Famous sayings and quips
Just as Copernicus studied astronomy, Newton studied physics and Darwin studied nature, he studied war in a scientific way.
Brief introduction to life
1878, 1 In September, Fuller was born in a middle-class family in England. After graduating from high school, he entered Sandhorst School. 1898 After graduation, he was assigned to the 43rd light infantry regiment 1 battalion in Oxfordshire.
1899, Ying Bu War broke out and Fuller joined the army. 1902 stationed in India with the army after the war. 19 1 1 year, fuller took advantage of his vacation to visit northern Germany. After returning to China, he entered the staff university for further study. 19 14 At the beginning of this year, he graduated with excellent results and became a deputy battalion commander in an infantry battalion of the local garrison.
After the outbreak of World War I, Fuller was demoted to the War Department as a staff officer. Soon, he volunteered to go to the front and was assigned as the commander of a heavy machine gun unit fighting in France. At this time, a new combat tool appeared on the western battlefield:1915 In September 2006, the British army used tanks for the first time in the battle of Songmu River. Fuller has a unique vision. Although the performance of this brand-new weapon is still very poor, it combines firepower, mechanical power and protection, which is undoubtedly a leap in the field of military technology. As long as we actively improve and perfect, the future is boundless. From this, he foresaw that the future war should be a large-scale mechanized war dominated by tank warfare. In order to adapt to this change, the military establishment system and the whole operational theory must undergo major changes.
19 17, the British army formed the first armored army, and Fuller was fortunate to be appointed as the army chief of staff. 165438+ 10, the British army used a large number of tanks (324 vehicles) for the first time in Belgium and launched the Cambre campaign. Fuller is the mastermind of this battle plan. He changed his routine and launched an attack with the tank cluster as the leader without artillery preparation, and achieved tactical success. In August of the following year, he was recalled to the War Command in London to participate in the formulation of the armament plan for the coming year. He put forward a so-called "19 19 plan", which advocated reorganizing the army according to the requirements of mechanized warfare and expanding the tank soldiers on a large scale. The high command has different opinions on this plan. The war ended in June when the question was still undecided191811.
After the war, Fuller continued to work in the British high command for several years, and was transferred to Camberley Staff College as the chief instructor in 1923. 1926 was transferred to the personal assistant of the imperial chief of staff, 1928 became the brigade commander of the British tank brigade in the second half of the year. No matter what position he holds, he has been lobbying for the mechanization of the British army and writing books to advocate it. He systematically expounded the position, function and use principle of mechanized troops and their operations in modern wars. This was undoubtedly correct at the time. Unfortunately, few people responded. Whether in Britain or in France and other allies, the old generals in charge of military power accused Fuller of these views as "chariot fanaticism" and "fantastic dream theory" and began to suppress and exclude him. 1932, Fuller announced his retirement.
However, Fuller did not lose heart because of the ups and downs, and continued to publicize the theory of mechanized warfare and devoted himself to the research and writing of military history. 1936 During the German military exercise, Hitler personally invited him to watch the instructions and ask for suggestions for improvement. After returning home, Fuller was deceived by Hitler's demagogic propaganda and mistakenly joined the "fascist party" in Britain. As a member of the party, he failed to run for parliament, but he soon came to his senses.
After the outbreak of World War II, Nazi Germans gave full play to the power of tank warfare at the beginning of the war and achieved a series of amazing victories. At this time, the British and French military circles realized the true value of Fuller's voice for many years.
After the war, Fuller buried himself in writing, saying that quantity and quality were hard to come by. His works attracted worldwide attention after the war and had a great influence on western military thought. 1966, Fuller died quietly in his study.
Overview of works
Fuller wrote a lot in his life, publishing 45 monographs and more than 0/00 papers/kloc. His main works are: Tanks in the Great War, Reform of War, Theory of War, On Future War, Armored War, Memoirs of an Extraordinary Soldier, Lectures on War in Mechanized Forces, World War II 1939 ~ 1945, and The West. Generally speaking, Fuller's main viewpoints in these works include:
First, about military science. Fuller thinks that military science is a comprehensive science and a branch of social science. The development of military science has its complicated historical and social factors. The industrial revolution had a far-reaching impact on the development of military science. The study of military theory should adopt a scientific attitude and be good at using scientific thinking for analysis. Historical research is the basis of advanced military theory. However, directing the war cannot follow the past war experience, but must understand the past, present and foresee the future. The future war cannot be the same as any previous war.
Second, about war. Fuller believes that war is an important activity of human society and a product of organized society. The main reason of war is to defend life, maintain life and carry on the family line. As long as there is a country, there is a war. War is not only a military issue, but also closely related to politics, economy, society, science and technology, culture and religion. There is no essential difference between war and peace. Peace is a war without fighting and bloodshed, and war is a peace with fighting and bloodshed. War is a tool of politics, and armament is a tool of war. The political purpose of war should be limited and strategically achievable. Economic factors are one of the root causes of war, so war is another continuation form of economic policy. Technology is the foundation of war. Since the industrial revolution, the mechanization of production tools and other scientific and technological achievements have promoted the development of weapons and equipment and changed the nature of war. With the development of science and technology, the degree of mechanization of weapons and equipment has been continuously improved, and the technicality of war has become increasingly obvious. Similarly, there is a direct link between war and social revolution.
Third, about mechanized warfare. Fuller believes that war has been a contest of weapons since ancient times, and 99% of the victory lies in weapons. From the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the First World War, the improvement of weapons was limited to enhancing firepower, but did not improve the protection and motive force, resulting in the fact that both warring parties could not rely on fortifications to break through the other's defensive positions in World War I. At that time, although the industrial production of various countries had already replaced manpower with mechanical power, the movement of the army on the battlefield still relied mainly on manpower and animal power. The new tank is a kind of mobile fortress, which has both the protective force needed for position defense and the assault force and motive force needed for position attack, so it will become the main weapon in the future war. Based on this, Fuller pointed out that the future war is mainly mechanized war, which is a war of integration of land, sea and air battlefields and joint operations of the three armed forces. In the future war, the relationship between ground mechanization and housing mechanization is increasingly close, and land warfare and naval warfare are also widely related; The mechanical power of weapons and equipment has been fully exerted, the war process has been further accelerated, and the duration has been greatly shortened; Offense has a greater advantage than defense.
Fourth, about war guidance. Fuller believes that future wars must be conducted with clear guiding ideology and unbiased analysis. Strategically, it is necessary to reflect the will of the country and use various resources including spirit, human body and materials to ensure the victory of the war and realize the political purpose of the war. In combat, it is necessary to embody the will of field commanders, use various combat means to realize their combat determination and realize the military sky of combat operations. In order to make a war plan, there must be several clear operational principles. He put forward the objectives, attack, concentration, saving soldiers, hunger, suddenness, safety and coordination, and later added simplicity as the basis for making a battle plan. In addition, he also put forward three tactics principles: to defeat the enemy's spirit, to last and to shock the enemy, and believed that the basis of tactics should be based on the correct evaluation of weapons and equipment. Effective use of various weapons and equipment and giving full play to their mobility can make up for the shortage of troops. In mechanized warfare, victory belongs to the party with the dominant technology and equipment, and its way is to fight in the selected direction. Attack is the main form of mechanized warfare. A large number of tanks are used to carry out breakthrough, encirclement and pursuit, and directly attack the enemy's command organs such as gang army, army and division headquarters, which will cause great spiritual shock to the enemy.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) is about army building. Fuller stressed that in order to maintain its imperial status, Britain should strengthen its national defense, reorganize its national defense institutions, set up the Ministry of National Defense and joint operations institutions, implement unified leadership, and eliminate the separation of the three armed forces. The key point of army building is to improve the mechanization level of the army by relying on science and technology. The formation of the motorcade should meet the requirements of mechanized operation. Due to the miniaturization and high mechanization of the army, it is even more necessary to strengthen the guidance of the whole process of the war, especially in the early stage of the war, to carry out stricter military training and discipline education for officers and men so that they can be self-disciplined on the battlefield. It is necessary to establish a capable and mobile staff team on the battlefield in order to lead the troops to achieve the political goals of the war with wit and flexibility.
Character annotation
Fuller is one of the greatest military thinkers in the 20th century, and his theoretical views are the inevitable product of the development from liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism. His outstanding achievements in military theory research, like an unattainable peak, attracted the admiration of countless latecomers. Fuller's works not only cover a wide range, but also are incisive and in-depth, many of which are recognized as authoritative works on military theory. For example, his "Battle of Armor" will be regarded as the "Bible" of war by famous generals such as guderian and Rommel; The Lecture Notes on Mechanized Forces War is called "the most farsighted manual of our time". "On War" and "War Guidance, 1789 ~ 196 1" are listed as compulsory textbooks by military academies in many western countries. The Western World and the Military History of the Second World War 1939 ~ 1945 is regarded as a necessary reference book for studying the history of western wars. Liddell hart, a British military theorist, even thinks that the scope, originality and imagination of Fuller's works can be comparable to that of clausewitz. However, Fuller was much more hasty in writing books than clausewitz, and some of his theoretical works were too opinionated and extreme, which made Fuller be attacked from all sides for a long time before his death.