Some Soviet Views on the Nature of a Future War and the Factors Determining Its Course and Outcome: Soviet Military Science on the Character of Contemporary War; on the Basic Factors Determiining the Course and Outcome of War and Comments

摘要

Two articles from the Soviet military press which treat some major problems of Soviet military thought in un usually comprehensive and systematic fashion are presented. The first, entitled 'Soviet Military Science on the Character of Contemporary War,' by Colonel I. S. Baz', was published in the June 1958 (No. 6) issue of Military Herald, the Defense Ministry monthly which deals chiefly with problems of ground force officers. The second, entitled 'On the Basic Factors Determining the Course and Outcome of War,' by Colonel I. Korotkov, was published in the Air Force daily, Soviet Aviation, on August 12, 1958. The Military Herald article draws together and provides a theoretical framework for views on the character of a future war expressed piecemeal by other Soviet authors in the past. The conceptual framework of the discussion is embodied in the context of an attack on the historical indeterminism of Clausewitz's theory of wars.