Generalship in War: The Principles of Operational Command,

Abstract : The recent interest in the operational level of war in American military circles has awakened a long dormant appreciation of the art of planning and conducting campaigns. Unfortunately, there has not been a thorough study of leadership at this level of command. The Army's Senior Leadership manual falls short of adequately discussing operational command. It does not address, for example, the differences between peacetime and combat command or the changing leadership requirements at higher levels of command. These are critically important topics as we prepare to fight the next war. We must be able to identify the right man to execute the first campaigning of that war. Historically we have been able to do little more than guess at whom what might be. This paper is intended to be a first step toward rectifying that shortfall. It defines the attributes of the operational commander. In order to identify those attributes, this monograph begins with a review of theoretical comments on generalship from early philosophers through the 20th century. Next, modern views on the traits of senior warfighting generals ware presented by examining the comments of German, Russian, British and American writers since the beginning of the World War II.