Tactics is a concept that applies to many areas of life. But once this word was only a military term. Translated from Greek -
the art of building warriors in the ranks. Now this term means much more - the theoretical justification and practice of preparing and conducting combat at sea, on land and in the air. This discipline includes the study of various types of military operations: defense, offensive, regrouping, and so on.
For almost all of its history, people fought each other for resources, territory, slaves, money. The simplest actions on the battlefield were replaced by more thoughtful and complex ones. Weapons also gradually became more effective.
Tactics is the science of warfare that was first developed
the ancient inhabitants of Hellas. The Greek army, even before the war with the Persians, was a close-knit phalanx of hoplite spearmen equipped with helmets. Thus, the main type of combat was a frontal attack. However, such a primitive tactic is the cause of not only victories, but also a number of defeats. Hoplites were very vulnerable to cavalry attacks. In addition, their structure wasvery inflexible. The first to reform the usual tactics was the brilliant commander Epaminondas. He distributed troops along the front unevenly, planned groupings for the main attack. Alexander the Great improved his legacy. He combined the actions of various types of troops.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire and before the mass use of firearms in the army, tactical science developed poorly. But serious changes occurred after the start of the French Revolution. Large armies based on general conscription appeared in a number of European countries. Linear tactics were no longer used; columns and loose formation began to be combined in battle. The appearance of rifled weapons again made its own adjustments. Columns and loose formations are a thing of the past, the troops began to move in dashes, to dig in when taking up positions. Strikes were combined with maneuvers.
The tactics used in the First World War by most European armies is the transition to positional forms of combat. The attack began to take place in several "waves" of soldiers armed with small arms. In some areas, they were helped by shelling the enemy with artillery. The purpose of the attacks was to take the fortified positions of the enemy. But, as a rule, the attack by "waves" was ineffective. Very often it ended with the fact that the attackers turned into piles of corpses. That is why in those years the first armored fighting vehicles on caterpillars armed with machine guns were developed.
The tactics used by the Soviet Union during World War II are actions based on the doctrine"Deep Combat" In accordance with it, the attack was to begin with artillery shelling and air strikes. Then came the defense breakthrough. The infantry attacked with the support of tanks. Soldiers and combat vehicles became the main force.
The tactics used in modern wars are based on the interaction of different types of troops. But the main means of defeating the enemy is a combination of air strikes with artillery fire, infantry fighting vehicles or armored personnel carriers, and tanks. In modern conditions, the battle is fleeting, and victory is achieved subject to the advantage of one of the parties in technology and maneuverability. Among other things, the morale of the soldiers is still an important condition for their ability to take action. Modern warfare tactics also take into account the possibility of launching nuclear strikes, which can dramatically change the situation. Chemical or biological agents can also influence the outcome of a battle to some extent. The concept of "war tactics" today already has a somewhat different content than, for example, a hundred years ago. Combat operations are often carried out with preemptive strikes, the use of sophisticated equipment, the destruction of enemy resources that would allow him to continue resistance.
