This monograph examines the dynamic relationships between the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Current Army doctrine in FM 100-5, Operations depicts the relationships of the levels with a vertical hierarchy, defining the operational level as the "vital link" between tactics and strategy. Army advocates of Alvin Toffler's Third Wave argue that this representation for the levels of war has changed to a non-linear pattern due to technologies released by Information Age forces. This monograph reviews the theories of Jomini and Clausewitz and surveys two battles, Rossbach and Austerlitz, to determine whether the non-linear relationships existed between the levels of war during the Agrarian Age. It further evaluates two tactical events in the Industrial Age, Koniggratz and the Doolittle Raid, and assesses the military command structure of that period to probe the existence of a direct relationship between strategy and tactics. The monograph concludes that the dynamic coupling of strategy and tactics was not born in the Information Age, and that the vertical hierarchy resulted from military command requirements.

ADA 301153 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)