Editing Operational level of war (section)

{{short description|Between strategic and tactical warfare}}
{{generalize|date=August 2017}}
{{Redirect|Operational art of war|the video game series|The Operational Art of War}}
[[File:1st Air Division War Room.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|World War II operational planning map in the [[1st Air Division]] (part of Eighth Air Force) war room at [[Brampton Grange]].]]
{{History of war}}
In the field of [[military theory]], the '''operational level of war''' (also called '''operational art''', as derived from {{langx|ru|оперативное искусство}}, or '''operational warfare''') represents the level of command that connects the details of [[Military tactics|tactics]] with the goals of [[Military strategy|strategy]].<ref>p.24, Simpkin</ref> 

In U.S. [[Joint warfare | Joint]] [[military doctrine]], operational art is "the cognitive approach by commanders and [[Staff (military) | staff]]s—supported by their skill, knowledge, experience, creativity, and judgment—to develop strategies, campaigns, and operations to organize and employ military forces by integrating ends, ways, and means".<ref name= doctrine2012adrp50 >{{Cite book|url= https://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adrp5_0.pdf|title=Army Doctrine Reference Publication (ADRP) 5-0, The Operations Process|last= Department of the Army|publisher= Government Printing Office|date=May 2012|location=Washington, DC |pages= 2–4|access-date=2016-05-09|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160430015934/http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adrp5_0.pdf|archive-date= 2016-04-30|url-status=live}}</ref> It correlates [[political]] requirements with military power. Operational art is defined by its military-political scope, not by force size, scale of operations or degree of effort. Likewise, operational art provides theory and skills, and the operational level permits doctrinal structure and process.{{sfn|Robinson|1997}} 

The operational level of war is concerned with four essential elements: time, space, means, and purpose. Through means such as directing troops and allocating (limited) resources (among others), operational art aims to achieve political goals by producing an optimal (or at least near-optimal) generation and application of military power. For example, proposals may be generated to identify where to build defensive structures, how many, what kind, and manned by how many troops; a proposal may be accepted, or reworked. During the 20th century, the nascent field of [[operations research]] flourished as a result of military efforts to improve [[Military logistics | logistics]] and [[decision-making]].
 
The operational level of war sits between [[Military tactics|tactics]] (which consists of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield) and [[Military strategy|strategy]] (which involves aspects of long-term and high-level [[Theater (warfare) | theatre]] operations, and government [[leadership]]).

The [[Soviet Union]] was the first country to officially distinguish this third level of military thinking, which was introduced as part of the [[deep operation]] [[military theory]] that [[Soviet Armed Forces| Soviet armed forces]] developed during the 1920s and 1930s<ref>{{cite book|last1= Simpkin|first1= Richard E.|title= Deep battle: The brainchild of Marshal Tuchachevskii|date=1987|publisher=Brassey's Defence Publishers, London|isbn=0-08-031193-8|page=24}}</ref> and [[Deep operation#Deep operations during World War II|utilized]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]].