Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-06-22
MILITARY TERMS
OFTEN M|SUSED
"StrategicaI" and "TacticaI" Widely
i - Separated in Meaning Made
Synonyms.
WAR "LANeUAGE" is SCIENTIFIC
"Initiative" Frequently Subject t
Wrong Interpretation, Writes
an Expert.


London.-The military correspond
ent of The Morning Post writes:
1--WE seem to be in danger Of falling
into sad confusion in the meaning and
use of military terms. This is dan
ger to which every science is liable at
the hands of people who have not
studied it or who have only done so
specifically. Owing to the poverty Of
language, words that are in every day
use colloquially have to be applied to
scientific purposes. They are then
given by definition a specific scien-
tific meaning. Sometimes new words
are invented whose meaning, if known
at all to the uninitiated, is less likely to
be misapprehended than that of the
every day word which may colloquial-
ly possess variety of meanings. For
those who have a knowledge of phys
ical science the words force and EN-
ergy' will serve as examples Of words
in the former category; also atom,
while 'electron' belongs to the second
category.
Among military terms confusion is
perhaps most frequently observed oe-
tween the words ''strategical' and
tactical" These terms seems to be
almost generally regarded as synony-
nous by nonmilitary writer's. They
possess distinct and finite meanings
though, the distinction bling of tech
meal nature, the misrepresentation is
not of great importance. Indeed, for
the ordinary readers of news and COM
ments about war, they might easily be
dispensed with, though at the cost, oc-
casionally, of some circumlocution.
"Strategy' has been defined as relat-
ing to, operations and movements in
the theater of war beyond the reach
of the enemy, while the demain of
"tactics" is the battlefield. The deiini-
ton is not quite exact, because the
general situation may remain strateg.
ical, although contact has been estab-
ished between the advanced cavalry
of the opposing armies, while the lat
ter are still, perhaps, 60 or 100 miles
apart. The local situation, as between
the two cavalry forces, is then tao
tical, while the operations of the main
armies are strategical. Clausewitz de-
fined the distinction thus: STRATEGY
and tactics meet at the stage when
the general distribution of the forces
passes into the disposition for BATTLE
In recent years, since the study or
war has become closer and more scien-
tific. it has become usual further to
subdivide tactics into grand tactics"
and minor tactics" the former reiat-
ing to the general disposition for
battle-the art of generalship-and
the latter to the handling Of the troops
in action by subordinate commanders.
These terms, however, imply dis
tinctions which are technical and arti.
fetal rather than essential; and their
misuse or misapprehension is, there
fore, not likely seriously to mislead
1T is otherwise in the case OF the term
."initiative;;" one that is especially Lin
BILE to misapprehension. N"nause it is
ambiguous both in it's colloquial and
military uses. In military parlance 1t
carries two quite different meanings.
It is used most frequently to describe
q mental-or, perhaps more correctly,
moral-quality, which enables its pos
SCISSOR to act independently on his own
Judgment. A subordinate who can act
in an unexpected emergency without
bothering his superior for instructions
is said to possess initiative" Its 9TH
er use relates to strategy, and is more
technical, and, therefore, less intellig-
ible to the nonprofessional mind.
ut has recently been used to ex-
press some meaning which, though not
very clear, is certainly not correct;
and as this misuse seemed likely not
only to cause confusion, but to give
rise to wrong impressions in connec-
ton with the military situation, the
present writer defined its military
meaning, supplementing the definition
with explanatory remarks which were
expected to make the matter clear.
The definition was as follows: The
possession of the initiative confers the
power of taking the offensive in any
desired direction, irrespective OF any
thing the adversary may attempt to
do" The offensive, in fact, is the lnltl-
alive translated into action. To revert
to our illustrations drawn from phys
zeal science, the distinction is analog-
GUS to that between potential ener-
gy" and "kinetic energy"
"a correspondent of Sunday news
paper, evidently referring to this def
milton, writes The initiative have
somewhere seen stated to mean pow
er to attack where and when you WILL
power to attack it may be observed,
is not synonymous with power to take
the offensive Attack properly re-
htes to tactics; offensive to strategy.
An offensive movement does not nee.
essarily imply an attack, which in the
military sense cannotes collision be-
tween opposing forces. The cores
,ondent goes on to say: That is
,ery elementary definition. The init.
tive in war is much more subtle and
ather akin to that mysterious thing
called the move in chess There is
really no greater subtlety or mystery
about either, nor is there any great
difference between the definition and
the illustration from the game OF chess
except that the move in chess is sub
- fhof do