Lesson 1 - Character of War - War in the 20th Century

INTA 4803 TP WAR IN THE 20th CENTURY

The Character of War

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"You may not be intereted in war, but war is interested in you."

Misattributed to Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"War is nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means."

Carl von Clausewitz
Vom Kriege (On War), 1832

"One of the fundamental truths about war is that political ends and
military means cannot be neatly isolated in separate compartments."

Col Thomas A. Fabyanic, USAF, Retired, and Lt Col Donald R. Baucom, USAF
"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" (editorial)
Airpower Journal, Fall 1988

Lesson Objectives

• Begin a discussion of the nature of war.

• Begin to understand the concepts of national interest and grand strategy.

• Become familiar with instruments of national power and their potential impact on strategy and the conduct of war.

• Understand the three levels of war and the unique issues encountered at each.

• Introduce the concept of geopolicitcs as significant factor in the causes, conduct and consequences of war.

Study Guides

• How would you define war? What are its characteristics?

• What are the three major levels of war? Describe them.

• Define: "instruments of national power". Give examples of each instrument.

• What is grand strategy and why is it important in war and other international relations?

• How do the instruments of national power relate to grand strategy?

Assignment

Readings:

Rules of Engagement (syllabus)

• These are the guidelines of what you can expect from the course and what will be expected of you. Please read these rules and be ready to discuss them in class on the first day.

Definitions:

• The remainder of the readings for this lesson provide definitions and background for the key terms and concepts to be used throughout this course. It is important that you master these terms now to provide a common frame of reference for future readngs and discussions.

Graphic: "The Levels of War" Figure 2-1 from
Operations (FM 3-0), Chapter 2
Washington: Headquarters US Army, 2001
Published on WWW by GlobalSecurity.org
• Refer to this graphic as you read the following material on the levels of war

• Strategic Level of War
• Operational Level of War
• Tactical Level of War

• Instruments of National Power (traditional)

Making Strategy: An Introduction to National Security Processes & Problems
Col. Dennis M. Drew and Dr. Donald M. Snow
Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, August 1988

• DOWNLOAD entire PDF file for future use.
• READ: "Grand National Strategy," p.27 (PDF p. 50) and "Vital National Interests," pp. 27-36 (PDF pp. 50-59)
• NOTE: The author uses the term "grand national strategy." This is redundant. Grand strataegy is national strategy. For the purpose of this course, we will use the more widely accepted term "grand strategy."

'All Elements of National Power' ... (excerpt, pdf)
John R. Mills
Strategic Insights, Volume V, Issue 6 (July 2006) (full article)

• This author uses the term "elements" of national power even though his reference uses the more widely accepted "instruments." The terms are interchangeable, but we will use "instruments" in this course.

Geopolitics (definition)
Wikipedia
• Read first four paragraphs only (down to "Contents")

"The Geopolitics of the United States: The Inevitable Empire"
Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (Stratfor), August 24, 2011

• NOTE: This is a long essay but well worth the effort. It is a superb example of geopolitical exposition, succinctly and cognetly summarizing the reasons why the United States of America is the world's preeminent power. Pay particular attention to the last section of the essay discussing the five strategic imperatives of the United States. The last two, Control the World's Oceans and Prevent Any Challengers From Arising, will be major themes of War in the 20th Century.

• NOTE: Some of you may want to subscribe to essays similar to this from Stratfor via the offer made from this Web site. This is a great source of geopolitical analysis, and I encourage you to do this at some point, BUT let's first talk about this in class.

Supplemental Resources:

"War: The Nature of War"
The Oxford Companion to American Military History
John Whiteclay Chambers II (editor)
Oxford: Oxford Universtiy Press, 1999
NOTE: Accessed through Answers.com as U.S. Military History Companion, but the text is the same as the published version.

"Characteristics of War" (pdf)
USAF College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education (CADRE)
Air and Space Power Mentoring Guide, Vol. 1
Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 1997

"Three Levels of War" (full article, pdf)
USAF College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education (CADRE)
Air and Space Power Mentoring Guide, Vol. 1
Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 1997

"The Strategist's Short Catechism: Six Questions Without Answers" (pdf)
Philip A. Crowl
The Harmon Memorial Lectures in Military Hisotry, No. 20, 6 October 1977, pp. 1-14
USAF Academy, CO: Harmon Memorial Lecture, 1977

Military History
Wikipedia

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