Striking the Balance: Strategy, Objectives, and the Use of Force in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05

摘要

The Russo-Japanese War imparts seven lessons to strategic thinkers and foreign policy makers today that clarify the still highly relevant Weinberger Doctrine. They are: (1) A state should have a significant stake in war. (2) Know how to end your war before you begin. (3) Know what you want to achieve. (4) Know yourself and your enemy. (5) Define your operating environment. (6) In this war the Japanese talk and listen to one another. (7) Overwhelming moral acceptance of the nation. In this war the Japanese government, chaotic as its structure was able to successfully accomplish these tasks while the Russians failed to do so. The war was remarkable event in human history that demonstrates two totally different ways of waging war, one the antithesis of the other. In addition to the seven critical points, one is struck throughout by the largely human element and personal character of strategy and diplomacy. The Japanese were able to make their largely informal and extra-constitutional system of government work because it was composed of highly experienced and dedicated men who understood their objective and were willing to sacrifice their personal agendas to reach their goal. Their mission, though the particulars were not shared in a democratic process, resonated within the parliamentary body and throughout their public. They conducted their war with rationality and experience one would not have expected of an industrial state so young.