Operational Art: The Missing Link in the Iran-Iraq War

Abstract

This monograph analyzes the Iran-Iraq War from its inception in September of 1980 through the Iranian Faw Counteroffensive of February 1986. It uses the precepts of operational art to examine the performance of the belligerents in this prolonged and bloody conflict. This monograph first reviews the political and historical background leading up to the Iraqi invasion on 23 September 1980. Next it distills the war into its distinctive phases, exploring the relationship between political objectives and the military means employed to attain them, by phase. It concludes with an anlaysis of how well Iran and Iraq have applied the precepts of operational art in the ongoing conflict. Keywords: Iran-Iraq War; Operational art; Persian Gulf War.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 26, 1988
Accession Number
ADA195452

Entities

People

  • Gregory W. Ellison

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Artillery
  • Chemical Weapons
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Governments
  • Iraqi-War
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Persian Gulf
  • Security
  • Students
  • Tanker Aircraft
  • Training
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies