ABSTRACT
The concept of committing forces into combat from the air or, as it came to be known, vertical envelopment, originated during the early post-World War years, which was a period characterized by intense intellectual ferment in Soviet as well as Western military affairs. In the early 1930s, rampant industrialization and the adoption of modern technology intensified to produce a renaissance in military thought within the Soviet Union. A generation of military leaders and thinkers, conditioned by a revolutionary philosophy and participation in the Russian Civil War and Allied intervention and eager to elevate the Soviet Union into a competitive military position with the rest of Europe, gave shape and focus to that renaissance. They were imaginative men, infused with ideological zeal, encouraged by their political leaders to experiment, and willing to learn from the experiences of military leaders abroad. Their efforts produced a sophisticated military doctrine, advanced for its time, and an elaborate, if not unique, military force structure to implement that doctrine.
