ABSTRACT
ROOTS OF OPERATIONAL ART Operational art slowly emerged as a distinct category of military art in the twentieth century. The changing nature of war in the preceding century forced European states to recognize the need for altering the more traditional subdivision of military art into strategy and tactics. Very simply, the growing scope and complexity of war forced a refinement of terminology and a more sophisticated approach to the study and conduct of war. Throughout the nineteenth century, beginning with the Napoleonic Wars, the traditional definitions of strategy and tactics had become less and less relevant. Prior to that time, during war a nation's army engaged the army of an opposing state (or states). Political and economic realities of the time dictated that each nation possess primarily one army. Battle between the two forces resulted in either victory or defeat. Battles were of short duration and they occurred between relatively small armies deployed on limited terrain. Each battle constituted a single large engagement. In these circumstances, strategy primarily involved the movement of a nation's army against an opposing army, while tactics governed the actual employment of the army on the battlefield in the presence of the enemy (see table 2).
