List of military strategies and concepts

War
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This article is a list of military strategies and concepts that are commonly recognized and referenced. Military strategies are methods of arranging and maneuvering large bodies of military forces during armed conflicts.

Offensive strategies

Air superiority – Essential to a successful air campaign. It is achieved by 1) mastery of the air, 2) attacking the means of production, 3) maintain battle ourselves, 4) prevent the enemy from battle
Attrition warfare – A strategy of wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous loss of personnel and material. Used to defeat enemies with low resources and high morale.
Bait and bleed – to induce rival states to engage in a protracted war of attrition against each other "so that they bleed each other white", similar to the concept of divide and conquer
Battle of annihilation – The goal of destroying the enemy military in a single planned pivotal battle
Bellum se ipsum alet – A strategy of feeding and supporting an army with the potentials of occupied territories
Blitzkrieg – An attack that uses concentrated force and rapid speed to break through enemy lines, named after the German World War II strategy meaning Lightning War
Blockade / Siege / Investment – An attempt to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, usually taking place by sea
Clear and hold – A counter-insurgency strategy
Coercion – Compelling the enemy to involuntarily behave in a certain way by targeting the leadership, national communications, or political-economic centers
Command of the sea – The naval equivalent of air superiority
Counter-offensive – A strategic offensive taking place after the enemy's front line troops and reserves have been exhausted, and before the enemy has had the opportunity to assume new defensive positions. Tactic is usually implemented through surging at the enemy after their attack.
Counterforce – A strategy used in nuclear warfare of targeting military infrastructure (as opposed to civilian targets)
Countervalue – The opposite of counterforce; targeting of enemy cities and civilian populations. Used to distract the enemy.
Decapitation – Achieving strategic paralysis by targeting political leadership, command and control, strategic weapons, and critical economic nodes
Deception – A strategy that seeks to deceive, trick, or fool the enemy and create a false perception in a way that can be leveraged for a military advantage
Denial – A strategy that seeks to destroy the enemy's ability to wage war
Distraction – An attack by some of the force on one or two flanks, drawing up to a strong frontal attack by the rest of the force
Encirclement – Both a strategy and tactic designed to isolate and surround enemy forces
Ends, Ways, Means, Risk – Strategy is much like a three legged stool of ends, ways, means balanced on a plane of varying degree of risk
Enkulette – A strategy used often in the jungle that aims at attacking the enemy from behind.
Exhaustion – A strategy that seeks to erode the will or resources of a country
Feint – To draw attention to another point of the battle where little or nothing is going on
Flanking maneuver – Involves attacking the opponent from the side, or rear
Guerrilla tactics – Involves ambushes on enemy troops. Usually used by insurgency.
Heavy force – A counterinsurgency strategy that seeks to destroy an insurgency with overwhelming force while it is still in a manageable state
Human wave attack – An unprotected frontal attack where the attacker tries to move as many combatants as possible into engaging close range combat with the defender
Incentive – A strategy that uses incentives to gain cooperation
Indirect approach – Dislocation is the aim of strategy. Direct attacks almost never work, one must first upset the enemy's equilibrium, fix weakness and attack strength, Seven rules of strategy: 1) adjust your ends to your means, 2) keep your object always in mind, 3) choose the line of the least expectation, 4) exploit the line of least resistance, 5) take the line of operations which offers the most alternatives, 6) ensure both plans and dispositions are flexible, 7) do not throw your weight into an opponent while he is on guard, 8) do not renew an attack along the same lines if an attack has failed
Interior lines – Placing ones forces in between the enemy forces and attacking each in turn in order to allow ones forces to have better communications and allows one to mass all of ones forces against a part of the enemies
Limited war – A war in which the survival of a nation is not at stake
Penetration – A direct attack through enemy lines, then an attack on the rear once through
Periclean strategy – The two basic principles of the "Periclean Grand Strategy" were the rejection of appeasement (in accordance with which he urged the Athenians not to revoke the Megarian Decree) and the avoidance of overextension
Persisting strategy – A strategy that seeks to destroy the means by which the enemy sustains itself
Pincer ambush – A "U"-shaped attack with the sides concealed and the middle held back until the enemy advances, at which point the concealed sides ambush them
Pincer maneuver – Allowing the enemy to attack the center, sometimes in a charge, then attacking the flanks of the charge
Punishment – A strategy that seeks to push a society beyond its economic and physiological breaking point
Rapid Decisive Operations – Compelling the adversary to undertake certain actions or denying the adversary the ability to coerce or attack others.
Raiding – Attacking with the purpose of removing the enemy's supply or provisions
Refusing the flank – Holding back one side of the battle line to keep the enemy from engaging with that flank. The refused flank is held by smallest force necessary to hold out against the enemy's attack while concentrating the main battle force against the enemies center or other flank
Separation of insurgents – A counterinsurgency strategy should first seek to separate the enemy from the population, then deny the enemy reentry, and finally execute long enough to deny the insurgent access
Scorpion attack – A pincer attack that is supplemented by an air strike
Shape, Clear, Hold, Build – The counterinsurgency theory that states the process of winning an insurgency is shape, clear, hold, build
Siege – Continuous attack by bombardment on a fortified position, usually by artillery
Shock and awe – A military doctrine using overwhelming power to try and achieve rapid dominance over the enemy
Swarming – Military swarming involves the use of a decentralized force against an opponent, in a manner that emphasizes mobility, communication, unit autonomy and coordination/synchronization.
Theater strategy – Concepts and courses of action directed toward securing the objectives of national and multinational policies and strategies through the synchronized and integrated employment of military forces and other instruments of national power
Total war – War in which a nation's survival is at stake
Troop surge – deploying a large number of troops into theatre in order to overcome resistance
Turning maneuver – An attack that penetrates the enemy's flank, then curls into its rear to cut it off from home
Win without fighting – Sun Tzu argued that a brilliant general was one that could win without killing anybody

Defensive strategies

Boxing maneuver – A strategy used to "box in" and force an attack on all sides at once
Choke point – A use of strategic geography, usually in a narrow area, intended to concentrate the enemy into a confined area where the defender can maximize his forces
Defence in depth – A strategy to delay rather than prevent the advance of the attackers by buying time and causing additional casualties by yielding space so that the momentum of the attack is lost and the attacking force can be attacked on its flanks
Elastic Defense - A strategy to flexibly absorb then repel the advance of attackers through carefully planned integrated fighting positions, perfected by the German Army in WWI
Fortification – A semi-permanent or permanent defensive structure that gives physical protection to a military unit
Fabian strategy – Wearing down the enemy by using attrition warfare and indirection, while avoiding pitched battles or frontal assaults. Named after Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus in his defense against Carthage. See Pyrrhic warfare
Military district – An area controlled by a military force, for administrative purposes rather than combat. Also known as Wehrkreis in German
Scorched earth – Destroying anything that might be of use to the enemy while retreating, or advancing
Turtling – Continuous reinforcement of the military front until it has reached its full strength, then an attack with the now-superior force
Withdrawal – A retreat of forces while maintaining contact with the enemy

Strategic concepts

Center of gravity (military) – The hub of all power and movement on which everything depends, the point at which all energies should be directed
Decisive point – A geographic place, specific key event, critical system, or function that allows commanders to gain a marked advantage over an enemy and greatly influence the outcome of an attack
DIME(FIL) – The elements of national power diplomacy, information, military, and economics, often included are financial, intelligence, and law enforcement see MIDLIFE
Expediency – War is a matter of expedients – von Moltke
Fog, friction, chance – War is characterized by fog, friction, and chance
Golden Bridge – To leave an opponent an opportunity to withdraw in order to not force them to act out of desperation – Sun Tzu
Iron Calculus of War – Resistance = Means x Will – Clausewitz
MIDLIFE – The elements of national power diplomacy, information, military, and economics, often included are financial, intelligence, and law enforcement, see DIME(FIL)
Moral ascendancy – Moral force is the trump card for any military event because as events change the human elements of war remain unchanged – Du Piq
OODA loop – Decision-making occurs in a recurring cycle of observe-orient-decide-act. An entity (whether an individual or an organization) that can process this cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent, can thereby "get inside" the opponent's decision cycle and gain the advantage – Boyd
Paradoxical nature – The nature of strategy is a paradoxical and does not follow a linear pattern – Luttwak
Positive ends – The possibility of taking advantage of a new security environment to create conditions for long-term peace – Wass de Czege
Primary Trinity – (1) primordial violence, hatred, and enmity; (2) the play of chance and probability; and (3) war's element of subordination to rational policy – Clausewitz
- Secondary Trinity – People, Army, and Government – Clausewitz
Principles of war:
- Objective (Direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective)
- Offensive (Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative)
- Mass (Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time)
- Economy of Force (Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts)
- Maneuver (place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of combat power)
- Unity of Command (For every Objective, ensure Unity of effort under one responsible commander)
- Security (Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage)
- Surprise (Strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which he is unprepared)
- Simplicity (Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding) – US Army FM 3.0
Systems approach – Nation-states operate like biological organisms composed of discrete systems. These systems included: leadership, organic essentials, infrastructure, population, and the military – Warden
Tipping point – The point at which "the momentum for change becomes unstoppable." – Gladwell
VUCA – Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity characterize the strategic environment – U.S. Army War College
Weinberger-Powell Doctrine – A list of questions have to be answered affirmatively before military action is taken by the United States:
- Is a vital national security interest threatened?
- Do we have a clear attainable objective?
- Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
- Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
- Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
- Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
- Is the action supported by the American people?
- Do we have genuine broad international support?

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