In Pursuit of Military Excellence: The Evolution of Operational Theory... BK516

How did the obsession with offensive develop prior to the First World War? How did manoeuvre thinking become dominated by linear patterns? Why, while possessing ample mechanized assets, did the European armies fail to develop operational patterns of manoeuvre in the course of the First World War? Why, in spite of the Wehrmacht's unique tactical excellence, was the Blitzkrieg method defeated? What were the operational factors that generated the succession of Soviet victories after the summer of 1943? This work offers an interpretation of the intermediate field of military knowledge situated between strategy and tactics - better known as 'operational art' - and traces the evolution of operational awareness and its culmination in a full-fledged theory. Shimon Naveh identifies four key landmarks in the evolution of operational theory: Nineteenth-century military thought and the roots of operational ignorance The emergence of the Blitzkrieg concept The evolution of the Soviet Deep Operati.