Understanding Military Doctrine

Understanding Military Doctrine PDF Author: Harald Hoiback
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136760318
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
This book puts military doctrine into a wider perspective, drawing on military history, philosophy, and political science. Military doctrines are institutional beliefs about what works in war; given the trauma of 9/11 and the ensuing 'War on Terror', serious divergences over what the message of the 'new' military doctrine ought to be were expected around the world. However, such questions are often drowned in ferocious meta-doctrinal disagreements. What is a doctrine, after all? This book provides a theoretical understanding of such questions. Divided into three parts, the author investigates the historical roots of military doctrine and explores its growth and expansion until the present day, and goes on to analyse the main characteristics of a military doctrine. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the book concludes that doctrine can be utilized in three key ways: as a tool of command, as a tool of change, and as a tool of education. This book will be of much interest to students of military studies, civil-military relations, strategic studies, and war studies, as well as to students in professional military education.

Understanding Military Doctrine

Understanding Military Doctrine PDF Author: Harald Hoiback
Publisher: Cass Military Studies
ISBN: 9781138477971
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This book puts military doctrine into a wider perspective, drawing on military history, philosophy, and political science. Military doctrines are institutional beliefs about what works in war; given the trauma of 9/11 and the ensuing 'War on Terror', serious divergences over what the message of the 'new' military doctrine ought to be were expected around the world. However, such questions are often drowned in ferocious meta-doctrinal disagreements. What is a doctrine, after all? This book provides a theoretical understanding of such questions. Divided into three parts, the author investigates the historical roots of military doctrine and explores its growth and expansion until the present day, and goes on to analyse the main characteristics of a military doctrine. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the book concludes that doctrine can be utilized in three key ways: as a tool of command, as a tool of change, and as a tool of education. This book will be of much interest to students of military studies, civil-military relations, strategic studies, and war studies, as well as to students in professional military education.

The Sources of Military Doctrine

The Sources of Military Doctrine PDF Author: Barry Posen
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801494277
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Barry R. Posen explores how military doctrine takes shape and the role it plays in grand strategy-that collection of military, economic, and political means and ends with which a state attempts to achieve security. Posen isolates three crucial elements of a given strategic doctrine: its offensive, defensive, or deterrent characteristics, its integration of military resources with political aims, and the degree of military or operational innovation it contains. He then examines these components of doctrine from the perspectives of organization theory and balance of power theory, taking into account the influence of technology and geography. Looking at interwar France, Britain, and Germany, Posen challenges each theory to explain the German Blitzkrieg, the British air defense system, and the French Army's defensive doctrine often associated with the Maginot Line. This rigorous comparative study, in which the balance of power theory emerges as the more useful, not only allows us to discover important implications for the study of national strategy today, but also serves to sharpen our understanding of the origins of World War II.

The Evolution of US Army Tactical Doctrine, 1946-76

The Evolution of US Army Tactical Doctrine, 1946-76 PDF Author: Robert A. Doughty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military art and science
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
This paper focuses on the formulation of doctrine since World War II. In no comparable period in history have the dimensions of the battlefield been so altered by rapid technological changes. The need for the tactical doctrines of the Army to remain correspondingly abreast of these changes is thus more pressing than ever before. Future conflicts are not likely to develop in the leisurely fashions of the past where tactical doctrines could be refined on the battlefield itself. It is, therefore, imperative that we apprehend future problems with as much accuracy as possible. One means of doing so is to pay particular attention to the business of how the Army's doctrine has developed historically, with a view to improving methods of future development.

Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms PDF Author: United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military art and science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description


Military Doctrine

Military Doctrine PDF Author: Bert Chapman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313352348
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
This comprehensive volume provides a thorough overview of 20th- and 21st-century military doctrines worldwide. Military Doctrine: A Reference Handbook takes a thorough look at 20th- and 21st-century military doctrines around the world. It excerpts relevant English-language scholarly and governmental literature to paint a picture of how military doctrine has developed in recent history, what military doctrines are currently operating on the world stage, and where military doctrine is heading in the near future. The book casts a wide net, scanning the relevant government documents, international agreements, monographs, journals, conference papers, and Internet resources to present a thorough overview of the importance of military doctrine in today's highly unstable world. Because military institutions are important formulators of national military doctrine and not merely implementers, this book examines the roles played by military organizations around the world. With the proliferation of independent military scholars and the widespread influence of their work in the Internet age, the book also scans the "gray" literature and describes its effects on military doctrine.

The Roots of Military Doctrine

The Roots of Military Doctrine PDF Author: Aaron P. Jackson
Publisher: Military Bookshop
ISBN: 9781782664413
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
From the foreword: "During the 1980s a fable circulated within the US Army concerning Soviet planning for a potential war with the United States. In the most common version, a Soviet general is alleged to have declared in frustration, "It is impossible to plan against the Americans because they don't follow their own doctrine." Many readers of this book will have heard (or said) that "doctrine is only a guide." Indeed, the tactical agility demonstrated by the US Army on the battle elds of Iraq and Afghanistan is due in no small part to a cultural imperative that prizes solutions above all else.While not disputing the value of unorthodox solutions to dif cult challenges, the organizational culture that underpins this perspective has resulted in a widespread lack of knowledge of Army doctrine by com-pany and eld grade of cers and mid-level and senior noncommissioned of cers. Recognizing this, the Army has dramatically reengineered its doctrine to distill the timeless principles into a series of accessible, easily read documents. This process has led to a larger discussion of what should and should not be called "doctrine," and has also included discussion of how we as members of the profession of arms conceptualize warfare. Unfortunately, this conversation has not yet included the bulk of the Army's mid-level leaders. Dr. Jackson's monograph is an excellent contribution to remedy that shortfall. Its greatest value lies in the fact that it forces the reader to reconsider basic assumptions about the purpose and utility of doctrine, and what a nation's military doctrine says about its military institution. Jackson's arguments are well reasoned, his assertions are provocative, and his conclusions are profound. After reading this work, your view and understanding of doctrine will be powerfully enhanced, and will lead to lively discussions at every level."

U.S. Army Doctrine

U.S. Army Doctrine PDF Author: Walter E. Kretchik
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700632948
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
From the American Revolution to the global war on terror, U.S. Army doctrine has evolved to regulate the chaos of armed conflict by providing an intellectual basis for organizing, training, equipping, and operating the military. Walter E. Kretchik analyzes the service's keystone doctrine over three centuries to reveal that the army's leadership is more forward thinking and adaptive than has been generally believed. The first comprehensive history of Army doctrine, Kretchik's book fully explores the principles that have shaped the Army's approach to warfare. From Regulations For the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States in 1779 to modern-day field manuals, it reflects the fashioning of doctrine to incorporate the lessons of past wars and minimize the uncertainty and dangers of battle. Kretchik traces Army doctrine through four distinct eras: 1779-1904, when guidelines were compiled by single authors or a board of officers in tactical drill manuals; 1905-1944, when the Root Reforms fixed doctrinal responsibility with the General Staff; 1944-1962, the era of multiservice doctrine; and, beginning in 1962, coalition warfare with its emphasis on interagency cooperation. He reveals that doctrine has played a significant role in the Army's performance throughout its history-although not always to its advantage, as it has often failed to anticipate accurately the nature of the "next war" and still continues to be locked in a debate between advocates of conventional warfare and those who emphasize counterinsurgency approaches. Each chapter presents individuals who helped define and articulate Army doctrine during each period of its history-including George Washington and Baron von Steuben in the eighteenth century, Emory Upton and Arthur Wagner in the nineteenth, and Elihu Root and William DePuy in the twentieth. Each identifies the "first principles" set down in manuals covering such topics as tactics, operations, and strategy; size, organization, and distribution of forces; and the promise and challenges of technological innovation. Each also presents specific cases that analyze how effectively the Army actually applied a particular era's doctrine. Doctrine remains the basis of instruction in the Army school system, ensuring that all officers and enlisted soldiers share a common intellectual framework. This book elucidates that framework for the first time.

Military Power

Military Power PDF Author: Stephen Biddle
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400837820
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
In war, do mass and materiel matter most? Will states with the largest, best equipped, information-technology-rich militaries invariably win? The prevailing answer today among both scholars and policymakers is yes. But this is to overlook force employment, or the doctrine and tactics by which materiel is actually used. In a landmark reconception of battle and war, this book provides a systematic account of how force employment interacts with materiel to produce real combat outcomes. Stephen Biddle argues that force employment is central to modern war, becoming increasingly important since 1900 as the key to surviving ever more lethal weaponry. Technological change produces opposite effects depending on how forces are employed; to focus only on materiel is thus to risk major error--with serious consequences for both policy and scholarship. In clear, fluent prose, Biddle provides a systematic account of force employment's role and shows how this account holds up under rigorous, multimethod testing. The results challenge a wide variety of standard views, from current expectations for a revolution in military affairs to mainstream scholarship in international relations and orthodox interpretations of modern military history. Military Power will have a resounding impact on both scholarship in the field and on policy debates over the future of warfare, the size of the military, and the makeup of the defense budget.

Understanding Counterinsurgency Warfare

Understanding Counterinsurgency Warfare PDF Author: Thomas Rid
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136976051
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
This textbook offers an accessible introduction to counterinsurgency operations, a key aspect of modern warfare. Featuring essays by some of the world’s leading experts on unconventional conflict, both scholars and practitioners, the book discusses how modern regular armed forces react, and should react, to irregular warfare. The volume is divided into three main sections: Doctrinal Origins: analysing the intellectual and historical roots of modern Western theory and practice Operational Aspects: examining the specific role of various military services in counterinsurgency, but also special forces, intelligence, and local security forces Challenges: looking at wider issues, such as governance, culture, ethics, civil-military cooperation, information operations, and time. Understanding Counterinsurgency is the first comprehensive textbook on counterinsurgency, and will be essential reading for all students of small wars, counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, strategic studies and security studies, both in graduate and undergraduate courses as well as in professional military schools.