Molke’s Command Philosophy in the Twenty-first Century: Fallacy or Verity?

by MAjor Gunter Rosseels

In the aftermath of World War II, many Western armies studied the German Blitzkrieg success. They concluded that the German mission command philosophy was a cornerstone to lead and command troops in fluid and uncertain combat situations. This resulted in the integration of mission command philosophy or Auftragstaktik in several Western armies’ doctrine. Among those armies, the US Army defines mission command as a command philosophy and as a warfighting function, which integrates the other warfighting functions.
Historically, Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of Staff of the Prussian Army between 1857 and 1888, was the first military leader to recognize that one commanding officer from a central position on the battlefield could no longer direct military formations. He understood that the operational environment, including new technologies, imposed a different command philosophy on strategic, operational and tactical level, based on a clear mission statement and intent. He adopted this command method successfully in his campaigns against Austria in 1866 and France in 1870-71. Consequently, the Prussian/German education model became a paradigm for most Western armies.

Contemporary operations require the same adaptive and flexible leaders to face the circumstances of the current battle space and to achieve mission success. This thesis researches the historical circumstances that shaped the mission command philosophy and studies its validity in contemporary doctrine.

118 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2012