Excellence in Historical Research and Analysis
Excellence in Historical Research and Analysis
The first element in Trevor Dupuy’s theory of combat is his definition of military combat: I define military combat as a violent, planned form of physical interaction (fighting) between two hostile opponents, where at least one party is an organized…
Trevor Dupuy’s combat models (the Quantified Judgement Model (QJM) and the Tactical Numerical Deterministic Model (TNDM)) are formal expressions of his theory of combat. Dupuy provided an extensive discussion of the basis for his theory in his books, particularly Understanding…
The thirteenth and last of Trevor Dupuy’s Timeless Verities of Combat is: Combat is too complex to be described in a single, simple aphorism. From Understanding War (1987): This is amply demonstrated by the preceding [verities]. All writers on military…
The ninth of Trevor Dupuy’s Timeless Verities of Combat is: Superior Combat Power Always Wins. From Understanding War (1987): Military history demonstrates that whenever an outnumbered force was successful, its combat power was greater than that of the loser. All…
The twelfth of Trevor Dupuy’s Timeless Verities of Combat is: Combat activities are always slower, less productive, and less efficient than anticipated. From Understanding War (1987): This is the phenomenon that Clausewitz called “friction in war.” Friction is largely due…
The eleventh of Trevor Dupuy’s Timeless Verities of Combat is: Firepower kills, disrupts, suppresses, and causes dispersion. From Understanding War (1987): It is doubtful if any of the people who are today writing on the effect of technology on warfare…
The tenth of Trevor Dupuy’s Timeless Verities of Combat is: Surprise substantially enhances combat power. From Understanding War (1987): Achieving surprise in combat has always been important. It is perhaps more important today than ever. Quantitative analysis of historical combat…
In response to my previous post on Trevor Dupuy’s verity regarding the importance of depth and reserves for successful defense, a commenter posed the following question: “Is the importance of reserves mainly in its own right, or to mitigate the…
The eighth of Trevor Dupuy’s Timeless Verities of Combat is: Successful defense requires depth and reserves. From Understanding War (1987): Successful defense requires depth and reserves. It has been asserted that outnumbered military forces cannot afford to withhold valuable firepower…
U.S. Army Major Amos Fox has recently published the first two of a set of three articles examining nature of proxy warfare in the early 21st century and suggests some ideas for how the U.S. might better conduct it. In…