Military power may actually be translated into national insecurity when it is employed without a proper regard for its non-military objectives and consequences.
Robert G. Osgood
Few men occupy themselves in the higher problems of war. They pass their lives drilling troops and believe that this is the only branch of the military art. When they arrive at the command of armies, they are totally ignorant, and in default of knowing what to do--they do what they know.
Maurice Comte de Saxe
No other country compels its senior military officials to spend so much time on budgets and so little on strategy . . ..
Samuel Huntington
With respect to strategy as a subject of study, its intellectual framework is not clearly outlined, and its vocabulary is almost nonexistent.
J. C. Wylie
Course 5602 is designed to begin, and it can be no more than a beginning, to alleviate the problems identified in the above quotations. Subsequent portions of the core curriculum and many of the elective courses will take you beyond this beginning. But how far you go toward overcoming the shortcomings identified in the quotations is really up to you. It will depend on the extent to which you continue your professional reading and dialogue. Hopefully, this course will be an adequate stimulant to that end.
It might help you understand the course better if you view it as a continuation of Course 5601. In Course 5601, you studied national security strategy and the instruments of national power that can be and are employed to secure national objectives. In Course 5602, you will examine more closely theories for applying one of those instruments: military power. You will find that the "Framework for Military Strategy," used as a guideline in the course, derives from the "Framework for National Security Strategy" that is a cornerstone of Course 5601. Meanwhile, Course 5602, with its focus on the theoretical nature of war and military strategy, serves as a springboard for Course 5605's examination of the specific nature of the U.S. military instrument and how to employ it today and in the future. The same framework used to analyze and critique military strategy in Course 5602 will be used to develop military strategy in Course 5605.
Scope, Objectives, and Themes:
Course Scope. Course 5602 explores the evolution of the most influential and important thinking about war in the modern era. It couples careful examination of fundamental military theory with rigorous analysis of the use of the military instrument in several illustrative cases. A key objective of the course is to give you a broader and deeper understanding of the evolution and substance of the extant body of military thought and of how that thinking has influenced military practice-and how, in turn, military practice has influenced military thought. We aim to encourage you to become military "theorists" yourselves, not by giving you an already formulated set of ideas, but by challenging you to synthesize your own thinking with the theory and practice of the past.
You should emerge from the course with your own ideas about how best to employ military power to achieve political goals in various types of conflicts, and you should be able to articulate why you believe your ideas are appropriate. In addition, you should realize that your personal beliefs about war will be based on YOUR interpretation of previous conflicts and military theories, and YOUR vision of the future. In like fashion, you should realize that ALL political and military leaders will have personal notions about war, based on their background, experience, and study, and that such vantage points MUST be taken into consideration when critiquing or developing strategy.
Recognizing that ideas are sparked by events, we have you study the major wars that stimulated the ideas of the masters of the art of war; but we carefully link your study of war to military theory. We ask you to analyze the past application of military power in pursuit of national objectives in light of the military theory that dominated thinking at the time. You should understand that military theory is based on an examination of previous conflicts and notions about the future, especially regarding how technology might be used. While such theories are GENERAL in nature, they often have a tremendous impact on the design of military strategy, which is tailored to a SPECIFIC circumstance. The implementation of strategy in war, and its perceived success or failure, usually spurs a re-evaluation of military theory, which often leads to the development of new theories of war that will in turn affect future strategic designs.
A key to success in designing strategy is to develop a healthy skepticism of everything that you read and hear. You should strive to develop an ability to frame and prioritize questions; the course's Framework for Military Strategy should prove helpful here. It may be more important over the next few weeks to learn the correct questions to ask than to answer satisfactorily the questions posed to you. Your ability "to ask the right questions" will require thought, energy, and a far deeper appreciation of the theoretical options available to military planners-and of the near- and long-term ramifications of the application of military force-than you have likely experienced before.
Finally, this course focuses on CONCEPTS rather than on individual theorists, and how those concepts have been used to design strategy. The purpose of Course 5602 is not simply to regurgitate the notions of Clausewitz, Liddell Hart, or Mahan, but rather for you to be able to determine the validity of their concepts in a specific situation, and articulate why their concepts are-or are not-applicable for the case at hand. Your understanding of the evolution of warfare, and your personal theory of war, will be key factors in your ability to accomplish that task.
Course Objectives. In addition to stimulating your thought in military theory and practice, specific objectives for the course are for you to:
- Comprehend the limitations and capabilities of military power as an instrument of policy, and analyze classical theoretical concepts for the strategic employment of military power in support of national policy objectives; (PJE)
- Analyze the employment of unified and joint forces in historical and future campaigns; (PJE)
- Analyze the implications of emerging technological, organizational, and doctrinal developments for the design and execution of national security strategy; (PJE)
- Understand that war is not a constant; its character and conduct change and evolve;
- Understand how military theory affects the development of strategy, and how the implementation of military strategy affects the development of military theory;
- Develop a personal theory of war that synthesizes past theory and practice with personal experience and ideas;
- Evaluate the validity of a particular military strategy using the Military Strategy Framework.
Course Themes. As military thought and practice have evolved, several central issues have emerged. We use these issues as themes for the course to provide structure and focus to your studies. Each of the themes is threaded through virtually all of the theories and case studies you will examine, and awareness of the themes should help you organize your thoughts and prepare for seminar discussion. These themes are:
- War is an act of violence. The use of force to compel an enemy to do your will, and the passion it engenders, are the fundamental characteristics shaping war's nature and conduct.
- War is a clash of opposing wills. Human rather than material factors predominate in war, which is waged not against an inanimate or static object but against a living, calculating enemy who often acts or reacts unexpectedly.
- "Fog" and "friction" dominate war. Uncertainty and unpredictability combine with danger, physical stress, and human fallibility to make apparently simple operations unexpectedly, and sometimes even insurmountably, difficult.
- War is an instrument of policy. Military objectives and strategies must remain subordinate to national policy.
- Developing strategy requires reconciling contending approaches -- offense and defense; direct and indirect; annihilation, attrition, and disruption; concentration and dispersion; expedition and protraction.
- Successful strategies usually exploit the synergies of combined arms and joint operations.
- War entails moral and ethical considerations that should be integral to all military planning and operations.
- Waging war effectively requires a logical framework for strategic analysis and planning.
Student Requirements:
Course Participation. As in all courses, you are responsible for reading all assigned course material, attending all lectures, and participating actively in all seminar discussions. You will find there is considerable reading to do. You will also find that there is considerable time allocated for completing that reading.
Essay Requirement. You are responsible for completing a critical essay that analyzes one or more of the military theories examined in the course in light of man's historical experience in some war, operation other than war, or some current issue involving military strategy or operations. In selecting a topic, weigh carefully how that topic fits in with your overall course of study. Give consideration to treating this writing assignment as one in a series in which you address a topic you want to explore in greater depth throughout the academic year. For instance, if you wish to address U.S. policy for strategic defense, or lessons from Desert Storm, or the Vietnam War in a subsequent course or in a longer essay, you may want to look at that topic in light of existing military theory in this writing assignment. The writing assignment for another course will require substantial new work, but you might benefit from fleshing out and expanding your initial ideas on the subject in this course. Whatever the topic, adhere to the following guidelines in completing this project.
- Your essay should be 8-10 pages long, double-spaced, in 12 point font, and submitted not later than close of business on Friday, 29 October. See the memorandum, "Writing at the National War College," and the Student Handbook for more complete instructions.
- Arrange with your faculty seminar leader on a mutually agreeable topic for your essay. Unless your FSL directs otherwise, accomplish this requirement by Wednesday, 20 October, and submit a tentative title, thesis statement, and outline to your FSL on that date.
- This is not a research paper; it is a thought paper. It is far better to spend your time thinking and organizing your thoughts than researching the particulars of a battle or operation. In many cases you will need to read further information on your topic, but don't make that activity your principal concern. You may use information from any appropriate source, but you must adhere to the rules for footnoting your sources. Follow the style guidelines in A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian, sixth edition, 1996.
- Assume you are writing for an audience of informed national security professionals. In other words, avoid simply describing a problem, narrating events, or summarizing what a theorist said (information these professionals would already have) . Express your thoughts and be critical. Please pay special attention to the "Writing Standards" checklist that appears on the following page. Below are some other useful tips for developing an effective paper:
- Organize and outline your essay; don't just start writing. Your essay should have a coherent thesis statement that summarizes and guides your argument.
- Unclear or jargon-filled writing often reflects a failure to review what you have written (and hear what you're saying), so give yourself enough time to proofread and edit your work.
- Avoid lengthy introductions, long quotations, and other sections that become just "filler" without advancing your analysis.
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