The Strategy Bridge: Linking the Tactical and Operational Battles to the National Interests

In this essay, the author contends that in order to effectively achieve its political goals, a state has to strategically bridge its political goals with its military decision planning. He discusses some of these ‘strategy bridges’ employed throughout history and examines case studies of how various wartime figureheads have aligned their states’ overall political goals with its military decision, with varying levels of success. Through these case studies, he notes that military tactical and operational level victories do not necessarily equate to a nation’s political victory.

- LTC Eng Cheng Heng

INTRODUCTION

“War is not a mere act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political activity by other means.”  Clausewitz’s enduring dictum on the use of the military instrument in the service of political goals encapsulates the essence of this essay as it aims to investigate strategy. It is a generally accepted truth that strategy is the bridge linking the political goals (of a state) to the military instrument of statecraft such that its ability to wage war can be brought into the appropriate service of these goals that serve to further and/or sustain national interests. It is also true that the military instrument of statecraft is but one of the larger arsenal of tools that a state has at its disposal to pursue its national interests and accompanying political goals.