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Cheatography

Strategy in the Contemporary World - Baylis Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

Chapters 1-5, 7-8, 12, 14, 16-17 and Part 3

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

What is Strategy?

Strategy
Use of military force to achieve political objectives
 
When choosing between multiple ways of acting, strategy is choosing the best way to act
Grand Strategy
Use and organi­sation of all natural resources to achieve political objectives
Security
Freedom from threats to core values

Strategic Theory

Strategic theory
Different methods for winning wars
Clausewitz - War and 4 contexts (essence of war)
Killing and dying
 
contest between armies, generals and states (compe­tition mental and physical)
 
War= Instrument of policy
 
War= Social activity
Clausewitz - The Trinity (who controls war)
People - passion
 
Military - chance
 
Government - reason (deter­mines aims and means)
Clausewitz - Nature of War (under­sta­nding enemy)
Centre of gravity - i. Enemy’s army ii. Enemy’s capital city iii. Principal ally iv. Leader vi. Public opinion
Clausewitz - Limited vs Unlimited War
Limited - territory or leverage for bargaining
 
Unlimited - overthrow and be prepared with new government
Clausewitz - Calculus
Ends justify means
Clausewitz - Friction
i. Danger posed by enemy ii. Efforts required by own forces iii. Difficult enviro­nment. vi. intell­igence
Sun Tzu - Strategic preferance
War without blood
 
Enemy's 1) strategy 2) alliances 3) army
Sun Tzu - Intell­igence
Matters only compared to enemy (think Ukraine vs Russia territory knowledge)
 
Quality > quantity
Mao - Three step plan
Revolution and strategic defence
 
Guerilla and strategic stalemate
 
Strategic counte­r-o­ffe­nsive and defeat
 

Modern Warfare

Napoleon
Europe from limited Warfare, to full mobili­sation (consc­rip­tion)
Indust­ria­lis­ation
Railways, steams­hips, telegraph - big armies
 
New weapons
 
Heavy casualties
 
Naval - steams­hips, transport
Total War vs Absolute War
Total - Drawing on all resources, conscr­iption, economy towards war effort. Absolute war- fighting without restri­ctions
Nuclear weapons
Ended total war era

Law and use of force

Percep­tio­n-R­eality gap
Intern­ational law is ignored vs intern­ational law usually obeyed
 
Military conflict usual vs exception
 
Intern­ational law regulates force vs regulates all inter-­state aspects
 
Law is prohib­iting vs facili­tating
Why follow Intern­ational Law?
Legitimacy
 
Fear of coercion and conseq­uences, self-i­nte­rests
Ad Bellum - before war
Limit resort to military forces
 
UN Articles 2(3-4) Settle disputes by peaceful means and dont use force
 
Chapter 7 UN - Right to self-d­efence
 
UN Security council decides if it is legal or not, allows force. Strate­gically needed if you are a leader, so does not backfire (Tony Blair)
In Bello - in war
Governs war Conduct
 
Geneva Convention 1949 - Victims of war
 
Hague Convention 1899 and 1907 - Conduct of warfare

Technology and War

Technology and War
Reflects the priorities of that country, enviro­nment. Speed or defence?
Quantity vs quality
Increase in speed, protec­tion, mobility= quality
 
Increase in amounts of the weapons = quantity
New era of warfare
Priori­tised quality
 
Specia­lis­ation of military equipment
 
Commercial technology importance
Asymme­trical Warfare
Better technology vs guerilla
 
Motivation very important
Challenges today
News coverage
 
Hard for military to find new people - possib­ilities outside military
 

Conven­tional Power and Contem­porary Warfare

 

Geopol­itics and Grand Strategy

 

Causes of War

Human beings as causes
Inclined towards violence
Social psycho­logists
aggres­sion= results of frustr­ation
Wars from miscon­cep­tions
Group thinking
Democratic Peace theory
Democr­acies go to war, but not against each other
Bargaining theory
Indivi­sible stakes

Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear deterrence
Soviets would not attack NATO, if convinced that they would retaliate with nuclear
 
Just because high probab­ility that something wont happen doesnt mean that it wont (take North Korea using Nuclear Weapons, or Russia using Nuclear)
Nuclear ages
First Nuclear age 1945-1991, Second Nuclear Age now
 
Now more states have nuclear, less nuclear weapons overall
Deterrence
Preventing another state from doing something - making them keep their passive stance
 
Denial - Ability to win battle, being strong enough and therefore deterring. Like having a fortress around a castle
 
Trip Wire - Being credible in "­pun­ish­ing­" as a response
 
Sometimes it is not obvious whether you are stronger than opponent (SK, Taiwan)
 
NATO - trip wire. Will US risk for us? All about blowing up the conflict. If small conflict in Finland how make pay attention
Non-pr­oli­fer­ation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT)
Officially NPT acknow­ledges Russia, US, China, UK, France

Cyber Conflict and Great Powers