Strategic goal (military)
A strategic military goal is used in strategic planning to define desired end-state of a war or a campaign. Usually it entails achieving a strategic victory over the enemy, although the goal can be set in terms of diplomatic or economic conditions, defined by purely territorial gains, or the evidence that the enemy's will to fight has been broken. Sometimes the strategic goal can be to limit the scope of the conflict.[1]
It is the highest level of organisational achievement in a military organisation, and is usually defined by the national defence policy. In terms of goal assignment it corresponds to operations performed by a front or a fleet on a theatre scale, and by an Army group or, during the Second World War, by a Red Army Front.
A strategic goal is achieved by reaching specific strategic objectives that represent intermediary and incremental advances within the overall strategic plan. However, aside from the obstacles used by the enemy to prevent achievement of the strategic goal, inappropriate technological capabilities and operational weakness in combat may prevent fulfilment of the strategic plan.[2] As an example, these are illustrated by the failure of the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command during the winter of 1943/44.[3]
A critical product of the analysis which leads to the strategic decision to use military force is determination of the national goal to be achieved by that application of force.[4]
Citations and notes
References
- Aron, Raymond, (ed.), Peace & War: A Theory of International Relations, Transaction Publishers, 2003
- Millett, Allan R. & Murray, Williamson, (eds.), Military Effectiveness: The First World War, Volume I., Mershon Center series on International Security and Foreign Policy, Routledge, 1988
- Newell, Clayton R., Framework of Operational War, Routledge, 1991