Generally, a
battle is a conceptual component in
the hierarchy of
combat in
warfare between two or more
armed
forces, wherein each group will seek to defeat the others
within the scope of a
military
campaign, and are well defined in duration, area and force
commitment.
Wars and military campaigns are guided by
strategy, whereas battles take place on a
level of planning and execution known as
operational mobility. German strategist
Carl von Clausewitz stated that
"the employment of battles ... to achieve the object of war" was
the essence of
strategy.
Etymology
The definition of a battle cannot be arrived at solely through the
names of historical battles, many of which are
misnomers. The word
battle is a
loanword in English from the
Old French bataille, first attested in
1297, and is itself a borrowing from
Late
Latin battualia, meaning "exercise of soldiers and
gladiators in fighting and fencing," from
Latin battuere "beat", from which the English
word
battery is also derived via
Middle English batri, and comes from
the staged battles in the
Colosseum in
Rome that may have numbered 10,000 individuals.
Characteristics of battle
The defining characteristic of the battle as a concept in the
Theory of combat has been a dynamic
one through the course of military history, changing with the
changes in the organisation, employment and technology of military
forces.
While the British
military
historian Sir John Keegan suggested
an ideal definition of battle as "something which happens between
two
armies leading to the moral then physical
disintegration of one or the other of them", the origins and
outcomes of battles can rarely be summarized so neatly.
In general a battle during the 20th century was, and continues to
be, defined by the combat between opposing forces representing
major components of total forces committed to a
military campaign, used to achieve
specific
military objectives,
within a time-frame of less than a month. Where the duration of the
battle is longer then a week, it is often for reasons of
staff operational planning called
an
operation. Battles can be planned,
encountered, or forced by one force on the
other when the latter is unable to
withdraw from combat.
A battle always has as its purpose the reaching of a
mission goal by use of military force. A
victory in the battle is achieved when one of the opposing sides
forces the other to abandon its mission, or to
surrender its forces, or
routs the other, i.e., forces it to retreat or renders
it militarily ineffective for further
combat operations. However, a battle may
end in a
Pyrrhic victory, which
ultimately favors the defeated party. If no resolution is reached
in a battle, it can result in a
stalemate.
A conflict in which one side is unwilling to reach a decision by a
direct battle using
conventional military forces
often becomes an
insurgency.
Until the 19th century the majority of battles were of short
duration, many lasting a part of a day or less.
(The Battle of
Nations
(1813) and the Battle of Gettysburg
(1863) were exceptional in lasting three days.)
This was mainly due to the difficulty of supplying armies in the field, or conducting night operations. The
means of prolonging a battle was typically by employment of
siege warfare. Improvements in
transportation and the sudden evolving of
trench warfare, with its siege-like
nature during
World War I in the 20th
century, lengthened the duration of battles to days and weeks. This
created the requirement for
unit
rotation to prevent
combat
fatigue, with troops preferably not remaining in a combat area
of operations for more than a month. Trench warfare had become
largely obsolete by the start of the
Second
World War.
The use of
the term "battle" in military history has led to its misuse when
referring to almost any scale of combat, notably by strategic
forces involving hundreds of thousands of troops that may be
engaged in either a single battle at one time (Battle of
Leipzig
) or multiple operations (Battle of Kursk
). The space a battle occupies depends on the
range of the
weapons of the combatants. A
"battle" in this broader sense may occupy a large piece of
spacetime, as in the case of the
Battle of Britain or the
Battle of the
Atlantic. Until the advent of
artillery and
aircraft,
battles were fought with the two sides within sight, if not reach,
of each other. The depth of the battlefield has also increased in
modern warfare with inclusion of the
supporting units in the rear areas; supply, artillery, medical
personnel etc. often outnumber the front-line combat troops.
Battles are, on the whole, made up of a multitude of individual
combats, skirmishes and small
engagements within the context of
which the combatants will usually only experience a small part of
the events of the battle's entirety. To the
infantryman, there may be little to distinguish
between combat as part of a minor raid or as a major offensive, nor
is it likely that he anticipates the future course of the battle;
few of the British infantry who went over the top on the
first day on the Somme, July 1, 1916,
would have anticipated that they would be fighting the same battle
in five months' time.
Conversely, some of the Allied infantry who
had just dealt a crushing defeat to the French at the Battle of
Waterloo
fully expected to have to fight again the next
day
.
Battlespace
Battlespace is a unified strategy to integrate and combine
armed forces for the
military theatre
of operations, including
air,
information,
land,
sea and
space. It includes the
environment, factors and conditions that must be understood to
successfully apply combat power, protect the force, or complete the
mission. This includes enemy and friendly
armed forces; facilities; weather; terrain; and
the
electromagnetic
spectrum within the operational areas and areas of
interest.
Factors within battles
Battles are decided by various factors. The number and quality of
people and equipment, the
commanders of
each army, and the terrain advantages are among the most prominent
factors. A unit may charge with high morale but less discipline and
still emerge victorious. This tactic was effectively used by the
early
French Revolutionary
Armies.
Weapons and armor may also play as a decisive factor; however,
during the
Wars of
Scottish Independence the
Scots
emerged victorious over the English despite inferior weaponry.
Discipline
within the troops is also important; at the Battle of
Alesia
, the Romans were greatly outnumbered but won
because of superior training. A squad that does not retreat
is far more valuable than an army that flees upon sight.
Battles can also be determined by terrain. Capturing high ground,
for example, has been the central strategy in innumerable battles.
An army that holds the high ground forces the enemy to climb, and
thus wear down. Another advantage is it is physically easier to
strike a blow from a higher position than from a lower position.
Although this does not hold as much in modern warfare, with the
advent of aircraft, terrain is still vital for camouflage,
especially for
guerrilla
warfare.
Generals and commanders also play a decisive role during combat.
Hannibal,
Julius
Caesar and
Napoleon
Bonaparte were all legendary generals and, consequently, their
armies were extremely successful. An army that can trust the
commands of their leaders with conviction in its success invariably
has a higher morale than an army that doubts its every move.
The
British in the naval Battle of Trafalgar
, for example, owed its success to the reputation of
celebrated admiral Lord
Nelson.
Types of battle
Battles can be fought on land, sea and in the modern age, in the
air.
Naval battles have occurred since
before the 5th century BC. Air battles have been far less common,
due to its late conception, the most prominent being the
Battle of Britain in 1940. However since
the
Second World War land or sea
battles have come to rely on air support.
Indeed, during the
Battle of
Midway
, five aircraft
carriers were sunk without either fleet coming into direct
contact.
There are numerous types of battles:
- A battle of encounter is a meeting engagement where the opposing
sides collide in the field without either having prepared their
attack or defence.
- A battle of attrition aims to inflict losses on an
enemy that are less sustainable compared to one's own losses. These
need not be greater numerical losses - if one side is much more
numerous than the other than pursuing a strategy based on attrition
can work even if casualties on both sides are relatively equal.
Many
battles of the Western
Front in the First World War were intentionally (Verdun
) or
unintentionally (Somme)
attrition battles.
- A battle of breakthrough aims to pierce the enemy's
defences, thereby exposing the vulnerable flanks which can be
turned.
- A battle of encirclement—the Kesselschlacht
of the German Blitzkrieg—surrounds the enemy in a pocket.
- A
battle of envelopment involves an attack on one or both
flank; the classic example being
the double-envelopment of the Battle of Cannae
.
- A
battle of annihilation is one in which the defeated party
is destroyed in the field, such as the French fleet at the Battle of the
Nile
.
Battles do not frequently fit one particular type perfectly and are
usually hybrids of different types listed above.
A
decisive battle is one of particular importance; often by
bringing hostilities to an end, such as the Battle of
Hastings
or the Battle of Hattin
, or as a turning point in the fortunes of the
belligerents, such as the Battle of
Stalingrad
. A decisive battle can have
political as well as military impact, changing the
balance of power or boundaries between countries. The concept of
the
decisive battle became popular with the publication in
1851 of
Edward Creasy's
The Fifteen Decisive
Battles of the World. British
military historians J.F.C. Fuller
(
The Decisive Battles of the Western World) and
B.H. Liddell
Hart (
Decisive Wars of History), among many others,
have written books in the style of Creasy's work.
The differences among land battles throughout history
There is an obvious difference in the way battles have been fought
throughout time. Early battles were probably fought between rival
hunting bands as disorganized mobs. However, during the
Battle of Megiddo, the first reliably
documented battle in the fifteenth century BC, actual discipline
was instilled in both armies. However, during the many wars of the
Roman Empire,
barbarians continued using mob tactics.
As the
Age of Enlightenment
dawned, armies began to fight in highly disciplined lines. Each
would follow the orders from their officers and fight as a single
unit instead of individuals. Each army was successively divided
into
regiments,
battalions,
companies, and
platoons. These armies would march, line up, and
fire in divisions.
Native
Americans, on the other hand, did not fight in lines, utilizing
instead guerrilla tactics. American colonists and European forces
continued using disciplined lines, continuing into the
American Civil War.
A new style, during
World War I, known
as
trench warfare, developed nearly
half a century later. This also led to
radio
for communication between battalions.
Chemical warfare also emerged with the use
of poisonous gas during
World War
I.
By
World War II, the use of the smaller
divisions, platoons and companies, became much more important as
precise operations became vital. Instead of the locked trench
warfare of World War I, during World War II, a dynamic network of
battles developed where small groups encountered other platoons. As
a result, elite squads became much more recognized and
distinguishable.
Maneuver warfare also developed
with an astonishing pace with the advent of the
tank, replacing the archaic cannons of the
Enlightenment Age. Artillery has since gradually replaced the use
of frontal troops. Modern battles now continue to resemble that of
World War II, though prominent innovations have been added.
Indirect combat through the use of aircraft and missiles now
comprise of a large portion of wars in place of battles, where
battles are now mostly reserved for capturing cities .
The difference of naval battles throughout history
One significant difference of modern naval battles as opposed to
earlier forms of combat is the use of
marines, which introduced amphibious warfare. Today,
a marine is actually an infantry regiment that sometimes fights
solely on land and is no longer tied to the navy. A good example of
an old naval battle is the
Battle of
Salamis.
Most ancient naval battles were fought by fast ships using the
battering ram to sink opposing fleets
or steer close enough for boarding in hand-to-hand combat. Troops
were often actually used to storm enemy ships as used by
Romans and
pirates. This
tactic was usually used by civilizations that could not beat the
enemy with ranged weaponry.
Another invention in the late
Middle
Ages was the use of
Greek fire by the
Byzantines, which was used to set enemy fleets on fire. Empty
demolition ships utilized the tactic to crash into opposing ships
and set it afire with an explosion. After the invention of cannons,
naval warfare became useful as support units for land
warfare.
During the 19th century, the development of mines led to a new type
of naval warfare. The
ironclad, first used
in the
American Civil War,
resistant to cannons, soon made the wooden ship obsolete. The
invention of military
submarines, during
World War I, brought naval warfare to
both above and below the surface. With the development of military
aircraft during
World War II, battles
were fought in the sky as well as below the ocean.
Aircraft carriers have since become the
central unit in naval warfare, acting as a mobile base for lethal
aircraft.
Aerial battles throughout history
Although the use of aircraft has for the most part always been used
as a supplement to land or naval engagements, since their first
major military use in World War I aircraft have increasingly taken
on larger roles in warfare. During World War I, the primary use was
for reconnaissance, and small-scale bombardment, using ineffectual
hand-dropped bombs.
Aircraft began becoming much more prominent in the
Spanish Civil War and especially World War
II. Aircraft design began specializing, primarily into two types:
bombers, which carried explosive payloads to bomb land targets or
ships; and fighter-interceptors, which were used to either
intercept incoming aircraft or to escort and protect bombers
(engagements between fighter aircraft were known as
dog fights.
Some of the more notable aerial battles in
this period include the Battle of
Britain and the Battle of Midway.
Another important use of aircraft came with the development of the
helicopter, which first became heavily
used during the Vietnam War, and still continues to be widely used
today to transport and augment ground forces.
Today, direct engagements between aircraft are rare - the most
modern fighter-interceptors carry much more extensive bombing
payloads, and are used to bomb precision land targets, rather than
to fight other aircraft. Anti-aircraft batteries are used much more
extensively to defend against incoming aircraft than interceptors.
Despite this, aircraft today are much more extensively used as the
primary tools for both army and navy, as evidenced by the prominent
use of helicopters to transport and support troops, the use of
aerial bombardment as the "first strike" in many engagements, and
the replacement of the battleship with the aircraft carrier as the
center of most modern navies.
Battle naming
Battles are almost invariably named after some feature of the
battlefield
geography, such as the name of
a town, forest or river, commonly prefixed "Battle of...".
Occasionally battles are named after the date on which they took
place, such as
The Glorious
First of June.
In the
Middle Ages it was considered
important to settle on a suitable name for a battle which could be
used by the
chroniclers.
For example, after
Henry V of England defeated a
French army on October 25, 1415, he met with the senior French
herald and they agreed to name the battle
after the nearby castle and so it was called
the Battle of
Agincourt
.
In other cases, the sides adopted different names for the same
battle, such as the
Battle of
Gallipoli which is known in Turkey as the
Battle of Çanakkale. Sometimes in
desert warfare, there is no nearby town name to use; map
coordinates gave the name to the
Battle of 73 Easting in the
First Gulf War.
Some
place names have become synonymous with
the battles that took place there, such as the Passchendaele
, Pearl Harbor
, the Alamo
, Thermopylae
, or Waterloo. Military
operations, many of which result in battle, are given
codenames, which are not necessarily meaningful or
indicative of the type or the location of the battle.
Operation Market Garden and
Operation Rolling Thunder are
examples of battles known by their military codenames.
When a
battleground is the site of more than one battle in the same
conflict, the instances are distinguished by ordinal number, such as the First
and Second Battles of Bull Run
. An extreme case are the twelve Battles of the Isonzo—First to Twelfth
—between Italy and Austria-Hungary during the First World
War.
Some battles are named for the convenience of
military historians so that periods of
combat can be neatly distinguished from one another. Following the
First World War, the British Battles Nomenclature Committee was
formed to decide on standard names for all battles and subsidiary
actions.
To the soldiers who did the fighting, the
distinction was usually academic; a soldier fighting at Beaumont
Hamel
on November 13, 1916 was probably unaware he was
taking part in what the committee would call the "Battle of
the Ancre
".
Many combats are too small to merit a name. Terms such as "action",
"skirmish", "firefight", "raid" or "offensive patrol" are used to
describe small-scale battle-like encounters. These combats often
take place within the time and space of a battle and while they may
have an objective, they are not necessarily "decisive".
Sometimes
the soldiers are unable to immediately gauge the significance of
the combat; in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, some British officers were in doubt as to whether
the day's events merited the title of "battle" or would be passed
off as merely an "action".
The effects of a battle
Battles affect the individuals who take part, as well as the
political actors. Personal effects of battle range from mild
psychological issues to permanent and crippling injuries. Many
battle-survivors have nightmares about the conditions they
encountered, or abnormal reactions to certain sights or sounds.
Some suffer
flashbacks. Physical
effects of battle can include scars, amputations, lesions, loss of
bodily functions, blindness, paralysis — and death.
Battles also affect
politics.
A decisive battle can
cause the losing side to surrender, while a Pyrrhic Victory such as the Battle of
Isandlwana
can cause the winning side to reconsider its
long-term goals. Battles in
civil
wars have often decided the fate of
monarchs or political factions. Famous examples
include the
War of the Roses, as
well as the
Jacobite Uprisings.
Battles
also affect the commitment of one side or the other to the
continuance of a war, for example the Battle of Incheon
and the Battle of Hue
during the Tet
Offensive.
See also
References
- p.65, Dupuy
- p.10, Glantz
- translation of part quote from p.77, Clausewitz
- p.33, Tucker
- pp.63-64, Dupuy
- p.302, Keegan
- pp.65-71, Dupuy
- p.67, Dupuy
- pp.62-63, Richardson
Sources
- von Clausewitz, Carl,
Bemerkungen über die reine und angewandte Strategie des Herrn
von Bülow oder Kritik der darin enthaltenen Ansichten,
Verstreute kleine Schriften, Ed.
Werner Hahlweg, (Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1979), 77.
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