ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on relatively fixed aspects of culture and psychology. People from different cultural backgrounds appear to have distinctive attitudes towards war and strategy and to behave accordingly. Military commanders and state leaders have used cultural information in every era, some more successfully than others. Classic writings on strategy mention the role of culture. Since weapons have the same effect on the human body in every culture, many theorists assume that the most effective methods of using them must be the same in every culture as well. Although the traditional strategic culture theorists do not believe that it is possible to separate culture from the other factors that influence strategy, they have proposed ways that cultural knowledge may help one to analyse strategic affairs. The emotional bonds that hold a military unit together became known as cohesion. Military personnel form the most cohesive groups with the comrades they know best.
