Astrategic military goal is used instrategicmilitary operation plans to define the desired end-state of awar or acampaign. Usually it entails either a strategic change in an enemy'smilitary posture,[1] intentions or ongoingoperations, or achieving astrategic victory over the enemy that ends the conflict, although the goal can be set in terms ofdiplomatic oreconomic conditions, defined by purely territorial gains, or the evidence that the enemy's will to fight has been broken.[2] Sometimes the strategic goal can be tolimit the scope of the conflict.[3]
It is the highest level of organisational achievement in amilitary organisation, and is usually defined by thenational defence policy. In terms of goal assignment it corresponds to operations performed by afront or afleet on atheatre scale, and by anArmy group or, during theWorld War II, by aRed ArmyFront.
A strategic goal is achieved by reaching specificstrategic objectives that represent intermediary and incremental advances within the overallstrategic plan. This is necessary because "high-level" strategic goals are often abstract, and therefore difficult to assess in terms of achievement without referring to some specific, often physical objectives.[4] However, aside from the obstacles used by the enemy to prevent achievement of the strategic goal, inappropriate technological capabilities and operational weakness incombat may prevent fulfilment of the strategic plan.[5] As an example, these are illustrated by the failure of theRoyal Air Force'sBomber Command during the winter of 1943-44:[6]
A critical product of the analysis which leads to the strategic decision to use military force is determination of the national goal to be achieved by that application of force.[7]
However, analysis ofmilitary history abounds with examples of the two factors that plaguegoal setting inmilitary strategies,[citation needed] their change during the campaign or war due to changes in economic, political orsocial changes within thestate, or in a change of how achievement of the existing goal is being assessed, and the criteria of its achievement. For example:
The complex and varied nature of theVietnam War made it especially difficult to translate abstract, strategic goals into specific missions for individual organizations.[8]
This occurred because of the economic change that saw the cost of the war escalate beyond the original predictions and the changing political leadership, which was no longer willing to commit to the conduct of the war, but also due to the radical change whichUnited States society experienced during the war, and more importantly because:
The American strategic goal was not the destruction of an organized military machine armed with tanks, planes, helicopters, and war ships, for which the United States had prepared, but the preservation ofa fragile regime from the lightly armed attacks of bothits own people and theNorth Vietnamese.[9]
The United States did not intend to conquer North Vietnam for fear of aChinese orSoviet military reaction. Likewise, the United States strategically assumed that the full extent of its power was not merited in the Vietnam War.[10]
