History Paper

Warfare is continuously evolving, the military organizations waging the war and the ways in which militaries impose their will constantly change. Williamson Murray argues that success in innovation is linked to four distinct factors specificity, military culture, rigidity and misuse of military history. Although change in warfare is continuous, students of warfare can greatly benefit from recognizing and understanding aspects that do not change. The need for combined arms warfare and value of innovation were characteristics of warfare that remained constant from World War I to World War II, as illustrated by the German Army.

As illustrated by the German Army, the need for combined arms warfare was a characteristic of warfare that remained constant from World War I to World War II. Prior to the German Spring offensive of 1918, combined arms maneuver was scarcely employed on the western front. The predominant nature of early World War I warfare was primarily composed of principal arms fighting in an unsynchronized fashion. This type of fighting resulted in trench warfare as neither side could perceivably maneuver against the other side without withstanding unacceptable losses using nineteenth century tactics against twentieth century technology. In Spring of 1918, the German Chief of Staff, Erich von Ludendorff issued a set of offensive guidelines instructing infantry units to attack using machine guns, mortars, accompanying artillery support and engineers. German combined arms maneuver units were able to penetrate Allied defenses and achieve tactical success but without defined operational or strategic objectives the German Spring offensive failed.

Consequently, the Germans departed World War I determine...

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...pe innovation and lead change in an organization. The German Army following World War I experienced all the challenges the US Army is faced with to include: reduction of the force including officers, equipment constraints and a limited budget. The process of innovation is not impeded by these restrictions and in fact the restrictions can force decision makers to focus on what is important as well as provided opportunities for creative ideas to prosper. The use of combined arms warfare is essential on the modern battlefield. The US Military has learned tremendous lessons in the last decade fighting as a joint force and cannot afford to focus solely on service component training in order to remain effective in the next war. Officers must understand innovation is closely linked to organizational culture and frame of mind more so than short-term budget decisions.