Evolution of Modern Warfare Techniques: A Study of Clausewitz Trinity

Running head: HISTORY
History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HISTORY
Introduction
The warfare skills and systems have evolved through the years and decades. Various
developed countries and the third world nations have been involved in the war process because
of various reasons. The change of the modern warfare techniques have been the main reason for
this paper. The trinity of Clausewitz will be discussed here in accordance to the relevance of the
modern warfare techniques. There are some interpretations in the evolution of the modern
techniques from 1648 and 1941. It must be remembered that the two world wars have taken
place in between these years. These techniques will be looked into with the analytical framework
of Clausewitz trinity.1
Supporting evidence
It can be said that the war has been treated as an instrument for the national governments
to mitigate the various issues within their regime. The Clausewitz trinity is a very powerful
framework that can be ascribed to the evolution of the warfare. Before proceeding further, the
nature of war must be understood.2 This will be highly important to look into the matter properly.
The fourth generation warfare is the most important idea that has been inherited from the
predecessors. Several new ideas have now come up in this process like the Information Age
Warfare, the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and Effects-based Operations (EBO). These
warfare techniques are the most important ones since the military operations of the developed
countries circle round these notions.
1 Waldman, Thomas. War, Clausewitz and the Trinity. Routledge, 2016.
2 Fleming, Colin M. Clausewitz's Timeless Trinity: A Framework For Modern War. Routledge, 2016.

2HISTORY
The change that has been identified over the years mainly in the twentieth century is that
the warfare between the states has not been that much useful since the entire world has become a
globalized community indeed. The traditional or conventional warfare does not exist in this
global community anymore. The three specific elements in the Clausewitz trinity are passion,
reason and chance.3 Many changes were brought in by Napoleon in case of strategic warfare and
the use of technology. This is why he is considered as one of the best game changers in the
warfare techniques in the world. Napoleon had put more emphasis on movement as a strategic
part of warfare. This movement strategy has been shown in the Italy war in the 1790s. This style
of battle had been a major factor in the modern warfare as well. Napoleon was very good in
mathematics and making tactics. This is why he had made very good strategies in shaping up his
artillery division. The use of artillery in the wars had given him the opportunity to be the favorite
of the government. He also stressed on the importance on the power of guns. Napoleon began the
strategy of dividing his military force into several corps and giving them the power to operate
independently. He gave so much power to the corps that each corps could move forward
separately and work together if they were asked to do so. The corps consisted of the best men so
they could attack the enemy forces faster than the entire army. Napoleon had shifted his attention
to destroy the entire enemy force. He did not want to just defeat his opponents but he had
focused on smashing the entire enemy army so the army could never come up to challenge them
again. This tactic was later used in the World War II by General Haig to make sure that the
enemy forces were unable to get back the resources to fight again. One very important technical
strategy that was employed by Napoleon was the “Manoeuvre De Derriere”. This strategy had
3 Organski, Abramo FK, and Jacek Kugler. The war ledger. University of Chicago Press, 2015.