what is strategy

[ltb]

does anyone here understand what strategy is? would be interested to hear your view and opions

[Dr Freud]

Historically, strategic objectives has been to summon overwhelming numbers and firepover at the critical time and place, or to starve your opponent on needed supplies, attrition.
But i think that today, focus is more on taking out the opponents leadership, and media/public opinion has also become just as important as the above objectives.

The reason for the change in objectives is 1) it is actually possible to target a command&control building with a cruise missile or air-raid today. 2) The whole planet will know what you or your opponent did 30 min after it happened, and in todays world of mostly democracies, peoples and governments opinion is far more important today.

By all means read Carl von Clausewitz on war if you are interested, its free download somewhere on inet.

[Feanor]

Strategy is your method for achieving the goals you want to achieve.

[eliaslar]

i will try to translate the term "strategy" from the greek wikipedia, as the origin of the term strategy is Greek from the word "στρατηγική" and which is formed by the words "στρατος + ηγούμαι" in english "army + lead"

Strategy is the way of using the present means to achieve the national/political goals to support our national interests in case of present or future conflict. It is a science and art (it is based on experience and talent).

A more complete approach on strategy comprises on at least two axis: the current strategy, which is associated with visual, tangible and direct targets and the strategic planning, which is associated with wider (extensive) goals, who aren't discribed with details, based on the strategic vision and with a typical depth of 15 years.

This word, as also the ones related with it {eg. stratigos (in english General), in Greek στρατηγος}, comes etymologically from Ancient Greece and originally had a clearly military meaning. More specifically, strategy declared the science or the art of military command and the necessary planning to achieve the best result when handling the living and the non living resources to reach our goals.

Strategy, is not used only in the combat field but also in other cases (politics,economy,trade etc) so this term is widely used to declare:
The plan of a business or an organisation
The logic and the acts to be followed in games (eg chess,computer games etc)
The plan which is set to achieve a goal which is of a high level of diffculty (eg a political campaign)

I hope i didn't confuse you :) the text i translated is in this link http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Στρατηγική

[ltb]

ok Frued, yeah that a fair point. all of those things are ture and i agree with them whole heartedly, but that is not what strategy is. That is Clausewitzian strategy, the use of your most powerfull forces on the enemies weakest and asaults on their centres of gravity.

I am a bit of a clausewitz fan myself i must admit

I just trying to get to grips with what other peoples opion of strategy is coming from different theorist ect ect. Feanor has got the basic consept down about right and the fantastic bit of wiki eliaslar has got the basic defintion.

[Feanor]

Perfection is not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. In my mind, the shorter and more concise a definition is, the better it is in practical terms.

[Dr Freud]

xxxxxxx

[tomo918]

Strategy is: the art of using military force against an intelligent foe's) towards the attainment of policy objectives.

[ltb]

just the sort of definition i was looking for:dance

[IrishHitman]

Strategy is your long term or broad method of achieving a goal or objective.
Tactics are short term or narrow methods of achieving the same.

[SABRE]

Nice question. Even a proper answer won't satisfy anyone. In fact it would lead you to ask about Operational activities and tactics. Operational Activities are even more difficult to answer than 'what is strategy.'



By all means read Carl von Clausewitz on war if you are interested, its free download somewhere on inet.

Clausewitz's "ON WAR" by no means is the book for a man (or a woman) who is asking "What is Strategy?" Don't get me wrong. Its way too advance and difficult to understand ON WAR. I would say Quincy Write and John Garnet are better read to understand Strategy.

From what I know. Strategy is a combination of two Hellenic/Greek words. "Strat" & "Gos" Don't know the meaning of the two words but together they mean "Movement of Army."

I'll define strategy as 'laying out of a broader plans - for the conduct of war - in order to achieve your objectives.' It necessarily does not involve fighting. Grand Strategy would be even broader, also involving non-military institutions which can effect the war or can be effected by the war. Lets take Clausewitz's "Trinity" as the basic formation of Grand Strategy (Trinity = Political Authority, Operational Forces and the Civil institutions). Now Clausewitz call war as a "rational policy" (Very controversial) which would imply war is in fact rooted with the Grand Strategy. So that leaves strategy as broader planning for or of war by the Armed Forces (involving all forces).

[eliaslar]

i will try to translate the term "strategy" from the greek wikipedia, as the origin of the term strategy is Greek from the word "στρατηγική" and which is formed by the words "στρατος + ηγούμαι" in english "army + lead"

@sabre
the words you refer to are the ones in my post #4 but i don't know if the encoding is right to help you read Greek letters from your PC. So i will write them again in English letters to help you :) The words which form the word strategy, which is the word "stratigiki" in Greek, are "stratos" + "igume".

[Dr Freud]

Heh, yeah, "-just a continuing of politics", he had no moral issues whatsoever of using as much force as possible to achieve political goals, on the contrary, he embraced it. So its understandably controversial, and i guess thats why i like his stuff.
To my knowledge, he was held in a low regard in the US until after ww2, but has since raised to something of a prophet, and i think it reflects a more aggressive stance by US foreign policy since.

[SABRE]

Heh, yeah, "-just a continuing of politics", he had no moral issues whatsoever of using as much force as possible to achieve political goals, on the contrary, he embraced it. So its understandably controversial, and i guess thats why i like his stuff.
To my knowledge, he was held in a low regard in the US until after ww2, but has since raised to something of a prophet, and i think it reflects a more aggressive stance by US foreign policy since.

Clausewitz is continuously misunderstood and criticized by modern idealists or neo-idealists. What the critics take it as is "that war is a policy" while insistence is "war is a continuation of policy." Meaning war is a tool of policy not policy itself. If it was policy it would be a part of every nations constitution. & war in fact is very much rational. If it was not rational it would just be a mindless violence.

[Dr Freud]

Yes, but to spell it out that clearly is just so....politically incorrect.
And rational, yes, when you want to impose your will on whoever, but ignorant (in lack of word) to the humanly cost. But that blindness appear to be a prerequisite to be great, like napoleon etc.

[FallingDown]

Your method of doing things

[ltb]

i would say that clausewitz is very much the man to look at to get a sound understand of strategy, he defines what it is and what it does in some great depth

[ltb]

Strategy is your long term or broad method of achieving a goal or objective.
Tactics are short term or narrow methods of achieving the same.

tactics are different to strategy, strategy is two planning levels higher than tactics, they are often confused

[Cooch]

One VERY basic description is as follows.

Tactics are how you win a battle.

Strategy is how and where you use battles to win a war.

Grand Strategy is how you use wars and a number of other means, political and economic, to achieve your national aims.

As I understand Clausewitz, his concept of Total War has been misunderstood quite widely.
His argument supposedly runs that if you refuse to use every resource available to you if necessary, you may be beaten by an enemy that does not so limit himself.

This is not the same as using every available resource on every occasion, whether it is needed or not.

Regards............ Peter

[stigmata]

if necessary
This is not the same as using every available resource on every occasion, whether it is needed or not.
Thanks Peter, i missed that important part, hence why i found him somewhat excessive

[riksavage]

Strategy looks at the macro issues of winning a war, which does not just focus on military action, but the whole spectrum of available options (political, economic & military) to achieve a specific goal; say for example removing Germanys ability to coal its naval forces in WWI by systematically seizing its coaling stations around the globe. Strategic decisions are made by politicians and military leaders in unison, because they tend to have an impact upon the direction and ultimate outcome of a conflict.

Tactical decisions are made at a more micro level by generals on the ground to win battles / campaigns, which will ultimately contribute to and form part of a nations over all strategic objective.

[Sampanviking]

In a strictly military sense, A strategy increasingly is about long term planning to achieve a desired mix of assets available to you at the locations in which you need them at the time that they will be required.

This of course goes hand in hand with Tactics, which is the ability to use those Assets to maximum effect.

[flanx]

nice thread :) strategy is a big thing compare to tactics

[AK SWIFT Leader]

Strategy is how you're going to chop the forest down.
Tactics are how you will chop down the individual trees.