Strategic surrender
Encyclopedia
Strategic surrender is a strategy
of attrition
. What the loser avoids by offering to surrender
is a last, chaotic round of fighting that would have the characteristics of a rout. The victor can obtain his objective without paying the costs of a last battle.
In 1958, US Senator Stuart Symington
accused the RAND Corporation
of defeatism
for studying how the United States
might surrender to an enemy power. This led to the US Congress passing a prohibition on the spending of tax dollars on the study of defeat or surrender of any kind. However, the senator had apparently misunderstood, as the report was a survey of past cases in which the US had demanded unconditional surrender
of its enemies, asking whether or not this had been a more favorable outcome to US interests than an earlier, negotiated surrender might have been.
Strategy
Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...
of attrition
Attrition warfare
Attrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and matériel....
. What the loser avoids by offering to surrender
Surrender (military)
Surrender is when soldiers, nations or other combatants stop fighting and eventually become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers. A white flag is a common symbol of surrender, as is the gesture of raising one's hands empty and open above one's head.When the...
is a last, chaotic round of fighting that would have the characteristics of a rout. The victor can obtain his objective without paying the costs of a last battle.
In 1958, US Senator Stuart Symington
Stuart Symington
William Stuart Symington was a businessman and political figure from Missouri. He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.-Education and business career:...
accused the RAND Corporation
RAND
RAND Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company. It is currently financed by the U.S. government and private endowment, corporations including the healthcare industry, universities...
of defeatism
Defeatism
Defeatism is acceptance of defeat without struggle. In everyday use, defeatism has negative connotation and is often linked to treason and pessimism, or even a hopeless situation such as a Catch-22...
for studying how the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
might surrender to an enemy power. This led to the US Congress passing a prohibition on the spending of tax dollars on the study of defeat or surrender of any kind. However, the senator had apparently misunderstood, as the report was a survey of past cases in which the US had demanded unconditional surrender
Unconditional surrender
Unconditional surrender is a surrender without conditions, in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. In modern times unconditional surrenders most often include guarantees provided by international law. Announcing that only unconditional surrender is acceptable puts psychological...
of its enemies, asking whether or not this had been a more favorable outcome to US interests than an earlier, negotiated surrender might have been.