The man has been gifted by a natural instinct of fighting to acquire more and more resources and political power which has been instrumental in devising new techniques of fighting, thereby effecting its conceptual framework as also the outcome, from the time of the fight between the two individuals to a war fought between the organised mass armies. Not many people know what actually, War is and what are its ‘Theoretical’ and ‘Practical’ aspects?
The present study seeks to define War from the Legal, Political, Sociological and Military angles along with the assessment of the factors which have influenced its practical aspect. This is followed by a systematic evaluation regarding the growth of the War on the basis of the Drives, Functions and Techniques which have been helpful in evolving the Theory of War since the ancient times in the form of Animal Warfare, Primitive Warfare, Civilized Warfare and the Modern Warfare, including a separate dealing with the last of them along-with its Salient Features.
Having realized the inter-dependence of the State’s Policy and the War, the Author attempts to critically analyse their mutual relationship in the form of the ‘War as an Instrument of Policy’.
In order to substantiate the conceptual aspect of the conduct of War, the study aims at evaluating various internationally accepted Principles of War as practised by prominent Military Commanders from time to time, and concludes that their application may not transform the War into a ‘Mathematical Calculation’ but, when applied properly, they can favourably influence its outcome.
Dr. K.S. Sidhu, M.A. (Gold Medal), M.Litt, Ph.D., is working as Reader in the Department of Defence Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala. His earlier publications include: THE ROLE OF NAVY IN INDIA’S DEFENCE, THE INDIAN OCEAN: A ZONE OF PEACE, STUDIES IN INDIAN DEFENCE and PAKISTAN—AREA STUDIES, besides more than 65 articles and research papers.
A Fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, University of Chicago (U.S.A.), he is presently engaged in completing the U.G.C. assigned Post Doctoral Research Project under the ‘Career Award’ scheme on INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS AND INDIA’S SECURITY. He has also been assigned a project on CHINA—AREA STUDIES by the Punjabi University, Patiala.
He has extensively travelled in Europe and Asia and has participated in a number of national and international Seminars and Conferences on Security and International Relations.
