Military doctrine
Military doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. A military doctrine outlines what military means should be used, how forces should be structured, where forces should be deployed, and the modes of cooperation between types of forces.[1] "Joint doctrine" refers to the doctrines shared and aligned by multinational forces or joint service operations.[2]
There are three broad categories of military doctrines: (1) Offensive doctrines aim to disarm an adversary, (2) Defensive doctrines aim to deny an adversary, and (3) Deterrent doctrines aim to punish an adversary. Different military doctrines have different implications for world politics. For example, offensive doctrines tend to lead to arms races and conflicts.[1]
Military doctrine is a key component of grand strategy.[1]
NATO's definition of strategy is "presenting the manner in which military power should be developed and applied to achieve national objectives or those of a group of nations."[11] The official definition of strategy by the United States Department of Defense is: "Strategy is a prudent idea or set of ideas for employing the instruments of national power in a synchronized and integrated fashion to achieve national or multinational objectives."[12]
Military strategy provides the rationale for military operations. Field Marshal Viscount Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff and co-chairman of the Anglo-US Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee for most of the Second World War, described the art of military strategy as:
"to derive from the [policy] aim a series of military objectives to be achieved: to assess these objectives as to the military requirements they create, and the pre-conditions which the achievement of each is likely to necessitate: to measure available and potential resources against the requirements and to chart from this process a coherent pattern of priorities and a rational course of action."[13]
Instead, doctrine seeks to provide a common conceptual framework for a military service:
In the same way, doctrine is neither operations nor tactics. It serves as a conceptual framework uniting all three levels of warfare.
Doctrine reflects the judgments of professional military officers, and to a lesser but important extent civilian leaders, about what is and is not militarily possible and necessary.[15]
Factors to consider include: