Foundation for Victory: Operations and Intelligence Harmoniously Combine in Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign (1862)

Abstract

Using the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862 as a case study, the thesis examined the fundamental principles which determine the effectiveness of intelligence in the planning and execution of military operations. General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson aggressively obtained intelligence as the foundation of his operational plans, enabling his numerically inferior force to win victories of strategic importance. Jackson centrally controlled intelligence at the operational level, emphasized analysis of the area of operations, and effectively used technical experts throughout the campaign, allowing him to recognize operational threats and opportunities as they arose. The Confederate commander personally directed the intelligence effort and his flexible operational response guaranteed a harmonious relationship between intelligence and operations. Modem armed forces would do well to extract and apply the warfighting intelligence fundamentals revealed in Jackson's campaign, which remain independent of time, place, and technology.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA271784

Entities

People

  • Shawn B. Stith

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artillery
  • Civil War
  • Employment
  • Geographic Regions
  • Geography
  • Intelligence Collection
  • Intelligence Cycle
  • Marine Corps
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Surveillance
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Systems Analysis and Design