LIT6: Cohen, E. (1996). “A Revolution in Warfare”, Foreign Affairs 75(2), pp.37-54.

Question 1

What are Cohen’s 3 versions of military revolution?

Answer 1

1. The Soviet
   They advanced the notion of
   an imminent technical revolution that would
   give conventional weapons a level of effectiveness in the field comparable
   to that of small tactical nuclear weapons.
   However, it gradually became clear that the Soviets had portrayed the
   revolution too narrowly, as
   they only focused on technology and weapons
   rather than the organizational dimension of warfare.
2. Airpower
   Many exponents of air power declared that in the Persian Gulf War the
   technology had finally caught up with the promise of air operations. The
   revolution, they said, was in the realization of the 50-year quest for the
   application of air power in war.
3. Information revolution
   Admiral William Owens wrote of a ‘
   decisive
   system of systems’, a world in which the
   many kinds of sensors, from satellites to shipborne radar, from unmanned aerial vehicles to remotely planted acoustic devices, will provide information to any
   military user who needs it

So the military revolution will be in part an information revolution.

However, Ground soldiers are particularly dubious about the system of systems,
as they wonder whether any technologist can disperse what Carl von
Clausewitz called the fog of war.

Question 2

What is the effect of Revolution of Warfare?

Answer 2

Technological Impact: The possibility of technology, such as cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, fundamentally changing military power and strategy.

Organizational Change: The potential for current military organizations to evolve or be replaced by new structures better suited to the technological landscape.

Personnel Shifts: The emergence of new military elites, like “information warriors,” who might become more important than traditional combat roles.