Strategija - jos elementai ir sąvokos evoliucija

The end of cold war has changed the nature of conflict and the way the conflict develops and breaks into violence. This change has neither made war obsolete nor made strategy irrelevant. In fact it has made strategy even more necessary. At the same time it has opened a large gap in the strategic theory which we need to fill quickly. There is no single definition of strategy. Strategy in its original meaning defines "the art of the general" (from the Greek strategos). In a strictly military sense, the term first gained currency at the end of the 18th century, when the warfare was still relatively simple and limited. K. von Clausewitz was the first great student of strategy and the father of modern strategic study. In his major work "On War", he defined strategy as the employment of battles to gain the end of war. Tactics is the theory of using the armed forces in the engagement, strategy is the theory of using the individual engagements for the K.von purpose of war. Strategy is no more than a means to an end. It is for policy to lay down the aims to be achieved by strategy. Strategy is the method by which policy of force is implemented. Similarly tactics is the method by which strategy is implemented. This means that tactics must be servant of strategy, not vice versa. K. von Clausewitz devoted much of his work to showing that war is both a social development and the act of force. He went further to say: "War is nothing but the continuation of policy by other means. War is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will." On the other hand, war is not an end in itself. "The original means of strategy is victory - that is tactical success; its ends in the final analysis are those objects which will lead directly to peace." B. H. Liddel Hard another imported strategist developed the concept of indirect strategy. After examining military campaign from 5th century BC to the present times he reached the conclusion the indirect strategy is far the most hopeful and economic form of strategy. B. H. Liddel Hart proposed that the perfection of strategy would be therefore to produce a decision without any serious fighting. Thus, the true aim of strategist is not so much to seek battle as to seek strategic situation so advantageous that if it does not produce the decision, its continuation by a battle is sure to achieve this. In other words, dislocation is the aim of strategy. This concept constitutes the core of his indirect approach towards strategy. (...)