National Defence University Series 1: Research Publications No. 12 TIMES OF WAR AND WAR OVER TIME The roles time and timing play in operational art and its development according to the texts of renowned theorists and practitioners Jan Hanska MAANPUOLUSTUSKORKEAKOULU JULKAISUSARJA 1: TUTKIMUKSIA NRO 12 NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY SERIES 1: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS NO 12 TIMES OF WAR AND WAR OVER TIME The roles time and timing play in operational art and its development according to the texts of renowned theorists and practitioners JAN HANSKA ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the Research Council of National Defence University, for public criticism for the degree of Doctor of Military Sciences in auditorium Martola at the National Defence University, Santahamina, Helsinki, on Friday 21st April 2017 at 10 o'clock. NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY HELSINKI 2017 MAANPUOLUSTUSKORKEAKOULU JULKAISUSARJA 1: TUTKIMUKSIA NRO 12 NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY SERIES 1: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS NO. 12 TIMES OF WAR AND WAR OVER TIME The roles time and timing play in operational art and its development according to the texts of renowned theorists and practitioners JAN HANSKA NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY HELSINKI 2017 Jan Hanska: Times of war and war over time National Defence University Series 1: Research Publications No. 12 Doctoral dissertation Author: Docent, Major Jan Hanska University of Lapland Supervisor: Docent, Lt. Col (ret.) Jari Rantapelkonen National Defence University Reviewers: Professor, Lt. Col. Aki-Mauri Huhtinen National Defence University Docent Pasi Tuunainen University of Eastern Finland Custos: Docent, Lt. Col (ret.) Jari Rantapelkonen National Defence University Opponent: Docent, Col. (ret.) Pasi Kesseli National Defence University Most recent publications in pdf-format: http://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/73990 © Jan Hanska & National Defence University ISBN 978-951-25-2880-6 (Pbk.) ISBN 978-951-25-2881-3 (Pdf) ISSN 2342-9992 (Print) ISSN 2343-0001 (Web) Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu National Defence University Juvenes Print Tampere 2017 ABSTRACT he aim of this dissertation is to analyze the impact of the meaning of time to opera- tional art throughout the arc of development of the art of war over the ages. The Tmethod was to utilize the texts of most influential theorists and commanders to gain a perspective into how they conceived of time and how they treated the management of time in the textual corpus they left behind. Because of the nature of the sources the method chosen for the analysis has been derived from narratology. For the purposes of clarity, the historical development of the art of war has been divided into three separate but partially overlapping eras according to the theory of the three waves Alvin Toffler developed. These waves are the agrarian, industrial and in- formational phases of societal development. In the agrarian age time was closely related to cyclical repetition of days and seasons and an actual conception of minutes or hours did not even properly exist. With the advance of industrialization time gained a clear and liner direction and became measurable and thus divisible into smaller and smaller segments. In the art of war it had earlier been sufficient to seize the favorable moment but during ‘indust-reality’ the paradigm of in- creased speed and efficiency of utilizing every moment to perform more began to domi- nate. During the Third Wave and the information society the passage of time has quick- ened and speed in warfare has accelerated so far that it has gone beyond control of the human mind. If the tempo cannot be managed, operational art has to slow it down. The world does not adhere to a single wave-phase. Different societies and their armed forces abide to the procedures related to different waves while the waves collide and cause tumult. For a society in transformation from industrial to information age the wave- phases is unclear and armed forces have to act in accordance with both paradigms. Same occurs when the enemy has a different conception of time. One may have a watch and the other may have plenty of time. Thus the armed forces of today and tomorrow may have to time and synchronize their actions to fit a multi-wave pattern. New means to master time have to be developed and these could be found from partially reverting to the utilization of auspicious Kairos-moments and intuition in trying to actively create them. Instead of per- forming faster and faster in accordance to indust-reality, intelligently managing flexitime may give alternative and additional options. To act in a timely manner and avoid unneces- sary haste is the crux of operational art. One has to set a suitable rhythm for ones opera- tions. As societies have developed over time so have their means and ways of con- ducting war. There has been and will be a continuous process of evolution in the art of war and sometimes this happens at a revolutionary speed. This development, however, occurs in a cyclical instead of a linear manner. Novel inventions dominate warfare until they are relatively quickly countered. For some time offensive is the paradigmatic way of waging war and then the defensive triumphs for a while. Time has a different meaning in defense and offense and the way to utilize time has to be set depending on the end state of opera- tions. i In a way time is a meaningless concept in operational art by itself. It only gains an importance when contrasted to what can be achieved in a given period of time. Time, place, and force create an inseparable trinity in which the relationships of the factors are consciously and continuously altered by the operational artist. His task is to create original combinations of the three as the situation demands. Mastering distances through mobility and using speed, rhythm, and synchronization to concentrate forces and effects at the right time in the right place is how time can be mastered in the physical realm of operational art. However, as physical speed has reached practicable limits, there is during the Third Wave not much more edge on the enemy to be gained by still accelerating move- ment. Since we live in information age, turning information into knowledge and intelli- gence thus using the mental faculties to master time is more promising. Traditionally ener- getic and strong willed commanders have ruled the battlefields. But within Third Wave battlespace these important characteristics need to be augmented with imagination, intui- tion, and flexibility of thought and action. Brain and brawn need to cooperate to produce original solutions to problems of operational art. Daring and audacity suffice in some situa- tions; care and caution in others. Situational awareness today does not only concern know- ing the position of the troops in the battlespace but ability to imagine and intelligently de- duce outcomes as well. Even in our information age the uncertainty involved in warfare will not evaporate. Operational artists must dare embrace it. The fog of war may get thin- ner but it will never be lifted from the battlespace. The operational artist must master time through managing uncertainty and his ability to act at auspicious moments. The most im- portant manipulation of time occurs in the mental sphere of operational art. Time can be won or lost to serve different purposes. Time can be robbed from the enemy or given to him. It can be managed or squandered but the important thing is that the operational artist understands how it relates to the other two essential factors of warfare. Time is not only an absolute in warfare. Time is a tool as well as a resource of op- erational art and to make most of it requires analysis and planning as well as imagination and daring. There is no single way to conceive of time in warfare and much of operational art revolves around manipulation of time. The ability to squeeze the most out of time avail- able is as important as the skill to seize fleeing moments. ii TIIVISTELMÄ ämän väitöskirjan tarkoituksena on ollut tutkia ajan merkitystä operaatiotaidossa koko sotataidon kehityskaaren läpi. Metodiksi tutkimukseen on valittu narratologi- Tan periaatteiden mukaisesti käyttää vaikutusvaltaisimpien sotateoreetikoiden ja ko- mentajien tuottamia tekstejä. Näistä on etsitty heidän itsensä käyttämiä näkökulmia ajan merkitykseen ja sen manipulaatioon. Selvyyden vuoksi sotataidon historiallinen kehitys on tässä käsittelyssä jaettu kolmeen erilliseen, mutta osittain päällekkäiseen aikakauteen. Tässä on käytetty apuna Alvin Tofflerin kolmen aallon teoriaa yhteiskuntien kehitykselle. Nämä kolme aaltoa ovat maata- louden, teollisuuden ja informaation aikakaudet. Maatalouden aikakaudella aika oli pitkälti sidoksissa päivien ja vuodenaikojen muodostaman syklin rytmiin ja tunneilla, saati minuuteilla ei ollut merkitystä. Teollistumi- sen myötä aika alkoi vasta saada selkeän lineaarisen suunnan ja siitä tuli mitattavissa oleva ja siten yhä pienempiin ja pienempiin osiin jaettava suure. Jos maatalouden aikakauden sota- taidossa yleensä riittikin tarttuminen toimeen oikealla hetkellä, niin ”teodellisuuden” aika- kaudella kiihtyvän nopeuden ja tehokkuuden paradigmat jokaisen hetken käyttämisestä enempään suorittamiseen hallitsivat ajattelua. Kolmannen aallon ja informaatioyhteiskunti- en aikana sodankäynnin aika on lyhentynyt ja vauhti on kasvanut sellaiseksi, että ihmismieli ei enää täysin pysty sitä kontrolloimaan. Uusia menetelmiä ja tapoja hallita aikaa tulee kehit- tää ja osin niitä voi löytää palaamalla lupaavien kairos-hetkien