ABSTRACT
Vincent Moscoe, in The Digital Sublime, observes that the themes of the end of geography, history, and politics are central to much of the literature discussing the emergence of the information age. The same themes are evident in military literature: the constraints that geography has always imposed on military operations, particularly land operations, have been transcended by new means of connecting military units; our age is a revolutionary one in which the old constants of the past no longer apply; technology has transcended politics to such a degree that one need not even consider the strategic underpinnings of a conflict – modern digital forces will simply overwhelm any opposition in a ‘rapid and decisive operation’. Relying simply on a dataset provided by the advances achieved in the air and at sea, it is easy to arrive at such conclusions, but the real crucible of warfare has always been on land. Here it is far from evident that geography, history, or politics have been transcended by modern military technology. Indeed, in terms of coalition operations, all three issues are critical to their success or failure.
