Role and Use of Military History

● The study of military history by modern military professionals is critical to the

development of skills directly applicable on the battlefields of today and the
future.
● Approach to the Study of Military History
○ Study in width
■ Observe how warfare developed over a long historical period
○ Study in depth
■ Take one campaign or battle and study it in minute detail
○ Study in context
■ Understood in its social, cultural, economic, human, moral,
political, and psychological contexts
■ Failure to study war in context leads to a superficial view of war
with lessons and conclusions divorced from their proper context

12 Threads of Continuity
The twelve threads of continuity offer a conceptual framework that seeks to
provide a means to reconstruct at least the general outline of the tapestry of the military
past. The full meaning and magnitude of that tapestry can be appreciated only after
long study and/or long years of service and significant contribution to the profession of
arms.

a. Internal Threads - entirely or almost entirely a part of the military profession

i. Military Professionalism
■ Attitude and training thus distinguishes the “professional”
members of the military from those who are not professionals.
Military professionalism is the newest thread of continuity.
■ Attitude or state of mind
■ Military professionalism is an expert in the management of violence
 ■ Function of the professional army includes organizing, equiping,
training, planning and directing forces in and out of combat.
ii. Tactics
■ The employment of units in combat
■ Includes activity out of enemy contact that is intended to directly
and immediately affect such battles and engagements
iii. Operations
■ The operational level of war is the level at which campaigns and
major operations are conducted and substained to accomplish
strategic objective within theater or area of operation.
iv. Strategy
■ The art and science of developing and employing armed forces and
other instruments of national power to secure national and
multinational objectives
■ Greek “strategos” meaning general
■ May change during war to reflect changes in goals, resources, or
other conditions of the conflict
■ Exists at FOUR LEVELS
a. Grand Strategy - strategy of a nation or of an alliance;
attainment of political objective of war
b. National Strategy - concerns of a single nation (not an
alliance)
c. Military Strategy - means and resources are those of the
armed forces and goal is the securing of objectives consistent
with national policy through application or threat of force
d. Campaign Strategy - strategy of a commander of a force of
considerable size that is acting independently; immediate
goals = occupation of territory or the defeat of all or a
significant part of enemy forces
v. Logistics and Administration
 ■ Provide many of the resources needed for strategy to work
■ Logistics - the provision, movement, and maintenance of all services
and resources necessary to sustain military forces
■ Administration - the management of all services and resources
necessary to sustain military forces
vi. Military Theory and Doctrine
■ Military Theory - the body of ideas that concern war, especially the
organization and training for and the conduct of war
■ Doctrine - the authoritative fundamental principles by which
military forces guide their actions in support of objectives
vii. Military Leadership
■ Most essential element of combat power
■ Leadership - influencing people - by providing purpose, direction,
and motivation - while operating to accomplish the mission
a. Purpose - gives soldiers a reason why they should do difficult
things under dangerous circumstances
b. Direction - shows what must be done
c. Motivation - through which, leaders give soldiers the will to
accomplish the mission

b. External Threads
i. Political Factors
■ Ideas and actions of governments or organized groups that affect
the activities of societies are political factors.
■ Include both civil-military relations and the role of public opinion
in shaping the conduct of war
ii. Social Factors
■ Include diverse concepts as popular attitudes, cultural differences,
the role of religious institutions, levels of education, roles of
educational institutions, reactions to and roles of mass meda,
 inter-racial and minority rights questions, combat psychology,
standards of morality and justice, and the will of people to resist
iii. Economic Factors
■ Involve the production, distribution, and consumption of material
resources.
■ Economic war, which takes forms such as blockade or boycott, is a
military tool and can be used in peacetime as a tool of diplomacy
iv. Technology
■ The invention, development, and production in transportation,
weaponry, communications, construction, food production,
metallurgy, and medicine.
v. Military Geography
■ Deals with physical landscape as it pertains to the employment of
military power
Battle Review Analysis
A method used by the military to provide a systematic approach to the study of
battles, campaigns and other operations.

● General
○ Two forms
■ Basic
■ Advanced - analyzes strategic influences on the battle
● Format: Four steps
○ Define the subject/evaluate the sources - introduction
■ Decide what battle you are going to study
● Where did it take place
● Who were the principle adversaries
● When did the battle occur
■ Determine the research resource - decide what sources you will need
to make a systematic and balanced study
● Books
● Articles - from professional military publications or
historical journals
● Other - Documentaries containing film footage of actual
events or interviews with people who took part in a battle
■ Evaluate the research sources - As you gather the research material,
evaluate each in terms of its content and bias
● Content - Determine what information the source can give
you. Is it relevant to your subject? Will it help you complete
your study?
● Bias - Decide to what extent the author is subjective or
objective in his/her work
○ Review the setting (set the stage)
 ■ Strategic/Operational Overview
■ Study the Area of Operations
● Weather
● Terrain (OAKOC)
■ Compare the Principle Antagonists
● Size and composition
● Technology
● Logistical systems
● command , control, and communications
● Intelligence
● Doctrine and training
● Condition and morale
● Leadership
■ State the mission and describe the initial disposition of the
opposing forces
○ Describe the action
■ Describe the opening moves of the battle
■ Detail the major phases/key events
■ State the outcome
○ Assess the significance of the action
■ Relate causes to effects
■ Establish military “lessons learned”
● Principles of war
● Threads of continuity
● Warfighting functions
● Purpose
○ a guide to help ensure that important aspects of the study of a historical
battle or campaign are not forgotten