German Officer Strategic Education: A Critical Omission

Abstract

Most military professionals today would agree that no amount of tactical success can make up for a failure to plan strategically. Some countries, however, have overlooked this fact. Hans Delbruck, a noted German military historian and strategist, concluded that senior German planners failed to think and plan strategically during World War I. Incredibly, German planners again neglected strategic planning in World War II. Delbruck's thesis raises some interesting questions: Was there actually a general lack of strategic level thinking in the German officer corps? If this was true, was the failure to think and plan on the strategic level of war due to a lack of officer professional education? This SRP concludes that the German officer corps did not have a proper appreciation or education for the strategic level of war.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA404425

Entities

People

  • Patrick J. Cassidy

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Foreign Languages
  • Foreign Policy
  • Foreign Relations
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • Military Education
  • Military Strategy
  • National Security
  • Professional Development
  • Schools
  • Second World War
  • Students
  • War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.