Conventional War Research Articles

The Use of History in American Military Doctrine

Abstract American military forces have been working on a major doctrinal change since the middle of the last decade to move away from counterinsurgency and toward large-scale conventional warfare. The introduction of the concept of Multi-Dimensional Operations (MDO) to fight peer competitors has been accompanied by extensive historical studies of previous conventional campaigns. This article looks at the lessons learned from one of the main recent collections of historical cases, the Army’s Large-Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) Series. The book series contains a large number of cases of major conventional war from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and demonstrates a clear break with doctrine and historical interpretation developed in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Two sets of historical cases from the LSCO series were chosen for this study, the analyses of the October 1973 War and of the Soviet experience in World War II. These were also two of the main cases that were used in the 1970s and 1980s to help develop AirLand Battle doctrine after Vietnam. The article examines the lessons learned from both of the cases in the LSCO Series and compares those to earlier lessons learned about the same cases in the 1970s and 1980s. In this way, it also finds that the U.S. Army believes that AirLand Battle doctrine continues to be relevant today from a historical standpoint of lessons learned.

New People for the Old Empire: Russian Policy of Citizenship in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine and Beyond

ABSTRACT The Russian citizenship policy toward Ukrainian citizens, both in Russia and in the occupied Ukrainian territories, underwent significant transformation during periods of grey zone conflict and conventional war. We argue that the citizenship policy, which manifests itself in ‘passportization,’ is a function of Russian military—political tactics on the battlefield and the changing priorities of its policy of entrenchment in occupied territories. Russia’s citizenship policy is a comprehensive set of direct and indirect mechanisms that encourage Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship, which, in the long-term perspective, represents an obstacle to any attempts at de-occupation and reintegration of territories with Ukraine.

From innovation to participation: connectivity and the conduct of contemporary warfare

Abstract The war in Ukraine is the first conventional war to ever take place in an entirely connected information ecology. The internet has not been switched off. Mundane smart devices are ubiquitous. Soldiers and ordinary civilians are participating in the conflict in ways that have never previously been possible. This stretches participation beyond the information domain and the kinds of connectivity that shaped conflicts in places like Syria, Tigray and Mali. Now the smartphone is routinely being used by soldiers and civilians alike to geolocate enemy columns, control drones to range find for artillery, and produce and broadcast the damage assessment for online audiences to watch. Surveillance technology already makes it possible to track individual smartphone users. In times of peace these forms of surveillance are curtailed. During a conventional war, however, private organizations and governments have reason to circumvent peacetime legal conventions. The result is that mundane connected technology forms part of an extended chain of sensors that feeds data and information to those involved in information warfare and targeting activities. In effect, the smartphone has collapsed the means to fight and represent war into the functionality of one device. This article maps the policy and military implications of these developments in relation to participation, the conduct of war and the law of armed conflict.

Back to the future: the persistent problems of hybrid war

Abstract What has happened to the spectre of Russian hybrid warfare that once haunted strategists, policy-makers and scholars? Many of the characteristics of Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea have been absent in Moscow's current war, prompting some to wonder whether Russia has moved beyond ‘hybrid warfare’ as it wages a brutal conventional war in Ukraine. Scholars and practitioners should not pack up their hybrid war handbooks just yet, however. The need to limit conflict escalation between nuclear-armed adversaries suggests that non-military asymmetric tools of will increasingly define great power competition in the twenty-first century. Most urgently, scholars must bring some order to the conceptual debate over what is and is not hybrid war. In this policy paper, we propose a classification scheme that can be applied irrespective of the type of conflict, one that illuminates the wide range of political, social, economic and military weapons states may use in future conflicts. This approach not only allows us to move beyond endless debates over which tactics belong in the definition of hybrid war, but it also allows us to describe changes over time in how countries wage multi-domain wars. By describing the ‘hybridity’ of all conflict along three continuous axes of scale, militarization and centralization, scholars and policy-makers alike can avoid dangerous blind spots that are likely to arise when we try to categorize conflicts into discrete typological bins.

Transforming Escalation to Negotiation: Rethinking Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) in the Ongoing Russia-Ukraine War

There have been several pieces of literature on the current war between Russia and Ukraine but little emphasis has been placed on transforming the growing escalation into negotiation. In this study, I discuss the causalities that surround the current war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine from different prisms. Various justifications and other indices which provide the likelihood of escalation to a nuclear conflict were touched. Also, I assessed, if at all, there was politics behind the supplies of ‘defensive weapons’ and other military aid to the warring parties. I propose an urgent arms control treaty not only between the United States and Russia but should also include China as the emerged third force, and other minor nuclear powers. Although, the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) are mostly prominent before a complex conflict is transformed into conventional war, thus, this study suggests the roles the CBMs can still play in the current war. As such, the study relies on relevant written sources which make the study qualitative in nature.

Comparative Analysis and Trends in Indonesian Population as National Resource Potential According to a War History Perspective

History teaches that every time a war occurs, one important factor that cannot be ignored is troop mobilization. In the wars that have occurred so far, whether World War I, World War II, or other wars, the majority of victories were determined by the number of troops the winning party had. Management of national resources, one of which is the population as troops, requires good handling and preparation in facing the threat of war. Both conventional wars which are currently occurring in other parts of the world, such as Israel-Palestine or Russia-Ukraine, as well as asymmetric wars which also threaten the security and safety of the nation. This article discusses the human resources that the Indonesian state has to prepare reliable personnel to face the threat of war. The analysis used is a comparative gender analysis between men and women and an analysis of trends in the population of productive age projected until 2030. So far, troops or human resources have often been interpreted as only men being able to face threats. Female human resources are also widely available and can work alongside men if they are trained and managed well.

Amenințări hibride la Marea Neagră – identificarea vulnerabilităților geografice și economice ale spațiului maritim al României

With no clear evidence of its origin, hybrid warfare is a worldwide phenomenon, its effects having worldwide reverberations. Characterised by a very high adaptability and flexibility of the methods and procedures used, as well as the continuous expansion of the target audience or the area of coverage, hybrid warfare is not a new concept in human history. Overshadowed by the much higher degree of destruction and the very large number of human victims – specific to conventional war – unconventional actions – an integral part of hybrid war – often go unnoticed, but their effects are felt in all areas of human society existence. Today, the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation are classic examples of hybrid warfare, characterised by true intentions concealment along with the fact that special operations forces experience and support allowed ethnic Russian communities to organise paramilitary groups with the aim of creating an ambiguous and insecure environment on Ukraine’s territory. Furthermore, these events forced NATO leaders to identify and implement measures to limit and reduce Russian Federation possibilities to apply a similar strategy against the Black Sea or Baltic Sea member states. Analysing in detail the Russian hybrid actions major impact in the maritime environment, materialised both by the two parties’ state borders modification and the Russian Federation Exclusive Economic Zone expansion to the detriment of Ukraine, this paper aims to identify geographical and economic vulnerabilities in the Black Sea, the exploitation of which can result in the weakening of the south-eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance. Moreover, the present study’s results will represent the basis of a further analysis that will highlight the optimal measures for their reduction.

Hybrid Threats in the Black Sea – Identifying Geographic and Economic Vulnerabilities of Romania’s Maritime Area

With no clear evidence of its origin, hybrid warfare is a worldwide phenomenon, its effects having worldwide reverberations. Characterised by a very high adaptability and flexibility of the methods and procedures used, as well as the continuous expansion of the target audience or the area of coverage, hybrid warfare is not a new concept in human history. Overshadowed by the much higher degree of destruction and the very large number of human victims – specific to conventional war – unconventional actions – an integral part of hybrid war – often go unnoticed, but their effects are felt in all areas of human society existence. Today, the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation are classic examples of hybrid warfare, characterised by true intentions concealment along with the fact that special operations forces experience and support allowed ethnic Russian communities to organise paramilitary groups with the aim of creating an ambiguous and insecure environment on Ukraine’s territory. Furthermore, these events forced NATO leaders to identify and implement measures to limit and reduce Russian Federation possibilities to apply a similar strategy against the Black Sea or Baltic Sea member states. Analysing in detail the Russian hybrid actions major impact in the maritime environment, materialised both by the two parties’ state borders modification and the Russian Federation Exclusive Economic Zone expansion to the detriment of Ukraine, this paper aims to identify geographical and economic vulnerabilities in the Black Sea, the exploitation of which can result in the weakening of the south-eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance. Moreover, the present study’s results will represent the basis of a further analysis that will highlight the optimal measures for their reduction.

The myth of the Basiji: Morteza Avini’s legacy for the propaganda in Iran

ABSTRACT From 1980 to 1988, Iran and Iraq fought the longest conventional war of the 20th century. As combat devolved into trench warfare from 1982 onwards, Iranian propagandists faced a new challenge in mobilizing troops for the front. The propaganda documentary series Revayat-e Fath, produced by the Iranian director Morteza Avini, is a response to these circumstances. In this article, the narratives employed by the series will be conceptualized as myths, and thus, it will be argued that the series uses already existing stories as work on myth, according to philosopher Hans Blumenberg’s definition of the term. Specifically, the series employs the Qur’anic myth of Ibrahim and the story of Imam al-Husayn’s martyrdom to narrate the necessity of patience, trust in God and self-sacrifice among the soldiers. By doing so, the series not only statically employs these myths but also engages in a process of reception in which certain significant parts are put into the historical context of the Iran-Iraq War. This resulted in the creation of a new myth, referred to in this paper as the Basiji myth, embedding the motifs mentioned above into a new narrative of the meaning of death and sacrifice.

India’s use of military power and the sovereignty principle: insights from the neighborhood

ABSTRACT Notwithstanding India’s public stand professing its respect of the sovereignty principle, the imperatives of competitive international relations have necessitated the use of force against its neighbors, thereby undermining their sovereignty. This use of force has been manifested through conventional wars as well as through the sub-conventional use of force such as surgical strikes. This paper examines how India has sought to toe a fine line between pursuing its national interest through the application of military power while being mindful of the broader normative frameworks influencing state behavior since 1947. In doing so, it engages with the interplay of the material and the ideational. Given the time span of the study, it also seeks to shine light on the elements of continuity and change that mark its application of military power through the prism of the sovereignty principle. Furthermore, the paper also pays attention to the recent surgical strikes, features that mark them as being different from previous such actions performed by India, and what this means for India’s understanding of the sovereignty principle.

Drones’ contribution to the transformation of contemporary warfare

Abstract The introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in contemporary battlefields constitutes a transformation in warfighting. The consequences of such an innovation can be traced not only to the level of strategy but also in political, economic as well as ethical terms. So far, UAVs have demonstrated decisiveness in non-military contested environments and in conflicts that involve failed states. UAVs, however, have been proved to be militarily effective, but not militarily decisive in conventional wars. Simultaneously, a series of limitations makes over-reliance on them to look faulty. Time will tell whether their further technological advancements will be able to revolutionise the conduct of war.

Post-traumatic stress disorder in peacekeepers: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Background: In peacekeeping operations, soldiers are often exposed to the same traumatic factors as in conventional war and may also be subject to physical risks and psychological stressors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), PTSD stems from resource depletion and inadequate restoration.Objectives: To discuss and meta-analyse PTSD-related factors among peacekeepers, based on the COR theory, framing them as resources or loss/threat of loss of resources.Methods: A systematic literature search was performed with relevant keywords, 51 articles were reviewed and 21 of them meta-analysed.Results: Factors mentioned in prior reviews, reinforced by ours, include: family/community and military support as resources; single marital status, female gender, serving in infantry, and longer time since deployment as lack of resources. Factors mentioned in prior reviews, confirmed by our meta-analysis, include: education, rank, and problem-focused coping as resources; negative perceptions about deployment, combat/trauma exposure, deployment stressors, and deployment duration as lack of resources. Factors overlooked in prior reviews include: age as a resource; negative life events, and negative social interactions as lack of resources. Comorbidities include: physical health problems, post-deployment impact on functioning, and post-deployment psychopathology (e.g., depression, substance use).Conclusions: Significantly more individual than contextual factors were identified. While some factors inherent to missions (e.g., combat exposure, deployment stressors) cannot be mitigated, others are crucial to prevent peacekeepers' PTSD (e.g., coping strategies, deployment duration, perceptions about deployment, social interactions, support during deployment) and to inform selection and monitoring by the Armed Forces (e.g., pre-, during and post-deployment psychopathology). However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to limitations (e.g., publication bias, study heterogeneity) that may have affected the generalizability and strength of the recommendations.

Three Illusions of US Foreign Policy

The United States, and more broadly, the West, is prone to be surprised. We are surprised by China’s pursuit of hegemony through economic and military means; by Russia’s engaging in the largest conventional war in Europe since 1945; by the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. We think that economic sanctions will fundamentally alter the calculus of our enemies—even deter a potential attack—and we are puzzled when they do not. The recent streak of surprises is not a fluke of history, an unlucky combination of events. This article contends that our surprise is due to a series of illusions that characterize our foreign policy vision. These illusions stem from a mistaken series of assumptions about the causes of political order and about the drivers of political behavior.

Стратегія протидії незаконним збройним формуванням: зміст, складові, еволюція

Стратегія протидії незаконним збройним формуванням: зміст, складові, еволюція

Emerging Cyber Security Challenges: Implications for Iranian National Security

In the third decade of 21st century, cyber security has become a completely developed national security paradigm like other prominent security paradigms such as physical security, economic security, and food security. Unmatched pace of technological advancements in the fields of Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, automation, and communication services have transformed key processes of governance, commerce, and trade from physical to cyber space. As human dependence on cyber technologies increased new questions about the prevailing security models has come to the fore during the same time. Concepts like network security, data security or infrastructure security are no longer isolated domains but have transformed as securitization of cyber domain has become an ongoing global phenomenon. This paper focuses on how this transformation of geopolitical conflicts, from physical to cyber arena, is taking place where traditional concepts of conventional war are changing. It also examines how cyber security threat matrix is diametrically different from all prevailing military doctrinal construct? These questions certainly demand a new theoretical framework that can put this rapidly emerging new security paradigm. This study attempts to address this important question as well while taking the international and regional developments with special focus on the emerging cyber security domain in Iran.

Analysis of the Outbreak of the Cold War and Its Impact on Armed Conflict

The Cold War has always been a historical stage that has attracted much attention. This historical stage has profoundly affected todays international situation and peoples perception of great power competition. The Cold War lasted for nearly forty-four years. During this nearly half a century, the US and the Soviet Union used almost all means of confrontation except direct armed conflict to achieve the effect of suppressing each other. By analyzing past historical events and cases for example, this paper mainly discusses the causes of the Cold War and how it prevent armed conflict from becoming two topics of widespread concern, and it concludes that the outbreak of the Cold War was related to the anarchy among the great powers, and also related to the differences in economic systems between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Cold War prevented nuclear war but intensified conventional war to some extent. This paper aims to tell people that the Cold War is not an ideal state of the international community, all countries should learn lessons from the Cold War to avoid the recurrence of this unhealthy international pattern.

Are the healthcare providers willing and able to respond to disasters: An assessment of tertiary health care system of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

For the tertiary health care system to provide adequate care during disasters, willing and able healthcare providers must be available to respond to the abnormal surge of the patients. Health care professionals (HCPs) constantly face a dilemma because of their profession to either respond to disasters or protect themselves. This study was conducted to assess the willingness and ability of HCPs working in the tertiary healthcare system of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to respond to disasters. This cross-sectional survey was conducted in all the 8 tertiary care hospitals of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. For different disaster scenarios, between 6% and 47% of HCP indicated their unwillingness, and between 3% & 41% of HCPs indicated that they were unable to respond to the given disaster scenarios. HCPs with childcare obligation indicated significantly lower willingness (p<0.05) to respond to earthquakes, MCIs, and an outbreak of Influenza, and SARS. Male HCPs showed a significantly (p<0.05) higher willingness to respond to earthquakes, MCIs, and an outbreak of Influenza as compared to their female counterparts. The overall ability indicated by HCPs for various disaster scenarios ranged between 54.1% [95% CI 0.503,0.578] for responding to victims of nuclear war and 96.4% [95% CI 0.947,0.976] for responding to conventional war. The HCPs who indicated childcare obligation showed a significantly lower ability (p<0.05) to respond to environmental disaster, influenza outbreak, and responding to victims of nuclear war. Female HCPs indicated significantly higher ability (p<0.05) as compared to their male counterparts. This survey provides an opportunity for the tertiary healthcare system to build on the findings and develop disaster mitigation plans to address the barriers to improving the HCPs' availability during disasters.

Penal Battalions and Genocidal Warfare: History's Warnings, Wagner's Global Footprint, and Ukraine

The expendability of penal battalions has provided genocidal regimes with ample fodder for conventional wars, genocidal warfare, and cases in which such conscripts may become either perpetrators or victims. The unresolved charges of those who massacred civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in 2022 extend to include suspects from a private military security company (PMSC) known as the Wagner Group. Vladimir Putin's regime has regularly contracted Wagner since its founding in 2014 in operations that led to its adaptation and development as a tool for war and very likely also the world's first for-hire band of perpetrators. This study tracks histories of penal battalions before outlining the evolution of Wagner as a significant force in global politics and conflict. The findings suggest that prosecution, prevention, or intervention will become even more difficult than it already is for institutions of international law. The apparent successes and rapid growth of Wagner tend to indicate that the use of penal battalions in genocidal wars is not confined to the pages of history. The unaccountability of such suspects could increase both the recruitment of many more genocidal offenders and further risk the expendability of what Richard L. Rubenstein identified as surplus populations. By framing penal battalions that die en masse in genocidal wars, the case of the Wagner Group may ultimately include civilian victims in Ukraine, perpetrators for-hire, and victims within the group's own battalions that the Kremlin deployed to die across the war's frontlines.

Fear of war in Germany: An observational study

BackgroundGiven the very limited knowledge, the purpose of this study was to identify the current prevalence and correlates of fear of conventional and of nuclear war in the general adult population (Germany). MethodsData were taken from a representative survey (n = 3091 participants; mid-March 2022). Established items were used to quantify fear of conventional war and fear of nuclear war. Linear regressions were used to examine the correlates of fear of conventional war and fear of nuclear war, adjusting for several covariates. ResultsWhile 5.3 % of the respondents were not at all worried about a conventional war, 44.2 % of the respondents reported some fear and 50.5 % of the respondents reported severe fear of a conventional war. Similarly, 7.7 % of the respondents were not at all worried about a nuclear war, whereas 45.7 % of the respondents reported some fear and 46.6 % of the respondents reported severe fear of a nuclear war. The prevalence rates mainly slightly differed between sociodemographic groups (with the exception of gender and having children) and were thus consistently high. Regressions showed that both higher fear of a conventional war and higher fear of a nuclear war were associated with being female, having children in own household, being married and living together with spouse, having at least one chronic illness and poor self-rated health. ConclusionOur study showed high prevalence rates for fear of war (both, conventional war and nuclear war). Knowledge about the correlates may assist in tackling individuals at risk for severe fear. Against the background of the current events in Eastern Europe, future research in this area is urgently required.

UNDERSTANDING THE NEW WAR IN THE MODERN AGE: AN ASSESSMENT ON THE RUSSIA – UKRAINE WAR

The phenomenon of war or conflict has existed since the existence of mankind. War can have various reasons such as religious, political and economic. However, with the effect of globalization after the Cold War, even if the conflicts continued throughout the world, the wars between the great states decreased to a large extent. In this context, Russia's intervention in Ukraine is a rather surprising development. Ukraine has always been an important state for Russia due to its historical and cultural ties, especially the establishment of the first Russian state near Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Even after the collapse of the USSR, Russia continued to make hidden interventions in Ukraine, which it saw as its backyard. However, starting a conventional war between the two states seemed to be a rather risky and unexpected option. But as it is seen, Russia took this risk and started a military intervention in Ukraine. The course of the intervention, the damages suffered by Russia, show that a conventional war is not very effective for the states in today's conditions. The aim of the study is to examine the beginning of Russia's intervention and the first two months of the process. The other aim of the study is to explain not only this crisis, but also the phenomenon of war and the changing elements of war today.