The Way Of War

[Dayuhan]

To attack an opponent is not to defeat an opponent. One must still occupy and hold ground and the skies above that ground. One must secure passage across the seas and skies to reach that ground. And even if one accomplishes all of those things, one must then force the people living on that ground to submit to their newly imposed system of governance.

As the US has demonstrated (too often of late), if one has the relative advantage of resources and technology, yes, the initial aspects of that can be fairly quick and easy. But forcing a people to submit?

I don't think that submission or occupation should be presumed necessary: that would depend on the political objectives being pursued. Entering a conflict with clear objectives and refusing to expand those objectives can often (not always, but often) free us from the assumption that we "must" occupy territory and impose systems of governance.

Countries such as the US will increasingly need to absorb the occasional sucker punch and not be distracted from the business of being a powerful state. Retaliation and prevention cannot be an all-consuming extravaganza such as we have put on for the past decade or so, but rather must be a small, quiet, but deadly certain capability. No massive deployments, no public chest-thumping when enemies fall, just cold hard business of being a state in the modern age.

Well I'll be damned, we agree on something...

[davidbfpo]

I suggest you have a look at the new, free e-journal following the model of Wilf Owen's 'Infinity Journal'. Journal of Military Operations (JOMO) is dedicated to military operations as well as tactics. Registration is free: https://www.tjomo.com

Secondly the Editor is Dr. Jim Storr, a.k.a Colonel Storr, author of 'The Human Face of War', now republished in paperback, which might help too.

[Taiko]

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

I bought The Prince and Sun Tzu when I was 15, been reading both once a year ever since, along with CvC and Thucydides. Still have not found many books that are not reiterations of these four classic. With the exception of Mao whose work is more an amalgamation of CvC/Sun Tzu.

I suggest you have a look at the new, free e-journal following the model of Wilf Owen's 'Infinity Journal'. Journal of Military Operations (JOMO) is dedicated to military operations as well as tactics. Registration is free: https://www.tjomo.com

Thanks for the link Davidbfpo

@Fuchs: see PM

Principles/Laws of warfare: 1. adaptation of defence/offence 2. exploitation/utilization of time and space

Well I'll be damned, we agree on something...

Ay, speak quietly, carry a big stick and avoid foreign entanglements