The termdecisive victory refers to a militaryvictory that decides amatter or aconflict.[1] A decisive victory has to result in apositive outcome for thevictor and create a condition of peace between the twowarringstates.[2] By comparison, an inconclusive victory is one in which one side won, but the issues between them are notresolved. A desirable goal for all armies fightingconventional wars is a quick and decisive victory with fewcasualties.[3] For example, in theSix-Day War that started on 5 June 1967, theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) achieved a decisive victory over thecombined armies ofEgypt,Syria andJordan.[3] This established Israel as a regional power in theMiddle East with about six years of peace.[3] During theCold War (1947-1991) the idea of a decisive victory (or any victory) seemedobsolete.[4] Instead, thetheory oflimited war seemed more practical in the age ofnuclear weapons as it would notescalate into a full-scale war that would result inmutual assured destruction.[4]
In his bookOn War (Vom Kriege),Carl von Clausewitz stated a decisive victory “is to throw [an] opponent in order to make him incapable of further resistance.[5] War is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.”[5] He wrote that, tocripple anenemy, ageneral must find that enemy's "center of gravity".[5] This is thecore of what gives an enemy their power. It can be different for different wars and for different enemies, but it is often the enemy's army, people oreconomy.[5] According to Clausewitz, a war can only end in a decisive victory or it will continue.[5] Clausewitz also wrote: “There is only one decisive victory: the last.”[6]
Sun Tzu (544 BC – 496 BC) also wrote about decisive victory.[7] In his bookThe Art of War, he wrote: “Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him”.[7] Later in the book he added: “And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle, and are not brought by him”.[7]
TheBattle of Marathon was a decisive victory for theancient Greeks over thePersians.[8] It marked the end of the first Persianinvasion of Greece.[9]
TheBattle of Hastings (14 October 1066) was apitched battle between theAnglo-SaxonEnglish and an invadingNorman army. In the battle, the EnglishKingHarold Godwinson was killed by anarrow through hiseye.[10] The victor, WilliamDuke of Normandy, was crowned as KingWilliam I of England 10 weeks later.[11] TheNorman conquest was a major turning point in England's history.[12]
Anotherexample of a decisive victory is theBattle of Yorktown (1781) fought at the end of theAmerican Revolutionary War.[13] TheAmerican and theFrench forcesdefeated theBritish Army, led byGeneralLordCharles Cornwallis.[13] Cornwallis believed he could end therebellion inThe Carolinas andGeorgia by setting up afortress andnaval base atYorktown, Virginia.[13] Seeing an opportunity to trap the British on theVirginia Peninsula, American GeneralGeorge Washington and French GeneralRochambeau marched their armies to Yorktown and established asiege.[13] The French navy prevented the British fleet fromreinforcing Cornwallis. A month later Cornwallissurrendered, effectively ending the war.[13]
TheWorld War IIBattle of Midway took place from June 4, 1942 to June 7, 1942.[14] It was a decisive victory for theUnited States Navy over theJapanese Navy.[14] It was the turning point in the war allowing the U.S. forces to go on theoffensive against the Japanese.[14] The Japanesefleetcommander,AdmiralYamamoto Isoroku, chose to attackMidway Island to draw out the few remaining U.S.Aircraft carriers andambush them. Unknown to the Japanese, the Americans had been able to decypher theircoded messages. Reading the coded messages, they knew what the Japanese plan was.[14] The result was the complete destruction of the Japanese carrier fleet (the Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu) with 322aircraft and over five thousandsailors.[14] The Americans lost 147 aircraft and about three hundred sailors.[14] While the battle did not directly end the war, it crippled Japanese sea power and ended the Japanese capability to stop the Americans and theirallies.[14]