tactical skill. Flair, originality, and boldness were usually expressed in engineering
and logistical terms.
At about the same time as the Roman Army was taking form, Sun-Tzu wrote
The Art of War. In it, he describes how to think about strategy and the operational
art in the circumstances that prevail at any given time in order to achieve a
specific goal. His advice has stood the test of time. In particular, he explains that
there are no formulas for the successful practice of the art of war. Rather, one
must create or seize the favourable situation in the circumstances and in relation
to the opponent at the time, allocating objectives to subordinates accordingly.
The successful recognition or creation of this favourable situation is the expres-
sion of operational art.
So by the beginning of the first millennium, we can see the essential elements of
the operational art and those responsible for exercising it. The critical test of any
expression of operational art is in the defeat of the opponent. The commander in
that linking position between the source of strategic direction and tactical
command is the operational artist. With a deep understanding of the strategic
objective and context, he creates, with a mixture of art and skill appropriate to the
circumstances, a pattern of events to be achieved by his tactical commanders that
defeats the opponent. The expression of the art is boundless and yet circumstan-
tial; the commander is free within the circumstances he cannot change and in the
face of the opponent. The choice of composition is his; what does he deploy,
where, and to what purpose, where is he strong and where weak? He can and
should practice illusion; what impression does he want the opponent to have and
how to achieve it? And he can play with perspectives; he can choose how he uses
time and space. With forces of any size and distance from the strategic source, the
skills associated with the administration, supply, and movement of mass with
economy of effort are required to express the art in a winning design.
With hindsight, for much of the next 1,500 years, the conduct of war and the
expression of the operational art can be understood in these terms, for at the time
they were thought of as one and the same. However, the use of gunpowder marks
the start of a process that led to the operational art being seen as a separate activity.
RECENT PASTUntil cannon were available, the use of naval forces in war was largely to move
and supply land forces. There had been battles at sea, but with the weapons of the
day and with the exception of the galley that had a ram, these had been conducted
ship to ship as though each was a small piece of rather unstable land. For example,
the Romans had made extensive use of naval forces, but they were always a
supporting arm of the army and generally kept close to the coast. The cannon
allowed ships to fight as ships and the maritime nations began to develop war-
ships and operate them in squadrons and fleets to gain control of the sea. One
could now conduct naval operations in their own right far from one’s coast, and
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