![]() ![]() The brevity and astounding success of the ground battle is, in part, due to five weeks of attack by the world’s most technologically advanced arsenal against a country unschooled in high-tech warfare. Military analysts are already pointing to the technological advantages of the coalition forces as the basic reason for their military victory. ![]() The lightning victory of the Israeli army in the 1967 Six-Day War cost Israel almost 1,000 killed and more than 4,000 wounded. Though overall force levels were much larger, the German armies suffered more than 10,000 killed and almost 50,000 wounded in the first three weeks of the war against France in 1940. But another example would be the Battle of Agincourt, in 1415, when the English decimated the closely packed ranks of French Knights with, ironically, the “missile” fire of the English longbow.Įven these modern successes, as decisive as they were, proved costly to the victor. Or the equally impressive victory of Israel’s innovative military system over the combined Arab armies in 1967. The closest historical parallel would be the crushing defeats suffered by Poland, in 1939, and France, in 1940, at the hands of the doctrinally insurmountable German military. The Iraqis’ lack of will to fight was perhaps even more important than the high-tech weapons that confronted them.įew campaigns in history can match the decisiveness of the defeat of an army of half-million men in four days at the cost of only a handful of casualties. ![]() In particular, lessons learned cannot overlook the morale of troops. Clearly, air-delivered precision-guided weapons devastated the Iraqi army’s ability to conduct battlefield operations, and paved the way for the incredible success of the ground battle.īut even in an age of advanced weaponry, skillful strategy should not be devalued. In recent past, emphasis on sophisticated weaponry caused many to approach warfare with a technological determinism. Analysts and military experts are now beginning the process of drawing lessons from the Gulf War-trying to determine why one military force so decisively defeated another of equal size, with so few losses to the victor. ![]()
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