historical cases of cultural intelligence used in campaign planning?

[wallace]

I am looking for historical cases where cultural intelligence has been used in campaign planning... I was originally looking at examining Soviet plans found in the East German archives after the Cold War that detailed the Soviet approach to invading Iran; but I was unable to find sufficient material. Is anyone familiar with the Soviet plans or have any suggestions of other campaigns that use cultural intelligence to formulate plans? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Steve Blair]

I moved this thread from the RFI section just in case Stan or others might have some insight.

[marct]

Hi Wallace,

I am looking for historical cases where cultural intelligence has been used in campaign planning...

The absolute classics in the area are the various Strategicons and Tacticons produced in the Byzantine Empire. Try the Tacticon of Leo VI. If you want to go earlier,there is always Tacitus' Germania, which appears to have been used in Roman tactics in lower Germany. For more recent examples, there is the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Corps of Discovery material (see here for example).

I was originally looking at examining Soviet plans found in the East German archives after the Cold War that detailed the Soviet approach to invading Iran; but I was unable to find sufficient material. Is anyone familiar with the Soviet plans or have any suggestions of other campaigns that use cultural intelligence to formulate plans? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm afraid I can't help with the Soviet stuff, but you may want to check out the Russian Academy of Sciences and look for ethnographic work - a lot of it ended up being sent to the Soviet military.

Marc

[Stan]

Morning Wallace !
Soviet Culture ? Now there's a good one

I need to make a trip to the Estonian archives anyway and will make some inquiries. I do however doubt there will be much RE Iran, but definitely a lot regarding both Soviet and German campaigns. Here's the link, but keep in mind the English version is still under development and may not, in content mirror the Russian and Estonian language sections.

http://www.eha.ee/english/english.htm

Speaking from experience in both Africa and now Estonia, CA teams spend a lot of time with their Psyop counterparts developing anything from basic local customs to deeply rooted cultural taste, moralities and yes, even local taboos. You often wonder, are we actually going to get something from all that ?

In a way we did.
Although the U.S. was not preparing for a war against Zaire, the information gathered 6 years prior, would strangely turn up later with a Delta team dispatched to the Embassy following the second civil war. One of the senior NCOs expressed appreciation for having just a little edge over his potential enemies.

Tom was a keen in his observations and estimates (it was his job). Cultural aspects in his reporting would eventually save lives across two borders. Not only U.S. Military lives, but various unwitting Disaster Groupies and Africans.

In sum, I doubt such limited cultural information from "multiple sources" would be sufficient for a Commander to plan his large-scale war strategies, but it would obviously be useful to those smaller operational units that cannot rely on the Cavalry when the sierra hits the fan.

Regards, Stan

[Stan]

Wallace,
I was told that Latvian Edmunds Johanson recently completed writing his memoirs. "Notes of a KGB General". According to the sweet ol' lady in archives, Johanson was the last head of the former Soviet/Latvian secret service, appointed in 1990. He reportedly goes into great detail about structure and "tales" of various special ops.

I have no idea whether Johanson got into "culture" !

Stan

[wallace]

To everyone thank you so much for the thoughts...as I look through the suggestions I might be back to bounce off some other ideas. Again, thank you.