Military campaign

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In the military sciences, a military campaign encompasses related military operations, usually conducted by a defense or fighting force, directed at gaining a particular desired state of affairs, usually within geographical and temporal limitations.

[edit] Evaluations

A military campaign is judged successful if the desired state of affairs were brought about through combat and noncombat operations. This is usually determined when one of the belligerent entities defeats the opposing entity. The manner in which a force terminates its operations, though, influences the perception of the campaign's success. The end of a campaign is mostly followed by the transition of military authority to a civil authority and the redeployment of forces. "What about logistics? Supply? Reinforcements? Organization?"

Ongoing military campaigns, inside and outside of individual wars, are sometimes metaphorically characterized as quagmires, because of various factors (such as a small hope of victory, poorly-defined objectives and/or no clear exit strategy). It is usually used pejoratively to describe, in the user's opinion, ill-fated operations. Its use in political debates emerged during the Vietnam War. Activists, commentators, and pundits that use the term may choose it specifically to allude to the Vietnam conflict and the Iraq War.

[edit] References

^ "campaign". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. 2005.

[edit] See also

General

Military operations other than war - concept that encompass the use of military capabilities across the range of military operations short of war.
Campaign desk - used by officers and their staffs in rear areas during a military campaign.
Military strategy - collective name for planning the conduct of warfare.
War cycles - the theory that wars happen in cycles.

Military decorations

Campaign medal - a military decoration which is awarded to a member of the military who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater.
Campaign clasp - an attachment to a military award consisting of a metal bar which is pinned to the upper cloth portion of an award medal.
Campaign streamer - a long streamer attached to the headpiece of a military flag, denoting participation of that military service in a particular campaign.