Читать книгу American Civil War For Dummies - Keith D. Dickson - Страница 101

Now that all the terms and concepts are straight, I will walk through the whole process that characterizes war. After the political leaders have decided on the broad objectives of the war, those objectives become the guide for all military activities. In a campaign, the army commander can decide to initiate an offensive or defensive campaign, depending on the ability of the army to conduct operations (the status of supply, morale, training, and leadership all play a role in this decision), whether to operate on interior or exterior lines, or in response to enemy movements or activities. The purpose of a campaign is to achieve the strategic objective through movement (the act of physically moving a military unit by road, rail, or water to a specific place for a specific purpose) and battles (fighting), using maneuver to employ superior combat power against an enemy army’s weakest spot. Depending on the outcome of one movement, or even a series of movements in a campaign, the result is usually one or more battles.