text: Chapter 1
  1-25. The effective employment of Army forces depends on leaders who understand war, warfare, and the
  environment within which military forces fight. Gaps in understanding are often causes of failures to achieve
  sustainable political outcomes with military means.
  WAR AND WARFARE
  [W]e now need another voice of wisdom to tell us, “Technology is not enough.” War is not
  one big engineering project. There are people on the other side—with strengths and will
  that we never bothered to measure. As a result of that omission we have been drawn into
  a greater, and certainly more ruinous, belligerent action than we intended. To fight without
  understanding the opponent ultimately serves neither the repute of the military nor the
  repute of the nation.
  Barbara W. Tuchman
  1-26. War is a state of armed conflict between different nations, state-like entities, or armed groups to achieve
  policy objectives. Wars are fought between nations locally, regionally, or on a global scale. Wars are fought
  within a nation by a central government against insurgent, separatist, or resistance groups. Armed groups in
  semiautonomous regions also fight wars to achieve their objectives. Wars range from intense clashes between
  large military forces—sometimes backed by an official declaration of war—to more subtle hostilities that
  intermittingly breach the threshold of violence.
  1-27. The object of war is to impose a nation’s or group’s will on its enemy in pursuit of policy objectives.
  Regardless of the specific objectives, the decision to wage war represents a major policy decision and changes
  how Army forces use military capabilities. The nature of war, its principles, and its elements remain
  consistent over time. However, warfare, the conduct and characteristics of war, reflects changing means and
  contexts.
  1-28. The Army’s multidomain operations concept accounts for the constant nature of war and the changing
  character of warfare. Its balanced approach guides how Army forces operate across the competition
  continuum given the prevailing characteristics of anticipated operational environments now and in the near
  future. Doctrine for the conduct of operations begins with a view of war and warfare that includes the—
  (cid:122) Nature of war.
  (cid:122) Principles of war.
  (cid:122) Characteristics of warfare.
  (cid:122) Methods of warfare.
  (cid:122) Offense, defense, and stability.
  (cid:122) Large-scale combat operations.
  (cid:122) Combined arms.
  (cid:122) Levels of warfare.
  (cid:122) Army strategic contexts.
  (cid:122) Consolidating gains.
  (See Chapter 3 for more information on the multidomain operations concept.)
  THE NATURE OF WAR
  1-29. While the term war has multiple uses depending on the context (for example, the war on drugs or the
  war on poverty), it is the threat or use of violence to achieve political purposes that distinguishes war in the
  military context from other human activities. This distinction accounts for three elements of the Army’s view
  of war. War is—
  (cid:122) Fought to achieve a political purpose.
  (cid:122) A human endeavor.
  (cid:122) Inherently chaotic and uncertain.