Defining Strategy
There appear to be as many definitions of strategy as there are legitimate strategists. The following is a list of better known Formal Definitions of Strategy:
- Simplistic:
“… the art of making war on a map.” Baron de Jomini
“… the art of the dialectics of will that use force to resolve their conflict.” Andre Beaufre
“A system of expedients.” Helmut von Moltke
“… the art of bringing forces to the battlefield in a favorable position” Archibald Wavell
“… the diplomacy of violence.” Thomas Schelling
- Clauswitzian
“… the use of engagements for the object of war.” Karl von Clausewitz
“… the art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill the ends of policy.” Basil Liddell Hart
“… the use of armed force to achieve the military objectives, and by extension, the political purpose of the war.” Peter Paret
“… the application and maintenance of force so that it contributes most effectively to the achievement of political objectives.” Alastair Buchan
“the use made of force and the threat of force for the ends of policy.” Colin Gray
- Synthesis:
“… a system of scientific knowledge dealing with the laws of war as an armed conflict in the name of definite class interests.” V. D. Sokolovsky
“… a plan of action designed in order to achieve some end; a purpose together with a system of measures for its accomplishment.” J.C. Wylie
“… the conduct and consequences of human relations in the context of possible or actual armed conflict.” Edward Luttwak
“… a general plan for the creation, deployment, and employment of coalition and national armed forces to achieve war aims by destroying the enemy’s will and ability to wage war.” Williamson Murray and Allan Millett
“… the science and art of employing the political, economic, psychological, and military forces of a nation or group of nations to afford the maximum support to adopted policies in peace or war.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
“… the art of controlling and utilizing the resources of the nation-or a coalition of nations-including its armed forces, to the end that its vital interest shall be effectively promoted and secured against enemies, actual, potential, and, merely presumed.” E.M. Earle
“… the nations’ plan for the coordinated use of all the instruments of state power-nonmilitary as well as military-to pursue objectives that defend and advance its national interest” Terry Deibel
- Process:
“Strategy … is devoted to discovering how the resources of a nation, material and human, can be developed and utilized for the end of maximizing the total effectiveness of the nation in war.” Bernard Brodie
“… a process, a constant adaptation to shifting conditions and circumstances in a world where chance, uncertainty, and ambiguity dominate.” Williamson Murray and Mark Grimsley
“… the art of controlling and utilizing the resources of the nation – or a coalition of nations – including its armed forces, to the end that its vital interests shall be effectively promoted and secured against enemies, actual, potential, or merely presumed.” Edward Meade Earle
“… the art and science of developing and using political, economic, psychological, and military forces as necessary during peace and war, to afford the maximum support to policies, in order to increase the probabilities and favorable consequences of victory and to lessen the chances of defeat.” DoD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms
“… a complex decisionmaking process that connects the ends sought with the ways and means of achieving those ends.” Donald Snow and Dennis Drew
- State-of-the-Art:
“A plan for continuing advantage.” Everett Carl Dolman, Pure Strategy