Military theory

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

War
Part of a series on
History Prehistoric Ancient Post-classical Early modern Late modern industrial fourth-gen
Battlespace Air Cyber Information Space Land Cold-region Desert Jungle Mountain Urban Sea Amphibious Blue Brown Green Surface Underwater
Weapons Armor Artillery Biological Cavalry Chemical Conventional Cyber Denial Disinformation Electronic Infantry Lawfare Music Nuclear Psychological Unconventional Refugees as weapons
Tactics Aerial Battle Cavalry Charge Counterattack Counter-insurgency Cover Defeat in detail Foxhole Guerrilla Morale Rapid dominance Siege Swarming Tactical objective Target saturation Trench Withdrawal
Operational Blitzkrieg Deep operation Maneuver Operational manoeuvre group
Strategy Attrition Counter-offensive Fabian Mosaic Deception Defensive Goal Naval Offensive Scorched earth
Grand strategy Containment Economic Limited Science Philosophy Political Religious Strategic Technology Theater Theory Total war
Organization Command and control Doctrine Engineers Intelligence Ranks Technology and equipment
Personnel Military recruitment Conscription Recruit training Military specialism Women in the military Children in the military Transgender people and military service Sexual harassment in the military Conscientious objection Counter recruitment
Logistics Military–industrial complex Arms industry Materiel Supply chain management
Related Demilitarisation Asymmetric warfare Broken-Backed War Theory Court-martial Cold war Deterrence theory Horses in warfare Irregular warfare Law of war Mercenary Military campaign Military operation Network-centric warfare Operations research Principles of war Proxy war Security dilemma Tripwire force War crime War film War game War novel Wartime sexual violence Women in war World war Colonial war Endemic warfare Lanchester's laws
Lists Battles Military occupations Military tactics Operations Sieges War crimes Wars Weapons Writers
v t e

Military theory is the analysis of normative behavior and trends in military affairs and military history, beyond simply describing events in war.

Theories and conceptions of warfare have varied in different places throughout human history. The Chinese Sun Tzu is recognized by scholars to be one of the earliest military theorists.^[1] His now-iconic Art of War laid the foundations for operational planning, tactics, strategy and logistics.

Military theories, especially since the influence of Clausewitz in the nineteenth century, attempt to encapsulate the complex cultural, political and economic relationships between societies and the conflicts they create. These military theories can encompass tactics like divide and conquer, starving out defenders, etc.

References

Sun Tzu (2003). The Art of War. New York City: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 978-1-59308-016-7.
Clausewitz, Carl Von (1976). On War. Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret (Revised 1984 ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05657-9.

Notes

^ For more on scholars valuation of The Art of War, see the Wikipedia article The Art of War

This military-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

See also

References

Notes