The Manchurian campaign and its relevance to modern strategy

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Abstract
From studying the Soviet campaign in Manchuria we can derive several principles of Soviet military strategy that are still relevant today: (1) the importance of diplomacy in deciding the outcome of war; (2) the primacy of the offensive; and (3) the desirability of achieving strategic surprise. Nevertheless, although the principles of Soviet military art have changed little since 1945, the means by which these principles would be put into practice at the tactical level have changed. The increase in the destructive power of conventional weaponry, combined with the development of precision‐guided munitions, has increased the relative effectiveness of the defense. Although the Soviet Army is making impressive efforts to deal with the problems that confront it, there is a question as to whether these can be successful in the absence of radical changes in its organizational and command structure.

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