It is dangerous to assume that in today's operating environment, a universally accepted definition of what war is, and what war is not, is readily available. While most Soldiers and policy makers claim to know war, "knowing it when they see it," is...
The purpose of this monograph is to recommend the retention, modification, or abandonment of certain concepts of the current elements of operational design based on their continued validity within the contemporary operational environment. Military...
The media influence ongoing and future military operations by functioning as a sort of filter (or "ether ") within the Clausewitzian Trinity, which coalesces the military, the people (public), and the government (policy makers). The relationship...
This monograph studies the meaning behind the infamous Clausewitzian concept of the trinity. He uses this concept to describe the essence of warfare in book one of his treatise “On War”. This concept permeates his discussion of warfare...
Over the years, there has been debate within the services about whether Clausewitz's theories should be used as a basis for modern warfighting doctrine. The majority of debate has focused on the specific issue of whether Clausewitz's most well...
The problem is, valid but incompatible service theories of operational warfighting inhibit rather than promote jointness. One cause of this problem is the joint definition of the center of gravity, which is vague and ineffective. This monograph...
This monograph analyzes the effects of globalization on the international system as reflected in the changing nature of war. The difficulties that the United States leadership is having with creating and communicating a strategy for the Global War...
From antiquity to the present there has been cultural tension over different views of what is right and what is wrong, and every culture desires to apply their values universally to the rest of the world. When a nation chooses to go to war and...
This study examines the validity of Clausewitz's conclusions about the defense on the future battlefield. It discusses the correctness of the adoption of Clausewitz's ideas in the operational manuals of the American and German Army (Field Manual...
This monograph examines the question can modern metaphors, based on late twentieth century nonlinear scientific thought, better explain concepts described by Clausewitz, using early nineteenth century linear scientific thought. Clausewitz...
This monograph examines the theoretical linkages between Clausewitz's trinity and the spectrum of conflict, the effect of change on the interpretation of each, and the resultant impact on the concept of operational art. It identifies the common...
This monograph analyzes the Marine Corps' method for campaign design. It seeks to answer the research question: Is the Marine Corps' campaign design process found in FMFM 1-1 adequate? If not, the campaign design process will produce failure; but,...
Since the end of the Cold War stability and support operations represent the majority of U. S. Army deployments. The writers of the Army’s capstone manual, FM 100-5, Operations, grapple with replacing the 1993 version with a comprehensive...
As the United States Army prepares for the 21st Century, few things are as certain as the tremendous influence that emerging technologies will have on military capability. The purpose of this monograph is to establish how you reconcile...
Perhaps one of the most controversial theories proposed by the l9th century military theorist and historian, Carl von Clausewitz, was the proposition that the defense, not the offense, was the stronger form of war. This is the second of two...
This paper examines the question whether systems theory, and the concepts of systems-shock and the center of gravity are compatible and have any utility in military planning. Currently there is a debate between systems theory proponents who argue...
This monograph examines the cumulative effect which improvements in information technology have had at the operational level of war. Specifically, it uses the Clausewitzian theory of war to analyze how modern methods of information processing and...
This thesis adopts the adversary's perspective to consider the revolution in military affairs, thereby breaking free of the intellectual constraints imposed by the American paradigm of warfare, doctrine and force structure. The adversary's need to...
The information sphere is an integral part of the current environment. The center of gravity (CoG) theory currently is matched for conventional, linear, industrial age warfare in the physical domain. The CoG concept is thus not suited to work in...
Many Americans associate the fall of Rome with Alaric and the Visigoths and other warrior peoples from the north, but serious students understand that Rome’s decline was slow and from within. Ralph Peters writes, “In its confident years, the...