Has Technology Made Strategy Obsolete? Essay

Clausewitz advocates attacking enemy “schwerpunkt” or centers of gravity. How does this compare with Sun Tzu’s prioritization for attacking important elements of national power? Which theorist provides the most useful guidance for determining the object of a strategy or strategies?

The chief result of these innovations was that warfare once and for all was taken out of the hands of private individuals (the nobility) and was taken over by the nation-state. Moreover, war became so expensive and destructive that it became ever more difficult and dangerous for small states to wage war, even at the local level. Warfare became big business and the business of big players.

Technology greatly affected the way in which wars were fought, especially in World War I. The inventions of the repeating machine gun, the development of poison gas, and the introduction of the first tanks caused armies to fight using the bunkering method. This allowed men to huddle in trenches along what are called skirmish lines and throw, lob, and fire by other means weapons to cause damage while men were protected by about 4 to 5 feet deep earth. This caused men to fight in rear or echelon columns behind tanks can basically caused defensive fighting tactics resulting in drawn out protracted battles.

William Pollard once said, "Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient tomorrow." Maybe the generals of World War 1 (WW1) should have been told this when they used cavalry when they were outdated and rifles and machine guns were the weapons of this war. They found this out the hard way which sparked the time of technological innovations and changes that was WW1. The three technological innovations I will write about are machine guns, planes and tanks.

In war, what sets one side apart from the other is innovation. How one side utilizes resources as well as how they think about a given situation both play a huge role in determining the outcome of a conflict. Humanity’s unique ability to think critically and manipulate available resources is what gives us the edge in innovative combat. Historically, each innovation branches off of the last, up until the original human innovation. Wayne Lee argues in the introduction of his book, Waging War: Conflict, Culture and Innovation in World History, that human evolution was in fact this first innovation. Human warfare began with our original biologic desire for resources, and continued as human’s social evolution and innovations grew to support the

During the time period of 1789 to 1914, several changes began to occur within the European military. Leaders began changing their techniques on how they would approach battles, placement of their men, what kind of equipment they would utilize, along with their means of transportation, how would they communicate with others, along with several other changes. During this time period, the use of technology began to increase which had allowed for the battles to become easier for those using the new technology. There were three important changes that had occurred in the European military which included: transportation with the service of trains and railways, the newest weapons such as the breech-loading rifles, and communication by using telegraphs. With these three inventions, this had changed the outcome on wars and battles for the days to come.

B. Thesis: The First World War stimulated the greatest changes in warfare because it brought about new technology and industry development, advancement in science, and improved infrastructure and communication; essentially the First World War combined the legacies of the French and Industrial Revolutions and set the pattern for twentieth century warfare. ii. The industrialization in Europe and the new technology escalated the power of the WWI as compared to the other wars fought across the world there before.

Doctrine should be fluid, it must be allowed to adapt and change as the situation dictates. You cannot allow yourself to get stuck in a singular mindset about how war is fought. Our enemy’s technology and tactics are always evolving and we must always strive to evolve both to adapt to and overcome these

A guided response paper presented to the faculty of the U.S. Army War College, in partial satisfaction of the requirements of the Theory of War and Strategy (TWS) course.

There are no universal theories to explain the true nature and character of war, and any war theories are not a fact or absolute truth. All strategic principles are dynamic and contextual, so “every age had its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions, and its own peculiar preconceptions.” The battlefield environment of the 21st century will be the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, and nature of war will be completely different because of the Revolution in Military Affairs. Highly advance communication and information technologies, a dramatic increase in computing capabilities, developed of precision munitions, dominant air and space power ‘war could be waged by the projection of

reviewed. This is analysed by putting the article in to a wider debate about strategy, then

During the 17th century the European powers developed a whole new array of firepower. The old gunpowder weapons that fired by

After reading what precisely the article expounds and analyses, revolution stays as the core of strategy. 'The article 'Strategy as Revolution' clarifies the role revolution plays in the markets and declared ten principles to help a company discover revolutionary strategies and put into practice. All the third kinds of companies mentioned in the article have opportunities to reach what they want, however, the different roles determine the market hierarchy. 'In a growing number of industries, innovation is increasingly disrupting existing patterns of competition(Andersen & Strandskov, 2008),' just like what Gary Hamel (2000) said, the simple phrase, 'Familiarity is the enemy'(Chris Lauer , 2008).

“History does not teach that better technology necessarily leads to victory. Rather victory goes to the commander who uses technology better, or who can deny the enemy his technology.”

While “The Art of War” was written by Sun Tzu during the 6th century B.C., long before the colonization of the Americas, the onslaught of the Crusades, and before the Persian Wars of around 490 B.C., it remains relevant to this day. There is also strong evidence that the work inspired Napoleon and was used in the planning of Operation Desert Storm. “The Art of War” has withstood the sands of time due to its simplistic approach, and its applicability to non-military strategies. “The Art of War“, interpreted by Gerald, A. Michaelson, as well as other authors, use Sun Tzu’s timeless strategies and apply them to the modern day corporate world.