In April 1994, the Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute held its annual Strategy Conference. Because the current RMA profoundly affects the many aspects of armed conflict, the Army must understand this revolution in all of its parts. Just as importantly, professional soldiers must retain their professional perspective and avoid becoming enchanted with technology. They would do well to remember that while technologically sophisticated weapons can help secure victory, technology in and of itself cannot win wars. Ultimately, wars are won or lost in the minds of soldiers and their leaders.
Soldiers can learn about warfare from either personal experience or from studying history.
Clearly, actual combat provides very obvious lessons, but the curriculum can be painful. Failure and death are often synonymous. The study of the history of warfare provides the student with an opportunity to examine critical aspects of warmaking without the same risk. Fortunately for those who study the reasons for, and results of, conflict, this year's Strategy Conference began with a keynote address by one of the world's foremost military historians, Sir Michael Howard. Sir Michael Howard served in the Coldstream Guards in Italy in the Second World War.