ABSTRACT
This introduction presents the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to provide the reader with a state-of-the-art introduction to classic and modern military theory. Military theory is primarily concerned with the nature and character of war as well as the successful conduct of war. Military theory is multi-disciplinary in so far as one need to have an understanding of the political, strategic, operational and tactical processes in war, but the subject mainly deals with the military aspects of war not everything that concerns war. The concept of military theory to be exactly defined by distinguishing it from: military thought, military doctrine, military history, and other research fields concerned with military activities. Military theory can, in this way, be set apart from, for example, international law, anthropology, international relations, political science, security studies, peace research and sociology even if the object of study, broadly defined as armed conflict, is partly overlapping.
