Tactics (military)
Tactics in the military sense (from ancient Greek τακτικά taktiká "art of putting an army in battle") is, according to Clausewitz, "the doctrine of the use of armed forces in combat" at the level of units . Tactics can also be described as the “coordinated use of military means to achieve a given / desired goal, evaluating, including and using the existing situation, available forces, spatial and temporal conditions”. Subordinate to this is the combat service at the unit and sub-unit level, and the operations management at the command level of large units .
Under the influence of technology and philosophy , the history of military tactics is constantly changing. Thus, tactical body outdated and tactical signs become indispensable for the organization.
Prefabricated tactical patterns and constellations are called elementary tactics . The exercises in the field of applied tactics are called field service exercises on a smaller scale , and troop exercises or maneuvers on a larger scale .
Definition of terms
Tactics, along with operation and strategy, form the levels of warfare . They define the decision-making framework for the use of certain means in time and space in relation to a goal . In this context comes the planning dictum information about the availability of one's own and other people's resources and intentions and serves to create a superiority of one's own strength in a room. Below the tactics, sub-units lead the battle as a fire fight coordinated by the higher-level unit .
Frederick W. Lanchester drew up the Lanchester law named after him , with which the outcome of a battle can be calculated under certain conditions .
- tactics
- The usual definition of tactics today, for example in the Bundeswehr , is the doctrine of the leadership of troops at association level when interacting in combat between combined arms and forces and the application of this doctrine, and covers all basic command areas and applies to all command levels. As part of the battle, an optimal interaction of one's own forces in relation to the actions of the opposing forces in terms of time, availability of forces and space should be achieved.
- surgery
- The term operation (also operation management ), however, is used in the management of large associations . In modern western armies, the brigade is considered the smallest major military unit; as such, a brigade is able to independently carry out operational tasks.
- To illustrate, one can be aware that an army group of the Wehrmacht functioned on an operational level during World War II.
- strategy
- The term strategy describes the targeted use of force or threat of violence by all means of a state or a community of states for political purposes. It also expressly includes his or her resources and the formation of political will by their people and government.
- Tactical and operational decisions are subordinate to the strategic goal. From a strategic point of view, the outcome of multiple individual battles may not matter if the war itself is won.
literature
- Martin Rink : Tactics . In: Encyclopedia of Modern Times . Edited by Friedrich Jaeger on behalf of the Institute for Cultural Studies (Essen) , Vol. 12, Stuttgart / Weimar 2011.
- Carl von Clausewitz: About the war . 4th edition. Berlin 1880.
- * Kai Brodersen : Arrianos / Asklepiodotos : The art of tactics . Greek and German, De Gruyter, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-056216-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Gemoll : Greek-German school and hand dictionary . G. Freytag Verlag / Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Munich / Vienna 1965.