percent, horses were less than 10%, with 90% or more of the equids represented by onagers ( Equus hemionus ) or another ass-like equid that later became extinct, the hydruntine or European wild ass ( Equus hydruntinus ). Onagers were the most common native wild equids of the Near East. They were hunted in Syria , Anatolia , Mesopotamia , Iran , and Central Asia; and domesticated asses ( Equus asinus ) were imported into Mesopotamia, probably from Egypt , but wild horses apparently did not live there. In Northern Caucasus ,
9699-630: The armies of Genghis, nearly all other armies were cumbersome and relatively static. It was not until well into the 20th century that any army was able to match the speed of deployment of Genghis' armies. When confronted with a fortified city, the Mongol imperatives of maneuver and speed required that it be quickly subdued. Here the terror engendered by the bloody reputation of the Mongolians helped to intimidate and subdue. So too did primitive biological warfare . A trebuchet or other type of ballista weapon would be used to launch dead animals and corpses into
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#17330927555739858-451: The availability of DNA for research, once suggested that there were roughly four basic wild prototypes, thought to have developed with adaptations to their environment before domestication. There were competing theories: some argued that the four prototypes were separate species or subspecies, while others suggested that the prototypes were physically different manifestations of the same species. However, more recent study indicates that there
10017-469: The bit striking the vertical front edge of the lower premolars, due to very strong pressure from a human handler. Modern experiments showed that even organic bits of rope or leather can create significant wear facets, and also showed that facets 3mm (.118 in) deep or more do not appear on the premolars of wild horses . However, other researchers disputed both conclusions. Wear facets of 3 mm or more were found on seven horse premolars in two sites of
10176-556: The campaign before the Shah could bring to bear his much larger numbers. Similar strategies are also possible using suitably trained infantry. Napoleon I used preemptive movements of cavalry and fast infantry to interrupt the initial deployment of enemy forces. This allowed his forces to attack where and when he wanted, enabling force concentration , possibly in combination with advantage of terrain . It disabled effective coordination of enemy forces, even when they were superior in numbers. That
10335-621: The collapse of that strongpoint even where the physical damage is minimal, such as the Maginot Line . Firepower , primarily used to destroy as many enemy forces as possible in attrition warfare, is used to suppress or destroy enemy positions at breakthrough points during maneuver warfare. Infiltration tactics , conventionally or with special forces , may be used extensively to cause chaos and confusion behind enemy lines. The retired officer and military theory author Robert Leonhard summarizes maneuver warfare theory as "preempt, dislocate, and disrupt"
10494-427: The concept of the grand strategy which encompasses the management of the resources of an entire nation in the conduct of warfare. In the environment of the grand strategy, the military component is largely reduced to operational strategy —the planning and control of large military units such as corps and divisions . As the size and number of the armies grew and the technology to communicate and control improved,
10653-451: The conduct of a campaign, and " generalship " rather than "statesmanship". He proposed that victory could be achieved by occupying the enemy's territory rather than destroying a opposing army. As such, geometric considerations were prominent in Jomini's theory of strategy. Jomini's two basic principles of strategy were to concentrate against fractions of the enemy force at a time and to strike at
10812-515: The creation of cavalry mechanised groups during World War II and to operational maneuver groups during the Cold War. According to the US Marine Corps , one key concept of maneuver warfare is that maneuver is traditionally thought of as a spatial concept, the use of maneuver to gain positional advantage. The US Marine concept of maneuver, however, is a "warfighting philosophy that seeks to shatter
10971-512: The cumulative evidence becomes increasingly more persuasive. The least ancient, but most persuasive, evidence of domestication comes from sites where horse leg bones and skulls, probably originally attached to hides, were interred with the remains of chariots in at least 16 graves of the Sintashta and Petrovka cultures. These were located in the steppes southeast of the Ural Mountains , between
11130-451: The defeat of an opposing force more efficiently than simply contacting and destroying enemy forces until they can no longer fight. Instead, in maneuver warfare, the destruction of certain enemy targets, such as command and control centers, logistical bases , or fire support assets, is combined with isolation of enemy forces and the exploitation by movement of enemy weaknesses. Bypassing and cutting off enemy strongpoints often results in
11289-454: The development of another method of warfare which went largely unnoticed at the time, but would become far more common in the 20th century. That was the aid and encouragement the British gave to the Spanish to harass the French behind their lines which led them to squander most of the assets of their Iberian army in protecting the army's line of communications. This was a very cost effective move for
11448-401: The difference between "military strategy" and "grand strategy" shrank. Fundamental to grand strategy is the diplomacy through which a nation might forge alliances or pressure another nation into compliance, thereby achieving victory without resorting to combat. Another element of grand strategy is the management of the post-war peace. As Clausewitz stated, a successful military strategy may be
11607-525: The disks had protruding prongs or studs that would have pressed against the horse's lips when the reins were pulled on the opposite side. Studded cheekpieces were a new and fairly severe kind of control device that appeared simultaneously with chariots. All of the dated chariot graves contained wheel impressions, horse bones, weapons (arrow and javelin points, axes, daggers, or stone mace-heads), human skeletal remains, and cheekpieces. Because they were buried in teams of two with chariots and studded cheekpieces,
11766-469: The disposition and manoeuvre of units on a particular sea or battlefield, but less broad than grand strategy otherwise called national strategy, which is the overarching strategy of the largest of organizations such as the nation state , confederation , or international alliance and involves using diplomatic, informational, military and economic resources. Military strategy involves using military resources such as people, equipment, and information against
11925-401: The distance of communication between the political and the military leader was small. But as the need of a professional army grew, the bounds between the politicians and the military came to be recognized. In many cases, it was decided that there was a need for a separation. As French statesman Georges Clemenceau said, "War is too important a business to be left to soldiers." This gave rise to
12084-546: The distinction between maneuver and battle, strategy and tactics, expanded with the capacity of technology and transit. Tactics that were once the province of a company of cavalry would be applied to a panzer army . It is often said that the art of strategies defines the goals to achieve in a military campaign, while tactics defines the methods to achieve these goals. Strategic goals could be "We want to conquer area X", or "We want to stop country Y's expansion in world trade in commodity Z"; while tactical decisions range from
12243-765: The dock, began to appear in artistic media in Mesopotamia during the Akkadian period, 2300–2100 BCE. The word for "horse", literally translated as ass of the mountains, first appeared in Sumerian documents during the Third dynasty of Ur , about 2100–2000 BCE. The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur apparently fed horses to lions for royal entertainment, perhaps indicating that horses were still regarded as more exotic than useful, but King Shulgi , about 2050 BCE, compared himself to "a horse of
12402-466: The domestication of the horse comes from three kinds of sources: 1) changes in the skeletons and teeth of ancient horses; 2) changes in the geographic distribution of ancient horses, particularly the introduction of horses into regions where no wild horses had existed; and 3) archaeological sites containing artifacts, images, or evidence of changes in human behavior connected with horses. Examples include horse remains interred in human graves ; changes in
12561-478: The domestication of the horse depends to some degree upon the definition of "domestication". Some zoologists define "domestication" as human control over breeding, which can be detected in ancient skeletal samples by changes in the size and variability of ancient horse populations. Other researchers look at the broader evidence, including skeletal and dental evidence of working activity; weapons, art, and spiritual artifacts; and lifestyle patterns of human cultures. There
12720-460: The earliest evidence for chariots, suggesting that both horseback riding and chariot use were factors in expansion. Genetic data may also provide clues as to why this particular domestication event had far more widespread impact than other domestication events in Botai, Iberia, SIberia and Anatolia. The genetic lineage that leads to modern domestic horses shows evidence of strong selection for locomotor and behavioural adaptations. Changes relate to
12879-428: The emphasis on the destruction of the enemy's physical assets, success as measured by enemy combatants killed, equipment and infrastructure destroyed, and territory taken or occupied. Attrition warfare tends to use rigidly-centralized command structures that require little or no creativity or initiative from lower-level leadership (also called top-down or "command push" tactics). Conventional warfare doctrine identifies
13038-528: The end of World War I to bypass resistance. Russian general Aleksei Brusilov used similar tactics in 1916 on the Eastern Front during the Brusilov Offensive . The introduction of fully armored tanks, in a series of increasingly successful operations, presented a way out of the deadlock of attrition and trench warfare , but World War I ended before the British would field thousands of tanks to be put in
13197-844: The end of war." 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". Hence, both gave the pre-eminence 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. The Art of War by Sun Tzu grew in popularity and saw practical use in Western society as well. It continues to influence many competitive endeavors in Asia, Europe, and America including culture, politics, and business, as well as modern warfare. The Eastern military strategy differs from
13356-458: 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." 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 tactics , the execution of plans and maneuvering of forces in battle, and logistics ,
13515-477: The enemy as alternatives to the destruction of enemy mass through attrition warfare. Since tempo and initiative are so critical to the success of maneuver warfare, command structures tend to be more decentralized with more tactical freedom given to lower-level unit leaders. Decentralized command structures allows "on the ground" unit leaders but still works within the guidelines of the commander's overall vision, to exploit enemy weaknesses as they become evident, which
13674-413: The enemy's cohesion through a variety of rapid, focused, and unexpected actions which create a turbulent and rapidly deteriorating situation with which the enemy cannot cope." The US Marine manual goes on to say: "This is not to imply that firepower is unimportant. On the contrary, firepower is central to maneuver warfare. Nor do we mean to imply that we will pass up the opportunity to physically destroy
13833-479: The enemy's will and ability to fight. Historically, maneuver warfare was stressed by small militaries, more cohesive, better trained, or more technologically advanced than attrition warfare counterparts. The term "tactical maneuver" is used by maneuver warfare theorists to refer to movement by forces to gain "advantageous position relative to the enemy," as opposed to its use in the phrase "maneuver warfare." The idea of using rapid movement to keep an enemy off balance
13992-541: The enemy. We will concentrate fires and forces at decisive points to destroy enemy elements when the opportunity presents itself and when it fits our larger purposes." The possibility of a massive Soviet offensive in Western Europe led to the creation of the US Army's AirLand battle doctrine. Though far from focusing on maneuver, it emphasized using combined arms to disrupt an enemy's plan by striking through their depth and
14151-430: The envelopment in detail. All of those activities imply faster movement than the enemy as well as faster reaction times to enemy activities. His use of fast mass marches to gain strategic advantage, cavalry probes, and screens to hide his movements; deliberate movement to gain psychological advantage by isolating forces from one another; and their headquarters are all hallmarks of maneuver warfare. One of his major concerns
14310-781: The evidence is extremely persuasive that these steppe horses of 2100–1700 BCE were domesticated. Shortly after the period of these burials, the expansion of the domestic horse throughout Europe was little short of explosive. In the space of possibly 500 years, there is evidence of horse-drawn chariots in Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. By another 500 years, the horse-drawn chariot had spread to China. Some researchers do not consider an animal to be "domesticated" until it exhibits physical changes consistent with selective breeding , or at least having been born and raised entirely in captivity. Until that point, they classify captive animals as merely "tamed". Those who hold to this theory of domestication point to
14469-405: The first encounter with the enemy. Field Marshal Schlieffen succeeded Moltke and directed German planning in the lead up to World War I. He advocated the "strategy of annihilation" but was faced by a war on two fronts against numerically superior opposition. The strategy he formulated was the Schlieffen Plan , defending in the east while concentrating for a decisive victory in the west, after which
14628-650: The forces of Datis in 490 BC, and subsequent pincer movements by Athenian forces on the flanks, used a similar tactic. The intention was to bring the Persian core forces forward—Persian and Saka axemen . The Hoplite flanks would then drive off their opposite numbers and enveloped the Persian center. Before the battle, Datis had re-embarked his cavalry—to which the hoplite formations had little real defense—which substantially weakened his position. Khalid's invasion of Roman Syria in July 634—by invading Syria from an unexpected direction,
14787-552: The fourth century BCE both horseback riding and mounted archery were practiced along China’s northwest frontier. In 2008, archaeologists announced the discovery of rock art in Somalia 's northern Dhambalin region, which the researchers suggest is one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is in the Ethiopian-Arabian style, dated to 1000 to 3000 BCE. About 4200-4000 BCE, more than 500 years before
14946-523: The full power of the pursuit of the enemy could not be achieved because the second army needed attention. Napoleon used the central position strategy during the Battle of Waterloo . Napoleon masked Wellington and massed against the Prussian army , and then after the Battle of Ligny was won, Napoleon attempted to do the same to the Allied/British army located just to the south of Waterloo. His subordinate
15105-621: The genetics of modern domestic horses. More than 150 scientists collaborated in gathering 264 ancient horse genomes from across Eurasia, dating from 50,000 to 200 B.C.E. In October 2021, results of the analysis were published in Nature . They indicated that domestication of the modern horse's ancestors likely occurred in the Volga-Don region of the Pontic–Caspian steppe grasslands of Western Eurasia . Both Tarpan and Przewalski’s horse were related to different ancestral populations than those underlying
15264-635: The geographic expansion evidenced by the presence of horse bones, new kinds of graves, named after a grave at Suvorovo , appeared north of the Danube delta in the coastal steppes of Ukraine near Izmail . Suvorovo graves were similar to and probably derived from earlier funeral traditions in the steppes around the Dnieper River . Some Suvorovo graves contained polished stone mace-heads shaped like horse heads and horse tooth beads. Earlier steppe graves also had contained polished stone mace-heads, some of them carved in
15423-604: The geopolitical policy objectives into militarily achievable goals and campaigns. 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
15582-477: The heads and hooves of a pair of horses were placed in a grave that once contained a chariot. Evidence of chariots in these graves was inferred from the impressions of two spoked wheels set in grave floors 1.2–1.6m apart; in most cases the rest of the vehicle left no trace. In addition, a pair of disk-shaped antler "cheekpieces," an ancient predecessor to a modern bit shank or bit ring , were placed in pairs beside each horse head-and-hoof sacrifice. The inner faces of
15741-447: The highway that swishes its tail", and one image from his reign showed a man apparently riding a horse at full gallop. Horses were imported into Mesopotamia and the lowland Near East in larger numbers after 2000 BCE in connection with the beginning of chariot warfare , replacing the long-established kunga (a hybrid between the now-extinct Syrian wild ass and a domestic donkey ) as the main equid for warfare. A further expansion, into
15900-589: The horse as a means of transport is from chariot burials dated c. 2000 BC . However, an increasing amount of evidence began to support the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes in approximately 3500 BC. Discoveries in the context of the Botai culture had suggested that Botai settlements in the Akmola Province of Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of
16059-415: The horse's mouth normally keep the bit on the "bars" of the mouth, an interdental space where there are no teeth, forward of the premolars. The bit must be manipulated by a human or the horse must move it with its tongue for it to touch the teeth. Wear can be caused by the bit abrading the front corners of the premolars if the horse grasps and releases the bit between its teeth ; other wear can be created by
16218-467: The horse. Warmuth et al. (2012) pointed to horses having been domesticated around 3000 BC in what is now Ukraine and Western Kazakhstan . The evidence is disputed by archaeozoologist Williams T. Taylor, who argues that domestication did not take place until around 2000 BC. Genetic evidence indicates that domestication of the modern horse's ancestors likely occurred in an area known as the Volga–Don , in
16377-638: The identified animal bones in Mesolithic and Neolithic camps in the Eurasian steppes, west of the Ural Mountains. Horse bones were rare or absent in Neolithic and Chalcolithic kitchen garbage in western Turkey , Mesopotamia , most of Iran , South and Central Asia , and much of Europe. While horse bones have been identified in Neolithic sites in central Turkey, all equids together totaled less than 3% of
16536-402: The larger portion overwhelmed and defeated the second army quickly. He would then march on the second army leaving a portion to pursue the first army and repeat the operations ( defeat in detail ). This was designed to achieve the highest concentration of men into the primary battle while limiting the enemy's ability to reinforce the critical battle. The central position did have a weakness in that
16695-874: The late 19th century and Przewalski's horse is endangered ; it became extinct in the wild during the late 1960s, but was re-introduced in the early 1990s to two preserves in Mongolia. Although researchers such as Marija Gimbutas theorized that the horses of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) were Przewalski's, more recent genetic studies indicate that Przewalski's horse is not an ancestor to modern domesticated horses. A 2014 study compared DNA from ancient horse bones that predated domestication and compared them to DNA of modern horses, discovering 125 genes that correlated to domestication. Some were physical, affecting muscle and limb development, cardiac strength and balance. Others were linked to cognitive function and most likely were critical to
16854-458: The latest possible date for domestication without excluding the possibility of an unknown period of earlier gene flow between wild and domestic populations (which will occur naturally as long as the domesticated population is kept within the habitat of the wild population). Whether one adopts the narrower zoological definition of domestication or the broader cultural definition that rests on an array of zoological and archaeological evidence affects
17013-426: The lines. The rupture in the enemy lines allowed Napoleon's cavalry to flank both lines and roll them up leaving his opponent no choice but to surrender or flee. The second strategy used by Napoleon I of France when confronted with two or more enemy armies was the use of the central position. This allowed Napoleon to drive a wedge to separate the enemy armies. He would then use part of his force to mask one army while
17172-494: The locals and so did not have to garrison their lines of communications to the same extent as the French did. So the strategy of aiding their Spanish civilian allies in their guerrilla or 'small war' benefited the British in many ways, not all of which were immediately obvious. Clausewitz 's On War has become a respected reference for strategy, dealing with political, as well as military, leadership , his most famous assertion being: Clausewitz saw war first and foremost as
17331-650: The lowland Near East and northwestern China , also happened around 2000 BCE. Although Equus bones of uncertain species are found in some Late Neolithic sites in China dated before 2000 BCE, Equus caballus or Equus ferus bones first appeared in multiple sites and in significant numbers in sites of the Qijia and Siba cultures, 2000–1600 BCE, in Gansu and the northwestern provinces of China. Skeletal evidence from sites in Shirenzigou and Xigou in eastern Xinjiang indicate that by
17490-550: 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. Carnot , during the French Revolutionary Wars thought it simply involved concentration of troops . Strategy and tactics are closely related and exist on the same continuum; modern thinking places
17649-567: The majority of the horse remains found in Botai-culture settlements indeed probably were wild. On the other hand, any domesticated riding horses were probably the same size as their wild cousins and cannot now be distinguished by bone measurements. They also note that the age structure of the horses slaughtered at Botai represents a natural demographic profile for hunted animals, not the pattern expected if they were domesticated and selected for slaughter. However, these arguments were published before
17808-447: The maneuver to battle to dictate how and where the battle would progress. The Battle of Austerlitz was a perfect example of this maneuver. Napoleon withdrew from a strong position to draw his opponent forward and tempt him into a flank attack, weakening his center. This allowed the French army to split the allied army and gain victory. Napoleon used two primary strategies for the approach to battle. His "Manoeuvre De Derrière" ( move onto
17967-454: The manoeuvring was constrained to narrow, vulnerable corridors. Steam power and ironclads changed transport and combat at sea. Newly invented telegraph enabled more rapid communication between armies and their headquarters capitals. Combat was still usually waged by opposing divisions with skirmish lines on rural battlefields, violent naval engagements by cannon-armed sailing or steam-powered vessels, and assault on military forces defending
18126-434: The maternal ( mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA) or paternal line ( Y-chromosome or Y-DNA). DNA studies indicate that there may have been multiple domestication events for mares, as the number of female lines required to account for the genetic diversity of the modern horse suggests a minimum of 77 different ancestral mares , divided into 17 distinct lineages. Studies of modern horses showed very little Y chromosome diversity, which
18285-442: The military requirements they create, and the pre-conditions 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." Field-Marshal Montgomery summed it up thus "Strategy is the art of distributing and applying military means, such as armed forces and supplies, to fulfil
18444-479: The mission. Maneuver warfare, the use of initiative, originality and the unexpected, combined with a ruthless determination to succeed, seeks to avoid opponents' strengths while exploiting their weaknesses and attacking their critical vulnerabilities and is the conceptual opposite of attrition warfare. Rather than seeking victory by applying superior force and mass to achieve physical destruction, maneuver uses preemption, deception, dislocation, and disruption to destroy
18603-399: The mitochondrial DNA obtained from modern horses as well as from horse bones and teeth from archaeological and palaeological finds consistently shows an increased genetic diversity in the mitochondrial DNA compared to the remaining DNA, showing that a large number of mares has been included into the breeding stock of the originally domesticated horse. Variation in the mitochondrial DNA
18762-525: The modern domestic horse. Genetic evidence also connects Botai horses with Przewalski's horse in Mongolia, which has led to debates over whether Przewalski's horses should be considered a never-domesticated population or feral descendants of domesticated Botai horses. The presence of bit wear is an indicator that a horse was ridden or driven, and the earliest of such evidence from a site in Kazakhstan dates to 3500 BCE. The absence of bit wear on horse teeth
18921-549: The modern domestic horses (DOM2). In addition, researchers were able to map population changes over time as modern domestic horses expanded rapidly across Eurasia and displaced other local populations, from about 2000 BCE onwards. The genetic profile for DOM2 horses is associated with horses buried in Sintashta kurgans with early spoke-wheeled chariots, and with horses in Central Anatolia where two-wheeled vehicles were depicted. DOM2 horses also occur in some areas prior to
19080-558: The morale and mental state of the opposing population) achieved through the offensive; this offensive was itself characterized by concentration of force, maneuver, surprise, and simplicity. 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
19239-420: The most decisive objective. Clausewitz and Jomini remain required reading for today's military professional officer. The evolution of military strategy continued in the American Civil War (1861–1865). The practice of strategy was advanced by generals such as Robert E. Lee , Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman , all of whom had been influenced by the feats of Napoleon ( Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
19398-792: The most intriguing evidence of early domestication comes from the Botai culture , found in northern Kazakhstan . The Botai culture was a culture of foragers who seem to have adopted horseback riding in order to hunt the abundant wild horses of northern Kazakhstan between 3500 and 3000 BCE. Botai sites had no cattle or sheep bones; the only domesticated animals, in addition to horses, were dogs . Botai settlements in this period contained between 50 and 150 pit houses. Garbage deposits contained tens to hundreds of thousands of discarded animal bones, 65% to 99% of which had come from horses. Also, there has been evidence found of horse milking at these sites, with horse milk fats soaked into pottery shards dating to 3500 BCE. Earlier hunter-gatherers who lived in
19557-480: The most men". The concepts given as essential in the United States Army Field Manual of Military Operations ( FM 3–0 ) are: 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
19716-405: The operational level between them. All deal with distance, time and force but strategy is large scale, can endure through years, and is societal while tactics are small scale and involve the disposition of fewer elements enduring hours to weeks. Originally strategy was understood to govern the prelude to a battle while tactics controlled its execution. However, in the world wars of the 20th century,
19875-425: The opponent's resources to gain supremacy or reduce the opponent's will to fight, developed through the precepts of military science . 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." Strategy may be divided into 'grand strategy', geopolitical in scope and 'military strategy' that converts
20034-434: The overall genetic variation in the remaining genetic material. This indicates that a relatively few stallions were domesticated and that it is unlikely that many male offspring originating from unions between wild stallions and domestic mares were included in early domesticated breeding stock. Genes located in the mitochondrial DNA are passed on along the maternal line from the mother to her offspring. Multiple analyses of
20193-455: The pace of march. Some train-borne maneuvering took place during the American Civil War in the 1860s, but the sizes of the armies involved meant that the system could provide only limited support. Armored trains were among the first armored fighting vehicles employed by mankind. During the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussians, knowing that the French could field a larger army than theirs, made
20352-479: The preface to The Influence of Sea Power upon History how the Romans used their sea power to effectively block the sea lines of communication of Hannibal with Carthage ; and so via a maritime strategy achieved Hannibal's removal from Italy, despite never beating him there with their legions. One of these strategies was shown in the battle between Greek city states and Persia. The Battle of Thermopylae in which
20511-550: The rear ) was intended to place the French Army across the enemy's lines of communications . This forced the opponent to either march to battle with Napoleon or attempt to find an escape route around the army. By placing his army into the rear, his opponent's supplies and communications would be cut. This had a negative effect on enemy morale. Once joined, the battle would be one in which his opponent could not afford defeat. This also allowed Napoleon to select multiple battle angles into
20670-491: The same region had not hunted wild horses with such success, and lived for millennia in smaller, more shifting settlements, often containing less than 200 wild animal bones. Entire herds of horses were slaughtered by the Botai hunters, apparently in hunting drives. The adoption of horseback riding might explain the emergence of specialized horse-hunting techniques and larger, more permanent settlements. Domesticated horses could have been adopted from neighboring herding societies in
20829-556: The shape of animal heads. Settlements in the steppes contemporary with Suvorovo, such as Sredni Stog II and Dereivka on the Dnieper River, contained 12–52% horse bones. When Suvorovo graves appeared in the Danube delta grasslands, horse-head maces also appeared in some of the indigenous farming towns of the Trypillia and Gumelnitsa cultures in present-day Romania and Moldova , near
20988-564: The site of Csepel-Haros in Hungary , a settlement of the Bell Beaker culture . Use of horses spread across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work and warfare . Horses and mules in agriculture used a breastplate type harness or a yoke more suitable for oxen , which was not as efficient at utilizing the full strength of the animals as the later-invented padded horse collar that arose several millennia later. A 2005 study analyzed
21147-580: The situation from the other sides in a conflict. Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke expressed strategy as a system of " ad hoc expedients" by which a general must take action while under pressure. These underlying principles of strategy have survived relatively unchanged as the technology of warfare has developed. Strategy (and tactics) must constantly evolve in response to technological advances. A successful strategy from one era tends to remain in favor long after new developments in military weaponry and matériel have rendered it obsolete. World War I, and to
21306-610: 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 in 1777 by Johann von Bourscheid. From then onwards, the use of the word spread throughout the West. In the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), Frederick the Great improvised
21465-501: The sole aim of utterly destroying his opponent, usually achieving success through superior maneuver. As ruler and general he dealt with the grand strategy as well as the operational strategy, making use of political and economic measures. While not the originator of the methods he used, Napoleon effectively combined the relatively superior maneuver and battle stages into one event. Before this, General Officers had considered this approach to battle as separate events. However, Napoleon used
21624-526: The south, and maneuver and security, by preventing the Germans from going directly from Alsace to Paris. 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. Mahan describes in
21783-511: The steppes west of the Ural Mountains, where the Khvalynsk culture had herds of cattle and sheep, and perhaps had domesticated horses, as early as 4800 BCE. Other researchers have argued that all of the Botai horses were wild, and that the horse-hunters of Botai hunted wild horses on foot. As evidence, they note that zoologists have found no skeletal changes in the Botai horses that indicate domestication. Moreover, because they were hunted for food,
21942-690: The steppes, but the horse-hunters of the steppes certainly pursued wild horses more than in any other region. European wild horses were hunted for up to 10% of the animal bones in a handful of Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements scattered across Spain , France , and the marshlands of northern Germany , but in many other parts of Europe, including Greece , the Balkans , the British Isles , and much of central Europe, horse bones do not occur or occur very rarely in Mesolithic, Neolithic or Chalcolithic sites. In contrast, wild horse bones regularly exceeded 40% of
22101-483: The taming of the horse, including social behavior, learning capabilities, fear response, and agreeableness. The DNA used in this study came from horse bones 16,000 to 43,000 years ago, and therefore the precise changes that occurred at the time of domestication have yet to be sequenced. The domestication of stallions and mares can be analyzed separately by looking at those portions of the DNA that are passed on exclusively along
22260-596: The three foundation stallions of the Thoroughbred breed. A study published in 2012 that performed genomic sampling on 300 work horses from local areas as well as a review of previous studies of archaeology, mitochondrial DNA , and Y-DNA suggested that horses were originally domesticated in the western part of the Eurasian steppe. Both domesticated stallions and mares spread out from this area, and then additional wild mares were added from local herds; wild mares were easier to handle than wild stallions. Most other parts of
22419-550: The time frame chosen for the domestication of the horse. The date of 4000 BCE is based on evidence that includes the appearance of dental pathologies associated with bitting , changes in butchering practices, changes in human economies and settlement patterns, the depiction of horses as symbols of power in artifacts , and the appearance of horse bones in human graves. On the other hand, measurable changes in size and increases in variability associated with domestication occurred later, about 2500–2000 BCE, as seen in horse remains found at
22578-482: The time, which was strongly in favour of victory in battle, yet World War I would soon demonstrate the flaws of a mindless "strategy of annihilation". Domestication of the horse How and when horses became domesticated has been disputed. Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BC, these were wild horses and were probably hunted for meat. The clearest evidence of early use of
22737-409: The upper Ural and upper Tobol Rivers , a region today divided between southern Russia and northern Kazakhstan . Petrovka was a little later than and probably grew out of Sintashta, and the two complexes together spanned about 2100–1700 BCE. A few of these graves contained the remains of as many as eight sacrificed horses placed in, above, and beside the grave. In all of the dated chariot graves,
22896-766: The vast horse-herds of Mongolia. Each archer had at least one extra horse—there was an average of five horses per man—thus the entire army could move with astounding rapidity. Moreover, since horse milk and horse blood were the staples of the Mongolian diet, Genghis' horse-herds functioned not just as his means of movement but as his logistical sustainment. All other necessities would be foraged and plundered. Khan's marauders also brought with them mobile shelters, concubines, butchers, and cooks. Through maneuver and continuous assault, Chinese, Persian , Arab and Eastern European armies could be stressed until they collapsed, and were then annihilated in pursuit and encirclement. Compared to
23055-537: The wild; and a decrease in average size, thought to reflect penning and restriction in diet. Horse populations that showed this combination of skeletal changes probably were domesticated. Most evidence suggests that horses were increasingly controlled by humans after about 2500 BCE. However, more recently there have been skeletal remains found at a site in Kazakhstan which display the smaller, more slender limbs characteristic of corralled animals, dated to 3500 BCE. Some of
23214-459: The world were ruled out as sites for horse domestication, either due to climate unsuitable for an indigenous wild horse population or no evidence of domestication. Genes located on the Y-chromosome are inherited only from sire to its male offspring and these lines show a very reduced degree of genetic variation (aka genetic homogeneity ) in modern domestic horses, far less than expected based on
23373-694: The worn teeth later produced a radiocarbon date of 700–200 BCE, indicating that this stallion was actually deposited in a pit dug into the older Eneolithic site during the Iron Age . Soil scientists working with Sandra Olsen of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History at the Chalcolithic settlements of Botai and Krasnyi Yar in northern Kazakhstan found layers of horse dung , discarded in unused house pits in both settlements. The collection and disposal of horse dung suggests that horses were confined in corrals or stables . An actual corral, dated to 3500–3000 BCE
23532-594: Was a leading proponent of armored combat. The German military stressed several key elements: versatile tanks combined with mobile infantry and artillery, close air support, rapid movement and concentration of forces ( Schwerpunkt ), and aggressive independent local initiative. All was strictly coordinated by radio and contributed to new tactics during the Battle of France in 1940. Theories in Germany about armored warfare have some similarities with interwar theories of British officers J.F.C. Fuller and B. H. Liddell Hart , which
23691-480: Was effective tactically and strategically. During his time as a general and indeed his power base to become the head of France, Napoleon's reputation was based on a powerful and fluent campaign in northern Italy, opposing the numerically superior Austrians. He cited Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne as one major source of his strategy. He trained a normal, if rather undisciplined, French Army of Italy into moving faster than most thought possible. That
23850-548: Was found that modern domestic horses are not closely related to the horses at Botai. Rather, Przewalski’s horses were identified as feral descendants of horses herded at Botai. Evidence suggested that "a massive genomic turnover" had occurred along with the domestication of horses and large-scale human population expansion in the Early Bronze Age. Subsequent research showed that horse lineages from Iberia and Siberia, also associated with early domestication, had little influence on
24009-423: Was identified at Krasnyi Yar by a pattern of post holes for a circular fence , with the soils inside the fence yielding ten times more phosphorus than the soils outside. The phosphorus could represent the remains of manure. The appearance of horse remains in human settlements in regions where they had not previously been present is another indicator of domestication. Although images of horses appear as early as
24168-494: Was only one wild species and all different body types were entirely a result of selective breeding or landrace adaptation after domestication. Either way, the most common theories of prototypes include four base prototypes: Two "wild" groups, that were believed to be never-domesticated, survived into historic times: Przewalski's horse ( Equus ferus przewalski ), and the Tarpan ( Equus ferus ferus ). The Tarpan became extinct in
24327-425: Was originally interpreted as evidence of a single domestication event for a limited number of stallions combined with repeated restocking of wild females into the domesticated herds. However, more recent studies of ancient DNA show that Y chromosome diversity was significantly higher a thousand years ago. The low present diversity may be partially explained by the popularity of Arabian and Turkoman studs, especially
24486-463: Was partially because his army lived off the land and had no big logistical "tail." Both his ability to move huge armies to give battle where he wanted and the style of his choice would become legendary, and he was seen as undefeatable, even against larger and superior forces. Napoleon also arranged his forces into what would be known in the present as "battle groups" of combined arms formations to allow faster reaction time to enemy action. That strategy
24645-495: Was said to have carried a book of Napoleon's maxims with him.) However, the adherence to the Napoleonic principles in the face of technological advances such as the long-range infantry breechloader rifles and minie ball guns generally led to disastrous consequences for both the Union and Confederate forces and populace. The time and space in which war was waged changed as well. Railroads enabled swift movement of large forces but
24804-421: Was seen as moving toward maneuver warfare in comparison to the earlier active defense concept. The AirLand doctrine was seen by Martin van Creveld as "arguably a half way house between maneuver and attrition". The British Joint Forces are limited to consider air assault or airmobile operations in their 2016 publication "Joint Doctrine Note on Air Manoeuvre". A key requirement for success in maneuver warfare
24963-648: Was the defeat and annexation of the Khwarazmian Empire between 1219 and 1221 CE, which wielded an army nearly three times the Mongol army, in just a few months of fighting. The Mongol army's constant movement and maneuvering tied down the Khwarazmian forces, denying them the ability to gain the initiative as well as shocked and demoralized the Khwarazmian Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad as well as his army, thus ending
25122-532: Was the relatively slow speed of infantry movement relative to the cavalry. It was that and subsequent defeats that caused a major doctrinal reevaluation by the Prussians under Clausewitz of the revealed power of maneuver warfare. The results of that review were seen in the Franco-Prussian War . In the mid-19th century, various forms of mechanized transport were introduced, starting with trains running on steam power . That resulted in significant logistic improvements. Opposing armies were no longer limited in speed by
25281-537: Was unable to mask the defeated Prussian army, who reinforced the Waterloo battle in time to defeat Napoleon and end his domination of Europe. It can be said that the Prussian Army under Blücher used the "maneuver de derrière" against Napoleon who was suddenly placed in a position of reacting to a new enemy threat. Napoleon's practical strategic triumphs, repeatedly leading smaller forces to defeat larger ones, inspired
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