This monograph analyses the future of modern land power through examining the continental school of strategy that emerged in early 19th-century Europe at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The continental school of strategy is important because it has provided the essential knowledge for the theory and practice of land power over the past two centuries. However, since the arrival of the information age, many of the assumptions of the continental school of military strategy have been questioned. Is the age of mass territorial armies over? What is the future of the levels of war (tactics, operations and strategy) and of the operational art given the emergence of the modern battlespace? What is the meaning of geography in an era of networked warfare? What is the role of land power in joint operations? How relevant is the legacy of the continental school of military thought in the early 21st century? These questions are addressed using perspectives from military theory and geopolitical thought. It is argued that land power operates in two dimensions: the intrinsic dimension of military theory and the extrinsic dimension of geopolitical thought. Only by scrutinizing both of these areas, and the dialectic between them, can there be a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of modern land power. The study goes on to analyze contemporary challenges to the continental school of military thought. These challenges emanate from the rise of the battlespace, the 'end of geography' debate, from information warfare advocates and from aerospace doctrines of standoff missile strike. Finally, the role of land power in joint warfare and the dynamics of land forces in effects-based operations in the 21st century are surveyed.

"June 2004"--T.p. "June 2004."

Author's preface -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Understanding land power: the continental school of strategy and its dual dimensions -- The intrinsic dimension of the continental school of strategy: military theory and the evolution of land warfare -- From battlefield to battlespace: the information revolution and the school of continental strategy -- The extrinsic dimension: continental strategy as an instrument of geopolitics -- 'The end of geography' debate -- The future of land power: the relevance of the continental school of strategy in the 21st century -- Conclusion.