In
warfare, related terms referring, respectively,
to large-scale and small-scale planning to achieve
military success. Strategy may be defined as
the general scheme of the conduct of a war,
tactics as the planning of means to achieve
strategic objectives. Not all theorists of war
make this a primary distinction. In the Chinese
and Japanese traditions processes and paradoxes
are emphasized more than categories (see Sun
Tzu). Karl von Clausewitz, the Prussian military
theorist, who was influenced by Niccolo Machiavelli,
described strategy as the planning of a whole
campaign and tactics as the planning of a single
battle. In Clausewitz’s theory all military
strategy is part of the larger political pattern,
and all the nation’s resources are to
be subordinated to the task of attaining the
political objective of the war; to this concerted
effort he gave the name “grand strategy.”
Antoine H. Jomini, an influential Swiss military
theorist and general, regarded strategy as the
art of moving forces to the field of battle
and tactics as the conduct of forces in battle.
Some theorists focus on clear sets of general
principles; some wrote books on principles,
formations and maneuvers; and still others dwell
on the importance of spirit or other intangibles.
With regards to heavy armor, how one gets his
armor to and from the battlefield can be decisive
in overall victory. The following pages listed
below illustrate some basic formations and maneuvers. |
