Modern Warfare 3 Locations

[Roxine Denison]

Thisfascinating series interrogates the divisions between war and society, war and peace, allies and enemies, heroes and villains. The volumes span all corners of the globe, and address all types of warfare, while maintaining a focus on the cultural meanings of the myriad practices of modern war.

Napoleon Bonaparte participated in an important evolutionary period in modern warfare that occurred from about 1760 to 1914. During this period, warfare transformed from relatively small-scale limited warfare fought by poorly trained conscripts and a handful of mercenaries to global, fully industrialized total war. This evolution began with Frederick II of Prussia and his establishment of the canton system that effectively marked the beginning of standing, trained militias. The evolution culminated with World War I, which was the first fully industrialized total war on a global scale. This evolutionary period is important to modern warfare because many of its effects on warfare have endured well into the 21st Century.

The Industrial Age circa 1760-1830 resulted in a transformation from hand production to machine production as well as a flurry of technological, economic, social and cultural changes that resulted in a permanent impact on warfare. The Industrial Revolution changed both why and how warfare is conducted. The temporal overlap of the Napoleonic Era and the Industrial Revolution allowed Napoleon to make advancements in equipment and weapons.

The American Civil War from 1861-1865 exemplified the requirement for an industrial base to conduct large-scale sustained combat. The American Civil War was observed by military leaders from Europe, who took the lessons-learned from that conflict and applied them to their own militaries. An example of this is the Prussian army. The Wars of German Unification from 1862-1871 generated technological advancements in transportation, logistics and weapons, but, more importantly, it produced the modern staff as well as the modern command-and-control system. This further served to professionalize the military as well as to develop the organizational structure and systems that would be used by European militaries at the start of World War I.

The evolution culminated with World War I from 1914-1918, which resulted in the first fully industrialized total war on a global scale. The scope of the war and the technological advancements it bore were unimaginable prior to its commencement and were of a level of significance that serves to simultaneously mark the end of an organizational evolution in warfare and the beginning of a technological evolution in warfare. The RMA caused by Napoleon is a critical element to this evolutionary period because of the changes he implemented in the conduct of war from 1803-1815.

The French Revolution had a profound, lasting impact on European politics, society and economics. It brought mass politics and mass warfare to Europe and ultimately to the world. Furthermore, it replaced the old nation of king, nobles and the church with a new nation of citizens who were theoretically free and equal under the law and had an ethnic identity.4 The desire for liberty and the societal discontent with feudalism spread across Europe and irrevocably changed political structures across the continent. The sense of nationalism specifically would have profound effects on warfare in raising large armies and fueling the conflicts into ever-larger scale. The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars called for a mobilization of the population. Not only would young men participate, but also women, old men and even children would participate in the war effort by producing weapons, uniforms and supplies. This marked a significant milestone in military history and is considered by many as the first total war.5

Modern warfare is warfare that diverges notably from previous military concepts, methods, and technology, emphasizing how combatants must modernize to preserve their battle worthiness.[1] As such, it is an evolving subject, seen differently in different times and places. In its narrowest sense, it is merely a synonym for contemporary warfare.

In its widest sense, it includes all warfare since the "gunpowder revolution" that marks the start of early modern warfare, but other landmark military developments have been used instead, including the emphasis of artillery marked by the Crimean War, the military reliance on railways beginning with the American Civil War, the launch of the first dreadnought in 1905, or the use of the machine gun, aircraft, tank, or radio in World War I.[2] In other senses, it is tied to the introduction of total war, industrial warfare, mechanized warfare, nuclear warfare,[3] counter-insurgency,[4] or (more recently) the rise of asymmetric warfare also known as fourth-generation warfare.[5]

Modern warfare has its beginnings to the early modern period and multiple conflicts have been fought from the 1500s with modernized military techniques and designs. Major wars in the specific era were the Thirty Years' War, Seven Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, World War II and the War on Terror.

Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy concentrations or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for control of airspace; attack aircraft engaging in close air support against ground targets; naval aviation flying against sea and nearby land targets; gliders, helicopters and other aircraft to carry airborne forces such as paratroopers; aerial refueling tankers to extend operation time or range; and military transport aircraft to move cargo and personnel.

A military situation in which two belligerents of unequal strength interact and take advantage of their respective strengths and weaknesses. This interaction often involves strategies and tactics outside conventional warfare.

Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of any organism (bacteria, virus or other disease-causing organism) or toxin found in nature, as a weapon of war. It is meant to incapacitate or kill enemy combatants. It may also be defined as the employment of biological agents to produce casualties in man or animals and damage to plants or material; or defense against such employment. Biological warfare involves the intentional release of living pathogens either in their naturally occurring form, for example the diseased corpses of animals, or in the form of specific human-modified organisms.

Chemical warfare is warfare (associated military operations) using the toxic properties of chemical substances to incapacitate or kill enemy combatants. Chemical warfare nerve agents are potent anticholinesterase compounds deliberately formulated to induce debilitating effects or death during wartime hostilities. A key need for both community emergency preparedness, and restoration of military installations where agents have been processed and/or stored, is access to concise and timely information on agent characteristics and treatment, as well as health-based exposure guidelines derived in a clear manner by contemporary methods of data analysis.

Electronic warfare refers to mainly non-violent practices used chiefly to support other areas of warfare. The term was originally coined to encompass the interception and decoding of enemy radio communications, and the communications technologies and cryptography methods used to counter such interception, as well as jamming, radio stealth, and other related areas. Over the later years of the 20th century and early years of the 21st century, this has expanded to cover a wide range of areas: the use of, detection of and avoidance of detection by radar and sonar systems, computer hacking, etc.

Fourth generation warfare (4GW) is a concept defined by William S. Lind and expanded by Thomas X. Hammes, used to describe the decentralized nature of modern warfare. The simplest definition includes any war in which one of the major participants is not a state but rather a violent ideological network. Fourth Generation wars are characterized by a blurring of the lines between war and politics, combatants and civilians, conflicts and peace, battlefields and safety.

While this term is similar to terrorism and asymmetric warfare, it is much narrower. Classical insurgencies and the Indian Wars are examples of pre-modern wars, not 4GW. Fourth generation warfare usually has the insurgency group or non-state side trying to implement their own government or reestablish an old government over the one currently running the territory. The blurring of lines between state and non-state is further complicated in a democracy by the power of the media.

Armored warfare in modern times involves a variety of armored fighting vehicles for the purpose of battle and support. Tanks or other armored vehicles (such as armored personnel carriers or tank destroyers) are slower, yet stronger hunks of metal. They are invulnerable to enemy machine gun fire but prone to rocket infantry, mines, and aircraft so are usually accompanied by infantry. In urban areas, because of smaller space, an armored vehicle is exposed to hidden enemy infantry but as the so-called "Thunder Run"[clarification needed] at Baghdad in 2003 showed, armored vehicles can play a critical role in urban combat. In rural areas, an armored vehicle does not have to worry about hidden units though muddy and damp terrain that have always been a factor of weakness for tanks and vehicles.

Artillery in contemporary times is distinguished by its large caliber, firing an explosive shell or rocket, and being of such a size and weight as to require a specialized mount for firing and transport. Weapons covered by this term include the howitzer, cannon, mortar, and field gun (collectively called cannon artillery, gun artillery or tube artillery) and rocket artillery. The term "artillery" has traditionally not been used for projectiles with internal guidance systems, even though some artillery units employ surface-to-surface missiles. Recent advances in terminal guidance systems for small munitions has allowed large caliber shells to be fitted with precision guidance fuses, blurring this distinction.

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