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THE ROLE AND USE OF MILITARY HISTORY. Integrate Historical Awareness and Critical Thinking Skills Derived from Military History Methodologies into the Training and Education of Self And Subordinate Leaders. What is Military History?.
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Integrate Historical Awareness and Critical Thinking Skills Derived from Military History Methodologies into the Training and Education of Self And Subordinate Leaders
What is Military History? The record of all activities of all armed forces (including armies, navies, and air forces) in war andpeace.
HOW DO YOU STUDY MILITARY HISTORY? VERY CAREFULLY AND METHODICALLY
Battles & Campaigns Strategy & Tactics Doctrine & Training Organizations Logistics Military & Society Weapons & Technology Military Leaders Activities Included in the Study of Military History
STUDY CAUSE AND EFFECT TO DIRECT AND CONTROL FUTURE EVENTS
STUDY: IN WIDTH OBSERVE EVENTS OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME TO OBSERVE CHANGE
STUDY: IN DEPTH STUDY IN ENOUGH DETAIL TO GET BEHIND ANY GENERALIZATIONS
Learn from past experience Understand military concepts Study lives of soldiers in the past Understand doctrinal evolution Broaden knowledge of military subjects Understand leadership issues Learn about strategy & tactics Using Military History
STUDY: IN CONTEXT ARMIES REFLECT BOTH THEIR ERA AND THEIR SOCIETY
“I am convinced that much more emphasis should be placed on history. The purpose of history is to learn how human beings react when exposed to the danger of wounds or death...” General George S. Patton, Jr.
“Nothing is done in war, except by calculation. Every enterprise should be conducted according to a system. Chance alone can never bring success.” Napoleon
“A man’s greatest pleasure is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them that which they possessed, to see those whom they cherished in tears, to ride their horses, to hold their wives. I forbid you to show mercy to my enemies. Leave nothing but uninhabited ruins, neither a cat nor a dog.” Genghis Khan
HISTORY SHARPENS JUDGMENT Critical Thinking Skills- Based on Study of Operational Military History
HISTORY IMPROVES PERCEPTION Critical Thinking Skills- Based on Study of Institutional Military History
HISTORY BROADENS PERSPECTIVES Critical Thinking Skills- Based on Study of Biographical Military History
Misusing Military History • History provides understanding, not proof. • History provides insight, not analogy.
METHODOLOGIES • The Ten Threads of Continuity. • Battle Analysis.
TEN THREADS OF CONTINUITY 19TH CENTURY
1800----1850-----1899 • Military Theory & Doctrine -----+------------------------------------------> • Military Professionalism----------+------------------------------------------> • Generalship-------------------------+------------------------------------------> • Strategy------------------------------+------------------------------------------> • Tactics-------------------------------+------------------------------------------> • Logistics-----------------------------+------------------------------------------> • Technology--------------------------+-----------------------------------------> • Political Factors---------------------+-----------------------------------------> • Social Factors------------------------+-----------------------------------------> • Economic Factors-------------------+----------------------------------------->
Military Theory & Doctrine • Ideas about War. • Doctrine = Generally accepted body of practices that govern Organization, Training, and Fighting. • Military Theorists: Those who THINK deeply about war and INFLUENCE others. They SEEK solutions, CREATE frameworks & ADVANCE new concepts.
Military Doctrine • PROVIDES THE BRIDGE BETWEEN THE CONCEPT OR IDEA AND THE ACTUAL APPLICATION OF THE IDEA
Military Professionalism • Attitude or state of mind. • Military professional is an expert in the management of violence. • Functions of the professional army include organizing, equipping, training, planning and directing forces, in and out of combat.
Military Professionalism • Military Professionals share a body of specialized knowledge. • The study of Military History is essential to Military Professionalism. • Defined in Samuel Huntington’s The Soldier and the State. • Expertise: • Responsibility: • Corporateness :
Generalship • Art of command high levels. • Functions include Forming, Organizing, Equipping, and Training armies and/or major portions of them. • Involves the detailed Strategical, Tactical and Logistical planning to insure success of the mission. Entails Leadership and Management.
Strategy • Preparation for and the waging of war. • Dynamic in nature and has evolved with the complexities of weapon technology. • Grand Strategy: Coalition level • National Strategy: Similar to Grand • Military Strategy: Derived from National.
Tactics • The Preparation and actual conduct of Combat on the battlefield. • The employment of units in combat , the ordered arrangement and maneuver of units in relation to each other to utilize their full potential. • Close connection with Technology, Logistics and Strategy.
Logistics & Administration • Supply, Transportation, Evacuation and Hospitalization, Service and Personnel Management. • Relationship between the state’s Economic capacity and its capability for supporting military forces. • In the last century has developed into one of the dominant factors of warfare.
Technology • The Application of science to war. • Accounts for new weapons and the entire range of new equipment. • The Industrial Revolution caused whole chains of technological advances in the fields of weapons, transportation, communication, construction and medicine.
Political Factors • Characteristic elements or actions of governments that affect warfare. • Provide the forces and trends that shape warfare and the goals for which wars are fought. • Difficult to distinguish the military objective from the political goal. Often political goals drive military goals.
Social Factors • Human relationships that affect warfare are social factors. • Includes concepts, such as, popular attitudes, revolution, militarism, psychological warfare, amd combat psychology. • Combatants have aimed at inflicting Total War on a nation’s people.
Economic Factors • Elements that affect warfare, such as, Production, Distribution, and Consumption of the resources of the state. • Economic warfare possible through blockade. • Different types of economies affect warfare.
Interrelationship of Factors • Political, Social and Economic Factors are all interrelated. • They are so complex that studying each one separately is impossible. • These forces provide the foundation of national power.
OUR ONLY VERIFIED DATA ON COMBAT COMES FROM HISTORY.
TIDY SOLUTIONS TO BATTLE ON COMPUTER PRINTOUTS IS A DELUSION- HISTORICALLY ALL WARS WERE VERY UNTIDY.
MILITARY HISTORY PROVIDES A GUIDE TO HOW TROOPS BEHAVE IN BATTLE.
MILITARY HISTORY REVEALS THE PATTERNS, TRENDS & RELATIONSHIPS NECESSARY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE.
DOCTRINE PROVIDES THE BRIDGE BETWEEN THE CONCEPT OR THEORY AND THE APPLICATION OF THAT THEORY.
THE ROLE OF MILITARY HISTORY IS TO PROVIDE A METHOD TO LOOK BACK IN ORDER TO LOOK AHEAD.
BATTLE ANALYSIS
TASKIntegrate Historical Awareness and Critical Thinking Skills Derived from Military History Methodologies into the Training and Education of Self and Subordinate Leaders. TERMINAL LEARNING OBJECTIVE Apply knowledge of military history and battle analysis to the professional development of self and subordinate leaders.
Role and Use LTG George S. Patton, Jr.: “To be a successful soldier, you must know history.”
Learn from past experience Understand military concepts Study lives of soldiers in the past Understand doctrinal evolution Broaden knowledge of military subjects Understand leadership issues Learn about strategy & tactics Role and Use Using Military History
Basic Battle Analysis Military History and the Conduct of Battle
Basic Battle Analysis What is Battle Analysis? A method used by the U.S. Army to provide a systematic approach to the study of battles, campaigns, and other operations.
Basic Battle Analysis Battle Analysis Steps • Define the subject. • Set the stage. • Describe the action. • Draw lessons and insights.