The Evolution of Operational Art

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About The Evolution Of Operational Art

Georgii Samoilovich Isserson’s The Evolution of Operational Art is a military classic that has long remained inaccessible to non-Russian readers. More than a mere apologia for the Soviet concept of deep battle/operation, this book constitutes a military-intellectual tour de force with its critical analysis of evolving military art in historical-theoretical perspective. The book is also an exercise in military foresight on the nature of future war. In fact, Isserson’s final conclusions could well be understood as a theoretical template for the way that large-scale operations actually unfolded during 1941-45 on the Eastern Front. More importantly in long-term perspective, Isserson’s examination of the prime variables within modern forms for the operation (to use his phraseology) invites the reader to ponder the changing impact and implications of key influences on the evolution of military art. These variables are as modern as today, and they include politico-ideological context, force structures and correlations, command and control, space and depth, time and timing, technology, and technique. On one level, Isserson addresses the challenges inherent in 1930s-vintage future war. On another level, his treatment of overarching issues extends well beyond his time. For example, his examination of Moltke’s quandary after Sedan in 1870 appears fully appropriate to an analysis of post-2001 US-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.Bruce Menning’s translation of Georgii Samoilovich Isserson’s 1936 treatise The Evolution of Operational Art is the best example available of the distillation of Soviet military thought before the Second World War. Isserson, Tukhachevsky, Shaposhnikov, and others like them were founding members of a focused military Enlightenment whose goal was to change the way armies and leaders thought about war. Moreover, unlike contemporaries such as B.H. Liddell Hart or Billy Mitchell, they had the opportunity to build their ideas into