The human being has been involved in wars since the beginning of time, due to the domination of certain more advantageous territories, for cultural or religious issues, due to the avarice of some trying to subdue and subdue others … War, unfortunately, is part of our genetics and proof of this is that not even in a world as advanced as ours, in which most people already live at least with the necessities basic covers, the war has been able to disappear . Human beings continue to face bloody war conflicts that cause not only military casualties, but also many civilians. Wars continue across the globe, from the Gaza Strip to the Horn of Africa, through violent outbreaks in South Asia and outbreaks of violence in Europe, until not so long ago. The desire to fight does not seem to have changed much, although the military strategy to win these armed conflicts has.
After all, military strategy has to do with the resources that a given army or armed force has to defeat its opponent and achieve its objective in battle. These resources range from the troops themselves and the supplies necessary for them to survive to the invention of new weapons, or new tactics based precisely on those advantages offered by emerging technologies. Military strategy has to do not only with winning a battle, but also with finding the best way to do it to reduce the losses and the necessary costs, using intelligence, tactics and coordination to make the war is an art, and not just a barbarian confrontation where two groups of people slaughter each other without rhyme or reason. T strategy is fundamental today in the military aspect , and there are many wars that have been won thanks to surprising tactics that have made an inferior army defeat a better prepared one.
Military strategy in the Middle Ages
Although military strategy already existed in ancient times, and many peoples came to use it, in their own way, to conquer territories throughout Europe and Asia, the beginning of military strategy based on tactics as we understand them today arose in the Middle Ages. Charlemagne turned all of Europe and part of Asia into an immense unified territory under the Empire, with the Christian religion as the backbone, and he did so thanks to the strategy of struggle that allowed him to advance little by little and conquering territories. Very common at this time was to build forts and castles on top of a mountain, with a good height to prevent the arrival of the enemy and also hinder their access to our domain. The military strategy began precisely with the construction of these fortresses in indicated places, but continued with the creation of professional armies , where the majority of young people with abilities, who were taught to fight, enlisted.
It was the era of the feudal lords , who could pay homage to a king or emperor, or be the maximum competition in their domain and have private armies with which to defend themselves or attack rivals. The need for experts in this type of struggle , people who have studied military strategies and know the secrets of great conquests, is revealed. The generals used different tactics depending on the type of battle that took place. The usual thing was to lead an army made up of infantry and cavalry, a brutal force that allowed many battles to be won. Naval wars were a bit forgotten at this time, although they would resume shortly after. The discovery of America allowed countries like Portugal and Spain to obtain spectacular resources that led them to create great armies and conquer half the world.
Modern Age
The Modern Age , which usually subscribed between the 16th and 18th centuries , developed mainly in Europe, where the struggles were continuous and the major powers were practically always at war some other. French and English, English and Spanish, Germans who were developing through territories in the north … The Modern Age brings some novel advances in terms of weapons , which until then had been practically the same than from the beginning of time, swords, bows and shields. The first cannons are at stake to replace the old catapults, and the great fortresses are no longer so impregnable, causing the fighting to intensify in the cities.
At this time the strategy to be followed is refined , adapting it to new inventions and making war almost like a game of chess between two great strategists who face each other on a board to be conquered. Armies become even more professional , and great princes, kings and emperors interfere in military affairs, learning from a young age those war tactics that they will then have to put into practice in contention to continue conquering territories. It is a cruel time with many conflicts that ends with the arrival of the French Revolution , a paradigm shift that makes the common people finally take the floor, although sponsored only by greed and the lust for power of the bourgeoisie, which uses them to overthrow the Old Regime.
Military Tactics in the Contemporary Age
From the beginning of the 19th century to the present day, things have completely changed in warfare. Special in the last century, with the arrival of armored vehicles, the invention of air warfare and above all, of the new nuclear weapons, the situation is completely different from the way Napoléon spread throughout Europe at the time. Technology has come to completely change the strategy, and given the great differences between the armies, today armed conflicts are less frequent , although we always seem to be on the brink of a new world war. Tanks, warplanes, and more currently unmanned drones have become authentic war machines capable of completely changing the sign of a combat. The cavalry was left behind, and now it is the machines that unbalance the balance.
In an era where one country can devastate another and kill millions of people in a single instant thanks to a nuclear bomb, war is much less frequent because there is an atrocious fear of it. these clashes. The conflicts that remain active are rather civil wars, especially in Africa , where different factions gamble their territories with raw materials to keep them under their control and to be able to live in minimally acceptable conditions. The Second World War was the last great conflict on a planetary level, eighty years ago, but it still reverberates in our heads. Likewise, the United States, which became the greatest military power today, also had to submit to the incredible defeats in Korea and Vietnam , places where local armies showed them that having more weapons was not the most important when you are playing “away from home”.