Mozg Armii
Encyclopedia
Mozg Armii in English The Brain of the Army, is a three-volume military theory
book published between 1927 and 1929. It is the most important work of Boris Shaposhnikov
, a Soviet military commander then in command of the Moscow military region. Mozg Armii gained a wide popularity throughout the Red Army
, and Shaposhnikov himself was held in high regard by Joseph Stalin
.
(1910) and then a colonel
. Unusually for someone with such a background, he supported the revolution and rejoined the Red Army
in 1918. As such, when the Red Army was in its early years, he was one of the few officers to have had formal military training. As early as May 1918, he seems to have had an important role in the Soviet Operations Branch, then in its infancy. He was a member of the Red Army General Staff from 1921 to 1925, and also had a role as Joseph Stalin
's military mentor.
is the opium of war" is the title of one of the book's chapters. In it, Shaposhnikov draws mainly from the experience of World War I and the efforts all belligerents made to mobilize as quickly as possible in order first to try and crush the enemy before he himself had been able to mobilize, then to sustain a prolonged war effort. According to Shaposhnikov, the next war would be as long and intense as World War I had been, and would require several mobilizations throughout.
Shaposhnikov also presented mobilization as being a dangerous yet essential measure. On the one hand, he affirmed that governments had to be mindful of the fact that to mobilize was in itself a step towards a full-blown conflict: he underlined the fact that, just before World War I began, mobilization by a country had been tantamount to a declaration of war, as neighbouring countries reacted to such a threat with mobilizations of their own. On the other hand, an early mobilization allowed for reinforcing the lines of defense, whereas delays in mobilization heightened the risk of having to face a fully mobilized enemy army with understrength forces.
In Shaposhnikov's eyes, this and the effort required to sustain a total war
, as demonstrated during World War I, pointed to the importance of "pre-mobilization" measures. The drafting of millions of servicemen, and especially, according to Shaposhnikov, the conversion of a country's economy to a war economy
, took time and should not be improvised on the go. But, so as not to raise the alarm in neighbouring countries, "pre-mobilization" should, according to Shaposhnikov, consist of as much measures as could be taken to prepare for the actual mobilization, but all the while keeping them secret.
, had already formulated in a book entitled Strategy (first published in 1926). The main idea here was that leadership had to be "integral": it could not be wholly entrusted to any single individual, because, in Svechin's words, the commander in chief "does not have all power over the entire state" and "giving full power to a chosen military leader is an obsolete formula which never reflected any kind of reality". For Svechin, the conduct of a war had to be assumed by the entire state
.
For Shaposhnikov, who approved of this and quoted Svechin heavily, the main and ideal model for such an "integral" General Staff
was that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, and specifically, the staff of Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (the Austro-Hungarian Army
's Chief of the General Staff from 1914 to 1916).
According to Shaposhnikov, the cardinal virtue of Conrad was that under him, there was a real teamwork among the General Staff. Shaposhnikov praised Conrad's close relations with his operations chief; he also commanded Conrad on his encouraging his subordinates to show initiative, his view of strategy as being subordined to politics (see below), and his lack of reluctance in delegating authority.
Shaposhnikov also attributed a range of personal virtues to Conrad, among which "boldness and strength of character", "energy and initiative", "independence", and his workaholism (virtues Shaposhnikov compared to these of Napoleon Bonaparte). However, in line with the Marxist view of history
, Shaposhnikov rejected any kind of Great Man theory
in warfare and stressed the importance of collective work. For him, this view was supported by Carl von Clausewitz
's (see above quote) and Conrad's own writings.
Another central reference to Clausewitz
in Mozg Armii is to the famous clausewitzian idea that "war is a continuation of politics by other means". Shaposhnikov approved of this, and stressed that military planning in general, and mobilization in particular (see above), had to be made according to political imperatives.
While he was not at the time a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
, Shaposhnikov was, in Mozg Armii, in favour of a politically engaged General Staff, acting as directed by the Party. In his definition of "politics" as pertaining to the conduct of war, Shaposhnikov included the idea of class struggle
– both at a worldwide and at a national scale (within each belligerent country).
Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, the main role model in Mozg Armii (see above), was also described as a politically savvy general by Shaposhnikov, and specifically, as one whose ideas were quite in accordance with these of Marxism
. For instance, he noted that Conrad favoured the equality of all nationalities within the armed forces, without discriminations. Shaposhnikov even went so far as to say that Conrad was in favour of a mass "People's Army", which was in contradiction with Conrad's own writings.
's Strategy, one of Shaposhnikov's inspirations and references (see above), Mozg Armii was very well-received and had a lasting influence. Mozg Armii was quoted as an important text by nearly all Soviet military theorists and military historians
; as late as the 1990s, it was still included as a textbook in the curriculum of the General Staff Academy
. Thus, Mozg Armii can be seen as a landmark in Soviet military theory and doctrine on the organization of the Red Army
's General Staff.
Military theory
Military theory is the analysis of normative behavior and trends in military affairs and military history, beyond simply describing events in war and military theories, especially since the influence of Clausewitz in the nineteenth century attempt to encapsulate the complex cultural, political and...
book published between 1927 and 1929. It is the most important work of Boris Shaposhnikov
Boris Shaposhnikov
Boris Mikhailovitch Shaposhnikov was a Soviet military commander.-Biography:Shaposhnikov was born at Zlatoust, near Chelyabinsk in the Urals. He joined the army of the Russian Empire in 1901 and graduated from the Nicholas General Staff Academy in 1910, reaching the rank of colonel in the...
, a Soviet military commander then in command of the Moscow military region. Mozg Armii gained a wide popularity throughout the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, and Shaposhnikov himself was held in high regard by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
.
The author
Boris Shaposhnikov had been, before the Russian Revolution, a graduate of the Imperial Nicholas Military AcademyGeneral Staff Academy (Imperial Russia)
The General Staff Academy was a Russian military academy, established in 1832 in St.Petersburg. It was first known as the Imperial Military Academy , then in 1855 it was renamed Nicholas General Staff Academy and in 1909 - Imperial Nicholas Military Academy The General Staff Academy was a...
(1910) and then a colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
. Unusually for someone with such a background, he supported the revolution and rejoined the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
in 1918. As such, when the Red Army was in its early years, he was one of the few officers to have had formal military training. As early as May 1918, he seems to have had an important role in the Soviet Operations Branch, then in its infancy. He was a member of the Red Army General Staff from 1921 to 1925, and also had a role as Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's military mentor.
"Mobilization is the opium of war"
"MobilizationMobilization
Mobilization is the act of assembling and making both troops and supplies ready for war. The word mobilization was first used, in a military context, in order to describe the preparation of the Prussian army during the 1850s and 1860s. Mobilization theories and techniques have continuously changed...
is the opium of war" is the title of one of the book's chapters. In it, Shaposhnikov draws mainly from the experience of World War I and the efforts all belligerents made to mobilize as quickly as possible in order first to try and crush the enemy before he himself had been able to mobilize, then to sustain a prolonged war effort. According to Shaposhnikov, the next war would be as long and intense as World War I had been, and would require several mobilizations throughout.
Shaposhnikov also presented mobilization as being a dangerous yet essential measure. On the one hand, he affirmed that governments had to be mindful of the fact that to mobilize was in itself a step towards a full-blown conflict: he underlined the fact that, just before World War I began, mobilization by a country had been tantamount to a declaration of war, as neighbouring countries reacted to such a threat with mobilizations of their own. On the other hand, an early mobilization allowed for reinforcing the lines of defense, whereas delays in mobilization heightened the risk of having to face a fully mobilized enemy army with understrength forces.
In Shaposhnikov's eyes, this and the effort required to sustain a total war
Total war
Total war is a war in which a belligerent engages in the complete mobilization of fully available resources and population.In the mid-19th century, "total war" was identified by scholars as a separate class of warfare...
, as demonstrated during World War I, pointed to the importance of "pre-mobilization" measures. The drafting of millions of servicemen, and especially, according to Shaposhnikov, the conversion of a country's economy to a war economy
War economy
War economy is the term used to describe the contingencies undertaken by the modern state to mobilise its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilising and allocating resources to sustain the violence".Many states increase the degree of...
, took time and should not be improvised on the go. But, so as not to raise the alarm in neighbouring countries, "pre-mobilization" should, according to Shaposhnikov, consist of as much measures as could be taken to prepare for the actual mobilization, but all the while keeping them secret.
The integral military leader: Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf as a model
Regarding military command, Shaposhnikov supported the ideas that one of his colleagues, Alexander Andreyevich SvechinAlexander Andreyevich Svechin
Alexander Andreyevich Svechin was a Russian and Soviet military leader, an outstanding military writer, educator and theorist, author of the military classic Strategy.- Biography :...
, had already formulated in a book entitled Strategy (first published in 1926). The main idea here was that leadership had to be "integral": it could not be wholly entrusted to any single individual, because, in Svechin's words, the commander in chief "does not have all power over the entire state" and "giving full power to a chosen military leader is an obsolete formula which never reflected any kind of reality". For Svechin, the conduct of a war had to be assumed by the entire state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
.
For Shaposhnikov, who approved of this and quoted Svechin heavily, the main and ideal model for such an "integral" General Staff
General Staff
A military staff, often referred to as General Staff, Army Staff, Navy Staff or Air Staff within the individual services, is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units...
was that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, and specifically, the staff of Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
's Chief of the General Staff from 1914 to 1916).
According to Shaposhnikov, the cardinal virtue of Conrad was that under him, there was a real teamwork among the General Staff. Shaposhnikov praised Conrad's close relations with his operations chief; he also commanded Conrad on his encouraging his subordinates to show initiative, his view of strategy as being subordined to politics (see below), and his lack of reluctance in delegating authority.
Shaposhnikov also attributed a range of personal virtues to Conrad, among which "boldness and strength of character", "energy and initiative", "independence", and his workaholism (virtues Shaposhnikov compared to these of Napoleon Bonaparte). However, in line with the Marxist view of history
Marxist historiography
Marxist or historical materialist historiography is a school of historiography influenced by Marxism. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography are the centrality of social class and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes....
, Shaposhnikov rejected any kind of Great Man theory
Great man theory
The Great Man Theory was a popular 19th century idea according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of "great men", or heroes: highly influential individuals who, due to either their personal charisma, intelligence, wisdom, or Machiavellianism utilized their power in a way that...
in warfare and stressed the importance of collective work. For him, this view was supported by Carl von Clausewitz
Carl von Clausewitz
Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier and German military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war...
's (see above quote) and Conrad's own writings.
Subordination of strategy to politics
Carl von Clausewitz
Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier and German military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war...
in Mozg Armii is to the famous clausewitzian idea that "war is a continuation of politics by other means". Shaposhnikov approved of this, and stressed that military planning in general, and mobilization in particular (see above), had to be made according to political imperatives.
While he was not at the time a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, Shaposhnikov was, in Mozg Armii, in favour of a politically engaged General Staff, acting as directed by the Party. In his definition of "politics" as pertaining to the conduct of war, Shaposhnikov included the idea of class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
– both at a worldwide and at a national scale (within each belligerent country).
Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, the main role model in Mozg Armii (see above), was also described as a politically savvy general by Shaposhnikov, and specifically, as one whose ideas were quite in accordance with these of Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
. For instance, he noted that Conrad favoured the equality of all nationalities within the armed forces, without discriminations. Shaposhnikov even went so far as to say that Conrad was in favour of a mass "People's Army", which was in contradiction with Conrad's own writings.
Reception and influence
In contrast with Alexander Andreyevich SvechinAlexander Andreyevich Svechin
Alexander Andreyevich Svechin was a Russian and Soviet military leader, an outstanding military writer, educator and theorist, author of the military classic Strategy.- Biography :...
's Strategy, one of Shaposhnikov's inspirations and references (see above), Mozg Armii was very well-received and had a lasting influence. Mozg Armii was quoted as an important text by nearly all Soviet military theorists and military historians
Military history
Military history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, their cultures, economies and changing intra and international relationships....
; as late as the 1990s, it was still included as a textbook in the curriculum of the General Staff Academy
General Staff Academy (Russia)
The General Staff Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was founded in 1936 in Moscow by Leonid Govorov. It was the senior Soviet and now Russian professional school for officers....
. Thus, Mozg Armii can be seen as a landmark in Soviet military theory and doctrine on the organization of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
's General Staff.