So Whose Sword Is This Anyway? Applying The Three Levels of War To Conflict Termination

Abstract

Joint Doctrine discusses three levels of war but fails to apply this concept to enemy surrender (conflict termination). The three levels of war correlate to a framework of three different levels of surrender; tactical, operational, and strategic surrender. The Operational Commander can use this framework to differentiate between three significantly different situations and respond appropriately. Wars throughout history have ended in both operational and strategic surrenders. Wars that end in an operational surrender must be converted to a strategic surrender. Otherwise, as history shows, failure to do so seriously jeopardizes the hard-won peace.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 18, 2004
Accession Number
ADA425942

Entities

People

  • George H. Baker Jr

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil War
  • Combat Operations
  • Doctrine
  • Governments
  • International Organizations
  • Joint Military Activities
  • Military Operations
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Political Systems
  • Second World War
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

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