Morale-The 10th Principle of War: Returning the Art to the Science of War

Abstract

This paper argues that adding "Morale" as the 10th Principle of War will re-inject the art of war into an eighty year old "scientific approach" first adopted by the United States War Department in 1921, and will thereby increase our ability to successfully accomplish the mission, in both peace and war. Adoption of morale as the 10th principle will synchronize consideration of its characteristics with those of the nine principles-objective, maneuver, surprise, simplicity, mass, offensive, unity of command, security, and economy of force-currently recognized by the United States armed forces. And, perhaps most importantly, adoption of morale as the 10th principle will serve to constantly require consideration of its attributes in the consciousness of national and military leadership, the experienced warrior, and the green recruit.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 15, 2000
Accession Number
ADA381615

Entities

People

  • Frank J. Kisner

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Doctrine
  • Employment
  • First World War
  • Information Systems
  • Maintenance
  • Maintenance Personnel
  • Military Operations
  • New York
  • Personnel Management
  • Prisoners Of War
  • Psychology
  • Second World War
  • United States
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

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  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Strategic Security Studies