The essential elements of this framework are (1) surprise, (2) concentration of effort, (3) cooperation of all arms, (4) control, (5) simplicity, (6) speed of action, (7) maintaining the initiative, (8) striking at an enemy's base, (9) interdicting an enemy's communications, (10) destruction of an enemy's armed forces, (11) recognizing the social and psychological character of war, and (12) flexibility.
BACKGROUND ON THE SECOND WORLD WAR, ANDA DISCUSSION OF THE FACTORS INVOLVED
With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch stated that: "This is not peace; it is an armistice for 20 years."13 "The folly of the political leaders of the victorious allies in 1918 1919 caused a second conflict to be highly probable."14 In Mein Kampf, Hitler made it abundantly clear that "peace was merely a period of preparation for total war."15
The Spanish Civil War provided a preview of what the Second World War would be like. When the Second World War actually started, however, the waging of
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