A key theoretical proposition offered by Clausewitz in On War was that the defense was the stronger form of war over the offense. Members of the military, theorists, and historians have intermittently grappled with this proposition and have tended...
Clausewitz's model of war postulates that the attack has a positive aim but the defense is the stronger form of war. Armies past and present have generally accepted the superior strength of the defense, but the degree of superiority has varied with...
On a theoretical level, defensive campaigns are the stronger form of war. As Clausewitz said, “All things being equal defense is the stronger form.” However on the practical side defensive campaigns can only remain the stronger form of war if...
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...
Recent historical events such as the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and Operation Desert Storm indicate that we are entering a new era of geo-political struggle. The world is no longer dominated by a bipolar struggle between the United States and the...
This monograph discusses whether classical military theory as developed by Clausewitz in On War remains relevant in light of military technological advances. The monograph specifically challenges whether the claim that the defense is the...
Current U.S. Air Force doctrine promotes offensive air operations as the primary means of gaining air superiority and then exploiting that success by attacking enemy forces/LOCs/logistics, etc. on the ground. Such reliance on the offense begs the...
Insurgency is a time-honored form of warfare that allows a weaker opponent to subvert the power of a stronger foe. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Spanish guerrillas waged an effective insurgency against the premier army of the...
With the end of the cold war, India-United States security cooperation underwent a significant positive transformation. This thesis traces the historical context, origins, evolution and the current level of security cooperation between India and...
This monograph discusses the planning and execution of the 1944 Ardennes campaign, analyzes the reasons for Allied success and German failure, and based on that analysis examines the validity of certain theoretical concepts relating to the practice...
Focusing efforts toward building security force capability without increasing state capacity is an ineffective strategy to achieve government victory in civil war. The purpose of this monograph is to advance and test the hypothesis that...
This paper seeks to examine the changing nature of war and the environment in which it is fought. The fact that America is not applauding its successes at the physical level of war in waging the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and does not perceive the...
Empowerment of the Noncommissioned Officer has steadily increased since the birth of the United States Army. The Noncommissioned Officer Corps could be a lot stronger given all the tools we have if we would start looking at the quality of the NCO...
The debate on the development of NATO expeditionary capabilities started in the late Nineties, but only after the 9/11 attacks -- following a proposal of the then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld -- was finalized. The NATO Rapid Response...
With several hundreds of thousands space debris "bullets" orbiting the Earth, the U.S. Government enters a high risk environment whenever a satellite is launched into orbit. Because of the United States' dependence on space assets, the threat of...
U.S. Army Field Manual 100-5, Operations (FM 100-5), the keystone warfighting manual, lists the culminating point as one of the three key concepts of operational design. It also states that the concept is applicable at the strategic, operational...
The ultimate success of the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission in Afghanistan relies on transitioning responsibility for security to the Afghan National Security Forces, primarily the Afghan National Army. The US and NATO...
This thesis is built on research guided by the primary research question: Does the European Union (EU) possess effective military crisis management decision-making mechanisms to plan and execute peacekeeping missions without external assistance?...
After ten years the ESDP has reached an important milestone in its development. It is one of the most dynamic policy areas in the framework of the European Union (EU) and is a substantial integration project. Behind this background the study...
This study explores the role of the military as an instrument of national power in the transformation of Republics to Empires. It concentrates on two case studies. The first is the Athenian transformation from Radical Democracy to an Informal...