The Principles of War Reconsidered

Abstract

Contemporary militaries in waging wars tend to rely on the fundamental principles of war. These principles have been defined during centuries of study, and they give the appearance of being undisputedly stable with the possibility of their application assumed to be ongoing. This view is deceptive. In fact, many famous strategists of the past have warned oncoming generations of warriors not to misuse these fundamentals; rather these principles need to be modified over time. The application of past principles is problematic for future wars as they have been shaped according to historical conditions, and need to be revaluated in terms of the present. Such principles can only give the basics for the creation of new or modified war-fighting concepts, and cannot be applied unthinkingly. This study analyzes the classical principles of war from the perspective of modern warfare in order to reconsider their meaning, significance, and applicability.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA501474

Entities

People

  • Volodymyr Orativskyi

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Areas
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Game Theory
  • Information Systems
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Military History
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Naval Warfare
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Recreation
  • Second World War
  • Students
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies