We often hear that new technologies are revolutionizing warfare. From Deadly autonomous weapons has Frontline robotstechnological breakthroughs are credited changing the battlefield as we know it. But how much did the war really change if, as Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz noteis it simply the continuation of politics by other means?
This edition of Flash Points considers the nature of war and strategy, past and present, and the lessons that the oldest eras of conflict have to offer policymakers in the 21st century.
We often hear that new technologies are revolutionizing warfare. From Deadly autonomous weapons has Frontline robotstechnological breakthroughs are credited changing the battlefield as we know it. But how much did the war really change if, as Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz noteis it simply the continuation of politics by other means?
This edition of Flash Points considers the nature of war and strategy, past and present, and the lessons that the oldest eras of conflict have to offer policymakers in the 21st century.
Soviet infantry in combat during the Battle of Kursk in 1943. Broadcast images from laski/getty
Lessons from the 20th century for our new era of warfare
Once again, Eurasian autocracies seek to upset the balance of power, writes Hal Brands.
A robotic ghost dog advances with U.S. Soldiers behind an exercise at Fort Irwin, California, March 17, 2024.Spc. Samarion Hicks / US Army
America’s next soldiers will be machines
In Future Wars, American generals want to send robots to face the enemy’s first bullets, writes Jack Detsch.
Viet Cong soldiers fight near Hue, central Vietnam, during the Vietnam War, circa 1968. Three Lions / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
The ghostly legacies of the American war in Vietnam
The United States attempted to use Vietnamese beliefs to terrify enemy soldiers, writes Chris Humphrey.
Illustration by Jesse Willis for Foreign Policy / Getty Images
Silicon Valley didn’t revolutionize warfare – yes
The Pentagon is warming to commercial technologies, but it has a long way to go, writes Sam Winter-Levy.
A military operator launches a Flyeye WB Electronics SA, a Polish reconnaissance drone, during test flights in the kyiv region of Ukraine on August 2, 2022. Sergei Supinsky / AFP
The world’s two biggest trends are at war
World leaders will have to learn to navigate the contradictions of the new world order, writes FP’s Stephen M. Walt.