Clausewitz and the theory of center of gravity as it. Clausewitz, center of gravity, and the confusion of a. The definition of a cog is the source of power that provides moral or physical strength, freedom of action, or will to act. In going back to the original concept, lieutenant colonel echevarria reveals that clausewitz intended the center of gravity. Take the sum of an objects moments and divide by the. Three approaches to center of gravity analysis ndu press. Army, retired d uring the past decade there has been a proliferation of literature on effective methodologies to identify and neutralize, weaken, or destroy a center of gravity cog. The global economys shifting centre of gravity quah. The series aspires to provide high quality analysis and to generate debate on strategic policy issues of direct relevance to. One military analyst of the operation, lt col thomas daze, u. All military professionals should answer this question in the affirmative, but, sadly, this is not the case. Stop looking for the center of gravity war on the rocks.
Is the center of gravity cog concept still relevant in todays operational environments oes. Center of gravity when gravity acts on a body, every particle of which it is composed is attracted toward the earth. All other dcdc publications, including a regularly updated dcdc publications disk can also be demanded from the lcsls operations centre. Implications and recommendations for the australian defence force in security challenges by michael evans, former head of the australian armys land warfare studies centre. Epistemology is the cognitive process used when evaluating a military operation and assigning it to one of the categories. Military academics, planners, and leaders are still debating this question thirty years after the concepts introduction into. In kosovo, although it was the units that were the tactical centers of gravity. This article presents the dynamics of the global economys centre of gravity. The definition given by that officer for a center of gravity applies. Army school of advanced military studies united states army command and general staff college fort leavenworth, kansas 202 approved for public release. The center of gravity still relevant after all these years. At that point, the center of gravity had shifted across the atlantic ocean to the shores of canada. Center of gravity stipulerat i tre falttag under amerikanskt befal.
Clausewitzs concept of the military center of gravity. Centre of gravity analysis in joint military planning and. Centre of gravity analysis in joint military planning and design 83 interpreting the centre of gravity the concept of the centre of gravity is derived from clausewitzs notion in on war that, in every military encounter between adversaries, there emerges a unity and. It involves identifying the enemy and friendly cog and subsequently determining. The series aspires to provide high quality analysis and to generate debate on strategic policy issues of direct relevance to australia.
Three approaches to center of gravity analysis the islamic state of iraq and the levant by daniel j. There is no nearterm possibility of any form of military victory unless the new iraqi government can bring iraqs arab shiite, arab sunnis, and kurds back together as some form of functioning state. Pentiand, lieutenant colonel, usaf nearly all military authors and theorist at one time or another refer to the center of gravity cog concept clausewitz was the first to refer to cogs and placed them within a military context that lay within r socialpolitical construct subsequent authors. Army, argues that unisom ii failed to correctly identify its own strategic center of gravity which left both its strategic and. Notes pdf ppt engineering mechanics 09012017 dhirendra yadav 0 comments centre of gravity. Clausewitzs concept of a center of gravity cog was taken from the physics of his day and became one of his most unsatisfactory contributions to strategic thought. The point of an object at which the weight is evenly dispersed and all sides are in balance. As the scale of the earth is large compared with many everyday objects, the weight force acting on an object, f, can be related to its mass, m, through the. Military students defining the con cept of the center of gravity cog are like blind men describing an elephant. Studying such dynamics forms part of more general ongoing research on the worlds shifting distribution of economic activity. Space was the theater of operations, mass was the army and time was the campaign.
A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. The techniques of center of gravity analysiseven the practice of using cog as an acronym, highlight the extent to which military planning can uncritically. In the same sentence in which he first described a center of gravity clausewitz made it clear that it was only a metaphor, a picture to help understand the main thing. In physics, the cog represents the point at which the forces of gravity could be said to converge within an object, where its weight was balanced in all directions.
One must keep the dominant characteristics of both belligerents in mind. Identifying the cog school of strategic landpower army war. Out of these characteristics a certain center of gravity develops, the hub derives its freedom of action, physical strength, or will to fight. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website unless where indicated and not for reusereproduction in. Supporting that single point supports the whole object. Centre of gravity of a body is defined as the point through which the whole weight of the body acts. The article provides a good summary of the history of the center of gravity concept and its current interpretation by the traditionalists. Asymmetric warfare, civilmilitary relations, lowintensity conflict, military strategy, military tactics.
In total war, a strategic center of gravity is an economicindustrial capability. By economic centre of gravity, i mean the average location of the planets economic activity measured by gdp generated across nearly 700 identifiable locations on the earths surface. The centre of gravity and its application in limited warfare. Just read centre of gravity analysis in joint military planning and design. Military thinkers and planners often identify the people as the cog in an insurgency. The center then swung back to the middle of europe by 1950, as the united states once again dismantled its military and cut its overall defense spending by more than 80 percent in five years. Pdf using bayesian network analysis to support centre of.
Following equations independent of g vector representation unique point f. Centre of gravity cog analysis is an integral and cognitively demanding aspect of military operational planning. Smith, kelley jeter, and odin westgaard s ince the establishment of the center of gravity cog concept as a fundamental planning factor in joint military doctrine, its proper identification has been considered crucial in successful attainment. Clearly, such gaps would have negative political and. On the strategic level, centers of gravity might include a. This place is called thecenter of mass, commonly designated by cm, c. Harveys testicles is a critical vulnerability if there ever was one. Much of the debate over the air war and boots on the ground ignores the real center of gravity in the campaign against the islamic state. A more detailed explanation of the meaning of both terms is given below. Graham, in his 1873 translation writes, out of them a certain centre of gravity, a centre of power and movement, will form itself, on which everything depends. The techniques of center of gravity analysiseven the practice of using cog as an acronym, highlight. The center of gravity is the single point on an object where all of its weight is assumed to be located.
The centre of gravity series is the flagship publication of the strategic and defence studies centre sdsc based at the australian national universitys college of asia and the pacific. The tactical military center of gravity revolved around the enemys premier maneuver units, artillery groupings, and surfacetoair missile sites. Although clausewitz had some nonlinear ideas about the centre of gravity concept. The center of gravity has become one of todays most popular military concepts despite the fact that its origins extend back to the early industrialage. In limited wars, a strategic center of gravity is almost always a military security capability. A center of gravity can be defined as the source of power that provides moral or physical strength, freedom of action, and will to act. Ppt centers of gravity powerpoint presentation free to. The real center of gravity in the war against the islamic. Any proposal to remove centres of gravity from military practice and doctrine becomes a. War is nonlinear in nature, but the original centre of gravity concept is a linear one.
Locating the center of gravity the center of gravity of a uniform object is at the midpoint, its geometric center. A study of its description and application in two different eras a monograph by major shayla d. He believed that at the operational level a commander must understand the dynamics of space, mass, and time. Thus, the center of gravity is usually seen as the source of strength.
Clausewitzs discussion of the issue suggests that at the operational level the center of gravity is always found where the mass is concentrated most densely. Defining centers of gravity joint publication jp 102 defines center of gravity as those characteristics, capabilities, or sources of power from which a military force derives its freedom of action, physical strength, or will to fight. In 1986, the us army published a revision of fm 1005, o that, for the first time, clearly linked military theory and its doctrine. Theoretical point at which all of the bodys weight is considered to be concentrated. From the definition of a resultant force, the sum of moments due to individual particle weight about any point is the same as the moment due to the resultant weight located at g. Center of gravity analysis and chaos theory author. Greater ideological cog involving project novorossiya and neoeurasianism. Center of gravity cog analysis, a lynchpin of campaign and operation planning, is no exception. A body can have only one centre of gravity for all positions of the body. An insurgencys true strategic center of gravity is its cause. Gravityfree decisionmaking australian army research centre.
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