Operational Art
Operational Artis a twentieth‐century concept dealing with the direction of military forces in conceiving and executing operations to attain strategic objectives. It involves joint and combined forces and apportioning resources to tactical units. Operational art forms a bridge between strategy , defining the political aims of a war, and tactics , fighting the battles of a war. While not neglecting the strategic objectives of belligerents in war and their tactical doctrines, it concentrates on a level between them. For this reason, some analysts have seen its origins in the eighteenth‐century idea of campaign strategy.
In analyzing operational art, it is helpful to conceptualize strategy, operations, and tactics as “perspectives on war” rather than the more accepted “levels of war.” Conceptualized as levels, the strategic, operational, and tactical tiers invariably...
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