Shock and Awe — Achieving Rapid Dominance — John Shaqi
Shock and Awe — Achieving Rapid DominanceUllman, Harlan
History
Shock and Awe — Achieving Rapid Dominance
Ullman, Harlan
Rapid dominance (Military science)
Massive Bombardment, directed at largely military-strategic targets,
is indeed an aspect of applying "Overwhelming Force," even though
political constraints make this example most unlikely to be repeated
in the future. There is also the option of applying massive
destruction against purely civilian or "counter-value" targets such as
the firebombing of Tokyo in World War II when unconditionality marks
the terms of surrender. It is the cumulative impact of destruction on
the endurance and capacity of the adversary that ultimately affects
the will to resist that is the central foundation of this example.
The shortcoming with this example is clear, and rests in the question
of political feasibility and acceptability, and what circumstances
would be necessary to dictate and permit use of massive bombardment.
Outright invasion and aggression such as Iraq's attack against Kuwait
could clearly qualify as reasons to justify using this level of Shock
and Awe. However, as with Overwhelming Force, this response is not
time-sensitive and would require massive application of force for some
duration as well as political support.
Fourth is the "Blitzkreig" example. In real Blitzkreig, Shock and Awe
were not achieved through the massive application of firepower across
a broad front nor through the delivery of massive levels of force.
Instead, the intent was to apply precise, surgical amounts of tightly
focused force to achieve maximum leverage but with total economies of
scale. The German Wehrmacht's Blitzkreig was not a massive attack
across a very broad front, although the opponent may have been
deceived into believing that. Instead, the enemy's line was probed in
multiple locations and, wherever it could be most easily penetrated,
attack was concentrated in a narrow salient. The image is that of the
shaped charge, penetrating through a relatively tiny hole in a tank's
armor and then exploding outwardly to achieve a maximum cone of damage
against the unarmored or less protected innards.
To the degree that this example of achieving Shock and Awe is directed
against military targets, it requires skill if not brilliance in
execution, or nearly total incompetence in the adversary. The
adversary, finding front lines broken and the rear vulnerable, panics,
surrenders, or both. Hitler's campaign in France and Holland and the
seizure of the Dutch forts and the occupation of Crete in 1940 are
obvious illustrations. The use of Special Operations forces in
significant numbers is an adjunct to imposing this level of Shock and
Awe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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