Strategic theory Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Strategic theory - Research Paper Example It is many people’s beliefs that history has provided strategic thinkers with universal principles for the conduct of war. This essay is going to discuss how history provided military strategic thinkers (Napoleon and Carl von Clausewitz) with universal principles for the conduct of war (Buchan 92). The historically known Principles of War, Sun Tzu documented were influential to strategic thinkers of the Wars. There is a belief that, history provided strategic thinkers such as Napoleon and Carl von Clausewitz with universal principles for the conduct of war (Mahnken 29). There are no approved principals of War, although a number of strategic thinkers have their own principles (Cimbala 26). The War principles, which Carl von Clausewitz identified in his essay â€Å"Principles of War† and thereafter discussed in his book, about war were influential to military thinkers of the North Atlantic region. Military strategy is a set of ideas, which military organizations implement ed to achieve desired strategic goals. Founded from Greek strategies, military strategy during its first appearance in the 18thcentury was termed in its sense as the â€Å"general art† and â€Å"arrangement art† of military troops (Buchan 72). ... definition, which had less emphasis on battles, explaining military strategy as â€Å"the art of applying and distributing military means to achieve and fulfill policy ends (Cimbala 31). Hence, the two strategic thinkers gave the supremacy to aims of politics over military objectives. Military strategy was among the â€Å"arts† and â€Å"sciences† trivium that governed how to conduct warfare, and the rest were tactics, the maneuvering forces, and execution of plans in battle, maintenance, and logistics of an army During the 19th century,. This view prevailed since the time of Roman, and the boundary between tactics and strategy during this century was blurred, and in some times, the categorization of a verdict was a matter of personal opinion. Tactics and strategy are almost related and are on similar range, modern thinking puts the level of operation between strategy and tactics (Cimbala 33). All deal with time, distance, and force although the strategy has large scal e, endures for many years, and is societal. On the other hand, tactics have small scale and engage the disposition of less elements lasting for only few hours or weeks. Historically, people understood strategy as governing the prelude to military battle while, on the other hand, tactics governed its execution. However, during the twentieth century world war, the distinction between battle and maneuver, tactics and strategy, expanded due to the advancement of transit and technology (Cimbala 35). Most people hold the belief that, this military strategy history really provided strategic thinkers such as Napoleon and Clausewitz with universal principals on how to conduct wars. History has a lot of guidance on how to plan and conduct military wars, whereby most of strategy thinkers rely on (Collins 59). For